Ranker’s Return

Many emotions were displayed in the old emperor’s eyes as he stared at Hyeonu who came to see him unexpectedly. Among them, doubt had the biggest share. Why had Hyeonu come to find him now? These sorts of thoughts were being expressed in the old emperor’s eyes.

“I came here because I need your help,” Hyeonu said politely but not in an inferior manner and without avoiding the old emperor’s eyes.

“Help? Say it. I will listen to your request and consider it,” the emperor replied with an interested expression.

“I will hand over information on the group leaders of the Secret Camp to the imperial family. I want you to take care of them on my behalf. Any reason is fine, be it to overturn a rebellion or to conduct a clean-up,” Hyeonu expressed his idea.

If the other side was using NPCs, then Hyeonu would use them as well. Additionally, his side was more superior; he wouldn’t be pushed at all when it came to NPCs. In fact, he would be overwhelmingly strong.

“Help...?” The emperor murmured in a small voice as he closed his eyes to ponder on Hyeonu’s proposal. In his opinion, Hyeonu’s proposal was quite good.

‘It is an opportunity to separate the imperial family from the Gucheon Secret Department.’

This was a chance to remove the shadow of the Gucheon Secret Department on the imperial family. It might be called a horizontal relationship, but reality wasn’t so rigid. There were always ups and downs.

‘I can show my benevolence...’

The more he thought about it, the better it seemed. There didn’t seem to be a problem. The old emperor opened his eyes and gazed at Hyeonu. Then he stated, “It has something to do with the imperial family, so I naturally have to help. Just give me the list. I will take care of the things that come after.”

As the emperor made the promise, Hyeonu couldn’t help smiling and said, “Here you are. There are 30 people in total.”

It was incredible. Out of the 35 remaining Secret Camp leaders, 30 were related to the imperial family. Only five had infiltrated forces that had nothing to do with the imperial family. 

‘When are there ever coincidences like this?’

It was truly good luck that so many of them had infiltrated places related to the imperial family.

‘Five will be handled soon.’

There were four forces clearing the quest. If one force handled two people, then the quest would be over. Then the emperor drove in a wedge: “It will be finished in four days.”

Four days—he promised that he would kill 30 people in just four days.

“I understand, Your Majesty.” A deep smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face.

***

Several NPCs gathered to talk about what had happened in the last few days.

“Did you hear the news? Redin’s knight commander was taken away today.”

“Isn’t this already close to 20?”

“Yes, with this person, it’s 21. It will soon be 25.”

A brown liquid flowed through the white straw. The man’s face was smiling due to the pleasant sweetness of the peach iced tea.

‘The emperor has good contacts.’

The identity of the man was Hyeonu. After taking care of a leader of the Secret Camp, he had returned to the city for a leisurely drink.

[Leaders of the Secret Camp Killed 43/50]

‘My share is done. The only ones left are the emperor’s and New York Warriors’?’

Hyeonu’s part ended with this. New World and Red Bull America had also completed their share. Apart from the names passed onto the emperor, there was only one remaining on Reina’s side.

‘She will handle it.’

Hyeonu shook his head. His list of things to deal with had accumulated too much for him to care about Reina’s side as well.

‘I have to level up a bit...’

It wasn’t long before his professional debut after all. Just then, a desperate voice entered Hyeonu’s ears.

-From Reina: Please help me. We have fallen into a trap. They came first and were waiting.

It was Reina’s rescue request.

Hyeonu’s expression crumpled. The glass he held in his hand was smashed into pieces, and the fragments scattered through the air.

‘Is it those jerks again?’

They didn’t snap out of it even after getting hit like that. Hyeonu quickly took out a piece of white paper from his inventory.

[-The 32nd group leader of the Secret Camp, Nam Jun. He infiltrated the Yongsal Sect as a child and is now the master. His specialty was ice magic and the spear.]

‘Yongsal Sect? Where is this?’

Hyeonu searched his memories, but he couldn’t remember the name ‘Yongsal Sect.’ Even similar words didn’t come to mind. ‘It must be serious if a battle happens...’

This was urgent. Hyeonu resented his self from a few seconds ago—a man who was too relaxed. 

‘They messed with me again and again...’

Anger filled him. Like a gas station filled with oil, Hyeonu’s body was filled with anger. Hyeonu suppressed his anger and approached three NPCs to ask, “Do you know the Yongsal Sect?”

“Yongsal Sect? Yongsal Sect... Is it that place?”

“Do you know it? It’s a force that established itself in a place called Yongsal Mountain. Yongsal Mountain is to the east of a city called Pakara,” one of the NPCs kindly told Hyeonu the location of the Yongsal Sect.

Hyeonu bowed to the NPC several times before searching his inventory to find a return amulet that could go to Pakara.

‘I found it!’

[Pakara Return Amulet]

[An amulet that can move you to Pakara, one of the cities of the Yuxin Empire.

Rating: Common

Restrictions: None

Effect: You will be moved to the city ‘Pakara’ when used.]

Hyeonu exited the inventory with the Pakara Return Amulet in hand. Then he tore it without any hesitation. There was a white light, and Hyeonu disappeared from the city.

