Ranker's Return

It was literally a line—a solid purple line. This line was insignificant compared to the darkened area. There was one fact that was for certain. It seemed like the world had been split in two.

Clack clack!

The skeleton knight swung its bone sword while moving its jaw strongly like it didn’t like the result in front of it. The bone sword was dyed black like the light from the eye sockets of the skeleton knight. The skeleton knight’s bone sword and Hyeonu’s solid purple line collided. The bone sword was pushed back incessantly; it couldn’t stop the solid line from digging in.

The black energy disappeared, and the bone sword started to crack. The skeleton knight abandoned the bone sword to prevent it from breaking. It released the hand that was holding the bone sword. The bone sword soared high into the sky. At the same time, the skeleton knight quickly flew backward.

“You can’t stop much,” Hyeonu fired provocative words toward the skeleton that had retreated. He opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated manner and gritted his teeth loud enough to make a sound. Hyeonu was copying the skeleton knight.

-Hey, things that aren’t people stick together.

-Isn’t that a complete blasphemy toward the skeleton?

-Skeletons also have pride.

-The provocation is too strong. If I was the skeleton knight, I would rush in to kill.

The viewers were indignant at Hyeonu’s provocation as if they were the skeleton knights. The level of Hyeonu’s provocation was that high. The same was true for the angry skeleton knight.

Clack clack! The skeleton moved its jaw at a rapid pace like it was agitated. A clacking sound filled the surroundings. However, the skeleton knight couldn’t move. It could only express its anger. It couldn’t run to Hyeonu.

The right hand that had been holding the sword and a portion of the bones in the chest area beyond the shoulder were cracked. The armor covering the upper body was smashed so there were no traces of it. It didn’t even have a weapon in its hand.

This was the aftermath of the sword flying away from blocking Cutting the Moonlight. It would be good if it had just blown away. The bone sword had turned to powder and fell to the ground.

‘I have to finish it before the pattern comes out.’

Hyeonu slowly approached the skeleton knight who was standing still. It was better to finish it than to see something unexpected happen. However, it was already too late by then. The skeleton knight had already introduced a different pattern. It was an unbelievable sight. The skeleton horse in the distance shattered, and the bones flew over and attached to the body of the skeleton knight.

-What is this?

-No, does this make sense?

-It isn’t fusion...

-The same skeleton can’t come out like this.

-Is this a skeleton knight or skeleton robot?

The viewers were astonished by the skeleton knight’s pattern. It was a completely unexpected pattern—destroying the skeleton horse to restore health. This was something that no one, not just the viewers, could’ve guessed.

“This is a bit...” Hyeonu muttered with a flustered expression.

‘I think the armor is a lot better than it used to be...’

He never dreamed that the skeleton knight would merge with the skeleton horse.

‘Is it fortunate that the broken sword hasn’t been restored?’

Even so, the skeleton knight’s bone sword didn’t appear again. It was only the armor and the body that recovered. Hyeonu ran toward the skeleton knight again. The battle had to end while the effect of Acknowledged Giant remained.

‘I don’t know what variables there might be... I should save the rest.’

Hyeonu had one buff left, but he couldn’t use it. This was the last bastion. Hyeonu resumed his steps that had stopped, using Mixed Sky Steps to move toward the skeleton knight. His figure was split into dozens of afterimages, but it was different from before. It was done at an incomparably fast speed. As Hyeonu wielded the Mixed Sky Sword, dozens of lines appeared in the air between Hyeonu and the skeleton knight.

Dozens of dots appeared all over the body of the skeleton knight. In addition… an explosion occurred around the skeleton knight’s entire body. The skeleton knight was sent bouncing back helplessly with holes appearing here and there in its restored armor.

-This is a bit...

-It was restored, but it was smashed right away.

-Isn’t it common sense to give the opponent time to move?

-How pitiful, how pitiful.

-By the way, this is really dirty. The boss monster is being beaten like a rabbit in the back garden.

The viewers shook their heads. Now the skeleton knight seemed pitiful to them.

‘It is natural.’

The audience reacted like this because they didn’t know Hyeonu’s exact specs. Hyeonu had received the buffs of the priests of New World and even used Acknowledged Giant, so his current specs weren’t much different from when he fought against Ragand.

This was Hyeonu who was strong enough to block Ragand’s attack, even if he had received Callioraks’ help. It didn’t make sense for him to struggle against the skeleton knight in front of him.

“Stop it and die.”Hyeonu swung the Mixed Sky Sword at the face of the skeleton knight, who had backed away. Every time the Mixed Sky Sword cut through the air, the purple pure energies made an eerie sound as they flew toward the skeleton knight.

The skeleton knight looked at the flying purple blades, and its eye sockets glowed deeply. Then a black sword appeared in its previously empty hand. The skeleton knight grabbed the sword with both hands and started to spin rapidly in place. Black pure energies poured out from the skeleton knight that was spinning around. The pure energies Hyeonu fired collided with the pure energies of the skeleton knight.

The result of the collision came out in an instant. There was no boring power fight. One of them was pushed back instantly. The skeleton knight’s body fell to the ground in pieces. The effect of Hyeonu’s skill Introduction to Disassembling was activated.

