Ranker’s Return

Hyeonu entered the Colosseum naturally. No one stopped Hyeonu who was releasing great pressure. No, they couldn’t stop him. If they touched him and one arm flew away, they wouldn’t be able to complain to anyone. It was because the demon world was such a place.

‘Good. I will go find Viscount Ergal like this.’

Hyeonu was so satisfied with this that he couldn’t feel the gazes on him.

‘Should I have gone around like this earlier?’

Hyeonu was accustomed to hiding himself. Ever since he started Arena, it had been routine to hide his identity.

‘There is no madman doing this among players.’

Actually, there were some. It was impossible that there was no one who would show their strength. However, most of them couldn’t reach the ranker level. Those who managed to reach it knew that there was a time and place for revealing their strength. It was only when they judged that they were stronger than the players around them that they would emit so much pressure.

A demon cautiously approached Hyeonu and said, “If this is your first visit to the Colosseum, can I help you?”

The demon was really cautious and couldn’t be more polite. He spoke sincerely in case he bothered Hyeonu’s nerves.

“Help? Help... Good. How can you help me?” Hyeonu stared at the demon arrogantly. The moment Hyeonu’s eyes shifted to the demon, his pressure was also focused on the demon.

“If it is related to the Colosseum, I can tell you anything. In addition, I can tell you the overall level of the participants,” the demon said while struggling against the powerful pressure. His two feet were trembling, but he never stuttered. He didn’t do anything reproachable.

‘Let’s pull back my pressure...’ Hyeonu thought.

“Really? That is really satisfactory.” Hyeonu acted with the persona of a demon noble.

He imagined what a demon noble would act like and followed it. The moment Hyeonu withdrew his pressure, the demon let out a slight smile, feeling like he had survived a crisis. Then he adjusted his posture and waited for Hyeonu to speak. He didn’t ask what Hyeonu needed.

“Is there a place where nobles gather? This place smells... I can’t watch from here,” Hyeonu spoke in a lazy voice. By all appearances, he was a noble. There was no doubt about that.

“I understand, I will guide you to a special seat.”

“Perhaps... Is Viscount Ergal in the Colosseum now?”

“Yes, the Viscount is in the Colosseum right now. He is paying special attention to the Colosseum.”

The demon had a slightly more comfortable expression the moment the name ‘Ergal’ came out of Hyeonu’s mouth. He was thinking about the master behind him. Although the demon didn’t know how strong the noble in front of him was, Ergal was tremendously strong by demon standards. Such a master would be able to help with this demon noble in front of him.

“Can I guide you to the viscount?” The demon’s mouth became less restrained once his heart was relaxed. He was able to do things he didn’t do before.

“Okay. Viscount Ergal... I want to see the person I’ve only heard about with my own eyes.” Hyeonu smiled with a pleased expression, but his eyes were cold.

***

The demon walked a few steps ahead of Hyeonu. Meanwhile, Hyeonu fixed his head forward and only moved his eyes to look around.

‘It’s my first time seeing this...’

The path the demon brought Hyeonu through was one he was seeing for the first time. Of course, this was only the second time Hyeonu had come to Ergal’s Colosseum, so there was no way he could have known it. Nevertheless, Hyeonu thought it would be a path he knew.

‘I thought he would be in one of the skyboxes...’

The skybox—Viscount Ergal wasn’t there. Hyeonu’s expectations were wrong, so they went in a completely different direction. They walked along a corridor that was decorated with luxurious materials unfitting for the Colosseum.

“This is the place where the owner stays? It’s a good match for the Colosseum. I never imagined Viscount Ergal would have this type of taste,” Hyeonu said with a sneer.

The back of the demon trembled as he walked in front of Hyeonu. Hyeonu enjoyed seeing such a reaction. It was a brief joke for this time spent walking.

‘I’ll get this territory later, then I’ll be good next time.’

This was the price the demon was paying for teasing him. After all, Hyeonu would be killing Viscount Ergal and taking away his ring. Thus, he had the shallow idea that it was okay to do a favor for the demon after becoming the master of this territory.

Hyeonu asked, “Is it still far away? This corridor is uselessly long. It’s a shame to be so scared despite having the title of Viscount.”

In the face of Hyeonu’s continuous ridicule, the demon pressed his lips together. He realized that Hyeonu now understood he hadn’t really been bringing Hyeonu toward Viscount Ergal. Rather, he was just playing a prank on Hyeonu.

“We’ve arrived. Viscount Ergal is inside the door,” the demon said.

“Really? Then you can go back. Do you want to listen to the conversation between nobles?” Hyeonu questioned.

The demon quickly shook his head, showing with his body that this absolutely wasn’t his intention. “No, it’s not like that. Then I’ll be going.”

The demon disappeared several times faster than when they came, running like his butt was on fire.

‘He’s gone.’

Hyeonu confirmed that the demon had completely disappeared from view and summoned Tang-E. It was so he could receive the effect of Tang-E’s newly obtained skill.

‘We are going to fight anyway... It is better to have him with me from the beginning.’

