Ranker’s Return

There was something Hyeonu had to admit when he arrived in Ainpo, the city that Delrun ruled. It was that Tang-E’s luck and senses were superior to his own.

“This is Ainpo, the city where Earl Delrun rules. Thank you for visiting,” the demon guard said to Hyeonu, who was releasing black-red magic power. Hyeonu nodded silently and passed through the gate by the guard’s side.

‘Earl... Earl...’ Hyeonu ignored the guard and walked in.

Tang-E’s choice was right. Delrun was a viscount on the map, but he had become an earl over the years. Of course, the other two could be earls as well, or maybe even a marquis. Still, that was just a possibility. It wasn’t the reality in front of him. There was also a great possibility that they had stayed as a viscount.

‘Is it best to just find and kill them?’

Hyeonu walked with his head held high. However, his two eyes behind his mask were moving. He watched the scenery carefully, looking at where there were buildings and where there were many demons and demonic creatures. In addition, he noted what their levels were like. Hyeonu was imprinting the information about Ainpo in his mind.

In the noisy streets of Ainpo, voices entered Hyeonu’s ears.

“Is he a noble who came to see Delrun?”

“I guess so. How many have there been already? I think I’ve seen 10 people.”

“Maybe he is the last one. The stronger they are, the slower they act.”

The topic of the demons’ conversation was naturally Hyeonu. He exuded a strong pressure and was seen as a noble in the eyes of the demons. It wasn’t an ordinary strength, so they naturally guessed Hyeonu was a senior noble.

‘Talk more. Give me information.’ Hyeonu slowed down enough so that no one else would notice he was listening to their conversation.

“It’s a war. Where was it? The city with the Colosseum.”

“Etono.”

“Yes, Etono. There are rumors that it is occupied by human beings. Lord Damanos has launched a war in order to recover the city.”

Hyeonu managed to gather enough information.

The information he gained from the streets was a considerable amount like picking up a nugget of gold from the road.

‘At least 10 nobles...’

It was just that the situation wasn’t so good. 10 nobles—it was impossible for Hyeonu to deal with them all at once. It would be fine if they were all barons, but there would be no way to deal with them if two or three viscounts or earls were involved.

‘I have to decrease their number no matter what...’

A breakthrough point was needed at a time like this. He had to kill them one by one while he was alone. Otherwise, he had to kill one or two openly before running away like crazy.

‘Is there any natural way to approach them?’ Hyeonu moved slowly while continuing to worry. No clear solution came to mind. He only thought of conventional methods; there was nothing groundbreaking or effective.

Meanwhile, Hyeonu arrived in front of a tall castle wall. Even then, he had no particular answer. Still, Hyeonu started to climb the castle wall first. He scaled it like he was still walking on the ground.

Just then, a decent plan appeared in Hyeonu’s mind. ‘Should I be a spy?’

It wasn’t a definite solution, but it was an operation worth a try.

‘They don’t know my identity anyway.’

At this thought, a scenario was drawn in Hyeonu’s mind in an instant.

‘I will pretend to be a traitor and approach them. Then kill them one by one.’

There was justification for this plan. The dark magician who appeared in the main scenario in the past—Hyeonu planned to disguise as part of his group. It would also be the reason for him possessing the dark attribute.

‘Good. If it doesn’t work, I can just run away.’

He was wearing a mask, so his identity wouldn’t be exposed. There was enough leeway for him to escape.

‘Yes, I will go with this.’ Hyeonu quickly rushed over the castle wall. He focused his senses and searched for where he felt the most intense magic power.

‘Over here.’ He found it quickly. There was one place that contained overwhelmingly stronger magic power than anywhere else. Hyeonu moved secretly and swiftly toward that small space. There was a large circular table and chairs placed at a certain distance away from each other.

‘One, two, three... There are really 10 people.’

The total number of chairs was 10. There were also 10 demons sitting there.

Hyeonu quietly sneaked in and listened to their conversation.

“When are you going to make a public announcement?”

“I plan to do it in the next week or so. It will work if we gather them together in a month.”

“Gather them hard. In any case, ones of that level will be restored in a year.”

The nobles were talking with calm expressions on their faces.

They spoke as if it wasn’t them but other people fighting in the war.

‘Sure enough, they all think the same.’ Hyeonu knew what they meant. They were talking about the lowest level demons and demonic creatures who were able to use their power as soon as they were born and reproduced very quickly. In the first place, their population number was too high. So the nobles planned to use the lowest ranking demons and demonic creatures as soldiers to push Etono away.

‘Without the emperor or Lebron present... it is a strategy that might’ve worked.’

