Ranker's Return

Chapter 688

‘As expected, this was the right answer.’

Hyeonu had this thought when he saw the nobles rushing toward him. He stood out, so they had to take care of him. Their goal was to annihilate the players.

‘I don’t need to use buffs separately.’

Hyeonu watched the incoming nobles and didn’t even think about using his item skills. His specs were so good right now that he didn’t have to use them.

‘I received a lot of buffs. It is definitely good.’

Hyeonu wasn’t in a condition where he only had Tang-E’s buffs. He also received buffs from Crescent Moon’s two priest players, Go Eunho and Yuri. In Arena, buffs could be stacked unless they were buffs of the same name. In other words, buffs could be stacks if the god who the priest served were different. Go Eunho belonged to the Temple of the Sun and Yuri belonged to the Temple of the Moon. Therefore, the buffs of the two people naturally stacked up.

Hyeonu raised the Mysterious Sky Sword and stabbed it forward. At the end of the Mysterious Sky Sword, a thin purple pure energy shot out. The pure energy was like a laser. The laser didn’t produce significant results. It was blocked by a shield of black magic power made by a noble and couldn’t go any further. Still, that alone was enough to instill wariness in the hearts of the nobles.

“The human’s attacks are formidable. This won’t be easy.”

A noble who blocked Hyeonu’s attack shouted, but it was his own cry. The vast majority of nobles still didn’t acknowledge Hyeonu.

“Isn’t it because you are weak?”

“It would be nice if you had just died… then the chance of me getting a city will increase.”

The demon nobles roared. They might be running to kill Hyeonu, but in the end, they were all competitors. Putting aside the possibility of a failure, it wasn’t a bad option for a competitor to die now.

‘They are fools. This isn’t the time to be greedy.’

Some of the nobles who felt the power of Hyeonu’s attack shut their mouths with stiff expressions. Instead, they started to raise their magic power while watching Hyeonu. They thought about killing Hyeonu the moment he showed the smallest gap.

‘Oh, this terrible killing intent?’

Such blatant gazes were read all too well by Hyeonu. Hyeonu distinguished between the nobles who looked down on him and the nobles releasing killing intent toward him.

‘I will kill them first.’

It was those who weren’t wary of Hyeonu. He was going to kill them first. It was a natural thought and action. Those who were wary and those who weren’t. Naturally, the responses would be different.

Hyeonu lightly kicked off from the ground. His body disappeared in an instant. The place where the disappeared Hyeonu reappeared was in the air. Hyeonu showed strange movements as he stepped on the air. The steps were light and the movement was gorgeous. It was Mysterious Sky Steps that was so complete that it could now be called close to perfection.

-I feel this every time I see it, but this skill is really fraudulent.

-By the way, don’t these skills usually depend on the user’s strength?

-No matter whether it is Blink or Teleport, it all depends on your personal control.

-The skill is fraudulent, alas.This is the power of luck.

-Think about it.In Arena, you move much faster than in reality.If you use that type of skill, your movements will change again and again. Does it make sense to use it so freely like that?The skill isn’t fraudulent, it is Alley Leader that is fraudulent.

The viewers argued over Mysterious Sky Steps. Hyeonu’s Mysterious Sky Steps was a strange skill for them in many ways.

Hyeonu had no idea about this discussion. He was solely focused on combat.

‘Three, four…’

Hyeonu wandered around the nobles while stepping on the air. He didn’t move rashly. He thoroughly avoided the nobles until they showed a gap. However, he couldn’t find any gaps in the nobles using just Mysterious Sky Steps.

‘If there is none, then I have to make one.’

Hyeonu deliberately showed a gap to the nobles. He stopped moving with Mysterious Sky Steps for a moment. It was a gamble that only Hyeonu, who wasn’t concerned about the skill cooldown, could do. Such a gamble resulted in an opportunity.

‘I’m glad.’

Hyeonu could only step on the air 10 times in total. After that, he had to step on something that wasn’t empty space, whether it was the ground or a tree. An opportunity came to Hyeonu before he reached this limit. One of the 10 nobles rushed toward Hyeonu, who momentarily slowed down.

‘So stupid.’

Hyeonu saw the running noble and his lips curled up in a smile. Hyeonu’s arm went up naturally. Accordingly, the Mysterious Sky Sword cut the space. A purple line was created in front of the noble heading for Hyeonu. The noble couldn’t deal with the purple line that appeared in an instant. He tried to stop, but his running speed was so fast that he couldn’t ignore inertia.

The noble literally ran into the purple line. His final act was to surround his body with magic power to create a protective layer, but he was still neatly cut by the purple line.

[The demon world baron, ‘Borko,’ has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Demon noble killed 44/???]

‘There are already 44.’

He was meeting the conditions to clear Baler’s quest related to the main scenario. In particular, it was good news that the figure was rising even though Hyeonu didn’t kill them himself.

‘Maybe it is because of the main scenario.’

Hyeonu speculated that the rise in the number was due to the emperor’s compensation. It was the compensation that allowed him to receive a certain amount of the player’s achievements. There were more message windows after this. Naturally, Hyeonu’s gaze shifted to them.

[Kill boss monsters above level 400 33/33.]

