Ranker’s Return

“Then today’s stream will end here. I would like to ask everyone to say a word of thanks to Teika, who appeared as a guest today.”

Once the stream was ending, Hyeonu placed Teika next to him and forced the viewers to say goodbye.

-Alley Leader Junior, it was fun today.

-Another king with this personality was born.

-Let’s all say hello to this king of human nature who is less handsome.

Teika saw the messages on the chat window and smiled bitterly. For some reason, the viewers were calling him ‘Alley Leader Junior’. 

‘It doesn’t seem to be because of strength...’ 

He could read the mood and noticed that the viewers weren’t just talking about strength, but he just couldn’t figure out the precise reason.

“Today’s stream was so much fun. I’ll come out again if there is a chance next time. Originally, I didn’t think streaming would be that fun. I think that it is worth a try again sometime.” Teika expressed his feelings about participating in the stream as a guest.

He normally didn’t have many positive thoughts about streaming. It was hard enough just playing Arena. How could he chat with the audience too? Yet today, he had fun communicating with the viewers as a streamer, so he thought it would be okay to do it again once or twice.

After Teika’s words, Hyeonu ended the stream: “Then I’ll see you the next time I stream. I will return with more interesting content.”

Then he turned to thank Teika. Hyeonu’s request had been sudden, but Teika had willingly accepted it and participated in the stream as a guest.

‘Maybe I am more of a streamer than I thought,’ Teika thought.

Hyeonu didn’t know how Teika had commented, but the reaction of the audience showed it was quite good.

“Then if fate allows it, let’s stream together again. We could hunt or do quests.” Hyeonu was preparing to separate from Teika. The stream ended quickly, so he needed to get back to his team members who were still training.

“Are you busy now? There was something I wanted to ask...” Teika had the idea of personally asking for a spar once the stream was over. This was why he had surrendered from the ranking battle, so he couldn’t help being flustered at Hyeonu’s hasty attitude.

“I have to get ready for Arena Week. All my teammates are practicing hard right now, so I think I have to go quickly.”

“Are you practicing for PvP and the siege? Can I help?”

“Teika?” Hyeonu’s jaw dropped at Teika’s sudden offer. Teika wanted to help Crescent Moon practice.

‘Based on his level of strength... He is stronger than the Hyung-nims, not weaker...’

There were many advantages to having him help out. In retrospect, there was no better opponent than Teika to increase the experience of the players. Teika was, after all, the 4th ranked arena exhibition specialist. Simply looking at the rankings, he was superior to Kim Seokjung.

‘Of course, Hyung-nim doesn’t play the arena often... So a proper comparison isn’t possible.’

It was rare for Kim Seokjung to come to the arena. Nevertheless, his rankings always hovered between 6th and 10th place. He was a person who couldn’t be judged by rank alone.

“Of course, I am thankful for your help. But can I use your time like this? Aren’t you busy?” Hyeonu asked. 

The thing that worried Hyeonu was whether Teika could afford to lose his time. Rankers were always busy. The basis of the arena ranking was the strength of the character. If one's level was low and their items were poor, it was impossible to maintain a single-digit ranking.

Teika nodded and said, “It’s fine. Instead, I have a favor to ask, Alley Leader.”

He was undoubtedly busy. There were many things he had to do, but he wanted to fight with Hyeonu even more. In particular, he wanted to fight against Hyeonu when he was showing his true fighting power.

“A favor? What is it, Teika?”

“Can we fight properly just once? It is using everything. If the spar is just before logging out, that solves the problem of the cooldown time...” Teika spoke cautiously. He knew it was rude to ask for a spar randomly, so he maintained this polite attitude.

‘What? This is barely a favor,’ Hyeonu thought. He had been momentarily surprised when Teika asked for a favor. A ranker was making a request to him, so he thought it wouldn’t be an easy request. Nevertheless, Teika’s request was too simple.

“It isn’t hard at all to fight once. It’s naturally a profitable trade if I can hire a high-quality worker like Teika. Good. If you help me for an hour or two today, I’ll do whatever you want,” Hyeonu easily accepted Teika’s request.

It was nothing big, so he felt no worries.

“Is that so? Then let’s go to the place where the players are waiting,” Teika urged Hyeonu. He wanted to start quicker so he could fight with Hyeonu sooner.

***

“So in addition to the Hyung-nims, Teika here will help with PvP and siege practice.” Hyeonu introduced Teika to Kim Seokjung, Gang Junggu, and the five Crescent Moon players.

“Is it really Teika?”

“Why is he helping us?”

“Hyung, are you friendly with him?”

The Crescent Moon players were surprised to see Teika appearing with Hyeonu, since Teika was a celebrity who was really hard to meet. Hyeonu was also a celebrity, but they could see him daily. It was a different feeling from meeting Teika for the first time.

