Ranker Who Shatters Myths - Chapter 272

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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 272

To South Africa (5)

[Perseus’s Mask]

A plaster mask containing the legend of the ancient hero ‘Perseus’. It originated from the prosopon of ancient Greek theater.

The moment one wears this mask, they acquire not only all legends related to Perseus, but also memories, thoughts, emotions, abilities, and even ego and personality.

-Type: Magical tool.

-Origin: Ritual ‘Dionysus Ceremony

After Lee Hyeon had forcibly taken the mask from Perseus and discovered fragments of Astrape within it,

whenever he had free time, he would separately examine the mask’s functions meticulously.

Thanks to this,

[‘Sacred Relic: Golden Headband’ is activated to attempt synchronization with ‘Perseus’s Mask’!]

He had now reached a level where he could fully understand the mask’s structure and even use its functions.

The Golden Headband appeared above Lee Hyeon’s crown and began rotating.

As Snow White, which he had separately taken out from Kibisis, began to glow, the plaster mask also glowed with the same whitish light.

[Combat Sense (SS) manifests, synchronizing the sensory perception domain with Perseus’s mask.]

Lee Hyeon lifted the plaster mask and brought it to his face.

The mask’s total functions he had discovered so far were two.

‘One is the opening of Perseus’s legend.’

Click!

The moment he put the plaster mask on his face,

Whoooosh!

[Legend, ‘King Who Slayed Medusa’ is opened!]

[‘Skill: Pegasus Summoning’ can now be used.]

[‘Skill: Harpe Swordsmanship’ can now be used.]

[‘Skill: Gorgon’s Eye’ can now be used.]

…

[Astrape fragments are applied. Zeus’s myth merges, strengthening existing functions.]

Crackle crackle!!

A gust of wind swirled around Lee Hyeon while white lightning sparked above it.

Lee Hyeon felt as if he had become a new self rather than his original self.

It felt like being possessed by something completely different.

It was like standing on a theater stage, feeling ‘like myself yet not myself.’

Moreover, by using the power of Astrape sealed in Snow White, the use of Diovis became much smoother.

‘What I expected was definitely correct. The Sons of Zeus were able to hide their identities all this time because they kept all their legends hidden in this mask.’

This is how they could maintain their double identities despite being pursued by numerous intelligence agencies.

And,

this could be a decent card for Lee Hyeon as well.

‘And the second is….’

Lee Hyeon felt as if an invisible current was connected from the plaster mask to the Heavens.

The mask was searching for other masks.

Probably beyond this, there would be Dionysus.

“What are you? Are you really Jang Lee Hyeon?”

Go Jin-woo, who had been watching from the side, asked while swallowing dry saliva.

If the Lee Hyeon he had been talking to before felt like a cunning yet savagely murderous berserker,

now he felt more like a sharp swordsman with cool judgment and agile movements.

Perseus.

The high ranker representing the Sons of Zeus was right here.

“Lee Hyeon? Where do you get off speaking so casually?”

“You…!”

“You should call me boss with respect.”

“…Seeing how annoyingly you speak, you’re definitely Jang Lee Hyeon.”

Go Jin-woo made a displeased expression.

Lee Hyeon’s eyes curved into crescents behind the plaster mask.

“What if I wear this and cause a ruckus in front of the Underground Cult?”

“…That’s novel, really. You want to make the axes of evil fight each other?”

“They’re just causing harm to the world anyway, right? It’d be good if they mutually destroyed each other.”

Lee Hyeon removed the plaster mask from his face.

Whoosh-

Then the swirling gust quickly subsided.

“The Sons of Zeus will be quite surprised. They wake up to find Perseus, who they thought was dead, is alive, and suddenly the Underground Cult is attacking them. As expected of Jang Lee Hyeon. Amazing.”

Clap clap clap.

Go Jin-woo applauded with admiration.

“What does this mean?”

“What do you mean what does it mean. I’m giving infinite praise to your troublemaking.”

“Your tone sounds really fishy….”

“How could that be, boss? This Assistant Go only looks at you with respect at all times. I want to be like you, boss!”

“I don’t know how someone who flatters this well could only be a pay doctor at the hospital.”

“Hey Lee, even when you stab, you hit exactly where it hurts…!”

