The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 80

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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 80

Chapter 80.

Jihad, whose ass was on fire, clenched his fists and drew up his mana.

Black energy flowed smoothly through his body.

The moment mana starting from his heart circulated through his entire body, passed through his shoulders, traveled down his arms, and burst out from his fingertips.

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ summons undead.]

Jihad’s only skill was activated.

[2 Forest Red Goblin Undead are summoned.]

[1 Forest Blue Goblin Undead is summoned.]

Grr- Grrrr-.

Three undead goblins emerged from the ground along with ominous black energy.

At the suddenly bizarre spectacle, both Dohyun and Eliza had no choice but to stop their conversation and watch.

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

-Hmm, just. I felt like my mana increased a bit, so I tried a light summoning.

“…That aside, what’s with those eyes.”

-Me? What about me?

Jihad tilted his head with an innocent expression.

However, his eyes held unmistakable anticipation.

Eyes like a child hoping for praise after completing homework assigned by parents.

-I just summoned them to loosen up my hands a bit. Now even summoning all three doesn’t seem to affect my heart at all. It would be nice to have a few more.

When Dohyun didn’t react to those eyes, he glanced over repeatedly making subtle appeals.

Anyone could see Jihad’s obvious intentions, but unfortunately they didn’t seem to reach Dohyun.

‘Why is he suddenly acting like that.’

Whether Jihad summoned three or not couldn’t give Dohyun much impression.

Dohyun’s gaze, which had been shaking his head wondering why he was acting that way, stopped in mid-air.

[Summoning undead made from monsters of the previous city reduces mana consumption by 50%.]

‘So saying it doesn’t affect him wasn’t just bragging.’

Though there might be some exaggeration given Jihad’s personality, it was a tremendous change compared to Raven when he was forcibly unsummoned within seconds.

His mana pool growing larger as his level increased played a part, but the biggest factor was definitely that 50% reduction.

‘So when I said mana consumption was too severe, this kind of system was roughly implemented?’

It seemed like the standard route was to hunt by turning monsters from previous cities into undead.

After all, leading an orc legion to hunt orcs was literally easy pickings.

I didn’t know because the necromancer’s skeleton soldiers and Jihad’s corpse techniques were slightly different, but now the general direction was established.

‘Roughly making goblins the main force and mixing in a few orcs would be best.’

Having finished his assessment, Dohyun casually said.

“Jihad, could you turn those into undead too?”

-Ah, of course, Owner! It’s a piece of cake.

Was he excited to finally have a chance to prove his abilities?

Jihad’s complexion brightened noticeably. In contrast, Dohyun was rather indifferent. He already knew the undead count was at maximum capacity.

‘Still, just in case.’

If it succeeded, maybe one or so could be added?

Of course, since he only said it just in case, he wouldn’t be disappointed if it failed.

That was about the extent of Dohyun’s expectations.

Swoosh-.

Grrrr…

But the momentum of the black mana was unusual.

When Jihad reached out toward the cold corpses of the orcs, ominous black energy writhed and soon the dead eyes of the orcs opened.

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ turns orcs into undead.]

[Undead conversion succeeds.]

[Undead List]

-Forest Red Goblin Undead × 2

-Forest Blue Goblin Undead × 1

-Orc Undead × 3

Grrrr-.

An orc that rose up ignoring its creaking, twisted body moved its eerie eyes to look at Jihad, then knelt on one knee.

Then the two undead that rose half a beat later followed suit.

Thud, thump.

Grrrr- Grr-.

The large, fierce-looking guys emanating black energy had quite an imposing presence.

Did they instinctively sense the hierarchy?

Grr…

The goblin undead that had been summoned first hesitated and stepped back.

Naturally, a formation was established with orcs at the front and goblins in the rear.

Excited to have formed a proper legion-like appearance, Jihad raised both arms and burst into a vile laugh.

-Kehehe. Yes, yes, I am your lord.

“…What?”

And Dohyun, watching that scene, had a dumbfounded expression.

He had no choice.

‘This actually works?’

He never expected the undead conversion to actually succeed.

Not just one, which would have been surprising enough, but three whole creatures.

A guardian who hadn’t even reached level 10 handling six undead was unheard of.

‘…Are divine beasts held to different standards?’

Maybe the number increases with each level up?

Or perhaps different limit values apply to each monster type.

Whatever it was, it was still overpowered. At this point, a question naturally arose.

“No, why did you do that?”

-Kehehe… Huh? What?

“No, with this kind of ability, why did you take the Bomber tree? You took the shit tree, didn’t you?”

As you know, there are two techs for necromancers.

Commander necromancer and Bomber necromancer.

Among them, while safety plays a big part in Commander’s overwhelming market share, there was an even bigger reason.

‘Because Bomber is trash.’

Corpse Explosion one-trick.

Overpowered only with Corpse Explosion, but trash job without Corpse Explosion.

The only advantages are the thrilling one-shot and only needing undead to use as explosion material, so no high-tier undead required.

Bomber is called the commoner’s job because it costs less money than Commander.

“If you can already lead six at level 8, doesn’t that mean much more in the late game?”

-…Right?

“No, are you mentally ill? Is this what rich kids are like? Why the hell didn’t you take the Commander tree?”

That’s why it was so incomprehensible.

Since he was a guy who ruled over a forest, he would have had plenty of undead to obtain, and with that ability, he’d be overwhelming even among the aristocratic Commander jobs.

