Ranker’s Return

[Kalea, an earl of the demon world has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

Upon confirming that Earl Kalea was the one who died, Hyeonu inwardly let out a cheer, ‘Nice!’

It was lucky that he managed to take down the biggest obstacle in this fight, Earl Kalea.

[Demon noble killed 1/???]

[Kill boss monsters above level 400 1/33.]

It wasn’t just that. Baler’s quest and the Rainbow of Desires conditions were met at the same time.

‘I didn’t even think about it...’

In fact, he hadn’t even thought about Baler’s quest, so it felt like he got a surprise gift.

‘I can be happy a bit later.’

Now wasn’t the time to enjoy it. There were still two demons in the room to deal with. Hyeonu jumped into the room with the Mysterious Sky Sword for the other demons he’d already seen. The demon who had been sitting in the chair and staring at Viscount Garcia along with Earl Kalea—Hyeonu aimed for him.

Hyeonu moved the Mysterious Sky Sword quickly from left to right. Dozens of pure energies around one meter in size poured out from the Mysterious Sky Sword, sending a black-red storm of pure energy sweeping through the room. One wall disappeared, and the scenery outside was now clearly visible.

“Who is it?!” the demon who was attacked by Hyeonu yelled with red eyes.

Viscount Garcia recognized Hyeonu and murmured in a low voice, “Baron Argon?” 

He looked very surprised. He was surprised by Hyeonu’s appearance, but he was even more shocked that Earl Kalea had died from a single blow.

‘How...’ Viscount Garcia wondered inwardly.

It should have been very difficult to kill Earl Kalea, even if he was defenseless. Being able to attack so secretly that the target couldn’t react was a great ability in itself. The unidentified demon also looked surprised as he too hadn’t thought Earl Kalea would die in vain like that. No, he couldn’t have imagined it.

Now the enemy was overwhelmingly pushing another noble, Earl Ipun. It was as if it hadn’t been a coincidence that he killed Earl Kalea with the surprise attack.

‘There is no reason for me to help,’ the unidentified demon, Viscount Balaya, thought. After all, he served the moderate demon king, Wokiri. The dead Earl Kalea had been under the command of Damanos, the demon king of iron and blood, while Earl Ipun, who was currently fighting for his life, was under Galiya. Both were part of the hard-liners force, so there was no reason for Balaya to help.

Viscount Balaya moved next to Viscount Garcia.

“Do you know who he is? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a noble...” Viscount Balaya asked Viscount Garcia, who was looking at Hyeonu with an expression like he knew Hyeonu.

“No, how do I know such a monster? He is at least a marquis.” Viscount Garcia restored his usual expression and pretended not to know Hyeonu.

“That is true. Yet that type of talent is still unknown...” Viscount Balaya didn’t let go of his doubts. It was such a sudden appearance like that of a certain someone.

“Is he perhaps a human?” Viscount Balaya recalled John Blake as he watched Hyeonu.

John Blake, the newly emerged demon king, had appeared like a comet and established himself as a duke under Rubolle. Then not long ago, he used a ridiculous armed force to proudly invade Rubolle’s city and kill Rubolle. Currently, Baler was the only one who could kill a demon king in his own city. Yet in this situation, Hyeonu had appeared before Viscount Balaya’s eyes. This man whom Viscount Balaya did not know the identity of had killed Earl Kalea instantly and was pushing Earl Ipun in an overwhelming manner.

There had been such people throughout the long history of the demon world, but they didn’t just appear out of the blue one day. At the very least, there would have been forces that secretly knew about them. There had been no cases where an unknown person popped out like this.

‘It’s a secret I can’t tell...’ Garcia concentrated on controlling his facial expression while hiding his flustered look. Viscount Garcia knew the unusual relationship there was between John Blake and Baron Argon—Hyeonu. As long as the demon king he served was John Blake, he couldn’t cause any damage to Baron Argon.

‘I don’t know why he is trying to kill them, but...’

Hyeonu’s current actions were a great help rather than damage to John Blake as both Earl Kalea and Earl Ipun were nobles of forces standing in opposition to John Blake.

“I don’t know either. However, if he is a human and humans are so strong... Then I think the invasion of the demon world is really a matter for reconsideration,” Viscount Garcia switched topics strangely. He expressed his thoughts implicitly while still hiding Hyeonu’s identity.

“That’s right. If there are quite a few humans in the middle world who show this level of force... It is clear that we will be severely damaged if we go to war against the middle world.” Viscount Balaya nodded. If such a monster was a human… there should absolutely not be a war. Once they went to the middle world, the advantages they received in the demon world would disappear. Meanwhile, the humans could exert all of their original power in the middle world, so it was naturally unfavorable to the demons.

“By the way, I think we should avoid the immediate crisis first. Earl Ipun is fighting, but there is no guarantee our turn won’t come.” Viscount Garcia completely changed the subject of the conversation this time. He prevented Hyeonu’s identity from being questioned and gave Viscount Balaya a reminder about the potential threat to their survival.

