Ranker’s Return

The black-red flames spread quickly all over the darkness bognet, instantly burning up its entire body.

[The darkness bognet has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

Hyeonu watched the last darkness bognet disappear and sighed. His face was full of annoyance.

‘What type of dungeon is this?’

The instance dungeon, the Secret Garden of the Rollan Forest, only contained a one-way path. If it were just this, it would obviously be good news. Yet what if the path were endless? What if the surrounding landscape were to continue on unchanged?

If a similar scene kept repeating, wasn’t it like wandering around in the same spot? It would be terribly torturous, and that torture was a reality Hyeonu was currently experiencing.

“Tang-E, is there nothing different this time?” Hyeonu continued to look around after the battle. He pressed on the towering walls and observed the ground carefully. It was an expression of his willingness to look for any potential hidden passages.

“I can’t find anything, Master dude. There’s nothing. It’s just stone walls and stone floors.”

However, such attempts always had the same result. No matter what they did, they were still stuck there. Hyeonu felt so frustrated that he climbed up a stone wall.

‘It’s worth having a look.’

Hyeonu climbed for a long while and reached the top of the stone wall. In accordance with common sense, he should be able to look down on the surrounding scenery if the walls were of the same height. However, Hyeonu was on the lowest wall, so he couldn’t see anything around him. He repeated the stone climbing a few times, but the result was the same every time. The wall he climbed always turned out to be the lowest. Now, Hyeonu understood that it was simply impossible for him to see the surrounding landscape no matter how much he climbed the stone wall.

“I think we just have to keep fighting and going forward, Master dude. There is no other way.” Tang-E also noticed that there was no other route they could take. It was already their 10th time in this space. The number of darkness bognets they had killed so far was over 100. He didn’t know how many monsters they would kill in the future, but at this level, he thought they should give up and stick to the standard moves.

“Is that so?” Hyeonu felt the same way. By this point, he had to give up hoping for good luck. Hyeonu picked up the gold coins that had fallen to the ground and quickened his pace. While sitting on Hyeonu’s shoulder, Tang-E carefully observed the surrounding terrain. He wasn’t necessarily trying to find anything though. It was just to guard against the darkness bognets.

“I think it is better to just run and kill them the moment they come out,” Tang-E whispered in Hyeonu’s ear. Hyeonu took action the moment he heard Tang-E speak. His walking speed increased to the level of running in a 100-meter dash. This change in speed caused an effect to surface immediately.

The darkness bognets popped out from all directions.

“Kieeeeek!”

They sprang out and attacked Hyeonu. In turn, Hyeonu used Mysterious Sky Steps to avoid the attacks of the darkness bognets. They lunged with their forelegs and opened their mouths at him. Hyeonu evaded all these attacks with unusual movements. Simultaneously, his movements became much faster. This was a speed that the darkness bognets were barely capable of following.

“It is a chase-hunt, Master dude!” Tang-E exclaimed as he watched the darkness bognets frantically pursuing from being.

“Yes, it is a chase-hunt. Prepare your ice magic. Freeze them like you did before. I’ll do the finishing blow,” Hyeonu replied. He increased his speed one step further and used Mysterious Sky Steps without sparing his magic power. Every 200 to 300 meters, another five or six darkness bognets attached to Hyeonu’s tail.

Hyeonu kept running. He only stopped when around half his magic power was consumed. Then he gradually reduced his speed. 

“Tang-E, now!” The moment Hyeonu shouted, Tang-E stepped on Hyeonu’s shoulder and jumped into the air.

“Understood, Master dude!” Tang-E held a golden Heart between his paws. He was thinking of using ice magic to Hyeonu’s benefit just like in the first battle. There was just one more preliminary course before that. A huge wall of fire blocked the road ahead. The darkness bognets saw the wall of blazing flames and instinctively tried to stop. However, they were moving too fast, and the distance they needed to gradually slow their run was quite long.

“Kieeeek!” As a result, the dozens of darkness bognets running at the front directly hit the wall of fire. What passed through the wall of fire and remained weren’t the darkness bognets but ashes.

“Kieeeeeek!”

“Kiek!”

“Kieeeeeeek!”

The remaining darkness bognets stood in front of the wall of fire and cried out. Tang-E couldn’t tell from the cries how many remained, but he felt it was a good time to withdraw the magic power that formed the wall of fire. Once the wall of fire disappeared, the darkness bognets immediately went on a rampage and reached Hyeonu and Tang-E in an instant. Seeing this scene, Tang-E laughed. “Dumb guys. They just don’t think.”

He didn’t look panicked at all. The Heart in his hands emitted a golden light, and Tang-E’s surroundings quickly started to freeze. The darkness bognets were no different. As they flew, they became frozen white.

‘Now he’s thinking.’ Hyeonu smiled while watching Tang-E’s series of actions. Tang-E was growing really well. He was experiencing rapid progress, with constant progression. His growth wasn’t lacking in anything.

