Ranker's Return

Chapter 808

‘Is that Edward?’

Hyeonu immediately took out a bead from his inventory when he saw the appearance of the person believed to be Edward. It was an attempt to capture the appearance of the gray knight.

‘The quest message... It hasn’t come out yet.’

The gray knight’s appearance was captured by the bead, but a message window didn’t appear stating that the quest conditions had been met. It seemed that this alone didn’t allow the gray knight to be recognized as Edward.

‘Then I have to make sure it is confirmed.’

Hyeonu turned toward Rose, the priest of the Venom Guild, and said, “Please buff me.”

From now on, he couldn’t afford to joke around. Hyeonu didn’t know how strong Edward and the five bone dragons would be. Furthermore, there were countless undead that supported them. Even though he had the fifth class advancement, it was impossible for him to deal with them lightly.

“I’ll help as much as I can,” Rose replied while applying a buff to Hyeonu.

Hyeonu was currently the only hope for the Venom Guild.

“Tang-E and Gom-E, fight with these people here. Defend them as much as possible. Got it?” Hyeonu requested Tang-E and Gom-E to work with the Venom Guild. It felt like something was wrong, but the Venom Guild couldn’t think of anything to refute it. Rather, it felt reliable.

‘It is reassuring.’

The power that Tang-E and Gom-E showed as they passed through the snowy mountain was beyond imagination. In particular, Tang-E’s magic was thrilling. The power was unstoppable. It was equal to the magic used by the magicians of the Venom Guild. In addition, Tang-E used magic of various attributes. The Venom Guild had identified at least five of them.

“I know, Master dude.”

“Believe in me.”

Tang-E and Gom-E nodded at Hyeonu’s words without even paying attention to the Venom Guild.

“Yes, I will believe in you.” Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s and Gom-E’s heads once before heading toward the undead army alone.

‘Except for Cutting the Moonlight... I’ll use the rest.’

Hyeonu intended to hide only Cutting the Moonlight as a trump card. He would use the other skills randomly. There was no need to save them. There was no cooldown time on Mysterious Sky Demonic Art, and the other skills were focused on slaughter. Hyeonu’s final goal was Edward. It was best to hide Cutting the Moonlight, which was the strongest skill in an individual battle.

The undead army charged toward Hyeonu, who was walking forward alone. This undead army had all sorts of undead. It was incomparable to the army that Hyeonu met in the past.

‘Isn’t this a bucket of honey? It is honey.’

However, Hyeonu joyfully swung the Mysterious Sky Sword toward the undead army that was rushing toward him. Hundreds of pure energies overwhelmed the undead army. One section of the undead army shook significantly due to the bombardment of Hyeonu’s pure energy. Most of the undead were too weak to block an attack that had most of Hyeonu’s magic power in it.

[A cursed ice troll has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[A cursed dark elf has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[An elite skeleton knight has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

His level went up in an instant. The experience points accumulated in the previous battle were combined with the enormous experience points obtained from the current battle.

Hyeonu rushed faster toward the falling undead army. At this moment, the bone dragons started to move.

“Kuaaaaaah!”

There was a sound like a throat blocked by phlegm.

[You have heard the Fear of the blessed bone dragon.]

[The influence of fighting energy allows you to ignore the Fear of the bone dragon.]

‘They are moving right away?’

Hyeonu frowned when he heard the dragon’s Fear. He never thought that the dragons would emerge right at the beginning.

‘Oh, that’s right. Tang-E!’

Hyeonu hurriedly stopped in his tracks. His body leaned forward due to inertia, but he used that power to push off from the ground, spinning half a rotation in the air. Then he quickly shot toward the location of the Venom Guild.

‘I am the only one immune to Fear.’

The reason why Hyeonu was in such a hurry was the Fear. Hyeonu had many means to fight back against the Fear due to his stats and skills. He didn’t suffer at all unless there was quite a difference. Meanwhile, Tang-E was different. He had no way to fight back.

Hyeonu quickly arrived at the place where Tang-E and Gom-E were.

“Are you okay? Can you move?” Hyeonu landed next to Tang-E, who was standing still. Tang-E didn’t respond to Hyeonu’s words. Instead, he just blinked his eyes.

“I don’t think my brother can move right now, Master dude.” Gom-E approached Hyeonu and spoke instead of the speechless Tang-E. Gom-E was a magic spirit made using Hyeonu’s magic power. He was relatively less affected by Fear, and it was even possible for him to be safe from the dragon’s Fear.

Hyeonu looked up at the bone dragon floating high in the sky. The dragon only roared once but didn’t show any other behavior.

‘What? Why aren’t they coming at me?’

Hyeonu was feeling skeptical about the dragons when a voice came from the air.

“One time... I’ll give you one chance. If one person remains... I’ll spare the rest.” The knight in gray armor, Edward, made a suggestion to Hyeonu and the Venom Guild. It was a sudden suggestion, but it wasn’t bad.

“I will stay. Venom Guild, what do you think?”

