Ranker’s Return

[Would you like to enter the Altar Where Chaos is Sealed?]

The entrance was that of an ordinary cave, but the interior of the dungeon was a vast area of plains. It wasn’t much different from any other field in the demon world. There was a dark blue sky, and dark green grasses grew. It was a place full of dark brown trees with dark green leaves. This was the landscape of the instance dungeon, Altar Where Chaos is Sealed.

Hyeonu looked around carefully. Instance dungeons that he didn’t have any information on were dangerous as he didn’t know what type of monster would emerge.

‘I can’t think of anything because the terrain is very normal.’

In addition, this instance dungeon didn’t have a particular environment; it was just ordinary.

“Tang-E, be careful. I don’t know what will pop out or from where,” Hyeonu warned Tang-E and then jumped up.

Blue wings appeared on Hyeonu’s back as he rose high into the sky. This was the performance of the skill attached to the Blood-stained Night that he was wearing. Hyeonu glided leisurely in the sky and observed the surrounding landscape.

‘There aren’t many trees.’

The instance dungeon was flatter than he thought. There was nothing big, so the horizon was visible.

‘I can’t see any monsters.’

Hyeonu came back down to the ground and touched his chin pensively. He couldn’t get a sense of it.

‘I have no choice but to explore it with my body.’

There was only one solution—bump into it with his body.

***

Hyeonu started to move with Tang-E on his back. He walked thoughtlessly because he couldn’t see anything. Nevertheless, he took the minimum of caution. Hyeonu smashed all the trees that he passed by, making a mark to show the path he was taking.

‘Huh?’ He had been advancing like that for a long time before he abruptly stopped walking.

‘It feels a bit chilly.’

Hyeonu lifted his right arm and placed it on the handle of the sword. Then just as he slowly started moving again, cracks appeared under his feet. The ground was broken, and something huge soared up from it.

Hyeonu stepped onto the rising thing and leaped high into the sky before immediately swinging the Mysterious Sky Sword. Dozens of black-red pure energies poured toward the ground and swept through the creature that had emerged from the ground.

‘Um...’ Hyeonu stepped back with a stiff expression. There was no message informing him of the monster’s death. In other words, the other party was fine even after being hit by Mysterious Sky Range.

Clack clack clack clack! There was the sound of things bumping into each other. The dust soon settled, revealing the source of the sound.

“They are bones, Master dude. Moving bones.”

The thing that had risen from the ground was actually a set of bones, often referred to as a skeleton. Many of these white skeletons, which didn’t match the dark blue world, had emerged from the ground.

‘How did they survive Mysterious Sky Range?’ Hyeonu cocked his head at the skeletons. He didn’t understand how the skeletons survived his attack. Although he hadn’t used that much magic power, it would still be enough to kill some demonic creatures or demons at once. It wasn’t a level of damage that skeletons could endure.

The mystery was soon unraveled.

Clack clack clack! When the skeletons in the front hit their teeth together, dark blue energy rose from the ground.

Clack clack clack! The skeletons hit their teeth together again, and the rising energy took form as weapons and armor. The skeletons, which only had slender bones, started to equip themselves with the dark blue bone armor and bone weapons.

‘That’s what stopped it.’

The dark blue energy the skeletons called out must’ve blocked Mysterious Sky Range.

“Tang-E, give me the buffs, then support me from behind with magic.” Hyeonu ran forward while holding the Mysterious Sky Sword. At the same time, black-red threads poured out from behind Hyeonu. Each thread was connected to one skeleton.

[The Fuca spartoi has received the abnormal condition ‘slowed down.’] [1]

‘Spartoi? Is the sealed chaos a dragon?’ Hyeonu looked flustered. The spartoi were undead made from dragon teeth. In other words, the master of this instance dungeon was a dragon—to be exact, a sealed dragon with the modifier of ‘chaos’.

‘Can I clear it? I’ll run away as soon as I increase the proficiency of the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.’

Hyeonu didn’t have the confidence to clear the dungeon. Regardless of whether the dragon was sealed, a dragon was still too much.

‘How many times more powerful than a hatchling would it be?’

Nevertheless, Hyeonu’s worry about the boss monster only lasted up to there as he had to deal with the spartoi in front of him right away.

[You have received Bear’s Momentum.]

[Physique has increased.]

[Strength has increased.]

[You have received the Forest’s Blessing.]

[Defense has increased.]

[Health will continue to recover.]

[You have received Breath of the Wind.]

[Your agility has risen.]

[Your movement speed has increased.]

Three-colored lights, Tang-E’s buffs, entered Hyeonu’s body. That was when Hyeonu’s movements changed in an instant; he moved more linearly now. The sword of a spartoi and Hyeonu’s Mysterious Sky Sword collided. In the first collision, the tip of Heonu’s sword was a bit ahead of his opponent’s. As he continued to advance, the spartoi stepped back.

Hyeonu quickly wielded the Mysterious Sky Sword again to deal a follow-up blow at the spartoi, but the sword of another spartoi blocked Hyeonu’s way. When Hyeonu and the spartoi were competing with each other, another spartoi squeezed in and swung the sword.

