The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 40

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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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Episode 40

Chapter 40.

Jihad Black.

He is the ruler of the Western Forest. To be precise, he was the ruler.

All the monsters in the forest could not withstand his lofty status, and the city’s residents feared his existence.

The worst, most vicious forest that didn’t even allow approach.

That was the appearance of the Western Forest that Jihad Black had ruled.

Until a monster-like man appeared.

‘To think I have to hide in a place like this…’

Jihad could not accept that fact.

The one who had been the owner of a glorious throne was now hiding in this shabby, crumbling underground.

But what could he do.

That monster was alive, and on the day they met again, he wouldn’t be able to stay even in this underground.

Perhaps because he was born a goblin.

He surrendered to reality relatively quickly and adapted, finding stability soon enough.

Time passed like that, and just when he was gradually getting used to life here.

‘Hmm…’

Jihad felt boredom.

It was because he was hiding too well and had no chance to meet new life forms.

In the early days, he would go outside once in a while, but even that stopped after he gained excellent servants.

Why take unnecessary risks and go out when troublesome things might happen.

Living such a safe life, he began to forget what he had been trying to do.

It feels like I’m forgetting something important…

‘Whatever.’

Jihad brushed it off casually.

100 years?

No, he had adapted completely to this life that he had lived for 150 years.

He had become a man who knew how to take everything leisurely!

But even that had its limits, as Jihad recently felt something strange in his mood.

‘Frustrating. So frustrating!’

Living here gave him a sense of stability, but at the same time, there was nothing he could do about the boredom rising from deep in his chest.

Creating new undead as a hobby from time to time was quite fun, but that alone couldn’t quench this terrible thirst.

‘Should I go out once?’

A lot of time has passed, so wouldn’t it be okay?

No. Still, just in case, let’s not take unnecessary risks.

But it’s so boring…

Boredom made his body lazy, and conversely made his mind complicated.

It was when he had been pondering what to do for several years.

[Someone is entering the hideout.]

“Someone is entering?”

At the voice he heard while sitting blankly as usual, Jihad doubted his eyes.

This was a hideout he had painstakingly hidden to escape from that monster.

Indeed, no one had found it for hundreds of years. The thought that someone was entering such a place made him very nervous at first.

‘Could it be that guy…?’

While thinking it couldn’t be, he was anxious on one hand.

So he waited while chanting spells, and the moment he saw the human man who appeared in the hideout.

‘Ah.’

The anxiety washed away.

It was someone he had never seen before.

Relief that it wasn’t him passed, and then curiosity bloomed. At the same time, he felt a strange excitement.

‘A toy has appeared!’

A being that would bring fresh fun to this boring life had appeared!

Moreover, that toy was somehow special.

[I don’t sense the aura of an explorer… It’s quite a peculiar being with various auras mixed together.]

The strength he felt wasn’t that great, but the aura he had never felt before… the feeling that various auras were harmoniously mixed gave him a fresh shock.

‘Perfect to play with as a test subject.’

It would be good to turn him into a corpse and play, or to cast all sorts of spells and test his durability.

When he got tired of that, he could just turn him into an undead.

Whatever happened, it would help him escape this boring daily life for several years.

‘I need to subdue him without damaging him too much.’

So he planned to capture the toy using monsters without hurting him too much.

He didn’t think any variables would occur in this process.

This was a nest where he had lived for hundreds of years, and there was nothing he didn’t know about this place.

Yes, that’s what he thought.

Until the toy disappeared from his sight.

[A mark is being created.]

Swoosh-.

[…?]

Until he felt an unknown message and a chilling sensation behind his back.

Jihad, who belatedly grasped the situation, moved quickly.

Whoosh- Boom!

[Corpse Control activates.]

[The effect of trait ‘Quick Hands’ greatly increases speed.]

[Corpse Explosion activates.]

[The effect of trait ‘Quick Hands’ greatly increases speed.]

He sent the monsters right next to him at the toy… no, the impudent human, and exploded them simultaneously.

It truly happened in the blink of an eye.

It was a speed that would be hard to react to with eyes unless known in advance, but the human wasn’t hit.

He had somehow retreated far away.

[…Rat-like bastard.]

Though he spoke as if calm, Jihad was inwardly flustered.

[You have been stabbed in a vital spot. Status ailment ‘Bleeding’ activates.]

‘When exactly did he stab me?’

Not only had he distanced himself and dodged in that short gap, but he had also stabbed a vital spot without anyone noticing.

It was a swiftness that was hard to believe from a swordsman.

What he showed afterward was even more so.

Tap. Whoosh-.

Boom!

The gait of the human who came in with light steps kicking off the ground was peculiar.

He seemed to be coming in quickly, but when he threw corpses, he was behind the expected range.

When he seemed to move slowly and threw late, he would come in quickly again.

‘Why won’t he get hit!’

A strange phenomenon where perception and reality were opposite.

‘Was there a human with such abilities?’

Though Jihad had lived for hundreds of years, he had never heard or seen such a human.

He had thought various auras were mixed, but now he even wondered if perhaps various races were mixed.

Bang! Boom!

[Ugh…!]

Watching Jihad excitedly swinging corpses around, Dohyun chuckled.

Control abilities as free as handling telekinesis and explosive abilities with power rivaling fire mages.

A typical explosive necromancer, undoubtedly a tricky ability from a close-range perspective, but meaningless if it couldn’t hit.

Thunk-.

[You struck a vital point. Status ailment ‘Bleeding’ is activated.]

[Attack hit. Target is inflicted with ‘Bleeding’ status.]

Close the distance and stab, then create distance when corpses fly over.

