Chapter 144
Seeing the sudden appearance of the Swarm on Qizhou Island, which looked like a dark cloud pressing down, everyone frowned.
Why are there so many? These insects should only live for a year... and why are there other insects besides ants? Aren't there only ants on this island?
The sudden change cast a shadow of uncertainty over everyone's hearts.
Chapter 46 Transition.
Castorice did seem to have figured something out.
Not only Castorice, Cheng Xiaoyu also had some vague guesses. If they had to pick out a possible culprit for the changes in front of them, then the one who best fits the identity is the Swarm King, one of the Plague Monarch.
That was a king who could manipulate toxins and insects, and control corpses through the insects. His strength wasn't considered great among kings, but he was still a king nonetheless.
How did she suddenly appear here? There was never any sign of this before.
Cheng Xiaoyu couldn't figure it out, but Castorice had some guesses.
Could it be because of... the death of the Frost Monarch and the disappearance of the Fang Monarch?
The successive disappearances of two monarchs were enough to raise the alarm among the other monarchs, and if there was anything in this world that could help the Plague Monarch gain reinforcements and subordinates, then Qizhou Island was undoubtedly her best choice.
After all, there's no news of any Swarm gathering elsewhere.
"...what to do?"
The assistant broke out in a cold sweat and looked at Goto Ryuji.
Even if there are many of them, an insect is still an insect.
Goto Ryuji said this, his face was far from pleasant. He had thought that the situation would be easily resolved, but it had turned out like this, and he had to be prepared to lose manpower.
"But... our fleet can't withstand such a massive Swarm..."
The assistant hesitated before speaking.
"At this point, we should perhaps reconsider our battle plan."
Baek Ryul-ho couldn't help but speak up.
His reaction was very reasonable. The reason he suggested that Country H should be sent to attract the attention of the Swarm was because although the Swarm was large, it was not so large that it was impossible to deal with. But now it is different. Even if they land on the island, the large-scale Swarm will put them in a deadly situation.
He really wanted to go back to the island to avenge his friend, but that doesn't mean he was a reckless idiot who was willing to die.
"Renegotiate? Do you think we have that opportunity?"
Goto Ryuji glanced coldly at Baek Ryul-ho: "I don't need to tell you what these flying insects will do after we return."
"This..."
Everyone knew that Goto Ryuji really wanted to go to the island, but his words still struck a chord with Baek Ryul-ho. Yes, these insects had been trying to fly to other islands before, and now...
"If we rush up like this, we'll only be throwing our lives away."
Choi Jung-in, however, was not buying it. "Instead of throwing our lives away, we should form an encirclement on the warships, annihilate the insects trying to leave the island, and contact hunters from other countries for help."
"We can prolong the battle and wage a war of attrition, clearing out the bugs while slowly advancing the front line."
Goto Ryuji's eyes flickered for a moment, then he compromised and said, "Let's go ashore after we've reduced the number of insects to a reasonable level."
This approach is also not exactly rational, at least not as reasonable as the one Choi Jung-in suggested. However, Choi Jung-in also knows that Goto cannot accept other countries interfering in this campaign, and this is the limit of his willingness to back down.
Although Country H, as the party requesting assistance, has the right to ignore Goto Ryuji and directly seek help from other countries, as the portal is Country H's property, he also doesn't want to strain relations with Country R. If he seeks help from other countries and they come but Country R leaves, then he will have suffered a loss.
Country R is the second most powerful country in Asia, and apart from Country R, they can only turn to Country Z for help. But the problem is... Country Z doesn't have anyone Goto Ryuji who covets the S-Class portal and is willing to cooperate with them.
Neither Liu Zhikang nor Hunter Hall has a strong need for an S-Class portal. If Country R wants the portal while also wanting to weaken Country H's power, and can choose one or the other if necessary, then Country Z will simply omit the desire for the portal and want to weaken Country H's power.
Therefore, the chances of them agreeing to help are very low.
"In that case, we should send more helicopters."
Choi Jung-in- in adjusted his glasses. "Each True Magic- type hunter will be assigned a separate helicopter, and then another hunter will be assigned to protect them, so that they can advance towards the center from different directions."
"How about this?"
Goto Ryuji nodded.
"Wait a moment."
