The Celestial Returned From Hell - Chapter 414

Chapter 414

“Of course, the Koreans are a bit better than the hunters from those other countries, but aren’t they also just after our dungeon?”

“That’s true.”

Boris didn’t deny it, so Pudovkin nodded in relief and subtly tried to change the subject.

“Ah, right. Senior, you used to be active in South Korea.”

“Yes, I was. It was in Busan, and it was fun in many ways,” said Boris with a nostalgic look. “Everybody was full of fighting spirit back then. Before entering dungeons, we wouldn’t call insurance companies or call corporate managers like you young people do nowadays.”

“Ah, indeed.”

Regardless of the generation, the stories of veterans were bound to be unexciting for the youth. As such, Pudovkin was already starting to get bored. Moreover, this wasn’t the first time he had heard this story. Boris had told this story dozens of times…

“You see, the hunters who try to plan everything and make all sorts of calculations before a raid can’t truly become strong. You understand what I’m saying?”

“Ah, yes.”

“…Am I too old? I-I feel like I’m having a hallucination.”

“Huh?”

Pudovkin was taken aback by Boris’ sudden outburst.

“That hunter. Can you see him?” asked Boris as he pointed forward, his finger trembling.

“I… can see him.”

Pudovkin wondered why Boris was acting like this.

Boris was pointing at some hunters who had come here from far away. He was pointing at one Korean A-grade hunter in particular.

What was the deal with that hunter?

***

Han Seha was instantly irritated when that Russian hunter, whom she had never seen before, pointed a finger at Choi Yeonseung.

“Is he asking us to break his finger?”

“C-calm down. This is Russia.”

“Besides, he’s an old man!”

The other hunters who came with her tried to pacify her, but it didn’t work.

“Unless pointing fingers is a form of greeting in Russia, this is a clear provocation to a fight!”

“Seha, calm down. By the way…”

Choi Yeonseung squinted his eyes as he looked at the old man, thinking he was strangely familiar. Had they met somewhere before?

As the atmosphere became awkward, Pudovkin came forward first. He had ridiculed them when they weren’t present, but the situation would escalate if he openly caused trouble in front of an A-grade hunter.

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung, I apologize. Senior Boris was mistaken for a moment…”

“Choi Yeonseung! Are you really Choi Yeonseung?!”

“You know me?”

“I’m Boris! I used to belong to the Amour clan!

“…Boris from the Amour clan?!”

Choi Yeonseung was also a bit surprised. He hadn’t thought he would get to meet this person again.

Han Seha had been one step away from rushing over and punching that old man in the chin, but she slowly lowered her fist when she saw that Choi Yeonseung seemed to know him.

She whispered, “Do you know each other?”

“We used to kill monsters together in Busan.”

“Are you close?”

“…No?!” exclaimed Choi Yeonseung. He was taken aback by Han Seha’s question because they were absolutely not close.

They had merely cooperated a few times when killing monsters. If that was enough to be considered close, then two-thirds of the Korean clans active in the first generation would’ve been considered close as well…

However, Boris didn’t seem to think so.

“It’s great to see you here! I wasn’t even sure if you were still alive, but here you are, being active as an A-grade hunter. It’s truly amazing!”

“Thank you. I’m glad you seem healthy.”

“Healthy? I may not look like it, but my health is in shambles. I can’t even participate in a real battle.”

As the two hunters chatted in a friendly manner, Smallwood of the Icarus clan muttered in a bewildered manner, “I didn’t know Choi Yeonseung was that old…”

“He was missing for a long time, but wasn’t he a first-generation hunter?”

“…

Gasp

. Is he really that old??”

“Hey, lower your voice, you dumbass! What if he hears it?”

The other hunters hurriedly covered Smallwood’s mouth, fearing he might hurt the chairman. Choi Yeonseung was also a human being, so he would clearly be upset if he heard something like that.

In addition, he had used to be friendly and play with them, but Choi Yeonseung was now in a position where he could do anything he wanted with the Icarus clan, which meant that the hunters had to be more careful with what they said.

Of course, Choi Yeonseung had heard all of it.

‘I’ll have to give them a tough training session later.’

“Has that friend that was close to you retired?”

“Close to me… Ah, that friend? He was more successful,” Boris snorted and laughed. Following a long fit of cough, Boris continued, “Sorry. Anyway, I’m glad I got to see you again. It’s a pity that the young generation of the clan is so weak…

“Young hunters these days definitely don’t train enough…”

“That’s right!”

“…”

Han Seha, who was listening next to them, wanted to cut off their conversation. They sounded like two geezers talking about boring stuff.

[The ‘Hound of Instinct and Liberation’ advises you to cut off the conversation, saying there is no country for the elderly.]

–

No…

Damn it! It’d make me look like a bad person!

[…The ‘Hound of Instinct and Liberation’ says that Han Seha is already a ba…]

–

Shut up.

“…Wait.”

Boris had been talking enthusiastically, but he suddenly remembered something and paused.

“This… I’m sorry.”

“?”

“You will soon find out, but our clan has… cheated you a bit. The Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons will find out soon.”

***

Humanity had changed tremendously after the Abyssal gate had opened. During that time, many specific expressions and proverbs were circulating, one of them being ‘Lying to a constellation.’

In any case, even ordinary people who knew very little about constellations were well aware of how dangerous it was to incur a constellation’s wrath.

But paradoxically…

The fact that one always heard about lying to a constellation proved that there were many people who consistently did just that.

No matter how mighty powerful the constellations were, the greed and boldness of humanity were stronger than them.

