The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 244

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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 244

Episode 244.

“…Kaiser? Why are you here?”

“Why am I here? I’m the one who opened the World Quest, so why wouldn’t I be?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, man.”

Dohyun chuckled at Ast’s bewildered expression.

He could roughly guess what he was trying to say.

Those eyes were asking where he’d been hiding all this time and why he was only showing up now…

“I had my circumstances.”

“…That’s it?”

Ast let out a hollow laugh as he watched Dohyun casually shrug.

His sidelong glance upward seemed to say there was no time for this.

[5…]

[4…]

Leaving the bewildered Ast behind, Dohyun calmly looked around.

There were countless figures standing around whose names alone were recognizable. And surrounding them were numerous players.

Half of them had their attention focused on that monster, while the other half were staring at Ast and Dohyun.

“Look at all those stares, feels like a monkey in a zoo. From the situation, I guess you gave up on conquering the King?”

“…Not entirely. I was in the middle of going in to conquer it.”

“Well, that’s fortunate in an unfortunate situation, but step aside. I’ll go in.”

“…Do you have a method?”

At Ast’s question, Dohyun suddenly looked at him.

The current Dohyun wasn’t confident he was objectively stronger than Ast.

Though he had grown rapidly after meeting the Guardian, even he didn’t know exactly how much stronger he’d become.

‘Moreover, from Auntie’s perspective who doesn’t know I’ve gotten stronger, it would just sound like nonsense.’

But Ast wasn’t dismissing it as nonsense and was asking purely out of curiosity.

Auntie had always been like this since they’d traveled together and accomplished several impossible things.

When Dohyun said he could do it, he would shake his head but still believe him.

And at times like this, Dohyun had only one thing to say.

“Do you think I’m Kukkudakkukku? Would I step forward without a plan?”

“Pfft. Hehe… That’s true.”

“I won’t make Auntie need heart medicine, so don’t worry.”

“What heart medicine? I’m actually quite young, you know? Why won’t you believe me?”

“Who would believe that looking at Auntie’s face?”

That was the end of it.

Ast burst into hearty laughter and stepped aside without asking further questions.

[3…]

[2…]

“Well then, go and come back.”

“Yeah.”

Dohyun, who had been casually raising his hand behind his back at Ast’s send-off, paused in front of the entrance.

Then he suddenly blurted out a comment as if something had occurred to him.

“Don’t waste your energy unnecessarily and save it.”

“? What? Why…”

Ast asked back with a puzzled expression, but he couldn’t hear the answer.

[1…]

[Kaiser has entered the Forgotten King’s Temple.]

Because Dohyun had already entered after saying those words.

[The calamity’s reproduction rate has reached 100% and the seal is disappearing.]

[The reproduction rate reached 100% before all the eyes of the great calamity could open.]

[Half of the calamity’s eyes are closing, and if the player who entered the temple dies, all eyes will open.]

[Warning! If the great calamity is not defeated within 24 hours, the World Quest will fail.]

[If the World Quest fails, all calamities of the Forgotten Tomb will randomly occur on the Main Continent.]

“Look at that message content, it’s brutal.”

“…It’ll be okay, right?”

Warning messages that appeared identically before all players simultaneously cluttered their vision.

Thanks to this, the players’ attention that had been focused on Kaiser instantly disappeared.

No, rather than disappearing, many were even sneering.

“I was surprised when Kaiser suddenly showed up.”

“It’s unexpected… but this time he’s made too reckless a move.”

“Even the Top 10 Guilds declared it absolutely impossible to clear, so where does his confidence come from?”

“Kaiser is amazing, that’s true, but not right now. Honestly, if he fought Ahdeo now, he’d get slaughtered, yet he’s challenging this.”

“When people get too carried away with success, their judgment tends to get clouded.”

The Top 10 Guilds felt the same way.

After staring at the entrance of the temple Kaiser had entered for a while, they soon smirked.

It was a reaction of ridicule.

“We’re witnessing an interesting spectacle.”

“Well… thanks to him, half the eyes closed, so isn’t that good for us? All the credit for defeating the boss will come to us.”

“What does it matter that the eyes closed? If Kaiser dies anyway, they’ll open again.”

“Ah, that’s true too.”

To them, Kaiser was already a dead man.

They had no thought whatsoever that he would conquer the Forgotten King. They literally had not even a shred of expectation.

Given the results he’d shown so far and what they’d heard directly from Ahdeo, it was a perfectly natural reaction.

“If you’ve seen enough, focus now. We need to enter the raid.”

“Got it.”

“Everyone remembers the strategy, right? Get into position properly. Then we’re going in.”

Had it heard their words?

——!!!

With perfect timing, the great calamity let out a roar, and numerous High Rankers including the Top 10 Guilds formed their battle formation.

Over thousands of High Rankers surrounded the calamity.

And behind them, over ten thousand guild members and officers formed an encircling formation.

Despite the tremendous difference in numbers, the great calamity’s size was so overwhelmingly massive that it looked like an army of ants surrounding a giant mountain rock.

“Tanks to the front!!”

Clank, clank, clank, clank, clank.

But that thing was still a monster in the end.

Regardless of the size difference, as long as it was a living being and not actually a rock, it would die if they kept biting at it.

And they weren’t an ordinary army of ants.

Elite ants with special abilities.

They were the hunters, and they were ready to hunt.

“Good, the tanks have secured aggro. Rear units, fire away!!”

“Uoooooh!!!”

The Top 10 Guild Masters acting as commanders.

At the command of Leon, the master of Leonore who stood at the very front, the mages and ranged DPS in the rear unleashed their full assault.

The calamity raid had begun.

* * *

[You have entered the Forgotten King’s Temple.]

[The Forgotten King has entered Phase 2.]

