The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 316
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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 316
Episode 316.
* * *
Meanwhile, before Dohyun was shocked by the unexpected message.
Flash-!
Crash!
Inside the Abyss Veil.
The battle between Garion and the Guardians was going smoothly.
No, saying it was going smoothly was insufficient to describe the spectacular scenes that kept unfolding.
Clatter, clack-
Groooar-!
Jihad’s Undead Legion attacked from all sides, binding Garion’s feet,
Charlie’s sword imbued with faint light and Garion’s black sword surging with abyssal energy clashed endlessly.
Each time they collided, waves spread out, alternately dyeing the surroundings with light and darkness.
Clang! Crash!
Clang!
Garion attacking with frenzied intensity, and Charlie deflecting and countering Garion’s sword.
The sight resembling a collision between light and darkness left the players unable to contain their admiration.
“Wow… what is this.”
“Was Charlie always this good at fighting?”
This is Knight Commander class? Both of their swordsmanship is insane.”
“Their swordsmanship seems somewhat similar too.”
“They’re both former Knight Commanders of Arren Castle.”
Even though Charlie had managed to block Garion’s sword, honestly they hadn’t expected much.
Garion was a boss that even Top 10 Guild Master-level powerhouses couldn’t handle.
He had shown power truly befitting a boss of a city-destroying level quest, while Charlie was ultimately just one player’s Guardian.
But what was this?
Slash- Crash!
The battle that actually unfolded was more evenly matched than expected.
It wasn’t because Charlie possessed power greater than the Top 10 Guild Masters.
What made all this possible was none other than the faint light dwelling in Charlie’s sword.
[Charlie’s intense will resonates with his potential.]
[The light lingering on his sword becomes slightly clearer.]
[The light resists the abyssal energy and exerts great power against the abyss.]
[The light negates Black Knight Garion’s ‘Execution’.]
An unblockable sword.
That light was negating Garion’s lethal strike that should have resulted in execution without even a proper fight.
Graaaah-!
Crash!
Moreover, there were 20 undead creatures.
With weapons and bodies swinging relentlessly from all directions, even Garion couldn’t easily land a critical hit.
“Wow, this coordination is insane.”
“Was Necromancer always this overpowered?”
“Wow, when undead reach that quantity, it really makes a difference.”
“Isn’t this basically 21 people taking down a boss that’s supposed to have a 4-person limit? Isn’t this too easy?”
“Yeah, if you’re jealous, you do it too. I bet you’d delete your character within a month.”
“Looking at how there are no famous Necromancers except the King of Demons, the answer is obvious. Undead don’t listen and devour mana like crazy while being inefficient.”
“Then what’s that?”
“…I don’t know.”
The players couldn’t help but express both admiration and confusion.
They couldn’t understand the performance that far exceeded the existing limitations of Necromancers.
Moreover, for a Guardian, not even a player, to show such performance?
For them, seeing a Divine Beast Necromancer for the first time, it was honestly bewildering.
-When I block one side, an attack immediately comes from the side. High intelligence? For undead, they’re unbelievably systematic and strategic.
That was exactly what Garion was admiring.
Human.
A legion that was systematic without fault, even compared to excellent knight orders.
‘Not very threatening, but troublesome.’
Interrupting timing when attack opportunities arose, blocking evasion and charge routes.
They were focused on wearing him down as much as possible.
It was a perfect strategy for the current situation.
Thwack-
After all, the only one who could pierce his armor and inflict serious wounds was Charlie, who was charging with blazing eyes.
Garion, having deflected Charlie’s sword, glanced to the side.
He wondered if it was the commander’s ability, but…
-Nice, Ttadaki! Push harder!
Ttadak!!
-Well done, well done!
-Rizariza!
That didn’t seem to be the case.
That commander was doing nothing but cheering.
Then they must have found a good legion commander, but it couldn’t be the ability of that large and stupid orc legion commander.
-A high-ranking legion commander who handles the cold of the underworld…
Just as Garion was showing interest in an existence he didn’t know.
Suddenly his vision brightened from a flash of light above his head.
Charlie’s sword, having approached before he knew it, was falling down.
-Do you have the luxury to be distracted?
-Distracted…
Though it was an energy threatening to the abyss, Garion nonchalantly raised his sword to block without even lifting his head.
Then Garion, repeating the words, twisted his lips into a smirk.
-Is there any reason I shouldn’t be distracted?
-…Grind.
-It seems you’re the ones who need to come to your senses.
The anger in his eyes deepened, but Charlie didn’t retort.
More precisely, he couldn’t.
This fight that appeared evenly matched at first glance was actually not evenly matched at all.
They were just somehow binding his feet with numbers and avoiding direct hits.
Despite considerable time having passed since the battle began, they still hadn’t managed to pierce that jet-black armor.
‘…On the other hand, this side is reaching its limit.’
Though he wasn’t showing it outwardly, Charlie, who had observed Jihad for a long time, could tell.
That his hands hidden in his robe were trembling.
A typical mana depletion symptom.
Since he was even using undead weapon creation, he was having trouble enduring any longer.
[2nd Legion Commander ‘Ugeo’s’ weapon disappears.]
…
[Troll undead’s weapon disappears.]
[Ogre undead’s weapon disappears.]
Indeed, most of the undead’s weapons had disappeared.
If they removed the undead weapons that Legion Commander Suffering was handling, it would provide breathing room, but then the battle situation would completely flip.
