The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 64

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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 64

Chapter 64.

There’s a saying in Godose:

“You haven’t even been to Brion? Then you haven’t experienced real combat yet.”

Arde is a tutorial for beginners, Raven is just a warm-up stretch, and what you can truly call combat starts from Brion.

This wasn’t just empty boasting.

“Stop talking bullshit. Have you actually seen an orc? Even the regular mobs are 1.5 times the size of a Goblin Chief. And those bastards charge at you like wild stallions.”

“Shit, how can you even compare orcs and goblins!? They’re in completely different leagues!”

Bodies well over 2 meters tall with muscular builds that made heavyweights look cute.

If goblins had cunning faces, orcs had menacing expressions that perfectly fit the description of “fierce-looking,” making them threatening just by their very existence.

Now imagine those bastards wielding double-bladed axes.

Most people would piss themselves if they encountered them on a dark street.

Creatures that were scary enough standing still charging at you in excitement was nothing short of a horror movie.

“Ugh, uaaaah!”

“Hey you bastard, why aren’t you grabbing aggro?”

“B-but… how am I supposed to block that thing!”

“Aggro! Grab the aggro!”

“Damn, these troll bastards really!”

“How the hell did guys like that even clear the prerequisite? Did they get carried?”

“Probably cleared it with multiple parties, shit. I bet that guy’s a Rank D Graduate. I’m sure of it.”

The tanks felt this terror the most.

It was natural given their position of having to handle all aggro at the front lines.

Warriors or whatever, they were ultimately just goblins.

How could those who had only faced goblins – creatures that were just bigger but still the punching bags of any fantasy setting – adapt when encountering orcs for the first time?

‘To put it somewhat dramatically, it’s like being placed naked in front of an enraged bull?’

And there wasn’t just one such bull.

Already struggling to adapt, unable to take them down as a group like field bosses, having to handle aggro completely alone.

As a result, four out of ten tanks hunting orcs for the first time were busy flailing around in complete panic.

Were the remaining six doing well then?

…They were better than those guys, but that wasn’t necessarily saying much.

“Who the hell tries to block a charge with a shield? Did you block charges when hunting variant warriors!? You need to know when to deflect!”

“Ugh, so frustrating. If you’re going to block everything with your body, why not just wear armor and tank without a shield?”

“Damn it, you think I don’t know that? They’re charging from all directions, what am I supposed to do? If you’re so good at it, why don’t you tank instead of telling me what to do, you old fart.”

“Old fart? This young punk…”

For those who had adapted to regular patterns, the reckless tank-like pattern of orcs was a whole new world.

The habits of goblins and orcs were too different, and the importance of aggro had grown too much.

This wasn’t just a problem for tanks.

Melee DPS often died rushing in to help when aggro wasn’t properly established, and when ranged DPS failed to control their damage and pulled aggro, the formation would collapse.

“This is why we shouldn’t accept fresh graduates.”

“Ugh, I’m filtering out level 24s from now on. You need to be at least level 27 to be somewhat useful, tsk.”

“I’ll accept them if they have aggro traits or unique abilities.”

“That guy’s hopeless in my opinion. Being that scared… he’ll probably delete his character and change classes soon.”

That was why beginners were despised in Brion, and why Dohyun received fewer party invitations compared to other places even when he came to the field.

“Excuse me, party… never mind.”

“What’s your level? Oh, 24? Ah… sorry. Maybe next time.”

“What’s with that gloomy guy, why is he so short? Can’t tell if he’s human or a guardian.”

“Leave him be. He’ll figure it out himself.”

They had no intention of partying with him anyway, so they naturally drifted away.

Well, from their perspective, a beginner melee DPS was an obvious landmine, unlike ranged DPS.

-Kiek! Foolish humans!

-Lizaliza!

Jihad, who had suddenly been treated as a short, gloomy guy, grumbled angrily, but they had already left.

Eliza, who was on Jihad’s shoulder, rubbed her face against him comfortingly.

Like a relative saying ‘That’s right, that’s right, you’re absolutely correct’ when a nephew comes home grumbling after being ignored somewhere.

Though Jihad seemed displeased, Dohyun was actually happy.

