Ranker’s Return

A ray of destruction—these words were very suitable for the Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength that Hyeonu fired. The disadvantage was that it consumed a lot of magic power, but this was nothing considering its strength.

“The scenery is nice.”

This was Hyeonu’s impression after seeing the sight before him. It was a cool penetration through the wave of dark elves. There wasn’t a single dark elf left in front of Hyeonu. It was like there had been nothing there right from the beginning.

‘I will shoot a video for the first time in ages.’

Recently, the number of videos uploaded to Alley Leader’s channel had plummeted. It was because Hyeonu hadn’t paid much attention to it and had instead placed his focus on managing Phinis and his adventurers in the East Continent. Now, an appropriate opportunity had arrived. It was a thrilling and brutal battle that would get attention.

Hyeonu withdrew the Mysterious Sky Sword that was aimed at the dark elves and placed it on his shoulder. Then his free left hand extended toward the dark elves.

“Come, come!!”

It had been a long time since he had said such words.

***

“What? Are your eyes stuck?” The knight commander shouted at the knights around him.

The knights reluctantly turned their heads away.

“That... Marionette Bear, what is your name...?” The knight commander asked Tang-E with a very polite attitude. There was only one reason why he was so polite: Marionette Bears were incredibly powerful. Tang-E was somewhat flustered because he had never been treated with such courtesy except in the restaurants he had visited with Hyeonu.

Nevertheless, Tang-E soon replied with a shameless face, “My name is Tang-E. The man who just ran out is my master, so there is no need to worry.”

Tang-E didn’t know about the task, but he realized the way the situation progressed so far was the same as before. Thus, he spoke lightly while thinking of the dark elves Hyeonu had beaten before.

‘Master won’t lose to those weaklings,’ Tang-E thought.

“Master...?” The knight commander uttered. The master of a Marionette Bear… 

The Marionette Bears were prideful and nitpicky. Their armed force was extraordinary, but it was difficult to get close to them as a colleague. Then the master…

As far as the knight commander knew, no one in the empire could tame a Marionette Bear.

‘Is he a member of the imperial family?’

If that were the case, it made sense. Everything was incomprehensible when it came to the imperial family of the Luos Empire...

“Is that so? Even so, shouldn’t we give him some help?” The knight commander asked. It was impossible for one person to beat an army alone—at least, it was like this within his common sense.

“It takes time, but it isn’t impossible for him to defeat them. Master is very powerful. Still, we have to go. He will be angry if we’re late, obviously. Master treats his grudges very seriously,” Tang-E asserted.

It would take time, but his master would never lose. There was no end to his Master dude’s abilities and magic power. In addition, his magic resistance was too high. Many times, it seemed more pitiful for the opponents to use magic to fight against his Master dude.

“I understand,” the knight commander said. Then he encouraged the other knights and soldiers to move faster.

***

The Luos army couldn’t shut their mouths. They raised a hand and rubbed their eyes, unable to believe the sight in front of them.

“Look, Master dude is strong,” Tang-E declared with a triumphant attitude. The knight commander couldn’t dismiss it as lightly as he did before.

“Really...” He couldn’t refute this statement while looking at the landscape that the man had created. The man took a step forward, and the dark elves attacked him. Ranging from dark elves holding swords to dark elves preparing magic, they targeted the man in a variety of ways.

The man deflected three silver swords that fell toward his head. Simultaneously, his sword cut a dark elf’s waist. It wasn’t just a cut. Rather, it was a cut that split the dark elf in half, killing the dark elf with one blow. The man’s advance didn’t stop there. He silently blocked the pouring onslaught and continued cutting down the dark elves one by one.

“I will also help,” Tang-E muttered in a voice low enough to only be heard by the knight commander. As Tang-E concentrated magic power on both his front paws, a blue ice spear started to appear. Extending from the tip of a sharp blade until it formed a smooth handle, the appearance was gradually made complete.

Finally, the over-two-meter-long spear was now whole, and Tang-E gently pushed the spear floating in the air with the sole of his foot. Tang-E’s ice spear flew with an eerie sound. Piercing through the battlefield without any scruples, the ice spear passed through all the dark elves blocking its way. The dark elves who were pierced by it froze without even being able to scream.

‘Worthy of the reputation!’ The knight commander’s eyes grew larger when he saw Tang-E’s magic. It was a really great power.

‘And it doesn’t seem like he put too much effort into it...’

Regardless, the dark elves died helplessly, and the knight commander’s feelings toward Tang-E went beyond admiration into fear. Then a wave of sword energy struck the dark elves. It poured out unceasingly, sweeping the dark elves back and forth like trees being washed away by a flood.

‘Is this a member of the imperial family...?’ The knight commander’s misunderstanding deepened even further. There weren’t many Guardian Knights who could show such power lightly. With the addition of the Marionette Bear… it could only be the imperial family. No, it was definitely the imperial family. Moreover, it was a direct descendant, not a branch member.

Just then, the man yelled, “What? Aren’t you going to fight? Do it properly!”

Hearing the man’s cry, the knight commander regained his senses and gave orders to the knights and soldiers who were staring at the man blankly: “All soldiers! Charge!!! This six-month-long war will end in our hands! Let’s see the end to it before the Guardian Knights come!! Charge!!!”

