Ranker's Return

Chapter 748

Hyeonu looked around and muttered, “Is this right?”

Tang-E became angry at Hyeonu’s unconfident mumble. “Damn Master dude, this is already the 10th time. What happened to your memory?”

It had been a day since they started wandering through the Balder Mountains. Hyeonu used his memories to look for the instance dungeon, the Ancient Arperium, but it was to no avail. So they were just walking around the Balder Mountains.

“Didn’t I tell you to just go to Bung Bung Island? Stupid Master dude. You are being stubborn.” Tang-E fired arrows of criticism at Hyeonu.

In the first few hours when Hyeonu just walked around the Balder Mountains with no idea, Tang-E suggested returning to Bung Bung Island and asking Hugo if he knew anything about Arperium. However, Hyeonu refused it at once.

“What if Hugo doesn’t know? Then I will just waste even more time. It is better to just find it with my body here.”

The reason why Hyeonu rejected Tang-E’s offer was uncertainty. It wasn’t known if Hugo could give information about Arperium’s location. Meanwhile, Hyeonu definitely had experience going to Arperium. It was just the difference between a fast or slow speed. Nevertheless, Hyeonu would unconditionally be able to find Arperium. So there was no reason to go to Bung Bung Island and meet Hugo.

“That is true, but... you don’t know when you will find it.”

“It is real this time. Trust me one more time,” Hyeonu told Tang-E with an expression full of confidence. This time, it was real. He wasn’t just suffering pointlessly all day; it was for a reason.

‘I’m sure it is here.’

To be exact, he was able to recall something thanks to yesterday’s hardships. When he went to Arperium previously, Hyeonu filmed a video of him hunting in the instance dungeon, edited it, and posted it to A-World. The activities of yesterday allowed him to remember the existence of the video.

“Really? I will give you a finger flick if you are lying this time.” Tang-E looked like he didn’t believe it. It was a natural reaction. Hyeonu had such a confident expression yesterday.

“Yes, I will get hit not once but twice.” Hyeonu responded to Tang-E’s bet because he was confident in his own way.

“Okay, two hits. I remember it. Don’t pretend you don’t know later, Master dude.” Tang-E smiled brightly and nodded at Hyeonu’s acceptance. He thought Hyeonu would never find it today.

[Would you like to enter the Ancient Arperium?]

“Wow, I found it. Tang-E, I found it.” Not long after he promised Tang-E, Hyeonu found the place to enter Arperium.

“Don’t lie, Master dude. You can’t have found it already.” Tang-E shook his head. He really couldn’t believe it. If Hyeonu was going to find it this quickly, he should’ve found it earlier.

‘I should’ve made the bet yesterday...’

Regardless of Tang-E’s denial of reality, it was true that Hyeonu had found the place leading to Arperium.

“Yes, it is real.” Hyeonu laughed at Tang-E and entered the instance dungeon. “I will enter.”

The bear and human with a stark contrast disappeared from the Balder Mountains.

***

[You have entered the Ancient Arperium.]

[Find the traces of the giants 1/1.]

Two message windows welcomed Hyeonu after he entered the instance dungeon.

[Secret of the Giants has been cleared.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[A quest has been created.]

[Complete Chroma’s Memories]

[Gather the pieces of Chroma’s memory somewhere in Arperium to find out what happened in the past.

Rating: A+

Conditions: Collection of Chroma’s memory fragments 0/9, observe Chroma’s finished memory 0/1.

Rewards: Experience, progress to the next quest.]

It wasn’t just that. The quest he received had been cleared, and a new quest appeared.

‘Is this a quest where I have to go around...?’

After checking the contents of the quest, Hyeonu felt sweat on his hands due to anxiety. He felt it instinctively. Finding the memory fragments wasn’t about killing monsters; it was about finding things somewhere in Arperium.

‘No matter what, Tang-E will go crazy again...’

However, it didn’t make sense to go around while pretending to hunt. Based on Hyeonu’s memory and the video on A-World, there were definitely two types of monsters here—ancient ogres and ancient giants. All the giants had disappeared due to the quest Chroma gave him. Naturally, all that remained now were the ancient ogres.

‘Right now, I have to hunt the monsters that I hunted at level 200...’

It was no different from killing the orcs in the Black Forest. The ancient ogre would die when it was grazed by Hyeonu’s sword. This was the rule of the game.

‘What should I do?’ Hyeonu ended his worries by shaking his head vigorously. Nothing had been decided yet. Everything was Hyeonu’s guess. One of Chroma’s memory fragments might fall if he killed an ancient ogre.

“Come on, Tang-E. We are going to a city we’ve been to before.” Hyeonu moved step by step into the forest. It was only through that forest that Arperium appeared.

“Master dude, let’s go together.” Tang-E ran after Hyeonu, who was quickly moving away. He initially ran on two feet. Then he found it was too slow and started running on all fours.

