Ranker's Return

Chapter 51

Translator: rainbowturtle

Editor: LD & Jyazen

Tian Hu saw the message an hour after Rin sent the message.

-President, I found Alley Leader while setting up the camp. Five people in the advance team, including me, are chasing after him. If possible, we’re going to do PK.

“Why am I only seeing this now?”

Tian Hu guessed that Alley Leader was level 80. Meanwhile, Rin was level 155. The level difference between the two people was almost double. There were also five people present. This was a match where victory had already been decided.

“I can see Alley Leader’s downfall.” Tian Hu quickly entered the cube to see the progress. At this moment, Tian Hu’s smartphone rang again.

-I’m sorry, President.

***

Hyeonu was nervous. For hours, he had been chased by monsters and driven away by people, so he couldn’t hunt at all. In particular, the hellhound he met 30 minutes ago caused a chill to go down Hyeonu’s spine. It was fast enough to be able to chase Hyeonu while he was wearing the Black Jaguar set. Hyeonu sprinted for 10 minutes away from such a hellhound and barely escaped. He barely managed to pull himself away.

‘If this continues, I won’t be able to profit.’

“I have to hunt at least one.”

At this moment, something touched Hyeonu’s senses. Hyeonu grabbed a small rock from the ground and threw it hard toward a bush. The rock flew quickly, making a blue trajectory. Then it hit something. Five people appeared from behind a blue curtain in the bushes. It was a female magician who appeared to be the master of the shield and four warriors.

“What? Why are you following me?” Hyeonu asked in a venomous tone while reflecting on the current situation.

“Aren’t you Alley Leader? I want to try fighting you once.” The answer came from the magician.

‘The followers of interest?’

“You are a person who follows attention at this level? I thought you were people focused on playing Arena if you are in the Hejin Mountains, but I guess that isn’t the case.”

The magician’s expression didn’t change despite being called a person who followed attention. She maintained her smile the whole time.

Hyeonu wondered, “I don’t think you’re a person who follows attention. So what’s your affiliation?”

“I can’t tell you that. I just want to fight you once.” The female magician fell silent when Hyeonu asked about her affiliation. It meant one thing—a fight.

“Are you from a guild? I don’t think there are any guilds that have a problem with me,” Hyeonu said harshly while quickly scouring his memories.

‘Who? I don’t think anyone has a problem with me.’

Did he have trouble with someone he didn’t know about? Judging by the items they wore, they had a minimum level of 140 to 150. Moreover, there were five of them. It was a burdensome number for Hyeonu.

“I’ll say it once again. Decide if you want to duel or fight directly,” the magician leader once again stated.

It was an answer.

‘We will fight. Pick between a duel or PK.’

This consistent attitude reminded Hyeonu of one thing. It was something he had experienced in other games in the past. Hyeonu was a late starter of that game and quickly rose. At that time, a large guild came to Hyeonu and said, “Join our guild.”

Hyeonu had refused. He had no intention of joining a guild as he enjoyed playing alone. There would be restrictions when entering a guild, and Hyeonu hated it. After that, the large guild wanted to kill Hyeonu. The winner of the PK was Hyeonu. However, since that day, Hyeonu no longer played that game.

‘It is disgusting. A disgusting memory.’

“I just remembered a very dirty time,” Hyeonu muttered in a low voice.

“What?”

Hyeonu ran forward. He went in the opposite direction of where the five people were standing.

“Catch him!”

It was then that a chase, where his life was at risk, started.

***

In the Hejin Mountains, there was an open field filled with rankers dominating Arena, and a player was sweating as he kept running.

‘Damn, where is it? I saw it earlier.’

Hyeonu was able to escape by a narrow margin without being caught by his five pursuers due to a rise in his movement speed—the option attached to the Black Jaguar set.

‘Uh, I found it!’ Hyeonu was running diligently and finally discovered it. He stopped moving.

“Hah.” Then he took a breath and rested. Actually, he wasn’t very tired. It was just a type of mind control. The place where Hyeonu stopped was different from the place where they had met. One side was blocked by a cliff. It was a dead end.

‘They’ll think I went the wrong way.’

Sure enough, one of the five pursuers shouted while smiling, “You!!! You are good at running away, but now it is a dead end.”

His face was full of smiles.

‘Um... It is going well.’

Hyeonu had the geographic advantage. He had never lost. It would be the same today. Hyeonu felt that this situation was somewhat familiar. In front of him were players wanting to PK him. Hyeonu looked at them and stood with the longsword on his shoulder, gesturing toward the opponents with empty hands.

“Come on! Come on! You bastards.”

A rare battle took place at a remote cliff in the Hejin Mountains.

***

Hyeonu was confident. They didn't know about him.

‘I don’t know about them either.’

However, his talent was better than theirs. This was enough. Furthermore, the specs of his character weren’t lacking. If only for five minutes...

The moment Hyeonu squeezed his hand, Tang-E—who was hidden among the trees—placed buffs on Hyeonu.

[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.]

At this moment, the opposing warrior player aimed a sword at Hyeonu.

