Broken Ranker Devours Myths - Chapter 9

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

 

 

 

The Broken Ranker

Devours Myths

 

Chapter 9

Temporary Apostle (4)

 

 

 

[You have crossed half of the desert.]

[Progress rate: 47%]

 

Bang!

Thud thud!

Lee Hyeon struck down the head of a desert snake that had been trying to coil around him with its massive body in one blow.

He had a close call where he nearly lost consciousness after being stabbed by its venomous fangs,

 

[Poison Resistance (F) has been generated. You can now better withstand poison.]

[Stamina has increased by 1.]

 

Thanks to his improved durability from the stamina increase, he managed to endure and strike off its neck with his kukri.

Thump!

A head the size of a human body fell to the ground with its tongue hanging out.

A tremendous amount of blood gushed out, soaking the dry desert.

“Haa… haa… I really almost died this time.”

Lee Hyeon collapsed weakly to the ground and could finally catch his breath.

 

[Too much fatigue has accumulated. Anemia and dizziness are setting in. Rest is recommended.]

[Fatigue level: 73]

[Blood loss is excessive. Supply nutrients and take rest. Bleeding Resistance (E) rises to D rank.]

[You endured the desert snake’s ‘Constriction’. Physical Resistance (F) rises to E rank.]

 

“You crazy bastard, are you really determined to die?”

Son Wukong descended with a look of being fed up.

Throughout nearly half of the dungeon conquest, Lee Hyeon had been on a continuous forced march.

 

[You have cleared a total of 6 Monster Dens so far.]

[The monsters of the desert are beginning to fear you. You have acquired the title ‘Desert Slaughterer’.]

[You have become better at enduring the desert’s heat and sweltering temperatures.]

 

Using the Golden Eyes of Truth to confirm that the water sources of each den were connected through underground water, he traced them back to find his path,

while continuously fighting monsters with almost no rest.

“But thanks to that, I gained poison resistance, didn’t I? Two other resistances also got upgraded.”

“If you die from this, it’ll all be for nothing, won’t it?”

“I have divine power, don’t I? And the Ruyi Jingu Bang’s recovery ability too.”

“…Are you really insane?”

Lee Hyeon didn’t regret his choice.

Just looking at his status window was satisfying enough.

 

[Calling up the user’s status window through ‘Sacred Relic: Golden Eyes Mirror’.]

 

[Jang Lee Hyeon]

-Age: 27 years old.

-Traits: Leader, Indomitable, Frozen Human, [Locked], [Locked]

-Abilities

Strength: 42 Agility: 31

Stamina: 30 Mana: 15

Intelligence: 37 Dexterity: 30

-Divine Authority: Golden Eyes of Truth, [Locked]

-Skills: Breath of Dueoksini (C), Combat Sense (E), [Locked], [Locked], [Locked]

-Resistances: Cold (S), Curse (S), Pain (D), Bleeding (D), Paralysis (E), Physical (E), Fatigue (D), Poison (F)

-Current Status: You have gained too many resistances in a short time. Your overall metabolism is imbalanced.

-Special Notes: You are recovering your lost ability scores at a rapid pace. Your sensory acuity is much higher compared to your previous average.

 

Stats that had nearly doubled in just a few hours.

Plus all the content filling up the resistance section.

This rapid growth rate was clearly visible. If he could, he wanted to push himself even more harshly.

“Look at this. My leg doesn’t bother me anymore either.”

Lee Hyeon smiled brightly while showing his right foot that now moved as he wanted.

Of course, to Son Wukong, this only fanned the flames of his irritation.

“No matter how much the Ruyi Jingu Bang boosts recovery speed, it only enhances the recovery ability you originally had.”

“Then I’ll probably develop a recovery-related skill.”

“Do you think skills are easy to develop?”

“Then what can I do? I’ll have to push harder. Oh, then related resistances might develop too? That would actually be good.”

“Gah! That’s not what I meant!”

Son Wukong was astounded by Lee Hyeon’s attitude of wondering how to turn any comment into training.

‘Wait, if he suffered from a curse for four years and couldn’t even run properly, how did he endure all that time!?’

If he had such a strong obsession with self-training, those past years must have been like hell.

Even if it was a reaction to the curse, this was too extreme.

‘No, is it the opposite?’

Then Son Wukong looked at Lee Hyeon’s calm, settled eyes and belatedly realized he had been mistaken.

‘He had been consistently doing whatever personal training he could all along! That’s why he can regain his senses so quickly!’

Lee Hyeon had never skipped training for even a single day.

