Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu wore all types of buffs and showed light movements. He stepped on the protruding flesh and muscles of the snow mountain cyclops and jumped. It was exactly four times. This was the number of times Hyeonu jumped until he made eye contact with the snow mountain cyclops.

“Waahhh!” Cheers burst out from the crowd. This was a first. The raid of the previous four teams was over, and another four teams were challenging it now, but Hyeonu was the first among them all to climb the upper body of the cyclops.

“By utilizing amazing movements, Gang Hyeonu is now standing eye-to-eye with the snow mountain cyclops. However, it is a pointless act as long as he can’t move in the air.” Lee Wanghoon admired Hyeonu’s movements, but it was only for a moment.

He viewed Hyeonu’s actions from a sobering perspective. Floating in the air meant limited movements. It was good to be able to hit the cyclops’ upper body directly, but the risk of doing that was too great. This was the common belief. However, Hyeonu was different. He was able to move in the air.

Chae Yunho was nodding to agree with Lee Wanghoon’s opinion when his eyes widened. It was due to the ridiculous sight that unfolded in front of him.

“Eh? He’s moving in the air! He isn’t falling quickly. Instead, he’s showing bizarre movements. This is Gang Hyeonu!!” Only Jang Junhyung barely managed to move his lips.

Chae Yunho and Lee Wanghoon were too preoccupied watching the screen with their mouths open. It was a truly amazing sight. A man without wings was flying as he fought. Who would have imagined it?

The screen was now focused on Crescent Moon’s battle and Hyeonu. There was nothing more important than this. They didn’t pay attention to the other raid teams and just showed what the viewers wanted to see.

*** 

‘It’s still easy,’ Hyeonu thought as he looked at the ice club passing by in front of him.

He felt this way when he was when attacking, but it was truly very easy. There was no difficulty for him at all. The reason was simple—Hyeonu had experienced many battles harder than this. In fact, his fight with the red dragon was still clearly engraved in his mind. It was a monster that showed quick movements despite its huge size, and it even poured out magic constantly. Compared to such a monster, the snow mountain cyclops was cute.

‘Other people might be angry if they hear this.’ Hyeonu’s lips curved up slightly.

He extended the Mysterious Sky Sword that was glossy black and pointed it at the cyclops’ huge eye. A thin beam of light shot from the Mysterious Sky Sword. Then something amazing happened. When the snow mountain cyclops saw Hyeonu’s beam, it fired its own ray of ice. This was a different pattern from what the cyclops had shown so far.

“What? Why is it firing Ice Ray?”

“Is Alley Leader’s attack so threatening?”

“Does this mean the rest of the teams weren’t threatening at all?”

The members of the general audience didn’t know the details and were busy expressing their curiosity. Meanwhile, those who knew what the collapse of the cyclops’ pattern meant were groaning.

“Pattern breaking.”

“I think that Alley Leader’s stats are really beyond imagination. It’s to the extent that he can cause pattern breaking to occur in the league.”

Jeong Byeongjin and Kang Ujong chatted while staring at the screen. They knew about pattern breaking, but they had never seen it occur with a boss monster at this level or in leagues. It was a phenomenon that was only seen when hunting low-level boss monsters.

“He did hunt the drake alone, after all. I think the gap has widened even further since then,” Kang Ujong murmured with an expression of admiration.

Alley Leader showed growth every time he was seen, whether it was with his skills, items, or abilities. He was never stagnant.

“Thinking about the current decline in health... It will end in five minutes, right? His magic power is infinite!” Jeong Byeongjin moved his mouth without taking his eyes off the screen.

“Is it just his magic power that is infinite? It feels like his skills have no cooldown,” Kang Ujong answered while shaking his head. It was so mysterious. Alley Leader appeared to being using an attack skill that released a lot of pure energy. In truth, he was using different skills all the time. The outward form sometimes varied, but the essence was the same.

‘He should at least run out of magic power, but...’

Alley Leader never ran out of magic power. Pure energy kept appearing as he attacked throughout the battle. Just then, the collision between the cyclops’ Ice Ray and Hyeonu’s Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength ended. It was a draw. The two beams were equal in power; neither side was pushed.

Finally, Jeong Byeongjin took his eyes off the screen and turned toward Kang Ujong to ask for his opinion: “Since it’s half and half... isn’t this really the end?” 

“Yes. One player’s skill and one boss’ pattern. If it is equal, it is over.” Kang Ujong’s attention was also drawn away from the screen.

There was nothing more to see now. The subsequent battle would be no different from the videos posted on Alley Leader’s channel. He would dodge well while attacking. Such a one-sided battle would take place.

“By the way, it seems Crescent Moon hasn’t hired any coaching staff? I think it will be really sweet...” Jeong Byeongjin smacked his lips together regretfully. If he were in a team with Alley Leader, he would be able to just breathe freely. What strategy or advice would be needed when there was a bug called Alley Leader?

“The director of Crescent Moon—no, I will even go to become a coach if the recruitment announcement comes out,” Kang Ujong muttered after hearing Jeong Byeongjin’s words.

*** 

Crescent Moon’s raid flowed along just as Kang Ujong and Jeong Byeongjin expected. It progressed easily; it was not a problem at all. There was no crisis and no reversal. Like flowing water, the wounds on the snow cyclops’ body increased. Every time Hyeonu’s sword flashed, the cyclops’ skin was split open, and blood streamed out, leaving only pain. The end of the snow mountain cyclops was approaching.

[Introduction to Disassembling has been triggered.]

