Ranker’s Return

‘There is no evidence, no evidence.’ The blue-haired demon, Earl Delrun, looked at Hyeonu and gulped.

In his opinion, he wanted to kill this human right now and go straight to Etono. Their numbers were already enough at present. However, if the emperor had that much power as the human said… it would be impossible for the demon nobles to handle this.

‘Using numbers to push the enemy is just up to the level of a marquis.’

Dukes and demon kings, who were higher than a marquis, weren’t on a level that could be defeated with numbers alone. If the emperor were really as strong as the human had said, that meant he absolutely needed to call Damanos.

They would be no different from moths running into flames otherwise.

‘I will check it one last time.’

Nevertheless, it didn’t matter if the human’s words were false. He had the confidence to kill the human standing before him at any time.

“This time, three people will go together. It will be me, Earl Chrome, and Earl Epox. We will confirm it ourselves,” Earl Delrun stated. Hearing that, a black-haired demon and brown-haired demon nodded and rose from their seats. The black-haired demon was Earl Epox, and the brown-haired demon was Earl Chrome.

“If that human’s words are true... we won’t be able to do it alone. We will have to invite Lord Damanos.”

“Be careful. We can’t be stupid like those dead idiots.”

Earl Epox and Earl Chrome each spoke. In particular, Earl Chrome ridiculed the dead Viscount Marie and Earl Carlsberg. It seemed that they didn’t have a good relationship.

‘Isn’t it going well?’ Hyeonu just listened to the conversation between demons and observed the atmosphere. Things seemed to have worked out. Just then, a quest window appeared in front of Hyeonu.

[A quest has been created.]

[Second Opportunity]

[The first assassination was perfectly successful. You have deceived the demon nobles and received a second chance. Take perfect advantage of this opportunity.

Rating: MS

Conditions: Kill the demon nobles 0/3, don’t be identified 0/1.

Rewards: Experience and class-related skill.]

‘A skill... Good.’

The rewards for this quest were worthy of the main scenario—experience and a class-related skill. In particular, the latter was a huge reward. It meant that a skill he absolutely needed would be released. This rewarded skill was on a totally different level from those that could be obtained randomly from a skill book.

‘For me... anything is good.’

Hyeonu’s class was the Preliminary Commander of the Knights of Keon. It was a melee class that used a large amount of magic power at the same time. So, of course, the class-related skill would be related to magic power.

While Hyeonu was smiling at the quest window, Earl Delrun rose from his seat. Earl Delrun glanced at the nobles around him and ordered, “We won’t depart until I come back.”

None of the demon nobles said anything until Earl Delrun left. They just sat quietly and watched Earl Delrun, only opening their mouths to speak once he was gone.

“Poor fellow...”

“It is crazy to go to Lord Damanos.”

“He has been so scary since a while back.”

“Didn’t you hear? There have been rumors floating around since a few weeks ago that thousands of demons have died at the hands of Lord Damanos.”

The demon nobles felt pity for Earl Delrun. Damanos, the demon king they served, had recently become tyrannical. If they entered Damanos’ sight, they would die. Earl Delrun had to go make a terrible report that two nobles had died in such circumstances, so it wasn’t too much for them to pity him.

‘Damanos?’ Hyeonu, on the other hand, showed interest when he heard the mention of Damanos, the demon king of iron and blood.

‘How can he fight against the emperor?’

Hyeonu had only one wish—that Damanos would die fighting the emperor. It was Hyeonu’s greatest wish and hope that he would be able to play a part in the process of Damanos’ death.

‘No, that is for much later.’

Soon, Hyeonu shook his head from side to side and gave up thinking about Damanos. There was too much left to do before he could aim at Damanos. It would take too much time for that. The right thing for him to do was to concentrate on what was in front of his eyes right now.

“Then what should I do in the meantime?” Hyeonu asked the demon nobles.

“It is up to you. We will depart in 30 days,” one demon noble answered like he found Hyeonu annoying. They didn’t think that Hyeonu would run away or not show up. Hyeonu’s acting worked too well.

“I understand. One month later,” Hyeonu replied. Hyeonu had 30 days of free time, so he immediately left the castle.

‘In the meantime, I should hunt around here.’

Hyeonu decided to fully enjoy this leisurely time. Of course, it wasn’t just playing around. The quest was temporarily paused, so he naturally thought about going hunting.

‘At the very least, I need to get a bit stronger.’

If Hyeonu accumulated a bit more strength, he would be able to show more at Arena Week. The finale would be more glamorous than anyone else’s. He would clearly engrave on the minds of all those who enjoyed Arena exactly how powerful and overwhelming Alley Leader was.

‘I have to hunt around the city as much as possible.’

It was only in this way that he could aim for a possible jackpot. There might be a noble wandering around alone.

‘It will be a bonus, a bonus.’

Hyeonu quickened his pace and left Ainpo.

