The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 111

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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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Episode 111

Chapter 111.

Finding it was truly by chance.

In the dangerous Forest of Darkness, where he had sent his comrades back and remained alone after traces of a powerful being from the Abyss were discovered.

‘…An hourglass?’

Touching the clock buried in such an unexpected place, Taksinel chuckled softly.

An hourglass, old and half-broken from the traces of long years.

‘Whoever it belonged to, they probably had no intention of looking for it.’

Well, it didn’t look particularly valuable, and there would be no reason to come looking for it in such a dangerous place.

It was simply abandoned. Just like himself now.

“…Cough.”

Was this what it meant for blood to run cold?

In his fading consciousness, he thought.

‘Am I going to die like this?’

In the middle of a blood-splattered forest where corpses formed mountains.

Gaemin the Destroyer… no, the one who had been Taksinel was dying.

Before him, a terrible darkness writhed.

No, the entire forest was writhing.

The Forest of Darkness – this place was actually an abandoned forest that had been devoured by the Abyss.

[Kuhh…]

It was then that a spine-chilling laugh, like nails on a chalkboard, leaked out.

[Kuhhuhhh… Not bad. Though it was only a clone, to endure this long against my clone. How about it, becoming my contractor? If you do, you can live.]

The Immortal Master. The terror of the Abyss that overcomes death wanted him.

If he grasped that hand, he would be able to live.

“Get lost. I have not the slightest intention of becoming your servant.”

But he was the proud Vice Captain of the Laire Order of Knights.

He had not even a speck of intention to abandon humanity and betray his comrades just to prolong his measly life.

How many comrades had died to that piece of trash?

Rather than become that thing’s servant, he would meet a glorious death instead.

[Foolish human… That is not for you to decide.]

“…What?”

But that terrible nightmare would not allow it.

The nightmare entered the mouth of the refusing Taksinel and quickly devoured him from within.

[If I desire it, it becomes mine. There are no exceptions anywhere…]

“Gack, gahhh… N-no…”

Tears of blood flowed from his eyes.

The bloody tears soon became black tears.

The blood flowing through his entire body soon became black foul liquid.

As if draining stagnant rotten water and filling it with new water, Taksinel’s blood was changing from human to that of the Abyss.

“Gahh… Gack…”

His breathing lungs turned black.

His stomach that produced digestive fluids was simply quiet, and his bones twisted and organs tangled to create a new form.

With creaking sounds, darkness covered his entire body like armor.

[Kahahaha! Yes, that’s it! What a delightful expression!]

Eventually, as horns sprouted from his forehead and his eyes began to turn red.

Flash!

It reacted.

The hourglass he held in his hand suddenly flashed and shot deep into his body.

Though no light or sound emerged, Taksinel could tell.

Thump, thump.

That the thing that had settled in his heart was blocking the Abyss’s invasion.

Should he call it good luck?

At the last moment, thanks to it protecting his heart, Taksinel was able to maintain his human mind.

He had become both Abyss and human.

[That noble-acting Vice Captain of the Order of Knights is a Summoner of Darkness Contracted with the Abyss… Kuhhuhhh… This will be quite interesting.]

Saying this as it departed, the Immortal Master seemed to harbor not a trace of suspicion.

Because once invaded by the Abyss, one could never return to being human again.

It was fortunate.

If that thing had been just a bit more meticulous.

If it had harbored even slight suspicion and checked inside, it couldn’t have failed to notice.

[Ahhh…]

A spine-chilling voice. Horns half-broken because he couldn’t become completely Abyss.

A terrible appearance with a human heart.

[Ahhh… Ahhhhh…!]

Thud, falling to his knees, Taksinel looked at his reflection in a puddle,

[…Ahhhhhhh!!!]

Taksinel wailed endlessly.

Shedding black tears.

* * *

“Ahhh… Dear God.”

“Vice Captain, you’ve returned! Ahhh… God, thank you.”