Even while suffering from the curse, even when experiencing frustration and despair, he consistently trained his stamina within whatever range he could manage.

That’s how he could traverse dungeons with his inconvenient body and awaken Son Wukong.

‘He had faith in himself.’

Self-trust that he could rise again someday.

Self-conviction that he needed to prepare for when the opportunity came.

Son Wukong had no choice but to acknowledge Lee Hyeon to some degree now.

‘When I should be pushing him harder, I’m the one doing more worrying instead. Tch.’

“It seems like your distrust of me has mostly disappeared now.”

“Shut up, you bastard. It’s just because selecting a new apostle would take too much time! I absolutely hate troublesome things!”

Of course, he had no intention of admitting it outright.

But Lee Hyeon was grinning as if he understood his heart completely, making him want to smack his head just once.

“How about teaching me a skill instead?”

“What?”

“You know various techniques, Great Sage. If there’s anything related to physical combat among them, please teach me. That would reduce your worries and be good, don’t you think?”

Son Wukong frowned.

“Are you trying to extort me like this?”

“I’ve proven that I’m somewhat useful as a temporary apostle, so I’m asking for at least a small reward.”

“Ha! Really, that mouth of yours…!”

Lee Hyeon quickly changed the subject.

“The fish-shaped pastry was delicious, wasn’t it? When we get out, I’ll buy you something even more delicious.”

Instantly, Son Wukong’s ears perked up.

“…There’s something more delicious than fish-shaped pastry?”

‘As expected.’

Lee Hyeon smiled inwardly.

He seemed to have lingering attachment to the sand-covered fish-shaped pastry, so he tried probing just in case.

It seemed like the baby monkey had baby-like tastes to match his appearance.

“Do you know something called ddungkalong?”

“Ddungkalong?”

“How about ice cream hotteok or rose tteokbokki?”

“I know what hotteok is, but ice cream goes on top of it? No, more than that, what kind of combination is rose tteokbokki…!”

“There’s a saying called ‘sweet-salty-sweet-salty.’ It means after eating something sweet, you should eat something salty, and then something sweet again, enough to make your tongue say ‘Ah, today was quite enjoyable.'”

“…!?”

“Let’s hurry and get out of here to go enjoy ourselves?”

Son Wukong stood there dazed for a moment. Just hearing the explanation made his mouth water slightly.

Then he belatedly realized that Lee Hyeon was grinning and staring at him intently, and came to his senses.

“…Ahem! Your attitude of trying not to miss any learning opportunity even while crossing the desert is truly admirable, so I decided a moment ago that I should bestow some small technique upon you. Watch carefully and learn.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Don’t misunderstand – I’m absolutely not doing this because of food.”

“Of course. No one would think that.”

Son Wukong looked at Lee Hyeon with a very suspicious expression, but

Thud!

Soon he straightened his posture and lightly stomped the ground with his foot.

Then something like an iron staff shot up from the ground and was caught in his hand.

Even if it wasn’t about food, Son Wukong was now thinking it would be fine to gradually start teaching Lee Hyeon some techniques.

“I see you mainly use combat techniques that rely on senses and intuition. Plus you seem to mainly handle lightning attributes. Then how about learning Zeus’s techniques rather than mine?”

A name he had never even thought of.

 

Zeus.

 

The leader of Olympus, a group of gods boasting tremendous size worthy of being counted among the top four.

Lee Hyeon’s eyes widened slightly.

“Zeus is from a completely different mythology than the Great Sage, isn’t he?”

“I once stole his divine authority in a bet.”

“…!”

Lee Hyeon unconsciously clenched his fists.

He had just probed to see if he could gradually learn some techniques from Son Wukong,

But a much bigger pumpkin than expected had come rolling forward, vine and all.

“It’s not just him. Jade Emperor, Odin, Osiris, Brahma… All of their main divine authorities and techniques are contained in here.”

Son Wukong smiled mischievously and tapped his small head with his index finger.

Lee Hyeon somehow felt he could guess what kind of humiliation Zeus and other chief gods had suffered at Son Wukong’s hands.

Perhaps it was even connected to what triggered the conflicts between him and the chief gods…

‘Zeus is one of the few chief gods among the main deities who still doesn’t have an apostle, as far as I know.’

Thump! Thump!

His heart was racing.

“Of course, without sacred relics like Astrape or Zeus’s selection, it would only be a fraction of a fraction with limited output…!”

Crackle! Crackle!

Suddenly, bright yellow lightning began shooting up around Son Wukong.

