The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 295

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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 295

Episode 295.

What Dohyun handed over was a single sword.

[Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword ]

[Grade: Legend]

[Description: The flame hidden behind gentleness is more deadly than a fierce storm.

A sword that pursues strikes hidden behind softness, most suitable for those who wield elegant swordsmanship.

It will amplify the lacking attack power of the wearer.]

[Level Restriction: 70]

[Equipment Restriction: Knight, Swordsman classes]

[Physical Attack Power: 1681~1787]

[Durability: 100 / 100]

[Flowing Water : Enables natural swordsmanship that flows like water, and the water’s energy grows thicker with use.]

[Secret Fire : Can be activated when the flowing water’s energy reaches a certain level, unleashing a powerful flame slash.]

The reward obtained from defeating the Forgotten King.

He had carefully stored the Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword until Charlie reached the Guardian equipment restriction of level 40, and now finally handed it over.

Since Dohyun had the White Lion’s Snow Flower sword, he didn’t particularly need it and gave it without much thought, but…

-To bestow such an excellent sword upon someone as humble and lacking as myself… This Charlie is deeply moved, Master. To repay your grace, I will strive and work tirelessly whether it rains or storms blow.

“Uh… yeah. I’m glad you like it.”

It seemed to have a different meaning for Charlie.

His already overflowing loyalty had reached saturation and gone into overdrive.

Seeing his eyes not just soaked but completely flooded with emotion was quite burdensome, though it was a natural reaction for Charlie.

‘A master bestowing a sword upon a knight is proof of recognition as a knight. What a glorious occasion!’

Moreover, the sword’s appearance was extraordinary.

At first glance it seemed gentle, but when actually drawn and gripped, its roughness was like flowing flames.

He was confident he’d treasure even a wooden sword if given one as something found lying around, but such a magnificent sword!

This would move not just Charlie, but even Charlie’s grandfather to tears.

‘I must repay this trust. Conversing with that woman brings many realizations, so I should talk with her often.’

‘Well, seeing him so happy does feel rewarding.’

Dohyun felt proud, having no idea Charlie was thinking such spine-chilling thoughts.

Anyway, the appreciation was enough.

“Try using it once.”

-Yes, Master!

Now it was time for practical application.

There happened to be a suitable punching bag available.

Rustle- rustle-

Rustle-

The Insect Horde was approaching with perfect timing.

It was a large army that didn’t fall short compared to before.

Since it didn’t seem to have increased much, this number appeared to be the maximum size army of this dungeon.

‘…Not pleasant to look at.’

As he frowned at the disgusting sight even upon second viewing, Charlie stepped forward to block his view.

The sight of him drawing the Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword was quite impressive.

Clatter!

Suffering stepped forward as if to help as well.

-Let’s tactfully withdraw, Clatter.

Clatter?

Jihad suddenly intervened and cast unsummoning without warning.

Suffering disappeared with resentful eyes at the futile exit.

Jihad slightly averted his gaze from him.

-Ahem, it’s absolutely not because mana is precious. I just didn’t want you barging in tactlessly.

-Risa…?

Clat… ter…

Eliza and Suffering tilted their heads as if asking “Is that right?”

Dohyun shook his head while looking at Suffering’s empty spot after such a futile disappearance.

‘By now, this level shouldn’t cause much mana shortage.’

Looking at Jihad’s genuine relief, it didn’t seem intentional.

It was probably habitual mana management.

It was understandable.

He’d been suffering from mana problems since becoming a Guardian.

Rustle-

Thwack!

Meanwhile, Charlie leaped toward the Insect Horde that had approached within a certain distance.

The method hadn’t changed just because his sword had.

He still activated Guardian’s Armor and Iron Will, blocking fatal wounds while roughly taking other attacks as he fought.

However, the process was clearly different from before.

Swish-

Swoosh-

Charlie’s sword, which had been limited to blocking the front, now covered a much wider range.

More precisely, it wasn’t the sword.

Every time the sword moved, something blue following behind it deflected attacks.

A phenomenon like a curtain of water spreading out.

[The Flowing Water effect of the Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword activates.]

[You can wield natural swordsmanship that flows like water, and the water’s energy grows thicker as you practice swordsmanship.]

It was the effect of the Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword.