This was the end. The skeleton knight was split into dozens of pieces and didn’t merge again.

[The dark chosen royal skeleton knight has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

In the place where the skeleton knight appeared, a book and white armor made of bones remained.

‘Nice!’

Hyeonu saw it and smiled brightly. Something really rare happened.

Two items dropped.

‘How much is this? What the hell?’

Usually, when killing a boss monster, it was normal to get one or two pieces of equipment called finished products. However, Hyeonu didn’t pick up many items compared to the number of boss monsters he had killed. Considering that a party usually consisted of six people and they shared the items, Hyeonu should have six times as many items as others if calculated by the average probability. Yet no matter how generously he calculated it, he only received triple the number of items as others. Any more than that was impossible.

‘Sometimes a jackpot pops out, but it is rare.’

Yet today, he picked up a number of items that anyone would be envious of. It was enough to be happy.

-One skill book and one armor? This is completely...

-The skill book is for a melee class, right?

-It seems to be an attack skill.

-Or maybe it is a summoning skill. Summoning a skeleton knight...

-Summoning something like that? It is a bit...

-Let’s look at it together. We are curious as well.

The viewers admired Hyeonu’s luck, but they were also interested in the items that Hyeonu picked up. The skeleton knight that Hyeonu defeated was the highest level boss monster by general standards. In other words, it was highly likely that the items that dropped were the best items.

“Um... Will there be time for that?”

Hyeonu glanced at the chart window and put the items he picked up into his inventory.

-That... I don’t think there is.

-It is a bit weird right now, right?

-Shouldn’t the situation be cleared up first?

-We also have a conscience. I can’t say to look at it now.

-We are people as well, people.

The viewers nodded at Hyeonu’s words. They also had a conscience and admitted that now wasn’t the time for Hyeonu to examine his new items. The undead were flocking toward Hyeonu from all directions.

“Once the battle is over... I’ll show you the item information of one of the two. I will ask you to consolidate your opinions through discussion while I’m hunting. I might not be able to see the chat window very well, so please understand.”

Hyeonu said this and turned off the chat window. Now was the time to focus on hunting.

***

New World succeeded in crossing the gates and entering the interior of the city. It was partly because New World fought well, but it was also partly due to Hyeonu attracting the aggro of the undead from the inside out.

“Now, push and break it. Don’t save anything,” Kim Seokjung shouted while searching for the remaining undead around him.

“I understand, Master.”

“Use it in order quickly once the cooldown time ends.”

“Don’t be fooled into using it only when they are gathered. Just fire it!!”

“It will become poop if you save it. Did you hear? We have to take our share before Alley Leader wipes them all out.”

The guild members of New World really followed Kim Seokjung’s words. They unleashed their powerful skills without hesitation.

-By the way, is it because they are mainly priest class-oriented? Their power is no joke.

-The undead are melting.

-It is almost at the level of ice cream.

New World was strong. As expected of a guild with many priests, they melted dozens of undead with one blow.

-By the way, there seem to be fewer monsters here than anywhere else based on how New World is enduring like this. How did they find this castle? It seems like they’ve uncovered a complete weakness.

A viewer who saw it was curious about Hyeonu’s intelligence network. The city they were seeing was different in many ways from the city that was currently under siege. There were no powerful boss monsters, and the number of undead was small.

-What nonsense is this? There are a lot of undead.

-Right. Aren’t there too many here? It isn’t inferior just looking at the numbers.

The other viewers corrected what the viewer had misinformed.

-??? It is a lot less. What are you talking about?

-It is because Alley Leader killed them all.

-A massacre is now occurring on the inside.

-The skeletons and corpses are just being swept away.

-He killed both the boss and named monsters.

There was only one thing that made this city different from others. It was the absence of a guardian. The rest of the conditions were equal. Such a city was pierced by New World and Hyeonu. To be precise, it was Hyeonu who was part of New World, so it was the New World Guild.

-Really? Does this make sense?

-What doesn’t make sense? It is New World and Alley Leader.

-New World is also crazy. What items did Brother Sijong get? His divine power hasn’t dried up.

-Based on these specs, I think he can even fight Teika in the arena.

-I think Sijong hyung-nim has completed the fifth class advancement. Otherwise, it can’t be explained.

-My thoughts are the same. He did the fifth class advancement. Killing monsters like this in the siege...

However, it wasn’t all due to Hyeonu. Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu—the two of them played a huge role.

“Junggu, is it different?”

“That’s right, Hyung-nim. The difference from before is huge.”

The fifth class advancement…

Through the previous siege, the two of them reached level 400, the fifth class advancement level, and succeeded in the fifth class advancement with relative ease.

“I will show you once.” Kim Seokjung ran alone to the group of undead in the distance. It seemed reckless at first glance, but it was within Kim Seokjung’s calculations. The conclusion from his long hours of combat experience told him that he could afford this much.

Kim Seokjung leaned his shoulder back and pulled back his arm. Golden divine power gathered around Kim Seokjung’s fist. Kim Seokjung stretched out his fist without hesitation as the distance to the undead narrowed.

“Sun Cannon!”

A laser with a diameter of several meters poured out of Kim Seokjung’s hand.