The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 5

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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 5

Chapter 5.

“…! Damn, these mercenaries never listen!”

Charlie’s face turned pale.

Even working together wouldn’t be enough, and now solo action! If he died first like that, there would be no greater disaster.

He wasn’t even drawing his sword. He looked like he was going to his death.

Kekek? Kek!

The monsters seemed amused by Dohyun’s reckless behavior, grinning as they swung their clubs.

The bastard’s club swung within striking distance.

In just a moment, that heavy blunt weapon would crush Dohyun’s head and spray blood.

“This is…!”

Just as Charlie urgently tried to chase after him.

“…?”

He saw it.

Swoosh- Whoosh!

Kekek?

Dohyun’s running movement briefly stopped.

Then, as if by magic, the club grazed right in front of his head. It was such a close distance that even a 1cm error would have crushed his skull.

When something is swung, naturally the stance crumbles.

And the inevitable opening that’s revealed.

Crack! Thud!

He kicked its leg, making the gnoll lose balance and stagger.

After grabbing and breaking that one’s neck, he immediately stabbed the neck of the gnoll next to it, and both fell in an instant.

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

It was thanks to hitting vital points, causing critical damage that doubled the damage.

It was also because they had pathetically low health befitting a tutorial.

Kekek? Kekeek!!

The situation reversed in an instant.

The archers, who had suddenly become prey from their position as predators enjoying the hunt, hurriedly took their stances in panic.

But the shield protecting them was only one creature.

Whoosh-.

Dohyun avoided the club swung from the side as a surprise attack with a simple step backward, then immediately raised his knee to kick.

Crack- Clatter.

A technique of striking the hand at the precise timing to make them drop their weapon.

Also known as Weapon Drop.

It was one of the techniques that made those who dueled with Kaiser tremble in fear during the Demroc days.

He tried it wondering if it would work since the system was similar, and fortunately it worked.

[Using skill ‘Power Strike’.]

He kicked the torso with his foot and used a skill to finish it off.

‘Power Strike is a one-shot.’

Being a skill, it was a one-shot even without a critical hit based on landing a clean hit.

Kegege….

Kekek….

Now only two archers remained.

There was nothing to fear from two archer bastards who had lost their guards. They were cut in half by Dohyun’s sword before they could even draw their bows.

Dohyun, who finished the battle in an instant, lightly shook the blood off his sword.

He wondered if his body might be stiff since it had been a while since playing a game, but fortunately it moved as he thought.

‘…It even feels like my body is lighter.’

Was it because his five senses were vivid unlike VR where he couldn’t feel sensations?

It felt smoother than before.

It was when Dohyun was satisfied after learning this good fact.

“Good heavens….”

Charlie, who had been watching in a daze, slowly approached.

Charlie looked back and forth between the fallen gnolls and Dohyun in disbelief, then let out an exclamation.

“I can’t believe it…. To handle five monsters alone.”

A message appeared along with those words.

[Knight Order Captain ‘Charlie’ is amazed by your outstanding skills that differ from your appearance.]

[Knight Order Captain ‘Charlie’s’ favorability has increased.]

‘Favorability?’

It was a system that existed in Demroc too.

Though it varied by NPC, there were quite a few people who worked on favorability since they sometimes gave rewards for raising it.

Though everyone gave up after learning that even those rewards were gacha.

Anyway, it was a familiar system, so there was nothing surprising about it.

However.

‘Are the standards for raising it more lenient here?’

It was puzzling that favorability increased from just one hunt.

In Demroc, favorability was one of the damn hardest things to raise.

But that was all, there was nothing strange about it.

‘The standards and difficulty vary by NPC.’

In that regard, Charlie’s combat-focused standards were welcome for Dohyun.

Even if he couldn’t speak well, he was confident in combat.

Was it thanks to the increased favorability?

“It’s the first time I’ve seen such swordsmanship and combat style. Are you from some mercenary group? Are all the mercenaries there like that?”

“….”

“No… that can’t be. You must be exceptionally skilled. Impressive for someone so young.”

