The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 281

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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 281

Episode 281.

[The strange substance dwelling in the Commander’s heart reacts to the vessel of fate.]

[Phase 2 is skipped.]

[Hidden Phase occurs.]

“…Hidden Phase?”

Suddenly in this situation?

Before the stunned Dohyun could understand the situation, things began to unfold.

Hissssss-

Something dark purple, rising like smog from the Commander, began rapidly staining the surrounding earth.

“What, what is that?”

“No, what’s suddenly happening here?”

“An aura is being emitted?”

An unpleasant energy that triggered instinctive revulsion.

Looking at the writhing earth felt as disgusting as seeing contaminated material.

The raid team members who had been riding the momentum hesitated and stepped back.

It wasn’t just them.

“What the hell is this now.”

“…I don’t know much, but it doesn’t seem like a good situation.”

“I agree.”

Ast, Cheonma, and Ahdeo, who had been charging forward with momentum, also stopped abruptly and frowned.

Even the Fanatic, who had been relentlessly swinging his greatsword, was eventually forced to retreat as the energy grew increasingly dense.

——!

The density of the roar he let out was different.

A sharpness that seemed to tear through space was transmitted through the air to their skin.

The Empress’s eyes became serious.

“…Hey. Get ready.”

“Yeah.”

Her instincts were telling her.

That everything up until now had been nothing more than a light warm-up. That the real raid was just beginning.

This wasn’t something only she felt—everyone here was sensing it.

Ominous premonitions were never wrong, they say.

[The Labyrinth’s abyssal transformation begins.]

[Centered around the sealed abyss, ‘Commander of the 4th Legion of Ruin,’ the ground becomes stained with the abyss.]

[Current Labyrinth abyssal transformation: 10%]

[When abyssal transformation reaches 100%, the Labyrinth conquest will fail and influence will extend outside the Labyrinth.]

“What? Abyssal transformation?”

“It says it’ll influence outside the Labyrinth? Isn’t this basically saying we’re screwed if we fail!”

“It’s exactly like the Forgotten Tomb! Damn, if we mess this up, won’t we become criminals against the nation?”

“Is this scale even right?”

The sense of crisis felt even just from reading the text was enough to cause confusion.

And this wasn’t even the end.

Rumble rumble rumble-

The ground shook, and the dark purple-stained earth began to become translucent.

“Wh-what is that.”

“…An egg?”

“No, but why is that thing so huge?”

Beneath the contaminated earth that was revealed lay a massive egg.

But its size was absurd.

The moment they looked down at the floor, they felt not just powerlessness but even despair.

“One mountain after another.”

“No wonder it seemed easier than expected… Tsk.”

“I don’t know what it is, but the situation doesn’t look good.”

Ast and the Empress were also clicking their tongues in bewilderment.

Ahdeo and the others weren’t much different, but only Dohyun and the Guardians had serious expressions.

They had no choice.

‘Owner, that thing couldn’t be…’

‘Yeah, I think it’s right.’

‘…We must stop it, Master.’

Dohyun’s group had already seen that thing before.

The event that appeared when they caught Gaemin the Destroyer in Brion.

‘The Eye of the Abyss.’

Since it was still closed and the reptilian pupil wasn’t visible, it might look like an egg at first glance, but he was certain.

That overwhelming presence like cosmic horror wasn’t something you could forget even if you tried.

Above all.

“Huh? Look over there!”

“Damn, what the hell is that now!?”

“They’re, they’re coming up! Block them for now!”

The Abyss Legion emerging from the very faintly opened eye was proof of that.

Like an army rising from hell.

Sinister dark purple energy was flowing from them as they rose from underground to the surface.

‘At a glance, there are more than 50 of them.’

Fortunately, they seemed to be mere minions, appearing somewhat weak for an Abyss Legion.

Some even had their heads pierced and fell back into the abyss while climbing up.

“Huh?”

“This is it. Drop them all before they come up!”

“Okay!”

The Players, regaining confidence from this, began frantically dropping the creatures.

They succeeded in dropping about a quarter of them, but unfortunately, this was their limit.

Kyaaaaa-

Grrrrr-!

“There are some above too!”

“Agh, this is driving me crazy.”

Massive wyvern-like abyssal beasts flapping in the sky.

The remaining ones had flown here and begun interfering.

Grrr… uhhh…

Keeeeek…

Meanwhile, the Abyss Legion that succeeded in climbing up were surprisingly human.

More precisely, they seemed to have once been human—half had human skin, while the other half was contaminated by the abyss and writhing.

The moment the Players flinched at their disgusting appearance, someone shouted loudly.

“Charge!”

“They’re weaker than expected! Don’t retreat and sweep them away!”

It was Marphad and Raveon.

“…What?”

“B-but then what about the Commander…”

The Players who snapped to attention at their command questioned back, but they were resolute.

“Trust the Masters and leave it to them.”

“We can’t focus on the Commander anyway unless we deal with the Legion. So helping means catching the Legion as quickly as possible. Understood!”

“Yes!”

With such precise command that left no room for argument, they no longer questioned and followed orders.

Of course, there was no need to mention the Kashin Church members.

“Believers, eliminate the heretics!”

“Yes!”

“For the almighty Kashin!”

As soon as the fanatic’s command fell, they leaped into the legion without a moment’s hesitation.

Neither their terrible appearance nor their menacing aura could stop their madness.

At this, Dohyun nodded his head.

‘Still, they’re rankers, so their judgment is quick.’

Thanks to quickly handling the unexpected situation, he could focus on fighting the legion commander without interference.

If those people had been foolish and the legion had gotten involved too…

Just thinking about it gave him chills.