On this day, the Russian clans were once again trying to deceive a constellation.

“…Are you kidding me?” Illaphael asked incredulously. It wasn’t even that they had lied to a constellation that shocked him. It was that they had done it without any fear for the repercussions.

Even if they had a lot of courage, how dare they lie to the constellation?

“We are serious, Illaphael. Obviously, we have transferred various rights, including the right to enter the dungeon, to the Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons. However, we never said anything about giving it to you exclusively.”

“…You must not value your life, human.”

Illaphael drew his weapon as though he was already sick of listening to the hunter. A spear materialized in his hand with a loud noise, and powerful magic surged around Illaphael, shattering all the windows in the room.

“Take out your weapon and try to block it!”

“…”

Illaphael’s provocation caused the Russian hunters and officials to sweat. They had already made up their minds, but having to face the angry household member of the constellation they had deceived was terrifying.

The officials were naturally scared, but so were the hunters, even though they were significantly stronger than ordinary people.

“I-Illaphael… We’re not here to fight. If you’re just going to kill us, get on with it already! However, just know that if you do that, Russia will recognize the Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons as an evil god constellation.”

“…”

The larger the country’s land and the larger the population, the more faith it could send to a constellation. As such, a constellation couldn’t just disregard the faith potential that Russia had.

The Russian hunters and officials were well aware of that and boldly used that fact to their advantage.

If a fight broke out between them and the angel, they would certainly die. However, they were certain that the angel constellation wouldn’t risk losing everything he had built and achieved just to vent his anger.

“Illaphael, calm down.”

“We need to back off here.”

The other hunters who served the angel constellation intervened and stopped Illaphael, likely because they also knew what the Russian hunters knew.

“You want me to spare the vermin that disrespected our master?!” Illaphael growled.

“It’s annoying, but it can’t be helped! Let’s just go ahead and leave. There’s a lot to lose if there’s a fight.”

The other servants of the angel constellation were human, so they could grasp the situation more accurately. They realized that they had too much to lose by fighting here.

[The ‘Six-Winged Angel Who Hunts Dragons’ tells you to step back.]

Illaphael gritted his teeth and blustered, “I will remember this. I will never forget the grudge that you insolent humans have created!”

***

“…Deceived?”

“Have they completely lost their minds?”

The Icarus hunters behind Choi Yeonseung were absolutely shocked.

What the Russian hunters had done was essentially inviting someone to a party at their mansion before saying that they had actually lost the mansion in a scam.

The hunters of the angel constellation embarrassingly averted their gazes. As for Illaphael, he was so frustrated and furious that he was still involuntarily flapping his wings.

“Um… Well, constellations can be deceived on Earth because the rules are different from the Abyss,” Choi Yeonseung comforted Illaphael in an attempt to dissipate some of the awkwardness.

However, Illaphael lowered his head as though he was even more embarrassed.

“Hey, you screwed up and Hunter Choi Yeonseung is trying to comfort you. You should look up and appreciate his gesture. Why are you acting like this? Who’s the one who should be angry right now?” said Han Seha in an indignant manner.

The angel constellation had called them to conquer the dungeon as a reward, so they had come as soon as possible. However, it turned out that they couldn’t properly raid the dungeon.

“Seha, don’t be so harsh. The entities of the Abyss aren’t familiar with Earth’s rules, so they get deceived a lot. It was the same with the dwarves back then.”

“But the angel I met last time, Adaquaniel, has adapted to Earth. So isn’t it just this angel’s problem?”

“…Ah! Be quiet!”

Choi Yeonseung was speechless, so he just covered Han Seha’s mouth.

Han Seha was disgruntled, but she kept quiet at Choi Yeonseung’s insistence.

“So, in this case… Raiders from other countries can now enter the dungeon, right?”

The hunters nodded.

The Russian government and the clans had made a good deal with the angel constellation. They had given the angel constellation the right to attack the Chort dungeon while granting raiders from other countries the same rights.

Being able to clear the dungeon leisurely was completely different from trying to do it faster and more efficiently than other raiders.

If they were even a bit late, they wouldn’t get the rewards despite having paid so much!

“Did the raiders from the other countries know about this and accept it? I think it’s too much of a disadvantage to be a latecomer.”

“That’s… what I’m saying…” said one of the hunters under the angel constellation in a cautious tone.

“Huh?”

“Those raiders also got fooled. I contacted them and they said the atmosphere was unusual…”

“…Is that true?”

Choi Yeonseung was slightly impressed. He wondered if the angels and the hunters were just stupid, or if the Russian government and clans were incredibly clever…

***

“This is ridiculous! Who would pay for shared rights?!”

“We are just acting in accordance with the contract.”

“I will formally protest to the Russian government!”

“Suit yourself.”

The Russian officials and hunters were pretty polite to the constellation, but they rudely dismissed all the foreign raid squads regardless of whether they protested or not!

“T-this…”

Both the Japanese and the Chinese raid squads had no choice but to back off.

How could there be such thieves in the world?!

“Now that things are like this, shouldn’t we try to enter ahead of the other raiders?”

“Yeah, I guess we better hurry.”

“Should we also tell the Chinese hunters?”

“Are you crazy? They’ll immediately get in our way.”

The older Japanese hunter was disgusted. After all, hadn’t the Russian government learned such deceptive tactics from the Chinese government?

Meanwhile, the Chinese hunters were having the same conversation.

“Should we tell the Japanese hunters?”

“Those guys? How do we know they’re not in cahoots with the Russians? They’d do something like that!”

Indeed, these three countries were on the same page…