Ranker’s Return

The free melee was what surprised viewers. It was amazing. There were three grandmasters and one master-level ranker. Facing these four people, Hyeonu didn’t hesitate to fight at close range.

Gang Junggu’s fist aimed at Hyeonu’s waist. Yet Hyeonu moved his feet in a dazzling manner, lightly avoiding Gang Junggu’s attack. Then he raised the Mysterious Sky Sword straight up toward Gang Junggu’s extended arm.

“Ah!” Gang Junggu quickly retracted his arm with a surprised expression. This wasn’t the only threat to Gang Junggu though. There was also a black-red pure energy flying toward his head.

‘Is this how I’ll go?’ Gang Junggu had a premonition that it was the end for him when he saw Hyeonu’s attack fly over with an unavoidable trajectory.

“Don’t lose concentration!” Someone reached out to save Gang Junggu. Kim Seokjung fired golden pure energy and pushed away Hyeonu’s pure energy. Gang Junggu took advantage of the collision between pure energies to step back.

“Thank you, Hyung-nim.” Gang Junggu gave a thumbs up to Kim Seokjung. The other two jumped out at this moment.

-Kya, look at this.

-As expected of Alley Leader’s stream.

-This will become a classic scene.

Rain and Teika, the 2nd and 3rd place in the arena rankings, moved at the same time. This was a rare sight that could only be seen in Hyeonu’s stream. At this point, Teika’s body and spear were bathed in a blood-like light, and he moved several times faster than before. Following behind Teika, Rain also had a colored light covering his body, but his was blue. He too moved toward Hyeonu at a much faster speed than before.

The Mysterious Sky Sword and Teika’s spear collided first. Failing to overcome Hyeonu’s unreasonable power, Teika’s body was pushed back. This vacant spot was filled by Rain. He appeared above HyeonuTeika’s head and lowered his sword. It seemed like his attack would split Hyeonu apart, but Hyeonu wasn’t an easy opponent.

He lifted the Mysterious Sky Sword and prevented Rain from attacking. Hyeonu pushed the Mysterious Sky Sword forward some more and broke Rain’s posture. The moment Rain was pushed back slightly, Hyeonu seized the chance to fire several pure energies at him. The black-red pure energy hit Rain with a creepy sound.

Seeing this, Rain swung his sword quickly, and a brown boar emerged from it. The boar ran wildly on the ground, sending dust particles flying. There was no winner in the collision. The wild boar Rain released and Hyeonu’s pure energies both disappeared.

Then it happened at this moment. In the air, two giant golden pure energies descended toward Hyeonu’s head, and the arena ground became dented. Kim Seokjung, the one who released the golden pure energies, soon took action again. He noticed that Hyeonu wasn’t hit by the pure energies. No, he hadn’t thought they would land a hit on Hyeonu in the first place.

Thus, Kim Seokjung moved without hesitation. He instantly appeared in front of Hyeonu and aimed his fist at Hyeonu’s shoulder. The moment Kim Seokjung stretched out his fist, there was an explosion in the air. Hyeonu naturally turned to avoid Kim Seokjung’s attack, simultaneously giving strength to his back foot and jumping forward. He slammed into Kim Seokjung’s chest with his shoulder.

“Where are you going?!” Kim Seokjung, however, raised both his hands and pressed them to Hyeonu’s shoulders.

‘As expected, it didn’t work?’ Hyeonu’s eyebrows shook slightly.

Kim Seokjung’s combat senses were the best. He was unmatched when it came to animal instincts, be it against Rain or Teika. If Kim Seokjung had spent a bit more time in the arena, the previous 1st place in the arena wouldn’t have been Rain or Teika but Kim Seokjung.

‘I will get rid of you first.’ Hyeonu decided to get Kim Seokjung out first. The most threatening one of the four remaining players was Kim Seokjung. In any case, between players of this level, the fight would be settled with just one or two blows. It was because their attack power was overwhelmingly higher than their defense.

Hyeonu moved at an even faster speed now. It was as if he had been joking around so far. Moving seemingly instantaneously, Hyeonu appeared in front of Kim Seokjung and stretched out his fist.

Hyeonu’s fist was cloaked with black-red magic power, so it would cause an unconditionally serious injury if his hit landed. Kim Seokjung knew this and used his skill right away, turning his arms into a darker shade of gold. He didn’t spare any skills; he knew that it would be over for him if he kept them in reserve.

Kim Seokjung knew better than anyone how monstrous Hyeonu’s stats were. No one had watched Hyeonu fight as much as he had.

Right then, Hyeonu’s fist touched Kim Seokjung’s arm, producing gold and black-red sparks. A golden brilliance burst from Kim Seokjung’s fist immediately afterward. Due to the repulsive force of the explosion, Hyeonu’s hand naturally shifted toward the sky.

Then a golden light once again gathered around Kim Seokjung’s fist as he extended it toward Hyeonu and fired out small golden beads. Hyeonu quickly swung his fists and burst all the beads. The distance between him and the beads was too narrow for him to wield the Mysterious Sky Sword.

Using the repulsion force generated by blocking Kim Seokjung’s skill, Hyeonu jumped into the air and quickly swung the Mysterious Sky Sword toward the ground. Dozens of black-red pure energies directly bombed the arena.

