Ranker's Return

Chapter 394

Translator: rainbowturtle

Editor: LD & Jyazen

Hyeonu’s figure disappeared like a mirage, and the Mysterious Sky Sword pierced the colorful armor. The commander of the living armor soldiers gave its body to the Mysterious Sky Sword like meat being skewered. The dark red energy surrounding the Mysterious Sky Sword disappeared.

Just then, there was a sound like that of a bomb exploding. All the magic power contained in the Mysterious Sky Sword was exploding inside the commander. However, the living armor soldiers’ commander didn’t fall from this one blow. The commander was different from the other soldier spirits.

‘Then I will explode it until it collapses.’

Regardless, Hyeonu still had a lot of magic power left. No, in fact, his tank was still full. It wasn’t much different from when he wasn’t fighting. He used magic power freely like flowing water, but even now, his magic power was already recovering. It was thanks to the unique effect of the gauntlets Hyeonu wore, Memories of Murder.

[Effect: Physique and magic power will recover by 7.5% of the damage dealt to monsters (includes players and NPCs). ‘Crazy Slaughter’ can be used.]

Large and small explosions occurred in succession. Consequently, the commander of the living armor soldiers bent down, falling gradually. At first, only its head was slightly lowered, but now its knees were about to touch the ground. Additionally, the hole in its armor grew even larger.

It shattered because it couldn’t do a clean split around the Mysterious Sky Sword. As blue smoke flowed out through the hole, Hyeonu pulled out the Mysterious Sky Sword and stepped back. Then he placed the Mysterious Sky Sword back in its sheath. At this moment, a huge sword fell from the sky and struck the back of the kneeling commander.

[The guardian knight spirit, Ravi, has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

It was a level-up. The experience that the living armor soldiers—or to be precise, the ghosts—gave was enormous.

‘I think I killed over 100...’

It was originally an insufficient number for a level-up. However, the experience given by the last living armor ghost was so large that Hyeonu leveled up.

‘Hopefully, I can reach level 300 here.’

He was looking forward to it. It was because he realized that Lepil was a fairly good hunting ground. Items and levels—this was a chance for him to get both of them at once.

***

Crescent Moon’s players were doing their own work in the waiting room. It ranged from Lee Hoon sitting still and staring in the air to Dwayne watching videos of his opponents’ past matches on the tablet. Their activities all varied. Among them, Mason was sticking to Hyeonu’s side like a leech. Anyone could recognize the emotion on Mason’s face. It was shock. He was very shocked about something.

“Hyung, what level are you now? 299? What is this...?”

While Mason was talking to Hyeonu, Hyeonu’s level was accidentally brought up. When Hyeonu heard the question, he reacted like this.

“Yes, level 299. Now I can reach the fourth class advancement as long as I gain one more level. I don’t know the precise conditions for the fourth class advancement though. In any case, I am definitely level 299,” Hyeonu replied with a bored expression. He had already repeated it several times that he was level 299.

‘Did I say it for nothing?’

Hyeonu never dreamed that Mason would stick to him like this after hearing it.

“What level are you at? Your level is high as well.”

“Hyung, my level is simply high, whereas Hyung might have the highest level. Why don’t you look surprised?”

“Go and get ready for the match. There isn’t much time left.”

“We are just helpers anyway. This is more important.”

Hyeonu narrowed his eyes before speaking in a low voice, “Do you want to appear in PvP? In the future, our team will have five games.”

“Wait, Dwayne! What did you say the opposing side’s siege strategy is today?”Mason turned away and approached Dwayne in a natural manner after hearing Hyeonu’s words.

Hyeonu sighed as he lay back without any strength.

“Groan...!” He let out a pained groan. For the past few days, he had taken a break from exercising and immersed himself in Arena. Nevertheless, he still hadn’t finished Lepil. From the very beginning, he already knew the location of the imperial palace that was speculated to have the item.

The problem was that he couldn’t get in. The imperial palace was covered with fog, and the entrance wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he pushed. Simultaneously, he’d gotten a quest that would open up the imperial palace as a reward.

[Kill the Spirits]

[To enter the imperial palace of the Luos Empire, you must defeat some of the spirits in Lepil.

Rating: SS+

Conditions: Kill Guard Spirits 103/3,333, kill Guard Knight Spirits 1/35.

Rewards: Experience, opening the entrance to the imperial palace of the Luos Empire.]

‘

It is almost over... I can find it before the stream tomorrow.’

Unfortunately, he hadn’t fulfilled the conditions yet, but he was almost there now. Just before departing for Arena Stadium, the numbers were 3,128 guard spirits and 32 guard knight spirits. Hyeonu could only feel regretful since the goal was right in front of him. However, it was of no value to him right now. The main thing was the match that he would soon play. It was a stage where perfection was expected.

‘I can’t give up on the performance.’

After two matches, Hyeonu was completely confident about this. In any case, defeat was impossible.

‘The synergy with Sunny is greater than expected.’

One of the reasons for this conviction was Sunny’s presence. The affinity of her undead with the knights of Phinis was too great. It was their specialty to endure. Two people fought in front while being supported by Yuri’s divine magic and Sunny’s curse magic. It was really easy for them to keep holding on even if their opponents were professionals.

