Ranker's Return

Chapter 730

“There is something like that?”

“Can’t we think of it as a treasure hunt?”

“What if I find it? Should I call Hugo?”

“Looking at this, your childishness will cause an accident. I’ll kill you halfway.”

The Marionette Bears responded in a happy manner when they heard what Hyeonu said about the Luos Empire from Hugo. It brought vitality to life on Bung Bung Island, which had always been the same.

“Everyone is having fun.”

Hyeonu felt strange emotions when he saw the Marionette Bears like this.

‘They are grown up, but they are like kids.’

It wasn’t beneficial to them, but they were so active because it was fun.

“These opportunities are rare, so it is natural that they are acting like this.” Hugo snorted and said to Hyeonu. It was because Hyeonu’s thoughts were revealed in his expression. “Life on Bung Bung Island is more static than you think. Sometimes we travel around the continent, but that is really rare.”

“Do you even travel around the continent?”

“Of course. For example, going to meet a friend or going to get something. There are quite a few reasons for going around.”

“I see.”

Hyeonu and Hugo chattered, but their eyes were looking around without facing each other. They were looking for a place that seemed strange.

“Why don’t we separate here to look for it? I think everyone else is going around alone,” Hyeonu suggested to Hugo. Going around together wouldn’t improve their chances of finding it. Moving separately and looking at larger areas would allow them to find the ruins of the descendants of the Luos Empire more quickly.

“Good. I just hope that if you discover the ruin, please let us know the location rather than just entering,” Hugo requested of Hyeonu. He roughly knew why Hyeonu was looking for them. However, he had to know this much information in order to cope with a possible crisis. No one knew how things would change.

"I understand. If I find it, I’ll call you straight away.”

Hyeonu nodded.

‘It could turn into a grudge toward me.’

Hugo’s words made sense. The descendants of the Luos Empire in the demon world showed favor to Hyeonu thanks to Kalui’s good leadership. There was no guarantee that the descendants somewhere on Bung Bung Island would be like them.

Hyeonu separated from Hugo and took Tang-E and Gom-E around Bung Bung Island. It was like they were going out for a light picnic. it wasn’t just Hyeonu. The Marionette Bears on Bung Bung Island were the same. Everyone wandered around Bung Bung Island with bright expressions.

“Master dude, it is hard. Let’s eat,” Tang-E grabbed Hyeonu’s leg and requested.

“Is it hard?” Hyeonu asked as he looked down toward Tang-E.

“I’m a bit tired.”

“Yes. Then let’s take a short break.”

Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head. He fully understood Tang-E’s reaction.

‘We are just walking with nothing happening...’

They had been wandering for four hours already. They just walked around the area. There were no monsters on Bung Bung Island. It was exceptional, even if Leon Meyer was managing the cave that led to the demon world. There were only animals that were hard to see as monsters on Bung Bung Island.

“Let’s eat meat, meat. Master dude, meat!”

Tang-E grabbed Hyeonu’s leg and shook it. Hyeonu was shaken back and forth like a reed on an autumn day by Tang-E’s sudden action.

“You should speak first instead of acting first. Who isn’t cooking? Did I say that I wouldn’t cook?”

Hyeonu resisted Tang-E’s shaking by using magic power.

‘His strength is just unfair... I don’t know who raised him to be so strong.’

Tang-E’s strength was overwhelming. It was hard to hold out properly without using magic power. Due to Polymorph that absorbed Giant Transformation and Demi-human Transformation, Tang-E’s stat felt higher than the visible numbers.

“Then let’s eat meat quickly. It will be a big deal if we go home like this.”

Tang-E continued to urge Hyeonu for a positive answer. As the search time increased, he knew there was little time left before going home. Yet once he went home, he would have to eat the meal that Manong cooked. Tang-E wanted to avoid that as much as possible, even if it meant Hyeonu’s annoyance.

“I understand. Let’s eat meat.”

Hyeonu laughed at Tang-E’s desperate appearance and prepared to cook by pulling various tools out of his inventory.

‘Um...? I don’t have firewood.’ Hyeonu looked at his inventory and cocked his head. There was no firewood in the inventory to make a fire.

‘I need to cut some trees.’

Fortunately, there were many trees around. It wasn’t a dense forest, but there were quite a few trees so that cutting one or two wouldn’t be noticed. Hyeonu walked toward a tree thick enough that three or four adults were required to completely wrap their arms around it.

“Tang-E, that tree over there!”

Hyeonu pulled a small axe out of his inventory and hit the base of the tree. The tree separated and started to fall down from where the axe struck it. As the huge tree fell, the ground rang and dust rose.

