Ranker’s Return

“It has been a while, Reina. Have you been well?”

Upon arriving at the promised location, Hyeonu greeted Reina, the blond beauty who had arrived first. There was a bit of time left until the appointment, so she was alone.

“Yes, hello. I’ve been doing well. Alley Leader, how have you been?” Reina greeted Hyeonu shyly.

It was clear that anyone who knew Reina would be shocked to see her current self. The gap between this side of her and her usual self was too great. This was natural. After all, her usual words and deeds weren’t easygoing or generous, so she was known as a brave and manly woman.

“What is going on with me? I’m always doing well. Ah, it has just been slightly hard because I couldn’t see Reina,” Hyeonu said what he thought was an American joke. In his mind, it was polite to say such words in the United States. However, Reina didn’t accept it like that.

‘He said it was hard because he couldn’t see me? Does he like me? Did he want to meet me? Then why didn’t he get in touch with me? Was it because he was busy?’ Every thought disturbed Reina’s mind.

While she was lost in her imagination, the other people arrived quickly. It started with Kim Seokjung.

“Hey, Broooother!”

“You’re already here?”

“Hello? Alley Leader.”

“How are you?”

Gang Junggu, Patrick, Mano, and so on all appeared. Hyeonu was trying to answer their greetings when a man ran crazily toward them.

“Oh, I’m a bit late.” It was Blaine’s leader, Anthony. He thought he had gotten the meeting time wrong, so he ran over hurriedly.

“It is nice to see all six of you. I’m Alley Leader. Thank you for today’s hunt.”

Today, there weren’t just seven people, including Hyeonu, present. It was a day when over a hundred people, including the elites in each guild, would go hunting.

Hyeonu continued, “No matter what happens today, two out of the three mountains should be checked. This way, we won’t lose to players of the other alliance.”

The large guilds’ alliance, that was interested in the main scenario, had followed them in quite a few parts. It was going a bit faster than Hyeonu expected.

‘I thought it would be at least a week slower...’

He didn’t know who led them, but it was clear this person had considerable skills. Based on what they were streaming, the progress looked slow, but they were actually moving forward without any rest.

“I believe you have prepared enough consumables, so we will advance according to the formation I mentioned earlier,” Hyeonu stated.

A few days ago, Hyeonu received information on their powers, analyzed it, and then put together his own combinations. The monks and paladins using holy power, who were the main force of New World and Mano, were properly combined with the New York Warriors and the Blaine guild members.

‘It’s great because there are many tanks and melee damage dealers in both guilds.’

The only problem was that there were very few ranged classes. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a big deal because the level of the close range classes was superior.

“Won’t you like to go to the East Continent once?” Hyeonu shouted righteously while leaving out his personal gains.

‘Of course, I will be the one getting the rewards… in Arena and in reality.’

*** 

“Reina, never come to front. All you need to do is add damage. There are many tankers, so you can hunt freely with the ease of riding a bus.”

After several hunts, Hyeonu started to give feedback to every person. As a group, they had a power that was great enough for them to be in an extremely comfortable position. Nevertheless, today was the first time they were gathering to hunt, so their understanding of their roles was extremely poor. No, it was safe to say it wasn’t there at all.

“I understand. I will take on the role of a damage dealer,” Reina replied.

“That’s right. There are people to act as tankers. In addition, there’s Marco, Seokjung hyung-nim, and Junggu hyung-nim. Please use your ice attribute to contain and attack the enemy.”

Reina understood Hyeonu’s words. She usually took on the role of a tanker as she was normally the best player in the team and had high defense because of her items. However, if the party members were gathered like this, her strengths were now her high attack power and ice attribute.

That was it.

“Also, Anthony, just focus on attacking like Reina. Pay attention to the priests and magicians in case of emergencies.”

While thinking about Hyeonu’s words, Anthony nodded. It was the first time he had this sort of role, but he wasn’t flustered. This was because his gaming career wasn’t that short; he was experienced enough that he could understand how to take on the new role.

“I understand, Alley Leader,” Anthony said.

He did not need to care about anything else. He just had to do it as usual. Nonetheless, due to the nature of the Balder Mountains, the role of the magicians was important.

“Patrick, I believe you can do well on your own. Tang-E, you can also do it by yourself. If you’re not sure, follow the person next to you. Got it?”

“Believe in me, Master dude.” Tang-E pounded on his chest.

Hyeonu nodded. “Then I’ll give more feedback after the next battle.”

It didn’t take long for the next battle to occur. The moment they arrived near the entrance far left of the three mountains, monsters greeted them.

“Kuaaang!”

“Kuaaaaaah!!!”

It was a bear the size of a house and an orange troll of a similar size. They were a completely mismatched combination.

“Seokjung hyung-nim and I will be in charge of the troll. The other two will take care of the bear. Other people will attack on their own,” Hyeonu gave out rough instructions.

These people were the best-ranked players in Arena. It meant they could do their part even if he didn’t direct their actions. Speaking too much was a loss in itself. Hyeonu said to Kim Seokjung, “Hyung-nim, I will draw attention from the left. Please act on the right.”

