Ranker’s Return

The teams that participated in Arena Week contained the most outstanding players among existing Arena players. They were the best of the best, yet these people were now very baffled for many reasons.

The first was the black air currents that hit them. The moment the black air currents appeared, there were messages saying an environment the same as the demon world’s had been established and that their stats had decreased. Next up were the NPC soldiers in black armor. The NPCs of Crescent Moon were too strong. They were extremely different from the soldiers of the offensive teams.

“The NPCs are stronger than I thought. We have to sort things out step by step,” Mascherano told his teammates. The NPCs were simply too powerful. Mascherano wondered what the secret was for getting such strong NPCs. In the end, Crescent Moon’s NPCs won a landslide victory over the opposing NPC soldiers. After one or two engagements, only the NPCs in black armor of Crescent Moon remained.

“Won’t it take too much time if we save our magic power here?”

The NPCs of Crescent Moon had completely outnumbered and overwhelmed the other teams’ NPCs. It was impossible for the offensive players to handle them without consuming their magic power.

“Then we’ll have to pour out our magic power here. There are only a few people who can fight Alley Leader anyway,” another Red Bull America player told Mascherano. Now someone had to pour out all of their magic power to defeat the NPCs. It was best for the people who were less helpful in the fight against Alley Leader to use their magic power here.

This situation wasn’t limited to just Red Bull America; all the offensive teams in the siege were making the same choice and had players who used all of their magic power. However, the battle didn’t flow in favor of the attacking side because the Crescent Moon players had entered the battlefield.

As always, it began with Sunny’s undead. In particular, her death knights performed well. They led the NPCs on the battlefield like the latter were their subordinates. The death knights were strengthened by the buff of the magic circle and reached the same level of attack as that of pro gamers.

Luke’s sword and a death knight’s sword collided. Luke of Manchester showed a perplexed expression as there was a very strong death knight in front of him.

‘Maybe it is because my stats are lowered, but it feels like I’m not dealing any damage...’

On the contrary, he didn't know what buffs the death knights were receiving, but they kept regaining health. Still, it was only one death knight, and Luke would be able to defeat it easily. The problem was the NPC soldiers. He couldn’t ignore their occasional attacks. Wrapped in a dark light, their swords seemed dangerous at first sight.

‘It isn’t balanced at all.’

The gap in basic power was too severe; they were more like knights than soldiers. There was no way they were ordinary soldiers. Eventually, Luke used his favorite skills. Blue pure energy poured out of his sword and attacked the death knight and its surroundings.

A series of explosions occurred, and dust rose from the ground. At the same time, blood burst out from everywhere. The soldiers disappeared without a trace; not even their bodies could be found. However, there was a person in black still standing in the middle of it all—the death knight riding the skeleton horse. The death knight was fine as there was a translucent black membrane in front of it.

‘It’s annoying...’ Luke pulled out his sword and fired it at the death knight.

The moment the death knight saw Luke running, it squeezed the skeleton horse’s sides with its legs. As the skeleton horse charged toward Luke, his sword left a blue trajectory in the air. The death knight also swung a black sword as if to say it wouldn’t just stand by and watch. When Luke’s sword and the death knight’s sword collided, a rough wave of magic power flooded out around the two of them. It was such a strong vibration that those fighting nearby stopped for a moment.

However, the parties in question exchanged blows as if nothing had happened. Just then, a variable emerged in the tight battle. A golden bear had suddenly appeared and was sitting on the death knight’s head.

“This is a gift, human.” The golden bear, Tang-E, placed three buffs on the death knight before disappearing again. It went without saying that Luke’s expression became terribly distorted when he saw that.

***

The battle was more or less over. Almost all of Phinis’ NPC soldiers were dead, but of course, the soldiers on the siege side were wiped out first.

In Crescent Moon, Lee Hoon and Dwayne were out. Lee Hoon had died on the front lines, while Dwayne died after stopping players that targeted Sunny. Due to Dwayne’s sacrifice, Sunny continued to survive and drag out the time with her undead.

Of course, the clock was still turning smoothly during this time. The siege team dealing with the NPCs in front of them started to feel a sense of crisis.

“I think it is time for us to work together, right?” Mascherano wiped the sweat from his forehead while gathering the representative players of each team.

Sergei calmly grasped the battlefield and suggested, “I think around 10 people will be able to deal with the remaining NPCs and Crescent Moon players... How about the others head to the inner office that Alley Leader is guarding?” 

The situation was extremely favorable to them as they had been caught in an unexpected place for quite a while.

“Yes, let’s form a team with people who have a lot of magic power left,” Ryan agreed with Sergei. Simultaneously, he called his team members over to get a grasp of the situation. The players from each team gathered together and formed an assault team to occupy the inner office.