‘This is comfortable and nice for me.’

Thanks to this, he could easily enter deep into the Foul-Smelling Rock Forest without interference.

It was thanks to people paying no attention to Dohyun’s group at all. Having gone somewhat deep inside, Dohyun looked around.

‘True to its name, the Foul-Smelling Rock Forest doesn’t smell very pleasant.’

This place had a fairly subtle mist hanging over it, and befitting the name “rock forest,” the large rocks scattered around were stained with red blood.

Combined with the fishy stench, it created an atmosphere as if several people had died here.

In such a place, players were hunting orcs quite well.

Oh, of course, not everyone was hunting successfully.

“Hey hey! It’s charging, dodge!”

“Okay… aaaah!”

“Ugh, you idiot! I told you to dodge!”

“It’s fine, aggro is secured! Quickly finish it!”

Perhaps a party of fresh Raven graduates, they were having considerable trouble against a group of orcs.

The intensity rivaled a boss attempt.

Slash- Thunk!

Swoosh- Chop!

In contrast, the party hunting on the opposite side was completely different.

“Nice~ that was clean.”

“Let’s keep this pace. How many left?”

“About… 30?”

“Damn, you’re faster than me. I have 36.”

Clearly skilled movements at a glance.

With equipment that looked different in quality, they were hunting while coordinating smoothly. An unbelievable wealth gap for the same field.

‘They say the gap got even bigger with class quests.’

Unlike Arde and Raven which were relatively fair, Brion was where class quests began.

As a result, people with similar god grades inevitably grouped together.

Except for a few Heroic Gods, the class quest content for Heroic Gods and Epic Gods usually differed in nature.

“Tsk, why does the class quest have to be material items of all things.”

“It’s a bit tough but this is more efficient anyway. Heroic Gods have NPCs making them grind temples from the start. What’s fun about that?”

“That’s true.”

Actually hearing them, that party seemed to be composed of Epic Gods.

Unless it was mandatory dungeons or shared content, those two parties would probably never interact.

It was a scene befitting a city where class division and cliques truly began.

‘Well, in shared content, traits and equipment tend to be more important anyway.’

Even the classes and traits that get preferential treatment change depending on boss characteristics, which might be an interesting aspect of this game.

Though it didn’t mean much to Dohyun right now.

Having found a suitable spot, Dohyun lightly warmed up.

Swoosh- Chop-.

Just then, two large orcs in the distance made eye contact with Dohyun.

Already fierce-looking creatures now scowling made it understandable why newbies encountering orcs for the first time ran away.

“Look at that realism level. You can even see their muscles rippling.”

Of course, to Dohyun they were just cute.

Orcs in Demroc were creatures he hunted even during his beginner days.

Though the vividness was different in virtual reality, to Dohyun who had devoured even zombie dragons, mere orcs were laughable.

Swoosh-!

The orcs charged recklessly, perhaps annoyed by Dohyun’s indifferent gaze.

Kugugugu-.

The sight of two orcs charging side by side was truly destructive.

There’s a reason players call the orcs here ‘Attack on Orc’ after seeing them.

Blocking this would be foolish.

Even if you could somehow block one, you’d never survive the follow-up charge that comes right after.

However….

“This seems worth trying.”

Dohyun didn’t dodge and stood firm as if welcoming them to come at him.

It was to gauge his current specs from various angles.

‘Would I really die?’

His health was solid, and his defense was beyond level 24, so he figured he could endure it.

Still, this was his first time trying to block such an obvious charge, so he was a bit nervous.

Kugugugu-.

Chwik!

The creatures had already approached close enough that vibrations traveled up through his feet from the ground they trampled.

And whispered voices came along with it.

“Huh? Hey, what’s that guy doing?”

“Is he seriously trying to withstand an orc charge? Crazy… What’s he doing without even holding a shield?”

“What’s that small thing in his hand? …Don’t tell me it’s a staff? No, he’s not even a tank but he’s doing that? Why is that robe behind him just standing there, not running away!”

“What do you mean staff. Is he a staff god?”

At Dohyun’s crazy attempt, the players who had been hunting nearby stopped hunting and turned to look.