“Believe in me.” Kim Seokjung slammed the gauntlets, which had a sun pattern, together several times before jumping to the right side of the orange troll. 

‘I can’t lose either.’ Hyeonu saw this and also ran to the left side of the troll.

The troll swung an axe as long as a pole with a strength as great as their body size. Despite that, Kim Seokjung and Hyeonu weren’t fools who would bother blocking or making contact with such attacks. Instead, Hyeonu used Mysterious Sky Steps to dodge the troll’s attacks and gradually wounded the troll. Kim Seokjung also clung to the troll and moved every time the axe was swung.

Boom!

A golden pure energy hit the troll’s thigh. Kim Seokjung used a skill, and the one strike showed excellent power, causing the troll’s thigh to burst. The problem was after this. “Shit, what is this?!”

The thigh that had just burst was restored to its original form as if nothing had happened. Only the missing leather proved that something had happened in the first place.

‘It’s a troll, but isn’t this too much?’

The recovery was done in the blink of an eye. In Hyeonu’s eyes, this was a bit wrong. It was a higher level of recovery than that of 2nd Prince Edward, who was the main boss of the last main scenario.

‘There are still a few things to believe in.’

There were two ways Hyeonu could deal with this: the classic method or to leave it to luck. The former was to use fire and lightning magic to strike the troll at the same time and interfere with the recovery. The latter was to use the ‘bleeding’ abnormal status, an option built into Crasul’s Curse.

Now the level of the monsters had increased, so the low-level Crasul’s Curse became relatively useless. However, it still worked once or twice.

‘It is good if both work, but it is fine if only one does.’

In any case, the former method was almost definitive. It wasn’t an exaggeration.

‘Patrick is good, not to mention Tang-E.'

Patrick, a key figure in Mano, was outstanding. He was second only to Mason and was a great talent. There was no need to talk a lot about Tang-E.

“Hyung-nim, go slowly! It will take too long for just the two of us anyway. We need magicians,” Hyeonu shouted while dodging the troll’s axe.

“Okay! I will do as my dongsaeng says!” Kim Seokjung agreed.

Then Hyeonu yelled at Tang-E, “Tang-E! Let your magic fly coolly!”

Tang-E nodded and shot a huge ball of fire straight away. Upon seeing it, Hyeonu changed his movements, which were only dodging. Like Kim Seokjung, he approached the troll and started to attack. The Mysterious Sky Sword moved horizontally, and blood spurted out from the thigh of the troll.

[The Selvin troll warrior has resisted the ‘Curse of the Five Elements Spider’.]

‘As expected, it doesn’t work.’ Hyeonu smiled bitterly at the message that appeared in front of him. Soon, the bitterness disappeared, and pride settled in its place.

Boom! 

Before the wound was restored, blue flames struck the wound that Hyeonu created and burned the troll’s body with a great momentum.

“Kuaaaaah!” A scream burst from the mouth of the troll, who had never screamed before.

“Ah, the bear is still so powerful.” Kim Seokjung marveled at the scene, thinking that Hyeonu’s pet was still so powerful.

However, it was a scam. The buffs Tang-E gave out were actually more powerful than before, and the effects weren’t comparable. The power of Tang-E’s magic had also increased significantly, and he could be called a ranker in two classes, a priest and a magician.

‘My dongsaeng’s sword doesn’t care about distance, so the two of them are equivalent to six people,’ Kim Seokjung thought.

The cooperation of master and pet was perfect. Hyeonu damaged the troll, and Tang-E cast magic. Then Tang-E cast magic again, and Hyeonu also succeeded in attacking again during the gap. It was a perfect match.

‘I can’t lose either.’ Kim Seokjung was inspired by their appearance and also prepared a powerful blow. It was the most powerful skill he had learned after his third class advancement. Kim Seokjung was confident that this skill alone was more superior than those in any other class when it came to instant damage.

The problem was that the casting time was too long. It couldn’t be used under normal circumstances.

‘Liru’s Judgement.’

The moment the skill was used, Kim Seokjung started to gather golden divine power. To be precise, it was on his right hand. Moreover, it wasn’t just the divine power; the surrounding air also gathered around Kim Seokjung in a greedy manner. The golden divine power condensed into Kim Seokjung’s fist and wrapped around the gauntlet.

At first glance, Kim Seokjung seemed to be wearing a golden gauntlet. He stared at his right hand and quickly raised it. The golden divine power that stretched out from Kim Seokjung’s fist formed a small sphere, and he quickly fired it at the troll. The golden sphere passed through the troll’s chest, creating a hole that was twice as large as the golden sphere. It wasn’t something that the troll could recover from. Everything was useless once the heart was gone.

Hyeonu was startled by the sudden fall of the troll. Then he saw Kim Seokjung with his fist outstretched and realized what had happened.

‘Hyung-nim did it at once. Is it a skill he learned after his third class advancement?’

It contained a great power, which seemed higher than Hyeonu’s attacks. 

‘Of course, there are drawbacks...’

Nevertheless, Hyeonu was envious. At this moment, Hyeonu’s craving for new skills arose.

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