Ranker's Return

Chapter 763

Jewel stopped walking and raised his right hand to point to one side. The tip of his finger was pointing to an orc with red skin.

“It is him. That guy is the orc.”

Jewel looked like someone calling a guardian to a children’s fight. It wasn’t wrong. When Jewel was compared to Hyeonu, there really was the difference of that between a child and adult.

‘He looks stronger than a noble of the demon world...’ Hyeonu thought. With bursting muscles and scars all over, the red orc had a more overbearing appearance than what Hyeonu’d heard. Still, this was nothing compared to the orcs’ eyes. His glowing blood-red eyes were truly overwhelming. This alone seemed to say that this red orc wasn’t normal.

“Do I just need to kill that orc?” Hyeonu asked, thinking he needed to learn more about the quest. Did he only need to kill the orc, or was there something more?

“The content of the quest is to kill the orc and find the elf captured by the orc.”

“It took 30 quests just to find the traces of this elf.”

The members of the Pioneer Guild answered Hyeonu’s question. They even let him know what he didn’t ask.

‘30 quests? Crazy.’ Hyeonu admired their tenacity. It wasn’t even the main scenario. Nevertheless, he could put this much effort into chasing the traces of the elves.

“You mean I have to kill that orc first? The elves can be found after that.”

“That’s right. That is the right order.” Asu nodded at Hyeonu’s words. It wasn’t that they didn’t try to find the elf without killing the orc. The four people, except for Ket, caught the orc’s eye while Ket secretly searched for the elves. However, they had failed absurdly. They thought they had caught the orc’s attention, but the moment Ket turned back, the orc rushed straight toward Ket.

“Do you know where the elf is?”

“Yes, there is a large cave behind the orc. My guess is that the elf is there.”

“I will deal with the orc, so you should go into the cave and rescue the elf. I think that will save time. You just need to buff me.”

Even in this situation, Hyeonu tried to save a few minutes. It was a failed method when they didn’t have Hyeonu, but it was different now that he was present. The Pioneer Guild was well aware of this.

“I understand.” Maha, Pioneer’s only priest, used the buffs as Hyeonu asked.

At the same time, Tang-E also buffed Hyeonu from where he was sitting on Hyeonu’s head. The preparations for killing the red orc were over.

“Please take care of it, Alley Leader.” Ket wished for good luck while looking at the back of Hyeonu, who was walking toward the dark red orc.

Then Hyeonu raised his right hand silently and waved it.

***

‘There is no need to explore things.’

Hyeonu planned to handle the red orc as soon as possible. He had no intention of dragging it out. He always had to be careful of humanoid boss monsters. They possessed a danger that was several times greater than other types of boss monsters.

Once the distance to the red orc was reduced to around 100 meters, Hyeonu lowered Tang-E to the ground and left this message: “Keep watch... You know what to do if it’s dangerous, right? Use ice.”

“Okay, I’ll help you in any dangerous moment.” Tang-E nodded with a solemn expression.

Hyeonu stroked the head of Tang-E, who was as reliable as always, and moved toward the dark red orc again. Once the distance to the dark red orc was reduced by half, Hyeonu released fighting energy without hesitation. The red fighting energy stretched in all directions and showed off its presence.

“What bastard?!!” The red orc hurriedly pulled the axe off his back due to the strong fighting energy moving through the trees.

‘Based on this level of fighting energy, he is a famous fighter within his tribe,’ the red orc thought.

He had now turned his back on the orcs, but he clearly remembered the fear he’d felt. It was bound to be so. The reason he had run out of the arms of his own kind was due to the warrior who was beyond the level of an ordinary fighter. The red orc had made one mistake, and a terrible chase followed. After that, he only barely managed to settle down here.

‘Yet they followed me all the way here?’

It shouldn’t have happened. In that case, running away to this point would have no meaning.

“Human?” Ikta questioned the fact that it was a human, not an orc, who appeared among the trees. The fighting energy he felt clearly belonged to the orcs. It wasn’t something that humans could do.

“What tribe are you from? Why are you here alone? Don’t you have any friends?” Hyeonu asked.

Ikta frowned. It was because the human’s words sounded very insulting.

‘It isn’t an orc but a human...’

At the same time, he felt he had been deceived, and a wave of anger rushed through his body. Intense fighting energy poured out of Ikta’s body and wrapped around him.

“What are you going to do knowing that? You are going to die here today.” Ikta finished speaking and swung his axe heavily. There was no hesitation in wielding his axe due to the thought that he had been fooled. There was the sound of the axe cutting through the air.

However, the distance between Hyeonu and Ikta was at least 30 meters. It wasn’t a distance that Ikta’s axe could cross.

It happened at this moment…

Ikta’s expression darkened. Then he disappeared completely. Simultaneously, a deafening sound burst out. The missing Ikta suddenly reappeared in front of Hyeonu. Nevertheless, Hyeonu calmly swung his sword toward the axe in front of him.

