Ranker’s Return

“Alley Leader is going on a rampage. He is sweeping like a typhoon through JT Telecom, the winner of the last league and the Korean representative at Arena Week last year. He isn’t a person! He’s a disaster!!” 

The broadcasters were screaming their throats out. Their faces were red, and their voices were half-hoarse. It was because Hyeonu’s performance was so outstanding that they couldn’t stop shouting for even a moment. Moving freely, Hyeonu swept through JT Telecom. It wasn’t just the JT Telecom players though. Even the NPC soldiers they brought along were cut down ruthlessly.

The priests and magicians died at the beginning, so no buffs or magic could be seen. Without buffs, formations, and tactics, JT Telecom was naturally unable to exert their full power. Hyeonu’s power was what drove them to this state. He was the one who made the situation like this.

The Mysterious Sky Sword danced again, and Hyeonu left black afterimages in the air as he took the life of yet another JT Telecom player. It was all with a single blow. No one held out twice. Now there were only three players remaining on JT Telecom’s side.

Fortunately for JT Telecom, these three were actually their main melee players. Yoo Bin, Choi Wonseok, and Jung Hanbaek were the main players who made it possible for JT Telecom to win first place in the league last time. Yet right now, they too were just like candle flames in front of a gust of wind.

Hyeonu moved his sword lightly. Yoo Bin’s sword trembled as he blocked it. His legs were already backing away quickly. He simply couldn’t stop; it was obvious that he would collapse if he did. Yoo Bin had to keep walking backward to soften the shock. In order to protect Yoo Bin, the other two players held up their swords and blocked Hyeonu’s way.

‘It’s to this extent?’

‘I can’t believe he is a player.’

Choi Wonseok and Jung Hanbaek were in shock. In fact, it wasn’t just the two of them. Everyone in JT Telecom was in shock. The impact was even greater because they had never encountered Hyeonu before in Arena. They had never seen him from the front, always only watching from behind. Therefore, they thought he was merely strong.

‘There might be differences such as the priest’s buffs, but...’

This was a monster—an incredible monster. They couldn’t figure out how on earth this person played Arena. His appearance in the game wasn’t even that long. It was a ridiculously short play time compared to that of other pro gamers. Moreover, his growth process was faithfully revealed through the streaming. Even now, if they went to Alley Leader’s A-World channel, there would be videos showing the changes over time.

Choi Wonseok and Jung Hanbaek exchanged looks, then they rushed straight to Hyeonu. The two men scattered, each one running off to a different side. It was an effort to disperse Hyeonu’s attention as much as possible.

Hyeonu also ran toward the two of them. As the distance between the two sides gradually decreased, something remarkable happened. Hyeonu became two. It was due to Mysterious Sky Steps. While using it, he rushed quickly and left behind afterimages.

Choi Wonseok and Jung Hanbaek looked flustered, but they weren’t too surprised because it was what they expected. They had analyzed Alley Leader’s videos, and Mysterious Sky Steps was a well-known technique. However, there was a difference between knowing about it and being able to block it. If it were a technique that could be blocked by knowing about it, Hyeonu wouldn’t have used it so confidently while streaming.

There were two deafening explosions, and they were followed by the emergence of two blood fountains. Choi Wonseok and Jung Hanbaek barely responded to Hyeonu’s attacks. They used their skills to hit him back, but the reality was that they were being pushed badly. It was a natural result. There had no priest buffs, and they were inferior in terms of pure specs.

Both of them lost strength, allowing for gaps to be revealed. A gray ghost dug through those very gaps and wounded them. Just then, Yoo Bin came back and struck at Hyeonu. Covered with a golden energy, Yoo Bin continued to move his sword without stopping. He used his skill One Sword, where his soul was one with the sword.

Gold pure energy appeared and flew at Hyeonu. However, it couldn’t reach him. It was intercepted by a black pure energy blade before even nearing Hyeonu. The remaining black pure energy blades were fired at the players of JT Telecom. The blades flew with a creepy sound and penetrated the hearts of the three players.

After confirming that the three people collapsed at the same time, Hyeonu raised the Mysterious Sky Sword into the air and used Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength. Then a black laser pierced the sky.

***

“Victory in the siege was taken by Crescent Moon. There will be a 10-minute break, and PvP will follow immediately,” the host continued to talk in an excited manner.

The teaser was over. From the beginning, he hadn’t expected much from the siege. Be it JT Telecom, the spectators, or the televised crowd, no one had thought JT Telecom would win. Even so, it wasn’t expected that they would lose like this.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. We thought we would lose the siege anyway. We can still win PvP,” Kim Jinyong said. 

He’d gathered the JT Telecom players and thoroughly read their mental states. Their expressions didn’t look very good. The way the siege turned out was beyond imagination. Alley Leader was more powerful than any player they had ever faced. It was an incomparable difference. Although it was an expected defeat, it was still shocking.

