Broken Ranker Devours Myths - Chapter 53

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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 53

Tiger Calamity (3)

 

 

 

Lee Hyeon felt his overheated mana circuits and body cooling down rapidly.

And then messages appeared.

Ding. Ding.

 

[Your Agility coefficient has exceeded 100, reaching three digits.]

[Your Stamina coefficient has exceeded 100, reaching three digits.]

[Additional functions will be added to the Agility and Stamina categories. Connected to ‘Trait: Frozen Human’.]

[‘Additional Function: Cold Wind Clone (冷風分身)’ and ‘Extreme Cold Body (極寒之體)’ have been unlocked!]

 

[Cold Wind Clone (S)]

Your breath moves freely through the forest like the , making countless spirits follow you.

-Effect: Increased movement speed. Increased evasion rate. When in stealth, detection is delayed upon discovery.

 

[Extreme Cold Body (S)]

Your cold instincts only awaken when the heat in your blood becomes infinitely cold.

-Effect: Increased health recovery. Reduced status ailment duration. ‘Cold Blood’ state activates when health drops below 30%.

-Type: Additional function of Stamina.

-Origin: Fairy tale ‘Snow Queen’

 

Click.

Click.

He felt something settling firmly inside his body.

The basic requirement to become a Ranker was unlocking additional functions for all six basic stats.

Now only 2 remained.

‘I can get these by clearing all three dungeons, so no worries.’

The real hurdle wasn’t far off now.

 

[Your connection with the has grown stronger. As the narrative is rewritten, the ‘Beginning’ of the story structure has been newly restored.]

[All additional functions related to the will grow to SS rank!]

 

On top of that, the growth of additional functions.

Lee Hyeon knew this was the ‘gift’ the Snow Queen had mentioned.

“……You?”

“Did I not tell you? I always keep my promises no matter what. So,”

Whoosh!

 

[The sudden event has ended.]

[The mental world is beginning to close.]

 

A light barrier descended from the sky like when a dungeon closes.

The Snow Queen’s face was covered like a veil.

But Lee Hyeon felt she was smiling slightly.

“I hope you keep yours as well.”

Bang!!

Lee Hyeon felt his consciousness being ejected outward and forcibly drew in a breath.

“……Huff, huff.”

Cold sweat poured from his forehead.

Drip. Drip.

“Senior! Are you okay!? No, what the hell was that, so suddenly!”

Kim Min-jeong rushed over urgently to check his condition.

Unlike the mental world where quite some time had passed, only an instant seemed to have passed in the real world.

Right then,

“Huh? The dagger…!”

Crumble!

Brutus’s Dagger crumbled to dust, leaving only the handle.

“Phew……”

Lee Hyeon could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He realized that Mo Jeong-gyeon’s test had ended safely.

‘My body seems to have settled in too.’

When his breathing somewhat returned, Lee Hyeon tried to thank Kim Min-jeong for worrying about him.

But,

“……This is bad.”

Kim Min-jeong’s complexion was pale.

“What do we do about this……? The item is damaged…… And it’s SS rank……”

“Can’t be helped. If we explain the situation and compensate,”

“This item costs at least 5 billion won, you know?”

“……”

Lee Hyeon was speechless for a moment.

 

* * *

 

The two left the company and immediately headed to the meeting place.

Kim Min-jeong drove.

‘Wait a minute. Come to think of it, that means I burned through 5 billion won just to test myself once, right?’

Lee Hyeon let out a hollow laugh at Mo Jeong-gyeon’s unimaginable scale.

He had forgotten.

The value of SS rank items.

In Hunter terms, it meant an item worthy of being a High Ranker’s main weapon.

Naturally, its value was enormous.

Usually they easily exceeded 10 billion won.

Rather, Brutus’s Dagger was relatively cheap because it was a cursed item.

Of course, that was their story.

Lee Hyeon naturally didn’t have that kind of money.

‘……I guess being surrounded by Sacred Relics like Golden Eyes of Truth and the Mask of the Golden Arhat dulled my sense of money.’

