Ranker's Return

Chapter 720

Shortly after Baler’s disappearance, three men—including the emperor—appeared before Hyeonu.

“The demon kings?” the emperor asked about the whereabouts of the demon kings the moment he saw Hyeonu.

“They are presumed to be with the demon world army, Your Majesty,” Hyeonu answered. In fact, he didn’t know precisely, but he just conveyed to the emperor what he could guess from his conversation with Baler.

“Presumed... Did Baler drop by?” The emperor accurately pinpointed Baler’s actions.

“Yes, I met Baler in person. He couldn’t hide his anger, but he quickly went back due to the watchful eyes of the other demon kings,” Hyeonu briefly explained what happened.

Upon hearing Hyeonu’s explanation, the emperor closed his eyes and let out a breath. Then after a while, he opened his eyes and ordered Hyeonu, “Marquis, lead adventurers into battle right away.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.” Hyeonu bowed down in farewell and left immediately.

‘The end is approaching.’

The emperor and Hyeonu—they thought the same thing at the same time. It wouldn’t be long before they would leave the demon world.

***

“Hyung-nim!” Hyeonu immediately found Kim Seokjung.

Kim Seokjung was the representative of the rankers gathered here; no one would refute it. It was because Kim Seokjung was the master of New World, the largest force gathered here.

“Ah, did our brother do something else?” Kim Seokjung greeted Hyeonu with a mischievous smile.

“I did a great job, an amazing job. Really... But this isn’t the time for that. The emperor has ordered us to attack the demon world army right now.”

“Is that so? Then I need to tell them right away. Junggu, what are you doing? Aren’t you getting in touch with them?” Kim Seokjung shouted at Gang Junggu after hearing Hyeonu’s words.

However, it was fleeting behavior as Kim Seokjung wasn’t the only one who heard Hyeonu’s words. Gang Junggu also heard them. He had already been sending whispers before Kim Seokjung yelled at him.

“I sent it to 10 people. It will spread quickly. We need to start first.” Gang Junggu finished contacting people in less than five minutes.

He contacted exactly ten guilds. There was no need to send more than that as the ten guilds would contact other guilds.

“By the way, even if we fight together... we will blow up quickly. Isn’t the emperor going to come forward?” Gang Junggu asked. He moved as soon as he heard Hyeonu’s words, but he had a concern—they alone couldn’t deal with the demon world army. They would be logged out one by one the moment they were surrounded by the demon world army.

“He will naturally come forward. I think you’ll be able to see an amazing scene. He will have to cut it in half at least to drag out the demon kings,” Hyeonu answered. It wasn’t that Hyeonu didn’t have the same worry as Gang Junggu. It was just that his worry quickly became a handful of dust and disappeared.

This was because Hyeonu knew the purpose of the emperor. Hyeonu had to cut at the demon world army—the hands and feet of the demon kings—in order to kill the demon kings. Naturally, the emperor would also join the battle.

‘It is icing on the cake if Lebron gets involved.’

In fact, the emperor alone had the ability to cut the demon world army in half. However, the emperor had to contend with the other demon kings. So of course, it was good if he could save some magic power.

“Let’s go, Hyung-nim. We are at the vanguard. We are New World, New World,” Hyeonu urged Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu.

If the battle started quickly, the battle would end quickly as well. Hyeonu wanted to rest a bit now.

‘I want to see a blue sky, not a dark sky.’

***

-By the way, what is the promise that Baler said?

-I’m curious about that as well.

-Honestly, it is more interesting that he knows a demon king.

-He even knows a dragon of the demon world.

During the time when Hyeonu was running toward the demon world army with the large guilds, including New World, the chat window was filled with the ‘promise’ that Baler mentioned.

“That promise is... It isn’t a big deal. You all know John Blake, right? Lebron’s teacher. John Blake is a demon king, but he is a human, right? That is why he promised not to get involved in this war.”

It was only now that Hyeonu revealed his promise to the viewers. There was nothing more to hide since the main scenario was running perfectly toward the end.

“Why did he need that promise? It is to start this war. Earlier, Baler and the emperor reached a mutual agreement to start the war. The emperor wanted to fight the strong, while Baler wanted to get rid of the demon kings that interfered with him in everything. Their interests were aligned. Well, there was such a minor backstory.” Hyeonu revealed the back story of the main scenario like it was nothing.

However, viewers couldn’t treat it casually. It was shocking to them.

-That... Baler used rankers as a tool to clean up his enemies?

-No, it isn’t rankers. It is using the emperor. The rankers can’t kill a demon king.

-Honestly, the players are just cleaners. The emperor will handle the real thing.

The viewers were shocked and started to sort out what Hyeonu said on their own.

‘That is all they have to know.’

In the behind-the-scenes story that Hyeonu told, he didn’t mention the fact that he took the initiative in this matter. It had been Hyeonu who suggested to Baler to start a war and Hyeonu who then suggested it to the emperor. Literally, this main scenario was written by and starred Hyeonu himself. From the writer to the director, Hyeonu had taken on every role.

Nevertheless, he didn’t intend to let the viewers know this. It wasn’t a good thing to reveal all the way to his base. There had to be a moderate sense of mystery.

