Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Broken Ranker

Devours Myths

 

Chapter 126

D-DAY (1)

 

 

 

Before entering the Ministry of Defense.

Lee Hyeon had a brief conversation with Lee Gun-san regarding this matter.

“But how are you planning to take the Snow Queen? You can’t just openly take it, right?”

He could understand Lee Gun-san having the hand.

But what was in the Ministry of Defense was ultimately state property.

If Lee Hyeon said he wanted to take it, he would only be treated like a madman.

This was a separate matter from the Ministry of Defense currently surrendering to Lee Hyeon.

“A loan arrangement wouldn’t work either, would it?”

“Would it work? From what I know, even the experiments were halted, so removal itself would be impossible.”

“Experiments? What were they trying to do?”

Lee Hyeon’s eyes lit up.

He had thought it was strange anyway.

Xu Changyou had also used sacred relics to create Ping Xin, so the Ministry of Defense with the corpse wouldn’t have just kept it for display purposes.

“It’s classified so I don’t know the exact details, but it seemed they were preparing a spirit weapon plan.”

“Spirit weapon plan…?”

“Usually, boss monster corpses retain strong remnants of their thoughts, right? They extract that along with magic power and inject it into the Snow Queen’s corpse.”

“…!”

“Then the difficult-to-handle thoughts would emerge in crystallized form, and if you turn this into spirits through processing,”

“Artificial spirits are still spirits, so they could be used as weapons.”

“Right. That’s exactly it.”

Lee Hyeon was dumbfounded.

Thinking they really came up with all sorts of novel methods.

But if successful, it could greatly help strengthen their forces.

All the boss monsters owned by the Ministry of Defense were high-grade ones.

If they turned such things into artificial spirits, they would be able to deploy various combat capabilities.

‘It would be easy to control soldiers too. Never again create a second Blue Thunder, something like that?’

The Ministry of Defense’s true intentions were transparent.

“Was this the General’s idea by any chance? I hadn’t thought of this kind of application myself.”

“I did come up with the basic concept. Originally, it came about while I was seeking methods to break the curse placed on you.”

“Ah.”

Lee Hyeon scratched his cheek with his index finger.

Heh.

Lee Gun-san chuckled lightly and continued.

“But I got kicked out in the meantime, and that Major Han bastard snatched up the entire project.”

“Major Han Dong-wook, who was originally my examination committee chairman?”

“Right.”

“So there was a reason he wanted to fail me.”

“Haha. He and I have a thoroughly antagonistic relationship.”

Lee Hyeon narrowed his eyes playfully.

“But seeing there’s no particular talk about the experimental results, I guess it failed.”

“It failed. Spectacularly. There seemed to be problems along the way.”

“Problems being…?”

“In the three-stage process of implantation, assimilation, and extraction, they somehow succeeded up to assimilation, but extraction failed repeatedly.”

Lee Hyeon nodded as if he had expected this.

“The frozen thoughts wouldn’t break.”

“They were harder and colder than we had anticipated. Still, trying to melt them somehow, they started throwing everything at it… and eventually,”

“…the corpse must have become a complete mess.”

Lee Gun-san nodded.

“It became a kind of communal cemetery.”

 

* * *

 

Communal cemetery.

Lee Gun-san’s expression was exactly right.

The boss monster thoughts injected into the Snow Queen’s corpse to try creating spirit crystals numbered in the dozens.

‘Just the ones the General roughly mentioned included Shadow of Obsidian, Frostfeather Hawk, Abyssal Sleeping Dragon, Wailing Wind, Frost Fox… there were so many.’

Not only Yin-type boss monsters, but later, to forcibly melt the crystals, they even injected magic power from Yang-type boss monsters like Bonfire Fairy and Blood Flame Serpent.

‘Especially [Blood Flame Serpent] was a boss monster first known about 40 years ago because of the Mountain God, right? The Ministry of Defense was storing that corpse too?’

It seemed to be because it was defeated before Mo Jeong-gyeon began creating White Burn in earnest.

In any case,

Because of this, the Snow Queen’s corpse would definitely be severely contaminated.

Perhaps there might even be an unfortunate incident where the Snow Queen couldn’t recover it.

Still, he felt he needed to check directly, so he had sent it along with his clone…

‘Did she instead freeze it even harder in reverse?’

Lee Hyeon was surprised by the Snow Queen’s response,

while briefly pondering how on earth he should handle this.

