Ranker’s Return

While hanging from Hyeonu’s waist, Tang-E made an anxious expression. He couldn’t figure out what was going on. Tang-E had clearly done his best and won. He wasn’t even hit in the match; he simply hit the opponent the entire time. It was just like what Hyeonu would have done.

“Why are you doing this, Master dude? Did I do something wrong?” Tang-E couldn’t understand no matter how much he thought about it.

“Eh? No, you did well. You fought better than I expected, but now there is another problem.” Hyeonu smiled at Tang-E, but his legs were moving faster than ever.

“Catch him!”

“Grab him! The reward is 500 gold if we catch him!”

Numerous demons were chasing after Hyeonu. These demons were under Viscount Ergal. When Tang-E saw this scene, he condemned Hyeonu. ‘There are so many people. Master dude must have committed a pretty big mistake...’

“What did you do to make so many of them come after you? Didn’t I tell you to live a good life? Damn Master dude, I knew it would be like this one day.”

Hyeonu frowned at the accusation from Tang-E, who had no idea about who it was that caused this situation in the first place. ‘...Who do you think this is all about?’

“This is all because of you, Tang-E. The big boss here told me to sell you to him, but I refused,” Hyeonu briefly explained the matter. He didn't have the capacity to tell the entire story. Running alone was already hard enough to do.

“What?! That happened? Well done then, Master dude.” Tang-E smiled at Hyeonu after hearing a rough summary of the situation. He felt much better now.

‘I have to wear a mask,’ Hyeonu thought. He took out Dorma’s Red Blood and wore it on his face. Then he pulled out the Mysterious Sky Sword and hung it from his waist, which made his movements slightly inconvenient because he kept kicking the Mysterious Sky Sword. Still, it couldn’t be helped.

‘It might be a bit uncomfortable, but I have to put up with it...’

He didn’t know when the battle would take place, so he had to be perfectly prepared. Hyeonu’s behavior was of a very good judgment as dozens of demons were now blocking Hyeonu’s way.

“Pounce!”

“We can get Viscount Ergal’s favor if we catch him!”

The demons pulled out their weapons and charged toward Hyeonu. Some raised their fists, while others had cold weapons such as swords and spears. There were even staff-holding demons who could be magicians.

‘They don’t look that strong...’ Yet Hyeonu didn’t feel any danger at all when he saw the group of demons.

They didn’t look very strong to him. In fact, they didn’t seem any different from the orcs he could meet near Aslan, the beginner village. They would die in one or two blows anyway.

“Tang-E, hold on tightly. I’m going to move a bit intensely,” Hyeonu warned Tang-E.

He couldn’t hold onto Tang-E presently. The reason for that was soon revealed. Hyeonu lightly kicked off from the ground and jumped into the air. However, he didn’t just rise up; he moved diagonally like he was making a long jump. He took off and landed quickly, not on the ground but on a demon. Hyeonu’s landing point was the head of a demon, which exploded upon being stepped on. It popped like a balloon, and red blood and dark blue flesh scattered in the air. Meanwhile, Hyeonu used the recoil to fly back up into the air.

[The low grade demon has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

“Grab his ankle!”

“Anything is fine!”

Despite having witnessed this brutal scene, the demons wielded their weapons at Hyeonu like nothing had happened. They didn’t seem to care that their colleague’s head had exploded in front of them.

‘Right, they aren’t people...’ Hyeonu frowned at the unexpected reaction.

Just then, dozens of magic crystals were fired at his feet and ankles. Hyeonu quickened his pace to avoid the attacks and then split into dozens of afterimages. He was using Mysterious Sky Steps. The afterimages all had the same posture. They all raised their right foot up to the knee and then lowered their right foot at the same time.

Simultaneously, black-red magic power spread out like waves. The demons that were swinging their weapons at Hyeonu instantly exploded. Not a single part of bodies was left in decent shape. Thousands or even tens of thousands of pieces of flesh was scattered on the ground.

[The low grade demon has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The low grade demon has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The low grade demon has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

Before Hyeonu’s eyes, messages announcing his acquisition of experience appeared like crazy.

‘I will go first.’

There were no more demons remaining in front of Hyeonu. This time, he disappeared without leaving a trace. “Tang-E, let’s leave.”

***

After exiting the Ergal Colosseum, Hyeonu rushed toward the city gate. The only gate that he knew about was the one he passed through when he entered the city. Using his common sense, he knew it was a place he shouldn’t go to, but he didn’t have any other option.

‘I don’t want to go there, but it is the only place I know... ’ Hyeonu picked up the pace.

“Master dude... This seems to be difficult,” Tang-E whispered into Hyeonu’s ear as he hung like a bag from Hyeonu’s back.

Hearing Tang-E’s suddenly pessimistic words, Hyeonu asked in a baffled manner, “Why? Is there a problem?” 

“I somehow feel like we are surrounded. I feel unpleasant energy all over the place,” Tang-E said while trembling at the unpleasant energy sweeping over from all directions. If what he felt in the Colosseum had been pure madness, then what he felt now was killing intent. It was a clearly conveyed willingness to kill.