“Ugh, Vice Captain… Waaahhh.”

Being able to maintain a human heart was tremendous.

The body follows the mind, they say.

Though he had become a Summoner of Darkness Contracted with the Abyss, perhaps thanks to maintaining his human heart or because his heart wasn’t completely devoured, Taksinel could return to human form if he wished.

“Waaahhhhh!”

“Vice Captain!!”

No one suspected him.

Neither the comrades who had gone on the mission with him, nor the members of the Knight Order.

“Welcome back, Taksinel.”

“…Thank you.”

Even that monster-like Captain Lvebed.

No one suspected Taksinel.

Perhaps it was natural.

It was common knowledge that one invaded by the Abyss could not walk around maintaining human body and mind.

But he didn’t know.

Hissss-.

That the mysterious hourglass wasn’t completely blocking the Abyss.

That he was being invaded little by little without his awareness.

The Knight Order members were the first to notice that change.

“…Isn’t the Vice Captain’s methods too harsh lately?”

“He was always merciless to demons, but… the feeling is a bit different. How should I put it… it looks like he’s smiling.”

“Having fun gossiping about your superior?”

“Gasp, C-Captain!”

“No sir! We’re sorry!”

They found Taksinel’s noticeably changed appearance puzzling from some point on.

No, actually Taksinel knew it too.

-Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill… Kill and kill again…

-Blood… Eat fresh blood…

-Don’t resist. Accept me…!

“Shut up! Shut the hell up!”

The whispers that constantly echoed in his head just wouldn’t leave.

‘…That priest bastard’s babbling is annoying. I should just kill him… no, what am I thinking right now?’

There were countless times when unbearable murderous urges surged up.

At first, he thought it was just stress-induced auditory hallucinations from experiencing too much.

If he could just endure those moments, at least the murderous urges would subside.

But he realized that wasn’t the case when he killed the head of a household.

-Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill

-Blood, drink the blood…

Unable to endure the head-splitting hallucinations any longer, he broke into a family home and brutally killed an innocent man in front of his family.

“Ahh…”

The world became quiet.

In the noisy battlefield, it felt like emerging from being submerged beneath a surface made of blood.

The hallucinations that wouldn’t leave stopped as if by magic.

Bloody tears flowed from Taksinel’s eyes. It was the moment he finally felt alive as a human being.

That was the day.

“Kuk! Kueok… Please… please spare me…”

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Pl, please at least spare our child… Kheuk!”

The day Taksinel roamed the city killing people indiscriminately.

And…

“Mon, monster… It’s a monster!”

“Call Lord Lvebed… Call Lord Lvebed!”

“Everyone run…!”

The day Gaemin the Destroyer appeared.

* * *

[Entering Phase 3.]

—–!

The moment Gaemin the Destroyer let out a soundless roar as Phase 3 began.

[Gaemin the Destroyer presents ‘Night of Nightmares’.]

[Enemies within range whose stats are lower than the user’s will die instantly.]

A true nightmare unfolded.

Everything within a 20-meter radius of the Destroyer vanished without a trace.

The walls, the floor, and even the pillars.

[Guardian Jihad Black’s ‘Orc Undead’ dies instantly.]

[Guardian Jihad Black’s ‘Orc Undead’ dies instantly.]

…

[Guardian Jihad Black’s ‘Blue Goblin Undead of the Forest’ dies instantly.]

-This is impossible…!

Even all of Jihad’s undead.

In that place where only darkness remained, Gaemin the Destroyer stood.

[…Unpleasant memories have surfaced.]

Saying that, he lowered his head and looked forward.

There was Dohyun, practically embedded in the wall.

Looking at him coughing with a somewhat dazed expression, the Destroyer frowned.

[You rat bastard…]

It was definitely within instant death range, yet he had ghostly managed to create distance and only got blown back.

The undead blocking the wind pressure in front probably helped too.

