The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 265

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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 265

Episode 265.

Deep in the Southern Forest.

Had they walked about 5 more minutes after the fierce battle with Sina?

-Owner….

-…Risa.

As they came to an abrupt stop, Jihad and Eliza frowned as if displeased.

Their eyes, narrowed like twins, were focused on one place.

A tree located in the corner of what appeared to be an ordinary dense forest at first glance.

A very unpleasant aura was flowing from that tree.

“Hmm. Really? I can’t tell at all.”

-…I’m sorry, but neither can I, Master.

Of course, only Jihad and Eliza, who were sensitive to mana, could sense it; to Charlie and Dohyun, it was just an ordinary tree.

They could only guess something was there based on their reactions and the mark on the map.

-You can’t feel this? Really? When such an unpleasant rotten smell is vibrating like this?

-Rizariza!

Jihad shouted loudly as if he couldn’t understand, with Eliza chiming in from the side.

Looking at these two, it seemed they could have found it even without the map.

‘They’re definitely extraordinary.’

Their unusually high mana consumption, their high rank, and their mana detection ability that transcended the Guardian category.

They were extraordinary beings in many ways.

“I get it, so be quiet.”

-…You always scold only me.

Leaving behind Jihad who was grumbling with his lips pouted, Dohyun took a step forward and a cheerful notification rang out.

[You have discovered the Labyrinth of Denial.]

[Labyrinth of Denial]

-Grade: ?

-Type: ?

-Characteristics: ?

-Description: Originally, this place was an ordinary labyrinth. Until something took residence here.

It denies entry to all citizens and only allows Disciples to enter.

[Entry limit: None]

[The labyrinth will disappear upon successful completion.]

‘There’s nothing I can learn from the information.’

Grade, type, characteristics – everything was essentially blank.

Even the description was just a few brief lines.

The only thing he could tell was that clearing the labyrinth would be the completion condition?

What was unusual was that there was no limit on the number of entrants.

‘Does this mean a hundred or even a thousand people could enter?’

One of the reasons dungeons were usually difficult was this entry limit restriction.

Dungeons increased difficulty by limiting entries to 4 or fewer when 10 people could make it easy.

Having no such restriction meant one of two things.

‘Either it’s that difficult, or it’s a special type of dungeon… I’ll find out once I go in.’

Since seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times was an unchanging law, Dohyun stopped pondering and boldly walked forward.

The moment his foot touched the base of the tree.

[Entering the Labyrinth of Denial.]

Something rippled, and soon Dohyun’s vision was reversed.

And when he opened his eyes, a completely different scenery greeted him.

‘Indeed….’

Dohyun nodded as he looked around.

The name labyrinth wasn’t false, as a massive maze spread out so large that its structure couldn’t be properly seen.

Just the size of the entrance alone looked like dozens of people could move together.

-It’s quite large.

-If we get lost here, we won’t be able to find our way?

-Rizariza.

Indeed, if they lost their companions even once, it would be difficult to find them.

Since this was the first time encountering this type of dungeon in Godose, Dohyun became interested and slowly entered inside.

Step, step.

How long had they walked like that?

-Oh, it’s a fork in the road!

As they proceeded through the vast maze, they soon came to a fork.

A situation where they had to choose without a map.

One wrong choice would be troublesome, so they should think carefully, but Dohyun chose left without hesitation.

[Eye of Truth is activated.]

‘Hundreds of arrows and monsters? What’s that, spears coated with poison?’

His eyes could clearly see what traps were lurking on the right path.

If they had passed unknowingly, they would have become skewers in an instant.

On the other hand, there were no traps on the left. At least that’s how it looked with the Eye of Truth.

‘And God’s eye has never been wrong.’

How long had it been since Dohyun, who grinned, entered the left path?

This time too, a fork appeared quickly.

However, this fork had three paths, and two of them had traps.

‘The middle.’

This time too, he easily headed to the right path using the Eye of Truth, and another fork greeted him again.

How many times had he repeated checking with the Eye of Truth and moving?

