Ranker’s Return

Upon being buffed by Tang-E, Caruso ran rampant even more. He enjoyed this feeling that he felt for the first time in his life. His entire body was full of power, and he soared high into the sky in an instant. In the eyes of the audience members, Caruso became smaller and smaller.

Soon after he became a black dot, Caruso started to descend. He fell at a faster rate than when he went up. Then the drake shot a fire laser at him. Caruso let out a loud exhale and swung its claws at the drake’s Breath. It was a wonderful sight.

Caruso’s claws were wrapped in dark red light and started to split apart the drake’s Breath. However, it was only to a certain extent. The flames started to push Caruso away. Caruso moved back momentarily by flapping his wings and opened his mouth, shooting out a blood-red laser of fire that hit the other red laser! The blood-red laser devoured the red laser and eventually swallowed up the drake’s entire body.

Hyeonu was looking forward to the drake’s death. Still, a drake was a drake. Like Caruso, it absorbed the magic power around it and changed its appearance to heal the injuries.

‘Too bad,’ Hyeonu thought.

*** 

A dozen minutes later...

It was both a long and short time that passed. Although it was too short for Caruso to dispel his anger, it was long enough for Hyeonu to enjoy watching the battle.

“Oh, I’m going to finish it now. The phase has changed. Shouldn’t we go harvesting?” Hyeonu spoke in a laughter-filled tone.

-Honestly, it was okay to sneak in when the two of them were fighting.

-This is crazy.

-Yes. Why throw away one when you can get two?

-He won’t throw away the things in his hands.

It was as the viewers said. Hyeonu could’ve run straight to the monument after summoning Caruso. After all, Caruso was buffed by Tang-E and had a one-sided advantage over the drake. Yet Hyeonu didn’t do that. Having fought Caruso previously, Hyeonu already knew the good rewards the drake would give.

So he wasn’t stupid enough or in such a rush to leave such treasures behind. In any case, he got everything he wanted from this quest—more viewers and more subscribers. The real benefits had been obtained. The rewards for completing the main scenario were nominal—experience and being able to move to the East Continent. The additional things he could get here wasn’t a useless quest but items that the drake would give—the material items.

Hyeonu placed the Mysterious Sky Sword on his shoulder and ran toward the drake who had turned gray. He used Giant’s Origin, which increased his strength and physique stats, and One Who Yearns, which increased his stats by 30%. They were two skills that Hyeonu had saved.

‘Giant’s Origin and One Who Yearns.’

Nonetheless, these weren’t the only ones. Hyeonu had one more hidden card. There was still the purple ogre’s earring, Twilight Memory, which contained the skill ‘Twilight Reproduction’.

[Twilight Reproduction: Reduces all stats of opponents exposed to twilight by 20% for 10 minutes.]

‘Twilight Reproduction!’

He used Twilight Reproduction, and dark clouds filled the sky, making the surroundings dark in a short amount of time. The drake’s scales were exposed to the light from the clouds and started to turn orange.

[The red-blooded Dorma has received the abnormal condition ‘weakening’.]

Dorma was now orange in color, and it lost 20% of its stats due to Twilight Reproduction.

[The red-blooded Dorma has received the abnormal condition ‘slowed down’.]

Furthermore, Area Proclamation and Fighting Energy Emission were added in succession, limiting Dorma’s movements. Hyeonu used Giant’s Origin and One Who Yearns, so the stats difference between the two of them wasn’t so great.

“Items, come out items. This monster!” Hyeonu shouted and swung the Mysterious Sky Sword. The viewers shook their heads.

-Now it is giving birth to this...

-Should I change to a baby?

-No, no. In the final analysis, it is capitalism.

-A monster is a monster. I have to acknowledge what should be acknowledged. Alley Leader was a monster. It is true.

-Desert dragons are actually close to lizards rather than being dragons. 

-This looks like a 100% pure dragon.

-Of course, it can’t use magic.

-A Breath shot? Didn’t you see it before? The drake did a fire show with Alley Leader.

Alley Leader confronted the drake, who boasted overwhelming dignity, without any resignation. He was like a hero in a fantasy novel. Of course, it wasn’t that there were no players who killed dragons in previous virtual reality games. It was just that at those times, streaming hadn’t been as popular, and there had been too many virtual reality games. There hadn’t been any interest focused on it.

Moreover, there had been many of them while Hyeonu was currently the only one. It was his personal ability that allowed him to fight against the drake, a sub-dragon.

‘Sure enough, having items is good.’

Hyeonu felt it as he avoided the drake’s attack. He was in a much better state than last time. Dorma was fast, but it wasn’t as responsive as Caruso. The attacks couldn’t be blocked, but Hyeonu could attack. He couldn’t be killed, but he could kill. An ice-blue spear stabbed Dorma, and Dorma wrapped its wings in magic to try and nullify Tang-E’s magic.

Then Dorma’s wings turned red. That was when Hyeonu moved. He wasn’t great enough to just stand still and watch.

‘Where are you going?’

This time, he was going to tear off its wings and make it a non-flying dinosaur. This was Hyeonu’s goal. He focused on his top priority while feeling the power that filled his body.

‘Kill its mobility.’

Those who walked had legs, and those who flew had wings. Consequently, limiting the opponent’s movements was one of the basics of combat. A strong pure energy was fired from the Mysterious Sky Sword and aimed at Dorma’s chest. It was an arrogant attack—a straightforward attack without any embellishments.

By using it, Hyeonu seemed to be saying, ‘If you think you can block it, then try to block it.’

Dorma quickly recovered the magic power it had injected into its wings and instead concentrated it in front to protect itself. “Kuaaaaaah!!!”

