The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 83

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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 83

Chapter 83.

Orc on the right, Kaiser in the center, Necromancer on the left.

Duke couldn’t help but tear up at this chaotic combination.

He had clearly intended to be good(?) and fold his hand to run away, so why had it come to this?

He had just hit an orc, so why was he judged as making the first attack and surrounded so perfectly like this?

Everything was questionable.

Though it was an incomprehensible situation, Duke still made a quick judgment.

‘I don’t know what’s what, but since it’s come to this, the first strike wins!’

He didn’t know the reason, but the fight had already begun.

Since he was trapped and surrounded like this, he couldn’t even run away.

In that case, it would be best to launch a surprise first strike while they were off guard.

Swoosh-!

Duke’s spear fiercely tore through the air.

[Unique ability ‘Swift’ is activated.]

[Attack speed is greatly increased.]

[Trait ‘One Strike’ is activated.]

[If the next attack hits, greatly increased damage will be applied.]

[Using skill ‘All-Out Thrust’.]

A thrust containing all of Duke’s essence, which could be called his signature move!

Landing the first strike with tremendous speed and damage was Duke’s winning strategy.

It was an attack that would be hard to dodge even from a distance, let alone at such close range…

‘I’ve won…!’

Duke’s eyes couldn’t help but blaze with fire.

There was absolutely no way to dodge this.

Avoiding the fastest thrust unleashed at this distance would be impossible even if a martial arts master from a novel actually appeared.

Though there had been a crisis, a true master turns crisis into opportunity.

Duke’s heart pounded roughly and wildly.

‘I can become a star!’

That confident thrust shot forward with the momentum to pierce Kaiser’s heart at any moment.

Finally, just before the spear tip touched his chest!

Tap.

Kaiser slightly raised the black spear he was holding and blocked Duke’s spear with the shaft portion.

Swish-.

“…Huh?”

Then with a slight movement, Duke’s spear that had been touching the shaft was drawn along that moving trajectory.

The concentrated force scattered, and before he knew it, Duke’s spear tip had dropped to the ground with a thud.

His all-out strike had crumbled pathetically.

Duke knew what had just been shown.

‘Parrying…?’

But he couldn’t believe it even seeing it with his own eyes.

Didn’t this mean he had seen and reacted to the thrust with his eyes at this distance? It would be hard enough to dodge or deflect it, but he had deflected it with perfect timing?

Was parrying such an easy skill to perform?

‘That can’t be right…?’

Unlike his confused mind, his body moved instinctively.

Perhaps because of all his practice, when his thrust was blocked, his feet naturally stepped into position like flowing water.

As he put strength into it and shifted his weight in the opposite direction, the spear instantly bounced up and swung toward Kaiser’s nape.

“Oh?”

And Kaiser’s eyes widened slightly.

At the same time, Duke’s eyes also widened.

‘Crazy, don’t tell me he saw this too…’

That prediction was exactly right.

Kaiser took in all of Duke’s swinging motions at a glance and countered them far too easily.

Swoosh.

One step.

Whoosh-.

With just one step forward, the blade aimed at his nape cut through empty air.

But even that wasn’t satisfactory.

As the distance closed, it was blocked from the handle portion and couldn’t build up proper force.

Tap, thwack!

“!?”

What followed was Dohyun’s ankle sweep.

Suddenly feeling a heavy sensation at his ankle, his body floated into the air.

And the falling black spear… no, dagger.

Stab! Stab stab!

In an instant, he was stabbed from neck to heart to aorta, and when he fell to the ground, he could no longer see the landscape of Godseeker.

[You have been killed by Player ‘Kaiser’.]

[Death penalty is applied.]

[For 24 hours, experience gain and item drop rate are reduced by 50%, and you will randomly drop possessed items.]

[Judged as making the first attack, the probability of dropping equipment items is increased.]

Only messages floating on the blackened screen were visible.

Whoosh-.

Duke, who opened his eyes in the capsule as the game ended, sat there blankly for a long time.

He couldn’t understand why he had died.

No, before that, he didn’t even know exactly how he had died.

He had attempted a surprise thrust… then there was a swish, his body floated up, and he died.

‘It was parrying… right?’

He could only understand that much, that he had been caught by parrying?

To die without knowing why after attacking first.

This was a level difference that couldn’t be accepted unless it was the gap between a complete newbie player and a ranker.

For Duke, who had confidence in his skills, it was too shocking.

‘The difference is this much?’

This meant the distance between Kaiser and himself was at least that much of a gap.

Though he was a barely-made-it ranker, Duke had thought his skills could compete with those above him.

Even when he felt a wall against High Rankers, it hadn’t felt this insurmountable.

He had thought he could reach them with enough effort.

But this… he couldn’t see the end.

“Wow… Holy shit…”

After being unable to continue speaking for a while and only letting out ambiguous exclamations, he suddenly remembered a chat he had seen in the community.

‘They said there are many people forming teams to target Kaiser in Brion right now?’

At that time, he had been filled with thoughts of securing the kill as quickly as possible.

And now he could see how stupid that thought had been.

‘Ha, securing the kill my ass.’

He could be certain.

No matter how impressive a team appeared, no matter how many people rushed in, the result would be the same.

That a bloody storm would soon blow through Brion.

* * *

[You have defeated Player ‘Duke’.]

[Recognized as self-defense, karma value does not increase.]

[Would you like to loot the dropped items?]

“Whoa…”

Right after the situation ended, Kaiser unconsciously spread both his hands.

