The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 318

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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 318

Episode 318.

His complexion is pale.

His body is growing cold in real time.

The hand he’s holding has lost its strength, merely resting there.

Only the gurgling sound of coughing up blood can be heard.

‘…Ah.’

It was the appearance one shows when death approaches right before their eyes.

How many times had he coughed up blood?

Abar, his half-unfocused eyes moving, struggled to open his trembling lips.

“Cough, I’m sorry… Charlie. My dear knight….”

“Don’t speak. I’ll get a priest right away….”

“…I’m dying. My body… cough, cough…. I know… it well.”

At Abar’s words, Charlie, who was about to stand up, gritted his teeth.

How did it come to this?

He had simply been struggling to leave a small footprint in the world, just like any other day.

He had resolved to pledge his loyalty once this task was finished.

Kraaaaaaah-!!!

That suddenly appearing monster ruined everything.

The Abyss, was it?

Why did a monster from the Abyss, which only remained in myths, have to appear now of all times?

“Charlie… did I… did we. Leave a footprint…?”

“You did. More upright and clear than anyone. So please hold on just a little longer. I’ll take you to safety right away….”

Even as he spoke, he didn’t know what he was saying.

A safe place?

Where could such a thing exist on a battlefield where everyone was dying?

Listening to Charlie’s rambling words, Abar slowly shook his head.

“…I’m sorry.”

A brief word.

Watching his eyes slowly closing, Charlie bit down hard and shouted.

“…I can’t let you go like this. Don’t we need to form a knight’s oath? Didn’t you want me to become a knight!”

“…Cough.”

“Damn it!”

Growing anxious at Abar’s state, unable to even speak properly anymore, Charlie bit his finger.

He bit roughly until blood flowed freely, but he didn’t care.

He simply took out the necklace he had kept close to his heart.

[Blood Oath Necklace]

It was for conducting a knight’s oath.

It wasn’t to repay the guilt of not becoming a knight at the last moment.

‘The moment of oath is special.’

The moment an oath is made.

While their souls are bound together, each other’s bodies are preserved.

In other words, even if injured, those wounds wouldn’t worsen.

It would last at most less than 10 minutes….

‘If I can somehow escape this place and find a priest within that time.’

Rather than giving up and doing nothing, Charlie’s heart wanted to grasp even at straws.

Lord Abar….

His master shouldn’t die in a place like this.

Thud.

Just as he was about to bring the necklace under his bleeding hand.

Something grabbed his hand.

It was Abar.

“…Master?”

Master.

It was the title Abar had so longed to hear, but Abar widened his eyes and desperately shook his head.

Then, mustering all his strength, he coughed up blood and spoke desperately.

“That won’t… cough, do… cough, hack.”

“In the future… our… footsteps will be continued by… cough cough, a great… hero who will appear….”

After coughing up blood for a long while, his throat choked with bloody foam, yet he continued his final words to the end.

“Your… oath… should be then….”

“Together with the hero, please… change the world….”

But those words couldn’t reach their conclusion.

As he continued his final words, the focus disappeared from Abar’s eyes and the light went out.

“….”

He had finally met his death.

Like a true master, he departed worrying about the world until his last moment.

Kwaaaaang-! Bang!

Kraaaah-! Whoosh-

As if the stopped world had returned, the surrounding situation entered his eyes and ears.

Countless people were wailing before the death of their precious ones.

But at this moment, Charlie couldn’t pay attention to them.

He wasn’t shedding tears.

He wasn’t wailing like them either, but he was certainly crying.

“Ah… aah….”

A memory that could never be forgotten even after eons of time.

The most hateful and regretful memory.

And….

The memory when he was more powerless than ever.

Swish- Slash-

Clang-

From that day forward, Charlie continued to swing his sword.

He never let go of his sword for even a moment.

It wasn’t because of the Demon Dragon.

For unknown reasons, the Demon Dragon had retreated that day.

But monsters from the Abyss constantly invaded the half-ruined castle, and Charlie had to set an example as Arren Castle’s Knight Commander.

…No, it was actually revenge.

With the Demon Dragon, his target of revenge, now hidden, the monsters were the only place to vent his anger.

Swish-

Stab!

He slashed and stabbed monsters.

How many times did he continue that process?