[Master of Combat is activated.]

[Your stats have increased.]

[The stat ‘fighting energy’ has caused your stats to rise.]

[The other party is stronger than you.]

[There will be an additional increase in stats.]

Hyeonu’s skills were activated. Finally, the moment that Hyeonu swung his longsword at the opposing warrior.

[Giant’s Power has been used.]

[Your strength stat has increased.]

[Giant’s Nature has been used.]

[Your strength stat has increased.]

The giant skills were also triggered. This allowed Hyeonu to maintain overwhelming stats for five minutes. Five minutes—it was a long time for non-monster players. Hyeonu’s longsword sliced through the air and collided with the sword of the opposing warrior player. He literally split apart the sword and the other warrior.

This was a sword energy created with his 1,500 points in strength and various skills. The power was similar to the strike from a large boss monster. In other words, the opposing warrior swung his sword without using any skills and collided with the club wielded by the Snow Giant Captain. It wasn’t strange that such a result would come out. That was the difference between a straight punch and a jab roughly thrown at the opponent. However, this was Hyeonu’s idea.

So, it wasn’t the same for the warrior who was logged out without knowing anything and the four players staring in shock. From their perspective, their warrior swung his sword. There was a blue light, and their warrior was sliced apart.

“What?!!!”

“Rin, what is that?”

“He died in one blow?”

Rin was astonished. Something unbelievable had happened. Chen was one of the top five warrior players in the guild. That’s why he and his team came to the Hejin Mountains first. Yet Chen was cut and logged out with a single blow.

“Attack together. Don’t separate,” Rin ordered.

Attacking together was something that was done when they feared the result. However, Hyeonu had chosen this place as the battlefield for a reason. Trees rose high everywhere, and there was a huge cliff behind Hyeonu. In other words, if they wanted to attack Hyeonu, they had to rush forward. It was impossible for an assassin to go from the side or behind without being seen by Hyeonu.

Rin didn’t say anything else and just used buffs, “Strength, Haste.”

They weren’t as strong as a priest’s buffs, but a magician’s buffs were still useful.

‘Isn’t that a skill?’

“It is clear that he used a skill to kill Chen. Based on its power, the cooldown must be a long time!” Jiang, one of the remaining three warrior players, cried out.

Then he immediately rushed toward Hyeonu. Xiao and Wei followed respectively.

‘That’s it. It is clearly a skill...’

Once he saw Hyeonu’s sword bounce off his own sword, Jiang thought that Chen had died because of a skill. These were his last thoughts as Hyeonu’s longsword cut Jiang’s throat. Hyeonu had deliberately thrown back his sword. He used the repulsion to swing more quickly, and Jiang couldn’t stop it. Xiao and Wei revised their strategy after seeing Jiang’s death.

“He is using magic power, and it will run out soon.”

“Aim for that. Let’s buy time."

Then a small fireball flew from behind. It was Rin’s magic. Hyeonu swung his longsword and cut the fireball. By injecting magic power into his longsword, he could smash the magician’s spell.

‘Ah, it was hard.’

Nevertheless, it took a lot of effort. Magic itself was powerful. Moreover, most magic was accompanied by an abnormal status effect like being burned when hit by fire, frostbite when hit with ice, bleeding when hit with wind magic, and so on. It was a walking CC (crowd control) machine.

Hyeonu looked at the female magician and then stared at Tang-E, who was eating fruit while hiding in the distance.

‘Please understand. Please,’ Hyeonu prayed. ‘Please let that bear understand what I meant.’

***

Hyeonu became frustrated when the experienced level 150 players aimed to fight defensively.

‘Are these guys twins? Their coordination is so good.’

There was no gap he could squeeze into. The giant skills had already disappeared. He couldn’t overwhelm them in strength. The equal state of the battle was maintained due to various skills. However, they had reached level 150 for a reason and noticed that Hyeonu’s attack power had decreased.

“He has weakened.”

“Then let’s go in.”

They rushed forward simultaneously. From the left and right, they cornered Hyeonu like a ghost. Hyeonu hurriedly blocked them without thinking. He blocked the swords that repeatedly flew at his head and abdomen. At this moment, Hyeonu detected a surge of intense magic power in the distance. It was a blazing fire. This was the magic that Rin took a long time to cast.

Wei and Xiao realized that Rin’s magic was complete and did what they had to do. They used hidden CC skills. The two of them slammed on the ground at the same time. Then a hand appeared from the earth and grabbed Hyeonu’s feet. It was a skill they had saved for this moment. If there was a disadvantage with this skill, it was that it had to be used by two people at the same time in order to be triggered. Additionally, the casters couldn’t move while using this skill.

“What is this?!!”Hyeonu panicked. A hand had suddenly appeared and grabbed his feet, preventing him from moving. In this state, he had to face those flames. He was sure that he would be logged out in one blow after being hit by this magic.

[Player ‘Gang Hyeonu’ is in a ‘bound’ state.]

At this moment, Rin’s magic was completed. “Take this, Alley Leader!”