Ranker's Return

Chapter 815

‘There he is.’

Hyeonu quickly moved toward the rear of Yeongchan, who was visible in the distance. Hyeonu’s appearance faded like he was a ghost and he showed dazzling movements.

“Hey, Jang Yeongchan. Have you been well?”

Hyeonu appeared behind Yeongchan in an instant and put his hand on Yeongchan’s shoulder.

“Shi... You scared me. I told you not to do this.” Yeongchan was startled and almost cursed. He was so surprised because Hyeonu appeared without showing the slightest traces.

“Let’s go quickly. I’m busy.” Hyeonu casually ignored Yeongchan’s words and turned around.

“Think about it as staying up all night. You know there is no time to rest, right?” Hyeonu walked at a rapid pace and opened his mouth.

“I know. The war will start again in a week at most.”

Yeongchan knew it as well.

The undead war in the north. Yeongchan was also at the scene not long ago.

“I’m glad it is moving slowly. It would be a big deal if they moved like the cavalry.”

The speed of the undead’s advance was very irregular, but the overall pace was slow. The average time it took to move between cities was a week. Yet this time, the distance between cities was further than before. It was around twice as much. Thanks to this, Hyeonu had a bit of leeway to lead Yeongchan to the League of Different Species.

“You might be reminded of the past. You have to be properly determined,” Hyeonu finally threatened Yeongchan.

“I understand. Let’s go.”

Yeongchan nodded as if he was tired now. However, his confidence didn’t last long.

***

“Oh, let’s take it a bit easy. Driver-nim, don’t you know about 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest?” Yeongchan called out to Hyeonu with a tired face. However, Hyeonu continued to run as if he couldn’t hear it.

“That dog...” a curse immediately popped out of Yeongchan’s mouth.

Now it was time to rest. This might be a game that wasn’t real, but he couldn’t run all day and night like this. Running through the forest for hours was really painful. Besides, Yeongchan couldn’t do anything else. He was really just running.

‘What the hell is this jerk’s items that makes him so fast?

Unlike Yeongchan, Hyeonu didn’t work hard. At first glance, he looked like he was walking. He lightly kicked off from the ground and jumped forward. It was as fast as Yeongchan’s best effort to run.

Hyeonu ran swiftly and cut down all the monsters that stood in his way. By the time Yeongchan reached Hyeonu’s side, Hyeonu had finished picking up the gold and items that had fallen to the ground and was waiting to move again.

“I said there was no time to rest. Even at the current speed, we have to run for two more days,” Hyeonu fired back coldly from where he was running in front.

There was still a long way to go—at least 15,000 km.

“By the way, there are so many complaints that it is difficult to run. Should I give you a buff as well?”

“There was a buff? Hey, you should’ve given it to me earlier.” Yeongchan exhaled while becoming angry at Hyeonu’s words. If there was a buff that increased movement speed, he should’ve received it from the beginning. If Yeongchan’s movement speed became faster, then Hyeonu could also run faster.

“I thought I gave you the buff.”

Hyeonu blinked slightly and Tang-E, who was sitting on Hyeonu’s head, extended his paw toward Yeongchan. The light shot from Tang-E’s paw was absorbed into Yeongchan’s body.

[You have received Breath of the Wind.]

[Your agility has risen.]

[Your movement speed has increased.]

Yeongchan received Tang-E’s buff and was amazed.

‘Why is it so fast?’

The effect that he felt was enormous. It was clear that he would’ve reached a deeper area than now if he had received it from the beginning.

“Are you the only one sucking up this honey? You must have a conscience. I’m slow, so you should’ve taken care of me.”

Yeongchan ran at an explosive speed. He seemed to catch up with Hyeonu at once.

“Yes, I should’ve done it earlier. Then we wouldn’t have needed to go this slow,” Hyeonu’s voice penetrated Yeongchan’s ear. At the same time, Hyeonu’s body stretched out like taffy and went straight forward. The gap widened more than before Yeongchan received Tang-E’s buff.

“Go with me, you jerk!” Yeongchan’s voice echoed through Anfra Forest.

***

Teika stroked his skin, which had turned dark green, over and over again.

‘It is awkward, awkward.’

It was awkward. It wasn’t a skin color that was seen in real life. He also grew taller and had more muscles. He didn’t become as thick as Raccoon or the other orcs, but his body changed to look like an athlete.

“Teika, follow me. I have to introduce you to a few guys,” Raccoon called out to Teika with a serious face.

“What people will you introduce me to?” Teika turned his head and replied to Raccoon.

“They aren’t people. For example, elves and dwarves… they are different species.” Raccoon corrected Teika’s words. There wasn’t a single person among those Teika would meet. They were all different species.

“Don’t talk and follow me. You can go and check it yourself.”

Raccoon started to move while pushing Teika’s back with the thick palm of his hand. The place where Teika arrived with Raccoon’s guidance was the place where Hyeonu had come to a little while ago. It was the meeting hall where the great tribe chiefs of each species gathered.

“Everyone has gathered.”

Raccoon looked around the meeting hall and smiled with satisfaction. All the great tribe chiefs of the different species had gathered without a single one missing.

“The one you see here is an adventurer I have accepted as an orc. He is one of the best among adventurers,” Raccoon introduced Teika to the great tribe chiefs.

