Ranker's Return

Edward raised his hands and touched all over his body. His face, his chin, his chest, and his abdomen—he touched them over and over again. It was unbelievable that he had died and then survived.

Hyeonu watched for a long time before he finally couldn’t hold back. His expression distorted as he shouted, “Do it in moderation! Why are you making such a fuss when you aren’t dead? You are alive.”

“What? Making a fuss? Are you saying that to me right now?” Edward’s expression changed rapidly due to Hyeonu’s rebuke. His eyes were filled with venom, and his expression was no different from that of a ferocious villain. It was inevitable since Hyeonu was the one who made the hole in Edward’s chest.

However, Edward was no longer able to speak because Callioraks cut in between the two of them. He said, “A spear in the chest won’t kill you. Your heart didn’t explode, and your head didn’t disappear.”

Callioraks’ words were shocking from Edward’s point of view.

‘I guess so.’ Hyeonu was also speechless due to Callioraks, but he overlooked it lightly. There was nothing to be gained from touching this topic.

“What happened to the fragments? Are they completely gone?” He instead asked about Edward’s condition. Everything had happened because Edward absorbed the fragments of the demon god like a fool.

“The fragments?” Edward briefly wondered before shutting up. He had just died and survived. so he hadn’t been able to think about the fragments of the demon god.

‘Nothing?’

There were no fragments of the demon god. His mind was clearer than ever, and his body was lighter. He wondered if there had ever been a day in his life when he felt so comfortable.

“Nothing. There is nothing,” Edward replied with a bright expression. The curse and ban that had plagued him for months had been lifted.

He burst out laughing.

“Now it is time to grant my request.” Hyeonu also smiled. He had granted Edward’s request, so it was Edward’s turn to grant his requests.

“Request? Yes, you had some requests. Please say it. I can’t remember.” Edward nodded.

A promise was a promise. The part that he did remember was quite acceptable.

Hyeonu raised his right hand and extended his index finger. “First, accept the adventurers who will soon visit you as your subordinates. It is up to you if you want to take in any adventurers after that.”

The adventurers that Hyeonu mentioned naturally meant the Venom Guild. It was none of Hyeonu’s business if Edward took in other players or not. For Hyeonu, the important thing was for the Venom Guild to go under Edward and provide him with information.

“Right, that’s right. We talked about this. I will fulfill this.” Edward nodded. He remembered. They’d had such a conversation before he was dominated by the demon god. There were good reasons for it as well.

Hyeonu raised his middle finger and explained his second request, “The second one. I said this before, but you have to start a war. It isn’t breaking through at one point like now. You should spread it out widely. I hope you will build three or four front lines at the same time.”

Once again, this was something he had said during the last meeting. However, this time, Edward’s answer didn’t come straight away like it did with the last request. He kept his mouth shut and pondered on it. After a while, Edward opened his mouth with a cautious expression, “If I do as you said back then... it isn’t hard. However, everything will be over the moment the three of them step out. Time isn’t enough to overcome it. I am alone while the empire has three.”

Forming multiple front lines was easy for Edward. His army consisted entirely of the undead. He could make as much as he wanted as long as he poured in magic power. There were enough senior undead and a lot of undead with a level that adventurers could never kill. It wouldn’t be hard for them to hold on.

Just then, Callioraks clapped and burst out laughing. “This is an interesting idea. It is really wonderful. It is amazing.”

He was laughing heartily. Callioraks overheard Hyeonu’s plan and decided it would serve as an opportunity for him. It provided his heart full of emptiness with the power to run again.

‘Revive the demon world.’

Callioraks intended to return the demon world to what it was before the ran tribe moved there. It had been a demon world where the demonic creatures and demons were much stronger than they were now. Still, it would take time for that to happen. Now was the time for Callioraks to grow after consuming the magic power of the demon world, which should be enriched due to the destruction of the demon god’s temple.

Clack! Callioraks snapped his fingers. A purple light flashed momentarily. Then a pile of corpses appeared. They were the corpses of the guardians.

“Revive these guys. They don’t know that the demon god is dead. Act as if you are the demon god and use them. Then there will be no worries.” Callioraks kicked the bodies of the guardians.

‘Resurrecting them as undead?’ Hyeonu sucked in a breath when he heard this. He had seen with his own eyes how strong the guardians were. It was possible for John Blake and Lebron to hold out against one guardian, but he wasn’t sure what would happen if there were two.

‘The front lines won’t fall.’

The presence of the five guardians meant the undead army wouldn’t collapse. Instead, the cities of the Yusma Empire were the ones that should be worried.

‘I remember.’ Edward received a flood of memories when he saw the bodies of the guardians summoned by Callioraks. It was Ragand’s memory. Memories of Ragand’s entire life flowed into Edward, but he felt no pain. Edward’s mentality was too strong to be swayed by mere memories. He had been tempered by the fragments of the demon god, and the effect of Ragand remodeling his body was great.

