Ranker's Return

Chapter 833

“You!” The demon god’s reaction was intense this time. It was on a different level compared to when he was talking to Callioraks. He seemed to be genuinely angry as his eyes released as much light as Callioraks’ did.

“What do you have to do with the giants?! I thought I felt a familiar vibe. It was from you, not this guy!” the demon god—no, Ragand, the chief of the ran tribe, exclaimed.

Ragand hadn’t known why, but he’d felt a sense of familiarity when Callioraks and Hyeonu appeared. He naturally thought the familiarity he felt came from Callioraks. However, that wasn’t the case. The familiarity came from Hyeonu. It was the energy that came from those who made him suffer twice—the giants and the Luos Empire.

“Giants? Do you know the owner of this spear?” It was Callioraks who asked Hyeonu this time. Callioraks was also intrigued. The giants and the ran tribe had been inseparable.

“Yes, we know each other.” Hyeonu nodded. The owner of the spear was clearly Larenix. It was impossible to say they weren’t related. Rather, it could be said that they had a genuine relationship.

Callioraks thought for a moment before speaking to Hyeonu again, “The connection is deep. You have a grudge against this damn guy as well.

“I’ll give you the last blow. The final blow is yours. Put a knife in his heart as you did in the temple.”

“Huh?” Hyeonu was stunned by Callioraks’ words. He wasn’t surprised by the words that he could deal the last blow to the demon god.

‘He saw that?’

Rather, he was surprised that Callioraks knew about the dagger that he’d inserted into the body of the demon god who was lying in the coffin.

“What are you surprised about? I didn’t tell you to fight. It is my job to bring him down to his knees. You just need to end his life.” Callioraks waved his hand at Hyeonu as if telling him not to worry. He had no intention of entrusting the battle to Hyeonu from beginning to end. No, everything except for the finishing touch would be handled by Callioraks.

“I understand, Callioraks.” Hyeonu tried to lower the corners of his mouth that were about to soar up to the sky. It was an unexpected gain.

‘It is a bit unfortunate that Edward will die, but... it can’t be helped.’

Many things would go awry if Edward died, but Hyeonu thought that this was okay. It was a risk that he could tolerate when thinking about what would be gained from killing the demon god.

“Do you still have a long way to go? I wanted to send you away properly for the last time... The level is lower than expected.” Callioraks turned and headed back to the chief of the ran tribe. He was deliberately giving Ragand time to recover. Clearly, Callioraks was confident that he could still win.

“The preparations are over. To be honest, I didn’t want to fight like this, but... If you want, I’ll do it.” Ragand, who had taken over Edward’s body, stood up. His recovery was complete. It might be short of his ability in his prime, but the strength that could be recovered in his present state could be called a complete recovery.

“You don’t want to fight? That mouth is still alive. You are talking to me so diligently. After all, this will be the last time it will happen.” Callioraks raised his hands slightly.

At this moment, the air changed, and the blue sky was tinged purple. The blue of the iceberg was also dyed purple. Hyeonu saw this and kicked off from the ground to retreat, increasing his distance from Callioraks to more than 100 meters. He didn’t know how the battle between Ragand and Callioraks would progress, so it was safer for him to keep some distance for now.

“Tang-E. Give the buffs, the buffs.” Then he asked Tang-E to use his buffs, but the target wasn’t Hyeonu. It was Callioraks.

“I know, Master dude.” Tang-E cast the buffs toward Callioraks. Tang-E already knew that he had to help Callioraks. He would’ve given it even if Hyeonu hadn’t mentioned it.

The tricolored light from Tang-E’s paw entered Callioraks’ body, and the energy around Callioraks flared up immediately. Tang-E’s buffs were powerful enough to do this. They increased the target’s stats as a percentage, proving a larger increase for the strong.

“Honestly, I previously thought the chances were 50:50. However, that isn’t the case any longer. It is my perfect dominance.” Callioraks received Tang-E’s buffs and confidently narrowed the distance to Ragand. In the meantime, Callioraks’ appearance changed. Purple wings emerged from his back, reptilian-like scales appeared on both arms, and sharp claws protruded from his fingertips.

Callioraks swung his changed right arm. Five stems of pure energy tore through the air. Ragand saw the approaching pure energy and swung a black spear, which had appeared out of nowhere. His spear blocked Callioraks’ pure energy lightly.

However, it wasn’t able to hinder the pure energy at all. On the contrary, he even threw out the spear to counterattack. It was just that Ragand’s spear couldn’t advance further because Callioraks had already narrowed the distance and grabbed the spear.

“Huup!” Ragand took a deep breath and exerted strength toward the spear in his hand. The spear shook. Callioraks frowned slightly, released his hand that held the spear, and shifted his shoulder back. His claws, wrapped in purple magic power, slammed hard against Ragand’s spear.

Five marks were left on Ragand’s spear. However, the marks were quickly removed as the spear was restored. Ragand’s spear wasn’t fixed in form; it was shaped by magic power.