“Wow.”

“Isn’t this too much?”

Exclamations rang out from everywhere. Dust and stones were scattered all over the arena. After a while, the dust particles floating in the air sank toward the ground, and everyone’s vision cleared up. Kim Seokjung, who had been at the center of the bombing, fell down with injured arms.

The situation wasn’t much different for the other rankers. They weren’t as damaged as Kim Seokjung, but there were big and small wounds all over their bodies. Despite having used their skills against the flying pure energies, it was all in vain.

-It is time to win.

-Isn’t this victory?

-This fight is won.

-The difference between 1st and 2nd place is huge.

Seeing this scene, the viewers chatted one by one. In their eyes, the spar was already over. Alley Leader was still in a good condition. In contrast, the rankers were already covered in wounds. So the viewers had no choice but to think so. Meanwhile, Hyeonu thought differently. ‘Kim Seokjung hyung-nim is the only one out.’

The others seemed to be hurt, but in fact, it meant nothing. Of course, some of their health was decreased, but that was it. There wasn’t a single wound on their bodies that would restrict their movement. In other words, they would have no problems fighting.

Hyeonu stepped back. Gang Junggu, Rain, and Teika rushed at Hyeonu simultaneously. They knew it as well that now was the time to pour out everything and finish it. Time was fair to everyone. Their buffs would only last a few more minutes. For the priests, the duration of buffs in Arena was usually 20 minutes, while most of the combat classes had buffs that lasted less than 10 minutes. No, it would be fortunate if it lasted for over five minutes. It was because they didn’t use the buffs often, so the proficiency wasn’t high.

‘Should I use that?’ Rain was distressed for a brief moment as he rushed toward Hyeonu. He still had some unused skills left amongst the ones he’d gained from the East Continent quests and the fourth class advancement. There was only one reason why Rain was troubled.

‘Will it work?’ He didn’t think he could win even if he used the skills. Maybe he would just be showing the identity of his skill if he used it without it properly increasing his power. A number of worries crossed his mind.

‘Still, I will use it.’

If he were afraid of something like this, he wouldn’t have risen to his current position.

‘Essence Absorption!’

Rain used a skill he acquired from the East Continent quest. Essence Absorption was a buff-type skill. It absorbed the magic power from the surrounding area and instantly raised all of his stats. That wasn’t all. It also absorbed the attributes of the surrounding environment. For example, if he used it at a volcano, the user’s attribute would change into the fire attribute. During the time when Essence Absorption was maintained, the absorbed attributes would also be maintained.

The arena was a place without any attributes, but Hyeonu’s and Tang-E’s magic powers were the greatest, so Rain absorbed their two types of attributes.

[Essence Absorption has been used.]

[All stats have increased.]

[Absorbed the surrounding attributes.]

[The absorbed attributes are the darkness and fire attributes.]

‘Huh?’ There were questions in Rain’s expression.

Simultaneously, his movements paused. It was all due to the message that he absorbed two attributes—darkness and fire. Rain had used Essence Absorption dozens or hundreds of times since acquiring it, but there had never been anything like this. He had always obtained one attribute or absorbed nothing at all. This was the first time he had absorbed two.

The moment Rain’s movement paused for a moment, the distance between him and Teika and Gang Junggu widened. This was a big error.

‘This...! It’s a mistake.’

Rain blamed himself as he felt this was a fatal mistake. He didn’t know what would be the result of his pause, but it was entirely his responsibility if there were poor results. Just then, there was an explosion.

Teika had rushed forward with the shape of a blood-colored dragon, only to collapse with a fist-sized hole in his shoulder. Gang Junggu wasn’t fine either. He had been running like a golden flash only to fall to the ground of the arena with a slash across his upper body. The only one left was Rain.

‘I made a gap...’ he thought.

During Kim Seokjung’s fight with Hyeonu, the other three—Rain, Teika, and Gang Junggu—had reached an agreement to do a pincer attack. Teika would be in front, Gang Junggu in the middle, and Rain at the end. However, Rain had stopped for a moment, so the plan amounted to nothing.

Hyeonu seized the opportunity to finish off the other two. Teika could no longer hold his spear, and Gang Junggu could no longer stand; the two of them were out.

Rain looked at Hyeonu. He never thought he would achieve his goal this way when he decided to appear as a guest on the stream. This was finally a one-on-one confrontation with Alley Leader.

‘Maybe the difference is greater than it used to be,’ Rain thought. It felt like the gap between the two of them was even wider than when they met in the arena in the past. Still, Rain had to fight. He couldn’t run away or give up. This was why he came onto this stream.

Rain intended to use the skills he acquired from his fourth class advancement. He didn’t mean to save them or hide them. He wanted to pour out everything at least once.

Rain raised his sword and aimed it at Hyeonu. A dark red dragon appeared behind Rain’s back.

Hyeonu smiled when he saw it. Unbeknownst to him, the black-red bear standing next to Tang-E appeared on Hyeonu’s head. The moment Rain wielded his sword, the dark red dragon flew toward Hyeonu. The magic spirit didn’t stay still either. It ran to face the dragon that was aiming to crush Hyeonu.