Kim Jinyong continued, “Crescent Moon is just Alley Leader anyway. The rest are just folding screens, folding screens. Just win once, and we’ll win PvP.”

The players’ expressions brightened as they heard the rest of Kim Jinyong’s motivational speech.

“That’s right. It’s like Hyung says. We just need to kill Alley Leader once, right?” Yoo Bin spoke positive words.

Starting with him, the other players nodded and encouraged each other's morale.

“Yes, we just have to win once.”

“Honestly, aren’t the rest just folding screens?”

“We have pride. We can’t lose to such folding screens!”

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the waiting room where they were gathered. Do Jeonghyun turned toward the door and said, “Come in.” 

The door opened, and a man wearing a staff hat appeared.

He stated, “I came to let you know that Crescent Moon has decided on the number of people to participate in PvP.”

The number of players who fought in PvP was in flux. The reason was simple. PvP was for melee classes. If they had the same specifications, it would be impossible for a magician or an archer to beat a melee class. Therefore, the rule for PvP was that the number of games would be decided by mutual agreement between the two teams.

“Crescent Moon has suggested six games.”

“Six games?” Jung Hanbaek muttered with an absurd expression.

Six games meant a maximum of six players could compete. However, there were precisely six Crescent Moon players.

“Did they really suggest six games? Don’t they have six people?” Yoo Bin wondered with a disbelieving expression.

He couldn’t believe it. Common sense reasoned that the maximum Crescent Moon could suggest was three games. Alley Leader, Lee Hoon, and Dwayne—only the three of them were melee classes. The rest were two magicians and one priest and thus weren’t available. Even if they had the same specifications, their levels of experience and abilities were different. The result of giving a gun to a child couldn’t be compared with giving one to a skilled shooter.

“It’s good for us. Please say we agree to six.”

***

The host’s eyes widened when he saw the piece of paper he received from the staff. Nevertheless, he did what he needed to do. After all, his feeling of surprise was his own, and work was work. He shouted into the microphone, “I will inform the audience now. Crescent Moon and JT Telecom have confirmed that PvP will be played with six games.”

Wahhhhhhh! The crowd cheered in response to the host’s words. They didn’t think of anything at first. A match of six games was the norm, so it was what they wanted. Then they thought about it again and found there was something strange about the six games.

“How can they aim for six games?”

“There are six people in Alley Leader’s team.”

“So all six people are coming out?”

“......!!”

This type of conversation was taking place all over Arena Stadium as the crowd finally realized the oddity of this situation—that this PvP match shouldn’t have six games.

***

PvP was conducted in two cubes placed in the center of the stage. The participating players would enter the cube and fight. The roster was submitted in advance, so the character settings were perfect.

“JT Telecom’s starting player is Choi Wonseok. He is a player who contributed significantly to JT Telecom’s last league championship with a win rate of over 80%.”

Choi Wonseok’s last league record appeared on the big screen.

“The first player of Crescent Moon is... Alley Leader! Alley Leader is taking the lead!!”

Hyeonu’s profile appeared on the screen. It was brief, but it contained things that no one could ignore. He was undefeated in the arena and currently first in the arena rankings. Instead of his profile, Hyeonu appeared on the screen. He was wearing the child’s mask like he normally did in Arena.

Hyeonu stepped toward the cube, waving both hands at the cheering crowd. It was the beginning of PvP.

‘The stats... I should distribute it as I practiced.’

The character stats in PvP were strength, agility, physique, and magic power, and the total amount of points was 1,500. He invested 300 in strength, 700 in agility, 50 in physique, and 450 in magic power. This was a very extreme distribution. It was normal to distribute 500 points to physique and magic power while giving the remaining 1,000 to strength and agility.

‘It doesn’t matter if I use my magic power well.’

It was more extreme than when he appeared on Masked Fighting King. His magic power and agility were higher now than they had been then. At that time, he had 200 points in physique. This time, he removed 150 points from physique and placed 50 points into each of the other three stats.

-After a while, the game will start. Both players should move to their designated positions.

As the host’s voice rang through the space, Hyeonu stepped on the stage. On the other side, Choi Wonseok was also coming up. The two of them stood facing each other with approximately 20 meters between them.

‘I feel sorry for some reason.’ Hyeonu suddenly had this thought when he saw Choi Wonseok standing there with a nervous expression.

Hyeonu felt pity for this person. It was because he had to destroy the mentality of a person with such a face. He was going to crush this person completely. It was for himself...

For the debut of Alley Leader...

For everything.

Hyeonu made a small wish, ‘I hope he will be able to recover by the next match.’

-The first game between Choi Wonseok and Alley Leader is starting.

Moments later, a bell rang along with the host’s words to mark the start of the game. The moment the host spoke, Hyeonu kicked off from the ground. It was a great first step toward his vengeance.