-Kill him… kill him and be liberated…

[Kueuk…]

Again. The voice that had been heard since the moment he faced that bastard.

Hearing the voice itself wasn’t strange.

This wasn’t the first time the voice, which had been quiet since the day of the massacre, reacted again.

-He… has appeared…

-Come… to me…

A few days ago.

The voice that suddenly came repeated the same words without rest for even a day.

-Come… to me…

It was a calling.

A signal for the immortal master to call his contractors.

An oath that contractors consumed by the abyss and left with only instinct couldn’t refuse.

‘It was quiet for 10 years, what’s this about?’

The one who had been satisfied and left after the massacre, what wind made him call now?

Unlike other contractors, Gaiman, who could resist thanks to maintaining his human mind, was troubled.

Due to the recently increased traces, he couldn’t leave when surveillance had increased.

But he couldn’t not go either.

‘I mustn’t let it be discovered that I’m maintaining my sanity.’

If that happened, this time he would truly become that bastard’s slave.

Though he had crossed a river of no return, though he was now a monster that couldn’t even be called human.

That didn’t mean he wanted to live as a lowly creature with only instinct remaining.

So he tried to leave.

He planned to find someone to take the blame in his place and buy time.

‘If only that damn bastard hadn’t interfered… shit.’

That bastard was the problem every time.

Bringing his traces to make Gildeti Caretaker step forward, suddenly appearing at Rillar Temple and getting caught at the crime scene.

Jerdic appearing there, leaving evidence!

[Yes… it’s all because of you.]

It was all that bastard’s fault.

That one damn outsider was ruining everything.

-Kill him… and be liberated…

The chilling voice echoing in his head.

He didn’t know the reason, but he felt it instinctively.

As the voice said, if he killed that bastard, he could be freed from this voice.

He would finally gain freedom.

Swoosh- Crack!

“Ueuk…”

The Destroyer who instantly leaped and grabbed Dohyun’s neck slowly lifted him up.

Dohyun’s feet floated in the air, dangling. No strength to counterattack could be felt anywhere.

The life force remaining in him now was only 1%.

Just one punch to the abdomen like this would kill him.

“No, don’t…!”

“Ahh…!”

The clerics’ faces turned pale.

Among them, the one with the biggest change in expression was none other than Jihad.

-…Dying? The Owner?

Jihad had never seen the Owner in danger before.

That Owner was not just experiencing crisis but facing death. Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it.

It would be more accurate to say he couldn’t grasp it.

-…The Owner is losing like this?

That couldn’t be.

As Jihad desperately stretched out his hand, undead began writhing and rising from the ground.

Graaaar- Graar?

These were the undead that had been reverse-summoned.

After looking around and discovering Dohyun hanging there, the undead who grasped the situation immediately moved.

However….

[Ahh… finally I shall taste freedom. Farewell, outsider.]

Gaemin the Destroyer, overcome with emotion, thrust his claws into Dohyun’s abdomen even faster.

Crack-.

It was when the Destroyer wore a smile filled with ecstasy at the sound of breaking bones.

[…?]

Something was strange.

There was definitely a breaking sound, but he felt nothing in his hand.

Rather, it was a sensation as if something had blocked it.

When he raised his head with a sinking feeling, he saw Dohyun grinning wickedly.

“Thanks. For moving exactly as I thought you would.”

[…What?]

Saying this, Dohyun thrust out Cheonbyeon.

In front of him, a message window was floating.

[It has been confirmed that your health has dropped below 1%.]

[The effect of Karuk’s Essence Ring is activated.]

[A barrier that blocks 15% of maximum health in damage for 5 seconds is generated.]

[The barrier blocks the ‘Nightmare Claws’.]

The essence ring obtained from defeating Karuk in Raven’s Hidden Field, the Habitat of the Warriors.

This was the moment when that ring’s true value was finally demonstrated.

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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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