Hyeonu avoided the attack by moving backward. Then he lowered his sword and slashed horizontally. A huge black-red crescent moon appeared in the space where the Mysterious Sky Sword passed through. The giant crescent moon flew toward the three spartoi standing in front of Hyeonu.

Simultaneously, the spartoi extended their swords at Hyeonu’s incoming pure energy. Their swords emitted a purple pure energy, but it was of no use. Crescent Moon Cut had reached the A-rating as a skill and contained a terrible power. It completely smashed through the pure energy of the spartoi.

In the end, all three spartoi were hit. The black-red pure energy pierceed through the bodies of the three spartoi, cracking their armor bit by bit. These spartoi who had been suspended in flight for a long time wouldn’t be able to stop flying until the other spartoi stopped Hyeonu’s pure energy.

Clack clack clack! One of the three struck spartoi hit its teeth together while looking at Hyeonu. At that moment, the dark blue sky turned white, and a huge beam of light fell directly onto the spartoi’s heads. It was Tang-E’s Lightning.

“Oh! Good.” Hyeonu admired the current appearance of the spartoi. Tang-E’s magic came at a very appropriate time. All the armor covering the spartoi’s bodies had completely disappeared.

‘They consumed magic power to block Tang-E’s attack.’

It wasn’t too difficult to deal with skeletons who weren’t wearing anything. Hyeonu once again ran toward the spartoi. The spartoi also aimed their fists at Hyeonu. However, Hyeonu wasn’t just going to accept that. He avoided the fists of the spartoi and struck the spartoi’s bones. Hyeonu struck them fairly, giving one blow per spartoi.

The spartoi started to pile up in one place. Once all the spartoi were gathered, Hyeonu held the Mysterious Sky Sword in reverse and inserted it into the ground. A huge sword more than a dozen meters long appeared in the air and plummeted at a high speed, pressing down on the spartoi.

[The Fuca spartoi has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The Fuca spartoi has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The Fuca spartoi has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The Fuca spartoi has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The Fuca spartoi has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

Hyeonu looked at his rapidly rising experience and smiled happily. Then he opened the skill window to confirm the proficiency of the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.

The increase was like the size of an ant, but the proficiency bar had risen nonetheless.

‘It is a great amount of experience.’

He was very satisfied with it. Based on this amount, he would be able to see the next stage of the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art before tomorrow.

‘The dungeon doesn’t look too narrow...’

From above, the instance dungeon had seemed very wide. The horizon was visible, so that meant he could hunt for a day or so.

‘As long as the boss monster doesn’t appear in the middle...’

“It doesn’t matter much to me.”

Hyeonu was confident now, unlike before the battle. It was only after the battle that he recalled the words that Callioraks the dragon had used to introduce himself not long ago.

‘The only dragon in the demon world, Callioraks.’

Callioraks was the only dragon in the demon world.

‘I don’t know what he is looking for, but if it is indeed a dragon sealed in the altar...’

That meant Callioraks would naturally appear. After that, Hyeonu just had to watch and receive Callioraks’ reward.

‘If it is a reward from such a monster, it doesn’t matter if I have to delay reaching 9 stars for the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.’

Anything was good as long as he got stronger. Currently, Hyeonu’s quickest way to become stronger was to increase the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art, but he wouldn’t risk his life for it. It was like how it didn’t matter to him if he took a plane, bus, or train to Seoul. The only thing that mattered was that he would arrive there.

‘I just have to get there.’

***

During the time when Hyeonu was hunting blindly, there were people who were as busy as him. In the top floor suite of the hotel where Hyeonu was staying, three men were sitting at a table.

“You’re from his management company, and you didn’t know anything? Is video editing and channel management your only work?” Kim Seokjung, the man sitting at the head of the table, gulped down the whiskey in the cup at once.

He was in a bad mood. This was the worst. Kim Seokjung never imagined that Hyeonu, his little brother, would have ever been in such dire straits. It was because Hyeonu was always smiling. The first time they met, Hyeonu’s streaming had already been on track to some extent, so there naturally seemed to be no financial shortfall.

“We only knew there was a debt. We didn’t know there was such a bad situation.” Kale pulled out some papers from his bag and placed them in front of Kim Seokjung.

Kim Seokjung received the paper and roughly read what was written on it. The paper stated everything about Hyeonu’s family. The source of the information on the paper was Moon Doyeong, who had been watching Arena Week with Kale and Jamie. He had once been Hyeonu’s creditor, so he naturally knew about Hyeonu’s personal history. When he saw Hyeonu’s interview after the PvP game with Jung Hanbaek, Moon Doyeong inadvertently told Hyeonu’s story to Kale and Jamie. The story was then passed on to Kim Seokjung, which was why they were meeting here.

Kim Seokjung read all the details and said, “My dongsaeng is too nice, but I can’t let it go.” 

He grabbed a whiskey bottle and filled his cup again. Kim Seokjung’s eyes were cold.

1. Spartoi = In Greek mythology, a mythical people who sprang up from dragon’s teeth