As time passed, the comrades who had shared his cause disappeared one by one.

[List of the Dead]

-Jacob.

A loyal subordinate and knight who had followed him for the longest time.

He was a man with somewhat lacking talent who became a knight at the age of 28, but Jacob’s effort and mental strength were second to none.

-I hope I can be of help to you even just once, Commander. I’ll keep training until the day I can land a hit on you.

-Wanting to land a hit on your superior… the punishment for insubordination isn’t small….

-Ah, that’s not what I meant!

A man who trained without sleeping even half of the time others slept.

Jacob, who always dreamed of a hopeful future, was broken and fell before he could even spread his wings.

Cause of death: penetrating wound.

He died taking an arrow from the Abyss shot from behind in Charlie’s place, the projectile piercing through his chest.

[Death List]

-Jacob.

-Arg.

Crackle—

A building collapsing as it burned.

Vice Captain Arg, who broke through the flames to rescue Charlie trapped inside.

He pulled Charlie out of the building where he was trapped trying to save civilians, and died crushed under the collapsed building as he sacrificed himself instead.

-Aaaahhhhh!!!! Aaahhh!!!

The memory of writhing and screaming in agony was vivid.

The sensation of rain falling late that day hitting his face, Arg’s body temperature that was ice-cold despite his burns, came back clearly.

[Death List]

-Jacob.

-Arg.

-Mark.

Mark.

During the time when Charlie couldn’t overcome his desire for revenge and spent his days hunting Abyss monsters indiscriminately.

He was a subordinate knight who lost his life in the 7th large-scale monster extermination.

It wasn’t just them.

[Death List]

-Jacob.

-Arg.

-Mark.

…

-Jack.

The list that had started with just one line was now densely filled.

They had perished in the long war that continued.

A hundred people, ten people, five people…

Rustle—

Even when there were no comrades left by his side.

Charlie swung his sword.

It was no longer because of revenge.

It was simply because there was nothing else he could do.

The family that had believed in him.

The master who worried about him and the world until the very last moment. The companions who sacrificed themselves for him and the subordinates he couldn’t save.

‘I couldn’t protect anything.’

What more could someone who couldn’t protect anything do?

The weight on his shoulders had grown unbearably heavy, dropping him into a deep quagmire.

The guilt of being the only survivor constricted his entire body.

‘Without ability, you can neither protect nor realize justice.’

Therefore, those without ability are sinners.

For those without ability to step forward for a great cause only drives everyone to death.

In that sense, he was more of a sinner than anyone else.

Whoooosh—

-Ah…

What Charlie saw when he came to his senses at the sound of falling rain was deep darkness.

The source of all this trouble.

The great evil that was devouring everything.

[Black Knight Garion (Dark Dragon Species)(Fusing)]

That’s right.

He was fighting that man.

No, could this even be called fighting?

Clang—! Thud—

Charlie falling pathetically every time their swords clashed, and Garion waiting for him with a sinister laugh as if toying with him.

[How is it, the feeling of recalling memories you’ve been avoiding?]

Behind the mocking man, the sighing sounds of players could be heard.

“Ah…”

“Is this how it ends.”

“He lasted quite long for what it’s worth. It’s too painful to watch anymore.”

“…When exactly will Kaiser…”

“…I’m logging off.”

Though he couldn’t hear everything clearly, it brought back his memory.

The moment that man started rampaging.

What had happened in that brief instant.

The Undead Legion was annihilated in an instant, and Jihad, who was panicking, was knocked unconscious in one blow.

-Rizariza! Riza…!

-…

Eliza, who had been hissing and spitting spider webs at that shocking sight, met the same fate as Jihad.

Whether it was the man’s mercy or mockery.

He didn’t take their lives, but in reality, both were in a state of combat incapacity.

Only he remained.

[Black Knight Garion uses ‘Inner Darkness’.]

[Targets affected by the hallucination will experience trauma from deep within. This includes trauma that the target cannot remember.]

-…

And he was being toyed with by that man, unable to overcome even one hallucination while having his trauma stimulated.

But even knowing that, what would change?

His sword couldn’t reach that man.

Groan— Groan—

What was more unsightly was that he could still see the undead.

The comrades who had shared life and death with him were dragging him into a swamp of death.

