Ranker's Return

Chapter 831

The purple light that filled the entire pyramid disappeared as quickly as when it first appeared. Hyeonu quickly rushed inside the black pyramid when the light disappeared.

‘What if he goes in alone...?’

Of course, he wasn’t worried about Callioraks. Hyeonu was worried because he didn’t know what Callioraks might’ve done.

‘I don’t know if I can pick up even one item.’

The identity of the black pyramid was the temple of the demon god. It wouldn’t be strange if treasures emerged. He passed through a long passage that seemed to have no end in sight and arrived in a bright, large space.

‘What? Is it over?’

Hyeonu found Callioraks standing alone in the large space.

‘Why is he alone?’

Hyeonu approached Callioraks.

“Callioraks?” Hyeonu carefully called out to Callioraks. Callioraks’ head slowly turned toward Hyeonu.

“You came?” his mouth opened in a heavy manner.

‘Why is his face like that?’

Hyeonu felt his body stiffen when he saw Callioraks, who had a rare, serious expression on his face.

“Yes, what happened?”

Hyeonu’s voice also sank sharply.

“Do you know who this is?” Callioraks asked while tapping the coffin in front of him with his feet. Hyeonu looked at the man lying inside the coffin. It was the first time he had seen this face, but he seemed to know this man’s true identity.

“I don’t know. It is the first time I’m seeing this face... this is the temple of the demon god, so isn’t it the demon god?”

The temple of the demon god, a coffin, and a man—by combining these three keywords, anyone could guess that the man in front of him was the demon god.

“Demon god... that’s right, it is the demon god. Now everyone calls him that. Time has already passed like this.”

Callioraks sighed lightly when he heard Hyeonu’s words calling the man the demon god.

“Hasn’t too much time passed to call him the chief of the ran tribe? Few people will know these roots.”

Hyeonu was one of the few who knew these roots.

“The ran tribe... you know so much. I don’t know how you found out.”

Callioraks showed surprise when Hyeonu mentioned a name that had been forgotten a long time ago. The ran tribe. Now it was a name that no one in the demon world knew, except for Callioraks. That name emerged from Hyeonu’s mouth.

“Yes, the body lying here is the chief of the ran tribe. They left it behind.”

“Weren’t they guarding the corpse in the meantime? Why leave?”

“The fragments are elsewhere, so they would’ve gone with ease. Isn’t it obvious even without looking? If it is him, then he can use enough magic power to move the soul alone.”

Callioraks had already read the demon god’s thoughts. He knew what the guardians were trying to do, but he allowed it.

“So why didn’t you stop it?”

“Why should I stop it?”

“Huh?”

“I know where they are going anyway. Why should I stop them?” Callioraks questioned Hyeonu.

Hyeonu shut his mouth at Callioraks’ words and waited for the answer.

“They must’ve gone to the place with the fragments of the demon god. That is naturally the northern part of the middle world.”

The reason why Callioraks didn’t prevent the guardians from escaping was simple. He already knew where they were going and it was better for them to run away.

“I... see. The guardians’ abilities will be greatly weakened if they leave the demon world.”

Hyeonu figured out the reason. The guardians would become weaker after leaving the demon world. It was absurd. The way the guardians responded to Callioraks was to make the most of the magic power from the magic power stones.

‘They will die right away if they meet in the middle world.’

However, they wouldn’t received the help of the magic power stone if they went to the middle world. They naturally wouldn’t be able to fight Callioraks.

“By the way, what was the light earlier? Did you use any magic?” Hyeonu asked about the released purple light he had seen before entering the pyramid.

“I used it. Isn’t it obvious? It is weird just by looking.”

Callioraks pointed to the coffin with a sullen expression. Hyeonu’s gaze naturally shifted to the body in the coffin Upon closer inspection, the body of the demon god had all types of tattoos inscribed on him. It was unnatural to anyone who saw it.

“What is this?”

“It is to confirm the kill. I got rid of any unknown variables. He will never come back to this body.”

The tattoo that Callioraks left on the body of the demon god—they were magic circles. It was to completely wipe out the demon god’s body.

“I am going to get rid of this place as well. I will leave no traces of the ran tribe in the demon world. They will remain only in someone’s memory. I will make it so.”

There was a cold and bitter energy, like frost, in Callioraks’ eyes. However, there were also other emotions in his eyes. He lost too much to simply rejoice in revenge. There was now only one dragon in the demon world, Callioraks. The time it took to get revenge was too long.

“Now go out.”

Callioraks slowly turned around and exited the open space. Hyeonu quickly examined the space. He was wondering if there was anything he could get.

‘Are there no items?’

No matter how much he looked, there was nothing in the space.

One coffin and a corpse inside it. That was all.

‘There really is nothing.’

Hyeonu cocked his head slightly. No matter how much he thought about it, there wasn’t anything.

‘Let’s eat some experience and go.’