 

[The absorbed magic power is too much. ‘Banner of Extreme Cold’ cannot handle it.]

[Overload occurring in mana circuits.]

 

“Jang Lee Hyeon sir?”

“Ah, I’m fine. Please continue speaking.”

Lee Hyeon nodded while subtly hiding his right hand behind his back.

Currently, they had entered an empty conference room to discuss business plans.

He needed to focus on the meeting.

The banner carved on the back of his hand emitted a subtle light, but when covered with his will, it wasn’t easily visible.

Simultaneously,

Click-

 

[Curse Incantations: Magic Power Seal, Freezing Enhancement]

 

Using curse incantations, he trapped and locked the energy in the Banner of Extreme Cold to prevent it from spreading to his mana circuits.

Thanks to this, the chill flowing through his body also subsided considerably.

「Kekeke! At this level, it’s not just thoughts but grudges! When such things meet extreme freezing attributes, they can only become more violent!」

Sha Wujing jumped down from Lee Hyeon’s shoulder and laughed.

「But really, all sorts of creatures are in there, huh? Kekeke! Sister-in-law, do you think purification of these might be possible?」

「Well. I think I’d need to take them apart once to know. If I carelessly burn them, I might not be able to save any… and some might just make their grudges grow bigger.」

The Peng Demon King also fluttered her small wings as she approached and carefully examined the Banner of Extreme Cold.

‘I’ll be counting on you.’

Lee Hyeon entrusted the aftermath to the two demon kings, then focused on Agent Cha Yoon-jung’s words.

In fact, he had barely heard the earlier part of the content due to controlling his magic power.

“…due to this, Xu Changyou has now completely severed ties with Chairman Peng, and Chairman Peng is understood to be on the verge of losing his position.”

However, he could roughly guess what the content was about.

Xu Changyou and Feng Jinghao had clashed, and Feng Jinghao was currently on the brink of being ousted from his position.

And,

“Liu Chen… I can’t quite judge yet whether this is good or bad.”

At Lee Hyeon’s words, the other three people’s gazes focused on him.

Lee Gun-san nodded his head.

“Still, compared to Chairman Peng, he was classified as relatively moderate. For now, we should assume it’s better.”

Lee Hyeon had never seen Liu Chen directly either.

By the time he was active, Liu Chen had already been pushed out of politics.

However, he had encountered many stories related to him.

He’s like an immortal, he’s not like a human being, and so on.

He had expected someone to emerge if Feng Jinghao was ousted, but if it was Liu Chen, there was much to learn anew.

Cha Yoon-jung spoke.

“The exact details of the deal between Xu Changyou and Liu Chen haven’t been revealed. However, afterwards, Xu Changyou’s base was moved to Tianjin where Ping Xin’s headquarters is located, and all sorts of supplies are flowing in there…”

“So he intends to reorganize Ping Xin anew. And give command authority back to Xu Changyou.”

“Yes. That appears to be the case.”

Cha Yoon-jung nodded at Lee Gun-san’s words.

Michael, who had been listening to the entire conversation through a translation item, added his remarks.

“It appears Liu Chen also gave him some skill books and items related to himself. After moving his base to Tianjin, it’s judged that Xu Changyou rarely comes out of the building.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Separate from taking over and reorganizing Ping Xin, our home country assesses that he’s preparing to rise back to top ranker status.”

This was definitely not something to take lightly.

Clatter.

Michael continued speaking while putting down the coffee he was drinking.

“Moreover, it’s currently understood that demons from the Underground Cult and City Cartel are also present at Ping Xin’s headquarters.”

This was content that even the National Intelligence Service didn’t know about.

Cha Yoon-jung’s gaze hurriedly turned in that direction.

“Just as Korea and the United States joined hands, they’ve joined hands in their own way. It’s become a confrontation between alliances.”

“……”

“……”

“……”

For a moment, deep silence flowed between the four people.

Only the sound of Lee Hyeon drinking his iced americano through a straw could be heard.

Every single issue was something that couldn’t be taken lightly.

The leap to top ranker.

It was a very famous fact that Xu Changyou had received full support from the Central Hero Committee to become a top ranker.

But if Liu Chen, who was already a top ranker, was determined to develop him, he might certainly get much closer to that position than before.

Moreover, the Underground Cult and City Cartel were clearly demon groups.

They had also been internationally designated as ‘villain guilds.’

Yet bringing in both places without regard for international opinion meant

they intended to openly display hostility toward White Burn and ASTRA.