‘The strength is overwhelming.’ Ragand decided that the current situation couldn’t be reversed. It might be different if he were in a normal state, but a head-on fight was currently impossible for him. He lacked the strength to reverse the flow of the battle with force, and the momentum to overcome it with technique wasn’t on his side.

Ragand momentarily stepped back. He took advantage of the power of Callioraks’ attack. The moment he secured a certain distance from Callioraks, he slammed hard against the ground and grabbed the spear. Dozens of spears filled the empty air. The spears struck Callioraks from different trajectories.

The wings on Callioraks’ back fluttered loudly, and his body soared into the air. Ragand twisted the trajectory of the spears and threw them into the air. Numerous spears followed after Callioraks. Just then, intense magic power was released around Callioraks’ body. It took the form of a dragon’s head. It was a form that Hyeonu had seen many times.

The dragon’s head wrapped around Callioraks and exploded all the flying spears. He literally overcame it with force.

Callioraks looked down at Ragand and sneered, “Have you still not recovered? Or is that your real ability?”

“You have definitely become stronger than before, but strength alone isn’t enough. I can feel it,” Ragand responded to Callioraks’ provocation lightly and withdrew his strength from the hand that was holding the spear. “Strength, magic power, and finesse—nothing should be lacking. That is what I realized after two failures.”

The spear in Ragand’s hand danced. Hundreds of pronged spears headed toward Callioraks.

“No, it is because you are weak. You don’t need techniques if you are stronger than your opponent. For example, magic is a good technique but its meaning fades in one-on-one combat.” Callioraks swung his arms exactly once. The space was split in the shape of Callioraks’ claws. It even broke apart Ragand’s spears.

Ragand scattered like smoke and avoided Callioraks’ pure energy. The pure energy passed through the place where Ragand had been standing and literally dug into the iceberg. It felt like the entire iceberg was shaking. Callioraks’ blow smashed Ragand’s attack and exhausted some of its strength. Even so, it was still this powerful.

‘Should I run away another kilometer?’ Hyeonu felt the vibration and jumped up into the air in a frightened manner while hugging Tang-E. It was like an earthquake.

‘I wouldn’t be able to deal with power even if I use all my magic power...’

The blow that Callioraks’ delivered was stronger than Hyeonu’s power. Hyeonu was full of energy. Despite that, he felt horrified. Naturally, a question came to mind.

‘Then how strong were Floyd and Larenix?’

The ran and ra tribes were now called the demons and the god tribe. Yet Floyd and Larenix hadn’t even been pushed even against the chiefs of these two tribes.

‘Even if the demon god isn’t in good condition... He is a species god. If I think of it as Raccoon...’

At the minimum, the two giants had to be stronger than Callioraks. Hyeonu’s thoughts reached this point, and a smile appeared on his face. It meant his growth potential was that high since both Floyd and Larenix were closely related to Hyeonu.

‘Once this task is over, I have to go and look for the legacies as soon as possible.’

He was thinking about finding them—the legacies of Larenix that Liru had told him about. At the very least, they had an epic rating and might even be the legendary rating.

While Hyeonu was thinking about the future, the battle between Callioraks and Ragand became increasingly fierce. Ragand showed his strength little by little and made it an equal match. In particular, Ragand had more combat experience than Callioraks, so he took the battle a bit easier.

‘It is disadvantageous that Callioraks fought the guardians for so long.’

Just as the guardians had adapted to the Callioraks, Callioraks had also adapted to the guardians. Strictly speaking, the guardians were opponents with a deep gap with Callioraks. They used the magic power drawn from the entire demon world to barely sustain the battle against Callioraks. For centuries, Callioraks dealt with those guardians with great difficulty. It was only natural that his fighting style would be tailored to them. In addition, Callioraks hadn’t met a proper opponent since gaining his current strength.

Meanwhile, Ragand was different. During the time when he was kicked out of the middle world and when he went back to the middle world, he fought against opponents who deserved to be called good rivals.

‘Let’s move for now.’ Hyeonu stepped onto the battlefield where the fight between Ragand and Callioraks was taking place. He poured out a lot of magic power and used Mixed Sky Steps. It moved quickly and stealthily.

‘Just a bit more...’

Hyeonu’s feet stepped on the ground again and he moved forward. He instantly entered the space where the aftermath of the battle spread. Hyeonu had no intention of entering the battle. The place where Hyeonu was headed only had a long spear stuck into the ground.

‘Is this Larenix’ spear?’

This was what he had been aiming for in the first place. It was the very spear that had been stuck in Ragand’s body. Hyeonu pulled out the spear stuck in the iceberg and quickly returned to his original position.

‘I still haven’t checked the item information.’

Hyeonu carefully grabbed the spear and checked the item information. No, he would have checked it.

…If only the message window that appeared in front of Hyeonu hadn’t taken away his gaze.

[Find the legacy of the giants 1/3.]

‘This was one of the legacies.’

Hyeonu smiled. It was as he thought.