[The stage 3 open conditions are satisfied.]

[The item effect of 'Rainbow with Desire' has changed.]

[All stats +200 → all stats +300.]

[Stage 3 Ugly Gluttony: Health and magic power will recover by 10% of the damage dealt to monsters (includes players and NPCs).]

[Stage 4 opening condition: 66 consecutive PVP wins 0/66]

‘Gasp!’

Hyeonu’s movements stopped momentarily. The message that rose in front of his eyes was so shocking that he forgot he was fighting against the nobles.

Ugly Gluttony, the stage 3 effect of the ring Rainbow of Desires, was similar to the effect of Memories of Murder. It restored health and magic power in proportion to the damage he inflicted. It was just that the figure was a bit higher. Memories of Murder was 7.5%, while Ugly Gluttony was 10%.

There was also no need to mention the stats increase.

‘The items dropped by demon kings are truly different. What is this?’

He had no choice but to think so. It was the same epic item, but this performance was greater.

‘Four more upgrades are still available.’

This wasn’t the end. There was still a lot of room for the item to improve.

‘Right, I am in combat.’

Hyeonu escaped the ecstatic feeling caused by the item. Hyeonu had only lost his mind for a few seconds, but it could be deadly when fighting against the nobles, boss monsters who were over level 400. However, nothing happened during this time. Hyeonu had instinctively moved his feet while looking at the new message windows.

He used Mysterious Sky Steps. He just didn’t concentrate properly, so he didn’t show the original movements. Yet when Hyeonu used Mysterious Sky Steps, the nobles stood in place stiffly. It wasn’t because they couldn’t chase Mysterious Sky Steps that they took no action. They had just seen Baron Borko die in one strike.

‘It is a trap!’

The flimsy movements were a trap. They would die if they rushed forward. It was right to fight while cooperating with each other. All nine remaining nobles stared at each other with the same idea.

“Baron Borko died in one strike.”

“At the very least, he is more skilled than an earl.”

“Does it make sense for a human to be so strong?”

“It is embarrassing, but we must combine our strength.”

Opinions were unified and the nobles started to move. This was really lucky for Hyeonu.

‘I don’t know what is going on but it is fortunate for me.’

Hyeonu didn’t know exactly what happened, but he smiled at the situation that worked out well and leaned forward.

100—this was the rise in stats after stage 3 of Rainbow of Desires was opened.

Seven—this was the number of stats that Hyeonu had.

Additionally, five—this was the number of attack skills that Hyeonu used to cut off the heads of the nine demon world nobles.

[The demon world earl, ‘Mirstin,’ has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

[Demon noble killed 53/???]

‘The buffs are a lot better than I thought.’

The reason for this was Yuri and Go Eunho’s buffs. The buffs of the two people provided more than the item buffs that Hyeonu normally used. Of course, the giant buffs were as powerful as the two of them combined. However, it was just a strong blow. It didn’t have the effect of accelerating movement or strengthening magic power. It simply increased the strength stat.

Meanwhile, Go Eunho and Yuri’s buffs were shallow but wide. All stats were raised properly. This soon caused a major difference in Hyeonu’s fights.

‘These stats are impossible other than right now…’

Hyeonu wasn’t very interested in the current combat power he was showing. In any case, it was a battle that was only possible at this moment. Go Eunho and Yuri would each move with their party, while Hyeonu would move with Tang-E and Gom-E.

‘In any case, it will all be resolved with time.’

Tang-E and Gom-E were beings that elevated Hyeonu’s stats with just their presence. They were living and breathing buffs. The increase would be even greater when the skill proficiency of the two skills, Magic Spirit Creation and Dancing with a Bear, increased.

‘Let’s pick up the items.’

Hyeonu bent over to look for the items dropped by the nobles.

‘There are no rings.’

The rings were the items that Hyeonu desired most. The ring indicated the master of a city. However, there wasn’t a single item that looked like a ring.

It happened at this moment…

Hyeonu felt a chill go down his spine. The entire scene was quiet. Hyeonu’s surroundings were briefly empty due to the battle with the nobles. It was just that other players were still fighting fierce battles with the demons and demonic creatures. It meant that the scene could never be quiet.

‘What?’

Hyeonu quickly picked up the items, threw them into the inventory and straightened his back.

‘What’s wrong?’

The surrounding scene entered Hyeonu’s eyes. The demonic creatures were shivering like they were frightened of something, while the demons kneeling on the ground didn’t know what to do. Hyeonu’s gaze went a bit further up. Then he saw something beyond the demons and demonic creatures. The exact appearance couldn’t be seen. It was because there was a fog that appeared at an unknown time. Even so, the approximate size could be known.

It was through the shadow visible on the ground. The shadow was huge. It felt like a mountain was moving.

-What shadow is that large?

-Even our school’s shadow isn’t this large.

-By the way, when did it start becoming foggy?

-I don’t know either.It is just that all of a sudden, the atmosphere became very gloomy.

Just then, a low and heavy voice echoed through the field.

“The promise… you aren’t going to keep it?”

Hyeonu heard this voice and trembled. The voice who referred to the promise. It was definitely a voice he knew.

“Baler…”