“Anyway, when the Sons of Zeus appear, couldn’t I just disguise as Gwiroae and attack them then? It would seem easy to make it look like Gwiroae is working with the Underground Cult.”

Go Jin-woo clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Driving out the Underground Cult from the 【Nest】 through instigation, and rooting out the Sons of Zeus from Guam… It’s really an amazing masterstroke.”

“Good. Since you agree too, just help me with a few things.”

“Roger that. Just say anything.”

Go Jin-woo also smiled wickedly, thinking his worries would finally disappear.

It was the moment of creating the situation for a full-scale,

entry into South Africa.

* * *

South African Republic.

Administrative capital, Pretoria.

The head of the State Security Agency (SSA), Tabo Mncwolisi, felt like his hair was falling out from recent irritation.

“There aren’t even many strands left to begin with….”

“Excuse me? I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you clearly, Director. Could you repeat that?”

“No, never mind. Just continue with what you were saying.”

Kara Moeti swallowed dry saliva and nodded heavily.

“The backlash from Russia and Brazil is severe. They’re saying the shipments didn’t arrive by the promised deadline again….”

“Why are you trailing off? There must be more, right?”

Kara couldn’t bring herself to properly meet Tabo’s gaze and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Russia has conveyed through emergency channels their willingness to dispatch Gromobik along with Zarya if necessary…”

“Those damn bastards! How dare they treat us like a colony!?”

Bang!

Tabo slammed his fist violently on the desk.

“Those damn mole bastards! Those fucking bear bastards…!”

The moles referred to the Jiseo Order that had completely occupied the 【Nest】 recently, and the bears meant Russia, which was trying to exert influence over South Africa using this as an excuse.

They were all culprits causing hair loss for Tabo Mncwolisi.

Originally, the South African Republic had been experiencing the worst economic conditions for over ten years.

【Primordial Dragon Tiamat’s Nest】. The dungeon commonly called the 【Nest】 had a break occur, causing the national economy to collapse.

The lesser god Rabu that emerged from the dungeon at that time was so terrifying that it seemed like it might truly destroy not just the nation and continent, but the entire world.

If four of the top rankers hadn’t stepped forward, it was hard to imagine what would have happened.

‘The Mountain God’s prowess shown back then was… truly amazing. Even watching made my flesh tremble.’

In any case, the South African government was somehow able to keep the nation alive.

But the problem was that only ‘survival’ was possible – all other national functions had been destroyed.

Because of this, the government had no choice but to mobilize every possible means to somehow revive the economy,

and eventually had to lay hands on the 【Nest】 that they had so desperately wanted to avoid.

‘…No matter how dangerous it is, it was a dungeon with such tremendous narrative that a god appeared while crushing the system. Magic stones would inevitably overflow.’

Moreover, the method of mining magic stones wasn’t difficult either.

It was already a dungeon whose gate had been broken once. So they just needed to create a few ‘holes’ next to it.

Of course, this was an extremely dangerous action.

Because it would wear down the durability of the forcibly sealed gate.

If the international community found out, severe criticism and sanctions would follow, so they couldn’t announce it publicly.

So initially, much deliberation followed,

-We will help with the capital needed for mining at low interest rates.

-If you need equipment, we’ll lend you equipment too.

-All we want is to save citizens whose livelihoods are threatened, and for South Africa to rise again and become our reliable partner, that’s all.

A small number of countries including Russia and China, as well as several ‘corporations’ kept knocking on the government’s door.

It wasn’t that the South African government didn’t know their purposes lay elsewhere,

but they truly had nowhere left to retreat, so they had no choice but to open the back gate.

And…

South Africa’s economy began to rise again.

Despite selling magic stones to only a few countries and corporations, enormous profits remained.

In the end, the national economy had become heavily dependent on the ‘mine’.

And,

recently, the mining companies had been whispering devilish temptations to the South African government.

-How about opening the ‘back gate’ just a little more, just a tiny bit more?

-Hasn’t the national economy just started riding a proper upward trend? This is exactly when you need to gain momentum!

-At this rate, the UN will find out about this, but you can’t just stay like this, can you?

-We will protect you from international criticism and sanctions.

-Don’t worry too much about the seal weakening either. We can protect you from that as well.

In fact, several government officials were already half-swayed by the temptation.