“I ended up killing him without realizing it.”

From the circumstances, he thought it was an orc and attacked, which seemed to trigger a first strike, so he tried to initiate dialogue.

But when the sudden attack came, his body moved without thinking.

He hadn’t intended to kill, so he felt a bit sorry, but soon shrugged his shoulders.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

After all, wasn’t that person the one who attacked first?

Dohyun had only acted in legitimate self-defense. And even aside from that, he didn’t get the impression this was a virtuous player.

‘He was hiding behind the rock.’

When taking a break, there are people who hide to avoid orcs.

But in this atmosphere where attention was focused on Dohyun, to deliberately hide behind him?

Wouldn’t it be more ridiculous to think this was a coincidence?

Whatever the case, he did attack as soon as he was discovered.

‘His skills didn’t seem too bad though.’

The flowing combo that followed right after deflecting the attack with a parry had the scent of a considerable expert.

It was the kind of aura you’d only see from veteran players.

He was a bit surprised to see such skill in Brion. That’s why his hands moved a bit more forcefully.

His body instinctively reacted to the familiar aura.

‘Well, it’s a game with a billion players, so there must be more experts.’

When he goes to the Empire where everyone gathers, there will probably be many experts he hadn’t seen in Demroc, right?

Thinking that way made him quite excited.

-What happened?

“Oh, nothing much. I told you there are many people targeting me.”

-Risa!?

At Dohyun’s answer, Eliza’s eyes flared with anger as she stomped on Duke’s corpse repeatedly.

Whether she just realized he was an enemy, or out of indignation, he wasn’t sure.

-Me too, argh!

Did that look fun to her?

Even Jihad joined in and started stomping together. Dohyun shook his head at the sight of the two Guardians and turned his gaze.

[Would you like to loot the dropped items?]

Now it was time to check the reward he had unintentionally obtained.

‘Huh.’

When he accepted the looting, a subtle light leaked out and an item popped out.

It was a pair of shoes.

[Stealthy Leather Shoes Made at a Special Workshop]

[Grade: Rare+]

[Description: Special leather shoes made at a workshop that handles special materials.

Though no special materials were used, they boast excellent performance thanks to being crafted by a skilled artisan.]

[Level Restriction: 25]

[Equip Restriction: None]

[Physical Defense: 71]

[Magic Resistance: 56]

-Agility + 3

-Perception + 1

[Special Option: No footstep sounds when walking.]

“Oh? This is good?”

And it was even Rare+ grade leather shoes.

It was equipment that served as an upgraded version of the ‘Shoes Made from Libre Silkworm Thread’ that Dohyun was currently wearing.

Since the level restriction was 25, the defense and magic resistance stats weren’t bad for shoes either.

Being leather, there was no discomfort or slowdown in movement.

‘The option is perfect too. I should switch to these right away.’

As he switched the equipment, his stats increased.

[Unequipping ‘Shoes Made from Libre Silkworm Thread’.]

[Equipping ‘Stealthy Leather Shoes Made at a Special Workshop’.]

[Agility increases by +1.]

Since the options were similar to his previous shoes, his agility ultimately increased by 1.

Plus there was an additional special option attached, so it was perfect.

Though it seemed like a trivial option that would only be needed by assassins at best…

‘It’ll help when using Weak Stealth.’

For Dohyun, who possessed half-baked stealth, it was actually a good option.

When Dohyun raised his head after finishing his harvest, he saw Jihad and Eliza catching their breath, apparently done with their venting.

Then Eliza, whose eyes met his, shouted energetically.

-Risa risa!

-She says she’ll keep patrolling around since there might be more guys like this.

-Will you be okay? Not running low on mana?

-Risa!

-…She says she’s fine. I’m jealous.

-Risa!?

Eliza waved her hands as if she hadn’t meant to brag.

It seemed that mana was only consumed when parasitizing, but not when maintaining the state.

‘It would be good to utilize when patrolling or hiding.’

He had never heard of a Guardian with such characteristics, but experiencing it firsthand, it was more useful than he thought.

If Jihad was a Guardian specialized in group combat, then Eliza was a Guardian faithful to a support role.

Perhaps that’s why Jihad had extreme mana consumption, while Eliza seemed relatively free from mana consumption concerns.

Each had clear strengths and weaknesses.

‘If I could just do something about that guy’s mana, I wouldn’t need a party.’

It was sufficient conditions for walking the path of a one-man army.

Well, thanks to his already overpowered stats, going solo was still sufficient for now.

‘But I didn’t expect hyenas to appear this early.’

Right now it was just one guy, but what if it was a team?

Ambushing during hunts would be annoying aside from being dangerous. But taking the initiative to sweep them away made him worry about his karma value.

It was even more so because this place was Brion, not some other city.

‘Huh? Wait a minute.’

Then something flashed through his mind.

Naturally, Dohyun’s gaze turned toward Eliza.

‘This time it was ruled self-defense.’

The self-defense ruling he got when that player attacked first by hitting the parasitized Eliza.

The guy hadn’t noticed that Eliza had transformed into an orc even until the moment he struck.

Then…

Grin.

A sinister smile crept across Dohyun’s lips.

‘This should make things easier.’

At his slyly smiling appearance, Jihad closed his mouth and nodded.

He didn’t know what his master was thinking, but one thing was certain.

-I don’t know what it is, but there are going to be more pitiful sacrificial lambs.

-Risa?

-That’s just how it is.

When his master made that expression, there was always a storm of blood.

Jihad offered a small prayer for those unknown souls.

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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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