“Uwoooo!” An ancient ogre emerged with a rough cry and emitted intense killing intent toward Hyeonu. Hyeonu frowned at the ogre’s cry that struck his eardrums. Then he kicked off from the ground and punched the ogre. The ancient ogre rose in the air and swung the iron club in its hand like a fly swatter. Hyeonu’s fist collided with the iron club the ancient ogre wielded.

According to common sense, it was natural for an adult man who was a bit over 1.8 meters tall to lose when colliding with a monster who was over several meters tall. However, this was a game. The result of all phenomena was based on the specs.

Just then, the ogre’s arm that held the iron club exploded. It wasn’t just that. The iron club also burst like the ogre’s arm, and pieces of iron flew in all directions. Cobweb-like lines appeared on the body of the ancient ogre. Following that, the ogre’s skin started to crack, and blood soared like a fountain from the cracked wounds.

The ancient ogre lost strength and collapsed on the spot. It never got up again.

[An ancient ogre has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

“Where do you think you are, fooling around like that? You can’t even use pure energy.” Hyeonu threw these last words at the fallen ancient ogre and immediately started moving again. Of course, before that, he quickly picked up the gold coins that had fallen to the ground.

‘He is such an ignorant Master dude.’ Tang-E shivered as he watched the devastation caused by Hyeonu from behind. He thought this was obviously a message to himself. Obviously, there was no reason to kill the ogre so brutally by exploding it, instead of cutting it neatly with a knife.

‘I have to walk quietly today.’ Tang-E swallowed the saliva in his mouth and chased after Hyeonu again.

***

Hyeonu arrived at a familiar place—Arperium. He had finally arrived at the city of the giants.

“Master dude, why don’t you stop when I call you?’

While Hyeonu stood still and looked around, Tang-E belatedly arrived. He climbed up Hyeonu’s back and sat on top of his head.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.” Hyeonu raised his hand and stroked Tang-E’s head.

“Giants used to come out here... but it’s so quiet now, Master dude.” Tang-E lightly ignored Hyeonu’s apology and looked around. Tang-E’s words were true, and Hyeonu felt it too.

‘It is so dreary.’

Arperium was empty. He could not sense any energy here. This was natural; all the giants that were here when Hyeonu came previously had disappeared.

“Tang-E, I need to find something... Where should I look for it?”

“Isn’t it different depending on what you are looking for? However, if you are looking for someone’s things, the right method is to go to the place where that person used to live. Foolish Master dude.” Tang-E gave a clear answer to Hyeonu’s question.

Hyeonu was shocked like he had been hit in the head with a hammer. ‘Why didn’t I think of something so easy?’

Tang-E’s words were the principle itself. In order to find Chroma’s memory, the first thing was to find Chroma’s residence.

‘If it isn’t there... I can look at where Floyd was.’

They were the only giants who maintained their sanity in Arperium.

“Thank you, Tang-E.” Hyeonu started to roam the empty Arperium with an enlightened expression. Finding Chroma’s and Floyd’s residences was a challenge. As the city of giants, Arperium was very spacious. It took Hyeonu a long time to get around the place, and he couldn’t move quickly either. This was because if there were buildings, he had to check them all one by one. He didn’t know which ones Floyd or Chroma used to live in.

“Wait a minute. Let’s take a break.” Hyeonu stopped after running around for more than two hours. It was because he thought the current method was too simple-minded. He had to come up with another way.

‘The video... I should watch it.’

Hyeonu recalled the existence of the video again. This time, he wasn’t going to check a video released on A-World but a privately uploaded video that only Hyeonu could see. It contained everything that had happened in Arperium. Hyeonu quickly skimmed through the video, only looking at the parts where Chroma and Floyd appeared. The rest didn’t have to be seen; it would merely be a waste of time.

‘Here.’

Hyeonu watched the video for a long time before finally finding what he wanted.

-Of course. If I could leave this ancestral tower, I would’ve killed him right away. He is a fallen shaman who led the clan to the path of annihilation.

Ancestral tower—that was where Floyd was tied up. In addition, Chroma had definitely said something like that before.

-Floyd, the curse is still present. Have a good look at how this human will die.

Hyeonu came up with one fact from the words of the two giants. Floyd was stuck at the ancestral tower and couldn’t move more than a certain distance away from it. This allowed Hyeonu to infer the location of the ancestral tower.

‘By the way, what does it mean?’

However, it didn’t mean anything.

“Tang-E, do you see a tower anywhere?” Hyeonu spoke to Tang-E who was sitting on his head and looking around.

“Can’t you see it? Why don’t you visit the tower, Master dude? If it is a tower you’re looking for, isn’t there only that one over there?” Tang-E looked at Hyeonu like he was pitiful.

Hyeonu ignored Tang-E’s gaze.

‘There is only one tower.’

There was only one structure in Arperium that could be called a tower.

“Over there, Tang-E.”