But while they had avoided the worst case, the situation was still not good.

[The current abyssal transformation of the labyrinth is at 12%.]

[Powerful abyss beings appear in proportion to the progress of the transformation.]

‘When it reached 10 percent, the legion appeared. After that, there were no changes during the 2 percent increase. Does this mean legions appear at 10 percent intervals?’

A time limit had suddenly been imposed on the raid.

They could no longer take their time and proceed safely as they had been doing.

Recalling the experience in Brion, what would appear when it reached 100% was obvious.

‘The strong ones of the abyss.’

When they appeared, everything would be over.

They had to settle this as quickly as possible.

[The sealed abyss, ‘Commander of the 4th Legion of Ruin’ activates the ‘Legion Commander’ trait.]

[While the Commander of the 4th Legion of Ruin leads the legion, it receives ‘Knockback Immunity’, ‘Status Ailment Immunity’, and ‘Ruthless’ effects.]

A legion commander stronger than before, with fewer members.

“Everyone understands the situation, right? If we’re late, we lose. We need to end this quickly.”

“I think the same, but… is it possible? The speed of the abyssal transformation is not normal.”

“Hmm.”

At Cheonma’s question, Ast couldn’t bring himself to answer.

In this brief moment, the progress had increased by another 2% to 14%.

At this rate, new abyss beings would appear before that legion was completely dead.

And they would be stronger than the current ones.

Meanwhile, the legion commander still had 50% of its health remaining.

With reduced forces, even by simple calculation, it would take at least 2 more hours.

“No. Killing that guy isn’t the strategy.”

It was Ahdeo who spoke up then.

“? If killing the boss isn’t the strategy, then what is?”

“You seem to know something.”

“It’s a guess.”

“We don’t have time, so whatever it is, say it quickly.”

At the Empress’s urging, Ahdeo calmly turned his head to look beside the legion commander.

It was where the giant egg… no, the eye of the abyss was located.

“Can you see what’s there?”

“How could I not see that? I could see it even with my eyes half-closed.”

“Look carefully.”

“What could possibly be there that… huh?”

The Empress, who had been frowning at Ahdeo’s calm response, paused.

There really was something there.

It was the same color as the ground corrupted by the abyss, so natural that at first glance you’d think it was just part of the corrupted earth.

“An orb?”

It wasn’t just any orb.

Between the legion commander’s back and the orb, a faint line was connected as if their souls were linked.

It was so faint that you couldn’t see it unless you looked carefully.

‘I didn’t know about this either.’

In fact, Dohyun hadn’t noticed it either.

It wasn’t hidden, but rather because the Eye of Truth wasn’t activated.

“Objectively, do you think it makes sense to defeat that guy through conventional methods before reaching 100%?”

“…It doesn’t. Not at all.”

“I think that orb might be the key. Of course, it could be a trap, but…”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

The Empress, who had been listening quietly, nodded.

“Then let’s try it.”

“Huh?”

“Wait. Empress. There’s a possibility it’s a trap. Moving more cautiously would be…”

“Ugh, that hothead… look at her charging off without listening again.”

Before Ahdeo and Ast could stop her, she kicked off the ground and instantly broke through the legion blocking her path, heading for the orb.

Soon, standing before the orb, she swung her sword down hard.

Bang!

“What? Nothing happened?”

“That’s why I said to think about it more…”

“I’ll know if I hit it more.”

“Ugh, this won’t work. Draw the legion commander’s attention.”

Seeing the Empress continue striking without giving up, the party eventually drew the legion commander’s aggro as an emergency measure.

Crash! Bang! Thud!

How many strikes had she delivered?

Crack- Crackle-

Boom!

The orb seemed to crack, then light exploded from it.

Just as they frowned at the light that burst forth like turning on a flashlight in darkness.

Roaaaaar!!!

The legion commander writhed in agony.

At the same time, a message appeared.

[‘Commander of the 4th Legion of Ruin’s sealed soul has been partially destroyed.]

[The legion commander takes severe damage.]

[The sealed abyss, ‘Commander of the 4th Legion of Ruin’s health is below 40%.]

“Oh?”

“Huh, this actually works?”

Just as Ast let out an incredulous laugh.

[The sealed soul is destroyed and splits into two.]

[Both split sealed souls must be destroyed simultaneously.]

[Only single attacks accumulate damage.]

Along with the sudden message, the orb split in two and scattered to both sides.

“Ah?”

“Don’t tell me this is?”

“I see. Now I understand.”

At this point, they couldn’t help but understand the strategy.

The legion commander and legion were a trap. They weren’t what they should focus on.

‘While someone draws the legion commander’s aggro, someone else destroys the orbs.’

It seemed to reduce 10% each time they destroyed one, so repeating this four times would end it.

It was troublesome that it had increased to five, but their numbers, including the archer, totaled seven.

It was definitely worth trying.

That’s what he thought.

Ding-

Until he saw the message that appeared shortly after.

[The sealed soul is destroyed, lifting the suppression of the ‘Power of Ruin’.]

[The ‘Commander of the 4th Legion of Ruin’ will use one of the powers that had been sealed.]

[Using Pillar of Ruin.]

[If the Commander’s aggro is lost for more than 10 seconds, a Pillar of Ruin will be generated.]

[When three or more Pillars of Ruin are generated, the pillars will explode causing area damage.]

[Warning! The area damage from the Pillars of Ruin is an instant death effect.]

“….”

“….”

Everyone fell silent as if they had made a promise, faced with the parade of messages cluttering their vision.

It was Cheonma’s lofty voice that broke the cold silence.

“It seems we’re screwed.”

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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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