Ranker's Return

The boy grabbed the magic he had already cast, the Ice Spear, and slammed it down toward the face of a giant wolf.

“Pepe, are you okay?”

Then he checked his friend’s condition. Of course, he wasn’t expecting an answer.

‘He is bleeding.’

Blood was flowing from the wounds caused by the giant wolf’s claw.

‘I don’t know healing magic...’

The boy was distressed. He didn’t have the ability to heal his friend’s wounds.

‘If it is Teacher... he can heal Pepe.’

So the first priority was to get back alive. The boy calmly cast magic again. A handful of magic power escaped the boy’s body. The magic power changed shape according to the boy’s will. The process wasn’t smooth.

The giant wolves realized that it wasn’t just the big bear. The boy was also a danger. The giant wolves attacked the boy as well, but Pepe didn’t leave them alone.

Pepe roared wildly and struck at the clinging giant wolves. In particular, he responded to the attacks rushing toward his head at all costs. The head itself was a vital point and there was the boy hanging there.

Pepe’s paw slammed against the head of the flying giant wolf. In just one blow, the giant wolf’s eyes loosened and literally fell away. Pepe’s attack contained that much power. However, the giant wolves didn’t stop rushing at Pepe even when they saw their companions flying away.

As Pepe was struggling, the boy’s magic was finally completed. Five fireballs the size of an adult fist floated in the air. The boy looked around with a very careful expression.

‘15...’

There were now 15 giant wolves left out of the original 20. It was smaller than the beginning, but 15 was not a small number.

‘I have to be careful.’

This attack had to reduce them by at least five. That way, they would be able to go back safely.

‘One for each fireball.’

It wasn’t impossible. All he had to do was calm down. Then something sticky stuck to the boy’s forehead.

‘What?’

The boy raised his hand and wiped his forehead. Then there was a stinky smell.

Grrrrr!!!

At this moment, a giant wolf jumped into the air. The boy’s eyes widened when he belatedly discovered it.

‘No!’

The boy extended his staff toward the giant wolf. Three of the fireballs hovering around the boy shot at the giant wolf at once. The giant wolf bounced back several times faster than it attacked. At the same time, his fur burned black and there was a burnt smell.

“Phew...” A sigh of relief came from the boy’s mouth. It was a crisis that could’ve killed him.

‘I used three... it is crazy.’

The boy blamed himself. He was so panicked that he used too many of the fireballs. Nevertheless, the boy had no regrets. The wolves in front of him were still aiming for his and his friend’s life and the number was still large. The boy calmly fired the two remaining fire balls.

“Pepe, let’s go back alive,” the boy said with a grim expression.

***

“That’s it, that’s it.”

The boy smiled when he found the familiar building. The thought of arriving at a safe place eased his nerves.

‘There are potions in the house, right?’

“Pepe, let me down.”

The boy gently touched his friend’s head. Pepe carefully lowered the boy he was carrying on his shoulders to the ground. Just then, the blood from Pepe’s chest splashed onto the boy’s face.

“Pepe...?”

The boy looked at his friend with a puzzled expression. His friend’s always lively face was somehow lifeless.

“Since when have you been like this? Huh?!”

The boy’s voice grew louder, but he received no answer in return. His friend looked back at the boy blankly like always.

“Wait, wait a minute. I-I’ll bring you the potions!”

The boy panicked and rushed into the house. After a while, the boy ran out with a small glass bottle in his hand.

“Pepe, sit over here. Quickly. I brought you a potion.”

The boy barely controlled his trembling mind and body. It was much harder than fighting the giant wolves. Pepe leaned his heavy body against the tree and sat down.

‘He is badly hurt.’

Wounds that hadn’t been seen before started to appear in the boy’s eyes. There were wounds all over the body. In particular, the wound on the chest was the most serious.

“I’ll sprinkle it. Bear it even if it hurts.”

The boy carefully sprinkled the potion over the affected areas. The amount changed depending on the severity of the wound. The wounds on Pepe’s body quickly recovered. However, the wound on the chest area was swollen the most and it remained the same. There was no improvement.

The boy turned pale. This was the only potion. It was also for emergency purposes.

‘Teacher will return tomorrow...’

The old man was away from home due to something important. It wasn’t even that long. Only one day. He left just a few hours ago, and was scheduled to return before noon tomorrow.

‘I need to find a way.’

The boy recalled all the knowledge he had learned from his teacher, but he couldn’t figure out a way to treat his friend who was seriously injured. Despair came to the boy. The thought of losing a friend filled the boy’s mind.

‘No… that can’t happen.’

“If it is that...”

At this moment, the boy remembered something. It was something he accidentally discovered in his teacher’s study. The boy rushed into the house.

‘It was around here...’

The boy quickly searched the study. He opened the drawers and looked through the bookshelves.

“I found it!”