“It can’t be helped. If we don’t run away now, it will be harder later,” Hyeonu replied.

He could now feel the truth of what Tang-E said. The reason why Hyeonu realized it to a certain extent was because the unpleasant energy was gradually getting closer.

“Wow... Crazy. How do I do this?” He murmured. The unpleasant energy surged in constant waves from the hundreds of demons and demonic creatures blocking Hyeonu’s way.

‘How do I run away?’

It was natural for him to have this thought. There was no way to get out of this position. The demons and demonic creatures in front of him were just a part of it. There were more closing in all around Hyeonu, surrounding him entirely.

‘All the demons on the road seem to be at least level 200...’

Both the demons who were eating bread on the road and the demons who were laughing felt like they were over level 200. They numbered into the thousands at least.

‘The problem isn’t them...’

The real problem was Viscount Ergal, as well as the named and boss monsters with him. Truth be told, if it had only been the demons and demonic creatures, Hyeonu wouldn’t have fled. They were just masses of experience after all. If Hyeonu had poured out magic power again and again then eventually, only he and Tang-E would have remained standing in the end.

At this time, Viscount Ergal appeared. “Did you rise to the noble position by fleeing? Rubolle appoints nobles on such a basis...?”

The moment he showed up, he launched a light taunt toward Hyeonu by impolitely calling out Rubolle’s name like he didn’t think Hyeonu would leave alive.

“You are full of courage to call out a demon king’s name so casually,” Hyeonu pointed this out. He needed to keep the conversation going while thinking of a way to safely escape from this position.

“You are going to die anyway. Rubolle will never know. What are you worried about? If you can afford to worry about that, you should worry about your life,” Viscount Ergal replied in a calm manner. He seemed confident that he could kill Hyeonu right here.

Just then, Hyeonu turned his head and glanced at the sky. There were no clouds in the sky of the demon world.

‘Yes!’

Upon seeing the cloudless sky, Hyeonu came up with a way to leave this place safely. He pulled out the Mysterious Sky Sword and created dozens of pure energies around Viscount Ergal. Simultaneously, a different dark pure energy appeared behind Viscount Ergal’s back. Hyeonu’s dark-red pure energy and Viscount Ergal’s black pure energy collided.

In the aftermath, strong winds blew, and the demons instinctively covered their eyes from the thick dusty wind. By the time the dirt breeze subsided, Hyeonu was no longer in front of Viscount Ergal. He was high up in the air, riding on a huge red drake.

Viscount Ergal’s eyes burned red when he saw this. He couldn’t miss out on killing Hyeonu here, especially when he knew that Hyeonu was a noble under Rubolle. If Viscount Ergal’s words and deeds were told to be told to Rubolle, it was clear that even his king, Damanos, wouldn’t be able to protect him. With his utmost strength, Viscount Ergal gathered all of his magic power and fired it at the drake.

However, the beam of pure energy was intercepted by a huge black-red sword, which Hyeonu had summoned to stop it.

“I’m going!” Hyeonu waved to Viscount Ergal and exited the castle.

***

“Hey, what video is this? It’s my first time seeing this?” Yeongchan wondered when he saw the scene on Hyeonu’s laptop screen. It was the first time he was seeing it. Yeongchan had never seen a dark blue-skinned human in Arena.

“That? The demon world. It’s a new place, and it is pretty fun.” Hyeonu came out of the room wearing only pants with his t-shirt draped over one shoulder.

Yeongchan’s eyes widened when he heard Hyeonu’s words. “The demon world? Are you referring to the divine world and demon world?” 

The demon world was an area he thought would come out one day, but he didn’t expect it to be now.

“It is that demon world. It’s a place with demons and demonic creatures. However, it is quite scary. Even the demons on the road are... over level 200?” Hyeonu said with a humorous expression.

Yeongchan had no words when he saw such a Hyeonu and went into a flustered state. Hyeonu’s words came as a big shock to him.

‘People are only just trying to do things in the East Continent now...’ Yeongchan thought. 

This was the same for Yeongchan. He was leading his guild to do quests in the East Continent. If he completed the quests well, he could make connections with high ranking NPCs. Meanwhile, Hyeonu no longer paid attention to the East Continent and had left coolly. He said he was in the demon world right now.

‘What the hell is going on…’ Yeongchan gave up on even trying to understand. It really felt like Hyeonu was playing another game alone—not Arena but the single-player version of Arena.

“So how did you discover it this time? Until a few days ago, you were still talking about doing your fourth class advancement,” Yeongchan asked.

“It’s connected to that. After the fourth class advancement, I had to go and see the emperor. During that meeting, a demon suddenly popped out? I remembered it at the time that I’d heard something related to the demon world before. Thus, I moved smoothly and entered the demon world.”

Yeongchan shook his head at Hyeonu’s casual explanation. The description was too empty. It was his fault for asking Hyeonu.

‘This shit...’

“Hey, just leave.” Yeongchan barely endured his rising anger and shook his right hand.