Hyeonu’s pure energy was blocked by Dorma’s red magic which had become a shield. However, the wings that Hyeonu originally aimed for were soon pierced precisely. Dorma flew up to escape Tang-E’s magic, but Tang-E wasn’t an idiot, so he moved the ice spears and made five holes in Dorma’s wings.

“Well done, Tang-E,” Hyeonu praised. Then Tang-E jumped back to his spot.

‘From now on, it is real.’ Hyeonu narrowed the distance to Dorma while wondering if the wounds on the wings would be restored.

Hyeonu poured out his magic power. Due to Memories of a Murderer, his magic power would be restored when it was used as long as he did it right. The pure energy struck Dorma who couldn’t fly. Up and down, left and right—it struck Dorma from all directions.

“Kuoooooh!” Dorma howled and shot a Breath at the pure energy.

The Breath had already been used against Caruso, and the current attack was just an inferior imitation of Caruso’s. It was absurd to say that Mysterious Sky Range, which had been enhanced by several stat increases, could be blocked with a replica. Blood splattered and flesh burst. 

The splendid scales were torn off, and Dorma’s head bones were exposed to the air. The wounded monster was frightened, but cowering monsters weren’t scary. The fact that Dorma turned gray indicated the appearance of phase two. It meant its health had dropped below a certain level, and its physical energy consumption wasn’t low.

Hyeonu and Tang-E continued to attack, so it was inevitable for Dorma to become fearful. For Dorma, having a fear of death was also part of its programming.

‘I can see the end.’ Hyeonu noticed it as well.

Now it was a hunt, not a battle.

“Tang-E, get ready. Tear it apart,” Hyeonu ordered.

Dorma was thousands of times larger than Hyeonu and tens or hundreds of times larger than Tang-E when he was in the Giant Transformation state. This meant it wouldn’t be hard for them to get on Dorma’s back.

‘Of course, this is a story for when it can’t fly...’

Tang-E was ready. He turned his shoulders, bowed his back, and then stretched again. He said, “That’s it. Let’s go, Master dude.” 

Hyeonu hugged Tang-E. Then he used magic power at a controllable level and used Mysterious Sky Steps. Every time he stepped on the ground, he moved a distance of 10 meters. It was so magnificent and secretive that Dorma couldn’t detect it properly. The fast speed was just the basics.

“Kuooh!”

Hyeonu soon arrived near the roaring Dorma and thought about the path he should take.

‘Run from the tail to the waist all at once.’

Then he thought of playing with Tang-E on top of the drake. He would pierce its body with his sword, inject magic power, and detonate it. Just then, Dorma moved its tail and aimed at the running Hyeonu. It might’ve seemed like a sharp attack, but in Hyeonu’s eyes, Dorma was just like a dog waving its tail at its owner.

‘Now!’ Hyeonu climbed up from an appropriate position. Dorma’s tail swept over the spot where Hyeonu jumped, and Hyeonu naturally settled on Dorma’s tail. Hyeonu sprinted without any worries. He sprinted very quickly just like he was running on a flat surface.

“Kuaaaaaah!!!” Dorma felt Hyeonu on its body and shook its body. Yet Hyeonu continued running like he wasn’t affected at all.

“Tang-E, start!” Hyeonu finally passed through the tail, reached Dorma’s back, and threw Tang-E into the air.

“I know, Master dude!” Tang-E dropped onto Dorma and grew to his biggest size. He slammed his paws, which were surrounded by blue sparks, onto Dorma’s back. Tang-E’s paws broke Dorma’s orange-stained scales and dug into its flesh, scouring the insides using his sharp claws.

‘Well done, good job. Whose pet is so amazing?’ Hyeonu smiled at Tang-E’s incredibly practical actions. ‘I can’t lose either.’

Hyeonu stabbed the Mysterious Sky Sword into Dorma’s back, piercing so deep that only the handle could be seen. He used the Mysterious Sky Range in this state. To be precise, it was the power of explosion that had been absorbed into Mysterious Sky Range. Huge explosions occurred in succession.

At the same time, Dorma lost its balance and started to stagger.

‘It is time to end this.’

Hyeonu felt his body shake and injected more magic power. This time, the explosion was twice as loud. It was like an atomic bomb had fallen. A series of explosions occurred, and Dorma’s body swayed like a drunkard.

Thump!

Dorma soon lost its balance and fell down.

[The red-blooded Dorma has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

There were no more messages appearing in the dust that filled the air, and he waved his hand to calm the dust.

“Master dude, is it done?” Tang-E made his body smaller again and looked up at Hyeonu cutely.

“Yes, it’s over. It’s over,” Hyeonu said. He saw the message in front of him and hugged Tang-E. “Everyone, this is the solo drake raid. It has ended. I managed to do a difficult thing again.”

-Hah... I’m surprised every time I see it.

-He really caught a boss monster alone.

-Are you an Alley Leader streaming newbie? This is everyday life. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-There is nothing exaggerated about the videos. Rather, the editing seems more annoying. It seems there is nothing superfluous, so why delete the content?

The viewers praised Hyeonu’s raid. They were full of admiration. As viewers gave gold coins to Alley Leader, Hyeonu gently put down Tang-E and picked up the items that Dorma dropped.

‘Good, good.’

Hyeonu returned from picking up the items and hugged Tang-E again.

“I’m going to break the monument now. I don’t think there is anything else.”

Hyeonu walked lightly toward the monument hundreds of meters away.

“It’s huge, Master dude.”

-It is really big.

-Of course, it is big. It could be seen from a distance.

-It is too big to be a monument.

As Tang-E and the viewers were paying attention to the size of the tombstone, Hyeonu sensed something and turned his head.

“Who are you?”

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