Then move as if to close the distance again, and when it finally closes, thrust the sword in, and when bleeding is on cooldown, stab with the assassin’s dagger.

If lucky, the assassin dagger’s bleeding would activate, dealing overlapping damage.

What was even more amazing was that even when undead were sent to surround him and exploded, he evaded with ghostly movements while maintaining spatial control.

Jihad became furious at the relentless hit-and-run play executed with overwhelming multitasking ability.

[Such insolence…!]

The reason ranged dealers particularly despise assassins lies in this characteristic playstyle.

Assassins never fight head-on.

They hit and run while inflicting all sorts of status ailments, slowly grating on people’s nerves.

Of course, Dohyun still lacked the skill set for such play…

[What in the world is that movement! Why can’t I hit him at all?]

Dohyun’s peculiar movement and evasion ability made it possible.

That wasn’t all.

[Trait ‘Hero’ blocks mental corruption.]

[Curse orb effect is nullified.]

No matter how much dark vision was cast, that strange ability blocked everything.

Watching the bewildered Jihad, Dohyun smiled slightly.

‘As expected, it works.’

If you asked players who faced Kaiser what was most difficult about him, many reasons would come up, but seven out of ten would give the same answer.

-Movement.

Unlike the PC game era where you could just click with a mouse, virtual reality movement involves numerous psychological battles and high difficulty.

However, with the help of excellent agility and sensory stats, and virtual reality’s characteristic of enabling movements beyond human limits, it wasn’t impossible once you adapted.

And those who had been doing this like breathing were the veterans.

To that extent, it would be harder to find a ranker with poor movement.

So why did it become Kaiser’s trademark?

Simple.

-Damn, really fucking annoying. You’re probably the only bastard who moves that irritatingly. You damn bastard…

-Why are you angry?

-How can I not be angry right now? My feelings represent the feelings of ten million Demroc players right now!

-…For once, I agree with that guy.

Because Kaiser’s movement was different from the ordinary.

The foundation of movement lies in psychological warfare.

Rankers react by seeing with dynamic vision, but there are limits, so they predict to some degree.

Kaiser, Dohyun focused on that.

-He definitely seems to stop but suddenly charges in, and when he seems to charge in, he suddenly comes in half a beat late, it’s maddening. How does he do that? Is that physically possible?

-It’s strange to consider physics in VR, but… honestly curious. How does he do it?

Sometimes only his upper body would stop or only his lower body, sometimes he’d pretend to stop then explosively advance, or sometimes he’d just take the stance of rapid entry then release strength to move half a beat late.

Movement impossible in reality where physical laws and human limits apply.

But in Demroc and Godose, which are relatively free from such limits, it wasn’t impossible if you tried.

-…So you need to know how to move all body parts separately? While doing psychological warfare and multitasking? I can’t do it. Give up.

-Who would do such crazy shit?

-More than that, can you even call that movement? It seems to have transcended that realm.

It’s just that it was ridiculously difficult.

Most humans find it difficult to perform the simple act of moving the left hand up and down while moving the right hand left and right.

If you add stopping patterns in between, needless to say.

If just using two hands is like that, freely stopping and moving the entire body?

It was literally something only Dohyun could do.

‘Even Kukku said he couldn’t do it.’

Since even Kukkudakkukku, one of the strongest physicals Dohyun had seen, threw up both hands, that said it all.

That was why Kaiser was called an unprecedented genius.

Because he could gain advantage with several times more options than others in psychological warfare.

Unlike the previous monsters that only had instinct left, he thought this could be useful against a boss that knew psychological warfare, and that prediction hit perfectly.

‘I can see it.’

What he’s trying to do, where he’s aiming to attack.

What formation the surrounding undead are trying to use to surround him.

Dohyun could see everything.

Then, by just twisting movements by half a beat, Jihad could never reach him. Like a mirage.

Bang! Boom!

Grooooan… Groan…

[Ugh… Such a gnat-like bastard!]

And usually, the method opponents chose in such situations was always the same.

Click.

[Kukuk… Foolish one. You’re happy not knowing you’re being herded like a fly.]

Definitely one big hit.

Landing a finishing move that could turn the tide.

Seeing Dohyun against the wall with nowhere left to retreat, Jihad let out a vile laugh.

Though his face was hidden under the robe, you could be certain that goblin-characteristic vileness was showing.

[Secret Dungeon boss ‘Jihad Black’ uses Grand Corpse Art: Mass Corpse Explosion.]

[Casting speed increases due to trait ‘Nimble Fingers’ effect.]

Mass Corpse Explosion, aka Mass Boom.

Called the flower of explosive necromancers, it was a flashy skill that exploded all undead at once.

Since damage stacked during this, if the situation aligned well, it was also a skill that could deliver the strongest burst damage over a wide area.

——!!

The undead exploded simultaneously, violently shaking the cave.

Hearing the deafening tinnitus from the power that consumed all the cave walls, Jihad clicked his tongue.

Dozens of undead went into this explosion. Among them were many undead he had put his heart and soul into.

Even a troll couldn’t survive that.

[I was going to handle you gently since you were a rare test subject… but you hastened your own death.]

Therefore, Jihad didn’t doubt Dohyun’s death.

It was natural since it was the strongest attack he could use.

It was regrettable that his toy disappeared and many materials were lost, but that was all. He felt refreshed having taught that gnat-like bastard a lesson.

[Mark disappears.]

“…?”

Until he felt a presence behind him along with a strange message.

Instinctively turning around, he could see it.

Dohyun’s figure thrusting a sword while slightly raising the corner of his mouth.

“Used Mass Boom? Then you should take a hit.”

[…Ah.]

It was checkmate.

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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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