There was no need to paint Teika’s face with gold. He stated it exactly as it was. It was true that Teika was outstanding. However, a question popped up that instantly peeled off this gold paint.

“How is he compared to the human who came before?”

The dwarf great chief, Kapa, looked at Teika with interest.

“Cough... Don’t talk about it. It just makes me feel bad.”

Raccoon couldn’t hide his discomfort. Through some education, he knew that Teika’s talent was clearly superior by absolute standards. However, Hyeonu was out of the question. Teika was unconditionally undervalued compared to Hyeonu.

“As everyone knows, we now have adventurers. They might be growing rapidly, but they are a far cry from human adventurers who are already on track. Do you admit it?”

The great tribe chiefs nodded. The rapid growth of the adventurers was something that all the great tribe chiefs here knew.

“That is why we have to recruit great adventurers. That is what I mean. At this rate, the power will be out of balance.”

Raccoon had brought Teika here to back up his claim.

“We can’t just boost our power. We need to recruit senior adventurers and set reasonable conditions for them... then won’t something good happen to us as well?” Raccoon spoke in a subdued tone.

“Something good?”

“Do you mean that?”

“Indeed. That human, no—if there are hundreds of thousands of adventurers on the same level as that orc... it is possible.”

The great tribe chiefs immediately understood Raccoon’s words. They just didn’t express it with their mouths. It was because they didn’t trust Teika yet.

“Why are you hiding it like that? It isn’t something that won’t be known even if you hide it. Additionally, this guy doesn’t have a light mouth. Ask the adventurers to do what is necessary to create a species god. Then it is mutual aid.”

The matter that the great tribe chiefs were hiding. It was directly related to the species gods. The species god was a concept and existence that was artificially created by the different species when they saw the gods of the divine world. Naturally, tricky conditions were required. The first ones to satisfy them were the ra and ran tribes, now called the demons and god tribe.

Over time, many improvements started to emerge. In the beginning, it was only possible to create a species god only after a huge sacrifice. Now the conditions had been modified a lot to suit the characteristics of each species. However, there was a common need.

It was experience. Experience was the material needed for players to level up. It was also used as material for the creation of the species gods. Experience was the material used to fill in the gaps that were lacking when becoming a species god.

“How is my suggestion?”

Raccoon decided that he had given them the right amount of time and glanced at the great tribe chiefs one by one. The great tribe chiefs were all nodding. For them, it was killing two birds with one stone. They were able to strengthen their power and gain the experience points required to become a species god.

“I like it. A moderately qualified adventurer is acceptable.”

“Me too.”

“Me also.”

The great tribe chiefs unanimously accepted Raccoon’s suggestion.

“The next step is to slowly spread the facts...”

Raccoon’s head turned toward Teika. The method of publicity already existed by his side.

***

The time spent by Hyeonu and Yeongchan to break through the Anfra Forest was exactly three days. Hyeonu and Yeongchan arrived at Meong, the fortress city of the League of Different Species. It was the result of running like crazy day and night. Unlike last time, there were no hostile acts such as shooting.

The bear sitting on Hyeonu’s head—the guards who saw the bear opened the gates without saying a word.

They couldn’t forget it. Hyeonu didn’t know it, but Manong heard that a baptism of arrows flew toward Tang-E and she completely overturned the League of Different Species the other day.

“Let’s rest here.”

Hyeonu entered Meong and sat down under a large tree.

“Why? Don’t you have to go somewhere else?”

Yeongchan looked perplexed by Hyeonu’s sudden actions.

“If we rest, then he’ll show up,” Hyeonu told Yeongchan with a smile.

He had heard something.

‘It is something that I like...’

Hyeonu had already been told by Teika. It was from Raccoon taking Teika to see the great tribe chiefs to the conversations they had. He heard everything from one to ten.

“Really? Then let’s get some rest.”

Yeongchan lay down flat on the ground. It was as if he was lying on a bed or a sofa instead of the ground. After a while, Raccoon and Teika appeared in front of Hyeonu and Yeongchan.

“Hello, Raccoon,” Hyeonu slowly got up from his seat and greeted Raccoon.

“Have you been to the divine world?”

“It went well. It was a decent experience.”

“A decent experience? You made it a wasteland... Hmm~”

Momentary regret crossed over Raccoon’s face. Raccoon already knew what Hyeonu had done in the divine world. Thus, it was even more disappointing. The fact that Hyeonu wouldn’t become an orc.

“Please take care of this friend here, Raccoon. He wants to be like that friend,” Hyeonu said while putting a hand on Yeongchan’s shoulder.

“This guy? This guy wants to become an orc as well?” Raccoon scanned Yeongchan from head to toe.

“No, this friend says he wants to be an elf. This is a friend with a good foundation of his own, so there will be quite a few adventurers following him.”

Hyeonu thought of the guild where Yeongchan was the master.

‘If even one of them changes to a different species, then all of them will follow.’

They were getting along now, but it wasn’t known when the relationship between the League of Different Species and humans would change. It was safe to say that it would be broken one day.

“An elf? Heh, what is so good about them? They get angry just standing still.” Raccoon started to grumble, but it was only for a moment.

“I understand, I will tell Nile.” Raccoon nodded and looked at Hyeonu.

“By the way, I have something to tell you... can you gather the great tribe chiefs?”

Now it was Hyeonu’s time.