Chapter 141

Goto Ryuji exuded a powerful presence, and the extremely high quality and dense magic power made everyone except for Gao Jianli frown uncomfortably.

"Death never touches those whose time of death has not yet come."

Castorice was not affected by his aura in the slightest. Her face showed disapproval, as if she were dissuading a person who was courting death. "Your brush with death is merely because you have never regarded death as a target. This is completely different from actively throwing yourself into death."

To other people, this means, "You're asking for death if you fight me."

Not to mention the increasingly hostile gazes from the Country R, even the S-Class members from the Country H had somewhat subtle expressions on their faces.

This girl... isn't she a bit bad at chatting?

Che Huiyi thought so too, so she spoke up for her, "Goto Chairman, Castorice's statement may not be appropriate. What she means is that it is impossible to control one's power at all times during battle."

Others:...

The blonde girl's statement was not much different from that of Castorice; both felt that if Castorice wasn't careful, Goto Ryuji would die.

But Che Huiyi also had something to say. She could sense it very clearly: Goto Ryuji was indeed strong, but only to a limited extent. It was a strength that Che Huiyi could understand. However, whether it was the old man from before or Castorice and the others, their strength was beyond Che Huiyi's comprehension.

Let alone Castorice, in Che Huiyi's eyes, even that old man who looked like a White Specters could easily kill Goto Ryuji.

Having broadened her horizons, she no longer considered herself a strong person, nor did she regard Goto Ryuji.

Goto Ryuji hadn't felt this slighted in ages, and the two people in front of him showed no malice whatsoever. On the contrary, they genuinely felt that he might die if he wasn't careful.

Knowing he wouldn't get anything out of this test, Goto Ryuji dark face, "In that case, let's postpone this competition. I have other matters to attend to and must take my leave. Please make yourselves at home."

After saying that, he nodded to Gao Jianli and then gave Tawada Kanae a look before leaving with his assistant.

As Goto Ryuji took his leave, the atmosphere in the training room immediately improved. The Country R hunters exchanged glances, their gazes towards Castorice filled with complex emotions. On one hand, the fact that their country's strongest hunter was being looked down upon like this made them feel even more embarrassed.

On the other hand, Goto Ryuji released his aura, not only Castorice herself, but even the Dancer felt that Goto Ryuji had no chance of winning, which made them somewhat wary of Castorice's strength.

The current situation is that the Dancer is much stronger than them. No one else can see through Goto and Castorice's strength except for the Dancer thinks that Goto might die within three moves.

Although this doesn't mean Goto will definitely die after three moves—after all, some abilities are powerful on first encounter and may not be effective once you get used to them—but... that's Goto.

Compared to other hunters from Country R, Kanae's feelings were more complicated. She could naturally understand her mentor's eyes, which were indicating that she should approach the Castorice.

She could understand, after all, Castorice didn't seem to have much of a sense of belonging to her country. She had been in Country H for so long and had no intention of returning to Country Y. In that case, Country R could try to poach her.

Even if you can't find anything, maintaining good relationships is still beneficial, making things much easier whether it's backstabbing or anything else.

With a sigh, Tawada Kanae walked towards Xia Chao, Castorice was surrounded by Che Huiyi and other S-Class hunters.

"It's really surprising. I didn't expect to be able to confront Captain Goto to that extent."

Tawada Kanae's voice attracted the attention of the hunters from Country H.

Goto Ryuji very famous, but he's the only one who's famous. As for the other hunters in Country R, the hunters in Country H only know his name and some of his abilities. However, this is pretty much the same in all countries.

Hunters are not known to people in other countries unless they step onto the international stage or do something significant.

"Who are you...?"

Ma Dong-wook clearly doesn't have much of a talent for remembering people's names.

"It's the hunter Tawada Kanae."

Che Huiyi did remember the name; after all, as a fellow female among the top hunters, she had paid some attention to it.

"Hello, Mr. Tawada."

Castorice greeted her politely.

"Hello, Castorice Hunter and Car Hunter." Tawada Kanae felt a little uncomfortable, but still smiled and said, "I never expected that two such powerful hunters would have never attended an international hunter conference before. I didn't even know there were such strong female colleagues before today."

Judging from her speech, it was clearly a conversation between 'girls'. The men who were still there exchanged glances and had no choice but to leave the room and move to other places.

"You flatter me, Tawada Kanae. I only recently became stronger."

Che Huiyi waved her hand, stating the truth but not mentioning Castorice.

"Call me Tawada or Kanae, it's fine. As fellow female hunters, I feel a bit closer to you two."

As Country R Tawada Kanae was clearly not used to being addressed by her full name, especially since she also wanted to build a closer relationship.

