Ranker’s Return

‘Why did this one suddenly appear?’ Hyeonu frowned when he saw the white lion that appeared. It was never pleasant to see something unexpected.

‘Should I ask? Or should I just kill it?’ Hyeonu was troubled for a moment.

He wondered if he should ask the experienced emperor the identity of this thing or kill it first and listen to the voice’s explanation? Hyeonu worries were useless though. Before Hyeonu could make a decision, the emperor opened his mouth and said, “The lion is a ramsetti. It isn’t a beast that lives in the demon world but a divine creature at the bottom of the food chain in the divine world.”

It was a brief explanation, but it came as a shock to Hyeonu.

‘A divine creature, not a demonic one?’ 

Hyeonu had naturally thought that a demonic creature would appear again, but this wasn’t the case. “You mean that in ancient times, it wasn’t just the demon world that aimed at the empire. It was also the divine world?”

It was a complete mess now that he thought about it. In Senu, Hyeonu fought against the dark elves. Then in Rondal, he fought a dragon and demonic creatures. Now it was a divine creature.

‘What race weren’t they hostile to?’

It seemed humans were the only exception. Whoever thought of the plot was the worst.

‘Still, it should be okay now.’

Quency was solid enough as a games company that the games before Arena were rated as having the best stories. Of course, the divine world wouldn’t start a bloody battle against players.

‘First of all, let’s kill that lion.’

Hyeonu stared at the ramsetti that was looking intensely at him.

‘Why is it staring at me like this?’

It wasn’t often that monsters stared into a player’s eyes. This wasn’t vague hostility; it was killing intent. It was like the ramsetti was treating him as an enemy.

“It’s due to your magic power. Divine creatures are said to be quite sensitive to the dark attribute,” the emperor spoke calmly like it was someone else’s business.

‘Why tell me this now?’ Hyeonu resented the emperor for no reason.

However, the resentment was brief. The ramsetti rushed over the moment the emperor’s words ended, and Hyeonu immediately entered a combat state. Appearing in front of Hyeonu, the ramsetti struck with its front paw.

Hyeonu pulled the Mysterious Sky Sword halfway out of its sheath to fend off the ramsetti’s attacks. It was a very natural defense, but the ramsetti jumped on him very swiftly. Of course, there was no way that Hyeonu who had been blocking in place would be fine.

Hyeonu’s body failed to withstand the ramsetti’s strength and flew back. At first, he flew very quickly. Then he slowed down and eventually landed gracefully like a butterfly as the skill effect of Swimming Blue Wings was applied. The moment Hyeonu landed, he struck off from the ground and rushed at the ramsetti at a faster speed than when he flew back. A black flash was drawn in the air.

Just then, the ramsetti’s body emitted a white light that collided with the black flash. The black flash exploded, and the white light flew forward without hesitation on the same trajectory. The Mysterious Sky Sword moved without pausing. Many giant crescent moons were poured out to stop the white light, and these crescent moons that were larger than the white light moved at their own pace.

Then explosive sounds occurred in succession. They rang again and again as if announcing something.

The ramsetti’s white light eventually stopped. It couldn’t reach Hyeonu at all. Red lines were engraved all over the ramsetti’s body, and thin strands of blood flowed down from these lines.

“Kuaaang!”

The ramsetti shook its head vigorously and called out.

[The Fear of the mid-grade divine creature, the ramsetti, has been heard.]

[The Fear of the mid-grade divine creature, the ramsetti, has been ignored due to the influence of fighting energy and killing intent.]

It was Fear, but it was useless on Hyeonu. His overly high fighting energy and killing intent meant he ignored the ramsetti’s fear. The ramsetti’s level might be higher, yet he blocked it so easily.

‘The attack has a better effect than I thought.’

Hyeonu smiled deeply. He wasn’t using any buffs. Even without the use of Fighting Energy Emission, his attack was already too powerful.

The difference in power when he was fighting the divine creature was like the difference between heaven and the earth.

‘It’s easy to hunt because there is an attributes relationship.’

In the first place, there were few monsters with the light attribute. They couldn’t be seen at all except for rare elementals and light monsters. Therefore, Hyeonu hadn’t felt any improvement in attack power from the relationship between attributes, and he only gained additional attack power from the shadow attribute. Now he felt an improvement for the first time against the ramsetti. It was so pleasant.

‘Of course, since there is a relationship, the damage I receive will also be greater...’

This was fine. The increased damage wouldn’t matter as long as the attacks didn't hit him. Meanwhile, evasion was one of Hyeonu’s best strengths. First was attacking, and second was evading. 

Hyeonu released pure energy, not caring if the ramsetti would get hit or if it would block the pure energy. He just swung the Mysterious Sky Sword. Even so, he didn’t feel a lack of magic power. His over 4,000 points in magic power was truly like a reservoir. It didn’t decrease no matter how much he released.