There was no telling what kind of thorough preparations they had made at the Ping Xin base.

Blue Thunder, ASTRA versus the Central Hero Committee, Underground Cult, and City Cartel…

After this clash, great repercussions would surely spread through international society.

Whether in a good sense or bad sense.

“Ah, of course there are also reports that Zhang Yizhi, Xu Changyou’s right-hand man, hasn’t been seen recently due to a physical altercation with Feng Jinghao, and this is to recover from that, but…”

“Still, it would be better to discuss assuming the worst-case scenario.”

Lee Hyeon interrupted Michael’s words.

Michael smiled as if he was right.

Clatter.

Lee Hyeon placed the iced americano he was drinking on the table.

“Then this worked out even better.”

Worked out well?

The three people’s gazes turned toward Lee Hyeon again.

Lee Hyeon said.

“Since it means the longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it becomes for us, I’ll move Z Team immediately. We’re already prepared.”

“…!”

“…!”

“…!?”

A declaration as if he was going for a neighborhood stroll.

But it was true.

As desired, not only had the team been rebuilt, but the unit’s honor had been restored. The Snow Queen’s main body had also just been recovered.

 

[All of ‘s main body has been collected in the ‘Banner of Bitter Cold.’]

[However, magic power absorption is not yet complete, so sacred relic activity is temporarily suspended.]

[Absorbing.]

[1, 2%……]

 

His colleagues had also finished wrapping up all their previous jobs and completed joining Z Team.

They could move immediately.

Lee Gun-san let out a light chuckle, and Michael nodded as if he had expected this.

“ASTRA is already prepared too. Just set the operation date and let me know. We’ll support you anytime.”

“Will it really be alright?”

A question mixed with various doubts.

Michael smiled lightly.

“Didn’t I already say? I’ll accept all the conditions you proposed. The director’s special permission has also come through, and we also want to see what Blue Thunder’s capabilities are like.”

For a moment, fangs glinted between Michael’s parted lips.

“However, if the level falls below what we expected, then Blue Thunder will have to be the backup.”

It meant they would actively help, but equally harsh evaluation would follow from behind.

It was a situation where anyone would feel pressured, but

“By all means.”

Lee Hyeon smiled in the same way, as if to say bring it on if you want to come.

Then it was Cha Yoon-jung who became urgent.

“W-wait a moment please! If you proceed this quickly, it won’t be easy for us to cooperate! At minimum, you should discuss the schedule…!”

“The National Intelligence Service just needs to check and relay the situation at Ping Xin’s headquarters via satellite.”

“If that’s not feasible, our home country will rent a satellite ourselves. Ah, would this be better actually?”

Cha Yoon-jung became anxious seeing Michael’s smiling reaction.

In fact, the National Intelligence Service’s desire to join this operation was due to Blue House instructions, but

there was also the purpose of controlling and coordinating various international disputes that could arise.

White Burn’s recent activities had been dazzlingly impressive.

If Jet and Blue Thunder were added here, and ASTRA backed them up, a major battle would surely occur.

The aftermath would be no joke, so they needed to have at least one foot in somehow.

“B-but isn’t this the first time Blue Thunder has united in 4 years? To coordinate again, and for investigation and planning of the operation area to be established, it would take time…!”

“As you saw during the Ulleungdo operation, we can coordinate when we get there.”

“…Ah.”

“We’ve already finished assessing the operation area, so now it seems important to pick up speed while the enemy is in confusion.”

“I-I’ll get permission from the director! Please wait just a moment!”

Cha Yoon-jung grabbed her encrypted phone and rushed outside in a hurry.

And shortly after, she returned to the conference room with an urgent expression.

Her breathing was quite rough.

“One week! Could you possibly give us just one week…?”

Lee Hyeon shook his head.

“No more than 3 days.”

“Ah, understood. I’ll try my best to adjust the schedule.”

Cha Yoon-jung’s mind immediately began planning what she needed to do first once this meeting ended.

Michael ran his hand through his hair as he stood up from his seat.

“It looks like we need to hurry our preparations too. Our director is going to be very busy coordinating this and that…”

“I should also prepare everything properly. I can’t let my boys feel intimidated when they go out into the world after so long. Hehe.”

Lee Gun-san also stood up with a smile.

Without them, this operation would have taken considerable time to execute.

Lee Hyeon bowed his head slightly to them with a grateful heart.

 

Until the operation launch date.

D-3.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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