[Be careful in combat.]

Upon entering the King’s Temple, what greeted Dohyun were three lines of messages and a black temple that was cracked and shattered everywhere.

‘That’s the Forgotten King in his youth…’

And there stood the Forgotten King atop it all.

A face so identical it could have been a younger version of the Guardian.

However, unlike the aged and sickly Guardian, his massive frame and firmly built muscles exuded a powerful aura.

Though he stood hunched over like a zombie at an angle, with burns and blood splatters everywhere making him appear even more grotesque.

[Invad… ers…]

When their eyes met as the King slowly raised his head, Jihad frowned.

It wasn’t because of the King’s fierce eyes.

‘Ugh, look at all that blood splattered everywhere. How terrible.’

‘Rizariza…’

Even in the black temple, the sea of blood visible everywhere showed just how many had died.

If the dead had been NPCs rather than Players, countless corpses would have been lying around.

That said, there weren’t completely no traces of life.

‘There are severed fingers over there. They appear to be the Forgotten King’s fingers.’

‘Indeed.’

Two fingers lay abandoned in the distance.

Since they hadn’t disappeared, they were undoubtedly the Forgotten King’s fingers as Charlie said.

‘It seems they tried to cut off his wrist but failed. That means the battle was that difficult.’

If even Ahdeo could only manage to cut off fingers, that level of combat power…

He had expected it, but this definitely wouldn’t be easy.

[Forgotten King]

-Title: One Who Self-Destructed with the Abyss, King Who Lost His Self

-Type: Human

-Traits: Northern Lion’s Swordsmanship, Supreme Mastery, Lost Self, Combat Instinct, Sharp Senses, Lost Conviction, Executioner

-Description: One who self-destructed together with the Abyss that no one dared to defeat and was buried underground.

In that process, his existence was devoured, losing his conviction and being forgotten.

As someone who once reached the supreme mastery, he still possesses powerful strength even after losing his self and conviction.

If you awaken his self, you might learn something.

-Phase 2 has been activated, recovering 50% of his prime power.

-Due to the Lost Self trait, his swordsmanship is affected by the loss of his self.

-Due to the Lost Conviction trait, he is affected by the loss of his conviction.

‘…Brutal.’

Just the visible information alone was terrifying.

‘Seven traits alone… Two seem to be debuff traits, so effectively five.’

At least the good news was that Phase 2 would probably be the end.

The Spirit of the Lion King had said the complete Forgotten King would possess power equivalent to 50% of his prime.

But this also meant they had to fight the final boss mode from the very beginning.

In that case.

[Cheonbyeon transforms into ‘White Lion’s Snow Flower Sword’.]

Dohyun gripped Cheonbyeon tightly and cautiously met eyes with the Forgotten King.

Step, step…

Thud.

Then the Forgotten King, who had been slowly approaching, stopped walking.

Dohyun gulped as the King’s gaze lingered on the sword.

‘Does he recognize it?’

Just as the Guardian had said he might recognize the White Lion’s Snow Flower Sword, the King’s gaze remained on the sword for a while.

Seeing the possibility, Dohyun activated his swordsmanship to drive the point home.

[Activating True White Lion’s Song.]

A cold aura leaked from the white blade, creating a fierce blizzard.

A white lion gracefully descended atop the blizzard that dominated the surrounding space.

Unlike before when it was merely fierce, it now stood peacefully.

The perfected White Lion’s Song was responding to Dohyun’s will.

[…!]

The Forgotten King’s eyes widened slightly in response.

Just as Dohyun’s eyes filled with hope at this unexpected reaction.

Creak, groan…

With strange sounds, tendons bulged on the Forgotten King’s body as strength entered his hands.

The energy spreading through his entire body soon turned even his eyes red.

His face turned red and blue like someone in extreme rage.

[Danger… dangerous… kill… must kill… evil… must execute… Kh, keuaaaah!!]

Then the King suddenly screamed loud enough to shake the entire temple.

[The Forgotten King recalls fragments of terrible memories.]

[The Forgotten King becomes enraged.]

[Trait Combat Instinct activates.]

[Trait Executioner activates.]

In the shaking temple, watching the frantically appearing messages, Dohyun could only feel absurd.

“…No, you said he would recognize it.”

Right, he does recognize it.

But instead of coming to his senses after recognizing it, he became enraged.

The absurdity and self-loathing of learning the complete White Lion’s Song for this was brief.

“Sigh, I should have known. When has anything ever been easy?”

Dohyun sighed and gripped Cheonbyeon again as he spoke.

“Jihad, Charlie.”

-Roger!

-Yes, Master.

-Riza? Riza!

“Right, you too Eliza.”

The Guardians who responded immediately moved swiftly.

Charlie to Dohyun’s side, Eliza above Charlie, and finally Jihad behind the two.

As they formed their formation, Charlie drew his sword and Eliza prepared to shoot webs, moving her mouth.

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ summons undead.]

[Using Legion Control, all are judged as one entity.]

[Over 50% of the legion’s undead are judged as Lower City monsters. Mana consumption decreases.]

Groooan- Grooan-

And Jihad’s undead legion, which had grown significantly to now sixteen creatures.

[Legion Commander ‘Suffering’ reveals itself.]

Clack… clack…

Finally, even Legion Commander Suffering.

Dohyun used Darkness Shroud on all of them and himself, then additionally used Sword Aura and Striking.

[Using Thunder Dragon Descent.]

Kwaaaaang-!

And above that, a lightning-shaped dragon descended.

Crackling sparks flew as Dohyun’s blue hair and then his entire body took on a slight blue glow, and his eyes changed.

“Going full power from the start.”

As Dohyun kicked off the ground, the undead legion and Guardians followed behind him.

It was the clash between the Forgotten King and the legion.

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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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