Ranker's Return

Chapter 735

“Master dude, what’s going on? Why are you being so good to me?” Tang-E asked in a delighted manner at Hyeonu’s words that they were going to meet Raccoon.

Lately, he had a strange feeling that Hyeonu was taking good care of him.

“Me? To you?” Hyeonu cocked his head at Tang-E’s words. He didn’t remember acting any better. He just did what he had always done. This was enough.

“Going to Bung Bung Island with me... Going to Cancun... The food was very good...” Tang-E told Hyeonu the good things he had received recently. The best of those was going to Bung Bung Island and their current journey to the north of the Black Forest.

‘Does he think I am going around for himself?’ Hyeonu smiled at Tang-E’s cute misunderstanding.

“Then do well. Understood?” Hyeonu said while stroking Tang-E’s head.

“Bah, I’ve always done well. Master dude just has to be good.” Tang-E snorted. It was as if Hyeonu’s words were unreasonable.

Hyeonu and Tang-E continued to talk as they quickly broke through the Black Forest. The orcs on the north side of the Black Forest were literally for beginner players, so they failed to catch up to Hyeonu and Tang-E. Hyeonu and Tang-E ran like they were running through a plains area with nothing. As a result, they were soon able to reach the desired place.

[Would you like to enter the residence of Dakan, fighter of the Meadows?]

A message appeared that confirmed Hyeonu hadn’t come to the wrong place. Hyeonu entered the instance dungeon without hesitation.

“I will enter.”

Hyeonu and Tang-E disappeared.

***

“Uncle!” Tang-E ran quickly toward Raccoon with his short legs.

“Yo, it has been a while.” Raccoon opened both arms and received Tang-E.

“You’ve grown stronger since you’ve been eating well. I don’t think I can treat you like a child any longer?” Raccoon said as if admiring Tang-E’s heavy presence.

“Bah, Tang-E originally wasn’t a child.” Tang-E pounded Raccoon’s chest a few times before jumping toward the ground. Then he ran to Cancun.

“Cancun!” Tang-E threw himself at Cancun, just like he did to Raccoon.

Thump!

However, the sound was different from when Raccoon received him. If Raccoon was a pillow made of soft fur, Cancun was a hard wooden pillow.

“Oof!” a groan emerged from between Cancun’s lips.

“It... it has been a while, friend,” Cancun said while barely enduring the pain coming from his stomach.

“I missed you, friend. Have you been well? Is Uncle bothering you? Huh?” Tang-E grabbed Cancun’s chin and turned his head. Tang-E seemed to be looking for wounds.

“I’ve been well. In the meantime, I’ve trained hard. I won’t lose any longer.” Cancun’s eyes shifted from Tang-E to Hyeonu with intense fighting energy evident in his eyes.

“Unfortunately... you can’t win against Master. He is incomparable to the past. He is much stronger than he was at that time.” Tang-E shook his head. It was impossible for Cancun to beat Hyeonu. If they fought 100 times, Cancun would lose 100 times. If they fought 10,000 times, he would only have 10,000 defeats. There was now a great difference between Hyeonu and Cancun.

“No, I’ll show it to you today, friend. I will win.” The fighting energy in Cancun’s eyes intensified. It was so dense that his eyes appeared to be burning red.

‘What type of dog-like situation is this?’ Hyeonu was dumbfounded by this situation. Hyeonu hadn’t done anything yet Cancun was already raising his momentum like he would charge at Hyeonu at any moment.

‘He is someone who doesn’t know grace...’ Hyeonu glared at Tang-E, the main culprit of this incident. This wouldn’t have happened if Tang-E hadn’t provoked Cancun.

‘Let’s ignore it.’

“Hello, Raccoon. It has been a long time. Have you been well?” Hyeonu lightly ignored Cancun’s hot eyes that seemed to be burning his hair and approached Raccoon to greet him.

“I’ve been well. What can go wrong? I am only teaching him here.” Raccoon extended his stone-like hand toward Hyeonu with a loud laugh.

“Then I’m glad. Isn’t it good to have a routine day rather than having something happen?” Hyeonu gently shook Raccoon’s hand.

“It isn’t necessarily something to like. I am happy with unexpected situations that will get rid of boredom.” Raccoon smiled and applied force to his hand. Then he shook it up and down.

“I prefer no variables.” Hyeonu quickly pulled out the hand Raccoon had caught.

‘Ouch, why does it hurt so much?’ He couldn’t believe it even when he looked at his hands.

Raccoon’s grip was that strong. It greatly overpowered Hyeonu’s strength.

“I don’t think you came here to see my face. What’s going on?” Raccoon spoke again as Hyeonu retrieved his hand.

“Raccoon, I would like to hear if you know anything about the location of the divine world,” Hyeonu carefully revealed his purpose behind visiting Raccoon.

“The divine world... The divine world...” Raccoon repeated the words instead of answering. Then he closed his mouth. After a brief silence, Raccoon opened his mouth again, “Did Hugo say that? He thinks I know it very well?”

“Yes, Hugo told me that you would tell me the answer if I came to ask you.”

“Hugo, that bastard!” Raccoon yelled after hearing Hyeonu’s response. It wasn’t just a yell but a Fear that was a combination of fighting energy and magic power.

