Ranker’s Return

It was shameful for a demon king to kneel to a human. In fact, it was shameful for one party to kneel to the other in human relations, let alone between a demon and human.

‘Truly a monster... He beat a demon king like that.’ Hyeonu couldn’t speak upon seeing the shocking scene that unfolded before him. Before the emperor, a demon king was the same as everyone else. Rubolle, who died at the hands of John Blake, had only managed to fight with John Blake for a while with the help of the magic power stone.

‘Even if he didn’t get the help of the magic power stone, does it make sense for him to be defeated so overwhelmingly?’

Nevertheless, it was illogical that a demon king was defeated in such a futile manner.

‘This isn’t the time for this.’ Hyeonu shook his head. It had nothing to do with him regardless of whether Damanos was kneeling. For Hyeonu, it was more important to fight Galiya in front of him.

‘...No? If I stop Galiya here....'

If the emperor killed Damanos now, Hyeonu wouldn’t be able to get the rewards from Damanos.

‘What should I do?’

Hyeonu was troubled for a moment. It was a fleeting moment, but many situations appeared and disappeared in his mind. At the end of his brief worries, Hyeonu blocked Galiya’s way again.

“Where are you going again? Your opponent is me,” Hyeonu provoked Galiya. It was a provocation that made use of Galiya’s impatience to get to Damanos. At the same time, the magic spirit sitting behind Hyeonu started to move. It created a small bead at its paw. The bead emitted a very thin thread-like ray of light, and the presence of this light was very weak. It was hard to notice it unless one was looking at the magic spirit at the very moment.

The faint light was shot at Damanos, who wasn’t fully conscious in front of the emperor. It shot like a ray of light and quickly pierced Damanos’ forehead.

A demon king’s body was solid because an enormous amount of magic power that was close to infinite was always protecting the body. However, if he was in a state where he couldn’t move his magic power like normal, he was no different from an ordinary demon. It meant he wasn’t as durable as usual.

Damanos fell down with his blood splashing up, but the emperor showed no reaction to it. The emperor just used magic power to prevent the blood from getting on him. Before this happened, the emperor had already felt Hyeonu moving. The movement of the magic spirit was the movement of magic power; the magic spirit itself was a cohesion of magic power. Therefore, it was difficult for the magic spirit’s stealthy actions to escape from the emperor’s senses.

However, Damanos didn’t die even when his forehead was pierced. He survived as tenaciously as a bug.

“Hah~ Your desire to survive is great. But... your fate won’t change.” The emperor gently flicked his fingers.

“Keok!” Blood poured from Damanos’ mouth. As Damanos lay collapsed on the ground, he grabbed his chest and trembled. Then he stopped moving. His heart burst, and he died. The emperor smiled coldly at the corpse of Damanos.

[Damanos, the demon king of iron and blood, 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.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

Hyeonu gained five levels. He gained an absurdly large amount of experience compared to when Rubolle was killed. Moreover, Hyeonu was currently of a higher level than he was back then. Nevertheless, he gained four more levels than at that time.

‘This is the effect of dealing a blow properly.’

In both battles, he’d used buffs and dealt a blow, but the difference this time was that the blow he dealt caused a critical injury. One blow made such a difference. After the level up message, all types of message windows appeared in front of Hyeonu, but he had no time to look at them. Galiya was rushing at him agitatedly. “Human!!” 

Galiya was different from before. He had transformed and looked like a completely different individual. Unlike his human form before, his body was now two or three times larger and completely covered with a dark blue thing. It was really unpleasant to look at. In short, it was a terrible appearance.

‘It is a hybrid, a hybrid.’

Hyeonu looked at Galiya and frowned. At the same time, he used Mysterious Sky Steps as much as possible because Galiya had just appeared right before him. Galiya stretched out his fist. Simultaneously, the space was torn apart, and a roar broke out. A burst of air was created in the direction Galiya’s fist thrust toward. Upon seeing that, Hyeonu sighed with a frightened look on his face. He would’ve died instantly if he were hit by such an attack.

‘Should I focus on evasion rather than attacking?’ Hyeonu didn’t have the courage to face such an attack.

Galiya’s attacks continued. They contained a huge amount of power, but the essence of the repeated attack was just a punch. The technique wasn’t great enough to create large gaps in Hyeonu’s defense. The black tentacles extending out from Galiya’s back approached Hyeonu at a fast speed. They cut through the air lightly, accompanied by a thunderous sound. 

Hyeonu observed the flying tentacles closely and used Mysterious Sky Steps again. This time, he moved within a shorter radius than before. Every time he moved, the black tentacles hit the spot he’d just left. Hyeonu narrowly dodged the attacks like that. It was death for him if his eyes missed the movements of the tentacles for even a moment. He felt like he was walking on the edge of a cliff.

