Chapter 147

"Yes, thank you this time, Castorice Hunter."

Goto Ryuji felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the battle unfolding not far away.

He even thought that their so-called plan was meaningless. All they needed to do was send Castorice, Che Huiyi, and Cheng Xiaoyu over, and they could easily sweep through the area without any plan at all.

Is this the real National Power Level Hunter? Have I been living in a well all this time?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a sense of shattering of his Daoist resolve.

He had always believed that the only difference between him and National Power Level Hunter was that he hadn't cleared an S-Class dungeon. But the three men's actions seemed to be telling him: 'You are indeed stronger than S-Class, but you're still just S-Class.'

Not just him, but other hunters in Country R had similar thoughts.

They always thought that Goto Ryuji was invincible, but perhaps he wasn't as invincible as they imagined.

Shimizu Akari exhaled. "The strength of Castorice and Huiyi has completely exceeded my understanding. National power level... Can humans really be this strong?"

Che Huiyi was a little taken aback by these words, after all, she didn't know the strength of other countries' authorities, and she herself was not as powerful as Goto just a few days ago.

"National authority is not a symbol of absolute power."

Castorice smiled and explained, "However, all national-level hunters share a common ability that Goto has not yet mastered."

"Shared capabilities?"

This topic not only piqued Shimizu Akari's curiosity, but also made Goto and the other hunters perk up their ears.

"Currently, the four National Rights-level Hunters, apart from that healing hunter, all possess the ability to exert force on objects without touching them."

Castorice explained.

It is actually one of the Dominator Authority, the ability of the Radiant Shards.

These four individuals are all possessed by Radiant Shards, which is why they all possess this ability.

As Shadow Monarch who fell from the Radiant Shards to the fragments of darkness, he also possesses this ability, and Cheng Xiaoyu's use of it is masterful.

The others naturally realized this as well, and then looked at Cheng Xiaoyu, who was fighting, in astonishment.

"Is he... also National Power Level Hunter?"

Goto's voice was a little hoarse, but he quickly realized that he had asked a stupid question. The only ones who could participate in a battle that he couldn't interfere with were national-level hunters.

However...

Goto turned his attention to Castorice.

Even Cheng Xiaoyu, and Che Huiyi, who had just suppressed the female-looking Demon Beast even more fiercely, both vaguely regarded this purple-haired girl as the center of attention. Moreover... just a few days ago, the Dancer did not possess this powerful strength.

Could it be... that there really is an ability in this world that can make hunters stronger?

Chapter Fifty-Three addresses the isolation of Castorice.

Although Goto Ryuji was extremely excited, he remained rational and knew that it was impossible to bring up such an offensive topic in their current relationship, but he was also reluctant to give up.

After thinking it over, he turned his attention to Shimizu Akari and Tawada Kanae.

These two are probably the two hunters from Country R who have the best relationship with Castorice. The biggest benefit of their trip to Country H to provide support may not be the title of National Power Level Hunter, but rather the friendship they have gained from Castorice.

However... he might not actually be able to get this title. Although the enemy in this battle was obviously much stronger than the dragon that had caused a lot of damage in the U.S., anyone with eyes could see that the ones who were actually doing the work were Che Huiyi and Cheng Xiaoyu.

Yes, even Castorice is seen as a slacker by outsiders.

After all, while those of them who were present could sense how powerful the unknown entity that suddenly appeared was, and how shocking it was to be instantly killed by Castorice, those who were not present could not feel the significance of this achievement.

All they could see were Che Huiyi and Cheng Xiaoyu's outstanding performances, fighting fiercely against the enemy's BOSS.

Therefore, even if a national-level power is selected this time, one or both of Che Huiyi and Cheng Xiaoyu will be chosen.

The subsequent battles became almost pointless. After leaving Che Huiyi to cover for the enemy, the others went to the island to clear out the Swarm. The hunters who had stayed on the island were initially startled by the Shadow Legion summoned by Cheng Xiaoyu, thinking that the enemy had sent reinforcements. Later, they realized that these seemed to be friendly forces.

The already high-spirited hunters were further encouraged upon learning that the decapitation squad had achieved its objective, and together with the hunters who had returned to the ground, they quickly cleared the monsters off the island.

Time quickly passed, and a day later.

Unlike the stirring yet somber pre-battle atmosphere, the atmosphere within the combined assault team was somewhat subtle, except for the first few tens of minutes after the battle began.

The hunters, numbering in the thousands and representing all levels (A, B, C, D), were originally waiting on the ships surrounding Qizhou Island for the Swarm to escape and attack, but they didn't see anything and inexplicably received news of their return journey.