Hyeonu pulled out a small dagger from his inventory. Then he inserted the dagger with a fierce pure energy into the heart of the demon god. Hyeonu left the open space without retrieving the dagger he had inserted.

***

Hyeonu belatedly exited the pyramid and found Callioraks waiting for him.

“Nothing?” Callioraks asked while looking at Hyeonu with a tired expression.

“Yes, there was nothing. It was too clean to the point of being annoying.”

Hyeonu nodded.

“In the first place, they would’ve packed everything there was to take away. They would’ve been ready to run away at any time.”

Callioraks had a face like he had expected it. Then he snapped his fingers. A powerful vibration was felt from the pyramid and a huge explosion occurred. It wasn’t just one or two explosions. Dozens or hundreds of explosions followed. The explosions continued and the pyramid lost its shape.

In the end, only black powder remained and it was blown away by the wind.

[The body of the demon god has been destroyed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

......

[All health and magic power are restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power are restored.]

[You have leveled up.]

The pyramid disappeared and messages announcing his level up appeared in front of Hyeonu. They came out constantly.

‘15 levels...’

A total of 15 levels were gained. It was too generous a reward for simply inserting a knife into the body of the demon god.

[Level up 15/15.]

Additionally, gaining 15 levels didn’t just mean leveling up. In the process of gaining 15 levels, he met the opening conditions for the item Rainbow of Desires.

‘I have to check it...’

Hyeonu naturally opened the item window. No, he was going to do so.

“Ah, that’s right. There was that.”

—If it wasn’t for the words that Callioraks uttered.

‘That?’

Hyeonu naturally raised his head. Something caught Hyeonu’s eye. It was a very long stick with a sharp blade at the end.

‘A spear?’

“Is it a spear?”

What appeared in the place where the pyramid disappeared was a long spear. It wasn’t terribly flashy, but it looked unusual.

“By the way, why does it feel so familiar?”

The even stranger thing was that Hyeonu felt the spear in front of him was familiar.

“Familiar? Where did you see this? This is something that you can’t see?”

Callioraks looked really surprised this time. He knew what the spear in front of him was. The first time he saw this spear was thousands of years ago. After that, the spear never left the demon world. It was natural for him to be surprised when Hyeonu said that he had seen the spear before.

“Pick up the spear first. There is no time to talk about it here. We must find him before he does anything else.”

Callioraks raised his hand and pointed to the spear floating in the air. Then he waved his hand at Hyeonu. The spear flew quickly toward Hyeonu. Hyeonu frowned slightly and grabbed the flying spear. Then he immediately checked the item information.

‘Item in...’

Once again, Hyeonu’s actions were unsuccessful. It was because his vision was dyed purple and his mind was dizzy.

‘Teleportation!’

Hyeonu’s figure disappeared along with Callioraks.

***

Edward returned to the north after a war that wasn’t a war and as usual, he absorbed little by little the magic power released from the fragments of the demon god. Then Edward encountered a problem.

‘Why is this happening all of a sudden?’

Edward was baffled by the sudden change. The fragments of the demon god started to run wild. There wasn’t a lot of magic power accumulated, but they didn’t follow Edward’s will as before.

‘Rampage!’

Edward was well aware of this phenomenon. Magic power rampage. He didn’t know why it was happening, but his magic power wasn’t moving according to his will right now. It was a big crisis.

[Give me your body.]

Just then, a heavy, male voice rang through Edward’s mind. It wasn’t a natural voice, but a resonance with his soul.

‘Give up my body? Don’t sound crazy. This is my body.’

Edward ignored the voice that echoed in his head.

[Dedicate yourself to me.]

However, it was only for a moment. Edward’s consciousness faded in an instant. He could no longer resist the voice in his head.

“Ah... Ah...”

Edward opened his eyes and stood up. Then he carefully opened his mouth, “It has been so long that it is awkward. Talking...”

Edward, no, the demon god and chief of the ran tribe murmured to the air.

“Reveal yourselves.”

Surprisingly, the five guardians reappeared after they had disappeared from the demon world.

“I greet God.”

“I greet God.”

“You have woken up at least, my God.”

The guardians who appeared in all directions knelt down on one knee in front of the chief of the ran tribe.

“It was a really frustrating and miserable time. One damn demon dragon interfered for so long.”

The chief sighed.

During the time when he was setting up his shelter in the pyramid, he never dreamed it would take him so long to get back up. He also didn’t know that he would change bodies.

‘I didn’t know when I arranged it that I would come back like this...’

“I will go straight into recovery. This body isn’t well. I need to lay the foundation. Guard me while I go into recovery.”

The chief glanced over the guardians and gave an order. Now he had a body, so the priority was to restore his former power as quickly as possible. It might be unreasonable to go back to when he was in his prime, but it was necessary to recover the minimum of power.

“We will protect you no matter what.”

The guardians nodded again.