Unlike before when he only said what was necessary for the story, he became talkative.

Even though Dohyun wasn’t answering, he kept muttering to himself until he seemed to come to his senses at the sound of monsters in the distance and turned around.

“Let’s move for now.”

“Yes.”

* * *

Slash-! Thud!

After that, Dohyun continued several more battles.

The battles were fought with lightning speed.

When monsters appeared, Dohyun would charge ahead to deal with them, and Charlie would try to join late only to end up admiring him – this pattern repeated.

“Amazing, such skill! Aren’t you even faster than before!”

Charlie would always make a comment at such times.

[Knight Order Captain ‘Charlie’s’ favorability has increased.]

Then, as if it were a set, favorability would rise along with it.

Thud! Crack-!

“That hand movement of breaking necks is admirable every time I see it! How can it be so naturally flowing like water!”

[Knight Order Captain ‘Charlie’s’ favorability has increased.]

Slash-.

“This… it’s like someone born to hold a sword.”

[Knight Order Captain ‘Charlie’s’ favorability has increased.]

At first it was just admiration, but now he seemed to have no intention of fighting at all, busy with praise.

His comments were all so precious, it made me wonder if he was contemplating while watching the fights.

‘…Is that guy’s role a reaction bot?’

I’m sure I heard he had a taciturn and strict personality….

And this wasn’t even the end of it.

The reaction bot’s comments really started pouring out when the number of monsters nearly doubled.

Kirik, kik!

Kiririk-!

Nearly ten of them.

Perhaps because there were so many, their weapons were just as varied.

Unlike the others who only brought blunt weapons and bows, this time there were spears, clubs, bows, daggers, and more.

“Good heavens…! I’ll have to join in this time! Even someone like you would find this many difficult!”

Even Charlie, who had just been watching, felt this wasn’t right and expressed his intention to join the battle.

‘No, isn’t joining the fight the natural thing to do?’

Dohyun had never told him not to fight, yet somehow Dohyun had taken the lead.

It was strange, but that didn’t change anything.

Thwack!

“Wait, you?”

These were tutorial mobs that died with just one or two critical hits anyway.

Whether five or ten, it was all the same.

When he charged in without hesitation, even Charlie, who had been admiring him all along, was startled and hurriedly drew his weapon to follow.

But it seemed difficult to rescue Dohyun who had already plunged into the midst of the monsters.

Kirik! Kiririk!

Swoosh! Thud!

“Damn…!”

While Charlie was deflecting arrows shot by archers, the monsters immediately surrounded Dohyun.

The first to charge was a monster wielding a short sword. Since they were all clustered together, it was hard to hit with spears or arrows.

A short sword with limited range would be most ideal.

And that was exactly why Dohyun had deliberately plunged into their midst.

Thud, kirik?

The moment it tried to swing the short sword, Dohyun’s arm blocked its wrist. Then it coiled around like a snake, penetrating inward.

Crack! Kek!

Thud.

When he broke the elbow just like that, the short sword fell helplessly.

Dohyun caught the falling weapon mid-air and immediately stabbed the creature’s neck.

[Critical Hit!]

Kiryuk!! Keeaek!

A nearby monster, enraged by its comrade’s pathetic death in just a moment, rolled its eyes back and swung a club.

The creature’s chin came into view of Dohyun, who was crouching. When he struck the chin upward with his palm, there was a sickening sound as the creature’s head snapped skyward.

He pulled out the short sword stuck in the neck and stabbed the throat, causing the creature to collapse helplessly.

It met the same death as its comrade.

Kiek! Kek!

When two died in an instant, the startled creatures didn’t approach closely and kept their distance.

They instinctively felt that creating one-on-one situations would be dangerous. But as if he had expected this much, there was no hesitation in Dohyun’s movements.

Swoosh- thunk! Crack!

[Critical Hit!]

He threw the short sword at the retreating creature’s eye, then picked up a club and struck mercilessly.

The creatures lost another comrade so absurdly.

