The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 82

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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 82

Chapter 82.

Even after investing hundreds of millions with his entire fortune, no Mythic-grade deity appeared.

In the end, he had to settle for drawing a Hero-grade deity with tears in his eyes. Still, it wasn’t the worst outcome.

‘The traits are much better too, and I drew one that’s called a transcendent Hero-grade among Hero-grade deities.’

It even had traits and unique abilities related to spear techniques that he wanted.

Conditions that were far superior compared to before.

If his know-how and connections were added to that?

‘I know more than 10 hidden pieces alone.’

He thought that with enough time invested, he could reach his previous position, or even surpass it.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that was a delusion.

‘Life sucks.’

Even while he was working hard to develop his character, they were growing too.

He never thought those guys would stay in place from the beginning, but it was true that he hadn’t been conscious of it.

And when he deleted and recreated his character, most of the connections he had bragged about left.

Now all that remained were those he had been close with.

‘I must have been completely insane. Duke, what kind of confidence made you do that?’

They say life is a series of choices.

Whatever had possessed him, Duke made the wrong choice and was paying the price severely.

No, let’s think positively.

Compared to before, he was building a solid foundation, and he had cleared hidden pieces that he couldn’t complete because he learned about them too late.

And hadn’t his traits and unique abilities improved too?

Surely if he just invested time… just time…

“Sigh. What am I saying.”

Time flows equally for everyone, so what’s this talk about time?

Of course, those guys had nearly reached their limits, so they would spend relatively more time raising their specs, but they were still getting stronger.

To be more efficient than such guys, he would need to grow tremendously, but how could that be possible?

He had been breathing the air at the top for so long that he had forgotten what the world below was like.

Now he felt like he would be satisfied just reaching the position of a ranker.

It was when he had achieved some enlightenment and arrived at Brion. Around the time when the level for receiving graduation quests was approaching.

[Kaiser has returned!]

[The return of a god! He reclaims Raven’s Throne as soon as he arrives!]

[Kaiser, who is he?]

The suddenly chaotic community caught Duke’s attention.

‘Kaiser? Could it be the Kaiser I know?’

It was quite a familiar name after all.

It had to be familiar.

Though he had only briefly dabbled in Demroc, even then Kaiser’s status had been tremendous.

Even without knowing his exact achievements, he knew that he was just an amazing person.

But hadn’t he disappeared when Demroc shut down?

‘He suddenly returned like this? Whoa, what? Is this real?’

At first, he didn’t believe it.

But it didn’t take long to learn that it was true.

-Kaiser is amazing lololol

-Hey hey, I believed in you!

-Is it real that he kicked Demroc out of his position as soon as he arrived lololol I’m really curious about Demroc’s reaction.

-Oppa, you’re so cool, please take me (swaying)

-Wow, every single move is so cool… At this rate, won’t he cause trouble in Brion too?

-Seems like he’ll cause a major incident.

The Godseeker homepage, green window, and communities were all filled with talk about Kaiser.

-But doesn’t this create a situation where everyone has no choice but to target Kaiser?

-By crushing all the guilds? Nah, they have some conscience too. They probably won’t gang up on him, right? They’ll just apply subtle pressure.

-Honestly, from their perspective, declaring that he’ll travel alone is probably better than joining another guild, right?

-No no, that’s not what I mean. Without a guild, there’s no shield to protect him.

Was it coincidence that Duke’s eyes caught that conversation at that moment?

-Everyone knows Kaiser now. He’s incredibly famous but has no guild, no party either. Isn’t he the perfect prey?

-Hey, it’s Kaiser. He’s achieved so many accomplishments he could kick them around. Who would be fearless enough to try that?

-Isn’t Kaiser human? Regardless of the past, he’s just a low-level player who barely graduated from Raven now. Am I wrong?

-You’re right, but… so what are you trying to say?

Duke found himself straightening his posture and focusing on the conversation.

