The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 86
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 86
Chapter 86.
[Foul-Smelling Rock Forest exploration complete.]
[Go to Caretaker ‘Gildeti’ to complete the Quest.]
‘As expected, I had to check the field boss to finish it.’
Well, the purpose of this Quest was to find out if there were monsters infected by the Abyss or traces of such infection, so it would be absurd not to check the most important field boss.
If there was infection, the boss would be the most dangerous.
-Owner, should I help too?
“No need… Actually, you should step up this time too.”
-Really? Got it!
Dohyun, who was about to refuse as usual, soon changed his mind.
He was curious whether those undead would be meaningfully useful even against a field boss.
‘It would look better for the video too.’
The reality was that everyone was treating Jihad as nothing more than a simple porter.
It wouldn’t be bad to give him a spectacular debut with this opportunity.
-Kehehe… they’re all dead.
I could feel Jihad’s tension rising significantly, thinking he finally had a proper role to play.
-Risa? Risa!?
“Eliza, do whatever you want too.”
-Risa!
Eliza seemed to be asking ‘What about me? What about me??’
When I nodded appropriately, she struck a spirited pose and stood on Dohyun’s left shoulder.
Right goblin, left spider…
Compared to Violet-Flavored Auntie who used to carry around a blue dragon on the right and white tiger on the left, it was a shabby combination, but it didn’t feel too bad.
Just as Dohyun chuckled and was about to transform Cheonbyeon (Thousand Changes).
“Huh? Oh, what? Someone’s already here?”
“Damn… I thought we found it really fast.”
The sound of men chattering came from behind.
When I glanced back, I saw four male players who appeared to be a party.
They consisted of a warrior, archer, mage, and tank.
It seemed like a party that had rushed over in a hurry to try the field boss after hearing it had respawned.
“That’s what I’m saying. For some reason there aren’t many people in the field right now, so it was our chance but damn…”
“Huh? But there’s only two of them?”
“Whoa, really? What, a 2-person attempt?”
“Amazing, they’ve got guts. This might come to our turn? Let’s quickly get in line.”
Thinking they couldn’t be heard, they hurled insults while dutifully lining up.
It was a completely different attitude from Raven, where they tried to interfere and get the first strike somehow.
‘This is how it should be.’
Raven’s boss… that is, Eliza had the concept of a spider nest, but no matter how messed up Godose was, usually when hunting field bosses, whoever came first got to fight.
Latecomers would line up, and if the person ahead failed, it would pass to the next in order.
This was the unspoken field boss rule.
‘Well, there are exceptions. It feels strange that they’re waiting so properly.’
Was it because I’d only been meeting thugs lately?
They were following something obvious, but for some reason it felt unsettling and I couldn’t get used to it.
It made me more nervous instead.
Perhaps that’s why.
When I glanced back and made eye contact with one of the party members, his eyes widened.
“Gasp!”
“What? Why are you suddenly acting like that?”
His party members were startled and asked about his sudden action of covering his mouth.
Instead of answering, he pointed with his finger.
The finger was naturally pointing at Dohyun.
“What about that person… huh?”
Following his gaze naturally to look at Dohyun, they momentarily closed their mouths.
After puzzled expressions briefly crossed their faces, one of them also recognized Dohyun and covered his mouth just like the man.
“Th-that person, isn’t that Kaiser?”
“Whoa, amazing. This is my first time seeing him in person.”
A man frowned as if he couldn’t understand his friends suddenly making a fuss.
“Kaiser? Who’s that?”
“You don’t know Kaiser? Brion’s in chaos because of him right now. Just go to the homepage and there are several articles… didn’t you see that the Raven ranking 1st place changed?”
“Ah… I’m not really interested in that stuff so I didn’t know. Must be an impressive person.”
“Huh. Look at this gaming noob.”
While it was true that Kaiser had become a hot topic, for people who didn’t regularly read communities or homepages, it was just another passing issue like always.
An issue they had no interest in or reason to care about.
