Ranker's Return

Chapter 832

No one knew that Hyeonu was moving busily. The viewers who watched Hyeonu’s live stream just thought that his hunting ground had changed to the demon world. It wasn’t strange that he changed his hunting ground. After all, he wasn’t doing any quests. In particular, the demon world was a good hunting ground already guaranteed by rankers. Many monsters came out, and the experience and rewards were appropriate.

There were naturally no doubts about it. Anyone who took issue with Hyeonu’s behavior here would be the odd one. The problem was that there were people who knew Hyeonu’s actual movements. To be exact, the problem didn’t arise from Hyeonu but from those people.

“This doesn’t make any sense!!! What’s wrong with the demon god?!” Park Hyeonjun, the head of Quency’s general planning team, asked as he was unable to accept the reality of the situation. Even so, his actions didn’t change reality.

“It’s true, Team Leader-nim. Alley Leader has removed the body of the demon god from the demon world.” Choi Seongho, a member of the general planning team, calmly continued his briefing despite Park Hyeonjun’s words. He would’ve trembled in the past, but now he was used to it.

Park Hyeonjun exploded with irritated shouts several times a month. So, Choi Seongho naturally adapted to them. Now he even had doubts and wondered if it was all an act.

“We don’t know how things will turn out, but we urgently need a patch of the demon world. The magic circle of the demon god, which used to act as a suppressor, has been broken. The patch should head in the direction of the monsters’ levels rising sequentially...” Choi Seongho mentioned the results of the three-day meeting that took place when Park Hyeonjun was away.

“And? Is that the only thing? What else is there?” Park Hyeonjun asked Choi Seongho.

Things had already happened, so he judged that there wouldn’t be only one problem.

Choi Seongho turned over the piece of paper in his hand and read exactly what was written there: “Based on what we saw in the last surveillance, Edward’s body has been successfully dominated by the demon god. The guardians of the demon god have also moved to the middle world. I think they will start a war after regaining power in the north.”

“How many days is it this time?” Park Hyeonjun leaned back against his chair and held his forehead.

“That... I don’t know yet. The majority of opinions is that this is just the beginning. I think we’ll know once Alley Leader stops moving,” Choi Seongho answered with a stiff expression. Honestly, Choi Seongho felt no different from Park Hyeonjun. The current situation was that desperate.

‘Moreover, Team Leader-nim only just got back from his vacation...’

Choi Seongho put the papers in his hand down on Park Hyeonjun’s desk and walked back to his seat with a seemingly miserable posture.

“What exactly happened in the last three days?” Park Hyeonjun carefully picked up the paperwork and read what was written on it.

‘A month for the patch related to the demon world... Expected patch history based on future actions... If the demon god dies completely...’ Park Hyeonjun’s anger grew the more he read. At the same time, his eyes became dark. He could imagine his future.

“Just hunt, please...”

The papers in Park Hyeonjun’s hand fell helplessly to the desk.

***

‘Did they go back in the last few days?’

Hyeonu was confused by the sight of no traces of the undead, but he quickly controlled his emotions. In any case, there was only one place they could go.

Callioraks didn’t wait for Hyeonu’s explanation. He exploded first.

“Where is that guy?” Callioraks shouted at Hyeonu inside the waterfall where nobody else could be seen. Simultaneously, a dragon’s head appeared behind Callioraks. It had two horns that towered into the sky and two narrow eyes. Just its appearance alone gave off a feeling of ferocity.

Hyeonu felt overwhelmed from merely making eye contact with it.

“He isn’t far from here. Callioraks, we can arrive quickly if we use your magic.” Hyeonu tried to smile. There was no need to panic. Callioraks’ aura was fierce, but the answer was already there.

“Let’s go quickly.” Callioraks snapped his fingers after hearing Hyeonu’s answer.

Hyeonu and Callioraks moved to the north in a flash. That one move allowed Edward to be caught in Callioraks’ senses.

“I can feel him. He really isn’t far away,” Callioraks said. Callioraks’ senses detected Edward, to be precise, it was the magic power of the demon god.

‘Here... Is it the beginning of the glacier zone?’ Hyeonu ignored what Callioraks said and looked around.

Callioraks felt it, but Hyeonu dismissed it as nonsense. Hyeonu speculated that Edward had returned to the iceberg beyond the glacier zone, which was an enormous distance away from here. It would take a few days to get there even when moving quickly. As such, Hyeonu couldn’t take it seriously when Callioraks said he could feel a presence that was so far away.

Regardless of what Hyeonu thought, Callioraks snapped his fingers again. There was a subtle sound, and the figures of Hyeonu and Callioraks were surrounded by light again.

***

When the light that had filled Hyeonu’s eyes disappeared, he naturally opened them.

‘What a surprise!’

Hyeonu immediately stepped back. He couldn’t stand still as one of the five guardians was standing just 10 meters away from Hyeonu.

‘Where did Callioraks go?’

Hyeonu hurriedly turned his head. He looked as pathetic as a child who had gotten separated from his parents.

“Don’t make a fuss. Can’t you see that he isn’t moving?” Callioraks’ voice came from behind Hyeonu’s back.