The moment that Hyeonu heard Edward’s offer, he suggested without any hesitation that the Venom Guild leave. It wasn’t a grand spirit of sacrifice.

‘I would’ve run away sooner if it wasn’t for this.’

Hyeonu had a quest left. That was it.

“How shameful...” The Venom Guild couldn’t nod at Hyeonu’s suggestion. They had been a burden to Hyeonu so far. Their conscience didn’t allow them to abandon Hyeonu in such a situation and run away.

“It is okay. Just go. Even if I am left alone, I am the one most likely to be able to run away.” Hyeonu waved his hand. Hyeonu had no intention of changing his mind. He had to stay.

“Go quickly before Edward changes his mind. In addition... let’s get along well in the future.” Hyeonu waved his hand widely as if he would no longer listen.

The Venom Guild couldn’t say much when they saw Hyeonu’s attitude and started to step back.

Hyeonu took his attention away from the Venom Guild and turned to look at the bone dragons floating in the air again. Just then, the undead army started to disperse in all directions. The scattered army didn’t wrap around Hyeonu. Instead, it moved in the direction in which the Venom Guild disappeared. Even the bone dragons disappeared along with the Venom Guild.

‘What is this?’ Hyeonu frowned at the incomprehensible actions of the undead army. However, it was only for a moment. The only bone dragon remaining in the air descended in front of Hyeonu. Hyeonu watched the bone dragon without releasing his tension.

The man in gray armor got down from the head of the bone dragon.

“We... have we seen each other before?” He took off the armor he was wearing on his head and spoke as he approached Hyeonu.

“You really are alive... Edward.” Hyeonu checked Edward’s face and showed a surprised expression.

‘It is the real Edward.’

Then he sneaked a bead out of the inventory and handed it to Tang-E.

[Identify the mysterious person 1/1.]

The moment that Tang-E accepted the bead, a message appeared in front of Hyeonu stating that he had satisfied one of the conditions of the quest.

“I was also bewildered at first. I clearly died by Lebron’s hands but woke up in a place like this.” Edward showed no animosity toward Hyeonu.

He acted naturally as if they had met each other a few times.

“You revived without knowing it? Are you telling me to believe that now?” Hyeonu murmured with an absurd expression.

“It is hard to believe, but it is true.” Edward didn’t show any hostility toward Hyeonu. He maintained a placating attitude.

Nevertheless, Hyeonu didn’t erase his wariness toward Edward. “So why are you telling me this?”

“How do you see me as now?”

“How do you look? You look fine? You are much stronger than you were before,” Hyeonu replied to Edward’s question with a frown.

‘What is he thinking?’ He couldn’t understand why Edward kept asking these questions.

Edward smiled at Hyeonu’s words and asked back, “I look fine... Other than that? What about the physical characteristics?”

‘Appearance? Is he joking right now?’

Hyeonu frowned a bit more but answered Edward’s absurd question, “You are wearing gray battle armor that looks good. Your hair is also gray. Your eyes are also gray...?”

Hyeonu scanned Edward from top to bottom and described his appearance. The latter was gray from head to toe.

‘He wasn’t originally gray...?’

Hyeonu felt it was strange. Edward’s hair color wasn’t originally gray. It was blond like the emperor.

‘The magic power was originally black-red...’

Edward’s magic power was a dark-red color that was close to blood. However, the video the Venom Guild made previously showed the use of gray magic power.

“Yes, I am in a very dangerous state right now. I developed an enormous weakness instead of gaining strength. It is the result of misinformation.”

Edward now had a fatal problem. It was also related to the gray armor that covered his body and the changed hair and eye color.

“What is the problem?” Hyeonu showed some curiosity. It was an unexpected development, but it was good.

“A magician belonging to Alkyl investigated a legend that had been passed down from generation to generation in his school. The result is a legend that exists beyond the northern glaciers—an altar that gives mighty power. I found it.”

Edward started to explain step by step what happened to him. It was from a very distant past.

“As you know, I died by Lebron’s hands. No, I thought I died. After that, I woke up and saw that I was in front of the altar. With the information I had, I realized this was that legend the moment I woke. So I chanted the spell that the magician gave me.”

The problem occurred here. The legend found by a black magician of Alkyl didn’t just give him the strength to get revenge.

“However, it was a mistake. I shouldn’t have given in to an uncertain legend. It wasn’t a legend but a trap.”

“A trap?”

“It was an altar where the fragments of the demon god were sealed. The spell I changed was magic to accept the fragments of the demon god. Those who don’t meet the conditions will show no reaction, but those who meet certain conditions will receive the fragments of the demon god.”

“Fragments of the demon god?” Hyeonu’s eyes widened as he questioned it. The demon god was a name that should never be taken lightly. Moreover, Hyeonu had obtained information about the past of the demons and god tribe from Liru, the god of the sun. So it was natural for him to be even more shocked.

‘Fragments of the demon god that were sealed?’

“Are you being eaten by the fragments right now?” Hyeonu made a guess about the changes happening to Edward based on the information he said.

Edward nodded. “Help me.”