Chapter 166

Chapter 166

“Hey. Calm down, Russian spies.”

Even Choi Yeonseung hesitated. He couldn’t act recklessly. He could still sleep soundly at night if the two people on the ground were killed, but he would suffer all night long if the white dungeon their opponents were holding exploded. They hadn’t analyzed many parts of the dungeon yet. They didn’t even know how a dungeon door attached to an object would react against impacts. In the worst-case scenario, the dungeon would be forcibly opened, and the monsters inside would pour out.

“We aren’t Russian spies!”

“Chinese spies, then?”

“Shut up!”

“They’re already a mess even though all we did was ask them if they’re spies.” Choi Yeonseung clicked his tongue, dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, the hunters inside started to realize the situation. Han Seha wasn’t the only A-grade hunter. The two also were. One was Wes Morales, an American A-grade hunter who was already sufficiently famous. The other was Choi Yeonseung, the newest A-grade hunter and the most famous in recent times. One A-grade hunter was enough to take out all the hunters here, but there were three.

They felt as if they would suffocate out of fear.

‘Those crazy Parker bastards!’

The hunters couldn’t believe the Parket family would spend so much money just to hire three A-grade hunters to dig traps.

Gordon, their leader, was sweating. The plan had been going so smoothly. They had made sure that no A-grade hunters would be on-duty and Jacob of the Parkey family would be in the factory by the time they had come in. It didn’t matter how many guards were present if they accurately aimed for the gap. Their strategy, which was to wait in the room and strike like a bolt of lightning, was successful. All that was left was to disguise themselves and leave...

That was how things should have gone.

“Get on your knees! If you don’t, we will destroy this dungeon!”

“You must be insane. Go ahead, smash it! Who do you think you’re asking to kneel? The moment you smash it, I will take out everything in your stomach with my hands and shove them down your throats!”

“......”

Han Seha’s reaction threatened the hunters so much they froze. Anyone would be intimidated by the combination of an A-grade hunter’s killing intent and magic power.

‘S-shit...’

Right now, the A-grade hunters were hesitating out of fear of the dungeon breaking, but this didn’t mean they were at a disadvantage. They wouldn’t give their lives to such people. If it broke, then they would just say, ‘Ugh, what a waste. I’ll go profit out of something else!’

-Who are these guys?

-This seems to be industrial espionage.

It didn’t seem like China or Russia had privately hired them. Rather, they acted more as if they wanted to steal the dungeon themselves and find someone to sell it to.

Not all hunters could live in prosperity. Hunters could enter dungeons to make money. Unfortunately, risking their lives wasn’t something that just anyone could do. Moreover, although there were several ways to make money without entering a dungeon, all of them required talent.

Hence, it was common for hunters to fall into crime. After all, they could commit the perfect crime even if they could only properly use one spell.

“O-okay. You don’t have to kneel. You can have those two. We’ll keep this dungeon.”

“What’s with that deal, you crazy bastards?! I don’t care if the old people here die or not!” Han Seha immediately clarified.

The two people on the floor sent her pleading looks as if to say, ‘Our lives are far more important. Let them go and just reclaim the dungeon after.’

Bewildered, the thieves replied, “Don’t you know who these two are? The Parker family—”

“I don’t care.”

“Don’t you know how much they are worth? You won’t get a reward!”

“Do you think we came here for money? You guys won’t be leaving this place.”

As Han Seha faced off against the other hunters, Choi Yeonseung started to see an opportunity. The advantage of martial arts was its high speed at close range. Once he got a chance, he could snatch the dungeon out of the opponent’s hand.

‘Now.’

“!”

Choi Yeonseung instantly disappeared. A martial artist’s short-range footwork, which perfectly showed the peak-class stage, was too fast for hunters who had no proper experience in combat. By the time they had realized something was wrong, Choi Yeonseung had already twisted the hunter’s wrist and stole the dungeon.

Morales clenched his fists. “Well done, Hunter Choi Yeonseung!”

It was worth joining hands with him. Their opponents seemed prepared for magic, but not martial arts.

“mmmpphhh!” Jacob cried out, still on the ground. He seemed to be saying, “Well done!”

He still seemed to misunderstand the purpose of the three A-grade hunters’ visit.

Bang!

At the same time, an explosion occurred in the factory outside the room.

“... Did you plant a bomb?”

“No! No!”

“We were planning to leave quietly, so why would we?!”

The hunters shook their heads in fright.

Choi Yeonseung and the other two hunters shifted their gazes outside the room. This factory dealt with cores, the most powerful energy source on Earth, so an explosion was possible. But this...

“A monster. Be careful!”

He could feel magic power being emitted from a life force, not from cores. The other two hunters nodded.

“How did you manage a factory with a monster inside it?”

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung. Hunter Choi Yeonseung.” Han Seha poked and called for Choi Yeonseung, who in turn turned toward her, puzzled.

“We better retreat first.”

“?”

“We don’t have any information on the monster, and it’s hard to get support inside a factory. Additional explosions could also prove hard to prevent even with magic. I think it would be best to retreat and get reinforcements first before we retreat.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Han Seha brightened at Choi Yeonseung’s compliment.

“Okay. Let’s retreat. Lead the way.”

“Yes!”

Han Seha ran immediately. She blew up the walls of the factory, creating a passageway, and flew using flight magic. However, Choi Yeonseung didn’t come out.