“Ah, Callioraks...” Hyeonu awkwardly scratched the back of his head. On the other hand, he rationalized that it was a natural act.

‘How futile would it be if I were to die here?’

He absolutely wanted to avoid dying like that.

“How did you find us? This leech-like lizard...” the guardian said. The guardian didn’t care about Hyeonu. The important thing to him was Callioraks standing behind Hyeonu.

“Did that human tell you? It is strange. Who is that human that he knows this?” The guardian cocked his head like he still didn’t understand the situation in front of him. He couldn’t figure out how Callioraks had followed them here. Just then, the other guardians emerged one after another.

“What is the point of that? The important thing is that we have to stop that monster.”

“He isn’t in a good condition right now either. The previous battle should’ve consumed a lot of his magic power.”

“We just have to hold on while God regains his strength.”

“It is worth trying even if we don’t have the magic power stone.”

The guardians blocked Callioraks’ way in a solemn manner. The demon god had just entered recovery. No one knew how long it would take him to completely recover. However, they still had to stop the enemy. This was the destiny they were given.

Callioraks saw that and sneered, “Why do you think that I’m as imperfect as him? Have you ever thought about why he threw his fragments to the middle world?”

Even if they thought incorrectly, they were still completely wrong. Callioraks had already recovered. He was in an even more perfect condition than when he attacked the temple of the demon god.

“The magic power of the middle world is really fascinating.” Callioraks lightly clenched his hands. Then purple thorns, ranging from one meter to several dozens of meters in length, covered the world without leaving any gaps.

The guardians released magic power toward the approaching thorns. There was already no way out for them. The only option left was to fight back. A powerful wave of magic power spread around the five guardians, forming a veil of black magic that blocked the purple thorns. However, it was only for a brief moment. The thorns tore up the black veil and attacked the guardians as if there had been nothing blocking them.

‘Uwah...’ Hyeonu covered the eyes of Tang-E, who was in his arms, to block the cruel scene from the latter’s sight. The five guardians died in an instant with holes of various sizes all over their bodies.

“You don’t know who you are facing. You still mistakenly thought this was the demon world.” Callioraks clicked his tongue at the guardians who were lying in one place. Then he walked straight to the iceberg. Hyeonu glanced at the ground while following after Callioraks.

‘Items... None?’

He had been wondering if any items had fallen, but there wasn’t a single item. There wasn’t even the usual gold.

‘I’m ruined.’ Hyeonu clicked his tongue and quickly ran in the direction where Callioraks was headed. He needed to closely watch what was going to happen.

By the time Hyeonu found Callioraks again, the atmosphere around Callioraks was already strange.

“Even after all this time has passed, you still haven’t forgotten.” The demon god, who had taken over Edward’s body, sighed at Callioraks.

“Forget? How can I forget that now that I am the only one in my tribe?” Callioraks was angry. He could not understand the demon god’s carefree words. Callioraks was now the only demon dragon left in the world.

Getting revenge was his duty. He had to do it no matter what.

“Why is it my fault? It was the demon dragons who were unreasonable. It wouldn’t have gone this way if they had made a few concessions.”

“No. You were the problem from the very beginning. You didn’t have the grace to put an end to the war with the demonic creatures and other different species and ultimately stabbed us in the back. That was the beginning.”

Callioraks couldn’t get over the shamelessness of the demon god. It was absurd. The damage that the demon dragons suffered and drove them close to extinction was all due to the demon god.

“You haven’t reflected even after so long. It is disgusting.” A purple light burned in Callioraks’ eyes. Callioraks couldn’t continue the conversation any longer. He felt like he was going to burst with anger if he kept talking.

“Right, take that thing out.” Callioraks reached out to Hyeonu.

“What do you mean by that?” Hyeonu replied while feeling frightened by the light Callioraks was emitting from his eyes.

“That spear. Give me the spear.” Callioraks waved again.

Hyeonu quickly took the spear out of his inventory and handed it over. It was the spear that appeared in the place where the temple of the demon god had collapsed.

“Do you remember this spear?” Callioraks asked while slamming the spear down against the ground.

The demon god’s expression distorted when he saw the spear. “This guy has mastered magic.”

The demon god had sealed the spear to his body using a special spell. It was because it was something that should never be released.

“I should’ve killed you when you came back with that spear in your body...” Callioraks began.

He remembered that day a long time ago. The demon god had returned to the demon world with this spear stuck in his body—his young self who had just finished recovering the magic power of chaos and dreamed of revenge.

Callioraks continued, “I have shed tears of blood many times since that day. I regretted neglecting magic. I would’ve killed you that day if I had just mastered magic.”

That day’s revenge had ended in half a success. He inflicted a serious blow on the demon god, but he didn’t kill the demon god.

Just then, Hyeonu suddenly opened his mouth and said, “It is too bad, too bad.”

The gazes of Callioraks and the demon god simultaneously fell on Hyeonu.

“It is one of the things that I am too weak to do. This is the opportunity to get revenge for the giants...” Hyeonu smiled slightly when looking at Callioraks. It was a smile that was somehow bitter.