The Mysterious Sky Sword struck the ramsetti’s front paw, but the ramsetti endured the aftermath of the collision with its hind legs alone. It gave strength to its hind legs, standing upright while continuously swinging its front paws. Every time the ramsetti’s front paws moved, the ground cracked. It was dug up like it was an agricultural field.

In the meantime, Hyeonu evaded well. No, he didn’t just evade. He also fired Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength in the gap, causing damage to the ramsetti. It was aimed at only one place, and he attacked the same place every time. With the first one or two times, he didn’t do much damage to the ramsetti. He failed to break through the light attribute surrounding the ramsetti’s entire body.

Then with the third and fourth times, cracks appeared in the hard white wall.

Hyeonu never hurried. He just aimed persistently, widening the small cracks bit by bit. The hole that only a needle could fit through became the size of a fist and then finally a small tray. The ramsetti jumped into the air right at this moment. Hyeonu saw it and also rose into the sky.

The two of them failed to reach each other and started to fall. Unable to set its own gravity, the ramsetti fell as quickly as possible. However, Hyeonu descended slowly due to the item effect. As a result, a variety of attack options was open to him.

Hyeonu grabbed the Mysterious Sky Sword with both hands and slammed it down. It lodged so deeply into the ramsetti’s body that he could barely see the handle. After this, it was the same as before. Just like the four demonic creatures earlier, the ramsetti’s insides exploded. Hyeonu’s magic power rushed through the ramsetti’s body and caused it to rupture.

-The fifth threat has been defeated. You have completely passed the given test. Compensation will be paid before moving on to Stage 3.

‘It was hard.’

Hyeonu lay on the ground and acted like the emperor wasn’t here. He just moved as he pleased. He was tired of caring.

‘What are the rewards? What is Stage 3?’

Hyeonu's mind had stopped working a long time ago. After going through the intense battles back to back, his brain seemed to reject everything.

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

This time, he gained three levels. This was a small number compared to the five levels he gained in Stage 1, but it was similar considering that the amount of experience required to advance increased with every level.

‘In the first place, the amount of experience I got from Stage 1 was really great.’

So the Stage 2 rewards were appropriate. It definitely wasn’t less.

-We will pay homage to you who have gotten closer to becoming a guardian of the empire, and we will teach you a hidden truth. The Luos Empire is threatened by the demon world and divine world. To be precise, it is threatened by most of the demon kings of the demon world and some gods of the divine world. The demonic creatures and divine creatures are just their soldiers.

‘Most and some?’ Hyeonu sighed with relief when he heard the voice’s explanation. Quency truly wasn’t a fool or stupid. They weren’t irrational enough to imitate other virtual reality games.

‘The standard has been kept properly.’

The reason that previous games were ruined was simple. The power inflation wasn’t clear, and they released unreasonable stories that players could barely match with their level. The problem was after this. There was no way to stop it. It just kept going downhill. Even if they stopped playing that game, there were many substitutes.

-Thus, we hope you will continue to be committed. In a few minutes, we will move to the Stage 3 location.

‘What? That’s it for the rewards?’

Hyeonu’s expression distorted. The only thing he gained from that struggle was experience.

***

-In Stage 3, you must pass the test of a species friendly to the empire. They are the greatest allies of the Luos Empire and are very sensitive to the emotions and natures of others.

‘It is fortunate.’

Hyeonu was relieved. It was nice that it wasn’t a battle this time. He was really tired now. It was one of the few moments he felt like this when playing Arena.

‘Oh, yeah. The emperor definitely said that Stage 3 is the most difficult. Stage 2 is the easiest.’

Hyeonu remembered the emperor’s words. The emperor had clearly said so during Stage 1 against the red dragon. Stage 3 was going to be the most difficult.

Hyeonu turned his head to ask the emperor, “Your Majesty, Stage 3... did you pass it?”

The emperor was as usual. He kept the same expression and answered, “Why are you asking the obvious?”

‘Since the emperor passed, it must not be that difficult.’

Hyeonu felt his confidence rise. There was no way he couldn’t pass when the emperor passed with his personality.

‘Which species lives in the mountains?’

The location of Stage 3 was a mountain. There were very few species that lived in such a place where vegetation was abundant and flowers were in full bloom. Dwarves and elves—they were the species he remembered that could live in an environment like this. The others lived in extreme environments.

“Can you tell me what species will be summoned?” Hyeonu asked. 

“It is a secret. Isn’t that more interesting?” Unlike before, the emperor didn’t answer.

Setting the emperor’s resolute attitude, Hyeonu gave up and chose to wait for the other species to be summoned. He had no desire to have a conversation with the emperor.

‘It is a free pass if it’s like Tang-E.’

Hyeonu smacked his lips together. A dwarf would be good as well. There was a lot of quality alcohol in Hyeonu’s inventory.

-The other species has been summoned for the Stage 3 test.

After a while, the other species was summoned with a bright light. Hyeonu’s eyes grew larger when he saw it.

“A human...?”

The identity of the other species that appeared in front of his eyes was a human.