Che Huiyi understood this feeling very well. As the only female hunter in Country H, she had also regretted the current situation of male dominance over females.

Castorice didn't feel that way. Although the mature woman with long black hair in front of her didn't seem like a bad person, she couldn't sense much goodwill from her either. She was never really interested in people who approached her with ulterior motives.

After thinking for a moment, she spoke up, "Is it alright for you to come over now?"

Chapter 41 National Power Levels.

After all, Country R's morale had just been hit hard, and even Goto Ryuji's departure seemed somewhat embarrassing.

At this point, it should have caused dissatisfaction among the other hunters for Tawada Kanae to try to get close to them. Knowing this would happen, she still did it, which means she has ulterior motives. If the hunters from Country R didn't show any ill intent when she tried to get close to them, it means that not only she has something to hide, but the whole of Country R is involved.

There's something wrong with her coming here, no matter what.

Castorice seemed to be concerned about Che Huiyi's situation, but in reality, she was reminding Che Huiyi that it was inappropriate for the other party to come over under these circumstances; they were either stupid or malicious.

Having spent a considerable amount of time with Castorice, Che Huiyi naturally understood that Castorice was implying something, but she couldn't quite grasp what it meant.

Tawada Kanae didn't have the same experience as Che Huiyi. She simply took it as Castorice's way of showing goodwill. After all, judging from the situation just now, this hunter from Country Y named Castorice seemed quite gentle and easy to get along with.

"It's alright. We're all comrades-in-arms who will be fighting side by side soon. Besides, a bet is a bet. Hunters from Country R aren't the type to hold grudges, at least not us from the Swordsman Guild."

She said.

"Kanae-san ~ How did you become so familiar with the girls from the other teams so quickly?"

Shimizu Akari also came over. With her youthful height and two buns on the left and right, she didn't look like a hunter. Instead of a serious aura, she seemed cute and childlike.

"After all, we are both 'working women,' so it's normal to want to get to know each other."

Tawada Kanae smiled.

"Is that so?"

Shimizu Akari shook the lollipop in her mouth, wondering why Kanae was acting strangely.

However, the two of them were on the same side. Even though they felt something was amiss, they didn't show it. Instead, they skipped the topic and looked at Castorice and Che Huiyi with smiles. "But it's true, this is my first time going out of Country R to carry out a mission. To be honest, there are really too few female S-Class hunters."

Unlike Tawada Kanae, who had ulterior motives, Shimizu Akari gave Castorice a much cleaner feeling, which made Castorice's smile widen a bit, "This is also the first time I've met a hunter from another country. Please take care of me, sir."

"No need to call me 'Your Excellency'... Oh, I didn't introduce myself."

Shimizu Akari waved her hand, then realized the other person didn't know her name: "I'm Shimizu Akari. You can call me Shimizu or Akari, it's up to you. Although we won't have a chance to fight together this time, feel free to ask me for treatment if you need any. I can give you a friend's price for the first time~"

"The hunter is a healing type."

Che Huiyi suddenly realized, then became curious. "This is the first time I've seen an S-Class healing type."

"Yes, but I remember that Country H also has S-Class healing-type characters."

S-Class healing characters are indeed very rare, so when Shimizu Akari learned that there were some in Country H, she was quite interested in learning more about them.

"Yes, but we've never met."

Che Huiyi nodded.

"If we're talking about rarity, Castorice's ability is perhaps the only one of its kind in the world."

Tawada Kanae subtly steered the conversation toward Castorice: "I heard it's 'death,' not 'summoning the dead,' but death itself. The name of this ability is a bit puzzling. As my comrade-in-arms in the upcoming battle, would you mind satisfying my curiosity?"

"Excuse me, sir."

Castorice's smile faded slightly, "It's not that I intentionally concealed it. This is not an ability that can be explained in words, and saying it out loud may not be a good thing."

"I understand."

Kanae wasn't disappointed, since it was their first meeting and neither of them knew each other well.

"But you must be incredibly strong, right? Even Chairman Goto has shown such strong fighting spirit; this is a very rare occurrence."

"I can't help but sigh," said Shimizu Akari.

"Goto Goto's strength also puts me under a lot of pressure."

Castorice couldn't say anything too modest, so she chose to praise her enemy. Besides, she wasn't lying. Although she was confident that her control over the Tai Xu Sword Qi would prevent her from killing Goto within three moves, she really couldn't do anything if Goto accidentally died.

Will the Underworld accept her or not?

Thinking about this really puts a lot of pressure on me.

"Haha, after all, Chairman Goto is the strongest hunter in our Country R. He is the only one in Asia who can rival Liu Zhikang."

