The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 111
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 111
Chapter 111
From all four directions.
No—with the man before me included, five assassins had joined the fray, and daggers were thrusting at me from six angles.
This was a chain of attacks at a speed that would be difficult even for Luke, who had already raised his shield to block, to react to.
‘I can see them.’
To me, they were crystal clear.
Recalling the sparring matches I’d had with the knights at the Imperial Palace, this level of threat was hardly concerning.
In that instant, having assessed every attack,
I moved.
I seized the Shield of Vitege that Luke had produced and
—I activated the skill ‘Power Strike’.
Using the Power Strike skill, I swung the shield with tremendous force.
Power Strike was originally a skill for offense, but skills are tools to be used as one sees fit.
Used this way, I could momentarily amplify my strength and swing the shield rapidly to block attacks coming from all directions.
Of course, blocking a truly powerful attack this way would be difficult.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
But these were merely dagger strikes.
An assassin’s attack is only truly dangerous when aimed at vital points.
Striking a shield with a dagger wouldn’t deal any real damage.
“Damn it! Not again!”
“All of you, attack!”
I thought I’d managed to block Red Skull’s assault this time.
But the problem was far from over.
Red Skull’s guild members who had been hiding within the crowd charged toward me.
Among them were the Murderer I’d first defeated when leaving the City of Beginnings, and others I’d defeated during the Beginner League.
All of them rushed at me simultaneously.
“What… what is this?”
“What’s happening here?”
“Shouldn’t we be stopping them?”
“This seems beyond our ability to handle…”
“If only the Guild Master would arrive!”
“Isn’t that Red Skull?”
“Red Skull? The most notorious assassination guild in Second?”
“Why would they target Mir?”
The users who had been waiting for me were equally bewildered.
I’d finally emerged, hoping for some conversation,
but suddenly Red Skull’s guild master and all the guild members launched a coordinated assault on me—their shock was understandable.
In any case, as I called out to Luke to help me withstand the total onslaught of Red Skull charging from all sides,
“Screeeeeee—”
From above the sky.
A familiar cry echoed down.
A White Wyvern.
More specifically, the roar of the alpha—the supreme leader commanding all the White Wyvern Knights’ wyverns.
And with it.
Boom!!
Something plummeted from the heavens and blocked my path.
A heavily armored soldier clad entirely in black full plate armor, wielding a black tower shield emblazoned with the Empire’s golden dragon insignia.
Though I’d never seen such heavy equipment before, the black shield alone was enough for me to recognize his identity instantly.
“Conrad Duran?”
“Hahahaha!”
Conrad Duran, Knight Commander of Black Shield.
He had fallen.
It appeared the Wyvern Knights’ commander had grasped him with talons and dropped him from the sky.
Having descended in such a manner, Conrad Duran.
“I cannot allow His Majesty’s honored guest to be harmed the moment he leaves the Imperial Palace!”
Drove his shield into the ground.
A defensive barrier materialized around the shield’s impact point, enveloping both Conrad Duran and myself.
Ting!
“Ugh!”
“What’s with this incredible hardness!”
“Where did he suddenly fall from?”
“Who is this guy!”
Every assault from the Red Skull Guild members rushing toward me was completely blocked.
Indeed, Black Shield.
Its defensive power was formidable enough to effortlessly repel attacks from all the Red Skull Guild members, whose capabilities appeared quite considerable.
While everyone stood in shock.
“Did you think you could escape like that!”
Moonlight Wolf disregarded Conrad Duran and circled to the side.
Conrad Duran’s defensive barrier protected my vicinity like a bunker, but its strength inevitably weakened the farther one moved from the shield.
Moonlight Wolf was well aware of this fact.
Moreover, as a high-level assassin, he had prepared a technique to overcome such circumstances.
“Ghost Blade!”
Ghost Blade—an assassin’s armor-piercing attack skill capable of ignoring enemy defenses and barriers.
