Ranker's Return

Chapter 629

Translator: rainbowturtle

Hyeonu carefully followed the footprints. The demonic creature in the shape of a rhinoceros walked as carefully as possible, as if it knew Hyeonu’s heart. This didn’t mean that its footsteps couldn’t be heard. The ground rang every time the rhino demonic creature moved.

‘The footprints keep going.’

Hyeonu wondered if Reina had followed voluntarily as he walked along the footprints. Otherwise, these footprints couldn’t continue in such a regular manner.

‘It cuts off here… did they go inside?’

The footsteps continued for a long time. Then he reached the entrance of a forest where leaves fell lushly and the footprints stopped again. Hyeonu stood at the entrance of the forest and thought about it for a moment. Should he enter, or log out and contact her?

‘There is nothing to worry about as long as it isn’t a demon king. Why should I run away?’

Hyeonu resolutely entered the forest. There was no reason to hesitate. He was confident about dealing with any demon or demonic creature.

Hyeonu and the rhino demonic creature walked through the forest. It was while getting rid of the things in the way as carefully as possible. Hyeonu had walked through the forest for around 10 minutes when his ears picked up a familiar voice.

‘Tang-E?’

It was Tang-E’s distinctive voice. Hyeonu carefully ran in the direction of the sound with the rhino.

‘Tang-E and Reina… are they okay?’

Hyeonu could see Reina holding onto Tang-E. The two of them were fine.

‘Who is that in front of them?’

There was someone else, but they currently weren’t visible in Hyeonu’s view. They were obscured by trees. Hyeonu tilted his head and confirmed this person’s identity. ‘Baler?!’

It was Baler. The identity of the being standing in front of Reina and Tang-E was Baler. The demon world’s number one demon king.

‘Why is Baler with Reina and Tang-E?’

He questioned it. It was a sight that was hard to understand. Why was Baler here?

‘Secondly, why does the atmosphere seem so good?’

If Hyeonu’s eyes weren’t wrong, the atmosphere over there wasn’t bad. No, it was rather friendly.

‘What?’

Hyeonu quickly approached them. He had no intention of hiding his footsteps. In any case, it wasn’t a situation where he could hide. If Baler was such an easy opponent, he would’ve been eliminated earlier on.

“Um…” Baler, who had been talking happily, let out a momentary groan. It was because he felt someone approaching here. He knew their identity without even looking. It was a familiar magic power.

‘He is the master of this bear…’

It was Hyeonu, someone who was closely related to John and was growing stronger every day, and also the person who played the leading role in this war that shook the current demon world. There were many nobles who didn’t know it, but there weren’t just one or two demons who had lost their lives at the hands of Hyeonu.

‘I am filling their vacancies.’

Damanos died and Galiya was driven to the brink of death, but that had nothing to do with Baler. To be honest, he was rather thankful. It was because the more often this happened, the greater Baler’s influence grew. The balance had already collapsed. Now there were no demon kings who could stop Baler.

‘Apart from that John…’

However, John was burdened. There was no need to worry much about him. John had made a pledge. He would never help adventurers.

‘I got everything I could through this war.’

Even if the war ended now, Baler had already gained enough. Of course, it was better to take advantage of the loss of power of the other demon kings that would take place in the battle over the cities of Penn and Earl Kalea’s city.

‘I’m sure it will happen…’

If both the forces of Damanos and Galiya were eliminated…

The demon world would change to a state that suited Baler’s taste.

“I think the friend you are waiting for has come.”

“I think Master dude is coming here. I can tell.”

Tang-E agreed with Baler. If Tang-E was in the same space as Hyeonu, then the skill Dancing with a Bear would become active. The power of his body changed, so he couldn’t not notice the arrival of Hyeonu. As they were talking, Hyeonu appeared.

“Tang-E, why are you here?”

Hyeonu questioned Tang-E first. It was Reina’s turn after that.

“Why didn’t you send me a note?”

Hyeonu turned his head toward Reina.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t in a situation to send one.”

Reina bowed her head slightly to apologize.

“Long time no see, Baler. It is such an incredible connection to be a coincidence.”

Hyeonu nodded slightly to Reina before turning to look at Baler.

“What long time? I just saw you a while ago.”

Baler was a demon. He was also a demon king who had lived for a long time. He had a different concept of time compared to Hyeonu. For him, the word long was in the minimum of years.

“How did a busy individual come to such a place? You must have more than one or two kids to take care of…”

“I can see the kids whenever I have time. In any case, I had a question. When are you going to start the war?”

“It will be in a month or two. Why are you curious about this?” Hyeonu replied with a smile.

The time he thought of was one or two months later.

At the latest.

“Did something happen? Why so late?”

“War isn’t a kid’s prank. It can’t happen just because I want it to,” Hyeonu once again replied with a smile.

However, Baler didn’t believe Hyeonu’s words.

“There is news that the number of adventurers appearing near Etono has started to increase since a while ago. Yet it will take one or two more months?”

Baler had already seen through Etono’s situation. He was an NPC, but he knew that the demons and demonic creatures were decreasing rapidly near Etono. He also knew it was because the number of adventurers had increased.