[Eye of Truth is activated.]

‘The third one.’

When he passed through even the fork that had grown to five branches like breaking bamboo, a cheerful notification rang out.

[You have escaped the maze.]

[Entering the labyrinth.]

-What, this wasn’t the end?

-Without Master’s insight, this would not have been an easy place to get through. For others, just moving would take quite a long time.

-Risa!

“Right.”

Still, the labyrinth was relatively manageable.

Because they just needed to push straight through one path without even needing to activate the Eye of Truth.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble-

“…Run.”

-…Yes!

-Hmm, what are all those things!

-Ri, Risa!

The problem was the various obstacles that followed behind them the moment they entered the labyrinth.

Starting with a giant iron sphere,

Kiiiii-

Hissss-

-Keh! Gh, ghosts! No, why are there ghosts here!

-Rizariza!

-Attacks don’t work. It doesn’t seem like they were made to be defeated.

“Run.”

-Yes!

Even the spine-chilling specters.

After roughly several minutes of breaking through the winding and twisted path, overcoming all sorts of obstacles.

[You have escaped the labyrinth.]

-Huff, finally escaped.

-Rizariza.

“You were carried by Charlie the whole way, so why are you panting like that?”

-…I have short legs. I’m bound to have less stamina.

When Charlie, who had been running while carrying the relatively low-stamina Jihad, put him down, Jihad awkwardly scratched his nose.

Dohyun chuckled at this and looked up.

[You have broken through both the Labyrinth and Maze of Denial.]

[You can enter the nest.]

‘Is this the real thing?’

It was more like a cave than a nest.

It was massive enough to be what one might imagine a dragon’s lair to look like, with traces of ancient time evident.

After observing carefully and stepping inside, it was a different sight from the exterior.

Candles attached to the walls softly illuminated the darkness, and for some reason, it reminded him of the King’s Tomb.

Thud.

-Huh?

-Hmm. This is…

The moment he took the next step.

A massive cavity, about 20 meters high and 200 meters in diameter, greeted them, and Dohyun couldn’t help but be startled as he entered.

-They’re stone statues.

Enormous stone statues large enough to catch the eye even in this vast space were lined up densely on both sides.

Their number was roughly estimated to exceed ten.

-…Owner. Something feels ominous. Be careful.

-Risa…

The two who were sensitive to mana frowned, but this time Dohyun was a step faster.

[Eye of Truth activates.]

‘…Those stone statues. They’re all red.’

Just like what he had seen from the Emperor and 2nd Prince, their entire bodies were tinged red.

Moreover, the forms of the stone statues were unusual.

Unpleasant appearances that differed from ordinary monsters, stimulating instinctive fear.

They merely had differences in characteristics like quadrupedal locomotion, scales on their bodies, or wings, but they all emanated a similar atmosphere.

This was also quite a familiar atmosphere to Dohyun.

‘…The Abyss.’

The monsters he had seen through the Eye of the Abyss and the Devourer of Existence.

It was identical to the unpleasantness he had felt from them.

In other words, all those numerous stone statues were modeled after beings from the Abyss.

And the fact that the Eye of Truth activated for every single one of those stone statues meant…

‘…Those things aren’t going to move, are they?’

Dohyun gulped and soon shook his head.

At least for now, no particular abnormal symptoms were visible.

[Investigation of the Labyrinth of Denial (0 / 1)]

‘…Let’s go in a bit more.’

Confirming that the quest wasn’t completed yet, Dohyun stepped further inside.

In such a tense atmosphere, the moment he passed between the stone statues and reached the end.

[Eye of Truth activates.]

[Investigation of the Labyrinth of Denial completed.]

[Return to the Emperor and report what you witnessed.]

“This crazy…”

Dohyun’s eyes widened at something reflected in his pupils, and profanity burst out simultaneously.

Dohyun’s face contorted as he muttered in disbelief.

“They want me to clear this?”

It was undoubtedly the highest difficulty level ever.

* * *

[Escaping from the Labyrinth of Denial.]

