Ranker's Return

Chapter 893

Cancun didn’t shake at Hyeonu’s powerful provocation. The effort he put in so far was too great to be swayed by a few words.

‘Only today... I will take revenge.’

Cancun slowly pulled out the axe he was carrying on his back. At this moment, only Raccoon’s words remained in Cancun’s mind.

‘You can get excited, but don’t lose your reason.‘

‘The axe should always be heavy.‘

‘The mind comes first. You will be defeated the moment you have lost your confidence.‘

‘Fighting spirit is the foundation of orcs.’

They were words he had been hearing from an early age until his ears scabbed over. At one time, he casually ignored it, but he couldn’t any longer. He realized that Raccoon’s words were the truth.

‘Apply it as it is.’

The lack of practical experience was quickly filled up by sparring with Teika. The parts that weren’t filled by sparring with Raccoon and Dakan were filled. Thus, Cancun was confident.

‘He can’t go there...’

Teika let out a sigh as he watched Cancun slowly approaching Hyeonu. This wasn’t it. Cancun shouldn’t have gone out like this against Alley Leader.

‘I am a different person... it is completely different...’

The attitude that Cancun should have now wasn’t confidence, but moderate tension and vigilance toward his opponent. There was nowhere for ‘confidence’ to intervene.

***

Cancun did his best from the start. He ignited a fighting energy close to killing intent toward Hyeonu and gathered as much magic power as he could control. There was no holding back. It was the attitude of pouring out everything.

A ferocious fighting energy emanated from Cancun’s body and spread through the air. At the same time, Cancun’s axe, covered with pure energy, attacked Hyeonu. Hyeonu was smiling from the moment he saw the fighting energy.

‘I haven’t forgotten it yet.’

Hyeonu hadn’t forgotten his first spar with Cancun. The intense fighting energy that was released toward him, who had just obtained fighting energy–he had been aiming for a time to repay it. He wasn’t certain he could overwhelm Cancun before, but now he was definitely feeling it. It was the fact that his fighting energy surpassed Cancun’s.

Hyeonu released his fighting energy toward the approaching Cancun. The combination of Fighting Energy Emission with an S-grade proficiency and the fighting energy stat with more than 10,000 points created a ridiculous synergy. A red mist that was frightening to look at covered the area around Cancun. It was incomparable to Cancun’s one.

Cancun, who was approaching as if to destroy everything, stopped in place. It was a stop due to another person’s intention, not his own means.

“Uwaaah!” Cancun struggled for a moment before screaming while standing in place. It was so loud that it resounded through the entire empty space.

[You have heard the Fear of Cancun, the heir of the Meadow Wolf Tribe.]

[The influence of fighting energy has allowed you to ignore the Fear of Cancun, the heir of the Meadow Wolf Tribe.]

The identity of the shout was Fear, the symbol of high level monsters. However, it had no effect on Hyeonu. Meanwhile, some things had changed for Cancun. He pushed away a bit of Hyeonu’s fighting energy that was binding him.

‘Then what is this?’

Hyeonu walked toward Cancun. Cancun’s response was nothing. He had expected it.

Cancun saw Hyeonu approaching and swung his axe. It was filled with a heavy momentum that was faithful to Raccoon’s teachings. The space that Cancun’s axe passed through was slowly collapsing.

Hyeonu swung the Mixed Sky Sword. It was a neat swing from bottom up. Cancun’s blow, which wanted to smash everything, and Hyeonu’s blow, which contained no special skills, collided. The thing that should’ve happened didn’t happen. There were no shockwaves and no collision sounds.

Cancun’s axe and the Mixed Sky Sword were strangely aligned. Hyeonu naturally pushed the Mixed Sky Sword to the side. Then Cancun’s axe was pushed away. He pushed the Mixed Sky Sword into that gap.

“The end! Right?”

Hyeonu looked at Raccoon while holding the Mixed Sky Sword to Cancun’s neck.

“That’s right, it is your victory.” Raccoon nodded. It was a complete victory for Hyeonu. It was a perfect victory with no excuses.

‘Is there such a difference?’

Obviously, Cancun had been stronger when they first met.

Yet at one point, it became reversed and it was hard to even deal with Hyeonu’s blow.

‘How proud should I be that I taught such a person...?’

Raccoon didn’t know if he should groan at the wall that his child met. The only thing that was certain was that his taste buds were very bitter at the moment.

“There are still nine times left. Get back in place,” Raccoon instructed while looking at Cancun.

“I understand.”

Cancun nodded with a stiff expression. He couldn’t quite understand the results in front of him. It was incomprehensible. Last time, he was obviously careless. He comforted himself like this and continued training. Nevertheless, the results didn’t change. On the contrary, the difference seemed to be wider than it was back then.

‘It will be different this time.’

He was thinking of competing with techniques if he was inferior in strength. There was just one thing Cancun had forgotten. It was the fact that Cancun had tasted bitterness in front of Hyeonu’s techniques during the first spar.

***

“Can you win like that?” Teika whispered very softly as he stood in front of Hyeonu.

“Well, whether I win like this or that, it is still a loss from the other side’s position. Isn’t it like that?”

Hyeonu smiled slightly and shrugged. 10 wins and 0 losses. It also took less than 10 minutes to do the spar. Hyeonu succeeded in fulfilling the words he had told Teika.

