The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 56

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 56

Chapter 56.

When the rumors spread, she drew a lot of attention.

A giant spider was discovered calling out a woman’s name desperately one day?

It was impossible not to be intrigued.

“A demon must have possessed it. I’ll go kill it.”

“It’ll definitely be worth a lot of money. Bring it back.”

“If I raise such a creature, everyone will look up to me, right?”

Each of them tormented her for various different reasons, and just as many seasons passed.

After enduring all those days, she had become a field boss, and all sorts of ominous epithets followed in her wake.

-Eliza… Eliza.

Though there were many difficult moments, Eliza would repeat the name each time.

Recalling the image of her Owner who had looked at her and called her name warmly.

And after another 50 years had passed, now.

-Liza! Lizaliza!

-Elizaaa!!

After long anguish, she finally faced the moment she had longed for so much.

* * *

…That’s how it happened.

-Huuuung! Elizaaa!

-Lizaliza!!

So that’s why those two are clinging to each other so desperately.

The first emotion Dohyun felt after hearing this tearjerking melodrama wasn’t sadness or anything similar.

No, it was sad. But before that, absurdity came to mind first.

“Wait, so in simple terms, you abandoned Eliza and left, didn’t you?”

Flinch.

Jihad’s trembling stopped at the sharp fact-bombing.

-Huung, Eliza!

Then Jihad pretended not to know and hugged Eliza again.

At that absurd sight, Dohyun delivered another sharp fact-bomb.

“No, Eliza was the one who got abandoned, so why are you the one being sad? You abandoned her for 150 years, so morally you shouldn’t be the one feeling sad.”

-Uh, ahem! N-no! I also had no choice…

Unable to ignore even this, Jihad tried to argue back, but Dohyun wasn’t one to accept it quietly.

“No choice my ass. You didn’t even recognize her until I was beating you senseless. Seems like you just forgot and were living your life, then remembered when you heard the name?”

-…

“What, is this right? Wow, what would have happened if Eliza hadn’t been going around shouting her name. You’re really heartless, heartless.”

-…Yeah, you’re right. It’s all my fault.

Did he feel sorry toward Eliza?

The dejected Jihad could no longer look into Eliza’s bright eyes and turned his head away.

-Liza…

Then this time Eliza became dejected.

Her appearance of being completely devoted to her Owner was just like looking at a puppy. That made Jihad’s heart ache even more.

-Right, you were always like that. You always waited for me.

-Liza!

-Sorry for making you wait so long, Eliza. I won’t leave anymore.

-Lizaaa!

She was truly a foolish creature.

Nuzzle-.

A whole 150 years.

Though she could have resented him for forgetting and living his life during those long 150 years, Eliza was rubbing her face against him, seemingly overjoyed.

Not once did she even get angry, just purely rejoicing at their reunion.

After waiting for more than 10 times the years they had spent together.

-To think I lived forgetting someone like you…

He hated himself so much.

At the same time, he was puzzled.

‘Strange. There’s no way I would forget Eliza.’

It wasn’t an excuse but truly a strange occurrence.

At first, it was true that he was curious because she looked interesting.

But as their time together increased, that feeling grew. At some point, Eliza had become Jihad’s irreplaceable friend.

Forget such a friend?

‘No way.’

While in the hideout, he constantly felt like he was forgetting something important.

And now he could tell that it was Eliza.

The moment he recognized her, memories with her came flooding back all at once as if a switch had been turned on.

The strange thing was that this wasn’t the end.

-Why couldn’t I return home? I definitely found clues and discovered something, then was being chased… Huh? Clues? What clues were they?

His head was complicated.

Confused would be more accurate.

Dohyun, who had been staring at Jihad who couldn’t get his bearings straight in various ways, suddenly asked.

“But why were you hiding?”

-Huh?

“Why, you know. Is there a reason you had to hide in such a place for that long time?”

-Ah…

Actually, he had always been curious.

He seemed like a guy with many secrets, but setting all that aside, why had he been hiding underground for hundreds of years?

His connection with that guy too, he was curious about various things.

-That’s…

Jihad, who was about to answer that question, closed his mouth again.

Then he slowly shook his head.

-I can’t tell you that, Owner. It’s beyond my current capabilities.

“…? What’s that supposed to mean.”

-Sorry, Owner.

At Jihad’s face that was even unnecessarily serious, Dohyun didn’t ask anymore.

Instead, he just muttered to himself.

“It’s not like you’ll die if you say it, what’s this about capabilities.”

-Similar.

“? Similar?”

At Jihad’s answer after hearing that muttering, Dohyun spat out incredulously.

“It’s not like you’re Voldemort or something…”

-What’s that, Owner?

“There’s something like that. I can’t tell you because of copyright.”

-…?

Though it was a conversation that ended with neither understanding what the other was saying, the worry that followed next was the same.

“What do we do now?”

-…Right, Owner.

Though he didn’t explain differently, Jihad understood.

What was the reason Dohyun came to this place in the first place.

‘It’s a graduation Quest so I can’t not kill her…’

It was to clear the graduation Quest.

For that, he had to kill Eliza, but Dohyun wasn’t cold-blooded enough to kill her even after hearing such a story.

Even though she was a bit annoying, she had become somewhat endearing as Jihad’s companion(?)…

‘I can’t even take her with me due to system restrictions.’

If I killed her, she probably wouldn’t come out as a card like Jihad did.

