Ranker’s Return

As the emperor’s words ended, something appeared in the air. It was huge enough to darken the blue sky and more than one and a half times bigger than the drakes on Cruise Mountain. The enormous creature had lustrous red scales and smooth curves from head to tail.

“Kuaaaaah!” The red dragon howled. The vegetation trembled as the howl was blasted out.

‘This is a dragon?’

It was overwhelming beyond what Hyeonu thought. The presence the dragon gave off was very different from the human form. It was really unlike the feeling that Leon Meyer or Johannes gave off.

“Do I really need to kill that, Your Majesty?” Hyeonu asked with a bleak voice. This was ridiculous. He actually had to kill a dragon alone.

“Of course, you have to kill it. Earl, you don’t need to worry too much. It isn’t in a normal state. A good dragon can’t be a disaster.” The emperor watched from a distance, only moving his eyes and mouth.

‘It’s crazy? Then it can’t make sober judgments,’ Hyeonu thought.

There was good luck in misfortune. The dragon’s condition wasn’t normal.

‘Wait... Is this something to like?’ Hyeonu suddenly had this thought.

Being crazy meant the dragon had no sense of reason. It was like a berserker. In that case, fighting would be the only thing that could be done. It was easier to deal with a monster without reason than a monster with reason. It’s just that...

‘Won’t I die if it just pushes forcefully with its body...?’

The red dragon was huge.

‘Still, I will kill it. This is only Stage 1.’

The most positive result was Hyeonu pouring everything he had into killing the dragon. The problem was after this—Stage 2. Should he pour out everything in Stage 1 just to fall helplessly like a ghost in Stage 2? However, Hyeonu’s choice had already been made.

‘There is no afterward if I don’t do my best here.’

If he failed Stage 1, he wouldn’t be able to even see Stage 2. He wasn’t in a position to hold back.

“Your Majesty, in your eyes, do you think I can kill that dragon?” Hyeonu showed a rare moment of lacking in self-confidence. It was natural. The opponent was a dragon. It wasn’t a variant like the desert dragon or a sub-species like the drake. The red dragon might be out of its mind, but its body was fine. So it couldn’t be weak.

“In your current state... it’s hard. However, you must have a number of hidden cards. It depends on just how many you have.” The emperor gave an objective assessment. His eyes weren’t wrong as his vision was at such a high level.

‘Then it’s worth trying.’ Hyeonu gained confidence after hearing the emperor’s words.

The fact that this monster said so meant Hyeonu wouldn’t be beaten badly.

‘An all-out pitch.’

Just like a pitcher who put everything into one pitch, Hyeonu would put everything into this one battle. Even at this moment, the dragon appeared to be growing larger and larger. It was getting closer to Hyeonu. He didn’t have much time left.

“Tang-E, come out,” Hyeonu said.

The beginning of the battle always started from Tang-E. His powerful buffs were an indispensable necessity in combat. Tang-E appeared with a bright face, but he soon frowned. He pointed somewhere and asked with an expression like he was going to cry straight away, “Master dude, what type of monster is that?”

“Bam! You should point to that place, not here,” Hyeonu said.

The one Tang-E was pointing at was the emperor, not the dragon. He’d instinctively noticed that the emperor was stronger than the dragon. Then Hyeonu instructed, “Give me buffs, and go over there. It’s safe over there, so you absolutely must not ever leave that area no matter what happens. Got it?”

Tang-E nodded at Hyeonu’s sincere words and moved to the emperor’s side, which was the location Hyeonu had pointed at. Of course, he didn’t forget to buff Hyeonu.

‘Giant’s Power, Giant’s Nature, Giant’s Origin, One Who Yearns, Twilight Reproduction, and Tyrant’s Eye.’ As planned, Hyeonu used all the item buff skills he had.

“This looks exactly like his master. He is insidious.” The emperor showed an interested expression when he saw Hyeonu at his best.

Hyeonu was clearly carrying a different air from usual.

‘He is definitely better than ever,’ the emperor thought.

Hyeonu’s current appearance was different from when they met in Senu. It was identical to that of Lebron, whom the emperor found hard to understand.

‘In particular, the bear...’ The emperor’s gaze moved to Tang-E, who was cheering for Hyeonu.

At the time, he only saw the back of the bear’s head when it was in Hyeonu’s arms. Now it turned out to be the biggest variable.

‘If he passes here... the rest will be fine.’ The emperor’s eyes curved in a happy manner like he’d found a very pleasant toy.

***

‘It’s really huge.’ This was Hyeonu’s impression as he met the red dragon in front of him. It was much bigger than what he’d seen at a distance.

‘First, try lightly using a skill.’

Nonetheless, he had no time to admire the dragon’s size. The duration of his buffs was still decreasing. The Mysterious Sky Sword was pulled out of the sheath. After leaving its home, it was free to play in the air. A huge moon appeared wherever the sword passed. Emerging one after another, the moons quickly increased in number.

Hyeonu used Mysterious Sky Range and Crescent Moon Cut simultaneously, and the group of moons moved toward the giant red dragon. The moons were now different from before. They moved quickly. It wasn’t on the level of teleportation, but they appeared in front of the red dragon in an instant. Then there was the sound of a hard wall breaking.