Having been a ranker himself, Duke knew well what kind of world Godseeker was.

He couldn’t help but understand what this person was trying to say.

-Now is the opportunity.

-What opportunity?

-The opportunity to skyrocket, you fool. If you take down Kaiser, you become a star immediately. Wouldn’t that be a direct pass to the Top 100 Guilds? What are Top 100 Guilds? If done well, even Top 10 Guilds might be totally possible, right?

-…Now that you mention it, that’s true?

-I heard the guys in Brion are already forming teams. Ready to strike if the opportunity arises.

Gulp.

Duke, who had read up to that point, raised his head.

He could see more chattering messages after that, but he didn’t care about them.

-The opportunity to skyrocket, you fool.

-If done well, even Top 10 Guilds might be totally possible, right?

Only those messages were rummaging through his mind.

‘…This is it.’

A ranker in the top 0.01%.

The man who deleted and restarted to take down Kaiser.

He could already hear the sound of people clicking their mice. Everyone would focus on him, and this would become a guild free pass.

For them, star quality was just as important as talent.

‘What I didn’t have…’

An unfortunate ranker who had no star quality whatsoever, so people didn’t know him well despite being a ranker.

That was the previous Duke.

But if he could take the title of having taken down Kaiser, it would be different.

Everyone would call him the Kaiser Hunter, or God Slayer.

Thud-.

Duke dove right back into the capsule he had just exited.

Then he logged into Godseeker and searched for Kaiser as if possessed. Finding Kaiser wasn’t too difficult.

Stare-.

Step, step.

In the middle of the city.

A man walking between people who had parted like the Red Sea, as if Moses’s miracle had occurred.

Looking at that man, only one person came to mind.

‘Kaiser…’

His appearance, confidently entering the Grand Temple without being intimidated by people’s gazes at all, was so cool.

The ideal image Duke had always wanted. That’s why his fighting spirit burned even more.

‘I can have it.’

Hope arose that he might be able to have that position.

That was the reason.

“Damn, they say he logged out.”

“How can a person be so free-spirited? There’s nothing predictable about him.”

“Sigh. Well… I guess I’d just log off too in a situation like this. Look how many people are after him.”

“Tsk. Let’s just go hunting. We’ll hear news again if he shows up.”

When everyone gave up and went about their business after hearing that Kaiser had logged out, there was a reason why he didn’t give up.

“Huh? Isn’t that Kaiser’s porter?”

“Right? What’s going on, why is he alone? Should we follow him?”

“Nah, forget it. We’ll be in big trouble if we get caught. There’s no point following him anyway since Kaiser isn’t there.”

“True… He’s a swordsman, so what stealth would he have, what spatial teleportation would he have.”

When Kaiser’s companion in a robe was spotted in the field.

This was the reason he didn’t give up and kept following even when everyone else just looked on with curiosity.

And that effort was now bearing fruit.

“Wow, this actually worked.”

After persistently following the robed figure for several minutes.

The man who suddenly appeared beside him when he stopped was none other than Kaiser.

He didn’t know how he could use stealth, but it was definitely Kaiser.

Thump thump thump thump.

‘My God…’

His heart was pumping like it would burst.

To think he would see that Kaiser, whom he’d only heard about through news and seen faintly in videos or photos!

He felt strangely excited, as if he’d met a great figure from a history book.

But that emotion soon subsided and transformed into fighting spirit and greed.

‘This is an opportunity. I discovered him first. If I take care of this now, I’ll have the title of Kaiser hunter.’

He was just amazed to meet a star, but felt no particular tension.

He would be around level 24-27 at most. Meanwhile, he was a whopping level 34 and had built up his foundation solidly while leveling.

With almost a 10-level difference, there was no way he could lose in a one-on-one fight.

He was confident in his skills too.

…That’s what he thought.

Slash-!

“Nice feel.”

‘…?’

Until he saw Kaiser take down a charging orc in one hit.