‘I can become strong.’

Edward absorbed Ragand’s memory in an instant and smiled. Ragand’s memory was a staircase for him—one that would strengthen him when he climbed it.

Edward examined the guardians before answering Callioraks, “I understand. I’ll resurrect them as the undead.”

“What are you talking about? Why resurrect them as the undead? Think about it more carefully.” Callioraks had a rotten expression on his face. The ability of the guardians to resurrect played a role in the reason why he’d fought for so long without seeing an end. He was talking about a literal resurrection, not as undead.

‘Not the undead?’ Edward searched through Ragand’s memory and found something about the guardians.

‘They weren’t alive in the first place?’ Edward easily recalled the memories about the guardians. The guardians were artificial creatures that hadn’t been born naturally. They had been made using the secret arts of the ran tribe.

‘Engrave a magic circle on the magic power stone...’ Edward even acquired the way to resurrect the guardians. It wasn’t too difficult. All he needed was a magic power stone. It was easy to carve a magic circle.

‘I’ve never done it, but...’

He thought he could do it. Ragand’s memories were still vivid. He could carve it now if he wanted.

“I found the method. I think I can save them.” Edward maintained a polite attitude toward Callioraks. It was natural. In his memory, Callioraks was a monster stronger than Ragand, who had been so strong. He was a bad opponent to go against.

Callioraks didn’t respond to Edward’s comment.

Then Edward’s gaze naturally turned toward Hyeonu. “What is the third request?”

The last request that Hyeonu could make still remained.

“I’ll tell you later. You don’t have to do it right now.” Hyeonu shook his head. He had no intention of asking for the third request right now. Instead, he was going to make it later when he really needed it.

‘I can’t ask when I don’t need anything.’ Hyeonu couldn’t waste such a good opportunity.

“I understand. If you are like this, there is nothing more I can say.” Edward nodded without changing his expression. He wasn’t bothered about getting it now.

Contrary to Edward turning away from Callioraks, Hyeonu shifted his gaze to Callioraks. “Callioraks, I will be leaving now. What about you?”

Callioraks nodded coolly and said something that surprised Hyeonu, “Yes, go ahead. I’ll find you soon. Don’t be too surprised.”

“You will come to see me? Will you know where I am...”

“That isn’t something for you to worry about. It is up to me,” Callioraks said. He frowned slightly, but it was only for a short moment. Soon after, he was smiling.

“See you later.” Callioraks raised his right hand and carefully stroked Tang-E’s head. Tang-E silently placed his head against Callioraks’ hand and nodded.

Callioraks smiled with pleasure at him.

“I’m leaving now, Callioraks.” Hyeonu said goodbye to Callioraks one last time before immediately tearing a return scroll from his inventory.

The smile on Callioraks’ face disappeared the moment Hyeonu left with Tang-E.

“How much of his memory did you accept?” Callioraks approached Edward with a cold, determined expression.

“First of all, I absorbed all his memories. It’s just that it doesn’t pop up very well unless I concentrate,” Edward replied stiffly.

“Really? That is a problem that time will solve... There is one thing I want to say to you. Spread out the front lines and prolong the war as the human said earlier. It is so that the humans won’t bother about the demon world.”

There was only one reason for Callioraks to do this—to divert the attention of human beings. To be exact, his purpose was to get the adventurers in the demon world out of the demon world. It was only in this way that the demons and demonic creatures of the demon world would have time to grow.

“In addition, don’t entertain vain thoughts. Think of me if someone says something sweet to you,” Callioraks added.

A dragon appeared behind Callioraks. The dragon exuded a fierce energy, and its presence alone gave off a lot of pressure.

“I understand.” Edward couldn’t think of anything to say and lowered his head. The pressure Callioraks was giving off was too fierce to refute.

“Then take care of yourself. My ears are always open.” Callioraks disappeared with this sentence. He moved to the demon world in a single breath.

“Phew...” Edward sighed loudly after confirming that Callioraks was gone.

Ignorance was bliss. He couldn’t think of fighting or resisting after knowing how strong Callioraks was.

‘For the time being, I must concentrate on reviving the guardians and training them.’

Edward’s work that he had to do from now on was decided. Become stronger using Ragand’s memory and revive the guardians—that was the path Edward had to take.

‘Huh?’

“What?”

It happened at this moment.

Edward frowned.

At the same time, a white light appeared not far from Edward. The light was brilliant, but Edward instinctively felt uncomfortable with it. It was because he sensed magic power with the light attribute, the opposite of the dark magic power. The light subsided and revealed a handsome man standing there.

“Huh?”

The handsome man had a face that Edward knew.