“Kuwooooh!!!” A low cry burst out from the red dragon’s mouth. It was a voice full of anger rather than pain. Then a strong wind rose on the plains, and the flowers and grass on the ground were bent over.

‘It looks like there is no damage at all?’

Hyeonu doubted his eyes because his attack seemed to have had no effect. Nevertheless, it was impossible to question it.

‘Ah!’ Hyeonu suddenly stepped back and avoided the red dragon’s attack. The red dragon’s thick tail smashed down onto the spot where Hyeonu had just been standing.

“Phew, it was fast. Very fast.”

He was barely able to avoid it. The red dragon didn’t give Hyeonu leeway to think about anything else, so he just focused on the battle. It was a desperate battle, and a momentary mistake would decide everything.

‘If the aggro is distributed, the attacks will be easier.’

Ordinary players would shift the aggro to party members or guild members through a technique called aggro ping pong. It was just that Hyeonu’s only companion right now was Tang-E. Hyeonu didn’t know if Tang-E could withstand an attack from the red dragon.

‘If he gets seriously hurt...’

Essentially, Hyeonu was reluctant to involve Tang-E in the battle. Besides that, Hyeonu already knew how to reduce the red dragon’s interest in him.

‘Tyrant’s Advent.’

A drake, an existence whose death didn’t matter—it was inferior to the red dragon, but that was okay.

“Kuoooh!” The red drake responded to Hyeonu’s call.

“Tang-E, give the drake a buff!” Hyeonu screamed while getting on the drake’s body. Caruso, the dark red drake, flapped his wings wildly and raised his heavy body. Three rays of light shot toward the soaring Caruso from Tang-E’s paws. Tang-E’s buffs entered Caruso.

“Hoh... He had this artifact as well?” A deeper smile appeared on the emperor’s face. In his eyes, Hyeonu was an onion. Something new constantly appeared.

“Come this way. It is dangerous there.” The emperor reached out to Tang-E. Then Tang-E was sucked to the emperor like there was a magnet.

“Eh?” Tang-E blinked at the sudden occurrence.

The emperor just smiled mildly at Tang-E and said, “Your master’s real fight will begin now. Cheer from here. This way, you can be protected.”

A golden translucent film appeared in front of Tang-E the moment the emperor finished speaking.

***

‘This is so useful.’

Hyeonu was flying. He wasn’t riding on Caruso; he was moving through the air by himself. It was thanks to the effect of the item Blood-stained Night that Edchan had repaired and fixed.

[Swimming Blue Wings. Once magic power is injected, your falling speed will be reduced. You can move slowly in the air according to your will.]

Thanks to this effect, Hyeonu was able to move freely in the air. The movement speed wasn’t slow though. He injected magic power into the air to create a foothold, stepped on it, and used Mysterious Sky Steps. Every time he made a foothold, magic power was poured into the sky. Other times, magic power was used for Mysterious Sky Steps. It was an amazing magic power management. If any players saw this, they would be amazed beyond admiration.

‘He is definitely being pushed back.’ Hyeonu observed the battle of the two lizards in front of him.

The dark red lizard was fighting an overwhelming battle against the bright red lizard. Yet the dark red Caruso wasn’t being pushed back in the physical aspects of the fight. Thanks to the addition of Tang-E’s buffs, Caruso’s physical abilities were actually threatening to the young dragon.

The differences between the drake and the dragon were revealed in the magic. Once the red dragon opened its eyes, flames burst out. Then when it flapped its wings, a firestorm occurred. Caruso had no magic at all and was forced to be helpless. Forest’s Blessing just helped him improve his defense and recover his physical strength, so he could barely hold on. This was the content of the battle which lasted around a minute.

‘The adjustment time is over.’

Hyeonu practiced a series of magic power operations during this one minute. Caruso’s summoning time was 10 minutes, and Hyeonu invested this one minute for the sake of the remaining nine. It was all for the battle, just like right now.

Caruso swung his front foot that was engulfed in a dark red light. The red dragon also swung its blazing red front foot. According to the previous one-minute battle, the two lizards would step back without damaging each other. This time, it was different.

A dark-red energy emerged and limited the red dragon’s movements. It weakened the dragon’s strength and forced it to slow down. Caruso’s front foot cut at the red dragon’s thick belly. The foot was so large that the power it struck with was enormous.

“Kuoooh!” The red dragon roared.

It allowed a hit for the first time since Hyeonu’s attack. Hyeonu intervened this time, but the red dragon’s mind wasn’t intact, so it didn’t know it at all.

“Go and bite the neck!” Hyeonu quickly gave an order to Caruso.

The tempo of the battle continued as he drove back the red dragon. Faithfully following Hyeonu’s words, Caruso folded his wings and shot forward like an arrow with the might of magic power. Caruso opened his mouth. Just like Hyeonu ordered, he seemed like he was going to tear at the red dragon’s neck.

Yet Caruso’s attack was in vain.

Rather, he was hit by the red dragon’s tail and sent flying back to his original spot. In return for losing its sense of reason, the red dragon’s instincts had developed. So it was only natural for the red dragon to react to Caruso’s straightforward attack. However, it totally couldn’t fight due to its instincts and lost reason. The red dragon didn’t think of Hyeonu’s actions at all. A 20-meter black sword fell from the air and penetrated the red dragon’s back.

“Kuaaaaaah!”