“We aren’t close, but we ran into each other during the ranking battle today. Somehow we ended up like this?” Hyeonu didn’t explain himself; he just talked nonsense. It was a waste of time to say everything.

Teika said it was okay, but Hyeonu still needed to show him some consideration.

“Hyung, what is this? Why is your explanation so strange? There is no beginning and no end.” Mason frowned at Hyeonu’s explanation that omitted a lot.

“Just do it. Now isn’t the time to be doing this. You should take advantage of this precious time,” Hyeonu said and waved his hand like it was annoying. Then he turned toward the other Crescent Moon players and advised, “Be prepared. The spar with Teika is going to start now. It will probably be quite different from sparring with Seokjung hyung-nim and Junggu hyung-nim. It will be a good experience.”

After listening to Hyeonu’s words, the Crescent Moon players began to gather together. Unlike before, they couldn’t fight without thinking now, so they held a meeting to ensure the minimum of cooperation.

“I’ve watched Teika’s videos, and he fights really well. There is nothing missing,” Lee Hoon stated.

Once the players gathered, he started to talk little by little about what he knew. What was Teika’s fighting style? What were his skills? How powerful was he? Fortunately, Teika’s videos were posted by the arena rankers who encountered him, so they could watch Teika from the perspective of his victims who suffered.

Lee Hoon continued to explain, “I think he is as good as the two Hyung-nims. Of course, his weapon is a spear, so we have to be more careful. The range is longer than you think.”

Hearing that, the other players expressed their opinions one by one.

“Then let’s use the undead. I will summon the death knight while Yuri uses her Shield and blessings. Why don’t we approach Teika while they stall him?” Sunny mentioned one of the strategies they had practiced against Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu.

Yuri nodded and agreed with Sunny’s opinion, “That sounds okay. In any case, we don’t just have one chance at this. I think it’s fine to use as many things as possible.” 

According to what Hyeonu said earlier, it seemed that Teika wasn’t only here to help for a short time but for hours. In that amount of time, they could experiment with what they had prepared so far.

“Now, stop talking. We have to practice!” Hyeonu shouted at the Crescent Moon players who seemed to be talking endlessly. Then he turned to Teika and said, “Teika, don’t go easy on them. Understood? If you see a gap, stab in and break it.”

“Is it really necessary? I don’t think they’ll be able to hold on...” Teika’s voice trailed off. He had seen several league videos of the Crescent Moon players. Their cooperation and power were pretty good, but that was it. In his eyes, that seemed too lacking. It was fine in the Korean League, but it wasn’t good enough for the world stage

“Please fight to the extent that you want to show me in our spar.” Hyeonu threw these words at the hesitant Teika. It was advice that relieved the guilt in Teika’s heart.

“I understand. I’ll do my best.” Teika gave a light smile as he pulled a spear out of his inventory and walked to the center of the arena.

Gang Junggu approached Hyeonu and wondered, “Is it okay? They will be shocked. They might be skeptical about all their efforts so far.”

Teika seemed like he would fight sincerely, but Crescent Moon’s players were still too weak to take him on. The odds of success might be higher if they practiced PvP instead of the siege. Their differences in character growth were overwhelming.

“There is something to be gained even from breaking. In addition, I believe in them. They won’t break. Instead, they will harden.” Hyeonu watched the Crescent Moon players with eyes full of trust.

***

Teika was determined. He had to do his best right now in order to see Hyeonu’s power.

‘The first battle should end quickly,’ Teika decided. This wasn’t a situation where he should consider others.

Teika held his spear firmly and spoke to the Crescent Moon players, “Then please.”

On the Crescent Moon side, Lee Hoon acted as the representative and answered Teika: “Thank you for helping us practice.”

This concluded the conversation on both sides. Now they were aiming weapons at each other. There was a rattling sound, and four knights on skeleton horses emerged from the soil. They were Sunny’s death knights. Sunny’s proficiency had increased during this period of time, and she could now summon more majestic death knights.

“Go and fight.” At Sunny’s brief command, the death knights moved into action, leading the skeleton horses in different directions. They surrounded Teika and attacked him at the same time. There was a strike from above, a second hit from left to right, and a third one flowing from right to left. Then the last one was a blow from the bottom up.

Four attacks poured toward Teika simultaneously. The death knights’ swords seemed like they would quickly cut him apart. Teika stood quietly and watched the swords come toward him. He seemed to be simply standing still when he suddenly stabbed his spear toward the ground.

The ground split apart, and blood-red energy appeared. The skeleton horses lifted their front legs to avoid the blood-colored energy pouring from the cracked ground. Of course, doing that meant the skeleton horses had to stop midway through their charge. Under such circumstances, the swords of the death knights couldn’t touch Teika.

“The first blow has been given, so it is my turn now.” Teika pulled out the spear that was embedded in the ground and aimed it at the Crescent Moon players.