[You have heard the Fear of the orc chieftain, Raccoon.]

[Due to the influence of fighting energy, you have resisted the Fear of the orc chieftain, Raccoon.]

[Resistance has failed.]

[Due to the influence of killing intent, you have resisted the Fear of the orc chieftain, Raccoon.]

[Resistance has failed.]

[Due to the influence of Immovable Heart, you have resisted the Fear of the orc chieftain, Raccoon.]

[Resistance has failed.]

[Player ‘Gang Hyeonu’ has entered a ‘slowed’ abnormal state.]

‘What is this?!!!’ Hyeonu couldn’t close his mouth at the message windows constantly rising in front of him. It was a message about an abnormal status that he hadn’t seen for a long time. Fighting energy, killing intent, and even Immovable Heart—it had been a really long time since all three were neutralized.

‘I can’t resist even at this level.’

He had expected it to some extent, but Raccoon was truly a monster. It wasn’t even a proper Fear toward Hyeonu; it was hard for him to handle just this small cry of anger. Moments later, Raccoon let go of his anger apologized to Hyeonu, “I’m sorry for getting angry. I apologize.”

“No need. By the way... if you don’t mind me asking, can I hear why you’re angry?” Hyeonu shook his hand at Raccoon and asked carefully.

“How can I feel good when I am carrying an unexpected load?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The divine world... Hugo knows it as well. No, he knows it too well. It is impossible for him to not know. So... Why do you have to ask me?”

Hyeonu thought about how to react to Raccoon. ‘Why is he angry? Should I not have mentioned the divine world?’

It was strange when thinking about it. It was Hyeonu who suffered the greatest damage when hearing Raccoon explain the divine world, not Hugo. He wasted quite a bit of time.

‘Shouldn’t I be the one who’s angry?’

However, he didn’t express his thoughts. There was no need to make unnecessary troubles.

“First... I will answer your first question. I can’t tell you where the divine world is,” Raccoon said.

“Huh?” Hyeonu asked back with a flustered expression. It was a completely unexpected answer. Raccoon couldn’t tell him…?

“In principle, it is impossible to tell you directly where the divine world is.”

Hearing that, Hyeonu sighed.

Raccoon saw Hyeonu’s reaction and continued to say with a smile, “Still, I can tell you indirectly.”

“Really?”

“Would I lie to you?”

“Then tell me...”

“I can’t just tell you,” Raccoon interrupted Hyeonu.

Hyeonu felt his mind becoming a bit confused by Raccoon’s exquisite push and pull. “Then?”

“Fight that guy once. I will tell you what I can, regardless of whether you win or lose.” Raccoon pointed at Cancun.

Hyeonu smiled lightly and nodded.

‘Sparring once...’

It wasn’t difficult to do. It was enough to fight once. There was just one thing—Hyeonu had to prepare for an unexpected situation.

“Raccoon, this time there won’t be a fight with you, right?”

“Of course.”

“Even if the spar is short?”

“The shorter the better. This way, he will work harder.” Raccoon burst out laughing. He too knew that Cancun was quite lacking compared to Hyeonu. Nevertheless, Raccoon was arranging this spar due to his desire as a parent for Cancun to develop further.

“It is better to do it quickly without delay,” Hyeonu urged Raccoon. The spar was something he needed to do anyway, so it was better to start quickly.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to prepare?” Raccoon glared at Cancun after Hyeonu’s urging.

Cancun quickly put down Tang-E and approached Hyeonu while dragging an axe along the ground.

“Be careful that you don’t lose in one blow. Won’t that be too embarrassing?” Hyeonu lightly provoked Cancun before even starting the spar.

“Don’t worry about that,” Cancun answered briefly before raising his axe to begin the spar.

“The spar is over once one side sees blood,” Raccoon explained the condition to win the spar. It wasn’t much of a condition. The spar would end when blood was seen. It didn’t matter if it was a big or small wound.

“I understand.” Hyeonu nodded and stepped back.

Raccoon also stepped back. It was so that he didn’t interfere with the spar between Hyeonu and Cancun.

“Brother, what is this?” Another orc appeared at this moment. Dakan had returned after being away for a while.

“What is going on? It is just a light spar,” Raccoon explained.

“The two of them? Will this work?” Dakan whispered to Raccoon in a small voice. In his eyes, a spar like this was ridiculous. It might be different if it was a guided spar.

“Isn’t that human’s fighting energy and killing intent at a much higher level than Cancun;s?”

“I told them to do this. He has to suffer in order to train harder. Look at him recently. He has been sneaking away...”

“What...? If that is the case, it is fine. He has to do this much since he is the heir to the Meadow Wolf Tribe.” Dakan closed his mouth after saying these words.

It was because Hyeonu and Cancun seemed like they would collide at any moment. Cancun ran to Hyeonu while releasing fierce fighting energy. The ground was dented every time his foot hit the ground. Once the distance to Hyeonu decreased to a certain extent, Cancun swung his axe from top to bottom like a thunderbolt.

The next moment, drops of blood splashed through the air. The color of the blood was green, not red. A thin wound appeared on Cancun’s neck.

“How...?” Cancun stared at Hyeonu like he was unable to understand it.

“Didn’t I tell you to be careful not to let it end with one blow?” Hyeonu replied.