The people of Country H also felt indescribable emotions about this situation.

That's it?

The crisis was so easily crushed? What about their pre-battle fears and anxieties?

Gao Jianli had anticipated this. Although the appearance of the King, Castorice's easy defeat of the King, and Che Huiyi's complete suppression of the King were all unexpected to him and the Radiant Shards, the easy resolution was something he had expected.

After all, Castorice and Cheng Xiaoyu were both dispatched at the same time, and Che Huiyi's strength inexplicably reached the top level. When the team set off, Gao Jianli silently mourned for the Queen Ant.

"Let's keep in touch after we get back! Don't forget me Castorice!"

Shimizu Akari felt a little regretful about leaving. She still had a good impression of Castorice. Kacho was a beautiful and gentle peer, which made it easy for her to develop a liking for her. Moreover, Castorice was also very strong. Becoming friends with Castorice would bring her a lot of face and bragging rights.

But her sister was waiting for her to return, and for Shimizu Akari, the whole world combined was not as important as her sister.

DFN could not allow its country's strongest guild to remain on foreign territory indefinitely. Immediately after the incident, it issued an order for Goto Ryuji to return. Goto Ryuji actually wanted to further strengthen the relationship between Country R and Castorice, but he also knew that too much of a good thing could be bad.

"I will."

Castorice is no longer the Amber who lacked friends and loved connecting with people, but she is happy to respond to other people's enthusiasm as long as it is not to the wrong person.

"If Castorice- chan becomes National Power Level Hunter, remember to come visit! We'll fight side-by-side then, and I won't charge Castorice- chan anything!"

Shimizu Akari winked at Castorice.

Tawada Kanae sighed and shook her head, "Don't embarrass yourself."

This miserly personality is truly beyond saving, and with the Castorice Hunter's high strength, how could he possibly be injured so easily?

"If the Castorice Hunter needs it, he can come to Country R at any time. Even if he is not at the level of national authority, Country R will always welcome him."

Tawada Kanae said.

Hunters don't need national authority status to go to other countries, but they only have two options to enter a portal: be invited by someone or bid for it themselves. We'll leave aside invitations for now, but bidding for it yourself requires a local hunter's license.

Neither Country H nor Country R support dual citizenship. Country H has a loophole in birthright citizenship that allows people to exploit the dual citizenship system, but Country R does not.

However, those with national authority can bypass this restriction and have the right to bid for portals in any country.

After accepting Country R's overtures, Castorice and the others watched as the hunters from the Swordsman Guild boarded their return plane.

A few more days passed, and the undercurrents of public opinion began to ferment.

Over the past ten days or so, Castorice has noticed that she is paying a higher price when bidding for teleportation portals than before, and that the recruitment process that used to fill up the queue immediately now takes ten minutes or even an hour to gather people.

At first, Castorice thought that Hantes was unable to suppress the other guilds, which led to the other guilds secretly causing trouble for her. They hoped to use this subtle approach to annoy her and then have their guild members extend olive branches to her.

Castorice wasn't too bothered by this subtle tactic, but Han Songyi was very unhappy after hearing her analysis and insisted on confronting the guilds.

But... the question is, which guild is it?

She didn't think it was those S-Class hunter guilds causing her trouble, since it was unnecessary and would offend people. But if she looked at small and medium-sized guilds, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Han Songyi had no choice but to tell Che Huiyi about the situation. After learning about it Che Huiyi immediately began to investigate, but the result was... no results.

No, rather than saying there was no result, it's more accurate to say that... most guilds, including many individual and group hunters, were intentionally or unintentionally contributing to this situation.

There are too many potential partners, and their behavior is not based on mutual agreement or transaction, but rather they are spontaneously isolating Castorice.

Although not everyone and every guild is doing this, the number of people doing it is already quite significant.

After receiving Che Huiyi's reply, Castorice couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Because she didn't understand why either.

Until one day, she felt that the protection she had left on Han Songyi had been touched.

Chapter 54 The Hunter Association intervenes.

Due to a previous accident, Han Songyi entered a portal without Castorice's knowledge and nearly lost her life.

After that, Castorice always kept a protective measure by Han Songyi's side. It was a ring that she dropped while pretending to fight monsters. It could open a protective barrier for a period of time. Although it could not defend against S-Class attacks for too long, it was basically impossible to break through the defenses of attacks below S-Class.

The only drawback is that it needs to be recharged by the Castorice after use.