Countless insects attacked from all directions, but Charlie remained unshaken, simply blocking, cutting, and deflecting as naturally as flowing water.

Perfect swordsmanship that didn’t seem like a first attempt.

‘It suits him better than expected?’

It was the perfect weapon for Charlie, who handled aggro with elegant swordsmanship.

[The water’s energy grows thicker.]

Scrape- swoosh-

Moreover, his swordsmanship evolved in real time.

As the water’s energy thickened, the clearer curtain blocked attacks more easily,

Splash,

Water energy began to settle in his footsteps.

The sound that initially splashed like stepping on pooled rainwater gradually became clearer, then at some point deepened like walking on a calm lake.

Gentle.

No, rather than gentle, it was natural.

Comfortable swordsmanship without discord, flowing simply because it must flow.

Clearly this was a one-against-many battle situation.

Yet strangely, watching it was mysterious swordsmanship that made worries disappear like watching a flowing river.

-Wow… that’s Charlie?

-Risa!

Even Jihad and Eliza admired Charlie’s upgraded aggro skills.

But things didn’t flow smoothly.

Rustle- rustle-

-Huh?

Though his attack power had increased, Charlie’s foundation was still a Knight.

Among them, his role was handling aggro, so he couldn’t perform rapid slaughter.

And that was the only escape route the insects were aiming for.

-Th-they’re starting to cluster together? Owner, isn’t that dangerous?

-Ri, Risa!

Realizing they couldn’t break through Charlie, the insects began swarming together in one spot, building up their mass.

It wasn’t like they actually grew larger.

They were just clustering together in one place, creating the visual illusion of seeing something massive.

It was probably an instinctive decision to intimidate by bulking up, but…

[The flowing energy has reached a certain level.]

[Secret Fire can be activated.]

Unfortunately, that instinct became poison instead.

-Hup!

The moment Charlie gripped his sword with both hands and thrust forward with gleaming eyes.

[Casting Secret Fire.]

Whoosh-!

Fierce flames erupted and soon transformed into a hawk that flew forward.

—–!

The highly condensed flames carried scorching heat as they burned everything around, and the moment they touched the insects, they melted through them with ease.

Truly a single slash that burned everything in a straight line.

The flame hawk burned through all the insects and flew about 5 meters further before stopping.

[You have defeated a Mutant Cave Insect.]

[You have defeated a Mutant Cave Insect.]

…

[You have defeated a Mutant Cave Insect.]

[You have completely exterminated all insects in the Cursed Dungeon.]

“Insane…”

What unfolded was just the floor half-melted in the direction the slash had been unleashed and insects turned to ash.

It was the moment Charlie, who had no proper dealing skills other than the Light Sword, gained a new dealing ability.

And it was an area-of-effect dealing skill beyond expectations at that.

* * *

[You have entered the Cursed Dungeon.]

Even after Charlie’s spectacular legendary weapon debut, Dohyun continued his repeated subjugations.

The Cursed Dungeon was a free dungeon that could be entered solo.

And throughout that process, Dohyun never once drew his sword.

Rustle- rustle-

“Go, Charlie!”

-Yes, Master!

When the insect horde with visuals that never became familiar no matter how many times he saw them came rushing, Charlie would rampage while wielding the Flowing Secret Fire Sword,

Groan- groan-

Thud. Crack.

Suffering and the Undead Legion would follow up by adding their firepower.

There was no need to even use Legion Rampage.

If left alone, they would automatically use Swamp of Agony to slow the insect horde and then go on a rampage against them.

-Well done, well done~

-Rizariza!

“Fighting.”

All Dohyun had to do was stand beside Jihad and Eliza, possessed by a cheerleader spirit, cheering them on.

Following slowly behind like that,

[Your level has increased.]

‘Ah yes, this is it.’

His level went up.

With this, he was already level 93.

The level that supposedly didn’t rise easily from level 90 had gone up after just a few subjugations.

It seemed unreasonable by common sense, but there was something Dohyun had learned from subjugating the Cursed Dungeon multiple times.

‘The experience was low when it was a party dungeon.’

When entering solo, the difficulty increased drastically since he had to kill all those insects alone.

And the experience was correspondingly high.

Not only did he get all the experience that would have been shared, but additional experience came in as well.

Moreover, there was no need to gather mobs since they automatically swarmed over, making it an unparalleled honey hunting ground.