-How about properly announcing the mine development to the outside and converting it to a public enterprise?

-Not afraid of America? Nonsense! Russia and China said they’d protect us!

-Besides, all the friendly corporations want is just a few percent of the public enterprise’s shares.

-Right! If we can give that up and revive the economy! What could be better than that!

It was Tabo Mncwolisi, head of the National Security Agency and one of South Africa’s leading High Rankers, who blocked this movement toward public enterprise conversion.

-What are you saying right now! Are you saying we should hand over our entire national foundation to them?

-Mining may be unavoidable for now, but we’re already in a precarious state!

-If we expand the scale further from here, another break will really occur!

-Are you saying we should cause that hell again? Huh?

Because of this, government officials couldn’t push harder and stepped back hesitantly,

but Tabo expected this defense wouldn’t last long either.

The pressure from corporations would only intensify day by day.

‘Dark Side of the Moon… If only those bastards weren’t here…!’

Tabo gritted his teeth while recalling the name of the secret organization that had almost taken control of the country.

‘In this situation, is the Jiseo Order occupying the mine really just a simple coincidence?’

The Jiseo Order appeared right when the conflict over the mine was at its peak.

True to being an axis of evil, true to being a fanatic group, they forcibly seized the 【Nest】 without any justification or statement.

The awakener agency ‘Draconis Watch’ was trying their best to drive them out,

but as an organization that hadn’t yet recovered from the damage suffered during the previous ‘Nest incident’, there were limits.

As a result, the Drakensberg Mountains where the 【Nest】 was located were currently very difficult to access.

And that’s when Russia appeared again.

Saying they would send not only Zarya but also their proud top ranker Gromobik Oleg Pernov if desired.

They would essentially pretend to solve the 【Nest】 issue while completely occupying the Drakensberg Mountains together with the Jiseo Order.

The Russian government’s scheme was as clear as day.

The problem was that even knowing all these facts, they had no choice but to fall for it…

‘What on earth should I do?’

Tabo collapsed helplessly into his chair as his head throbbed.

He couldn’t see any breakthrough at all.

“Director…”

Just as Kara Moeti was looking at Tabo with sympathetic eyes, understanding his situation,

“Director, this is serious! Please look at this!”

Suddenly the door burst open, and another agent, Sipo Eundalro, entered the director’s office with urgent steps.

“Could there be anything more serious than those damn bears interfering?”

“ASTRA’s director has summoned the heads of intelligence agencies from NATO and other allied countries to one place.”

“What…?”

Tabo hastily stood up.

“The stated reason is establishing hotlines and protocols between national intelligence agencies to prepare for emergencies like the U.C.O. incident, but…”

“They’re openly building a faction. They’ve started openly targeting the Dark Side of the Moon.”

And the fact that they could know this information meant it was intentionally leaked.

“Moreover… we’ve even identified the agenda for the first meeting…”

“Oh, please. I hope it’s not what I’m worried about.”

“It seems highly likely to be about the 【Nest】 mine issue.”

Tabo unconsciously squeezed his eyes shut.

He already knew that America had been aware of the mine’s existence for a long time… but he didn’t expect to see such blatant moves.

The Dark Side of the Moon and Jiseo Order alone were suffocating enough. Now yet another hand was tightening around their throat.

“Um, and…”

“What, what else is there?”

“…Jet has applied to the Foreign Ministry for a home country visa.”

A completely unexpected report.

For a moment, Tabo’s brain stopped and he blinked his eyes.

“Jet? Are you talking about the Jet I know?”

“Yes. It’s definitely Jet, the leader of Blue Thunder and of White Burn.”

Jet.

The main figure who defeated the Central Hero Committee and resolved the U.C.O. incident.

Practically the hero who’s the hot topic in all intelligence agencies and awakener society today.

He applied for a visa?

“Why would he… Don’t tell me he’s joining hands with ASTRA for some operation…? No, if that were the case, there’d be no need to openly get a visa issued…”

The fact that Jet receives ASTRA’s protection is also widely known.

If he wanted, using a different identity or secretly infiltrating South Africa would be nothing to him.

“What on earth… What kind of visa?”

“A tourist visa… apparently.”

“…”

Tourism?

Tabo had to rack his brains for quite a while over keywords that simply wouldn’t connect.

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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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