After all, why would they care about something that would quiet down after time passed?
That would be the excuse anyway…
In reality, it was an unavoidable phenomenon since Kaiser had only seriously surfaced yesterday.
Regardless, the two people who got the chance to witness Kaiser’s boss attempt with their own eyes could only shine with excitement.
“Wait, then it’s not a 2-person raid but a 1-person raid? That companion isn’t a combat class.”
“I saw the video and it was seriously no joke, and we’re seeing that in real life? This is crazy.”
“Geez, what’s so great about Kaiser that you’re making such a fuss? Anyone would think you saw Justin Bieber or something.”
“This bastard. If you don’t know, just stay quiet.”
“Ah, yes yes.”
The man who listened with one ear and let it pass, and the guys who couldn’t contain their excitement.
Thanks to that, Dohyun’s back felt very prickly.
‘Hmm.’
The gazes were too intense.
If those were women I’d be grateful, but having dark-haired men sending admiring looks with sparkling eyes was somehow burdensome.
-It’s not always just enemies, Owner.
“Right. This is unfamiliar to me too.”
While this used to happen often in the old days, it was the first time in recent memory receiving such gazes, so it felt awkward.
I thought it was a thriller survival story with only people trying to kill me, but apparently that wasn’t entirely the case.
Well, everything needs an occasional healing part to take a break.
‘Let’s just not be conscious of it.’
Since they didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking, Dohyun also stopped paying attention to them.
There were occasionally people in Demroc who would act and then charge, but I didn’t particularly think that was acting.
If that was acting… wouldn’t it be polite to let them succeed with such high quality?
Squeeeeek-!
[Field boss ‘Orc Warrior of Death’ recognizes you as an enemy.]
[Orc Warrior of Death]
-Title: Elite Field Boss
-Type: Orc
-Traits: Warrior, Aura of Death, Combat Instinct
-Description: An orc warrior who was once a great warrior of the orc tribe.
He barely survived after nearly meeting death in the Foul-Smelling Rock Forest, but was exposed to the aura of death for a long time and became cursed to never leave this place.
Perhaps due to that influence, his physical strength was destructively amplified.
“He’s got loud vocal cords too.”
And that orc in front looked more dangerous than those people.
Getting hit once by them at the start wouldn’t cause much damage, but a field boss’s attack would be a different story.
[Phase 1 begins.]
Seeing the message that appeared, Dohyun spoke quietly.
“Jihad, get ready. Since it drains mana, just four for now.”
-Yes, Owner.
As black mana flowed, undead rose up through the ground.
[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ summons undead.]
[Summoning Red Goblin Undead of the Forest × 2, Blue Goblin Undead of the Forest × 1, Orc Undead × 1.]
With their grotesque appearances, they walked over and stood on either side of Dohyun.
Did they instinctively sense that Dohyun was the strongest?
Dohyun was slightly surprised to see them take supporting positions without being told.
‘Do undead know to do things like this on their own?’
He hadn’t expected to see such behavior from undead who supposedly had no free will and only followed orders.
Their appearance and many other aspects were quite unique.
Though curiosity arose, now was the time to focus on battle. Dohyun quickly cleared his thoughts and gripped Cheonbyeon.
[Cheonbyeon transforms into ‘Black Raven Spear’.]
Thud!
Dohyun made a short leap while gripping the blackened spear.
And Jihad’s undead followed behind him.
The battle had begun.
* * *
Screeeeech-!
“Wow, looks like it’s starting.”
“Popcorn, where’s the popcorn.”
Seeing the field boss ‘Orc Warrior of Death’ let out a shriek, they made a commotion.
Among them was a hefty tank with considerable bulk.
Seeing these two friends’ behavior, the archer Archercoins shook his head.
‘What the hell is Kaiser supposed to be…’
Archercoins couldn’t understand his friends’ reactions.
Anyone watching would think they were seeing Justin Bieber or something.
No, honestly, it wasn’t just his friends – he couldn’t understand why everyone in the community was going on about Kaiser, Kaiser either.
