The Constellation Returned From Hell

Chapter 205

However, the Mount Hua Sect hunters were all innocent-looking. They really?had?learned from watching Choi Yeonseung fight.

“...Take care of it. Finish off the enemy!”

“Yes!”

Now that the Chinese hunters had the aggro, the Mount Hua Sect hunters could rush ahead.

The formation deployed by the hunters was one that allowed them to gather more magic power and amplify their abilities the more they fought. As a result, the Mount Hua Sect hunters managed to use sword energy despite the fact that they were originally unable to do so. It was weak and unstable but it was definitely sword energy.

-■■■■!

They continuously attacked the man-eating tree until it stumbled and fell to the ground. There was a roar and the hunters surrounding the monster dispersed.

“T-This...!”

The Chinese hunters finally started to understand what was going on. They did virtually nothing while all the hunters brought by Choi Yeonseung had taken care of everything.

“We’re going to be in so much trouble!”

It was a job entrusted to them by the Chinese government and their performance had been terrible. They wouldn’t usually get punished for something like this if there were no hunters from other countries to take the spotlight. The Chinese hunters exchanged worried looks.

“What should we do?”

“We’re going to have to explain this. At the very least, we need an excuse.”

“...Can’t we just put the blame on Pan Wugang?”

“...!”

The Chinese hunters thought that this hastily done plan could work. Pan Wugang’s commands led to disaster (although it was because the elves tricked him), and he fainted along the way, thus becoming a burden. Blaming him was the right call!

“Is this okay?”

Choi Yeonseung shook his head as he watched the murmuring Chinese hunters.

“That friend of yours will be in trouble when he goes back.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Did you get all the loot?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Let’s go out and meet the elves.”

The Chinese hunters were confused because they didn’t know what was going on, but Choi Yeonseung hadn’t trusted the elves in the first place. He pretended to fall for the elves’ scheme, and now it was time to confront them about it.

***

“The heroes are back! It’s amazing!”

Grenno cheerfully greeted Choi Yeonseung when he saw the hunters returning. The other elves also greeted the hunters with tears of joy. Their attitude seemed so genuine the Chinese hunters suppressed their anger.

“Was there a misunderstanding?”

“Maybe the elves didn’t know there was a man-eating tree…”

The appearance of the elves could make even the most experienced hunters lower their guards. The moment the hunters saw the beautiful elves welcome them with tears in their eyes, they gave up on questioning them.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

“Huh?”

“Come here.”

Regardless of the others, Choi Yeonseung moved to the side with Grenno. It was so that the Chinese hunters couldn’t see them. The Mount Hua Sect hunters surrounded Grenno.

“????”

“You sent us there knowing there was a man-eating tree. How dare you try to use us as bait?”

“Huh? T-There is a misunderstanding! There is no way!”

Choi Yeonseung’s words startled the Mount Hua Sect hunters, but they immediately sided with him. There was no way Choi Yeonseung would lie. Even if he lied, they had to support him and make the others believe him.

“How dare you bastard?!”

“Should I pull your teeth out first?”

The Mount Hua Sect hunters immediately drew their swords.

Grenno was paralyzed by their unexpected killing intent.

“I... I think there’s a misunderstanding. Call the people of that country called China! They will explain it for me!”

“Forget it. Are you going to admit what you did or not?”

Choi Yeonseung put pressure on Grenno by releasing aura upon him.

If the Mount Hua Sect hunter’s killing intent was like a razor, then Choi Yeonseung’s powerful aura was like a big boulder. The aura was pressing on Grenno so hard he felt his body was going to explode! His heart could’ve stopped at any moment given how scared he was.

“I... I will admit it. I’ll admit it...”

“What did you do?”

“That... I didn’t really use you as bait...”

Grenno resented the accusation. Come to think of it, he used the Chinese hunters over there as bait, not the hunters on Choi Yeonseung’s side. Wasn’t that the reason Choi Yeonseung was able to kill the monster?

“I-I... I thought you were the hero and wanted to sacrifice them to take down the monster...”

“Oh...”

“What is with the ‘oh’? Don’t be fooled.”

Choi Yeonseung was dumbfounded and chastised the young hunter of the Mount Hua Sect. The hunter momentarily fell for Grenno’s fa?ade and blushed with embarrassment.

“I... I will interrogate you.”

“Hmm. Okay. Give it a try.”

Choi Yeonseung watched curiously as Iris came forward.

Unlike Choi Yeonseung, who would interrogate people with his fists, the Mount Hua Sect clearly had some sophisticated interrogation methods. Now that Grenno admitted what he’d done, they could get more information if the Mount Hua Sect used their specialized methods...

“What are you doing?!”

Iris was just about to stab Grenno with a dagger when Choi Yeonseung jumped and grabbed her hand. Iris became even more flustered.

“T... T-These are the basics...”

“We start by drilling a few holes in the body, Hunter Choi Yeonseung.”

What the Mount Hua Sect were saying was terrifying. It wasn’t like Choi Yeonseung didn’t understand their feelings towards Grenno, but he couldn’t let them do something like that.

“The Chinese hunters are waiting not far away from us. If you carve him up, they’ll notice it when he comes out.”

“Ahh...!”

“We were too short-sighted!”

“Yes. Now will you take it seriously and interrogate him?”

“But if we stab him where the Chinese can’t see...”

“No stabbing...!”

Grenno was on the verge of fainting due to the unnerving conversation. He never thought he would be outsmarted and completely at the mercy of an insignificant race like this.

“Okay. I will show you myself. There is an interrogation technique that uses martial arts.”

“...!”