In an instant, his dagger became semi-transparent and pierced through Conrad Duran’s defensive barrier.
I was about to prepare my own defense, but suddenly, a presence blocked my vision, rendering such precautions unnecessary.
“An assassin dares to act so brazenly before the Imperial Palace! This is unforgivable!”
Elegant light armor and a longsword etched with wolf-pattern decorations.
Ragnar Bloodvein, Knight Commander of Red Wolf, intercepted Moonlight Wolf’s attack.
But that wasn’t all.
Ragnar Bloodvein unleashed the Empire’s swordsmanship, delivering a fatal blow to Moonlight Wolf.
Had the strike gone just a fraction deeper, he might have fallen in a single hit.
But Moonlight Wolf, being a seasoned assassin himself, managed to preserve his life by swiftly deploying an evasion skill.
However.
“Did you truly believe you could escape? A pathetic charlatan playing at assassination.”
“No!”
Thwack!
“Gahhk!”
The space where Moonlight Wolf had fled was not empty.
From nowhere, appearing from everywhere at once.
Darkness, the Knight Commander of Ash Dust, pierced through Moonlight Wolf’s chest.
Not to kill him outright, but to leave him on the precipice of death itself.
He was left in a state where his vitality hung by a thread—neither alive nor dead.
The paralytic toxin coating Darkness’s dagger played no small role in this.
Though their guild master had fallen, the Red Skull members, viewing this moment as an opportunity, launched another coordinated assault upon me.
“Hyaaa!”
Casiel Lexspear, the Knight Commander of Golden Spear, appeared at my side in support of Conrad Duran.
Whoosh!
Ilaine Silverwind, the Knight Commander of Silver Eagle, fired upon the Red Skull members rushing toward me, scattering them.
The Empire’s Knight Commanders were converging.
Only then did Red Skull realize the situation was hopeless and attempted to flee.
“Kekeke, do you truly believe you can escape now?”
Whooom!
Raymond Mistborn, the Knight Commander of Blue Moon, cast his magic.
A translucent barrier unfurled widely, centered upon me.
This was no ordinary defensive spell designed to block external attacks.
He had modified the spell’s formula to prevent enemies within from escaping outward.
Truly, this was the caliber of Raymond Mistborn, whose understanding of magic had reached its zenith under Imperial support.
“A… a wall!”
“It’s completely sealed?”
“Break through it quickly!”
“We have to escape now!”
“Damn it! Why are the Empire’s Knight Commanders here…?”
“I told you from the start I didn’t like this plan!”
“Hell, if we get captured by the Empire like this, we’ll be locked out for at least a month!”
“No way!”
Red Skull then began a desperate, frantic struggle.
Yet escape remained impossible.
Clang!
There was no way they could breach the barrier created by Raymond Mistborn, an 8-Circle Grand Mage.
“Gaack!”
Ragnar Bloodvein and Darkness, among others, systematically dismantled them with overwhelming superiority.
Despite the fierce battle, not a single Knight Commander had taken a life.
This was no act of mercy toward the assassins.
“This can’t be…”
Clink.
Given that users possessed the trait of resurrecting even in death, they were reserving a more appropriate punishment.
The captured Red Skull guild members were shackled at the wrists in a combat-disabled state.
And then, as if materializing from nowhere, the Capital Defense Commander himself made his appearance.
“To dare attack Baron Mir, who has just received his barony from His Imperial Majesty, directly before the Imperial Palace itself. I hereby declare eleven charges against them, including lèse-majesté and attempted murder of nobility.”
“E-eleven charges?”
“What eleven charges! All they did was try to kill one user!”
He pronounced their sentence.
Eleven charges.
In truth, no one truly knew whether those eleven charges were properly evaluated.
However, in this moment, with the exception of Red Skull itself, no one present dared contest the Capital Defense Commander’s declaration.
Rather.
“Why, that’s right.”
“Aren’t those the famous Murderer guild?”
“They strutted around calling themselves assassins, and now look at them getting dragged away.”
