Ranker’s Return

The Ergal Colosseum was quieter than ever. They were speechless at the sight before them. Between a four-meter-tall demonic creature and a bear who wasn’t even 50 cm tall, the victor was obvious no matter who looked at it.

“Is this meant to be a match?!!”

“Proceed with the original one!”

The ordinary demons shouted until their throats burst. They wanted to see a hot fight with blood splatters and broken bones, not a one-sided slaughter.

“He must be crazy because he can’t find anything stimulating.”

The nobles had similar thoughts. They didn’t yell, but they let out disgruntled mutters quietly among themselves.

“Then please place your bets. We will start playing in a moment,” the host said despite the protests of the demons. He accepted their bets as always.

“I will place 500 gold on Brown Beard.”

“I am betting 1,000 gold. Since Lapan won earlier, I lost 300 gold straightaway.”

“I will place 500 gold on that bear. It’s also exhilarating to go against the odds.”

The moment the bell rang to announce the start of the match, Brown Beard approached Tang-E with a sharp spear. “Kuooh!”

Nevertheless, Tang-E just stood still and watched Brown Beard. He didn’t move. To others, Tang-E seemed frightened.

“Boooooo!” The demons who saw this booed even louder. They thought the match would be over in an instant, but their expectations were wrong. Tang-E instantly shot up like a spring and struck Brown Beard’s abdomen with his paws.

Upon getting hit in the stomach, Brown Beard curled up instantly. “Kuaaack!”

Simultaneously, saliva flowed from his mouth. Tang-E didn’t even look at Brown Beard though. He used bouncy movements to move from side to side, continuously striking the demonic creature. Brown Beard couldn’t do anything. Before he could even swing his spear, Tang-E’s front paws had already hit him all over.

“Waaaah!’ Cheers erupted from the mouths of the demons at the unexpected sight. This was completely unexpected. The demons knew better than anyone that for those below a certain level, the biggest factor determining combat power was natural physical fitness. This was why they realized the difference between Tang-E and Brown Beard was quite major.

“Kill him!”

“Fight hard!”

Then the cries of the demons momentarily stopped. There was only one reason for that. They realized where they had placed their money.

“What is Brown Beard doing?! Go and kill that bear!!”

“It is over if you lose today!”

The object of their yells changed from Tang-E to Brown Beard, cheering instead for the one they had placed their bets on. For the demons, the Colosseum was also a means of livelihood. There had too much staked on this match to simply have compassion. Just then, with paws full of magic power, Tang-E struck Brown Beard’s chin.

Five minutes had already passed since the match began, which meant five minutes had passed since Tang-E’s one-sided beating.

‘Why isn’t he falling down?’

Tang-E was annoyed by his opponent who didn’t seem to fall down. He wanted to finish the match quickly and play with Hyeonu. Such feelings influenced Tang-E’s magic power, and a two-meter-long ice spear formed in the air. He was using ice magic. Tang-E gripped the ice spear with both hands. It was many times longer than his own body, but he held it well.

‘I will end it in one blow.’ After taking in a few breaths, Tang-E ran quickly toward Brown Beard.

“Kuooooh!” The beat-up Brown Beard cried out, and his eyes lit up. He felt this was a chance for him. There was a gap.

Unlike the unpredictable movements Tang-E displayed earlier, Tang-E now appeared to be disadvantageously holding a weapon larger than his body, giving Brown Beard the chance to fight back. Brown Beard’s spear left silver afterimages in the air. He’d lunged forth with his deadly blow.

‘Stab!’ Tang-E looked at the opponent’s spear stabbing toward him and calmly stabbed with his ice spear.

Tang-E’s posture was perfect. He took advantage of what he’d seen and learned while following Hyeonu. His ice spear hit the tip of Brown Beard’s spear precisely. There was a loud sound, and a dark light burst out. The identity of the light was Tang-E’s ice spear.

Upon neutralizing Brown Bear’s attack, Tang-E’s spear exploded. Ice crystals pierced Brown Beard all over, turning the four-meter-tall giant into a huge dartboard. His body was a total mess. It was covered with wounds that bled continuously. The amount of blood that flowed out was considerable because there were so many wounds.

Unable to endure the dizziness caused by the rapid bleeding, Brown Beard dropped to his knees. Thump!

Then Tang-E crouched down and lightly extended a paw toward the wheezing Brown Beard. Five ice spears were formed behind Tang-E, and he fired them out rapidly at the same time. The five ice spears took turns piercing Brown Beard’s body—one in each shoulder and three in the chest and abdomen. The ice spears were two meters long and quite dense.

This time, blood didn’t even spill out from the wounds. Brown Beard’s body immediately started to freeze around the five ice spears, and he became an ice crystal in an instant.

“Brown Beard’s death means the victory of the special demonic creature!” The host declared Tang-E’s victory.

“Wahhhhhhh!”

“You’re the best!”

Some of the demons screamed loudly enough to make the Colosseum vibrate. These were the winners of the bet. They had literally won against the odds. Although these demons were the ones shouting, they weren’t the ones who had the biggest smiles.

It was Hyeonu. He smiled so widely it was like his mouth was torn.