Taking 1st place in Raven Ranking?
He couldn’t see the messages in real-time, but it was so hot that even he knew about it.
‘It’s impressive, but… isn’t this going too far?’
He didn’t intend to disparage that achievement.
But there should be limits to deification – wasn’t this going way too far?
‘Didn’t he solo a raid, didn’t he take on seventeen rankers 17 to 1 and beat them all alone, didn’t he toy with the 12th ranked player using only basic skills.’
All ridiculous achievements.
No, it was embarrassing to even call them achievements.
They were like the stories that would come out when middle-aged men at drinking parties would boast ‘Back in my day~ I was something special~ I was flying around!’ with their unrealistic, pretentious war stories.
‘What does he think he is, some kind of god? Even AI couldn’t do that.’
There were limits to absurdity, but everyone was determined to deify him, so how could doubt not arise?
In his view, those who came forward claiming to be Kaiser fans looked no different from the early symptoms of people falling into false religions.
At least he heard that a video was uploaded to YouTube last night, but honestly, even that seemed suspicious.
‘Videos can be edited to do anything.’
With Godose becoming hot lately, YouTube was filled with nothing but Godose videos.
As a result, an era had arrived where all kinds of direction and editing were employed to survive.
Still, since he was supposedly the former 1st place in Demroc, he must have some skill – with editing magic, he could probably produce at least one decent-looking video.
He hadn’t watched it directly, but it was an obvious story.
“Hey, here. Popcorn.”
“Huh? What? How did you get it?”
“That alley pub over there was selling peanut bomb tempura, so I kept it in my inventory.”
“Yo, what sense.”
For Archercoins, seeing his friends literally munching popcorn(?) while filled with anticipation just made him sigh.
Traditionally, there was a basic posture when waiting in line for field bosses.
Since you never knew when aggro might fly, and opportunities or trouble might come your way, being ready to enter combat immediately was basic etiquette and common sense.
“There’s no way our turn will come anyway, so what does it matter. Days like this happen too.”
“You too, don’t stand there uncomfortably and come over.”
“Sigh… forget it, do whatever you want.”
With those two being so stubborn, how could he not sigh?
At least the fortunate thing was that there was one sane friend.
“Hmm. I wish our turn would come.”
It was the warrior ‘Warrior12456’, who was simply hoping for their turn to come regardless of what the three were chattering about.
A reaction typical of that guy, who was so uninterested in such things that he didn’t even properly know who Kaiser was.
Archercoins let out a hollow laugh and bluntly said.
“Yeah, please don’t learn from watching stuff like that.”
“Hmm. It does seem a bit excessive. Is Kaiser really that amazing?”
“Well… he’s been hot lately, but in my opinion, it’s all bullshit.”
“Yeah~ that’s all just jealousy~. You guys come over and munch some popcorn too. Don’t regret it later.”
“Hey, but this tastes amazing. It really tastes like popcorn?”
Perhaps hearing those two’s conversation, the mage ‘Professor Hogwarts’ and tank ‘Damakajum’, who were busy munching popcorn, sneered.
“What bullsh…”
“Hey hey, looks like it’s starting. Focus.”
Before the agitated Archercoins could finish his sentence, Professor Hogwarts and Damakajum cut him off and focused on what was ahead.
As they said, the battle was about to begin.
‘Sigh… yeah, this worked out better. Take this chance to see for yourself and realize.’
Those guys must have only encountered rumors and videos too. Once they felt that rumors and reality were different, even those foolish friends would wake up from their fantasy.
And Archercoins was secretly curious too.
‘Yeah, let’s see if he can even follow in the footsteps of those rumors.’
Just how does he fight that such ridiculous rumors spread?
With what confidence was he attempting a solo try?
He planned to watch very carefully.
As if responding to his determination to not miss a single moment as he widened his eyes, Kaiser moved.
Whoooosh- Grooar-.
“…Huh?”
It was then that Archercoins made a dumbfounded sound.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————