Under the orders of the commander, some knights left the formation and prepared to charge. All of the knights, except for the minimum number needed to protect the soldiers from the magic of the dark elves, went forward. It was spectacular to see nearly a hundred mounted knights charging out.

“Charge!! Stop them!!!”

On the other hand, this was a disaster for the dark elves. Through their long war with the empire, the dark elves knew better than anyone else just how great the power of the knights’ charge was.

“How do we to stop it?!”

Normally, they would do something such as use magic or scatter to minimize the damage. However, it was impossible this time. They couldn’t do anything because of the human who was wielding a sword in front of them.

“This is the worst,” words of despair poured out from a dark elf’s mouth. One person spoke, but the other dark elves felt the same. It was an emotion they all shared. They fell into despair. This was the worst. The dark elves felt the battlefield was a very grim place.

Yet it wasn’t due to the knights attacking the dark elves. Instead, it was all because of one man, who was currently in a very bad mood. He didn’t like it.

‘Why is Tang-E playing around like this after dealing only one blow?’

Hyeonu didn’t know what happened, but Tang-E had taken a long time to travel a short distance. Now, it had already been a while since Tang-E arrived at the battlefield. Yet he didn’t fight; he just watched.

‘Is this a mission I’m supposed to clear alone?’

Eventually, a roar that was like a lion burst from Hyeonu’s mouth: “Tang-E! Can’t you do it properly?!!!”

Was it reflecting Hyeonu’s mood...? The dark red aura around Hyeonu’s body started to shake violently.

“Master dude is angry. Angry...” Tang-E felt restless when he saw Hyeonu’s appearance. Meanwhile, the knights were becoming rays of light as they extended weapons filled with magic power. Their attacks were like a blast of wind, sweeping up everything before them.

There were dark elves who died from their bodies rupturing after getting hit by the horses’ barding, while other dark elves had their throats cut by blue sword energy. Meanwhile, another dark elf was skewered by a spear. It was pandemonium.

Just then, a blue light flashed on the battlefield, filling the eyes of those present. The world stopped temporarily, and the flow of time froze still. The stopped time only started again when someone groaned, “Uwu... Master dude, I’ve done everything.”

Tang-E literally fell onto the horse’s head. He had no more strength left in his body as he spent almost all of his energy on lightning magic. Suddenly, there were huge bursts of lightning.

“Aaaack!”

“Help me!”

“Kuaaack!”

The screams of the dark elves filled the plains. Those who were blinded by the intense light, those who fortunately hadn’t been directly struck by the lightning, and those not hit by the lightning at all—only three types of dark elves could scream. All the dark elves who had been struck by the lightning turned into dust.

‘He did something right,’ Hyeonu remarked inwardly.

“Brat... You should’ve done this earlier,” Hyeonu said, unsurprised or shaken by the hell in front of him. He merely injected magic power into the Mysterious Sky Sword with a dull expression. This was so he could get out of here faster and clear the mission.

***

The world froze the moment the Mysterious Sky Sword stopped moving. A voice rang out through the plains, -You have passed the given test perfectly. Compensation will be paid before moving on to Stage 4.

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Skill proficiency has been acquired.]

[The skill proficiency of Weapons Mastery has increased to A+.]

[The skill proficiency of Body Strengthening has increased to A.]

[The skill proficiency of Crescent Moon Cut has increased to A-.]

‘Beautiful, beautiful.’

Hyeonu nodded and waved his hands like the maestro of an orchestra at the message windows that appeared. More than anything else, they were beautiful.

-You have cleared Stages 2 and 3 with the fewest sacrifices in Senu’s history. Additional rewards will be added.

“Huh?”

Then Hyeonu heard the voice again.

[The title 'Ruler of the Battlefield’ has been created.]

[Ruler of the Battlefield]

[A title given to players who dominate a large battlefield.

Effect: If there are more than 10 players in combat, all stats will be increased by 10%.]

“Yes, this is it. This is the taste!!”

Hyeonu cheered when he saw the Master of the Battlefield title that appeared before him. The trigger conditions weren’t tricky, and it was a very good title.

‘It has no effect when I’m normally hunting, but...’

In other cases, it seemed quite usable. In particular, it would have an effect in PvP battles and against NPCs.

‘That is not the same for the Samsungga and in battles between players.’

It could even be used in the siege of the pro league. For Hyeonu, a 10% increase in all stats was never a small number.

“Tang-E, what are you doing?” Hyeonu smiled brightly as he closed the title window and turned to Tang-E. However, there was no response from Tang-E. He seemed to be frozen like the rest of the world.

“Tang-E?” Hyeonu shook the bundle of golden fur. The golden fur shook along with Hyeonu without any resistance.

“Uhh... Master dude...” Tang-E groaned and raised his head.

‘Ohu? Look at this?’ Hyeonu could see that Tang-E’s eyes were full of vitality, unlike his powerless appearance. It meant that Tang-E was acting for some reason.

“You can’t move? Would you like to go back to Bung Bung Island?” Hyeonu pretended not to know and smiled sympathetically at Tang-E.

“I will go. Then...” Tang-E nodded hard.

“Then I will have to eat the cooked meat alone. I think there are still several boar ribs left in my inventory... I should try out my new skill...” Hyeonu mumbled to the listening Tang-E.

“Master dude! Let’s eat!!” Tang-E heard Hyeonu’s words and jumped up like a spring.

“I caught you!!!”

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