“How much is this? This...?!” Hyeonu muttered like he was crazy. He hadn’t stopped muttering since he saw the messages in front of him.

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has won the Colosseum match.]

[The fight money will be paid.]

[500 gold has been acquired.]

[The victory payment is paid.]

[1,000 gold has been acquired.]

[Dividends will be paid based on the betting amount and the odds.]

[Odds: 5.04 times.]

[756,000 gold has been acquired.]

756,000 gold—in cash, it was 756 million won. However, it had more value than that to Hyeonu.

‘I don’t have to worry about the enhancement costs anymore.’

It would cover the enhancement fees. Currently, he still had no enhanced items apart from the Mysterious Sky Sword. Gold was more precious than anything else for Hyeonu, who needed to enhance at least five more items.

‘By the way, the odds went higher?’

Once the joy subsided, Hyeonu found his sense of reason and read the messages in front of him more calmly. The odds were higher than Hyeonu was aware.

[Noble’s demonic creature - 4.72 times]

From the information he was given previously, he thought the odds were 4.72 times, but it had risen by exactly 0.32 times. An increase from 4.72 to 5.04 meant the demons had bet more money on Brown Beard than expected.

‘I guess it increased when they saw Tang-E.’

Hyeonu thought that Tang-E’s harmless appearance was the influential reason why the bets were concentrated to one side. Tang-E was seemingly just a little bear, so it made sense to bet for the other side.

Of course, this wasn’t bad for Hyeonu.

Hyeonu made a lot of money because of Tang-E’s appearance.

“Master dude! Did you see it? I won.” Tang-E rushed into Hyeonu’s arms.

Hyeonu placed his hands under Tang-E’s arms and hugged him gently.

“Yes, well done. If you want to eat anything in the future, tell me. I’ll buy you everything. In addition, tell me when you want to pack it up to take home. I’ll pack as much as I can,” Hyeonu said and stroked Tang-E’s head. Tang-E smiled happily like a baby at Hyeonu’s words. Just then, someone knocked on the door of the room where Hyeonu and Tang-E were located.

‘What?’ Hyeonu frowned because this good moment was interrupted.

“Can I come in?”

This was a voice Hyeonu had heard many times. It belonged to the attendant. Hyeonu tried to turn his expression back to his usual one before replying, “Come in.” Nevertheless, there was already annoyance in his voice. The attendant who came through the door was already bowing like he’d grasped Hyeonu’s mood.

“What’s going on?” Hyeonu asked.

“I’ve brought you a proposal from the top.”

“Proposal?” Hyeonu said, cocking his head slightly.

“It is a proposal for the baron’s—your—demonic creature to fight one more time. Of course, the fight money will be twice as much as before.”

“One more time?” Hyeonu laughed inwardly.

It was an unexpected suggestion—another fight with Tang-E. This was an opportunity... an opportunity to make money.

‘Even if the dividends are only doubled... 150,000 gold!’

It was an opportunity he would never miss. Even Black Mane couldn’t win against Tang-E. In other words, Hyeonu would make money unconditionally. He just didn’t make it obvious. Instead, he pretended to be hesitant and wary while saying, “Hmm... One time was fun. A second time...”

In response to Hyeonu’s attitude, the attendant came up with additional conditions as if to persuade him: “We will double the victory payment as well as the fight money. It is an amount that the baron can enjoy for a few days.”

This must be a set guideline as an attendant wouldn’t have the authority to present additional things.

‘This small amount of money doesn’t mean anything.’

For Hyeonu, the victory payment and fight money meant nothing; they amounted to just a small sum compared to what he’d won through betting. 750,000 gold and 1,500 gold—it wasn’t worth comparing. Regardless, Hyeonu said, “Really...? Then I’ll let him go out one more time. Is the opponent set?”

The attendant shook his head at Hyeonu’s question. He was saying that he didn’t know.

“I don’t know that either. In the case of an event match, it isn’t known until just before the betting opens. I’m sorry.” The attendant bowed from his waist.

Hyeonu waved his hand unconcernedly. In any case, it didn’t matter if he didn’t know who the opponent was. Tang-E would still win.

“You can leave first. I’ll send this guy out in a moment.”

“Thank you.”

At Hyeonu’s words, the attendant opened the door first. Then Hyeonu grabbed Tang-E’s face and asked, “Tang-E, will you fight one more time?”

“Yes, Master dude. I had fun,” Tang-E responded with a grin. That appearance made Hyeonu rub his face against Tang-E’s face.

“Aigoo, such a cute kid.”

“Uhh, Master dude, I’m suffocating.” Tang-E shook both of his paws. Hyeonu hugged Tang-E for a long time before placing him on the ground.

“Finish it quickly and come back to eat meat.

“Yes, Master dude.”

***

Moments after Tang-E disappeared to play, the betting window opened.

[Please choose who you want to bet on.]

[1. Black Mane

2. Noble’s demonic creature]

‘As expected...’

This was what Hyeonu had expected. They really wanted to kill Tang-E by sending Black Mane into the match. However, there was something they didn’t know.

“Tang-E is stronger than him. Huhuhu.” Hyeonu let out a strange laugh.