The hunters were taken aback because they had expected Choi Yeonseung to step forward and scold them.

They had planned to use this clash as an excuse to leave…

‘This guy is unnecessarily generous...!’

‘If you should be angry, then be angry!’

The hunters who had just arrived were angry with Choi Yeonseung. They knew he was generous, but they had never thought it was to this extent!

“Now, move to your respective positions!”

“...”

“...”

***

A-grade hunter Gilbert Gerrity from the United States.

Putting aside his arrogance and greed, Gilbert was one of the best healers and buffers in the United States. That, along with his A-grade, essentially made him a superhuman.

Reaching A-grade as a combat hunter was ten times harder than reaching it in other roles. Thus, it was understandable why Gilbert had taken the role of a healer. He had done that even though most of the top hunters and clan leaders hated him and said things like “Gilbert is a scoundrel. You never know when he’ll stab you in the back!”

“...!”

However, Gilbert was genuinely baffled at this moment.

Usually, the healer could assess the whole situation better than anyone else in a raid. It was easier for them to judge the situation because they were observing the battle from the rear.

…And yet, Gilbert’s hands were sweaty as he was watching the fight.

‘Choi Yeonseung... This guy. What is he…?’

The melee hunters were currently moving back and forth near the mechanical dragon and slowly shaving off its stamina. Everyone had a different approach.

One hunter used short-ranged teleportation to distract the mechanical dragon. Another hunter wielded a cursed artifact to stack debuffs on the mechanical dragon. Another one just wildly unleashed firepower without seeming to care about the aftermath.

However, there was one person who stood out the most.

‘He’s controlling the mechanical dragon by himself!’

The hunters at the scene weren’t low-ranked; they were all B or A-grade, and they were all participating in the fight. But even so, they couldn’t slow down because of how insanely powerful the mechanical dragon was.

They were forced to dedicate one hundred percent of their focus on the monster, and if it moved even slightly, they would quickly retreat.

This entire team was functioning like cogs in a machine, but that wasn’t the case with Choi Yeonseung. Of course, he was also attacking the mechanical dragon, but something was different about his style.

‘What? What is that?’

The moment he moved to the right, he was already to the left, and vice versa. It was difficult to follow his incredibly fast movements.

The moment the mechanical dragon’s temper was about to explode, he would appear in front of its eyes again, distracting it and redirecting its attack. In terms of size, it was like a dwarf fighting a giant, but in this case, the dwarf had complete control over the giant.

The flow of the battle depended solely on Choi Yeonseung.

This sight gave Gilbert goosebumps.

‘What... Does this make sense?’

Looking to the side, Gilbert noticed that the other healers seemed so focused on their own duties that they didn’t realize how great this was. The same went for the government agents.

Gilbert was stunned. He couldn’t believe that he was the only one getting goosebumps over how incredible this fight was.

How come nobody noticed?

“Mr. Gilbert! Please support Hunter Grant!” screamed the hunter next to him.

Gilbert had been frozen in place for a few good moments as though he were possessed, so the other hunters sharply urged him to take action.

“U-understood!”

Gilbert realized that his mouth had gone dry.

‘N-no… It’s because of the mechanical dragon, not him.’

Gilbert tried hard to deny what he had just seen. Surely Choi Yeonseung had managed to grasp the strength of the monster this quickly because he had started the battle. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for him to dominate the fight like this while the other hunters were at a loss.

***

In the midst of the fierce fight, Choi Yeonseung and Adaquaniel simultaneously saw an ominous future.

“!”

After realizing that small attacks couldn’t shake off these mosquitoes, the mechanical dragon prepared to launch an attack far more powerful than the previous ones.

It was a massive explosion that would wipe out the surroundings with a flash of light. It was almost like self-destruction!

‘No way! Is it actually attacking with that?’

It was hard to believe that the dragon would survive such a huge explosion point-blank. Choi Yeonseung and the other constellations who were watching were shocked.