‘If we’re defending, we must persist like an iron wall to induce the opponent’s surrender.’

Surrender...

Hyeonu was thinking of getting his first Winter League surrender. No, it would be the first surrender for the entire Korean Arena League this year—a surrender that was hard to see. Both players and viewers regarded surrendering as an act that went against professionalism. This was why the players of the team that surrendered would receive a lot of criticism when it happened. Even so, Hyeonu didn’t care about this. He would create a situation where no one could say anything even if it was a surrender.

‘In a siege, I will take over the inner office, so both sides are the same.’

During the siege, he was going to capture the opponent’s inner office, which was a scene that was similarly difficult to see. Hyeonu had always been a painter, using many guilds and monsters to draw the big picture. Now, the protagonists of his paintings were the professional teams.

“Everyone, gather around. I have decided on the siege strategy for today,”Hyeonu called out to the players.

***

“In the second match of the third week, Crescent Moon, which has won twice, will be facing Emro Sparks, which is on a steep cliff with two losses,”Jang Junhyung introduced the two teams with a neat explanation.

Crescent Moon was at 2:0, while Emro Sparks was at 0:2. The two teams had the exact opposite situation. Emro Sparks wasn’t in a particularly good place. They were better than Ellen Waze, but that was it. Now there would be no chance to reverse Emro Sparks’ bad situation.

“Both captains are present, and the coin is being spun. What will be the fate of both teams?!”

The coin flew into the air and started to fall.

“Crescent Moon will attack! What result will occur? We will see it in the siege later!!”

The result was that Crescent Moon was attacking. Naturally, this meant Emro Sparks was defending.

“The players on both teams are entering the designated cube.”

All the players from Crescent Moon and Emro Sparks got into the cubes on the stage.

After confirming that all the players had connected to Arena, Lee Wanghoon opened his mouth and commented, “The difference in power between the two teams is clear. Crescent Moon has Alley Leader as its ace and is definitely a strong team. Emro Sparks hasn’t changed much from last season and is just a low-mid tier team.”

Then Chae Yunho decided to add to Lee Wanghoon’s cold analysis.It wasn’t actually an analysis though; it was just a fact that everyone knew.

Chae Yunho said, “The momentum of the two teams is clearly different. The atmosphere of a team rising is 2:0 is obviously different from a team with 0:2. And... there wasn’t any special fighting spirit from the Emro Sparks players today. I don’t see any desire for victory.”

It was sharp criticism, and they weren’t wrong. Ellen Waze had a longing for victory. Regardless of the reason, they had aspirations. Today, nothing like that could be seen in Emro Sparks.

“This type of easygoing attitude will definitely cause great anger. If a special video is done well enough, it could be attached to them for a lifetime,” Chae Yunho concluded cynically as he looked at the players on the screen. He seemed to have already seen the future of Emro Sparks.

***

Hyeonu came out separately with Tang-E, just like he had done during the previous game with Ellen Waze. Everyone thought the same thing—that he would move just like how he moved in the last game. The reason for that was simple. The results were good.

In the professional league, results were everything. If the results were good, there was no need to change the strategy, especially if the opponents were easy. Emro Sparks naturally thought the same. They didn’t think Alley Leader would come up with another strategy.

“I can’t see Alley Leader. Does he plan to play the same way as he did in the last match?”

“Really? Then I’ll go out and fight in moderation. We can’t win anyway.”

“Yes. We just have to work hard. What can we do if it isn’t going to work?”

The players had already half given up. It had been this way since the end of last week’s match. To put it nicely, it was a relief. To put it badly, they gave up without even challenging it. After a while, the Emro Sparks players gave up on the castle and ran out. Knowing there was no chance of success, they threw the game first and instead fought the large forces that were supported by Sunny and Yuri.

It was a fierce fight—a bloody and sweaty battle. Why was this possible? It was because there was no Alley Leader. If Hyeonu had joined the battle, it would’ve ended in an instant. Unlike their battle, the walls were peaceful. That was... until a man and a bear appeared.

“Alley Leader?”

“Why is he here?”

There were expressions of astonishment on the players’ faces. They seemed to have forgotten that this was a game being watched by tens of thousands of spectators and dozens of times more viewers.

“How did you get here?” A player asked Hyeonu a question.

“How did I get here...? I jumped,” Hyeonu answered vaguely.

It was a stupid question... which they asked an opponent they were going to have to fight to the death against. Black pure energy swept over the walls. No player was capable of blocking this pure energy that was dozens of meters long, let alone these players who were in an unprepared state. One player was logged out, and the others barely escaped the attack.

‘I can just run.’ Hyeonu glanced at the Emro Sparks players before turning and jumping down from the walls. At first glance, it was obvious they had lost their will to fight.

“That place...?”

“Chase him!!! Brief the kids about the situation!!!”

The Emro Sparks players noticed Hyeonu’s direction. He was heading toward the inner office.

“We can’t give him the first occupation!!!”

This was the only thing that had to be prevented, so much so that it would be better for them to get wiped out. Emro Sparks belatedly caught on fire.