Ranker Who Lives Twice

Team: HH, thursdays, Yahiko (12/12)

Yeon-woo lifted his head and looked around. Magic power poured out of him and he suddenly became exhausted, but the Philosopher’s Stone spun fiercely and supplied him with energy again.

‘I missed a bit.’

The purpose of the Foresight he read this time was to immobilize all the attacks and even get rid of those that he

Vigrid split through the flaws accurately, but unfortunately, it didn’t reach the last point. The timings between Time Difference and Time Foresight didn’t match up.

Also, his opponents were hiding more skills than he expected.

‘Well, I was able to check all the skills of the rookies, so it wasn’t a complete waste.’

The players were all scattered from the explosion of the Black Aura.

Each of their faces were filled with shock.

Creutz looked down at his hand. His outer skin had cracked, and his palm was a bloodied mess. His holy sword Zulfikar was shaking like it would break any second. Half of the holy power inside of it had evaporated from defending him.

So this was the reason why the clan leader had said to bring him over in the most polite way possible. Creutz nodded his head at his clan leader’s insight.

If they tried to force him like the 92nd Squad did? Not only would he have been in trouble, but even the Illusion Knightage might’ve been in danger.

He understood why Yeon-woo was considered the best of the Six New Stars despite being on the very lowest floor. A person like that definitely needed to be recruited into the Fantasy Regiment.

Creutz’s hand throbbed as much as his head was throbbing from all the thinking, but he was glad that such a person was an ally. It was a relief that he had trusted Yeon-woo and pulled back his sword, which lessened his injury.

Creutz kneeled on a single knee and prayed, kissing the jewel in the center of the holy sword Zulfikar.

〈Wishful Prayer〉. Holy power activated again and wrapped around him. The injuries within him were healing at a quick pace. It was a prayer for his holy sword and Yeon-woo.

While Creutz was chanting the holy prayer, Doctor Doom vomited blood. He tried to swallow it down, but he had to suffer the penalty of the failure of using tens of magic spells at once.

‘What….. is that?’

He clenched his teeth looking at the two eyes floating above Yeon-woo’s head. It was a silent power that was pressuring his soul.

To be exact, it wasn’t the feeling of his soul being pressed down. All the magic and black magic he used were being sealed.

He couldn’t use his abilities like this. It was of utmost importance that he found a way to escape from that power.

“I’ll push the….. spells to later.”

With those words, Doctor Doom pulled out a scroll and tore it in half. He was covered in light and suddenly left. It was to rest to heal his injuries.

“Kekekeuk. How amusing. I’m very satisfied. I don’t have to worry about what comes next.”

Faceless, who was furthest away, chuckled maniacally.

On the outside, Faceless look unaffected. The energy around Faceless was even more relaxed than Yeon-woo’s, who had caused all this.

Faceless had gotten involved to get rid of Benteke and Triton, but Faceless thought there wasn’t a need for that anymore. Faceless thought Yeon-woo was enough to do the job.

‘Of course, I’ll have to aim for that guy after.’

The Hoarder. Faceless observed Yeon-woo through the bandages. Faceless had seen Yeon-woo once before being wrapped in bandages, but Yeon-woo was way stronger than before. If Yeon-woo continued at that rate, he would become a great nuisance.

“I’ll remember you, Hoarder.”

Faceless spoke in the voice of a young woman and lightly kicked off the ground, disappearing as if weightless.

Yeon-woo didn’t chase after Faceless. He just looked at the complex flaws around Faceless.

‘It’s definitely just one person. But it looks like he’s tied up with multiple people. Just what is Faceless’ identity?’

Humans each had their own wavelength. It was because every one of them had a single soul.

However, Faceless was different. There were multiple wavelengths coming off of them. Sometimes, it was three. Other times, it suddenly exceeded ten, and sometimes, it shrunk down to one.

It was like hundreds of people were intricately combined inside a single body. That seemed to be the reason for the change in attitude and voice as well.

Moreover, Faceless had been most affected.

Before Yeon-woo exploded his Black Aura, Faceless quickly took back the bandages to wrap around their body. Then, Faceless moved to where the attack was the weakest and left the battlefield right after.