-How confident is it in its defense...?

“Get back! Retreat!”

The moment Choi Yeonseung shouted, the hunters immediately stopped attacking and fell back. Even though these were all thick-headed high-ranking hunters who hadn’t consulted with each other before the fight, none of them refused to obey orders.

That was because the mechanical dragon was an absurdly strong monster, but also because all of them subconsciously trusted Choi Yeonseung.

-He’s not someone to tell others to retreat for his own benefit.

Regardless of whether they were on good terms with Choi Yeonseung or not, there was no denying that the hunters trusted him with this. Besides, the skirmish with the dragon had been going on for a while now, and the mental exhaustion started kicking in. Thus, the hunters were actually glad they had to retreat.

Of course, there had to be someone who didn’t listen…

“Why isn’t she retreating?” asked Han Seha, stunned, as she pointed at Isabella Meyer.

As a summary, Meyer had first angered Han Seha when she had declined the initial proposal to pull out of the Second Realm. Then she had angered her by barging in here even though Choi Yeonseung’s team had been the one raiding this area first.

Now, even though Choi Yeonseung’s group was willingly retreating and sharing information about the monster, Isabella Meyer kept fighting. This was yet another instance of her pissing Han Seha off.

So in total, this woman deserved to die at least three times.

“I didn’t think that everyone would listen anyway.”

“Then are you going to leave her behind?”

“No,” Choi Yeonseung said bluntly. There were several hunters who couldn’t retreat because Isabella Meyer would see them and rebuke them later.

‘Using force...’

Adaquaniel said from next to him, “Hunter Choi Yeonseung, if you intervene and use force, you might get into trouble later on.”

“But Adaquaniel, if I don’t...”

“I have a good idea. You can use another hunter. Why don’t you threaten that hunter and get him to do it instead of you?”

As expected, Adaquaniel knew how to come up with pragmatic solutions. She pointed to Gilbert Gerrity, who was about to retreat.

Out of all the A-grade hunters here, nobody would bat an eye if he got threatened because of how poor his reputation was.

Choi Yeonseung nodded and said in an emotional tone, “Oh, if it weren’t for you, Adaquaniel, I would...”

[The ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead’ is angry and says to move quickly!]

***

“What?”

Gilbert Gerrity was flustered when Choi Yeonseung got close to him.

He had retreated the second Choi Yeonseung had given the order. Gilbert wasn’t a damage dealer or a tanker, so he had no reason to stay. Besides, Isabella Meyer was completely out of her mind…

But Choi Yeonseung suddenly approached him.

“Gerrity, I have a request.”

“...What is it?” asked Gilbert, frowning. He didn’t have many good memories with Choi Yeonseung, so he was naturally wary of him.

Parker Group, which was currently supporting Gilbert, had lost several times to Choi Yeonseung. Moreover, Choi Yeonseung had also embarrassed Gilbert directly when he had come to South Korea to raid with the Western Shield hunters.

However, Choi Yeonseung was now asking for a favor.

“Persuade Isabella Meyer over there to retreat.”

“...Are you crazy? I can’t do that, and even if I could, I wouldn’t dare! You know how crazy Meyer is! Gasp!”

Gilbert was startled when Choi Yeonseung reached out his hand toward his neck. He didn’t actually grab Gilbert by the neck, but Gilbert could sense the murderous intent behind this gesture.

“What are you... Hey... You might get into trouble if you do this...”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“This won’t make any difference, you madman! I have no way of persuading her!”

“You do.”

“What nonsense...”

“Attack Isabella Meyer. She will retreat if someone attacks her.”

“...”

Gilbert was shocked. This lunatic was threatening him to attack an even bigger lunatic!

It was absolutely absurd.

‘Come to think of it, can I actually do this?!’

Gilbert realized something.

Choi Yeonseung was trying to get Gilbert to be an accomplice! He wasn’t just a pushover; he was a clever pushover.