***

Hyeonu turned his head and examined his surroundings. He was looking for directions. East—he had to find the east gate.

‘It’s over there.’

A small wooden signpost displaying milestones for the north, west, east, and south gates entered Hyeonu’s eyes. He then frantically ran in the direction of the piece of wood written ‘east’. This happened shortly before he arrived at the east gate. The problem was that the distance from the city gate to what was believed to be Yongsal Mountain wasn’t short. Nevertheless, Hyeonu came up with a method to speed up his movements.

“Tang-E, come out,” he called out.

Tang-E’s buff, Breath of the Wind, had the effect of increasing agility and movement speed.

“Master dude, why did you call me? Is it another mountain? This is an addiction, an addiction.” Tang-E appeared instantly and looked around before clicking his tongue at Hyeonu.

Hyeonu ignored Tang-E’s words and asked for a buff: “Give me Breath of the Wind. I have to go see someone in a hurry now. I’m in a rush. I’ll call you when I get there, so come on.”

At Hyeonu’s urging, Tang-E cast his buff silently.

“Go and make sure to call me, Master dude.” Tang-E disappeared from Hyeonu’s eyes after these words.

Hyeonu stared at the place where Tang-E disappeared for a moment before kicking off from the ground again.

‘It’s so fast now because there’s a buff.’

He was fast before but even more so now after Tang-E’s buff, and the surrounding scenery blurred like he was traveling in a car. After running for around an hour, Hyeonu arrived at the beginning of the Yongsal Mountain. Tang-E’s buff had long since disappeared.

‘Now, how do I find it?’

Due to having been told that an acquaintance fell into a trap, Hyeonu had run without a break. However, Yongsal Mountain wasn’t like a small mountain behind a village. It was a much higher and steeper mountain than Hyeonu expected, making it feel like finding Reina would be a very difficult feat. Just then, another idea came to mind.

‘That’s right!’

Hyeonu had an amazing ride.

‘I will start with Tang-E.’

“Tang-E, come out. We’ve arrived.” 

Hyeonu called out the name, and Tang-E appeared naturally.

“We’ve arrived, Master dude. Who are you here to see?”

Hyeonu hugged Tang-E while explaining, “Do you know Reina? The pretty blonde-haired sister. I have to find her.” 

Then he summoned a mount: “Tyrant’s Advent.”

It was a skill he hadn’t used for a long time. Due to its two-week cooldown, he cherished Tyrant’s Advent the most as he didn’t know when it would be needed. However, now wasn’t the time to save it. This was the time of necessity. Hyeonu climbed onto the back of Drake Caruso, who had dark red skin, and said, “Go up to the sky.”

Surprisingly, Caruso listened well. Like a car with artificial intelligence, he followed Hyeonu’s command obediently and quickly flew into the air. He covered a really long distance with just one flap of his wings.

“Uwaaaaah! Master dude, it’s scary!” Tang-E clung tightly to Hyeonu’s arms because he was terrified.

‘This is just fine.’ Hyeonu judged the altitude was adequate and gave Caruso another order: “Move at the right speed. I need to scan the mountain.”

Instantly understanding Hyeonu’s vague words, Caruso moved swiftly but at a speed that didn’t interfere with Hyeonu’s vision. This was tens of times speedier than Hyeonu’s previous movement speed. After all, it was much faster to move through the air without any obstacles than to run on land with a slope and various terrain features.

Yet, even while riding Caruso, Hyeonu couldn’t spot Reina. He had inferred the situation from Reina’s whisper and knew it would not be a small number of opponents. Thus, they should be visible from such a height.

‘So why can’t I see anyone?’

Hyeonu couldn’t travel by riding on Caruso’s back indefinitely.

It was only for 10 minutes.

‘I think it has been five minutes already...’

A wave of impatience came over Hyeonu, and he felt he couldn’t waste a single minute or second. Hyeonu urged Caruso, “Move faster, faster.”

A dark red light covered Caruso’s huge wings as he started using magic power while flying. They were now traveling at a speed that was twice as fast as before. Hyeonu’s concentration was also doubled. He wondered if he would pass by without seeing Reina.

“Master dude! Too fast!” Tang-E shouted. However, Hyeonu ignored him. The situation was too urgent for Hyeonu to care about small complaints.

‘There!’

At this moment, Hyeonu saw a crowd of hundreds. He shouted hurriedly, “There! Fly to the highest tree!!!"

Caruso flew faster than before after knowing Hyeonu’s heart.

“Slowly hover here.” Hyeonu examined the battlefield to determine the exact situation.

He saw familiar faces scattered throughout. ‘There are the Warriors and those on the opposing side... Who are they?’

The only unfamiliar people were those dressed in white.

‘Ah! They are the NPCs of the Yongsal Sect,’ Hyeonu quickly recognized their identity.

Those dressed in white were the people of Yongsal.

‘They are going to lose pretty soon. If things continue like this, they will be logged out before long.’

The battle wasn’t going well for the New York Warriors. This was natural as their number was too small. There were over 100 people on the opposing side.

‘I have to show them that there are some things you just shouldn’t touch.’

“Fire a Breath once in greeting,” Hyeonu said while looking at the ground with a sly smile.