These attacks continued for a long time, and Hyeonu was able to get used to Galiya’s mode of attack.

‘Left, left, below, right.’

The attack speed was very fast, but that didn’t mean it was invisible. It gave off an intense energy, and this alone made it possible to predict the attack. Then a thought passed through Hyeonu’s mind, ‘Why isn’t the emperor helping me?’

It was close to the five minutes he had mentioned. Hyeonu’s concentration scattered for a moment. He had been avoiding Galiya’s attacks well, only to stop suddenly. Galiya didn’t miss this short gap.

Hundreds of tentacles surrounded Hyeonu. It looked like a cage made of tentacles. The tentacles quickly trapped Hyeonu, leaving him no way out of the cage. It could’ve been avoided if he were wearing the Blink of the Great Canyon Wind leather armor set he’d worn in the past. However, he was currently wearing the Tyrant Caruso set, which didn’t have the Blink skill. The flustered Hyeonu launched attacks on the black tentacles, but they refused to budge.

‘I was crazy to think about something else...’

There was no point in blaming himself now. He was on the verge of being forcibly logged out. Right then, the black cage trapping Hyeonu suddenly disappeared.

“Losing focus before the battle is over... You still have many aspects that are lacking, Marquis.” The emperor was grabbing Galiya’s neck.

“Why don’t you follow your friend?” the emperor uttered cruel words as if nothing had happened. He had a very strange appearance. Unlike his bleak words, the emperor had a very calm expression. Galiya struggled without being able to say anything. At some point, Galiya had returned to his human form, and there were no longer any black tentacles or air currents present.

“The seemingly useless secret technique of the ancient empire ended up being used like this,” the emperor muttered to himself. No, he was talking to himself in quite a loud voice. Everyone around him could hear it. Hyeonu was the only one around though.

‘The secret technique of the ancient empire? Is it a good skill to deal with the demons?’ Hyeonu fell into a train of thought after hearing the emperor’s words. This was the same ancient empire, Luos, that a single mention of had provoked the demon kings.

‘I know it fought a war against the divine world and demon world.’

Hyeonu made up his mind to ask the emperor for the secret technique after the battle. This would make fighting in the demon world a bit easier.

‘If it also works in the divine world... it will be good.’

If the effect of the secret technique were applied to races other than the demon race, it might be a huge skill that surpassed even the level of a jackpot. The emperor and Hyeonu were standing there when another guest arrived.

“What are you doing? One person dying is fine, but if two die here... the damage here is too great,” a male voice rang out from the back of a huge tortoise.

‘Baler!’ Hyeonu thought.

He quickly approached the emperor’s side and told him, “Your Majesty, the owner of that voice is the number one demon king in the demon world, Baler. He is on a totally different level of strength from the other demon kings.” 

Baler—he had appeared in Etono to save Galiya.

“Really? A totally different level?” The emperor’s eyes were just about to become languid again, but now they filled with liveliness once again.

Hyeonu sensed that and spoke urgently, “Now isn’t the time, Your Majesty. There will be a chance in the future. Do it when Duke Lebron comes back.”

He stopped the emperor. No one could guarantee who would emerge as victor in a battle between the emperor and Baler. Things would become strange if the emperor were defeated, so Lebron was necessary in order to prevent that. If the two people were together, they wouldn’t be defeated by Baler.

“Today... I will bear it. How annoying.” The emperor threw Galiya to the ground and turned to walk back to Etono. He moved slowly. It seemed he wasn’t in a hurry at all. The emperor walked as if there was no one behind him.

On the ground, Baler shook his head with a startled appearance. “He is really bold. Is he another of John’s disciples? They are a crazy pair of master and disciple.”

He was dumbfounded. From the master to the disciples, there was no one who wasn’t a monster.

“Even the adventurer doesn’t make sense...” Baler murmured. Baler had appeared in Etono when Hyeonu was fighting Galiya in earnest. He expressed his disbelief upon seeing Hyeonu’s remarkable growth. It made no sense that Hyeonu had managed to grow so much in just a few months.

At this moment, Baler went over to Hyeonu and apologized, “This was unexpected. It is my mistake. I didn’t think Damanos would persuade Galiya to come to Etono. I’m sorry.”

In the case of the war agreement with a limited battlefield, Baler had promised to stop the movements of the demon kings. So it was entirely his fault for failing to keep that promise.

“No, Baler. You are a busy person. It’s not possible for everything to go according to your will,” Hyeonu said in a subtle tone. He didn’t know if he was accepting Baler’s apology or blaming him.

After hearing this, Baler’s expression changed, and he approached Hyeonu slowly.