***

It took over 10 days for the blue-haired demon, Earl Delrun, to arrive in the city where his liege, Damanos, was located. Earl Delrun was so well known that no one stopped him. It was just like when Hyeonu walked around the city. The demons and demonic creatures kept a certain distance from him.

Earl Delrun walked quickly and soon reached the white castle in the middle of the city. The white castle was made from the bones of a demonic creature Damanos had killed.

“Sigh...” Earl Delrun sighed loudly when he arrived at the entrance of the castle. He started preparing his mind there. The earl had to remain in this state until he was in front of Damanos. It was a habit he developed a few weeks ago. Damanos had been in a bad condition since the demon kings got together. Anyone could tell he wasn’t in a sane state. Otherwise, a demon king wouldn’t kill the demons and demonic creatures under him.

‘Reducing his power with his own hands...’

A demon king could be brutal, but that was toward outside forces, not the demons and demonic creatures who served him.

‘I hope nothing happens today...’ Earl Delrun made this small wish as he entered the space where Damanos was.

“Lord Damanos, Earl Delrun has come.” Earl Delrun saw Damanos seated in the dark skeleton chair with his eyes closed. Damanos was silent. He continued to keep his eyes closed without doing anything. Earl Delrun continued to speak, “Viscount Marie and Earl Carlsberg are dead. Earl Carlsberg’s ring was retrieved.”

Damanos’ eyes opened upon hearing the news that the noblemen under him had died.

“Dead? What does that mean? Explain a bit more.” Damanos stared at Earl Delrun, who was speaking nonsense out of the blue.

“A traitor came from the human side in Etono. I wanted to confirm the information I got from him... Then they died.”

“Does that make sense? Now?”

“They went to Etono with the human and were later killed by the human being called ‘the emperor’.”

“Didn’t I tell you to be careful? Did you have to go find him just to die?” Damanos couldn’t restrain the anger in his heart and released his magic power. It was too stupid an act even for stupid people. Just under a month ago, he had personally conveyed the news through Earl Delrun in front of him. “There is a strong person in Etono, so don’t act rashly.”

However, they violated this point, and two nobles died just like that. Damanos muttered, “Obviously. That’s why I gathered 10 people to go with me...”

It was ridiculous. There were limits to what he could endure. Earl Delun saw Damanos’ release of magic power and hurriedly exclaimed, “Lord... Damanos! We also gained something from this. It wasn’t just a loss of lives.”

Nevertheless, the magic power continued to move toward Earl Delrun. He quickly added, “The emperor is much stronger than what you said. Viscount Marie and Earl Carlsberg died in an instant without being able to do anything”

The movement of the magic power stopped. Then Damanos appeared right in front of Earl Delrun, pushing his head forward as he asked, “What? They died at once?”

Earl Delrun stepped back and quickly nodded.

“It wasn’t to that extent though? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have sent all of you.” Damanos was confused. The strength he felt from the emperor had not been of such a high level. If Damanos had known the human was strong enough to destroy two nobles at once, he would not have sent just the nobles under his command. Damanos would’ve moved with them personally.

It was all because of Lebron that things flowed like this. In fact, the owner of the magic power that Damanos felt in Etono was Lebron, not the emperor. Lebron always hid his magic power deeply. It was only when he trained and fought that he revealed his magic power. Damanos had sensed Lebron after he had hidden a large amount of his magic power.

“If this is true... I will have to meet Galiya. In the meantime, don’t take any action and just wait. If you show movement again this time... you will lose everything.” Damanos seemed to think for a moment before he extended his hand out toward Earl Delrun.

It was a gesture to leave quickly.

“I understand. Lord Damanos.” Earl Delrun lowered his head and quickly exited the castle. 

***

Hyeonu’s hunt took place in a forest around four hours from Ainpo. The forest was infested with demonic creatures, but he didn’t see a single demon.

‘Isn’t it just an ordinary forest?’

Hyeonu had fought a few battles already, but he felt the level here wasn’t very good. There were no particularly strong monsters. The average level of the demonic creatures was approximately between the lowest grade and the intermediate grade. He had no problem fighting half a dozen of them at once.

‘Still, the experience is good.’

It wasn’t without advantages though. Hyeonu thought the average level of demonic creatures was ordinary, but from a general standard, this forest was a huge bucket of honey. There were fewer monsters than most hunting spots, and the amount of experience was great compared to the hunting difficulty. His skill proficiency also rose rapidly.

Then while Hyeonu was hunting normally, he received good news.

“Master dude, there is a strange guy here.” Tang-E ran over to Hyeonu, who was sitting on a rock and taking a break.

“Huh? Where?” Hyeonu asked. A strange monster meant something special. Hyeonu quickly rose from the rock while hugging Tang-E.

“That way,” Tang-E said and pointed in a certain direction. Hyeonu turned to look in that direction and found there really was a strange monster there.