“First of all, the two of us have to work together. Furthermore, isn’t this your city? We can win with the help of the Magic Power Stone. We just have to unleash that power indefinitely, and we’ll already be at the top of any force,” Viscount Balaya said.

“Yes, let’s join forces this time,” Viscount Garcia accepted Viscount Balaya’s offer.

‘Baron Argon won’t attack me anyway.’

Viscount Garcia already knew the identity of the attacker, so he naturally knew that the battle wouldn’t continue after Earl Ipun was killed. Even if it did continue, the target wouldn’t be him but Viscount Balaya standing next to him. There was absolutely no reason for Viscount Garcia to be nervous.

‘I can’t wait for Earl Ipun’s end.’

Earl Kalea and Earl Ipun had persecuted and oppressed Viscount Garcia, so he naturally didn’t have any good feelings toward them. He felt pleased to see the two people, who had harassed him for over a week, die. Perhaps Viscount Garcia’s support worked because Hyeonu’s attacks started to gradually penetrate through Earl Ipun’s defense.

‘I don’t have long left on my buffs. How should I end this?’ Hyeonu thought.

He was actually in a bit of a frustrating situation. The battle didn’t go as well as he expected because his skills were restricted. It was impossible for him to use Summon a Giant Sword or Crescent Moon Cut. The narrow space was causing him problems. To be exact, it was the presence of Viscount Garcia and the demon standing next to him that was making Hyeonu’s fight difficult.

‘I’m glad it is coming to an end...’

During the battle that had gone on longer than five minutes, Earl Ipun’s hand and feet movements had become quite twisted. He couldn’t block or avoid Hyeonu’s attacks properly. Earl Ipun was placed under more pressure as time went by and Fighting Energy Emission and Area Proclamation was used.

Hyeonu grabbed the Mysterious Sky Sword and ran toward Earl Ipun. He was similar to a leopard or hyena rushing toward their prey. Every time Hyeonu moved the Mysterious Sky Sword, a dark red thread appeared in the air. Earl Ipun instinctively realized that Hyeonu’s attack was dangerous and shook his body to escape it. The dark red threads tore through the room. They split everything they touched in half. Once the desk was touched, the desk was cut in half. Once the wall was touched, the wall was cut.

‘If I don’t fight back, I’ll be dead.’

The word ‘death’ was clearly lodged in Earl Ipun’s mind when he saw this scene. Thus, he became even more nervous. He had to fight back through Hyeonu’s strong offensive. If Earl Ipun were to be distracted for even a moment when attacking… he didn’t think he could survive that ferocious offensive.

‘Yet if I keep blocking like I am now, the result will remain the same.’

There were no options allowed for Earl Ipun. If the situation stayed like this, he would die anyway. So Earl Ipun chose to attack. He had to attack even if it meant giving up one arm.

‘I will finish it at once.’

A black current quickly gathered around both of Earl Ipun’s arms. Then Earl Ipun extended his fists toward Hyeonu with bursts of air. Due to Hyeonu’s attacks, the cut objects had become dust and scattered. Hyeonu swung the Mysterious Sky Sword at Earl Ipun’s black air current.

Once, twice, three times—he spun rapidly in place and continuously swung the Mysterious Sky Sword. Dark red pure energies shot from the Mysterious Sky Sword and rushed toward the black air current. A solid line was drawn on Earl Ipun’s left shoulder. His left arm was separated from his body and fell to the ground. Blood spewed out like a fountain from the cut surface.

‘It’s going as expected so far!’ Earl Ipun ignored the pain he felt from his left arm and swung his right arm. A darker energy that was many times larger than before shot at Hyeonu. This was the real attack that Earl Ipun had prepared. The black air current gathered together and became a small ball that quickly fired at Hyeonu’s heart.

At this moment, Earl Ipun’s fist suddenly floated into the air. To be exact, his right arm was also separated from his body and flew into the air. The ceiling of the building was pierced, and the dark blue sky of the demon world appeared. Dark moonlight shone down into the room.

Earl Ipun knelt down and let out a scream, “Kuaaaaah!”

All of his hope had disappeared. Now that both of his arms were gone, there was no way for him to attack Hyeonu.

“Blatantly showing that you want to attack...” Hyeonu approached the fallen Earl Ipun and laughed in a derisive manner. The attack, in which Earl Ipun had attempted to trick Hyeonu with a smaller blow first, actually created a gap for Hyeonu. A big attack inevitably involved a big move.

Hyeonu took advantage of this and instantly fired the Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength at Earl Ipun’s shoulders, cutting off the latter’s head. More blood burst out like a fountain from both of Earl Ipun’s shoulders and his neck. Earl Ipun’s shed blood covered the ground and formed a pool of liquid.

Then Hyeonu glanced at the place where Viscount Balaya and Viscount Garcia were located and soon left.