“... He tricked me?”

Han Seha cursed and headed back inside.

***

“Aren’t you going out?”

“I have to save the people inside.”

“mmmppph!”

“Ah. I forgot about you two. Sorry.”

The two people on the ground looked at Choi Yeonseung, seemingly finding his behavior absurd.

“Let’s evacuate the factory employees and get out.”

“How wonderful. I'll help you too.”

“They aren’t worth any money, though...”

“Not everything you do has to generate profit.” Choi Yeonseung laughed, then told the spies, “Take those bastards on the ground and go outside.”

“Mmmphhh!”

“Are you crazy? You must be crazy. You look crazy.”

Bang!

At that moment, Han Seha returned. Her eyes were filled with anger.

“You tricked me!”

“I’m sorry.”

“It can’t be helped. I’ll let this one pass.”

“......”

“......”

The others were speechless. What the...

“I was worried...”

“As I said, I understand.”

“I see. Thank you for your understanding. Anyway, we don’t have time to talk. Let’s pick up the pace.”

Choi Yeonseung destroyed a wall and jumped down.

He felt a strange sense of magic from the area where the cores were stored.

-Kuoong...

“... A slime? Is it Muk from Pokemon?”

“I’ve never seen that monster before!”

What greeted them was a giant slime monster. Its irregularly flowing body moved slowly, swallowing everything around it. Anything it swallowed melted away in an instant.

-Summon Advanced Magic Wolves. Wind’s Protection.

Han Seha immediately summoned wolves and attempted to damage the slime, but the magical wolves just shattered the moment they hit it.

“...... !”

Han Seha was flustered. That attack didn’t contain all her strength, but she didn’t expect she wouldn’t even be able to damage the monster.

“This normally doesn’t happen. What’s wrong with me?”

[The ‘Hound of Instinct and Liberation’ is barking at you!]

“What are you doing?!”

Choi Yeonseung grabbed Han Seha and pulled her back, startling her. The slime stretched over and slammed down. If he had been a little late, it would have melted half of her body.

“Focus!”

“Ah, y-yes!”

If it were anyone else, she would’ve cursed and told them, “Who do you think you are?!” but Han Seha just sheepishly nodded.

‘What is that monster? I have never seen one in the Abyss.”

Slime-type monsters usually had a nucleus in their body that could be destroyed to kill them. Moreover, they weren’t as soft and free.

-Successor, whenever you find a monster you’ve never seen before, you should suspect that a constellation has directly used their power to summon it.

-... Good point.

If anything strange happened on Earth, then they should suspect the constellations. This was a definite saying.

‘It’s swallowing cores to become even stronger!’

Choi Yeonseung finally realized why the monster was exuding so much magic power. It had swallowed up the nearby core storage as if it was a huge magic power potion.

“Evacuate the employees first. Let’s go!”

Choi Yeonseung started to pick up speed. He grabbed the employee lying on their stomachs and trembling. He then took them outside like lightning. The slime was big and had unlimited regenerative power, but it was far too slow to catch Choi Yeonseung.

‘One in the left corner and two on the second floor.’

Despite the chaos brought forth by the factory’s facilities exploding and the slime growing behind them, Choi Yeonseung showed no errors. He completely read the surrounding atmosphere with the unique senses of a martial artist.

“T-thank you! I thought I was going to die!”

“You thought you were going to die. I don’t think the factory welfare here is very good.”

After taking out the last factory employee, Choi Yeonseung took a short breather. Han Seha looked at Choi Yeonseung with regret. She couldn’t understand why Choi Yeonseung was going through such a hard time. Before he could explain it, Choi Yeonseung’s smartphone started ringing relentlessly.

“... Hunter Choi Yeonseung. I think something big happened,” Morales explained with a look of astonishment.

The slime wasn’t the only one that appeared. Slimes were appearing in core factories around the world.

‘They were summoned to factories, ate cores, and quickly grew stronger. What a clever strategy... No, has the constellation adapted to Earth?’

Choi Yeonseung was honestly impressed. Constellations were much more ignorant than humans thought. To be precise, they had little interest in humans. Hence they made ridiculous mistakes or demands when dealing with humans. However, some constellations enjoyed observing and gaining a deep understanding of Earth.

Summoning slimes at Earth’s core factories was a clever plan that required studying Earth to a certain extent before it could be implemented. Having been summoned to core storages, they were taking away humanity’s cores and growing rapidly!

“... I can’t just leave them alone. Let’s go in and get this over with.”

Having heard about the situation, Choi Yeonseung thought he couldn’t waste too much time on this giant slime. He had no idea how strong it would become.

“Do you have any offensive skills that can damage it?”

“Of course.” Choi Yeonseung nodded, much to Morales’ relief.

“I’ll support you. Let’s go! What skills will you be using, though?”

“I’ll keep just cutting it until it dies.” n0velusb.c0m

“Are you joking?”

“I’m not.”

“......”

Morales looked at Choi Yeonseung with a stunned expression. How could he be so crazy?

***

“Reinforcements have arrived!”

“You’re late. I’ve taken care of everything.”

“Are you serious?”

“The others seem to be having a hard time dealing with it, though,” Choi Yeonseung said.

The others just nodded in response. Contrary to its harmless appearance, the giant slime was causing enormous damage.