Ranker's Return

Chapter 829

Callioraks approached Hyeonu. No, to be precise, he approached Tang-E, who was in Hyeonu’s arms.

“Do you want anything? Once this is done... I’ll grant you a wish.”

Callioraks leaned over and cocked his head at Tang-E.

“Um~ I don’t really have anything I want...”

At Callioraks’ words about a wish, Tang-E placed his paws together and trailed off at the end of his words. It was too abrupt and he didn’t know what to say right away.

“You don’t have to say it right now. There is plenty of time.”

Callioraks raised his right hand and gently stroked Tang-E’s head.

“Buffs... is this your first time receiving them?” Hyeonu carefully asked Callioraks. Honestly, Callioraks’ reaction didn’t make sense. He felt like it was too exaggerated. All Tang-E did was give Callioraks the buffs.

“This is the first time in my long life. In the first place, there is no concept of helping others in the demon world. Except for me, everyone is a potential competitor. They are called strangers. There is no one who would come up with a technique to help others. Even if it exists, there is no one who would use it. At least, this is the case in the demon world.”

Maybe Callioraks’s story was natural. The demon world was a world of the strong. Strength was everything. Justification and justice belonged to the powerful. There was no way that techniques that helped others could be developed in the demon world.

“It is a bit different if you believe in the demon god, but...”

Of course, this didn’t mean there were no buffs at all in the demon world. There were some who had it.

The enemies they had to deal with—the priests of the demon god—they were five who were one. They did everything for the sake of a common goal.

“If this is the case, it won’t be difficult for the three of you to deal with a priest.”

Callioraks revised his assessment. It was natural since there was now a variable called Tang-E’s buffs. Just holding on had changed to a situation where they had a chance of winning.

“Aren’t you going to tell us about the other person, Callioraks?” Hyeonu asked carefully. The five guardians who were protecting the sleeping demon god—there was too little information about them. He needed to get to know them a little bit.

‘There is the saying that if you know the enemy and know oneself, you will come out unscathed through a hundred battles...’

If he knew the enemy and knew himself, then at the very least, he wouldn’t lose helplessly.

Hyeonu was well aware of the importance of information.

“That’s true. You don’t know who you are going to deal with, so I’ll explain all five.”

Callioraks started to reveal the information of the five guardians like Hyeonu’s words were correct.

“Two of the five are magicians. One specializes in curse magic and single target magic. The other uses long-range, wide area magic. So you don’t really need to worry too much. I have no intention of fighting like you are going to die and I am going to live.”

The thing Hyeonu, Lebron, and John Blake had to pay attention to was the curse magic.

‘I just need to be careful.’

In particular, Hyeonu had to be careful. The other two people were so strong that it was clear that they could resist without much difficulty.

‘If it doesn’t work out, I’ll leave it to luck.’

Hyeonu was able to resist debuffs twice with his fighting energy and killing intent stats. Once both of these were used up, he had to get down on his knees and rely on Immovable Heart.

“Even so, you don’t need to worry about them. They will be so busy dealing with me that they won’t have time to pay attention to you. The ones you need to care about are the other three. One of them will be your opponent.”

Callioraks relieved Hyeonu’s anxiety. This was why he first described the guardians who specialized in magic. It was to lightly pass over them. His mouth would only hurt if he had to speak in length.

“The other three all use swords. It is only natural since the demon god uses a sword.”

The weapon of the other three guardians was a sword. However, each one had a different style.

“All three of them use different swordsmanship. It is a form where they become stronger when they are three instead of one.”

The reason was simple. It was because they intended to fight together, not alone, from the beginning.

“This is why you just need to handle one. The difference between three and two isn’t just a reduction in the number.”

“Is there any technique to watch out for?” Hyeonu asked Callioraks another question. This alone wasn’t enough. The information was too abstract.

“Something to be careful about... there is nothing specifically threatening? Just experience it for yourself. Your life won’t be in danger.”

Callioraks shook his head after a moment of thought. He never paid attention to their swordsmanship. The thing that was threatening to him was the joint attacks of the five of them. It didn’t mean anything if they weren’t five.

“It is done, Master dude.”

During the time when Callioraks was explaining about the guardians, Tang-E cast buffs on Lebron, John Blake, and Hyeonu.

“Let’s go.” Callioraks smiled warmly at Tang-E.

***

The journey to the black pyramid took only one second. Callioraks snapped his fingers and the landscape in front of them changed. The black pyramid appeared in front of Hyeonu’s eyes. Immediately after, black spirits started to appear around the black pyramid.

“The monster didn’t die and came again.”

“When is he thinking about giving up?”

“It is all because of him that the demon world has become like this.”

“If God was here... those human bastards wouldn’t have dared to come to the demon world...”

“He showed no animosity toward humans. Was this what he was trying to do?”

The five guardians spoke the moment they appeared. All of them were attacks on Callioraks.