Moreover, during his Blue Thunder days, if he needed something, he could just borrow state-owned items or visit old man Taotie to ask for favors.

「What were you doing during your military days instead of earning money?」

‘I spent everything I earned on equipment upgrades.’

「But you must have some money left over, right?」

‘I gave it all to the families of my fallen comrades. I’m really poor.’

“So that’s why your hands shake every time I ask you to buy me a snack. Tsk tsk.”

‘You knew that and kept making me do it anyway?’

“You can’t even offer that much as an offering to a god?”

‘If a god feeds off their believers’ backs, then they’re not really a god to begin with.’

“This guy’s gotten a bit cocky lately, hasn’t he?”

“Kekeke. Our apostle’s words are perfectly reasonable, so why are you being so sensitive, senior? Could it be that you feel guilty about something?”

“These two are ganging up on me!?”

Lee Hyeon calculated when his payday would be.

Of course, with just a regular company employee’s salary, when would he ever pay back all that money,

‘But it doesn’t seem completely impossible.’

Thinking about the company’s incentive system, it seemed like he could resolve it within a few years.

Team bonuses from clearing dungeons, team leader incentives, a certain share of resources mined from dungeons, etc.

Every single one of them favored Lee Hyeon.

Moreover,

‘It’s not like the dagger has completely disappeared as it appears.’

Thinking that way made him feel much more at ease.

“My beloved and cherished colleague and junior, Min-jeong.”

Kim Min-jeong replied while gripping the steering wheel.

“I don’t have money.”

“…No, I’m not asking to borrow money,”

“I don’t have any. Money.”

“……”

No matter what he tried to say, he got the same cold response.

Anyone watching would think he was asking her to co-sign a loan.

He wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but,

“Claiming you want to grow quickly, you go and burn through company property, 5 billion won all at once… Even if you are my senior, geez… Your way of thinking is just different, completely different.”

It seemed Kim Min-jeong was fed up with something else entirely.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have to pay compensation like you’re worried about.”

Instantly, Kim Min-jeong’s eyes turned cold.

“…Hey, I’m not trying to weasel out of it, okay?”

“Really?”

“The company won’t be looking for Brutus’s Dagger either.”

“That sounds like the same thing to me.”

Somehow, every time he spoke, her gaze seemed to get worse.

“That’s not it… No. I think it’d be better to show you rather than explain with words. Want to take a look at this?”

Lee Hyeon took out Taotie’s Fangs from his inventory.

Kim Min-jeong looked at the passenger seat with a sullen expression, wondering what kind of trouble this senior was about to cause, then was startled.

Fssssss-

A milky white radiance overlaid the Taotie’s Fangs like a blade.

And,

Grooooar!

Something eerie swirled around Lee Hyeon as the center.

It felt like a fierce white tiger was growling.

“…!!”

 

[White Tiger Killing Intent is revealed!]

[All curses possessed by Brutus’s Dagger are completely ignored by Curse Immunity (SS), leaving only the amplification effect before disappearing.]

[White Tiger Killing Intent is absorbed by Dueokshini’s Deep Breath (A+). Skill grade has risen to S grade.]

[Sub-skill ‘Dueoksini’s Rage’ has changed to ‘Dueoksini’s Fury’.]

 

Crackle!

The milky radiance now turned blue-white and even sparked with lightning.

Not rage, but fury.

Lee Hyeon thoroughly enjoyed the teaching Mo Jeong-gyeon had given him.

‘With this, I’ve gained an S-grade skill too. Just in terms of grade, I’ve returned to my Jet days.’

Moreover, he was very pleased with the two additional functions he’d gained from properly joining hands with the Snow Queen.

Cold Wind Clone and Extreme Endurance.

The fast agility and greatly increased stamina were particularly noticeable.

‘Especially the newly added [Cold Blood] could be used as a reversal technique in crisis situations.’

 

[Cold Blood]

Can be activated when health drops below 30%.

Regardless of previously acquired narratives, all magic attributes change to ice attribute, and you can use the Snow Queen’s skills and divine authorities.

-Type: Trait. Amplifier.

