Ranker's Return

Chapter 787

“Why? Don't you believe me?” Hyeonu asked Erwan again.

“It is something that anyone would find hard to believe,” Erwan replied with a slightly aggrieved expression. The outward emotion was only a fraction of what Erwan felt. Common sense told him that humans invading the demon world was hard to accept. Invading someone was only done when one had built up overwhelming power or had confidence in victory.

War consumed enormous resources. The resources included not only material resources, but also human resources. It was over every time a person died. The dead couldn’t come back to life. Due to this one absolute truth, the Luos Empire was aware of the existence of the demon world and divine world but couldn’t take any action. The empire wasn’t confident to win a war against them while risking the penalties given by the unique environment of the divine and demon worlds.

‘Then how...? They invaded the demon world?’

Several hypotheses were created in Erwan's mind. Either the power of the empire of this era was enormous or they had found a way to adapt to the environment of the demon world. Otherwise, it would never be possible to invade the demon world and start a war.

‘He must be wondering how the war was waged.’

Hyeonu felt as if he could hear Erwan’s mind spinning. It was because complex emotions repeatedly emerged and disappeared on Erwan’s face.

‘It is natural not to know.’

Erwan was trapped in a confined space and it was impossible to know that they had waged a war on the demon world with adventurers as the main focus.

‘If he doesn’t know, then I’ll have to tell him.’

“Do you know about adventurers?” Hyeonu asked Erwan, who was still lost in thought.

“Yes, yes. I’ve seen it in a book. They don’t die even if they are killed. those who become endlessly stronger. I know them,” Erwan answered Hyeonu’s question with a surprised expression. He wasn’t surprised due to the question about adventurers. He was surprised by his actions of falling deep in thought in front of Hyeonu.

“The empire waged a war with adventurers at the forefront. More than tens of thousands of adventurers gathered. They captured the cities of the demon world with a great force,” Hyeonu explained to Erwan about what happened in the demon world.

“The most important thing wasn’t the adventurers. It was that His Majesty the Emperor killed all the demon kings.”

Erwan’s eyes widened at Hyeonu’s words.

“I’ll stop talking here. Now I want to hear Erwan’s story.” Hyeonu’s explanation ended here. There was no need to continue the story. What Hyeonu needed now wasn’t Erwan’s knowledge of the emperor, but the information Erwan knew.

“Yes, yes. What are you curious about, Guardian? I’ll tell you anything I know.” Erwan made eye contact with Hyeonu without being able to properly control his emotions.

“I want to hear everything about what you’ve experienced in the divine world. How did Larenix send Erwan to the divine world? How did you get this place?” Hyeonu didn’t care about Erwan’s expression and asked what he wanted to ask.

“We came to the divine world using the magic circle created by the imperial family. In the divine world, we relied on the help of the sun god, Liru, to settle down here.”

Erwan's answer was very vague. Only the approximate framework came out.

‘It isn’t a vending machine... he answers as I ask.’

“Where was the magic circle?” Hyeonu asked a question again as soon as he heard Erwan’s answer. It was a realization that he would only receive a clear answer when the question was clear.

“Time has passed and the name would’ve changed... the cities might have different names, but the location itself was in the southern part of the continent.”

The question became clearer, so Erwan’s answer was more detailed. It was only now that Hyeonu felt he was seeing a kernel of information.

“Is the magic circle carved into a cliff?”

“That’s right. I heard that a member of the imperial family carved it himself at the time.”

Hyeonu realized due to this answer that there was definitely one passage to the divine world and it was the one engraved in Viper.

‘I’m not sure there are no other magic circles at all, but... I’m sure it is almost impossible to find.’

It was absolutely impossible unless extreme luck followed.

“Did the process go smoothly?”

“It was hard, but not hard. Those who were aiming for the empire didn’t attack us openly. They thought it was a trap.”

“Trap... they must’ve thought you were bait to catch them. So what was it like in the divine world? I moved to the northern part of the divine world when I used that magic circle. Meanwhile, you settled in the south.” Hyeonu changed the question. This time, he asked about the divine world, not the middle world.

“That’s right. It is as the guardian said. We crossed the divine world. There were many sacrifices along the way. We moved as covertly as possible, but we had to make sacrifices due to the number of us.”

Erwan nodded. Sacrifice was an indispensable condition. The divine creatures and god tribe of the divine world couldn’t miss any humans.

“Why did you make such a sacrifice and settle down here? It doesn’t matter where you use the artifact, right?”

“Didn’t I say it? Liru helped us. There were many gods in the north at that time. Some of them were disgusted by humans. We wouldn’t be able to avoid their eyes in the north. We fled to the south while Liru covered their eyes and ears.”

