Ranker’s Return

“I’m sleeping because I’m tired, Master dude.” Tang-E made an anxious expression as he placed his chin on Hyeonu’s shoulder.

It had taken a long time for him to eat his fill. During the period of time when he wasn’t called by Hyeonu, Tang-E had to eat the food that his mother, Manong, cooked. It happened just as he finished all the food stored in his space. The overlapping of events was a ridiculous coincidence. It might be different if he hadn’t tasted honey-like food before, but he had tasted it countless times. That period of time without Hyeonu was literally a time of bone-cutting pain for Tang-E. Now that Hyeonu had picked out all the meats Tang-E liked, Tang-E was naturally unable to restrain himself and had to eat, since he was in such a sad state just before.

Hyeonu touched Tang-E’s head and asked, “How about this meat?” 

Then he picked up some meat that Tang-E hadn’t eaten. It was due to having heard that Tang-E’s subspace was empty.

“I will take it all, Master dude.” Tang-E nodded. His subspace was now once again filled with the meat Hyeonu gave to him. Tang-E’s happiness index was rising.

“Yes, then what about the other thing? Is it okay?”

“Um... It’s a complicated situation, Master dude.”

“Complicated situation? Is there a problem?” Hyeonu turned his head with a surprised expression, worrying that something had gone wrong with the third awakening.

“The third awakening of our clan is quite important. It is said that the awakening results are different depending on the ambient magic power. This is why I’m very worried. If I get the third awakening here...” Tang-E’s expression became serious. Based on his expression, he seemed quite worried.

“Really? So it’s like this...” Hyeonu patted Tang-E’s head lightly.

‘This worry...’

If Tang-E had the third awakening in the demon world, something unexpected might happen. Tang-E’s main power was his magic with various attributes. Lightning, fire, and ice—these three attributes were the main focus.

‘No, doesn’t he have the corruption attribute now?’

Tang-E already had the attribute called corruption, although it was an attribute obtained from an item. The corruption attribute was used by mixing it with other attribute magic.

‘It isn’t strictly elemental... There is no corruption magic.’

The lightning attribute had lightning magic, the fire attribute had fire magic, and the light attribute had light magic. However, corruption had no attribute magic. It could be called an attribute of a different type.

‘It would be the best if the dark attribute were applied like mine...’

If the dark attribute became a substitute for corruption during the third awakening, it would become the same situation as Hyeonu’s where the dark attribute combined with other attributes.

‘If Hugo and Manong allow it...’

It was worth thinking about letting the third awakening happen in the demon world.

“Tang-E, listen to me,” Hyeonu began. He organized his thoughts and conveyed them to Tang-E: “If you have your third awakening in the demon world, your magic will be based on the dark attribute like mine. It won’t be much different from how it is now. Currently, your lightning is blue instead of yellow. It will just become a bit darker.”

This time, Tang-E was the one who started thinking. His two mischievous eyes became like a deep lake. This was a serious look, which was a rare appearance for him.

‘Master dude is strong, but...’ Tang-E’s troubles didn’t last long. Honestly, there was no problem if he got the dark attribute. There were various attributes amongst those in his clan after all. Hugo’s reason for not being able to go against Manong was partly related to his attribute.

‘Yes, Master dude is fine. I won’t have a problem.’

Tang-E secretly evaluated himself as being stronger than Hyeonu. Hyeonu’s current strength was high, but Tang-E thought his innate strength was more powerful.

“Good, I will awaken here. However, based on what I feel, I think it is quite far away from awakening. Is that okay?” Tang-E asked. He had decided to get the dark attribute like Hyeonu had done.

Hyeonu replied, “It’s fine. When did I say that it wasn’t?”

Tang-E pounded Hyeonu on the shoulder.

***

In Hyeonu’s mind, Garcia had long since disappeared. It was only filled with Tang-E. To be exact, it was with his third awakening. That was all Hyeonu was focused on.

“Tang-E, release more magic power. Let it fly!”

Hyeonu stood still in the back and only moved his mouth. He didn’t participate in the battle. The one fighting was Tang-E.

“Damn Master!!! You are just talking!” Tang-E moved without pausing while avoiding the attacks from the demonic creatures. He used magic every time the cooldown ended. As fire and lightning danced, the demonic creatures fell.

“I’m being supportive right now! How else can you reach the third awakening?!” Hyeonu just responded to the intense criticism with a dissatisfied expression. This time, Tang-E couldn’t refute it. It wasn’t because Hyeonu was right but because Tang-E was busy avoiding the attacks of the demonic creatures.

‘Damn Master, you are really only using your mouth.’

If Tang-E had known this, it would’ve been better for him to say he knew when he would have the third awakening. However, his thoughts didn’t last long. The battle with the demonic creatures was becoming increasingly fierce, and there was no room for him to think. A giant elephant-like demonic creature trampled past where Tang-E had just been. Tang-E barely escaped. If he had been a bit late, he would’ve been turned into gum stuck on the ground under the thick soles of that demonic creature.