-Origin: Fairy tale ‘Snow Queen’

 

‘The Snow Queen’s skills and divine authorities… This must be the gift that creature mentioned.’

It’s a completely different attribute from lightning. No one would think Lee Hyeon possessed something like this.

It was perfectly suited as a trump card.

However,

‘The more often I use this, the thicker that creature’s influence becomes. Once or twice might be fine, but more than that would be pushing it.’

 

-I hope you will protect it as well.

 

The words the Snow Queen had said just before the event ended flickered in his mind.

Lee Hyeon shook his head and withdrew the energy that had surged for a moment.

“How is it?”

“…What was that just now? And what is this?”

Though it was only a brief moment,

Cold sweat had beaded all over Kim Min-jeong’s forehead.

“Doesn’t it look exactly like Brutus’s Dagger?”

“Now that you mention it…”

“The curse that was inside it has completely settled within me.”

“Is that possible?”

“It must be possible since this happened, right?”

“Your body… you’re okay, right?”

“Surprisingly, it matches well with Breath of Dueopshini. You don’t need to worry.”

Kim Min-jeong stared intently at Lee Hyeon before letting out a sigh.

“Yes. I understand what you’re saying. But from now on, if you’re going to do things like this, please give me a heads up. Do you know how startled I was just now?”

“Sorry.”

“If something had gone wrong, really…”

“Anyway, I think it’ll be fine if I keep applying for usage permission extensions. If necessary, I can discuss it with Team Leader Im too.”

Kim Min-jeong nodded.

After all, it was only an SS-grade item in name; it was something no one had been looking for anyway.

It would be more beneficial for the company to give Lee Hyeon semi-permanent borrowing rights and strengthen their forces.

‘This way, only Executive Director Jeong ends up looking like a fool.’

Thinking that way made her feel much more at ease.

 

* * *

 

Kim Min-jeong’s car had arrived at the destination before they knew it.

“You’re here? I thought I was going to die of boredom waiting.”

Not far from Seoul. Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province.

Along a low flatland, police lines and fences announcing the Dungeon Gate were layered one after another.

There was even a person stationed there for management.

After finishing identity verification and entering, Chief Seo Ae-ri and Manager Eom Gi-seon were waiting.

Heavily armed with various items.

“What about the other team members?”

“As you instructed, we dropped them all and came out. They were all shocked to find out that the strategy proposal went up with only them excluded, you know? So I left the group chat too. Ta-da.”

Manager Eom Gi-seon grinned as if he was having the time of his life.

Lee Hyeon also smiled lightly.

Pfft.

“But can you really clear this place in just two weeks? No matter how I look at it, it seems brutal?”

At Manager Eom Gi-seon’s words, Chief Seo Ae-ri also looked at Lee Hyeon with curious eyes without saying anything.

This dungeon was as difficult as ,

or perhaps even more so.

It was the dungeon.

It had been around much longer than , and had more casualties too.

No matter how excellent Lee Hyeon’s Riddle Solving skills were, it was inevitable to question whether it was possible for just four people to clear it in only 15 days,

“Two weeks? Why two weeks?”

Lee Hyeon tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“Huh? What do you suddenly mean by that? You clearly told us to prepare thoroughly since we’d be on a business trip for about two weeks.”

Was he changing his words now?

Manager Eom Gi-seon’s expression hardened with disappointment.

However,

“I’m planning to clear this place in one day.”

“……!?”

“……?!”

“Haah. In the end.”

Manager Eom Gi-seon and Chief Seo Ae-ri’s eyes widened instantly.

Kim Min-jeong, who had already heard Lee Hyeon’s plan, let out a sigh.

“Wait, wait! Team Leader! Then what about the remaining period……!”

“We have fifteen dungeons to clear in total. One per day should be enough, right?”

“……!”

“……!!”

Z Team currently held about 30 long-term unsolved dungeons.

He had declared that he would solve half of them in just two weeks!

Manager Eom Gi-seon wanted to shout about how that could be possible, but,

“Then let’s go in.”

Lee Hyeon was already stepping toward the gate.

As if he wouldn’t listen to any protests.

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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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