“Now I’ll clean it up, Tang-E.” Hyeonu injected all his remaining magic power into the Mysterious Sky Sword and stabbed it directly into the ground. At that moment, a giant sword started to descend from the sky. The huge sword, which was over a few dozen meters long, fell right over the immobile darkness bognets and went through the ground. Half of the huge sword had disappeared, showing how deep it was lodged.

[The darkness bognet has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The darkness bognet has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The darkness bognet has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The darkness bognet has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The darkness bognet has been defeated.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

In front of Hyeonu, there were endless messages informing him that the darkness bognets had died. Many darkness bognets were wiped out from that single attack of Hyeonu’s. It was that powerful. Summon a Giant Sword had reached the B-level proficiency and now contained a great power. Originally, it would’ve been impossible to eliminate so many dark bognets at once, but it was possible with the help of Tang-E’s ice magic.

“Tang-E, let’s take a break. It’s been rough.” Hyeonu waved toward Tang-E. Hyeonu was mentally exhausted from the hunt that had lasted for hours. His physique and magic power were full, but he didn’t want to move. Sitting with his back to a wall, Hyeonu took out some branches and a smooth stone plate from his inventory.

“Are you eating meat, Master dude?” Tang-E, who had been focused on picking up the gold coins from the ground, saw Hyeonu take out the branches from his inventory and quickly stopped what he was doing to run to Hyeonu.

“Rest. You have worked so hard. You should rest now,” Hyeonu said.

While speaking, he placed his hands on the branches and injected a weak amount of magic power into them. The black-red flames that bloomed from Hyeonu’s hand quickly moved to the branches. Seeing this, Hyeonu pulled something else out of his inventory. It was meat that boasted a clear red color.

“Meat, meat! Meat!!” Tang-E screamed when he saw the meat that Hyeonu had pulled out. He had already forgotten that they were inside the dungeon.

“Shh! Let’s be quiet, Tang-E.” Hyeonu restrained such a Tang-E. Even though they had cleared all the monsters around them, they were still in a dungeon. It wouldn’t be strange if monsters suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

“Understood, Master dude.” Tang-E’s excitement subsided slightly as he stared at the meat with intense eyes.

“This isn’t normal beef. It is high-quality beef that is only given to the imperial family and some nobles,” Hyeonu said while pointing at the meat he had pulled out. It was true. This beautifully red beef was meat that Hyeonu had received after giving Lebron alcohol.

“Is that so? It’s no wonder why I feel it’s different just from the smell.” Tang-E swallowed his saliva. The meat was still raw, but it looked very delicious despite being a lean cut of beef.

“Wait a minute. I’ll cook it right now.” Hyeonu was planning to show his skills properly for the first time in a long while.

‘I have to show it properly.’

Hyeonu had something to believe in... He had a skill that had reached the E-level.

[Cooking Skills of the King of Survival]

[The survival cooking skills of the survival kings, Van and Greens. As long as you have these skills, you can even survive in the polar regions.

Type: Continuous

Rating: Unique

Skill Proficiency: E.

The taste of any dishes you make will improve. The dishes you make will look delicious.]

‘There are plenty of ingredients today.’

Hyeonu had prepared only high-quality things, ranging from basic oils to spices such as salt and pepper.

“Look, Tang-E. You have to do this in the future. Don’t just eat plain barbecue every day.” He sprinkled a special oil he’d obtained from the East Continent onto the stone plate. This oil came from the best restaurant in Buncheonru and was made with mushrooms. It was extremely expensive, with a higher value than gold of the same weight. However, Hyeonu had obtained it free of charge using the permission he’d obtained from clearing the main scenario of the East Continent.

The oil started to splatter the moment it touched the stone plate. Upon seeing that, Hyeonu carefully placed the meat on the stone plate, and the smell of oil filled the space.

“This is salt, and this is pepper. They are spices that enhance the taste of the meat. I’ll use everything.” Hyeonu started pouring various spices on the scarlet meat that was cooking rapidly. From a certain point of view, it might appear like he sprinkled too much.

“It seems to be a lot, but it absolutely isn’t. It is because these things aren’t strong in flavor,” Hyeonu explained while cooking the meat.

“Wow!” Tang-E exclaimed as Hyeonu turned the meat over. The dark brown meat looked so delicious.

Hyeonu glanced at Tang-E and said firmly, “Endure it a bit more. I need to cook the meat a bit longer.”

It was clear that Tang-E would definitely ask about it even if Hyeonu didn’t say this.

“Understood, Master dude. I will endure it.” Tang-E knew he had to put up with it now. He knew he would be able to eat more delicious meat if he waited. After a long while, the steak was finally done. Hyeonu pulled out a knife and started cutting the meat. There was no need for a fork. The meat would be cut automatically as long as he cut it with a knife, and it wasn’t messed up at all.

“Now, come and eat.” Hyeonu handed a fork and plate to Tang-E.

Just then, a voice of someone other than Tang-E rang out, “That... It smells so good.”

Hyeonu’s arm that was extending toward Tang-E suddenly stopped moving.