Erwan’s eyes trembled violently. It was because he recalled what happened during what he called the ‘Great Escape.’ Those were really horrible days. Several battles were fought every day. There were divine creatures reminiscent of a small garden and they even fought hundreds of members of the god tribe.

Many died during the process. Those who survived became stronger and tougher. They used memories of the dead as fuel and burned with the desire for revenge.

‘Are there so many gods?’

“Are there many gods who hate humans? There are quite a few types of temples on the continent... at the very least, they don’t hate humans, do they?” Hyeonu asked like it was strange. The number of commonly known gods alone exceeded 10.

“There are more gods than you think. They have their own struggles. They keep each other in check and form acquaintances.”

Erwan shook his head. The number of gods was greater than expected.

“All species apart from humans have the existence of a species god. Some of them really hate humans.”

Hyeonu cocked his head. If all species had a species god, he couldn’t understand why humans didn’t have one. At the same time, Raccoon’s face came to mind. ‘Can’t a monster like Raccoon become a species god?’

“Are you saying that all the different species have a species god? For example, the Marionette Bears and the orcs?” Hyeonu asked again.

“They also have species gods. At that time, the orcs didn’t have a good or bad relationship with humans, while the Marionette Bears were considerate of humans due to their relationship with the imperial family,” Erwan explained it in terms of that time, not the present.

‘The species gods... so how did they strike a balance with the demon world? It could never be handled with the strength of the demon kings, right?’

Hyeonu became even more confused. If Erwan’s words were true, the power of the divine world was overwhelmingly higher than that of the demon world. It was embarrassing to compare it.

‘There are so many gods. Can they fight?’

Unconditionally, the demon world was inferior. Otherwise, the gods had to be much weaker than he expected.

‘Then it is just a grand name.’

“Okay, then let’s go to where the artifact is. I will get you out of here.”

He got some confusing information, but this alone was satisfying enough.

The species gods—he now knew a new concept.

“I understand, Guardian,” Erwan replied to Hyeonu with a happy expression.

***

“By the way, aren’t we going to talk about that?” Rose asked Kalen.

“What do you mean?” Kalen asked while making eye contact with Rose.

“Prince Edward. It is unreasonable for us anyway. We need to sell the information. Otherwise, we will just be losing money,” Rose said with an annoyed expression.

The Venom Guild was wiped out by Edward at the glacier zone and suffered massive damage. Their level fell and their skill proficiency dropped. They had to make a profit somewhere to make up for some of the money they lost. Rose was suggesting to get profit by selling the information.

“We have to sell it. However, who will buy it?” Kalen asked with a serious expression.

“Isn’t there more than one or two big guilds that will covet it?”

“What if you say that it can be connected to the main scenario?”

“Of course. For one main scenario, how many viewers will be attracted and how many people will subscribe to the channel?” Rose exclaimed proudly.

“However, selling it to a big guild? Should we open a channel right away?” Kalen shot back at Rose in a dull tone, but he couldn’t hide the pathetic look in his eyes.

“You aren’t thinking deeply enough.”

“Even if you can’t do two moves, you should at least do one.”

“You are so ignorant that you are a priest. You’re not good at fighting, not good at fighting.”

The other members of the Venom Guild attacked Rose at this time.

“Look at these jerks?”

Rose raised her eyes, turned her head, and made eye contact with the members of the Venom Guild.

“Why? It isn’t wrong. It is right that your ideas are short-sighted. Just keep your mouth shut like me and you’ll be halfway there.”

Crimson clicked his tongue. This was the decisive blow.

“You... You!!” Rose stretched out her hands and ran toward Crimson.

“Stop it. There is no time to play around. To open a channel, we need content and publicity. That... we need to sell our faces. First, let’s think about who is going to step up and do it.”

Kalen organized the situation. They had to prepare for the future, not the past, if they wanted to be successful.

“First, why don’t we split up and appear on livestreams that involve rankers? The arena is good and interviews are also good. It is better for all of us to go out at the same time. That way, it will be properly promoted,” Crimson looked at Rose and opened his mouth.

“All of us? If you think of the six of us going out once a day... Wouldn’t a fortnight be enough?”

Kalen thought for a moment before smiling with satisfaction. There were a lot of livestreams and plenty of places to appear. In particular, the level of the Venom Guild was at the top of the rankers. They just needed to reveal their intention to appear and they would be able to appear in all the livestreams. They just had to show their faces like this and they would quickly get used to people’s eyes. After that, it was enough to open a new channel and start streaming.

“In the meantime, we can set up an editing team and start editing the videos we have.”

The other Venom Guild members added their opinions. In this way, they started to appear in the limelight one by one. There was just one thing that the Venom Guild had forgotten. It was the fact that Edward wouldn’t just stay still as they prepared step by step to start streaming about the north.