Just then, Cheng Xiaoyu suddenly spoke, attracting everyone's attention.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he continued, "If we're going to launch an offensive, can I have all of those insects?"
"Ha?"
His words annoyed the hunter from Country R, who retorted, "Who are you?"
Cheng Xiaoyu hadn't participated in the previous training and had been virtually unknown for many days. In other people's eyes, he was basically synonymous with a coward. He was a newcomer who only came to take credit after knowing that the operation was foolproof.
Although he is S-Class, here S-Class is really just the threshold for having the right to speak.
Cheng Xiaoyu ignored the question and instead focused his attention on Castorice, seemingly disregarding Goto Ryuji, the commander of the operation.
In fact, he didn't take Goto Ryuji seriously. His perception of Magic Resistance had improved a lot in the past two days through sparring with Che Huiyi and Castorice's guidance. He could easily see the magic of people weaker than himself.
Goto Ryuji is indeed very strong, but he is far inferior to me, let alone compared to Che Huiyi has cheated, and Castorice, the Underworld Administrator.
With the numerous stat boosts Cheng Xiaoyu has received, his rationality is extremely high. This means he won't engage in unnecessary conversations or care about people who aren't worth caring about.
Everyone had the idea that "Castorice is the strongest one here," but... it was impossible not to feel angry when she was ignored by people from other countries.
"You!?"
"It's alright."
Goto Ryuji couldn't compare his own strength with Cheng Xiaoyu's, but he knew that Cheng Xiaoyu was definitely as strong as him. In addition, Cheng Xiaoyu clearly had some connection with Castorice, and he was forcibly commanding the troops in a way that did not conform to the battle plan. There was no need to cause any unnecessary trouble at this time.
Faced with Cheng Xiaoyu's question, Castorice naturally had no reason to refuse. After all, Cheng Xiaoyu was now even more determined to become stronger than before, and she had no reason to disagree with the opportunity to level up by defeating monsters.
After all, she is quite considerate of her employees.
So, Castorice nodded.
"Then I'll take my leave first."
Cheng Xiaoyu smiled. He knew Castorice wouldn't refuse, but since she was his boss, he had to ask for permission first.
Without the slightest hesitation, Cheng Xiaoyu jumped off the helicopter. As black and purple flames ignited, a silver dragon appeared beneath his feet. With the rise and fall of its wings, the man and the dragon instantly burst forth with astonishing speed, rushing towards the Swarm above the island.
Seeing his behavior, everyone couldn't help but look at Castorice, a hint of inquiry appearing in their eyes.
After all, when it comes to riding a dragon, this person is the original pioneer, right?
However, Castorice did not offer any explanation, but simply smiled at everyone.
Seeing this, everyone gave up their gossipy thoughts, but there was another matter that needed an answer.
"Castorice Hunter, isn't Hunter Cheng's behavior dangerous?"
Seeing that Che Huiyi did not intend to speak, even though he had some guesses in his heart, Choi Jung-in could only speak on behalf of the others to confirm.
Chapter 47 Shooting Your Own Foot.
"Please don't worry, Hunter Cheng is more than capable of dealing with these Swarm."
Castorice's smile remained unchanged as she delivered this somewhat shocking statement in a relaxed tone.
As her words fell, without even needing her confirmation, everyone felt the surging magic igniting in the distance, the various birds and Demon Beast of the Underworld, the blue sword energy from the greatsword dropped after killing the demon king, Dominator Authority.
With a combination of various abilities, Cheng Xiaoyu's efficiency in clearing away debris is extremely high. In particular, Cheng Xiaoyu does not need to use magic power; he can directly use his authority Underworld Administrator to summon dead Demon Beast from the Underworld to fight for him.
This convenience allowed him to use all his magic in battle, and as the potions were consumed, he unleashed a Limitless barrage of attacks.
This reaction made the S-Class hunter who had just yelled at Cheng Xiaoyu swallow hard, thinking that since the other party hadn't even glanced at him, he probably hadn't paid attention to what he had said.
Watching the horde of Demon Beast rapidly gathering towards Cheng Xiaoyu in the distance, Goto Ryuji was surprised by his strength, but he was more concerned about... with him as bait in the Sky Manipulation, he could safely land on the island.
Although the number of ships on the island is certainly more than predicted, it shouldn't be a big problem if it's just for defense.