It resembled the Golden Eyes of Truth, but was closer to sunlight in color.

“Still, for you who’s just starting to take your first steps, it’s more than enough of an opportunity. Don’t you think?”

Lee Hyeon straightened his posture.

“Yes. I will watch carefully and learn.”

“Teaching my enemy’s techniques to my apostle… Hehe, this should be quite an amusing revenge.”

Perhaps what Son Wukong muttered casually was actually his real purpose.

“Anyway, follow along carefully. Who knows? If necessary, I might throw you not just my techniques, but all the divine authorities and techniques of those other guys too.”

“…That’s cruel hope. Fine. But first, I’ll properly learn this one.”

“Haha, yes. Good attitude. If you had still shown greed without knowing your place, I would have cracked your head first.”

Lee Hyeon broke out in a cold sweat and let out a hollow laugh.

It seemed this was also one of Son Wukong’s tests.

But such thoughts were brief.

“Keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully. I won’t show you twice.”

Son Wukong lightly thrust his staff forward with all his might.

Such a clean movement.

But the result was anything but.

Rumble!

Lightning condensed at the tip of the staff and exploded.

A pillar of lightning that seemed to shoot up to the sky.

Sand flew up roughly.

“…!”

Crackle! Crackle!

Hot wind struck Lee Hyeon’s face.

His skin stung.

‘…The lightning energy is alive.’

“The lightning energy you use is focused simply on eruption. The more intensely you express emotions, the closer it becomes to pouring them out. Right?”

“…Yes.”

“But because of that, you quickly discharge and it becomes a problem, right?”

“Yes. You’re completely right.”

Lee Hyeon nodded heavily.

In fact, Lee Hyeon’s combat time wasn’t very long.

This was because the emotional consumption that formed the basis of lightning energy was too extreme.

So after pouring out his emotions in one burst, Lee Hyeon had to endure difficult times overcoming the great sense of exhaustion that followed.

‘That was also the problem when fighting the Snow Queen.’

Son Wukong had seen through exactly that weakness at a glance.

“But Zeus, that petty guy, absolutely can’t stand to see such waste. He tries to save and save again somehow. So he tries to extract maximum efficiency with minimum output somehow.”

Son Wukong wanted to convey only the efficiency aspect of this technique to his temporary apostle.

“So the most important point in Zeus’s technique like this is condensation.”

“Condensation…”

“Right. Not just spreading lightning energy, but compressing it as much as possible,”

Crackle!

Once again, lightning energy shot up from the tip of the staff.

It spread out in all directions like a spider web, dyeing the surrounding world bright yellow,

Then suddenly swirled and gradually narrowed its range, soon becoming a pillar, then slowly compressing into an orb shape.

Like a miniaturized sun, it contained tremendous heat.

“The key is to detonate it at the point of impact like this.”

Son Wukong tapped the orb with his staff.

Then the lightning compressed to its limit and glowing burst out in all directions, causing a tremendous explosion.

Crash! Crash-rumble! Crash-rumble-rumble!

Crash-rumble-rumble…!

Dozens of lightning bolts struck down mercilessly onto the sandy beach, and the sparks that flew up everywhere connected with each other again, creating an enormous electromagnetic field.

A disaster covering dozens of meters of ground.

“…!!”

Lee Hyeon watched all of this spectacle in a daze, without even having time to let out an exclamation of admiration.

 

[You have glimpsed ‘Zeus’s Condensed Lightning’!]

[You have grasped the concept of condensation.]

[You have gained a new perspective on explosions.]

[You have realized a new approach to Thunder Ghost.]

…

[Your understanding of lightning attributes has increased. Your analysis of Breath of Dueoksini (C) has deepened.]

[The proficiency of Breath of Dueoksini (C) has greatly increased.]

[You have drawn a little closer to Zeus’s myth!]

 

Son Wukong’s single strike gave Lee Hyeon tremendous inspiration, to the extent that his skill proficiency rose just from witnessing it.

A new world that he hadn’t seen even when he was Jet was right here.

This was the power of gods.

Or demons.

Or giants.

Or even… dragons.

Transcendent beings who could complete their own through their very existence and it to the world,

This was the power that only could display.

“Later on, you’ll need to become strong enough to unleash lightning of this level, but for now it would be better to focus on the fundamentals, right?”

Son Wukong shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing special, but smiled with satisfaction seeing the respect that filled Lee Hyeon’s eyes.

“Now then, from here on I’ll show you. That guy’s technique using condensed lightning, Diovis.”

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