Truly the makings of a one-man army!

He threw all that away to take the Bomber tech called a commoner’s job?

Why? How come?

-Men are all about explosions.

“Huh?”

Jihad answered excitedly to Dohyun’s genuinely frustrated outburst.

-When you use Corpse Explosion and hear that popping sound, how thrilling is that.

“…What?”

“Also, each undead has a different feel when they explode, you know? It just hits your ears so perfectly…”

“No, wait. You’re telling me that’s the only reason?”

-Isn’t that obvious? It’s because Owner hasn’t tried mass explosion. Corpse explosion is fun too, but mass explosion is really… that thrill really washes away all your old frustrations, you know? It was the joy of my life.

“Good grief…”

Dohyun couldn’t bear to listen anymore and covered his face with both hands.

To think his Guardian was a romantic fool.

Dohyun acknowledged romance too, but not to the point of dedicating his life to it.

Someone might say what’s all this talk about life in just a game, but that’s only from the players’ perspective – Jihad was clearly a resident of Godseeker.

To that guy, this place was reality and life itself.

‘It’s like someone destined for success in ballads insisting on doing rap instead.’

He was certain.

During the secret dungeon, if that guy had taken the necromancer tree instead of the bomber tree, it wouldn’t have been so easy.

Maybe that bloodline factor or whatever would have activated and they might have failed to clear it.

That guy was throwing away his own talent for the sake of romance.

There’s no fool like this fool…

‘…Wait a minute.’

At that moment, Dohyun raised his head at an ominous feeling that flashed through his mind.

“You’re not still thinking about the bomber tree right now, are you?”

-Of course I’m thinking about explo…

“No. In this life, you’ve been reborn. Your path is necromancy. You were born to practice necromancy.”

-B-but explosions are art…

“Stop, that’s enough. Any more than that is dangerous.”

Dohyun quickly brought his index finger to Jihad’s lips and let out a sigh of relief.

He almost let slip a dangerous line.

“You’ve never tried necromancy even once, have you?”

-Of course not. Men are all about explosions!

“Just try necromancy this once. If you try it and don’t like it, I won’t say anything if you want to change then.”

-Hmm… if that’s the case… Alright, Owner.

Perhaps it was because he didn’t act forcefully and offered a reasonable compromise.

Though he looked slightly displeased, Jihad didn’t insist further and agreed.

Deep down, he had been curious about what necromancy felt like, and he thought this was a good chance to listen to his owner once.

Groan- Grooan.

Looking at the loyal undead waiting only for orders, Jihad gestured with his hand.

-Bring me an orc.

Groan!

With the orc undead in the lead, his subordinate undead rushed into the fog.

Soon after, a perfectly fine orc was thrown out.

Crash- Squeal!?

The orc’s face was full of bewilderment at being suddenly thrown while resting.

Undead suddenly rushed at it and threw it, and to make matters worse, there was even a human and goblin where it was thrown – how could it not be flustered?

Grooan! Groan!

And before that bewilderment could even fade, the undead swarmed again.

Squeal!

The startled orc jumped to its feet.

But that didn’t change anything.

Bang!

The orc undead swarmed and rammed straight into its torso.

Though individually weaker than an orc, when three rammed simultaneously, even the orc couldn’t withstand it and fell back down.

Then the goblin undead that followed behind beat up the fallen orc.

…It was literally a beating.

Thwack! Bang! Thud-.

Squeal, squeaal!

The orc lying curled up like a pill bug as if dragged into an alley, and six undead gleefully pounding and beating that orc.

If that wasn’t a beating, what else could it be? At least Dohyun couldn’t think of any other word for it.

[You have defeated an Orc.]

[Guardian Jihad Black’s level has increased.]

Grooan-!

-Kehehe!

The undead who finished off the orc in an instant let out roars, and watching those orcs, Jihad also burst into laughter.

-This isn’t bad either, Owner? I’ve only used them for chores or explosions, never like this, but it’s more entertaining to watch than I thought.

“…Yeah, I see.”

He somewhat understood the feelings of a parent seeing their child’s twisted behavior, but it wasn’t a bad direction for Dohyun.

Thanks to this, Jihad seemed to think positively about necromancy too.

Well, it was his first time hunting again after only picking up junk items, so anything would be fun.

-Now, my children. This time, bring me two of them!

He didn’t even need to go himself.

How convenient that they brought monsters for him automatically.

Grooan-!

Despite Jihad’s arrogant tone, they were children who obeyed orders like loyal undead, but unfortunately, the wall of reality blocked their path.

Groan…?

-…Huh?

The undead’s bodies became faint and soon crumbled into dust and disappeared.

And a message appeared.

[Jihad Black’s mana has been completely depleted.]

[Undead summoning is canceled.]

…

[Undead summoning is canceled.]

-…Ah.

“Mm.”

No matter how much he had grown, this chronic illness-like mana shortage seemed to persist.

He’d have to either deal with monsters from the previous city that had mana reduction effects, or only include one orc…

No, but he had grown compared to before, so wasn’t this a decent performance?

Seeing Jihad’s expression like he’d lost his country, that didn’t seem to be the case either.

After hesitating for a moment, Dohyun opened his mouth.

“Mm.”

-Please don’t say anything, Owner. I want to be alone.

“…Alright.”

And then he closed it 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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