It was troublesome in many ways.

-Liza! Lizaliza!

-Huh? What are you saying?

-Lizaaa!

-What? No way! What kind of nonsense is that!?

Eliza was expressing herself by waving her massive body’s hands around.

And Jihad, who seemed to understand her words, was constantly bickering with her.

“What’s going on?”

-No… it’s nothing, Owner.

-Lizaliza!

Leaving behind Jihad who was desperately avoiding answering, Eliza came forward.

Then she suddenly bit her own leg with her venomous fangs.

[Western Forest’s Field Boss ‘Eliza the Spider Queen’ has been inflicted with deadly poison status.]

[HP has dropped below 10%.]

“What is this…?”

Before Dohyun could even be confused, Jihad’s shout burst out.

-Eliza, what are you doing!

-Lizaliza!

-Huh? What? …Really?

Then after hearing something, he seemed convinced.

For Dohyun, this was something to be extremely curious about.

“Hey, what is she saying? Don’t keep it to yourself, let me know too.”

-Ah… she wants you to stab her, Owner. She says it’s okay.

“…It’s really okay?”

-Yeah. I don’t have time to explain, but it’s fine for now. So I’d appreciate it if you could do what Eliza wants, Owner.

“Well… if you say so.”

It felt a bit uncomfortable, but since they said it was okay, there was no reason to refuse.

“I’m stabbing?”

-Liza!

Eliza nodded as if she understood.

Feeling uncomfortable, he thrust the training sword deep, and her HP rapidly drained away. Still, thinking it would be better to end it quickly, he even used Striking.

How many times did he repeat this?

[You have defeated Western Forest’s Field Boss ‘Eliza the Spider Queen’.]

[Due to first-time benefits, the essence orb will be enhanced.]

[Would you like to harvest Eliza the Spider Queen’s enhanced essence orb?]

[It will be recorded in the Adventure Log.]

[You have defeated a new type of boss on first encounter.]

[All stats increase by +6 due to Predation effect.]

Finally, Eliza’s life force was exhausted, her eyes dimmed, and she collapsed.

“…Is this right?”

-Yeah.

Unlike the confused Dohyun, Jihad seemed calm.

It was only a few seconds later that Dohyun could understand Jihad’s composure.

Pop-!

-Liza!

“Huh?”

Something popped out from inside the massive corpse and revealed itself.

A small size of maybe 5cm.

The identity of the small furry bundle that looked like white cotton candy at first glance was none other than Eliza.

-Eliza! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you in that form.

-Lizaliza!

Behind Jihad’s welcoming voice, a cheerful notification rang out.

Ding-.

[You have discovered the Hidden Named Boss ‘Eliza’ that was parasitizing Western Forest’s Field Boss ‘Eliza the Spider Queen’.]

[‘Eliza’s’ loyalty and intimacy toward Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ is at MAX.]

[Conditions have been met.]

[Will you accept her under Guardian ‘Jihad Black’s’ command?]

“…Whoa.”

…This actually works?

* * *

In Demroc, there were occasionally such bosses.

Special type bosses that parasitized monsters.

Such creatures usually didn’t die in one go, and would move between host bodies to annoy players.

You had to kill an already difficult boss multiple times to clear it.

‘I had a hard time with them too.’

The worst among them was Finalea, who parasitized a zombie dragon.

Even though it was a knockoff, it was still nominally a dragon, so you had to kill this difficult creature multiple times.

The rewards were better accordingly, but honestly, it was annoying.

That memory was so vivid that I even went around doing confirmation kills during the Godseeker tutorial.

-Liza!

The reason I’m bringing up that story again now is simple.

“Who would have thought a field boss was the host…”

Because Eliza was that type.

Who could have imagined?

That a being who was the boss of an entire field was actually just an empty shell.

‘No wonder it felt strange.’

All bosses that aren’t Named Bosses do something called respawning.

Due to the settings attached to bosses, there are predetermined residual memories and behavioral principles, but that’s all.

They don’t have deep stories or memories enough to create such melodrama.

‘And if it’s a 150-year-old story… that says it all.’

But Named Bosses were different.

They were truly residents of Godseeker.

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’s’ Subordinate List]

-Eliza

Now she had become his guardian…

No, to be precise, when he opened the information of Eliza who had become Jihad’s subordinate, a colorful information window appeared.

[Opening Eliza’s information.]

[Eliza]

[Title: Named Guardian]

[Type: Spider]

[Loyalty: MAX]

[Traits: Sky Spider Web, Parasitism]

[Guardian Traits: Sunflower, Patience, Gluttony, Food Coma]

[Description: A mysterious white spider presumed to be a rare species.

Despite living for a long time, she has not yet reached adulthood. She is extremely devoted to her master and the silk she produces is very strong.]

[Most abilities are currently sealed due to ‘Jihad Black’s’ low level.]

[Stats will be adjusted in proportion to ‘Jihad Black’s’ growth.]

[Available Skills: 1]

-Thread Spinning

‘I guess this is what they call reaping the benefits without effort.’

I had simply kept Jihad as a guardian, but somehow ended up clearing a hidden piece and welcoming a new guardian.

He picks up items well, listens well even if conditionally, finds hidden fields…

And now he’s even clearing hidden pieces for me?

‘Maybe Jihad is actually a lucky charm?’

That ugly goblin somehow looked endearing to Dohyun.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————