He didn’t dodge and strike, or block and strike.

He just slashed the throat of the charging orc. Such a natural counter that the orc looked like a suicide squad member.

‘No way, does that even make sense?’

People don’t avoid orc charges for no reason.

First, if you try to block it, you often get pushed back due to inferior specs.

Even if you don’t lose in a contest of strength, it doesn’t make sense to attack a charging enemy head-on, so dodging is the second reason.

There’s a reason it’s not the standard strategy. But he did it so naturally, like breathing. For a moment, he almost mistook that for the standard strategy.

The strange thing didn’t end there.

‘No, more than that, what’s with that damage… Why is it a one-shot kill? Wasn’t he in his 20s?’

Even he, who prided himself on solid specs, would need at least three hits.

That’s when hitting well – normally wouldn’t it require even more hits?

‘…Must be all-in on attack power. Probably a glass cannon.’

Yeah, that’s a reasonable judgment.

Rankers confident in their control tend to focus more on attack power than health.

Someone like Kaiser might take that tendency to somewhat extreme levels.

If he ambushed well, it would definitely be worth trying. After all, the only person next to him was that porter.

‘So it really was a Guardian. Is he raising him for item collection?’

That would be reasonable.

Duke’s expression brightened again.

‘Right. The porter can be dealt with later… ?’

Grooooan- Groan-.

Until he saw orcs and goblins making strange sounds.

Orcs aside, he wondered why goblins were here, and looking closely, their appearance was unusual.

They were too decayed to be living creatures, their eyes were dead, and they were emitting some ominous black aura.

That looked like…

‘…Undead?’

And they soon brought back an orc.

They swarmed over as a group, lifted it up, and immediately began one-sided beating.

The orc lost its life like that.

“…”

Duke, who had been watching that scene, made a decision.

‘Let’s run.’

He couldn’t win against that.

Kaiser’s abnormal damage alone was burdensome, and undead on top of that?

Picking a fight with this would be nothing short of a suicide attempt.

Who the hell said that was a porter? That’s a noble necromancer walking the royal path!

Was there a Guardian among Guardians with such abilities?

‘Guardian or companion, I don’t care.’

At least as far as he knew, there wasn’t, but that wasn’t important right now.

What was important now was that the one with no presence was actually a commander necromancer.

‘I should have gotten a team…’

Even if he contacted his connections now… it would obviously be too late.

Damn, he was too hasty.

No, actually, he thought he might be sufficient alone to some degree. Taking him down solo would raise his status more too.

‘Whatever the case, let’s retreat for now. That’s right.’

Still, Duke wasn’t stupid enough to repeat foolish choices twice.

One character deletion was enough for such choices in his Godose career.

At least it was fortunate that he was hidden behind a rock and hadn’t been caught.

Duke was gauging an opportunity to escape when.

Swoosh-.

A shadow suddenly fell.

When he unconsciously looked up, an orc with a hideous face was looking down at him.

“Ueoook!?”

When people are startled, their hands move first.

Not everyone might be like that, but at least Duke was. Duke’s hand held a spear, and he unconsciously stabbed the orc’s leg.

-Risa!!

“…Risa?”

Too cute a voice for an orc.

Just as he was puzzled by this, a message window popped up above Duke’s head with a ding.

[You have launched a preemptive attack on Player ‘Kaiser’.]

[The probability of dropping items when killed by the opponent has increased.]

“? What is this…”

He couldn’t understand.

He had just hit an orc, so what preemptive attack?

Looking at the orc with bewildered eyes, Duke saw its white hands.

‘Was the color originally like that…?’

Before he could resolve that question, a low-pitched voice was heard.

“What? A person?”

“Hieok!?”

“Whoa, what a surprise. Why are you screaming?”

It was Kaiser.

Before he knew it, Kaiser and the porter… no, the Necromancer had approached right in front of him and were surrounding him.

Duke unconsciously muttered to himself.

‘…I’m screwed.’

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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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