‘Did I provoke too many demonic creatures? Should I help?’ Hyeonu suddenly had this thought. Hyeonu had used his energy to lure the demonic creatures over. It was just enough for the demonic creatures to rush in. They recognized Hyeonu as easy prey and rushed over like crazy. Tang-E had been fighting busily since then like he was now.

Thinking about this, Hyeonu felt sorry and called out to Tang-E, who was running amidst the demonic creatures: “Tang-E, do you want help?”

The return answer was firm. 

“It’s fine, damn Master dude! I’ll take care of all of them!” Tang-E answered and raised all the magic power in his body.

Then he used Lightning. It was right to say that Lightning was Tang-E’s most powerful magic. Lightning was the first one he gained as well as the one he used the most, so the skill proficiency ranking was different from that of the others. At this time, a bunch of clouds gathered in the clear sky. The demon world didn’t have a very bright atmosphere to begin with.

Now that clouds were suddenly covering the sun, it became even darker. Just then, sparks started to appear on the surface of the clouds. At first, it was just one or two, but the number increased rapidly. One became two, and two became four. The sparks soon gathered to form a giant lightning bolt with a prominent presence.

Just then, an intense sound of thunder filled the area. The thunder was so loud that Hyeonu and the demonic creatures blocked their ears. Some of the demonic creatures even began bleeding from their ears.

Finally, a dark blue lightning bolt fell from the sky toward the ground, descending specifically toward Tang-E’s head. Naturally, the demonic creatures around Tang-E couldn’t avoid being hit by the lightning. The surviving demonic creatures tried frantically to escape, but Tang-E grew to 7 meters tall and started cleaning them up while sparks were still around his body. Even if they weren’t beaten directly by Tang-E, the demonic creatures started collapsing to the ground after being struck by the lighting emitted from Tang-E’s paws.

When Hyeonu saw this, a smile appeared on his face. The scene of Tang-E killing the demonic creatures without his help was a great sight.

‘This brat—he’s good,’ Hyeonu thought. It was like seeing his own child. In fact, it wasn’t an exaggeration to call Tang-E his child. They had been through everything together since Tang-E was level 1 until now.

‘This is the last one...’

The end of the long battle was approaching. Tang-E’s right paw killed the remaining elephant demonic creature. The elephant’s throat burst open, and blood poured out. Tang-E approached the side of the kneeling elephant demonic creature and grabbed its white ivory. Then he used fire magic. A dark blue flame swallowed everything around the demonic creature. Blood, flesh, and skin were burned generously as fuel.

“Did you see it, Master dude?! I’m so strong now!” Tang-E shouted at Hyeonu while holding up both paws. His loud cry rang through the field.

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has reached level 300.]

[The third awakening has begun.]

At this moment, there was a huge whirlwind of magic power centered on Tang-E’s body. It wasn’t just that. The magic power was dark enough to be visible to the naked eye.

“Eh?” Hyeonu murmured to himself like a fool when he saw it. This sight...

He remembered seeing something like this before.

‘The third awakening!’

It happened whenever Tang-E awakened. This time, it was the third awakening, so the energy was more powerful. If the second awakening was a calm stream, this was now a waterfall. There was a powerful swirl of magic power around Tang-E.

‘He can get something or nothing. What he has now is enough.’ Hyeonu currently had such thoughts.

Tang-E already had three buffs. Of course, they weren’t perfect, but they were enough. There were no difficulties when Hyeonu and Tang-E hunted, and it was too much to get ahead of others. Tang-E’s stats would rise even if he didn’t obtain any skills. Even if the stats increase was only as much as in the second awakening, the stats themselves made him a monster.

Time passed by, and the magic power surrounding Tang-E started to disperse. Some of the magic power was absorbed into Tang-E’s body while the rest returned to their original position. Once the whirlwind of magic power completely disappeared and the field returned to its original state, many message windows appeared in front of Hyeonu.

[Stats have risen due to the third awakening.]

[The third awakening has created skills.]

[The third awakening has created an attribute.]

[The strength stat has increased by 782 points.]

[The agility stat has increased by 782 points.]

[The physique stat has increased by 1,024 points.]

[The magic power stat has increased by 1,983 points.]

[The wisdom stat has increased by 1,689 points.]

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has over 5,000 magic power, and a new skill has been created.]

‘A skill!’

The message about a new skill finally emerged. Hyeonu instinctively tried to check the information of the skill, but he then shook his head and slapped his cheeks. Tang-E came first. Hyeonu had to see how Tang-E had changed.

“Uh...? Tang-E?” Tang-E’s appearance had changed. Moreover, it was by quite a lot.