“Now that’s proper justice!”
“The Baltika Empire does things right!”
The atmosphere was one of approval toward the Capital Defense Commander’s declaration.
“The criminals shall be immediately imprisoned in the Imperial Palace Underground Prison, and their sentences shall be determined according to Imperial law. Furthermore.”
And this was far from the end.
The Capital Defense Commander, having imprisoned all the Red Skull guild members who had attempted to attack me, then.
“In the name of the Capital Defense Commander, I hereby issue an eradication order against the Red Skull guild!”
He delivered a declaration that made the Red Skull guild’s eyes go wide.
* * *
An eradication order.
True to its name, a command to eliminate a specific individual or faction.
In this case, it could be said to be an order issued by the Empire to completely annihilate the existence of the guild known as Red Skull.
– Red Skull’s done for now lol
– More than half the Second continent belongs to the Empire, so getting an eradication order from them is basically the end lol
– But isn’t this the first time the Empire has officially issued an eradication order against a guild?
– Yeah, they usually don’t interfere much with us.
The users who witnessed this displayed varied reactions.
And for good reason—the Empire had generally shown little interest in users.
But what about now?
Not only did they grant Baron Mir his title, but an official eradication order has been issued against the Red Skull guild.
It was becoming visibly apparent that the Empire had begun to involve itself with the users.
– Isn’t this getting dangerous?
– If we catch the Empire’s attention the wrong way from now on, we could get hit with an execution order right away
– Even without an execution order, if the Empire starts regulating us, maintaining the Guild becomes incredibly difficult
– From now on, we’ll have to seriously watch the Empire’s mood;
That’s right.
Even though the Capital Defense Commander had suddenly stepped forward, this incident hadn’t occurred by chance.
Though the timing had accelerated far more than expected, the Emperor had foreseen all of this beforehand and given hints to the Capital Defense Commander and the Knight Commanders.
Granting Mir the title of Baron was no different.
While Mir had caught the Emperor’s eye, by bestowing the rank of Baron upon him, the Emperor had given hope to the users.
Carrot and stick.
With this, the users had no choice but to be even more mindful of the Empire’s gaze than before.
However, given the situation, some users began to misunderstand.
– So when Mir was attacked, all the Empire’s Knight Commanders mobilized and the first official execution order was issued? Red Skull is essentially imprisoned, no different from permanent suspension?
– Crazy;
– And the way the Baron title was granted, it seems like the Emperor is treating Mir incredibly preciously?
– What on earth did he do to deserve this?
– Is Mir the one to follow?
– Something was off since the Beginner League
– I want to become a noble too ㅠㅠ
– Everyone’s trying to contact Mir right now lol they want to ask him the secret lol
The Emperor was treating Mir with particular affection.
That was the rumor spreading.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely false, but it was certainly exaggerated far beyond the truth.
As the users continued to build their fantasies about Mir.
– So, where is that Mir?
– Has there been any interview?
– After Red Skull was taken away, hasn’t anyone met Mir? There were supposedly huge crowds gathered before that.
– Well, apparently he suddenly disappeared right after everything ended.
– Huh? How is that even possible?
– I don’t know, he just suddenly disappeared.
The subject of the rumors.
Mir.
“I can’t stay in Labelt for a while now.”
Using the power of skills and items, I had already left the entrance of the Imperial Palace.
Even using the Veil of Secrets and the Ring of Illusion, it would be difficult to completely evade users if they set their minds to investigating.
So, I felt it was best to avoid crowded places, including Labelt, for a while.
Of course.
“Before that.”
That didn’t mean I had to leave Labelt immediately.
I still had matters to handle in Labelt that couldn’t wait.
“Shall I start by dealing with the Orc equipment?”
These were the spoils of war obtained after defeating the massive army of thirty thousand Orcs, including the Orc Lord.
It was time to dispose of the thirty thousand spoils that Luke had devoured and collected from the Orcs.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————