Shimizu Akari was naturally pleased with the praise her own strongman received from the other side, since it was more convincing for a strong person to say that the other side was strong.

However, Castorice's words also made her and Kanae realize that the difference in their strength had narrowed considerably, and even gradually brought them to the same level.

So, Akari simply looked at Che Huiyi.

This hunter, known as the Dancer, had just caused quite a stir on both sides. If Castorice and Goto were unmatched powerhouses among this group, then the Dancer was a powerhouse sandwiched between the two of them and the other S-Class.

"The Car Hunter is ridiculously strong. It feels like the battle is a dance. No wonder she's called the Dancer... Speaking of which, in the Car Hunter's eyes, if Goto Chairman and the Castorice Hunter knew each other well, who would win?"

Akari's idea was simple: Castorice's ability was a mystery, and she seemed unwilling to reveal it. It was likely that she needed to keep it a secret to achieve the advantage of killing at first sight.

This situation is not uncommon. In fact, many hunters have done things like defeating a stronger enemy on their first encounter, only the target is a monster.

Whether it's Country H or Country R, Castorice is someone to be noticed. Even if they are chatting or discussing their training later, they will still pay attention to this place. Hunters who are not paying attention will also temporarily stop what they are doing because of the atmosphere.

In short, at the moment the issue of Mingli was resolved, all the hunters were paying close attention to what was happening here.

Che Huiyi was taken aback when she was asked this question.

"Castorice and Goto Chairman? It should be obvious, right? I can't imagine Castorice possibly losing."

This answer made the atmosphere in the training room tense again.

"So, the outcome will be decided after we know the abilities of the Castorice Hunter."

The details were slightly altered, with the premise being added again.

"Well..."

Che Huiyi believed she had made herself very clear, but since the other party had confirmed it repeatedly, she patiently replied again, "Even if you know Castorice's abilities, the ending will not change."

Considering that the matter of the king is still a confidential matter, Che Huiyi could not give a very clear answer, and could only make a definitive conclusion. "I think that Castorice may be the strongest hunter in the world."

Why are the reviews so bad?

Even if everyone can see that Che Huiyi and Castorice are obviously friends, it's impossible for their impression score to change from 'stronger Goto Ryuji's to 'the world's strongest'. Doesn't she know about the National Power Level Hunter?

Wait... no?

Everyone suddenly realized something.

The abilities of National Power Level Hunter are generally so powerful that others cannot comprehend them, and a hunter's strength is determined from the very beginning when they awaken their magic.

In other words, this is not a profession that is purely based on seniority. Although seniority and martial arts skills will also affect a hunter's strength, they will not allow a hunter to easily surpass a higher level.

In other words... the possibility that Castorice is at the national power level is not nonexistent, but rather very likely. After all, in their eyes Goto is at the national power level, but he has not been given this identity because he has not cleared the S-Class Abyss.

So... Country H now has a national-level authority?

No, Castorice isn't from Country H... but that's not necessarily true either. People with national power can choose where they want to stay, and no one can say anything about it.

But... this is a matter of national authority...

Choi Jung-in's gaze toward Castorice was filled with an unprecedented intensity.

He made the right bet!

Chapter 42 Spiritron Crystal.

Castorice's strength is unfathomable, and her abilities are mysterious and dangerous, so she did not participate in this training. Kanae wanted to continue to get closer to her, but if she was too deliberate, it would only arouse the suspicion of others.

Not many people in Country R knew about this plan, so most of them were a little surprised by Kanae's sudden enthusiasm for Castorice. After all, in their eyes, Goto was Goto's biggest admirer and follower. Although it wasn't that she shouldn't get along with a powerful hunter like Castorice who was a semi-free agent, this behavior was indeed not in line with the impression she gave off.

However, they were ultimately from the same guild, so even though it was strange, they didn't think too much about it or ask any further questions.

With Shimizu Akari, the intensity of everyone's sparring has obviously increased. They were much more ruthless now than before, and there were even instances where they fought to the point of exhaustion.

Fortunately, the S-Class healing type is a true supermodel. Not to mention breaking someone's limbs, even if they're just hanging on by a thread, she can easily bring them back to life.

Castorice actually has a way to save everyone's lives, but it's not a treatment. Instead, it's to make the Underworld refuse the target's arrival, keeping them hanging on by a thread, but ensuring they don't die.

Of course, there is a way to completely cure it, which is to kill the person and bring them back from the Underworld, but that would be quite shocking.

As the strongest fighter in Country H, Che Huiyi was like a 'training dummy' in this sparring session. She almost never stopped training, either in one-on-one or one-on-two matches. Choi Jung-in realized that Country R wanted to figure out Che Huiyi's fighting ability and tried to dissuade her, but Che Huiyi said it was okay.