At Choi Yeonseung’s words, the Mount Hua Sect hunters adjusted their clothing and held their breaths. A practical technique shown by the master of martial arts! It was a great skill that people would pay millions to see.

“If you just hit them with your fists, you’ll leave them bruised, and it wouldn’t even be that hard for them to endure. However, if you insert your internal energy into them and hit their insides, it’s going to be unbearable and it won’t leave a single trace on their body. It’s a trick similar to Pressure Point Attack, but you have to mess up their insides even harder.”

Choi Yeonseung explained in detail how to grasp the opponent’s blood flow and how to use internal energy to inflict pain on him. The Mount Hua Sect hunters were impressed and started recording the lesson with their smartphones. They couldn’t believe that such a technique existed!

[The skill ‘Separating Muscle Reforming Bones’ has been created!]

[Thanks to a perfect understanding of martial arts and a deep concern for believers, the skill transfer has been successful.]

[Your power of existence has increased greatly!]

‘Everyone at once?’

The teacher, Choi Yeonseung, was quite surprised. The Mount Hua Sect hunters learned the skill ‘Separating Muscle Reforming Bones’ relatively fast, with no difficulties.

[Separating Muscle Reforming Bones]

[Rank: B

It twists and tears apart the opponent’s muscles and bones with internal energy, causing intense pain.]

It wasn’t a particularly difficult skill, but it was nonetheless a B rank skill. Moreover, it was rare for a hunter to understand a technique just by listening to one lesson.

-This is the advantage of having a household and believers.

The goddess of sloth spoke as if she wasn’t surprised at all.

-?All of them are weak, but if you take good care of those who have strong faith, they will demonstrate amazing strength.

-...I didn’t think you would take such good care of your followers, goddess.

The goddess of sloth was slightly amused by Choi Yeonseung’s words.

-I took great care of my followers when I was active. How else would I have gotten them to build my kingdom?

‘I thought the talented people were the ones to do it, but apparently it wasn’t the case.’

Because of the goddess of balance, he thought all constellations were like that. However, the goddess of balance was peculiar among the constellations. Most constellations weren’t as generous as the goddess of balance. They didn’t make as many mistakes and didn’t trust their household members. A household member who got strong past a certain level could betray the constellation and threaten them.

[The ‘Cat of Lava and Magma’ is scoffing at the constellations who can’t manage their household members, saying they don’t deserve to be constellations.]

[The ‘Manipulator of Dreams and Desires’ agrees.]

‘Look at them saying this when they don’t even have strong household members.’

Neither of them cultivated a strong household. It wasn’t because they didn’t trust believers, but because they weren’t that strong to begin with. In comparison, the goddess of balance had a lot of faith in her household members despite being a push... No, she was a good constellation.

‘I think it’s stupid to make someone a household member if you don’t trust them in the first place...’

-Not everything in the Abyss is that easy. Naturally, a trustworthy household member has their own merits. Look at it now. The power shown by your believers.

The relationship bound by trust was more powerful than he thought.

Choi Yeonseung nodded.

“I think everybody understands it well.”

“It’s because Hunter Choi Yeonseung taught me well!”

“Good. Then let’s all practice with this elf.”

“Yes!”

“...Huh???”

Grenno was terrified as he listened to them.

These crazy human bastards!

***

“I see. So that’s why you joined forces with the Chinese hunters.”

“Yes...”

“The Chinese hunters have an even worse temper than us. How were you going to deal with the aftermath after deceiving them?”

“Isn’t there a hundred of them at most? I thought we could stop them...” Grenno spoke with a weary voice.

It wasn’t that the elves were weak and couldn’t deal with the man-eating tree. They just didn’t want to use their own kind as bait. With the magic of their village, but also with the advantage given by the terrain of the Abyss, they thought they could stop the hundred Chinese hunters if they came.

After hearing Grenno’s words, Choi Yeonseung and the Mount Hua Sect hunters looked at each other with shocked expressions.

“Do the elves know how many people there are in China?”

“Do they think China is a tribe of a thousand people?”

The number of Chinese hunters was staggering. Even if only 0.1% of the population of one billion rallied against them, that was still one million hunters knocking at their door. Even if it was the Abyss, the Chinese government could send as many hunters as needed.

Even if they were weak hunters, as long as they fought together and used modern weapons...

“If provoked, they could easily send in tens of thousands of hunters.”

Grenno couldn’t take their words seriously and started laughing.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“...Practice the Separating Muscle Reforming Bones skill again!”

“I believe you! I believe you! I believe you!”

After a moment of persuasion, Grenno realized that Choi Yeonseung was telling the truth. He thought the Chinese were pushovers, but now he realized that they were an enormous number of pushovers. Even races such as orcs or goblins, known for their large numbers, couldn’t match China’s population.

“W... What kind of skills do they have that makes their numbers so big?”

“Let’s see... I don’t know about that. At any rate, that’s not the important thing right now. It’s those Chinese hunters.”

“......!!”

Grenno panicked. If such hunters came in tens of thousands, the elves would have a hard time fighting back. How could there be so many of them? Were they only concerned with making babies?

“Should I help?”

The Mount Hua Sect hunters didn’t like Choi Yeonseung’s question.

“Why would you help him? He could betray you at any time!”

“My grandmother said not to trust someone with a smooth face!”

“No… I’ll help him in exchange for some of their possessions. Wouldn’t that be a good deal?”

Hearing Choi Yeonseung’s explanation, the Mount Hua Sect hunters nodded in understanding.

“Aha. Now I understand.”

“Right?”

“Yes! Instead of letting the elves off the hook, you will take all the valuable things from their village and force them to move.”

“... Let’s try this again.”