“Please take it easy, take it easy. I won’t be able to learn anything if I lose in vain, right?” Teika asked with a smile that he made look as good as possible.

“It is someone’s request, so I naturally have to listen. I will match you until you surrender on your own.”

Hyeonu nodded coolly. Teika was now in close contact with Hyeonu. It wasn’t just an acquaintance between rankers.

“I do it because I enjoy it. I think of my old self when I look at them.”

“Even so, thank you for willingly accepting the coaching offer. This doubled the training efficiency.”

Teika accepted Hyeonu’s coaching offer and signed a contract as the exclusive PvP coach of Crescent Moon. There was no big reason for signing the contract. The biggest thing was to pay off his debt to Hyeonu.

“It means I have to listen to whining, but... I think it is definitely worth it.”

Aike had expressed his displeasure when he learned of this, but the ship had already sailed.

“Then let’s start carefully.”

Hyeonu put the Mixed Sky Sword into his sheath. He immediately summoned the Guardian’s Spear.

“Umm...” Teika groaned when he saw the spear in Hyeonu’s hand. He had seen it with his own eyes and in videos. Yet he couldn’t get used to it no matter how he looked at it.

‘A fight between spears... it isn’t very pleasant...’

Additionally, Teika wasn’t used to fighting opponents with spears. It wasn’t just Teika’s problem. The most popular melee weapons chosen by players who enjoyed Arena were swords and single-edged swords. In comparison, the number of players using spears was quite small. There were even fewer players who rose to a ranker position.

“Come on, let’s go.” Hyeonu left words that were a warning to Teika and threw the spear. Hyeonu’s spear stretched out like it would instantly pierce Teika’s eye.

Teika’s eyes widened and he swung his spear. A bloody pure energy rose like a flame from the end of the spear. Teika’s spear succeeded in deflecting the Guardian’s Spear. The moment Teika saw Hyeonu’s spear being pushed back, he kicked against the ground and went forward. He rushed so fast that an afterimage appeared and extended his spear hard.

A bloody wolf appeared from Teika’s spear and opened its mouth wide toward Hyeonu. It was a much larger and more detailed image than before. Naturally, the power rose as well.

Hyeonu calmly extended his spear toward the wolf. A crescent-shaped purple pure energy flew through the wolf’s mouth. At this moment, the bloody wolf changed. The wolf closed its wide open mouth, lifted itself up and slammed its paw against Hyeonu’s pure energy.

A strong explosion burst out. Due to the collision, Hyeonu’s pure energy disappeared without a trace, while Teika’s wolf became smaller and blurry. Hyeonu swung the spear again with a slightly surprised expression. There was a significantly smaller explosion than before. Then everything disappeared as if there had been nothing in the first place.

Teika didn’t panic and stuck close to Hyeonu. From the beginning, he didn’t have the illusion that he could do something with one skill. It was an insult to the name of Alley Leader. He couldn’t do so considering the defeats he suffered due to Hyeonu so far.

‘Splitting Snake!’

Teika quickly stabbed the spear. Then Teika’s spear split into several pieces. At the same time, the spear became a serpent. The snakes moved in different trajectories. They all flicked their tongues and attacked Hyeonu.

Hyeonu’s choice was simple and tactless. He just stabbed the spear straight forward. However, the result was different. Hyeonu’s spear made far more spears than Teika’s snake. It completely covered the air. The purple spears pierced the blood snakes. Their entire bodies were pierced and they were cut. The snakes fell without reaching Hyeonu.

This time, Hyeonu moved first. He used Mixed Sky Steps and appeared in front of Teika in a single breath. Then he used just the spear blade wrapped in pure energy to induce a melee fight. The spears of Teika and Hyeonu collided over and over again. The exchange of blows was so perfect that it seemed like an action movie planned in advance.

‘Focus, focus.’

On the surface, it looked like the scene of a movie. However, the one actually competing, Teika, was trembling. It was a bloody exchange that would lead to defeat if he let go of his concentration for even a moment. It was Teika who lost concentration first. It had to be so.

Teika had to care about more things than Hyeonu. It was because Hyeonu was faster and stronger. Hyeonu also had a rare footwork technique called Mixed Sky Steps. Teika had a similar skill, but it wasn’t as good as Mixed Sky Steps. He was pushed when it came to footwork and was forced on the defensive. This soon came as extreme pressure.

Hyeonu’s spear blade overflowed with pure energy and literally exploded against Teika’s spear. Teika couldn’t withstand the massive shock and let go of his spear. Teika’s spear flew high into the air. Teika’s spear flew far away and plugged into the ground at Raccoon’s feet.

“I lost.” Teika raised his hands. He expressed surrender with his entire body.

“There are nine more left.” Hyeonu held his spear.

“I know. There are nine left,” Teika answered while slowly taking out potions from his inventory. This wasn’t the arena. A potion or a priest’s buffs were needed to regain health and magic power.

“I have to give up on today’s battle.”

Teika smiled bitterly. If he had to fight the same battle nine more times... it would be impossible to fight against the god tribe. It was a hundred times better to give up and rest.

At this moment, a spear flew in front of Teika and inserted into the ground. Raccoon had thrown the spear. It meant to not talk nonsense and fight.

“Let’s go again.” Teika’s bitter smile deepened.