The archers who had somehow managed to create distance frantically pulled their bowstrings, but Dohyun’s movements were too elusive.

Ki… kirik…?

Whenever they tried to aim, he would disappear behind a comrade with uncanny timing.

Still, perhaps out of stubbornness, they did shoot a few arrows, but as expected, they only hit their innocent comrades’ backs.

“Good Lord…”

Charlie watched the scene with a gaze closer to shock than admiration.

To easily perform weapon drops and then utilize those weapons as if they were originally his own weapons to continue hunting.

When a lifetime of training with one weapon isn’t enough, how could he handle so many weapons so well?

Even he, who had seen many battlefields, had never witnessed such combat.

That wasn’t all.

There was no hesitation in the process of creating advantageous positions and situations.

Smooth as flowing water, as if it were natural, he occupied the high ground and easily led the battle to victory.

No successful mercenary, not even knights, had shown such artistic movement.

Yet a mercenary he’d never seen before was displaying such valor and martial prowess?

It felt like he was walking his own path, alone defying the standards of common sense.

People would later call such individuals this:

‘Hero…’

Perhaps he was witnessing the starting point of a heroic saga that only appeared in history?

The kind he had admired since childhood…

Ki… kiaak!

It was then that a monster’s tearing scream was heard.

One monster that had been looking at Dohyun like he was a demon was desperately fleeing.

Charlie snapped to attention and drew his sword.

‘I should handle this.’

He had been dazed watching the overwhelming battle, but Charlie was still a captain.

One monster would be a piece of cake.

But unfortunately, there was no need for him to step in.

Swoosh- thunk!

Kek!

An arrow from Dohyun, who had leisurely drawn the bowstring, pierced exactly through the creature’s head.

Then another shot toward the fallen creature.

Only after thoroughly confirming the kill did Dohyun put down his weapon.

‘Always finish things properly.’

Demroc had countless bosses.

Despite being a luck-based terrible game, the difficulty was also disgustingly high, so there were bosses with truly numerous patterns.

Among them were quite a few that were problematic even after being killed.

Parasitic types that would parasitize other creatures while alive, those that launched final attacks upon death, or even those that revived completely.

Was it because his first game was like that?

After experiencing that nastiness several times, confirming kills had somehow become a habit.

A mere monster like this probably didn’t have such abilities, but…

‘Still, it feels unsettling.’

This was a matter of feeling.

He was about to check if there were any monsters gathering around when it happened.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

‘Hm?’

Dohyun turned his head at the sound of applause coming from somewhere.

Then he saw it. Charlie’s figure, who had even thrown aside his sword and was clapping.

“…?”

Even at Dohyun’s gaze that seemed to ask what he was doing, Charlie didn’t stop.

No, he went even further.

“I apologize.”

“?”

Charlie suddenly apologized with a genuinely sorry face.

When Dohyun tilted his head in confusion, Charlie’s eyes became resolute. Then he spoke in a voice filled with emotion in the most serious tone.

“Saying you were born to wield a sword was an insult to you. You are the incarnation of combat! Surely a hero born for war!”

“…”

“It’s an honor to be with a hero like you!”

Charlie places his hand on the speechless Dohyun’s shoulder, conveying his sincerity.

At that sight, Dohyun’s lips moved several times before closing again.

He had much to say, but the words wouldn’t come out.

‘An NPC that doesn’t do their assigned duties and just claps instead…’

Is this what Godose’s NPCs are like, the ones said to be hard to distinguish from real people?

He felt his words get stuck at something unimaginable in Demroc, but decided to think of it as all good.

[Knight Commander ‘Charlie’ feels deeply moved by your overwhelming combat performance.]

[Knight Commander ‘Charlie’s affection has greatly increased.]

[Knight Commander ‘Charlie’s affection has reached maximum level.]

[He now trusts you completely. Even if you commit evil acts, he will believe you if you claim it’s false accusations.]

[You have obtained the title ‘Max Affection from the Start?’]

Thanks to this, his affection shot up to maximum level and he even received rewards.

Dohyun checked the title.

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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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