Tang-E approached the fallen tree and stabbed his paws into the tree. Magic power extended from his paws. Tang-E passed by the tree. After a while, Tang-E stopped walking and the tree was divided into dozens of pieces. From then on, Hyeonu stepped out. Hyeonu jumped into the air and swung his hand axe at the tree. Then violet pure energy poured out of the axe and started to split the tree into fine pieces.

“Is one enough?”

Hyeonu wondered as he looked at the firewood stacked on the ground.

Each firewood was only the size of an adult’s forearm. He thought it would be fine for a couple of months even if he didn’t cut any more.

“Why don’t you do one more, Master dude? I think it is better to do it once more than to do it later.”

Tang-E shook his head.

There weren’t many places where such large trees could be obtained. Elsewhere, at least four or five would have to be cut to make a pile like this. Meanwhile, one time was enough on Bung Bung Island. He thought it would be better to do half of what they did elsewhere.

“Really? You are right.” Hyeonu nodded. Tang-E’s opinion made sense.

“Then let’s do one more.”

Hyeonu agreed with Tang-E’s opinion. He thought that if he didn’t do it now, he would have to do more later.

“Tang-E, you go first this time.”

Tang-E spat on his paws and approached a giant tree. In front of the tree, Tang-E’s paws became huge while his body remained the same. Literally, only his paws grew. It didn’t grow in bulk due to Polymorph. It was a huge paw made of magic power.

“Where did you see and learn that from...?” Hyeonu saw it and laughed. He never imagined that Tang-E would show this magic power operation.

“Haaayaahh!”

Tang-E used a lot of energy as he grabbed the giant tree and pulled it out. The tree was quickly uprooted. It was natural. Tang-E’s strength stat was so high. It wasn’t possible for a tree to hold up against the mighty magic power.

Tang-E threw the pulled out tree. Hyeonu was standing in the direction where the tree flew. Hyeonu quickly swung the axe in his hand. At one point, it looked like there were dozens of axes. He was using Mysterious Sky Range. Sharp pure energy flew and split the tree again and again. The huge tree became firewood of the right size. Hyeonu diligently picked up the firewood that fell to the ground and placed it in his inventory.

“Let’s hurry up and cook the meat, Master dude.”

Tang-E picked up the firewood in a corner and called to Hyeonu while lighting a fire.

“I understand. I’ll do it for you.”

Hyeonu approached the place where Tang-E lit the fire and placed a large cast iron pot on it. The cast iron pot contained a variety of vegetables in water. There was no meat in it. The meat was prepared separately on a wooden plate by Hyeonu.

“Now, this is shabu shabu. Once the vegetable broth is cooked, add the meat one by one and eat it. Of course, we will be hungry before that so I’ll cook some meat separately.”

The food Hyeonu prepared today wasn’t just simple meat but shabu shabu. It was prepared to let Tang-E know that vegetables were also worth eating.

“We are eating vegetables?” Tang-E asked with a disbelieving expression.

“Of course. You have to eat it all. I only prepared delicious things. Eat it with sincerity. There is nothing that is bad,” Hyeonu firmly told Tang-E.

‘Of course, I won’t eat the vegetables in the shabu shabu...’

Hyeonu would only eat the meat and mushrooms in the shabu shabu. He wasn’t going to put the rest of the vegetables in his mouth at all. He just presented it to Tang-E like this.

“Okay. Then cook the meat first, Master dude.”

“You said you are going to eat. You have to keep your word.”

Hyeonu once again threatened Tang-E and brought the firewood piled up on one side to prepare to cook the meat. This time, he wasn’t cooking on a stone slab. He was cooking meat skewers. Tang-E ignited the firewood pile made by Hyeonu. He already knew from experience that when cooking meat on fire rather than a stone slab, it had to be cooked with a moderate fire.

Hyeonu familiarly cooked the meat skewers. He rolled them around so that they didn’t burn and carefully cooked them. The well-cooked skewers ended up in Tang-E’s hands.

“There isn’t enough firewood...”

Hyeonu muttered when he saw the burning firewood. The firewood was already burning gorgeously. However, the iron pot wasn’t boiling. Originally, he should add more firewood here, but he used all the firewood he set aside in order to cook the meat that Tang-E was eating deliciously.

‘I have to pick that up.’

At this time, Hyeonu’s eyes weren’t on the firewood in his inventory. Hyeonu stood up to pick more firewood. Something entered Hyeonu’s eyes as he picked up the firewood that had fallen to the ground. An unidentified character was engraved on the spot where the that was uprooted by Tang-E used to stand.

‘What?’

Hyeonu looked at the character, but he couldn’t figure out what it meant. However, he knew what it would be when it gathered.

‘A magic circle.’

Hyeonu pushed himself into the pit. Then a message window appeared in front of Hyeonu.

[Do you want to enter the Traces of the Empire Left in the Middle World?]

A smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face as he confirmed the message. Then he shouted loudly into the air, “I found it!!!!!!”