However, this weakness is not a concern in most cases, because no one will cause trouble for Han Songyi. Everyone knows that Han Songyi and Castorice are basically bound together as a team.

But now this protective measure has been penalized.

Furthermore, Castorice had strong reasons to suspect that the other party's target was not Han Songyi, but rather herself, and that Han Songyi was merely implicated by her.

Thinking of this, Castorice, who had been calm, couldn't help but feel angry and even a little worried.

She wasn't worried about Han Songyi at this moment, because she could sense that there was nothing wrong with the protective barrier on Han Songyi's side.

What worried her was that since someone had targeted Han Songyi, could it be that they had targeted other people besides Han Songyi? After all, unlike herself who had no ties, Han Songyi had a family.

Castorice immediately called Choi Jung-in.

"Chairman Cui, could you help me protect Han Songyi's family as soon as possible?"

The call was answered immediately. Castorice didn't give any background information because she knew the other person knew what she was saying.

"Feel sorry..."

Choi Jung-in's face was also very pale. He rubbed his temples with his left hand, and his tone was no longer as confident as usual, but rather full of exhaustion and helplessness. "Please rest assured, Hantes had placed people around Han Songyi's family in advance, and her family is fine."

He was already investigating the matter before Che Huiyi did so because of Han Songyi's words.

There was no mastermind behind it all, nor any exchange of benefits; the hunters were simply silently resisting Castorice's mentioned identity as 'not human'.

Although the enemy said it was 'not this world,' Castorice's abilities and her extraordinary appearance, coupled with the fact that the two known worlds are the world of humans and the world of Demon Beast, led many people to simply equate Castorice with Demon Beast.

After all, the two enemies they faced this time were also Demon Beast that looked just like humans. The appearance of the Plague Monarch and the King Kong Monarch made people think even more about whether Castorice was the same as them.

In addition, due to the xenophobic nature of the underlying logic of Country H, even though many people know that Castorice should be kept in Country H from all aspects, many others are not rational.

Upon learning the full story, Choi Jung-in realized that this matter absolutely could not be brought up in front of Castorice, as it would be detrimental to keeping Castorice in Country H. Coupled with Country R's overtures and Country Y's repeated requests for her, Castorice was likely to be poached directly because of this incident.

It's not like you have to study in their Country H.

Knowing the importance of Castorice to Country H, Choi Jung-in -in covered up the matter, not even telling Che Huiyi, wanting to work with the Hunter Association to secretly resolve and guide public opinion.

But these idiots actually dared to bring this matter to Castorice's face in a way that was illegal.

Choi Jung-in felt like he was going bald.

Castorice's attitude at this moment proved that she actually had some idea about it, but she was not sure and did not care too much. Under these circumstances, Country H did not seize the opportunity to resolve the situation before it went further.

"Terribly sorry..."

He said it again.

Castorice didn't vent her anger on him, after all, it wasn't his fault. Although he had concealed his true feelings, Castorice could understand his thoughts. Besides, he had already made the worst-case scenario preparations and arranged manpower in advance.

But that doesn't mean Castorice's anger has simply vanished.

Thunder and rain are both divine blessings. Amber, who was God in the previous world, understood this principle very well. However, even as God, Amber was not the type to like to bring down punishments. Generally speaking, such matters would be handled by Black Amber.

Unfortunately, there is no Black Amber in this world.

With a sigh, Castorice opened a portal to Han Songyi's location.

The purple light attracted everyone's attention. At this moment, no one could fail to recognize that this was Castorice's doing. The hunters who were originally surrounding the protective barrier immediately shrank back upon seeing this.

Even though they believed that Castorice was a non-human humanoid Demon Beast and that she was hiding an evil plan, they were also well aware of Castorice's combat strength.

"The Castorice."

One of the men maintained a stiff smile, "We had some misunderstandings with Hunter Han."

Han Songyi glared at him angrily.

She had just finished school and wanted to take a taxi to the Hunter Association to meet up with Sister Castorice, but after getting in the car, the driver took her on a long, winding journey, and even spoke ill of and slandered Sister Castorice Die. How could Han Songyi possibly stand it?

After stopping the vehicle, she immediately punched the driver.

She was just an E-Class hunter, and she only wanted to teach the driver a lesson and then leave in another car. But the other party immediately got out of the car and ran to her side, shouting that she had hit someone.

This commotion naturally attracted a group of people, including some high-level hunters, who spoke ill of Sister Castorice in front of her, or more accurately, spoke sarcastically.

Naturally, she impulsively argued with the Human Order and even started a fight.

The attacks of E-Class hunters had no effect on these people; instead, they were easily pushed away.