“Tang-E, come out.”

Tang-E was summoned with a more brilliant light than ever before. A strange blend of gold and black light was emitted by the magic circle.

“Crazy...” Curse words automatically popped out of Hyeonu’s mouth. With superhuman power, he barely managed to cut off his speech midway. Hyeonu didn’t know what this was that he was seeing. He quickly scattered his black-red magic power around Tang-E, using it to generate a small hemisphere and cut off the light flowing from the magic circle.

“Tang-E, I said that you should come out quietly today. So what is this?” Hyeonu looked at Tang-E with one hand on his forehead.

“I’m sorry, I forgot. The thought of teaching that bad guy a lesson excited me. I’m really sorry, Master.” Tang-E stared up at Hyeonu with a face showing sincere regret.

“Be quiet and get on my back. You know that you can’t make a sound or move, right?” Hyeonu asked with a serious expression.

Tang-E patted his chest and answered like he believed in himself: “I understand, Master dude. I will be really quiet.” 

Then he went behind Hyeonu and kicked off from the ground. The jumping Tang-E succeeded in putting his front paw on Hyeonu’s shoulder.

“Oof!” Hyeonu barely endured the groan that tried to burst out. The heavy feeling on his back was different from usual.

“Hey, you should’ve told me before going to jump,” Hyeonu complained.

“I believe that Master isn’t frail.”

Hyeonu couldn’t refute Tang-E’s words. Tang-E hung on like gum from Hyeonu’s back. He placed his front paws on Hyeonu’s shoulders, and his back paws against Hyeonu’s sides. From the front, the only thing that could be seen was that Hyeonu’s clothes had golden fur.

“Then let’s go in,” Hyeonu said.

He pushed open the door to the room where Viscount Ergal was located.

‘Nothing?’

Hyeonu entered the room, but he didn’t see Viscount Ergal or any demon inside. There were several pieces of furniture but no living things. It was a very spacious room. Even if colorful decorations and furniture were arranged in it, it wouldn’t feel narrow at all.

‘Where is Viscount Ergal?’

Hyeonu turned his head and looked around the space. The demon had said that Viscount Ergal was definitely inside, but he wasn’t visible.

‘Is there a separate space here...’

A special passage couldn’t be seen though. The room was spacious, but there was no way to move anywhere else. Hyeonu carefully walked further in.

He was wary of any traps.

‘Nothing.’

There were just useless books and furniture, and he didn’t see anything like a passageway. Right at this moment, there was a shaking sound, and a table split into two. Then a person appeared. The identity of this person was, unsurprisingly, Viscount Ergal.

Viscount Ergal didn’t recognize Hyeonu. Hyeonu had been wearing a mask during the previous conflict with Viscount Ergal, so it was natural that the latter did not recognize Hyeonu once he was unmasked. The clothing was similar, but it was different. Now Tang-E’s golden fur had a presence everywhere. It was impossible to give off the same feeling as when the clothes were all black.

“Who are you? Why are you going in and out of people’s rooms?!” Viscount Ergal was surprised to see Hyeonu standing in his office at the Colosseum. Outwardly, he might be scolding Hyeonu, but his mind was actually full of thoughts.

‘Should I kill him? What if he is stronger than me? Who sent him?’ All sorts of thoughts flashed through Viscount Ergal’s mind. Nevertheless, his worry didn’t last long. First of all, it was important to kill the attacker in front of him. It didn’t matter who sent this person or what his identity was. The most important thing was that the secrets of the Colosseum couldn’t be revealed.

“There is no need for long words. You’re dead!” Viscount Ergal rushed toward Hyeonu with dark magic power around both his hands. The space was very wide, but it was like nothing once Viscount Ergal started running. With a single leap, he appeared before Hyeonu and swung his blazing black nails. Five rays of magic power covered Hyeonu.

Hyeonu raised the Mysterious Sky Sword and lightly blocked the frontal attack. Viscount Ergal was extremely serious, and intense magic power covered his entire body. It was so intense that people could become numb just by looking at it.

‘Weak.’ 

Yet in Hyeonu’s eyes, Viscount Ergal didn’t seem strong. In fact, Hyeonu had already thought it was worth a try to fight him at the very first meeting. The reason for the last escape wasn’t Viscount Ergal but the numerous demons and demonic creatures behind him. Hyeonu ran away because there were too many variables that could influence the outcome.

‘This time, Viscount Ergal is alone.’

However, it was a one-on-one fight with Viscount Ergal this time. They were in an equal situation. No, Hyeonu had the advantage. He had the joker card called Tang-E.

A black spear appeared out of nowhere and pierced Viscount Ergal’s abdomen.

“Master dude, I hit him.” The owner of the black spear was Tang-E. Tang-E, who had been hanging on Hyeonu’s back, created a spear with ice magic when Viscount Ergal wasn’t expecting it and attacked successfully.

‘It’s easy like this.’

The corners of Hyeonu’s mouth rose in a smile. Things were going exactly as planned. However, that soon changed as Hyeonu’s relaxed attitude provoked anger.