But the biggest beneficiaries of this subjugation were someone else.

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’s level has increased.]

[Guardian ‘Charlie’s level has increased.]

‘These guys are really growing like a storm.’

Similarly, the levels of these guys who hadn’t been rising well had already gone up by 3.

[Jihad LV 44]

[Charlie LV 44]

To be precise, only Charlie had gone up by 3 levels while Jihad had only gone up by 2, but even 2 was tremendous.

Divine beasts also didn’t gain experience easily as they approached level 50.

No matter how good the experience here was, this phenomenon wouldn’t have occurred without the Proof of Unity.

But it was somewhat puzzling.

‘Now they’re both the same level.’

Even though Charlie had experienced relatively explosive growth by hunting higher-level monsters from when his level was low…

‘Still, Jihad’s level was much higher, so how did he catch up this much?’

Unlike players, divine beasts supposedly had different experience requirements for leveling up depending on the individual, so that might be the reason.

‘Anyway, he’s quite high-maintenance.’

His mana consumption was high, so he needed mana-related items.

He required a lot of experience too.

He needed attention in between to prevent him from switching to Pork.

Even though it was fixed now, he had to be careful about backstabbing or fleeing due to his opportunist trait.

‘Looking at it this way, his cultivation difficulty is hell-level.’

Divine beasts were said to be originally difficult, but he wondered if there were any divine beasts as troublesome as that.

Was it more noticeable because he was alongside Charlie?

Charlie was quite loyal, and wasn’t difficult or troublesome to raise.

[The flowing energy has reached a certain level.]

[Casting Secret Fire.]

Whoooosh-!!

“Ugh.”

Dohyun snapped out of his thoughts from the scorching heat, looking fed up.

Having only possessed the Light Sword, which could practically only be used once as a dealing skill, had he gotten a real taste for it after gaining a flashy area skill?

Charlie would use Secret Fire first thing whenever he filled up his water energy, as if he’d been waiting for it.

It was flashy and entertaining to watch, so there was nothing wrong with it, but the problem was something else.

-Wow… I want one too.

-Rizariza…

-Don’t we get anything, Owner? You’re not discriminating, are you? You love us all equally, right?

-Risa? Rizariza!

Because it was so flashy, Jihad and Eliza expressed their envy.

This wasn’t like raising children or anything.

Seeing the guys even showing their disappointment, Dohyun could only sigh.

‘Is this why you can’t favor just one when taking care of kids?’

It was the same principle as bringing only one toy when there were two nephews during holidays – chaos would ensue.

-Hey you, you got yours before Charlie. Who gave you that robe and magic orb?

-Th-this was originally mine…

-Tsk tsk, such a long tongue. There’s an order to everything. This time it was Charlie’s turn.

-…Got it.

At least with Jihad, he could brush it off since he took the robe….

-Risa!

Eliza, looking up with eyes full of expectation, left no room for excuses.

It was because he hadn’t given Eliza anything at all.

‘If anything, I took from her.’

He had taken the bracelet that was Eliza’s only equipment and protective collar.

In this situation, there was only one thing Dohyun could say.

“…I’ll get you something too when we reach the city, Eliza.”

-Risa? Rizariza!

Eliza’s head shot up as if asking if he was serious, wiggling her bottom to express her excitement.

She was just like a child who had been promised a birthday present.

‘…What do spiders usually wear?’

When he logged out, he’d have to search if there were people who kept spiders as pets.

Since she was more of an ambiguous furball than what you’d call a spider, he wondered if it would be meaningful, but it was still better than not looking into it.

[You have exterminated all the bugs in the Cursed Dungeon.]

[You have cleared the dungeon.]

[Using warp to move outside.]

‘Ah, already?’

While pondering like that, Dohyun completed another extermination and stepped outside, then started walking again.

[Entering the Cursed Dungeon.]

‘How many times have I cleared this now?’

It felt like more than ten times.

Since he was proceeding at such a fast tempo, he couldn’t get a precise count.

‘It should be about time….’

Ding!

As soon as he thought that, an alarm-like notification struck his eardrums.

Dohyun’s lips curled up in a sinister smile.

[Something unusual happens due to repeated exterminations.]

‘Finally.’

The moment he had been waiting for had arrived.

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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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