“Never!”

“There are no absolutes, Gilbert. Look into my eyes.”

“U... Ugh.”

Gilbert tried to be rational about this. Even if the surroundings were chaotic, there were still many witnesses. Moreover, he was also an A-grade hunter. No matter how good his reputation was, Choi Yeonseung couldn’t kill an A-grade hunter without facing severe repercussions.

No sane person would do something like that! However…

‘Oh, shit! He’s actually gonna kill me!’

Gilbert’s conviction vanished as he sensed Choi Yeonseung’s murderous aura. At this point, reason and logic went out the window. There was only the instinct to live.

Gilbert gritted his teeth. To think that the Puppeteer had become the puppet…

Choi Yeonseung sensed that Gilbert cracked and told him, “Now, aim over there and debuffs. Isn’t your nickname Puppeteer?”

“If you backstab us, the only part of you getting out of this realm is your head,” added Han Seha.

“Seha, you’re not supposed to get involved.”

“Ah, why? I’m not doing anything.”

‘They really are bastards!’

Gilbert was baffled by the fact that they were blatantly taking care of each other while threatening to kill him, an A-grade hunter.

There were some crazy Koreans out there!

“Ahh… Curse of Misdirection, Curse Prohibiting Magic Power Recovery, Strengthen Human Power, Magic Power Thread Control...!”

Gilbert ended up casting magic against his will, from debuffs to magic that allowed him to temporarily manipulate his opponent.

Isabella Meyer was stunned by the barrage of magic that hit her in the back. Even though she hadn’t seen it, she could tell who the culprit was. It was Gilbert Gerrity.

‘The traitor has finally shown his true colors!!’

Isabella Meyer jerked her head around and glared at Gilbert with blazing eyes, causing him to avert his gaze in fear. But even though he didn’t look at her, Isabella kept glaring at him.

“Choi Yeonseung, I did it! You tell her…” Gilbert trailed off as he realized that Choi Yeonseung had disappeared. “Oh, you damn jerk!”

It was clear that the moment he cast his magic, Choi Yeonseung used his martial arts to the extreme and rushed out with the people around him.

Gilbert had reached his position by taking advantage of others, but this situation was truly unimaginable. He suddenly hated all martial artists.

“Mr. Gilbert, you must retreat! If you get caught now, you might get into a fight!”

“...I know!”

Gilbert Gerrity used magic and ran away with all his might, not to escape from the mechanical dragon, but from Isabella Meyer, who was chasing him with the intent to kill.

***

“Everyone! Everyone!! You can’t do this! You can’t do this!!” cried out the Homeland Security agent.

However, no one listened.

“Hey! There’s a fight!”

“Hah, they seem like the kind of people who do nothing after receiving the expensive goodies. Tell them to stay put and stop acting ridiculous!”

“Isabella Meyer is trying to kill Gilbert Gerrity!”

“What? Why are you only saying that now?!”

The hunters, who had seen so many fights that they had grown tired of it, jumped to their feet. A fight between A-grade hunters was on a different level. Besides, Isabella Meyer might actually kill Gilbert.

They couldn’t call themselves real hunters if they missed this kind of spectacle.

“Are we finally witnessing Gerrity bite the dust?”

“Shit! If this were on Earth, I could’ve bet some money...”

However, the hunters instinctively shut up as they were running. The atmosphere was no joke. An A-grade hunter with murderous intent wasn’t much different from a rampaging monster!

“Gilbert Gerrity, I will give you one last chance! This is your last chance to explain! Don’t be fooled into thinking that I won’t break your neck!”

“Hunter Meyer! You need to calm down. As for Hunter Gerrity...”

“Outsiders, shut up!”

“...”

The deputy secretary of Homeland Security tried to intervene, but Meyer’s magic-enhanced shout overwhelmed him, causing him to turn pale.

Han Seha was impressed. “That’s the only thing I like about her.”

“Don’t learn from her...”

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