The thing the boy found was an old, thick book.

-About the production of necromancy and chimeras.

This was how the book began:

-Have you ever lost your loved ones?

-Did your loved one become sick?

-Did the temple turn away from you?

-Then this book might be more helpful to you than any scripture.

‘Yes, this is what I need.’

The boy cheered. It was just the right book for his situation.

‘Where is it written?’

The boy went out while reading the book. It was with great speed.

***

A black thunderbolt shot out from the old man’s staff. It literally burned down the enemies rushing toward the old man.

“Tsk... It is still the same even when time passes. Their persistence is like a troll’s health...”

The old man frowned at the fallen bodies around him. It had been more than 10 years since that day’s bloodbath, but there was still a group of people chasing him. Every time the old man appeared in the empire, it wasn’t certain how they knew, but they came to him like ghosts.

‘Still... I’m glad I got what I wanted.’

There was a small pouch in the old man’s hand. It was a subspace pouch that could hold more than it seemed. There were all sorts of things inside it. Magic power stones, essences, and even various magic books. It was all for one person.

‘This much might be able to let him go over the wall.’

They were items that would compensate for the lack of talent of his one and only disciple.

“He will like it, right?”

A smile appeared on the old man’s face.

***

It was early in the morning, when the sun hadn’t risen yet.

Light flashed in the forest. In the place where the light disappeared, an old man wearing a black robe stood.

‘He must still be sleeping.’

There would still be a few more hours until the boy woke up. The boy’s wake-up time hadn’t changed over the past few years, so it would be the same today.

“Dark magic power...?”

The old man’s steps paused as he was about to walk home. There was an energy that wasn’t supposed to exist.

‘No one would come here...’

The residence of the boy and the old man was a secret. The old man didn’t even inform his organization about it. He was going to raise the boy to be just a magician, not a black magician.

‘Who found this place?’

The old man’s mind became complicated. Therefore, he headed home with more cautious steps.

***

“......!”

The old man’s eyes widened as he saw a shocking sight.

“What is this...?”

The old man ran toward the bear lying in the yard.

“Teacher!”

The boy heard the old man’s voice and ran over. The boy’s eyes were bloodshot and his face was white and tired.

“What happened?” the old man asked as he hugged the boy who ran over.

‘It isn’t unfamiliar...’

There was a rather complicated magic circle drawn in the yard. The dark magic power was felt from this magic circle.

“Pepe... Pepe was injured while fighting the giant wolves...”

The boy burst out crying and started to explain the whole story.

“He got hurt?”

“I used a potion and the wound didn’t heal... he couldn’t breathe well and was in a lot of pain...”

“So?”

“I found a magic book in the library that would heal Pepe... but it didn’t work...”

“Were you the one who drew the metamorphosis magic circle?”

The boy nodded. The metamorphosis magic circle was the first magic circle in the magic book. Without it, all the other magic in the book was useless.

‘How could this kid...?’

The old man grabbed his forehead. It was a terrible fate.

“Teacher, please save Pepe.”

Regardless of whether the boy knew the old man’s feelings or not, he just wanted his friend to come back to life.

“Okay, get some rest. You are about to collapse.”

The old man smiled at the boy. The boy nodded silently and fell asleep. He had been holding on with his extreme mental strength. The old man laid the boy down on one side of the yard and approached Pepe, who was lying down.

‘The wound is too old.’

The old man frowned as he examined Pepe’s wounds. The time had already passed for it to be resolved using healing magic. A priest with an enormous amount of magic power was needed to heal it.

‘It can’t be helped.’

The old man took out a small bead from his pocket. He didn’t have divine power, but he had a way to replace it.

‘It is his first time drawing it, but he did it well.’

“Huhu...”

The old man couldn’t stop smiling even in a serious situation. The magic circle that the boy drew was so perfect. The old man placed the extracted essence on Pepe’s chest and started to chant a spell. A huge amount of magic power was released from the body of the old man chanting the spell.

Light came from the magic circle on the ground as if in response. The whole yard shone brightly as if the sun had risen. A few minutes passed and the light slowly started to fade away.

The old man examined Pepe with a slightly haggard face.

‘I succeeded.’

The wound on his chest was gone. Instead, there were white bones in the spot. It was the result of the magic circle drawn by the boy.

“It will happen soon.”

The old man walked slowly into the house without any idea who he was talking to.

***

The bear opened his eyes. He was in good health. The stinging pain was all gone.

The bear looked around with a bright expression as always. He seemed to be looking for something. The bear finally found what he was looking for and moved. There was a boy where the bear stopped. The bear carefully stroked the boy’s head with his paws.

“Huh...?”

Perhaps it was because he felt the bear’s touch, but the sleeping boy woke up.

“Pepe? Pepe!!”

The boy checked the bear’s appearance that looked fine and hugged him.