[All members confirmed to have exited the Labyrinth of Denial. The labyrinth’s structure changes.]

Dohyun’s expression after exiting the labyrinth was not good.

That was natural.

“Thinking objectively. This dungeon is insane.”

-…That’s a perfectly objective judgment, Owner.

-Risa.

The difficulty was literally going crazy.

So much so that even Dohyun, who never shied away from challenges despite all kinds of adversity and hardship, was convinced it was impossible alone.

-…It seems close to impossible for now, Master.

In this rare situation where opinions were unified, Dohyun sighed.

‘This seems like it requires at least a guild-level entry… Should I tell Auntie and try clearing it together?’

But even then, he wasn’t confident they could clear it.

Just in case, he checked his friends list, but Sword Master was still unreachable, probably still training, and Empress was in dreamland, showing as offline.

‘Sigh, seeing things like this makes me think I need a guild.’

Until now, it had been the type he could handle alone, but this time many people were essential, so he felt somewhat regretful.

Of course, he had no intention of joining a guild made by other guys.

He didn’t prefer being under others, and due to what he’d been through in Demroc, he honestly didn’t feel attached to guild-type groups.

‘That ‘thing’ I saw at the end. There was definitely something glowing red behind it.’

The small red light hidden behind ‘that thing’ that had shocked Dohyun.

Judging by the circumstances, it was undoubtedly related to the main quest. ‘That thing’ was expressing with its whole body that it was connected to the main quest.

Then that hidden something had a high probability of being a fragment of fate.

‘I absolutely have to clear it.’

To obtain that, clearing this labyrinth was essential.

Whether asking Ast for help, or reluctantly forming a raid party, he had to use any means necessary.

Swish.

Dohyun’s eyes gleamed sharply as he turned his head to look beyond the forest, toward the direction where the Imperial Capital was located.

[Investigation of the Labyrinth of Denial completed.]

[Return to the Emperor and report what you witnessed.]

‘A labyrinth related to the main quest… The Emperor might know something.’

First, reporting to the Emperor came first.

* * *

And at that moment.

[Guys, something big is going to be uploaded to Kaiser TV soon.]

A somewhat random post appeared on the website forum.

└? Big thing? A lot has already exploded, what nonsense.

└Author: Who doesn’t know that? Anyway, something’s going to blow up, so just know that.

└Another big thing is going to explode here? Is that even possible?

Since it was Kaiser, the hot topic cheat key, attention was instantly drawn.

However, while attention was drawn, it wasn’t in a positive direction.

└Ugh, attention-seeking again. Let’s just ignore it.

└For real, there are too many attention seekers after this incident.

└What, is he the Kaiser’s cousin or something? What does he know to act like something big is going down lololol

└If that guy is Kaiser’s cousin, then I’m Kaiser’s grandpa tsk tsk

As usual, they thought it was just a malicious user hungry for attention spouting nonsense.

Because of this, people’s reactions were mockery, nothing more, nothing less.

└Suddenly reminded of that Bastard bastard who used parrying, so fucking annoying.

└ Bastard? What’s that

└Don’t know, shit, whether it was Bastard Sword or Mustard, he was bragging about how he talked with Kaiser and even fought him, then tried to parry the boss and got one-shot killed.

└ Hahahaha there are so fucking many of those kids right now.

└Isn’t this all because of attention seekers like that, ugh;;

└Seeing comments getting triggered over trivial trolling makes Kaiser, who defeated countless rankers and reclaimed 1st place in all city rankings from his throne, becoming synonymous with troll manufacturing, seem amazing.

└? What’s with this sudden worship?

└You don’t know this? It’s a recent meme. People are copying the Kashin Church worship.

└The Kashin Church has been grinning ear to ear lately. Before they at least moved somewhat secretly, but now they’re completely committed to proselytizing everywhere.

Like other posts, just as a playground-like atmosphere was forming.

-Author : I understand there are many comments not believing this. Given the subject matter. I won’t say much. (…jpg) You guys judge for yourselves.

Until one comment appeared between the bitter anger and worship.

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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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