Due to the effect of Introduction to Disassembling, the cyclops’ right arm—which was holding the ice club—was cut off. It was an arm that merely casually swung the club through the air, but it was better than having nothing in its place.

‘Without it...’

The cyclops was dead. Hyeonu laughed when he saw the cyclops’ arm being cut off. He injected magic power into the Mysterious Sky Sword and swung it, forming dark pure energy in the air. The size of a pure energy blade was obviously smaller than that of the snow mountain cyclops, but there were a lot of them. It didn’t matter how small they were as there seemed to be a hundred of them.

Hyeonu’s pure energy blades cut at the snow mountain cyclops’ entire body. The latter couldn’t cope with Hyeonu’s attack. One of its arms had been severed, and it had no weapons The only thing the cyclops could use to shield itself was its other arm. Yet the arm was also part of the body, so raising an arm to block the attack was no different from receiving it with the body.

The snow mountain cyclops, a 20-meter-tall giant, fell to its knees. Hyeonu stood in front of the kneeling cyclops and lowered the Mysterious Sky Sword. A giant sword similar to the size of the cyclops fell down through the air. The difference was that the sword struck the neck of the cyclops instead of the ground.

After that, the Mysterious Sky Sword was returned to the sheath with a clear but subtle sound. It was the end of the raid time attack.

*** 

“13 minutes and 42 seconds! It’s 13 minutes and 42 seconds! It isn’t just the shortest time in the Korean League but the shortest record in the world! Crescent Moon has taken first place in the raid time attack with 13 minutes and 42 seconds!” Jang Junhyung’s excited voice filled the stadium.

His voice was as loud as the tens of thousands of spectators screaming.

“This is completely crazy. Gang Hyeonu’s fighting ability is really different.”

“He demonstrated it with no regrets. He showed the limits of the raid monster that players from other teams didn’t show when they battled against it. This is really amazing.”

Two commentators were busy praising Hyeonu, whose combat ability was simply that overwhelming and great.

“We have to aim for second place in the future.”

“Just aim for second place.”

“First place is impossible.”

These conversations simultaneously took place in each team’s waiting room. Crescent Moon’s record was ridiculously short. A difference between 5 and 10 minutes could be narrowed down if they tried. Of course, it was very difficult, but it was possible.

However, the difference between Crescent Moon’s record and that of JT Telecom, the current second place, was 45 minutes. The gap between 13 minutes and 58 minutes was almost four times as long. Arithmetically, it meant that Crescent Moon could kill four bosses in the time it took JT Telecom to kill one.

Consequently, the remaining teams weren’t even motivated to challenge Crescent Moon’s record. It was best to know the state of reality and just aim for second place. They felt it was better for their mental health if they didn’t look at trees that couldn’t be climbed.

Of course, some people thought differently.

‘Gang Hyeonu... If that jerk can do it, I can as well.’

It was Jung Hanbaek. He hadn’t given up. Rather, he was more motivated to win without knowing it was completely useless.

*** 

The results came out pretty quickly. There were no big differences from the previous league. If there were any differences, it was only this one—Crescent Moon’s overwhelming record in the number one spot. Jang Junhyung picked up the microphone and walked to the center of the stage to announce the rankings and records: “I will now announce the rankings and records of the first raid time attack.”

[1st place: Crescent Moon, 13 minutes and 42 seconds.

2nd place: JT Telecom, 58 minutes and 47 seconds.

3rd place: UK Heights, 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 7 seconds.

4th place: Charlotte Dragons, 1 hour, 7 minutes, and 32 seconds.

5th place: Barrett Fighters, 1 hour, 13 minutes, and 25 seconds.

6th place: Ellen Waze, 1 hour, 29 minutes, and 30 seconds.

7th place: Emro Sparks, 1 hour, 34 minutes, and 58 seconds.

8th place: Mino Dyrus, 1 hour, 39 minutes, and 34 seconds.]

One more thing happened. Unexpectedly, Ellen Waze did a good job. Contrary to the expectation that they would be last, they miraculously got sixth place. This was definitely the power of eating chicken.

“I would like to ask for your strong applause and encouragement for all the players who worked hard today.”

At Jang Junhyung’s words, thunderous shouts filled Arena Stadium. The players disappeared from the stage accompanied by the crowd’s applause.

...That was with the exception of one person.

“It’s getting late now, so I will only conduct an interview with Gang Hyeonu, captain of the 1st ranked Crescent Moon.”

It was Hyeonu. Chosen as the representative to be interviewed, he remained alone on the stage.

“How did you feel playing today? It was your second siege and PvP but your first raid time attack,” Jang Junhyung led the interview.

Thanks to this, Hyeonu could comfortably participate in the interview: “It’s already the second match, and I feel comfortable. In the case of the raid, I didn’t worry much because the results were good in practice.”

“In PvP, the players Lee Hoon, Dwayne, and Yuri participated. Was it a surprise appearance? Or a scheduled plan?” Jang Junhyung asked what everyone was wondering about the players who participated in PvP.

“It was all agreed upon in advance. In addition, they will come out every week. There are five matches left... I think I’ll be competing five more times,” Hyeonu replied with a smile.

The interview went smoothly. Jang Junhyung generally refrained from asking questions about things outside of the game. After all, private details could only be asked about after getting close enough to each other.

“Then finally, please say something to your fans.”

“Uh... Thank you for liking me. I’ll see you on the stream tomorrow evening.”

Week 2 of the Winter League ended like this.