“Is that enough? Even if they are adventurers who don’t die… the number is too small.”

“Is that so? I don’t know it exactly.” Baler nodded.

He didn’t know the number of adventurers. All he knew was the large number of dying demons and demonic creatures. He had no accurate idea of how many adventurers there were.

“You will remember the promise, right? It is up to Penn and Tendmul. Beyond that, no more.”

“Tendmul? Ah! Is that the city of Earl Kalea? I remember.”

Hyeonu looked up at Baler’s words that mentioned the name Tendmul. Then he soon recalled his promise with Baler.

‘The name of Earl Kalea’s city is Tendmul.’

He didn’t know it before because he wasn’t interested. Every time, he just thought of it as Earl Kalea’s city.

“If you don’t stop, a real war will unfold… you must know that this is never a good thing, right?”

“I know. Then can I go? I am busy.”

“Go if you are busy. It was nice to see you today.”

Hyeonu bowed to Baler and took Tang-E and Reina back to where the rhino demonic creature was.

“By the way, who is that person? I didn’t ask because Tang-E said he knew that person…” Reina asked Hyeonu a question on the way back.

“You followed him without knowing? Well, ignorance is bliss…”

Hyeonu showed a surprised expression. It was very poor judgment for a ranker. It was an action that should never be taken considering the forced log out penalty.

“Who is he?”

“A demon king. He is a demon king.”

Reina was speechless at Hyeonu’s words.

A demon king.

‘How does he know a demon king…?’

Tang-E just said he knew that individual and Tang-E didn’t seem to be vigilant, so she thought he was an NPC of the empire.

“He is the strongest demon king in the demon world. Did you watch the video? He is worth four or five times the demon king who fought the emperor,” Hyeonu added.

He explained what type of demon king Baler was.

“So Reina, you barely escaped the danger of being forcibly logged out.”

Reina’s surprise didn’t end there. The moment she saw the rhino-shaped demonic creature standing still and waiting, her mouth dropped open, and her eyes opened and closed. In Arena, mounts were usually reminiscent of a horse and carriage. Of course, there were cases of riding ridiculous things like a drake. For example, Hyeonu.

“Is this really a mount?”

However, it was the first time she had seen such a huge rhino.

“It is easy and fast.”

Tang-E, who was in Reina’s arms, pointed to the rhino. Tang-E had already ridden the rhinoceros several times. He was naturally well aware of its fast movement speed.

“Get on quickly. We will take it to Tendmul.”

Hyeonu settled on the rhino’s back first. Reina saw it and jumped after him. Surprise was surprise, but if she had to ride it, then it was right to ride it as soon as possible. Reducing travel time was very important.

The rhino demonic creature ran quickly. Hyeonu shook the chain. Every time he tapped it with his hand, it even changed direction.

“I think I’ll probably have to log out on the way to Tendmul,” Hyeonu calculated the time and told Reina.

“Really? It has already been that long?”

Reina checked the time once Hyeonu said he had to log out.

‘When did so much time pass?’

A lot more time had passed than she thought. In reality, it would clearly be dawn after the night.

“So when can you log in tomorrow?”

“Any time from 11 o’clock in the morning. It doesn't matter."

Hyeonu was briefly lost in thought at Reina’s answer that she could access the game almost all day.

‘It has been a long time since I’ve exercised… we should meet in the afternoon.’

“Then I’ll log in at 1 p.m. Additionally, I have to stream tomorrow, so I can’t move together after 7 p.m.”

Hyeonu was thinking of resuming his streaming from tomorrow. No, he had to unconditionally start it.

Otherwise, he would have to deal with the scolding of many people.

‘I don’t have the confidence to do that.’

He couldn’t put it off because they were words he had already spoken.

“Yes. I understand. I will remember.”

Reina nodded calmly. It wasn’t a bad schedule. Six hours of hunting. It was inclusive of travel time, but that was enough.

‘I can stream as well while Hyeonu is streaming.’

Reina was also a streamer. The number of people who came to watch when she turned on the streaming was overflowing.

—Although it wasn’t as good as Hyeonu.

‘Or should I watch Hyeonu’s stream?’

The rhino ran quickly toward Tendmul while carrying Hyeonu’s party. There were attacks by monsters on the way, but Hyeonu, Reina, and Tang-E each fired spectacular attacks and cleaned it up.

***

Early in the morning, Hyeonu walked out the front door. Hyeonu’s hand was holding a large sports crossbody bag. He was on his way to the fitness center. He had to unconditionally go today because he had been away for a week. He had exercised alone in New York, but there was a difference between having a trainer and not having one.

Hyeonu naturally pressed the button to go down on the elevator. It was early morning, so the elevator came up without stopping. Hyeonu smiled when he saw the elevator never stopping in the middle. The start of the day was good.

Dding-!

Then the elevator opened and a person got off. Hyeonu had not expected that a person would be getting off, so he just stared blankly.

“Good morning, Hyeonu.”

The person who got out of the elevator waved like they knew Hyeonu and left.

“Reina…?” Hyeonu muttered while blinking his unfocused eyes. There was a person who shouldn’t be here.