The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 167

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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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Chapter 167

Episode 167.

[Time remaining until field boss respawn: 00:01:03]

[The field boss will respawn shortly.]

“Huh?”

Dohyun paused at the unexpected notification.

Come to think of it, when he first started searching for monsters, he had seen a message saying 5 minutes remained.

Time had already passed, leaving only 1 minute.

[Conditions are met.]

[The trait ‘Slayer’ is activated.]

[A corresponding boss is confirmed to be nearby.]

[The hidden location of the field boss ‘Forest Troll King’ is revealed.]

And right on cue, the Slayer trait activated as it always did.

But the location was closer than expected.

‘Right next to me?’

No, it really was right next to him.

If he ran, he could reach it in 30 seconds, let alone a minute.

Considering how vast the Blue Forest was, it was an incredible coincidence.

With bad luck, even with the Slayer trait, it often respawned 20 or 40 minutes away.

‘I have no choice then.’

With such a coincidence, it was as if it was begging to be caught.

He had originally planned to gather the pulsing tree root leaves and blue leaves first, but this changed everything.

‘Those blue leaves or whatever are nowhere to be seen anyway.’

He’d have to catch it eventually.

It would be better to get the Troll King’s fangs first.

Having made his decision, Dohyun immediately started walking.

The distance was really close, and walking at a moderate pace, he could arrive just in time.

[The field boss ‘Forest Troll King’ is respawning.]

Graaahhhhh!!!

Right on time, the field boss appeared and let out a roar.

This creature was distinctly different from ordinary trolls.

For starters, it had two heads, and boasted a massive muscular body that made regular trolls look like babies.

“Looks like I’m first.”

-You’re lucky. I heard the Apostles take turns with each other.

-Yeah. If you cut in line, you’re just dead.

This happened often back in Demroc too.

Standing around with no expectations, only to get lucky and stumble upon something.

Whenever that happened, he used to get angry, asking if the game was mocking him when his gacha luck, drop rates, or even enhancement luck should be better instead, but without even that, he might have seriously quit.

Chuckle.

Dohyun chuckled at the old memory and was about to grip Heavenly Transformation and tense his thigh muscles when—

“Huh? What? There’s someone here?”

“Eh? Weren’t we the closest team? We were 2 minutes away?”

“Damn, there must have been a player with the Slayer trait closer by.”

“This is bad. The team leader said we absolutely had to get the first kill…”

Rough breathing and urgent voices came from behind him.

But those voices soon turned irritated. They seemed annoyed that their rush had been in vain.

“Which bastard got so lucky?”

“Let’s see their face… Huh? Isn’t that Kaiser?”

“What bullsh… Holy crap?”

“Those Guardians and that dark armor… Wow, it really is Kaiser.”

When Dohyun instinctively turned his head, the guys who met his eyes were struck speechless.

They looked quite shocked, never having imagined it would be Dohyun.

And Dohyun was equally surprised.

‘…That emblem.’

The guild emblem proudly displayed on their chests was familiar.

It had to be.

An emblem depicting a man holding a sword high beneath a flag.

It was the emblem of a guild that boasted great prestige among the top 100 guilds, and where Berjhe served as leader.

It was the Hero Guild’s emblem.

‘So the rumors were true.’

He had heard it in passing.

News that the Hero Guild was controlling bosses in Pratel.

He knew many players were inconvenienced by this, but since it wasn’t illegal control, players had no grounds to complain.

‘They organize teams with Slayer trait holders and move around.’

They scatter around like that, and when a boss respawns, the closest team goes to claim the spot.

Since they were using legitimate methods, there was nothing to criticize.

“Ah, what? Someone’s already standing there?”

The appearance of the Hero Guild, with whom he’d had some recent entanglements, was surprising, but there was something even more surprising.

“We came pretty fast this time, but the Hero Guild got it again.”

“How are they always so fast? This is so frustrating, should I join a guild…”

“We have a guild too. Jonghyun, you should hurry up and join the guild chat.”

“No, ‘King God General Kaiser Punch’ is over the top. What kind of guild name did you make?”

A group appeared behind the Hero Guild.

No, to be precise, it was two groups.

“Huh? What, did you guys come to hunt the field boss too?”

“What, Hyuna? We’re all running into each other here. We came to hunt, but someone beat us to it.”

“…Who are they?”

“Ah, well… guys I know.”

“I see. Hello!”

Behind the familiar group, another group of familiar faces joined in.

Of course they were familiar.

They were the four members of the group chat who had wished for his death, and Hyuna and her friends whom he wanted to punch even just looking at them.

‘…Shit, what kind of combination is this.’

Dohyun felt dizzy from that remarkable gathering and denied reality.

At that moment, as the guys turned their heads, Dohyun quickly turned his head away.

His incredible reflexes of 0.0001 seconds that would make even Demroc cry were displayed, proving he wasn’t the number 1 in Demroc for nothing, but it seemed he was a step too late.

“Huh?”

Because he heard Hyuna’s familiar voice.

The voice that was close to an exclamation of surprise soon turned to shock.

“H-Holy crap. Isn’t that person Kaiser?”

“Huh? What are you talking about? What Kaiser all of a sudden… Gasp? It really is?”

“Holy shit, amazing. Am I finally seeing Kaiser in person?”