“So what do I have to do from now on? All I have to do is hunt comfortably.”

It was an opportunity that might not come again. Where else could there be a countless number of monsters? Moreover, he had a guardian to support him.

‘There are a lot.’

Hyeonu was quickly able to encounter the demon world army. In the first place, the distance between Hyeonu and the demon world army wasn’t that far.

“Hyung-nim, I will be going first,” Hyeonu said. Then he called out Tang-E and Gom-E in turn.

“You have to receive the buffs before you go. What are you doing? The buffs aren’t cheap.” Kim Seokjung grabbed at Hyeonu, who seemed like he would run out immediately.

Then he shouted toward the guild members standing behind him. At Kim Seokjung’s cry, the priests of New World placed their buffs on Hyeonu.

“Hunt diligently. I will buy you drinks tonight.” Kim Seokjung winked at Hyeonu, whose eyes were wide with surprise.

“Thank you, Hyung-nim. I will fight hard while the buffs are maintained.” Hyeonu bowed to the priests of New World who gave him unintended gifts.

Then he turned and ran toward the demon world army.

“Tang-E, give me the buffs,” Hyeonu said.

Tang-E stuck his face out over Hyeonu’s shoulder and infused a tricolor light into Hyeonu’s body.

“Master dude, are you going to be fighting excitedly today?”

“Yes, it seems like I am going to be fighting endlessly.”

“Tang-E will help as long as there is the value of the meat!” Tang-E shouted with an excited face. He had received meat from Hyeonu for ten days. This served as an opportunity to clearly engrave the concept of a party to Tang-E.

“I understand. Work hard. I’ll give you a lot of meat.” Hyeonu let out a short laugh at Tang-E’s words.

‘By the way, he took so much. I don’t think he can eat it all on his own... Where does he stack it up?’

Obviously, Hyeonu had handed over a large amount of meat to Tang-E. It was for all ten days. Considering the amount that Tang-E usually ate, it would take him at least a year to consume it all even if he ate meat for all three meals a day. ‘Yet seeing that he is so obsessed with meat...’

“You like it so much.” Hyeonu didn’t understand until he saw Tang-E singing a meat song like this.

-Buy some meat.

-How much is it?

-If I give gold coins, will he buy meat for Tang-E?

-Tang-E Meat Price has gifted you 999 gold coins.

-Here you go, the price for the meat.

The viewers didn’t know this and criticized Hyeonu.

“I have a lot to say, but I won’t say it.” Hyeonu only spoke brief words.

There were no excuses. Explaining the situation in detail would definitely lead back to Alley Leader Academy. The suspicions that had barely been buried would then be revived.

‘I can’t bring back up the case I already buried just because of the demon kings.’

Hyeonu fell into his own trap.

***

“Grrrung?”

“Huuuuong?”

“What is this?”

Questions burst from the demons and demonic creatures somewhere in the front of the demon world army. It was due to the mirrors that suddenly rose up and surrounded an area that spanned over tens of meters. The bodies of the demons and demonic creatures who touched the mirror burst like balloons.

After a while, waiting swords poured out from the purple mirrors. The purple long swords then quickly flew toward the other side of the emerged mirrors.

“Help me!”

“Kuaaaah!”

“Grrruk!!”

The demons and demonic creatures trapped in Land of Mirrors were attacked by long swords flying back and forth between the mirrors, eventually poking countless holes in their bodies.

“I survived!”

“I lived!”

Some of the demons were fortunate enough to survive. However, they screamed when they saw the purple swords emerging from the mirrors again.

“No!!!”

The process was repeated until there were no living entities standing in the area of the mirror.

-What is this new skill?

-Is this a blender? Look at this cruel skill.

-If you are trapped in it, shout to surrender.

-If I encounter this in a ranking match, I would quit the match.

-It is like a torture skill...

The viewers frowned when they saw Hyeonu’s new skill, Land of Mirrors. It was because the scene it created was worth frowning at. Nevertheless, the expressions of the viewers didn’t last long as something different now appeared in front of them.

-What is this?

-Is that a demonic creature?

-Isn’t it terrible? How do they kill that?

-Is it a snake or a dragon?

They didn’t know when it appeared, but there was a giant snake in the air. Unlike the viewers, Hyeonu knew the exact identity of the snake.

‘John Blake is the one coming out, not the emperor?’

It was the magic spirit of John Blake. Hyeonu had only seen it twice.

‘Is he determined to call out Baler from the beginning?’ Hyeonu guessed the emperor’s intentions.

There was probably some meaning in the emperor not stepping out himself.

‘I will know once the situation flows...’

Hyeonu watched the snake’s actions. It was useless to use his head now; he just had to watch. The snake opened its mouth slightly, and a strange black light started to gather in the open mouth. Then the light shot forward at a much faster speed than when it gathered. The black light pierced the demon world army in an instant.

Soon, the light no longer flowed out of the snake’s mouth, and there was a huge gap in the demon world army. A third of the demon world army was gone.

In that gap, a silver-haired man stood with his palms stretched out.

“John Blake!!!”

It was the appearance of Baler, whose anger soared to the top of his head.