Faceless’ ability to read the battle was outstanding. It was hard even for Yeon-woo to follow. Faceless was at least an expert with a hidden ability or even something beyond that.

Yeon-woo felt wary of Faceless, but he just shrugged it off and looked away.

There, Jinrang was holding himself up with his sword. Blood was pooled up under him.

“S, S***…..!”

The attack just now had the effect of chasing away Faceless and Doctor Doom, but what Yeon-woo had been aiming for was Jinrang.

Jinrang felt the excruciating pain of half of Orion’s power being blown away.

He hadn’t even been able to fight properly yet, but he had already fallen. The remaining holy power in his body was leaking, like a pot with a hole in it. The vessel had broken.

The same went for Triton. Their entire headquarters were in ruins. Benteke still wasn’t coming out even though the situation had come this far.

Jinrang glared at Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo had come right in front of him.

Jinrang didn’t want to show a weak side of himself. He knew that one of them had to die for this to end, but he wanted to stand tall until the end, like Lana had before she died.

Puk—

Yeon-woo moved his left hand to Jinrang’s neck. Jinrang’s fiery eyes settled and his breath was stopped. Bathory’s Vampiric Sword sucked up Orion’s holy power.

[The proficiency of the skill ‘Bathory’s Vampiric Sword’ has increased. 61.2%]

[Vitality is being absorbed.]

[Magic power is being absorbed.]

[Holy power is being absorbed.]

…..

[You have gained ‘Orion’s Energy.’ The Divine Blessings are also automatically absorbed.]

The Divine Blessings inside of him amplified once more.

“Sir Jinrang!”

“Get away from him!”

The players of Triton were furious, thinking that Yeon-woo was mocking the corpse of their superior.

If Benteke was their father who led them, Jinrang was their mother who took care of everything else. Of course they would be furious.

However, the players of Triton couldn’t run at Yeon-woo. The Illusion Knightage blocked their path. Once again, another battle began. But before it even began, victory was already tiding over to the Illusion Knightage.

Triton’s players looked for Benteke desperately.

“Captain! Captain!”

“Sir Benteke! Please! Please!”

“Poseidon…..!”

Creutz finished his prayer and got up. His armor was restored and shining again.

“I’ll stop them myself. I hope you concentrate on finishing your fight with Benteke, Cain.”

Yeon-woo nodded and moved inside of the castle. 60% of the castle was blown away from just the explosion earlier, and it couldn’t be called a castle anymore.

However, the holy power at the center of the castle was heavier than before.

‘That place is probably Poseidon’s temple.’

Since Triton was an organization created from Poseidon’s Blessings and Grace, of course there would’ve been a temple for Poseidon.

Yeon-woo raised his foot and stomped down on the ground.

Kwang—

From his foot that was filled with magic power, the ground below him crumbled, and a pathway to the underground was created.

When he jumped down, a large iron door greeted Yeon-woo.

‘It’s big.’

The iron door was huge.

It was probably about ten meters high, and it was thick, too. The holy paintings along the door were also very bright.

It was an image of the 12 Olympians and other gods of Olympus battling the Titans. Each image squirmed like it was alive.

If it was something he saw for the first time, Yeon-woo would’ve exclaimed in awe, but this picture was actually familiar to him.

‘The door of the Olympus Treasury.’

It was almost the same image he saw after collecting all twelve keys.

It was slightly different in that in the image back then, Zeus with his lightning was the main figure, but here, Poseidon with his waves looked more emphasized.

Beyond the door, something colossal and strong was moving.

It was like Poseidon’s holy power but also not.

The threatening aura pressed Yeon-woo’s shoulders down.

It felt like it was forcing Yeon-woo to surrender and serve.

[An unidentifiable voice takes over your mind. You are falling into a stunned condition.]

[You keep your rationality from the ‘Cold-blooded’ trait.]

[The stunned condition has been released. The unidentifiable voice is chased away.]

[You are released from the pressure.]

He had barely pushed it away using the Cold-blooded trait, but something dangerous was still lurking around.

He didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but he could feel Benteke’s energy faintly inside, too.

Did something happen to him? Yeon-woo held up his hand with hard eyes.

Contrary to his worries that it wouldn’t budge, the iron door slid open easily.

It opened to a great dusty hall.

Under the dome roof, holy paintings filled the walls and ceiling. They were all holy paintings related to Poseidon as he raised tornados and waves.

In the center, Benteke was sitting at the altar. Bronze braziers next to him burned a blue fire, showing Benteke’s thin exhausted face.

“So…..you came. Kehalhalhal. I was right. You’re a crazy bastard. Like me.”

Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes when he entered the hall.

“What happened to your arm?”

“Oh, this?”

Benteke raised his right arm. It hadn’t recovered for a while because Yeon-woo absorbed it, but it looked normal now.

“How is it? Isn’t it awesome?”

But unlike his tone, his face was filled with annoyance. He unwrapped the bandages around his right arm.

His right arm was shifting in the form of a blue wave.

“My damned god gave me this ridiculous gift saying that I’m too weak. It’s such a ridiculous gift.”

“A clump of holy power.”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

An arm that Poseidon had given through channeling to use instead of Triaina.

However, the problem was that Benteke accepted it naively.

It wasn’t a normal holy artifact.

“Because of this damned clump, I can’t move from here.”

There wasn’t a name for the holy artifact. Poseidon had just sent a part of his holy power.

Benteke didn’t know that and just accepted the synchronization with Poseidon.

After that, he had been continuing to fight for control over his body.

Poseidon tried to steal Benteke’s body. It was horrible for Benteke.

He didn’t even like how Poseidon descended sometimes, but completely taking over his body? Benteke couldn’t allow that to happen.

An apostle was the holy flesh and manifestation of a god, but they were still a separate being.

However, Poseidon didn’t accept Benteke’s thoughts.

-You won’t even catch him. Look at you now. How can you fight the king of the dead as a living being?! It’s impossible for you. You’ve just barely escaped for now, but you cannot expect the same to happen in the future.

-Come to me, shadow! I’ll lead your soul to the temple I rule and guarantee you to a high position…..!

In the end, Benteke won the fight. There was a limit to Poseidon’s powers as a result of the principle of causality.

Still, Benteke was also hurt quite a bit. Half of his physical body had been consumed by holy power.

Even now, holy power was trying to take over control of his body. If he wasn’t concentrating even for a moment, it was the end.

More than anything, it had taken too much time.

“Also, I’m completely bound here. With this damned arm being made of holy power, I can’t leave the temple.”

Like how gods couldn’t leave their temple of holy territory, Benteke was also bound here. The moment that he left, he would lose all his power or die. It was a damned curse.

“Kehalhalhal! A guard dog that protects the gates would be better than this!”

Benteke thought that Poseidon had been aiming for this from the beginning.

It was to make him stay here because Yeon-woo was going to come soon.

Because of that, Benteke lost many of his precious subordinates. Jinrang, Ted, Elaine. They all had different plans for the future, but they were still like family to him.

He was furious at Poseidon. His religious followers were dying, but Poseidon didn’t blink an eye.

Was it because the lives of humans were like flies to a god? Because they were nothing in the face of immortality?

“You, what did you do for our god to hate you so much?”

Benteke cursed the power of the god he had carelessly accepted, thinking that he could become stronger. He hoped that Yeon-woo could cleanse him of this curse.

It might’ve been karma for acting arrogant and confident while killing his own lover.

“Something.”

Yeon-woo replied slowly, and he aimed Vigrid at Benteke. As he activated the option, a powerful energy started to wrap around him.

Before he kicked off the ground, Yeon-woo came to a realization why Poseidon didn’t like him and even tried to kill him himself.

Only

It wasn’t simply because he had spoken of killing a god. There was a greater issue than that.

‘The Black King.’

Yeon-woo’s eyes darkened.

‘Poseidon is scared of me having the Black King’s power.’

With those thoughts, Yeon-woo kicked off from the ground, leaving the ground cracked and crumbling.

Kwang—