In the end, they had no choice but to forcibly squeeze out mana to maintain them.
In other words, the moment when Jihad’s mana completely disappeared would also be the moment of their defeat.
“…Hey, is it just me? Don’t the undead seem weaker somehow?”
“Charlie’s also allowing more attacks to get through.”
“Garion doesn’t have a single scratch on him? Is this really okay?”
“Damn, when the hell is Kaiser coming?”
“At this rate, we’re all going to die.”
The whispered conversations of a few perceptive players could be faintly heard.
Whether Garion felt the same way, his sinister smile deepened even more.
Even facing that monster, Charlie could do nothing.
Just crossing swords and struggling in a contest of strength was overwhelming enough.
‘…I’m sorry, Master. I’m still weak.’
Charlie’s face turned bitter.
While his mission was originally to buy time until Dohyun arrived, he had secretly hoped for it.
That bastard who trampled on his comrades’ pride.
A moment to strike back at that shameless wretch who betrayed his master, whom he had treated as both brother and dear friend.
But reality was cold.
‘…I don’t have that power.’
If only he had regained his prime strength…
If only he had focused more on growth and put in more effort.
‘I had sworn never to let this happen again.’
Then could he have avoided feeling this miserable again?
Did he sense that Charlie’s spirit was broken?
Swoosh-
Garion, who had released the pressure from their crossed swords and stepped back, stared intently at Charlie.
Then a heavy voice flowed from beyond his helmet.
-House of Ravion. Arren’s pride that produced countless great knights.
-…
-They were those who always charged to the front in any hardship or adversity, valuing knightly pride above all else.
As the voice continued, Charlie’s expression hardened.
-Among them, the most exceptional talent, Charlie de Ravion… Are you truly the knight called the Dawn of Light? If this is your full power, it’s disappointing.
Because he knew his true name?
That was part of it, but more than that, it was incomprehensible.
House of Ravion had fallen.
Now there were few in the Empire who knew of House of Ravion, and almost none who knew he was a knight of House of Ravion.
‘I have no memory of this one.’
He wasn’t even someone who lived in the same era as Charlie.
Then how?
Did his confusion show on his face?
-You look like you can’t understand how I know such things.
-…
-I know much more about you. How you always fought at the very front during the Arren catastrophe, how you were praised as Raveon’s one and only Dawn of Light and earned the admiration of countless people.
Garion smiled sinisterly and took a step closer.
-That you never actually formed a knight’s oath with the man you once called master.
-…
And one more step.
Approaching gradually, he continued speaking.
-Even that you failed to protect and lost your master, comrades, and family.
Crack.
Charlie, whose eyes wavered as he held back, could no longer endure and asked.
-…Who are you.
This went beyond the scope of investigation.
If nothing else, even his subordinates didn’t know the secret with his former master.
So few knew that even very close comrades were unaware.
But they were already dead.
-Heh… Hehe…
-What’s so amusing?
-Kehehehe… How could it not be amusing.
Garion, who had been chuckling as if something was terribly funny, slowly raised his bowed head.
Then the reptilian eyes visible beyond his helmet turned black.
The moment their eyes met.
-Ah…
Charlie’s pupils dilated.
Memories locked away in a corner of his mind flashed by like a panorama.
It was the memory of ‘that day.’
‘Kraaaak!’
‘S-save me! Kyaaak!’
‘Commander! At least the Commander must survive.’
‘The Commander is our only hope.’
Residents and soldiers dying in agony in the burned city outskirts.
‘Charlie. My proud son.’
‘Please survive. You are our only hope. Only you, born with the destiny to awaken the Light of Dawn…’
His father and brother who smiled proudly even as they died with pierced bellies under building debris, believing in him.
‘I was… destined… to die.’
‘You must… carry on our footsteps…’
His former master who remained serene until the last moment.
The brutal battlefield where he had to send off such a master without even properly closing his eyes.
‘Young master! You must survive! Without you, our house ceases to exist.’
‘You must carry on our will!’
‘Everyone charge! Open a retreat route!’
The family members who didn’t hesitate to charge into that battlefield.
They never returned.
If they had any strength left to retreat, they used even that to swing their swords.
They killed as many demons as possible to open a retreat route for Charlie and the civilians.
Kraaaaaaaa-!
And the massive monster that revealed itself beyond the city walls, roaring.
That’s the one.
The source of all this calamity and the darkness of the abyss.
Also the source of the message window that had shocked Dohyun.
Creak- Crack-
[The terrible existence within Black Knight Garion reveals itself.]
[Warning! This is a high-ranking opponent.]
[The darkness of the Abyss Veil grows even thicker.]
Garion’s body writhed as the entire Abyss Veil was engulfed in massive darkness.
The faint light dwelling in Charlie’s sword could no longer illuminate the darkness.
A great evil that plunged the surroundings into darkness merely by revealing its existence.
[Guardian ‘Charlie’ has encountered an old grudge.]
[Guardian ‘Charlie de Ravion’ encounters the darkness of the abyss, ‘Dark Dragon Lord.’]
The source of all darkness and an existence born from nightmares.
The darkness that reigned over all its kind, destroying House of Ravion and causing catastrophe in Arren with just a single advent.
People who were too afraid to even speak its true name used to call it this way.
A terrible nightmare that calls forth iron and blood through its very existence.
-Iron Blood…!
The Bound Draconic Abomination of the Iron Blood.
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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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