“isn’t it time for the main character to appear?” Hyeonu finally showed up at this moment. He walked forward with the Mysterious Sky Sword on his shoulder, still sheathed. Purple energy escaped from Hyeonu’s body in an instant.

‘Area Proclamation, Fighting Energy Emission, Twilight Reproduction.’

The purple magic power was used for three skills at the same time.

The magic power used for Area Proclamation quickly covered the ground and bound the attackers’ feet, while the magic power used for Fighting Energy Emission extended like tentacles and limited the attackers’ stats. In addition, the energy that soared into the air turned the sky purple, limiting the players’ stats once again.

The players on the offensive side felt their bodies becoming heavier and less powerful, like they had fallen into water. Hyeonu removed the Mysterious Sky Sword from its sheath and swung it at his opponents. The moment the Mysterious Sky Sword struck the ground, the earth cracked, and bits of it soared into the air.

The melee classes reacted quickly and moved through the air or to spots on the ground that were still unaffected. Additionally, the priests and magicians used a series of shields to prevent dirt and stone fragments from attacking them. Despite the failure of his attack, Hyeonu was smiling. Some of the players who saw that felt it was strange, but they soon realized the reason for his bright expression.

“No!” Mascherano shouted.

However, the situation had already become the worst-case scenario. The melee classes had scattered to avoid Hyeonu’s attacks. Yet the priests and magicians were only gathered in one spot. They were the ones who had saved the most magic power, but they didn’t have the skills to protect their bodies.

A purple bear—the magic spirit—flew toward the magicians and priests. Simultaneously, the magic spirit grew dozens of times larger. The giant magic spirit quickly swung its paws, and a purple beam of light shot through the air along the trajectory of the magic spirit’s strike.

Blood burst from the bodies of the priests and magicians. Those who remained created shields and used attack magic, but it was all pointless before the magic spirit’s overwhelming firepower. Against Hyeonu who had all types of buffs on him, this was just a meaningless struggle.

“Hah...” the players who lost their priests and magicians in an instant sighed. This was the result of avoiding Hyeonu’s attack without thinking about the potential aftermath.

Hyeonu’s next choice wasn’t to wield the sword but to speak: “It has been over 15 minutes. It is already meaningless for some of you to continue fighting. It will be meaningless for the rest of you soon...”

Some of the players’ expressions changed upon hearing those words; they knew what Hyeonu meant. The fact that this match had already gone on for over 15 minutes meant the rankings of some teams were already determined. In fact, this didn’t make any difference.

Hyeonu’s words were nothing more than wordplay since first place had been decided from the very beginning. It wouldn’t happen, but the other teams couldn’t finish first even if Crescent Moon had a worse record than JT Telecom.

The players knew it and weren’t swayed. Some were agitated for a moment, but they quickly restored calm to their minds.

“Of course, what is the use of saying this now?” Hyeonu smiled again and waved the Mysterious Sky Sword.

Then he stepped on the cracked ground and ran forward with elegant yet stealthy movements. He was using Mysterious Sky Steps. Hyeonu appeared in front of Mascherano in an instant and swiftly slashed downward with his sword, colliding against Mascherano’s fist. Mascherano was unable to offset Hyeonu’s attack power and flew backward.

The magic circle and Fighting Energy Emission had a great impact on his stats. In fact, the damage to his combat ability was more severe than he’d expected. Hyeonu fired a purple pure energy at Mascherano, who was flying away. Nevertheless, the purple pure energy burst in the middle and failed to reach its target. It was destroyed by the pure energy Aike had fired. Despite that, blood gushed out of Mascherano’s body like a fountain. A small fist had pierced his chest.

“Magic spirit...” Mascherano murmured.

The fist belonged to the magic spirit. Hyeonu had moved the magic spirit and finished off Mascherano stealthily. The shot of pure energy had been a gimmick; the real threat had been the magic spirit. Hyeonu’s next goal was the huge man, Karelin. The players who saw Mascherano die noticed what Hyeonu was aiming for.

“He is dealing with those who don’t use weapons.”

In other words, Hyeonu was adjusting the spacing. He was eliminating those who were at a close distance to him.

“Just go for it!” someone shouted loudly.

That shout triggered everyone to rush toward Hyeonu. Nonetheless, Hyeonu simply used Mysterious Sky Steps to move leisurely between the players and then jump at Karelin. Karelin used a charging skill the moment he saw Hyeonu appear in front of him. Surrounded by a gray light, Karelin shot toward Hyeonu like a bullet.

Hyeonu kicked off against the ground lightly to avoid Karelin’s attack. Then he fired pure energy at Karelin who was now passing by instead. It wasn’t just Hyeonu who shot out pure energy though. The other players also shot their pure energies at Hyeonu who was suspended in midair. Hundreds of colorful pure energies filled the air and rushed toward Hyeonu.