“You can talk freely. In any case, all your mouths will shut up in a few minutes.”

Callioraks smiled brightly and shot back at the guardians. Then he reached out toward the guardians. The world was dyed purple with one gesture from Callioraks. It was as if they had come to a different world, not the demon world.

[You have entered the special field, the ‘chaos world.’]

[The penalty of the chaos world is applied.]

[All stats are reduced by 30%.]

[You have the chaos attribute.]

[The penalty doesn’t apply.]

[A bonus will be applied for having the chaos attribute.]

[All stats will increase by 20% when in the chaos world.]

“What? This?”

Hyeonu burst out laughing. It was outrageous.

‘Area Proclamation is all about dealing a bit of damage...’

It was hard to believe that the skill of making a domain had this ridiculous effect.

‘This monster...‘

Hyeonu’s gaze naturally shifted toward Callioraks.

“He took out this damn thing again.”

“Damn jerk. It is to steal the magic power again.”

“Isn’t he tired? Isn’t it time to rest?”

“Use the magic power of the magic power stone. There is no need to drag out the time.”

The guardians were accustomed to this and resisted Callioraks’ domain skill. They released a huge amount of magic power and pushed away the purple world.

“What should we do about those humans?”

“What else should we do? Kill them.”

“Can you hold on?”

“We have to endure it. Looking at it, that monster isn’t in a normal state. I don’t know what happened.”

“I understand. I’ll step out.”

A demon with a long sword shot out alone toward John Blake. John Blake pulled out the long sword that was hanging from his waist.

“I don’t feel good because I am being ignored for a long time.”

It had been a long time since he received this type of treatment. It was when he first came to the demon world. That was precisely the last time. The demons treated John Blake as an ordinary human and ignored him. Then the consequences were known to all the demons in the demon world.

“At that time, I blew up three cities. This time, I will take your head!” John Blake cried out in a thunderous voice.

Then a purple snake appeared and wrapped itself around his body.

‘What is this now? Is it a new utilization method?’

Hyeonu forgot that a battle was in front of him and was sucked into the sight of John Blake. It was natural for him to stare. It was a new use of the magic spirit.

‘However, I can’t use it.’

He soon lost interest. It wasn’t known how good the effect was, but it didn’t mean much to Hyeonu.

‘How good is Gom-E’s AI?’

It was most comfortable to let Gom-E fight on his own. That was also the most efficient method. Just then, a huge explosion occurred on Hyeonu’s left side. Hyeonu’s head turned toward where the explosion occurred. There was an active battle between Callioraks and the four guardians.

‘It isn’t as fast as I thought?’

Hyeonu cocked his head slightly. The combat of the strong Callioraks was nothing special. It was very ordinary. It was the same as the battles of players around level 100 or 200. It was a bit fast and a bit gorgeous. Instead, there was something else that stood out.

Callioraks’ method of fighting. It caught Hyeonu’s attention.

‘There are many new things today.’

Callioraks’ combat style was definitely different. He fought without a weapon. No, to be precise, the word fighting wasn’t appropriate.

Callioraks was just standing still. The surrounding magic power took care of fighting for Callioraks. Sharp thorns of magic power shot up regardless of whether it was the ground or the air. Purple flames were also blazing here and there. It wasn’t known when, where, or what was going to happen in the chaos world that Callioraks unfolded.

‘Did they use the magic power drawn from all over the demon world to hold on until Callioraks’ magic power was exhausted?’

Hyeonu easily guessed how they had been fighting in this period of time. Callioraks was the spear while the guardians were the shields.

This wasn’t a battle. It was just the guardians barely holding back Callioraks’ attacks.

‘Crazy.’

Hyeonu understood the method of the guardians. He got goosebumps at the thought of dealing directly with Callioraks. There was no place to avoid his attacks. He couldn’t avoid it even if he used Mixed Sky Steps.

If he stepped on the air to dodge, then something would appear in that place and attack.

‘I also don’t know how this domain skill will be applied...’

Hyeonu took his eyes off Callioraks' battle. There was no way that four people could stop what they had barely stopped when there were five. It was as Callioraks guaranteed. The battle was sure to end in his victory.

“Teacher, why are you just watching?” Hyeonu stood still and asked Lebron, who was watching John Blake fight.

“It is just a burden for me to intervene. He is comfortable fighting alone. I can replace him when he is in danger. And... I’m more comfortable alone as well. In fact, it is hard to say he is alone when he has that guy’s help.”

Lebron glanced to the side where Tang-E was hiding. Tang-E’s buffs were more than he imagined. He was able to gain much more power than when he first made the magic spirit. Now John Blake and Lebron were testing it.

“Look, isn’t he fighting well?”

Lebron gestured with his chin toward John Blake. In that place, John Blake was overwhelming the guardian with the long sword. It was to the point that there was no room to breathe.

‘As expected, a monster is a monster...’