Despite being aware it was a hallucination, this terrible dark quagmire wouldn’t let Charlie go.

Was this what it felt like to fall into the abyss?

[You are already a dead undead. How pitiful you look, dreaming sweet dreams and believing them to be truth.]

The man’s voice grew distant.

The echoing sound in the endless darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead seemed to pierce through his heart.

‘…I knew.’

In truth, he had known.

That his memories were wrong.

Having spent months with his master, wouldn’t he have that much awareness?

He had been feeling that there was a strange disconnect between the history he remembered and reality.

That his master and the Guardians were hiding something.

He had simply tried hard to deny it.

[You died without being able to protect a single thing. You couldn’t even achieve revenge.]

Those without ability have no qualifications.

Not even the qualification for revenge.

At the moment when he faced the summoner trying to summon that man.

He had suppressed the emotion of wanting to tear and kill immediately, entrusting even his revenge to Dohyun for that reason.

‘No, is even that a false memory?’

Now even his very existence feels like an illusion.

Who is he?

Perhaps he’s nothing more than undead, just as that man said.

[Tsk, has he completely broken down…]

In his gradually fading consciousness, he saw Garion clicking his tongue.

Even with him slowly approaching, Charlie didn’t grasp his sword.

“…Stop!”

“Block him!”

The players’ screams and shouts, Jihad’s fading breath, and that man’s mocking voice grew distant.

The echoing sounds felt infinitely far away, as if he had submerged beneath the water’s surface.

His body seemed submerged in an endless swamp, barely clinging to a cliff.

[It’s over now, Charlie de Raveon. Return to where you belong.]

Just as that man said.

If he let go of this hand, he would find peace.

Swoosh.

Charlie closed his eyes as he released the hand he had been desperately holding onto.

As his attachment shattered, he even felt a strange sense of liberation.

Grab.

Something seized his arm.

A hand that was rough and thick despite its youth, bearing traces of long effort.

Charlie’s eyes widened as he raised his head.

‘…Jacob?’

There he was, looking at him with the same spirited eyes as before.

It wasn’t just one hand.

-Commander. What are you doing here? You’re not telling me you’re scared of a mere monster, are you?

A middle-aged knight covered in burn scars grabbed his left shoulder and spoke to him.

Arg was making light conversation.

It wasn’t just the two of them.

-My proud son. You’ve endured well.

-Commander. I’m counting on you alone.

-Giving up already? Sigh, that’s not the Commander I know.

-…We are Raveon, Charlie. Do you intend to disgrace the family name?

-Charlie, what are you doing now? Was your mental fortitude only this much? I never liked such a pathetic man.

His father and subordinates, his brother, and even his comrades.

Everyone was speaking to Charlie, one by one.

-Charlie, my dear knight.

And behind those two, a man approached with a smile.

-I believe in you. That you will become a ray of dawn’s light in this chaotic world.

Abar de Arren.

Even in this moment when Charlie had given up everything, he was expressing unwavering faith.

Charlie couldn’t face him directly.

No, he couldn’t face any of them.

-…I am weak. Everyone believed in me and sacrificed themselves, but I couldn’t repay that faith.

-That’s not true, Commander.

However, Jacob shook his head firmly.

Far from resentment, he looked proud.

-Commander. I am so proud of myself. For entrusting my life to the future.

-Driving away darkness and protecting innocent people. That is Raveon’s pride.

-Please live for my share as well.

-I was helpful this time, wasn’t I? Hehe.

For dying as a knight fighting the enemy.

For dying while saving someone, not a meaningless and worthless death.

For being helpful to the future.

-Remember this clearly.

Abar’s voice, heard at the end of countless comrades’ words, was engraved deep in his heart.

-In any despairing and exhausting situation, you are the light of dawn that will bring hope, and the Knight Commander of Arren Castle. The Knight of Light, Charlie de Raveon. That is who you are.

Finally, as the last words continued.

Ding-

[Activating Legend skill, ‘Last Knight’.]

[The first ability responds to standing alone and purely maintaining pride.]

[The weight of karma the caster bears exceeds the limit.]

[The degree to which the caster has lost what must be protected exceeds the limit.]

[You temporarily gain will and power that transcend limits.]

——–!!

[…What!?]

Brilliant light filled the Abyss Veil completely.

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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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