“So which tribe are you from? Is there no tribe? Are you alone?” Hyeonu kept moving his mouth in a teasing manner without being concerned about Ikta, who was releasing a bloody glow from his eyes. He didn’t seem nervous in the slightest. Hyeonu’s successive provocations made the glow from Ikta’s eyes even darker. The moment the light from Ikta’s eyes darkened, he added extra momentum to his axe.

Ikta’s axe had a strong power like it could split a mountain. However, it couldn’t hit Hyeonu, who moved carefully while using Mysterious Sky Steps. It was as if the initial collision was deliberately done. After that, Hyeonu didn’t allow access at all.

“Do you know the Meadow Wolf Tribe? There is an orc I know there.” Hyeonu didn’t wield the Mysterious Sky Sword; instead, he moved his tongue.

Ikta stopped swinging the axe as if Hyeonu’s provocation worked.

“The Meadow Wolf Tribe...?” The light from Ikta’s eyes faded momentarily.

“There is a monster there. No, two... Why? Do you know the orcs?” Hyeonu laughed even more when he saw that Ikta seemed to know Raccoon and Dakan.

“You... How do you know them? Did they send you to kill me? There was clearly a promise not to chase my tribe if I turned my back on them…” Ikta’s eyes once again blazed with a bloody light. It was unfair. If he had known this would happen, he would’ve just died fighting in the first place. There was no reason to run miserably for his life just to die anyway.

“No? Raccoon and Dakan didn’t send me. They know me for a different reason. I came to save the elf.” Hyeonu told Ikta the truth. Behind the mask, Hyeonu was smiling strangely. It was an expression that came out whenever Hyeonu was plotting.

“There will be no bloodshed if you hand over the elf. Of course, I won’t even share the news with Raccoon and Dakan. What do you think about my suggestion?” Hyeonu presented a very peaceful solution. He thought that there was no need to fight Ikta.

‘This orc definitely has a story.’

The story was a quest. If Hyeonu found out the hidden story... he would be able to enjoy a more interesting Arena.

‘If I’m interested... it will be interesting to viewers.’

Killing the orc was easy. After a brief battle, he was convinced of his victory. He could kill the orc right away just by pressing with force. There was that great a difference between them.

The fifth class advancement and the relics of the giants—these two things gave Hyeonu such a great advantage.

“Decide quickly. Do you want to fight or will we settle it peacefully?” Hyeonu continued to press Ikta. It wasn’t just words. He released killing intent as if to show that everything up to now had been a joke. It was a sign that he was really going to threaten the orc’s life.

‘What should I do...?’ Ikta felt troubled after being exposed to Hyeonu’s killing intent. Obviously, he would die if he fought. He could live if he yielded. It was just that his pride as an orc fighter didn’t allow him to do so.

‘A body that has already forsaken the name of a fighter...’

However, it was a body that had already knelt once. Kneeling twice was hundreds of times easier than the first time.

“I will give you the elf. Spare me.” Ikta placed the axe on the ground and raised both hands above his head. It was a posture that showed he had no intention to fight.

“It is a very good choice. We aren’t savages who can’t talk to each other. How long are we going to solve it with our fists? We should do it peacefully through words and dialogue.” Hyeonu placed the Mysterious Sky Sword into his sheath.

Ikta showed sincerity, so Hyeonu had to show a corresponding response. Just because he didn’t have the Mysterious Sky Sword didn’t mean he couldn’t beat Ikta. He was more confident in a bare-handed fight.

“Then to commemorate the beginning of the conversation, tell me. Why are you alone here? Why capture an elf? Let’s hear it.” Hyeonu saw the Pioneer Guild members turning toward the cave in the distance and approached Ikta. “No, let’s start with your name. My name is Gang Hyeonu.”

The elf would be handled by the Pioneer Guild. Thus, Hyeonu needed to get some information from the orcs.

“My name is Ikta—a proud orc fighter,” the dark red orc, Ikta, introduced himself.

Hyeonu didn’t like Ikta’s introduction though. “Aren’t you too weak to be a fighter? What about your tribe? Do you not have one?”

The only fighter Hyeonu knew was Dakan—a monster he still didn’t know if he could win against. In the past, he thought he would win if he completed his fourth class advancement, but as he leveled up, he desperately felt it was just an illusion.

“I was kicked out of the tribe. In addition, I am a proud orc fighter. I’m just a bit different from the fighter you know. He is the strange one. Usually, the fighters are similar to me or a bit inferior.” The bloody light burned intensely in Ikta’s eyes.

It showed that he felt this was unfair. The fighter of the Meadow Wolf Tribe that Hyeonu knew was an unprecedented monster, so it wasn’t that Ikta was lacking. He naturally thought it was unfair since Hyeonu didn’t know this and disregarded him.

“So how did you end up capturing an elf?”

Ikta hesitated for a moment before answering, “I picked the elf up in the forest.”