The nobles didn’t know how monstrous the emperor and Lebron were. The two people were like demon kings. Numbers were meaningless in front of them; it was the quality that mattered. Indeed, the saying of ‘quality over quantity’ applied to them.

Hyeonu sneaked into the nobles’ space. In the meantime, he had used Mysterious Sky Steps to hide his presence as much as possible. They could see but not feel him. He was like a ghost.

“How are you all?” Hyeonu bowed like a clown in the circle and greeted the demons. The demons looked confusedly at Hyeonu who had suddenly appeared. It was the opposite of their expressions thus far. They were about to jump out of their seats to rush at him.

“Who is it?!”

“How did you get in here?!”

“Kill him first!”

“It isn’t too late to act after knowing his identity.”

Some of the nobles shouted about wanting to kill him while others stopped them.

“I am a human,” Hyeonu started to speak calmly to the nobles.

“Look, it’s a human. Just kill him.”

“Stupid, think about it. Why would a human come here? Does he want to build a grave here? He is here because he wants something.”

Hyeonu’s words identifying himself as a human created a fuss among the nobles. However, a few nobles stopped the movements of the others and tried to figure out the situation first.

Hyeonu smiled at the demons’ reactions. It was an expression that he could make because his face was covered with a mask. “I want to get revenge on humans.”

“Revenge?”

“Did something happen?”

The word ‘revenge’ changed the gazes of the nobles as feelings of curiosity rose within them. Revenge was one of the demons’ favorite stories.

“My master was a black magician—an ordinary black magician who summoned the demons of the demon world to obtain their magic power and do research with it. Then one day, the empire found my master and killed him. They said it was for treason, but my master didn’t have the ability or courage for that.” Hyeonu made up a scenario that didn’t exist. It was easy to create a mournful feeling because there was actually a similar example.

‘What was the name...? Pepe?’ It had been a long time ago. Hyeonu didn’t remember it properly, but it had definitely happened.

“It’s a conspiracy.”

“They used that method because they couldn’t push him with force.”

The nobles added their words.

Hyeonu responded easily, “That’s right. It was a conspiracy. The fellow black magicians who were jealous of him sold him to the empire.”

He became agitated as he continued. The story stimulated him, and he added and adapted things he hadn’t planned beforehand. The result was pretty good.

“Thus, I made up my mind. I decided to get revenge. I accidentally learned something close to taboo magic, but I couldn't do anything with it. The empire was too strong. I have been looking for opportunities ever since. Then I heard that the empire is at war with the demon world.” Hyeonu pretended to hold his breath for a moment but opened his mouth again after a second. “So... I would appreciate it if you let me join the war.”

Upon hearing Hyeonu’s words, the expressions of the nobles became strange. They were worried about whether to accept Hyeonu’s proposal or not.

“That human’s power is too strong to ignore. He will obviously be helpful in the war.”

There was only one reason for their worries. The moment Hyeonu appeared, they could tell that Hyeonu was definitely strong. None of the 10 nobles here had noticed Hyeonu’s presence until he revealed it.

“Should we believe him and accept? Is there any evidence that the human’s words are true? What if it is the humans’ ploy?”

This was the problem. Hyeonu’s strength was definitely fascinating, but they couldn’t trust him because his story wasn’t verified.

“However, his magic is the dark attribute. I think it is true that he is the disciple of a black magician,” one of the nobles said. Judging from Hyeonu’s perceived power, he definitely had magic power of the dark attribute. The demon world knew that the rarest attribute in the middle world was the dark attribute. They had records of this that had been accumulated over a long period of time.

‘They aren’t believing it?’ Hyeonu listened to the conversation of the demon nobles and thought he might have to prepare to flee. He turned his eyes to the surrounding terrain to determine an escape route.

Right at this moment, one of the demon nobles gave a slightly positive answer to Hyeonu: “Then why don’t we test him?”

“Yes, that will do.”

“What test should we give?”

The nobles spoke again. Now the topic was a test for Hyeonu. This conversation quickly came to an end.

“Why don’t we ask about something relating to Etono? We already know things about it and can compare it.”

“If you are anxious, why don’t we let him kill a few humans?”

“Yes, that is enough.”

Due to the words of that noble, everything was cleared up, and a test was set for Hyeonu. The noble asked, “In order to prove that your words are true, two rites of passage are needed. Would you like to take the test?” 

“Of course, I will accept it. I will do anything for revenge,” Hyeonu answered. A dark red light flowed from the eyeholes of his mask. It was such an intense look that it made it seem like he was crazy for revenge. Behind the mask, Hyeonu’s smile was wider than ever.