“Hey hey, move aside. Let me see his face. Portrait rights and copyright protection are so strict that I couldn’t see his face at all.”

“No choice. I heard it’s because of the risk of retaliation since there are limits to cameras in virtual reality.”

With Duhyung and Jonghyun’s groups joining in as well, Dohyun squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Ah…’

Was he going to get caught like this?

While feeling like he was doomed, thinking about it, he felt wronged.

What crime had he committed that he should have to hide?

He wasn’t even trying to hide being Kaiser, and they were the ones who had praised him on their own!

‘Right, I’m being honorable… Damn it. I don’t know anymore.’

Just when his feelings became half “whatever happens, happens” and half fear of the aftermath.

“Huh?”

His eyes met with theirs.

Dohyun tried to open his mouth first to take the initiative, but Hyuna was faster.

“Oh, what? He’s covering his face.”

“Right. Kabi… Did he always wear a mask?”

“That looks like a mask sold by Pratel merchants. Must have gotten it recently?”

“Well… He is too famous. It makes sense he’d cover his face.”

At that, Dohyun flinched and placed his hand on his face.

He felt the texture of the crude mask.

Only then did Dohyun remember he was wearing a mask and let out a sigh of relief.

‘Wow… I’m glad I got this mask.’

Honestly, when he bought the mask, he had thought about this kind of situation.

Since his friends and Hyuna were all gathered in Pratel, it wouldn’t be strange to run into them anytime.

Rather, it was amazing that he hadn’t encountered them for the past few days.

That’s why he bought it as soon as he reached level 58 and could wear the mask, but if he hadn’t bought it now…

‘Ugh, gives me chills.’

Dohyun shuddered once at the mere thought.

As if empathizing with Dohyun’s feelings.

Roaaaaar!!!

[Field boss ‘Forest Troll King’ unleashes ‘Fear’.]

[You have heard the ‘Fear’ of a king of a species.]

[All stats decrease by 10%.]

[All speeds decrease by 10%.]

[You are immune to mental corruption due to the ‘Hero’ trait effect.]

[Fear is nullified.]

The Forest Troll King unleashed Fear with a thunderous roar, and the Hero trait blocked it.

Only then did people turn their gaze away from Kaiser and focus on the creature.

“Looks like it’s starting.”

They instinctively knew the battle with the field boss was beginning.

Thanks to that, Dohyun, feeling much more at ease, gripped Heavenly Transformation which had turned into a blue sword.

‘Let’s focus on killing this guy first and think later.’

It was a very bewildering situation, but now was the time to focus on battle.

* * *

The battle wasn’t difficult.

Roaaaaar!!!

[Field boss ‘Forest Troll King’ uses ‘Rage Rush’.]

[You have perfectly succeeded in parrying.]

[You completely deflect Rage Rush.]

The Forest Troll King, the field boss of this place, was a close-range based boss.

Among them, it was close to a mix of a berserker who had lost reason and was rampaging, and an axe warrior.

It felt similar to Karuk, who was the hidden field boss of Raven.

It was exactly like his superior version.

‘This kind of guy is easy.’

And Kaiser was the best at dealing with such opponents.

The thoughts of such a brute were obvious.

Destroy.

The battle pattern of a creature that operated on this single principle was so predictable that he could anticipate three moves ahead.

[You have perfectly succeeded in parrying!]

[You completely deflect Strike of Rage.]

Thanks to that, he could execute parries as easily as eating a meal.

There was no need to step back.

Lightly ducking to dodge, or stepping forward or diagonally to counter attacks.

Then for powerful patterns that couldn’t be deflected with normal attacks, he would unfailingly parry.

Roaaar!!

[Field boss ‘Forest Troll King’s health is below 50%.]

The Forest Troll King was delighted by the one-sided beating that was close to a massacre.

[Phase 2 is activated.]

[Warrior trait is activated.]

[Field boss ‘Forest Troll King’s physical abilities greatly increase.]

The staple trait of warrior-type field bosses, Warrior.

Even though it was Phase 2 where this common yet powerful trait called “Ttorior” activated, nothing was different.

No matter how fast the creature became, it was slower than Dohyun, and no matter how powerful its attacks were, there was no way they would hit.

To Dohyun, it was just a slightly faster sandbag.

At this rate, it was such an easy, almost simple battle that he could finish it within 5 minutes…

“Wow! Amazing! His control is insane!”

“So cool… I have to brag to Kashin Church today. That I saw Kaiser oppa’s battle right in front of my eyes.”

“Me too, me too!”

“Why isn’t Hyuna saying anything… Pfft, guys, look at Hyuna. She was wondering why she joined that cafe, but now she can’t take her eyes off him.”

The problem was the commotion coming from behind.

From the chatter of Hyuna and her friends,

“Damn… This is really amazing. How is that human control? Nothing follows the strategy guide.”

“Would a god follow human strategy guides? Foolish Jaeyeol.”

“Oh, Jonghyun you bastard, when did you start making sense? Do you finally understand the true value of my guild name? How about it, want to join?”

“Sh, should I?”

“Wow, Dohyun who can’t see this is really pitiful.”

To the sounds of his friends praising him.

Even though countless players had gathered around, the familiar voices were particularly audible.

They were busy admiring and praising everything, but since those people happened to be those guys, he felt a nauseating sense of rejection.

‘…Let’s finish quickly and get out of here.’

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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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