Thinking this through, he said directly, "Move the plane over there, we'll go ashore, and the operation will proceed as planned."
"This..."
Choi Jung-in hesitated for a moment, but seeing that Castorice's expression did not change, he nodded.
Seeing this, the other hunters from Country H didn't say much. Although they were competitors, they still trusted Choi Jung-in's reliability.
Since no one objected, the pilot nervously flew the helicopter directly to the island, dropping off everyone, including the A-Class hunters who were filming the scene in real time. (The original work includes real-time filming.)
As everyone prepared their equipment and prepared their posture, the camera crew completed their equipment setup and began broadcasting the live footage to viewers across Country H, as well as the Hunter Association.
Che Huiyi's expression was somewhat serious.
Upon arriving on the island, she immediately sensed an extremely powerful magical force, far stronger than that of Goto Ryuji, and even slightly stronger than that of Cheng Xiaoyu. In terms of magical power alone, it was probably about the same level as her own.
Just as she was about to offer a reminder, she heard Castorice's voice beside her. "Goto."
Goto Ryuji was just about to make arrangements, stopped what he was doing when he heard her voice, intending to listen to what she had to say.
Country R's strategy has been to win over Castorice. As long as Castorice doesn't say or do anything excessive, Goto Ryuji will try his best to give her a satisfactory answer.
"There are three very powerful magical forces on this island, and these three magical forces are converging together."
Castorice's expression suggested that she had considered her words carefully before speaking, "Even Goto would likely face certain death if he were to confront three enemies of this caliber at the same time."
Goto frowned.
Unlike Cheng Xiaoyu's reaction just now, with the groundwork laid by strength, Castorice's words did not arouse the dissatisfaction of Country R. Instead, they made everyone's expressions serious. After all, this was someone that even Castorice considered to be very powerful.
Is this the strength of an S-Class portal?
Everyone felt a sense of unease.
"Are the three magical powers you mentioned all located in the insect's nest?"
Goto spoke up.
"Yes."
Castorice nodded.
"What are my chances of winning if I face them one-on-one?"
"Even a war of attrition wouldn't guarantee victory."
This is not good news. No one doubts that Castorice is spouting nonsense, which means that the three magical forces in the nest are at least as powerful as Goto Ryuji? Hmm...? Wait, thinking about it this way, it doesn't seem so scary?
After all, everyone knows that Castorice is stronger than Goto, Che Huiyi is weaker Goto but stronger than the other S-Class. In this situation, as long as Castorice and Goto each deal with one, the others can still fight the other.
"Then, the people entering the lair will need to be selected again."
"That's what Choi Jung-in said."
Although they regained confidence in defeating the masters of the three magical forces, it didn't mean they were truly certain of victory. Too many minions would disrupt the battle, so they still needed someone outside to keep the Swarm occupied.
At the same time, because the two main combat forces, Castorice and Che Huiyi, who were originally responsible for containing the enemy outside, need to be brought into the nest, the side that was containing the enemy will face greater danger.
The hunters' discussions were broadcast to every household in Country H via webcams.
On the forum and in group chats, countless people were discussing the live stream.
Why do the hunters not seem as determined as I'd imagined?
[S-Class hunters are invincible, what's there to worry about?]
[What's there to worry about? Dude, do you know how many times this has been the battle to retake Qizhou Island? Why didn't it succeed before? Was it because they didn't want to?]
Whether it succeeds or not, as long as no one dies, it's considered a success.
With both the Castorice Hunter and the Car Hunter involved, this time it's definitely going to be different.
[You might as well say that with Country R's help this time, success is guaranteed. But after a while, there are even more bugs, several times more than last time. Can these hunters from Country R really offset this huge increase?]
[You have no idea how strong Goto; he's National Power Level Hunter who hasn't even been awarded a medal!]
Forget it, if we're really talking about strength, it's still Castorice. Can't she read between the lines? Even that Goto has to watch Castorice's face now.
[How did it become your Castorice? Isn't Castorice from Country Y?]
(Country Y)
Netizens have limited understanding of the actual situation, but there are also some who can understand the situation.
[Judging from the S-Class hunters' intentions, they plan to split up, with one side luring the Swarm outside while the other carries out the decapitation strike. However, upon arriving at their destination, they discovered that the decapitated target was proving difficult to eliminate, resulting in a stalemate in the operation.]