The commotion was so loud that the sound reached Dohyun’s party.

-Kyreuk, Owner, are you listening?

-Rizariza!

He wanted to punch those two who were grinning for some reason, but he had to endure it for now.

Taking the charge of those orc bastards was the priority.

‘This is why I wanted to do this somewhere without people… Tsk.’

Since there were so many players staying in Brion, there were people everywhere he went.

Well, since the Foul-Smelling Rock Forest was the most common hunting ground here, it was natural.

Looking at things like this, Raven was really convenient.

Because the structure of the Western Forest became more difficult the deeper you went, people were almost completely wiped out the further in you went.

He didn’t really like that he had ended up drawing attention, but whatever.

‘Finally time to use this.’

Dohyun lightly dismissed it and lowered his stance while pushing his shoulder forward.

A stance often seen in games that male students played a lot during school days and in pride fights.

It was the so-called shoulder bump stance.

He had boldly challenged an orc to a shoulder bump.

“Damn, he’s trying to clash head-on.”

“He’s completely lost his mind.”

“Wow, I don’t want to watch. It’s going to be too brutal.”

At that crazy, no, absurd ambition, several players were about to give up watching.

After creating such controversy(?) for several seconds.

The Attack on Orc diligently attacked, and finally when the orc came within close range.

Thaat!

Dohyun also rammed his body forward.

Kwang!

When the orc’s shoulder and Dohyun’s shoulder collided, a heavy impact sound echoed through the forest.

Even the players who had given up watching were startled and looked over at the heaviness that was hard to believe came from creatures colliding.

“!?”

“Huh?”

Then their eyes widened.

The expectation that he would be thrown around like a piece of paper was actually correct.

Because something flew helplessly as soon as they collided.

-Chwiik!?

But what flew wasn’t that man, it was the orc.

Have you ever seen an orc get knocked away by losing a shoulder bump to a player?

“Crazy….”

They might not know about high-level zones, but at least for them, it was the first time seeing such a sight.

What made them even more shocked was that it was a scene created by some staff user, not even a tank or monk.

-Chwirik!

But the surprising thing wasn’t over yet.

As if to avenge its companion, the remaining orc attacked Dohyun who was standing still.

He might be able to withstand it once, but not twice.

Especially since Dohyun’s stance was awkward, there was no doubt he would fly far the moment they collided.

Bang!

A loud noise echoed as they collided,

-Chwi… ik?

The orc’s pupils shook violently as if it couldn’t believe it.

Dohyun reflected in its eyes was standing perfectly fine in that same stance. A calm appearance that made its full-power charge seem meaningless.

The orc, whose belief that he would at least fall down was shattered, unconsciously stepped backward.

-Chwi, chwiik….

Dohyun brought down his staff toward that orc.

It was then that the staff’s shape changed.

The staff that instantly grew longer and sharper had already become a sword when it cut the orc’s neck.

Swish-!

Stab!

When he stabbed the heart of the creature that had fallen, its breathing immediately stopped.

The orc that had been knocked away first belatedly rushed toward Dohyun, and Dohyun threw his sword.

Then the sword became a dagger and flew.

Thud!

That was the end.

When Dohyun reached out his hand after the orc fell helplessly, the dagger immediately flew over and fit snugly in his hand.

A natural appearance as if it was its original place.

The noisy surroundings instantly became quiet and silence flowed.

“…What did I just see?”

That was the first word that broke the silence.

It was also a word that represented the feelings of everyone who had been secretly(?) watching.

Not only those who were hunting, but even those who were watching couldn’t think to move and stood there dazed.

The protagonist who created that confusion, Dohyun, slowly raised his head.

His expression was somewhat dazed, but his eyes were filled with excitement.

[Thousand Changes transforms into ‘Bastard’s Training Sword’.]

[The effect of Karuk’s Red and Blue Leather Top activates to resist ‘knockback’.]

….

[Thousand Changes transforms into ‘Assassin’s Dagger’.]

[Bleeding activates.]

‘Wow. That was awesome.’

Kashiyar the Warrior God. The only human even gods feared.

It was the moment when Thousand Changes, the authority used by the strongest emperor in human history, bared its fangs once again.

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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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