The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 188
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 188
Chapter 188
White Apostle of the Water Deity.
For some inexplicable reason, he shared his vision through his familiar to observe the monsters’ advance, an ominous dread settling over him.
But then.
The fishmen and monsters he had expected to become far more ferocious after erasing their fear—creatures he believed would crumble the humans’ Territory in mere moments—
“W-what in the world is happening?!”
were being brutally cut down by human hands.
A sudden whirlwind materialized to block the passage.
Electric currents electrocuted the monsters, and explosions erupted, tearing them apart.
And worse still.
“Poison? What manner of poison could possibly intoxicate soldiers imbued with the Evil God’s power?!”
The poison spread, poisoning all the monsters.
There was no way forward.
Continuing to fight would yield nothing but futility, and though he desperately wanted to withdraw the monsters to preserve his forces—
“Kieeeek!”
“Those wretches!”
The monsters had been stripped of both fear and reason.
In their frenzied state, they would not obey even the Apostle’s commands.
Certainly, had he been at close range, he could have forced them to retreat, but sharing only vision through his familiar made exerting such power impossible.
In the end.
“Ahhh….”
All the fishmen and monsters the Apostle had sent were defeated.
The humans did not stop there—they annihilated the corpses of the monsters entirely.
In that desperate situation.
“That one there!”
The Apostle could identify the human who appeared to be the source of this calamity.
A human clad in a black leather coat.
The distance was too great to sense his power clearly, yet instinct told him unmistakably.
It was that human, without question.
“A mere green boy! A pathetic creature crawling about on this narrow land dares—!”
The Apostle’s rage ignited.
The damage caused by that human was catastrophic.
He needed to flood the land as soon as possible to accelerate the Evil God’s recovery.
Yet that human had not only blocked the flood but also cost him his forces.
However, there was no recourse now.
Rage aside, the wisest course was to withdraw his familiar and prepare for revenge in due time.
Or so he was thinking—
“…Could it be that he has sensed me now?”
Suddenly.
The human realized that the creature was making eye contact with him.
In that instant, a chill ran down the Apostle’s spine, and dread washed over him.
Immediately.
“Return at once!”
The Apostle commanded his familiar.
Just as expected, before the familiar could even turn its head.
The Apostle could see it.
The human’s body engulfed in Black Flame as he drew a new weapon and took aim at the familiar.
“This cannot happen! Flee now!”
The Apostle’s urgency intensified.
And for good reason—the familiar was directly connected to the Apostle himself.
Though only a fraction of his power flowed through that connection, what mattered was that the link existed at all.
In other words, if the familiar were to fall to this human now.
‘The power I invested in the familiar would vanish entirely!’
At a time when my strength had not yet fully recovered, when even a handful of mana was precious.
The power connected to the familiar would be completely severed and lost.
And that would inevitably delay the Evil God’s resurrection.
“Can you not flee any faster!”
The Apostle urged the familiar onward, but the creature was already at its limit.
It could not escape any quicker than this.
Still, he thought this distance should be sufficient.
So why?
The dread refused to subside.
Then.
A sharp whistle cut through the water.
The Apostle sensed it.
Something sharp hurtling toward him from behind.
Recalling the weapon the human had wielded, it seemed he had loosed an arrow.
But an arrow pursuing the familiar’s wake even beneath the sea’s surface?
How was this possible?
Weapons forged on land normally lost their power rapidly upon entering the depths, did they not?
Yet the arrow flew true, defying the Apostle’s expectations.
“No, no, no, no, no!”
A sickening thud.
It pierced straight through the familiar’s skull.
The Apostle’s power connected to the familiar severed and dissipated in an instant.
* * *
I have confidence in my archery, but striking a target beneath the waves is no simple feat.
Once an arrow enters the water, its velocity plummets drastically, and ocean currents twist its trajectory.
Drawing out the bow’s true potential under such conditions proved extraordinarily difficult.
To that end, the bow I drew out was.
[ Abyss Tracker ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Type: Bow
Grade: Epic
Restriction: Level 500 or higher, Bow Mastery Lv 50 or higher
Description: A bow said to have been used by the Abyss Tracker, who dwells deep within the abyss and is known to hunt down and capture entities attempting to escape from it.
This was it.
An Epic-grade bow, the Abyss Tracker.
Its ability granted me the capacity to precisely target enemies beneath the sea’s surface.
But that wasn’t all.
[ Sea Serpent’s Obsession ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Type: Arrow
Grade: Epic
Restriction: Level 500 or higher, Bow Mastery Lv 50 or higher
Description: An arrow crafted from the spine of a sea serpent, imbued with the creature’s relentless obsession, it swims through the sea like a serpent itself, targeting the enemy’s vital points.
Arrows that could perform at full capacity even beneath the sea.
No—rather, arrows whose power grew even stronger in the depths of the ocean.
In particular, this ‘Sea Serpent’s Obsession’ possessed an accuracy that skyrocketed underwater and even carried the ability to guide itself toward targets.
– I activate the skill ‘Silver Shot’.
Whoosh!
The arrow I released.
Shwip!
Pierced through the sea’s surface and surged forward.
Thunk!
It pierced straight through the head of the fish desperately swimming and fleeing.
A fatal strike.
The fish’s life extinguished in an instant, and with it.
‘It vanished.’
I felt the power connected to the fish beginning to scatter.
Before that power dissipated entirely.
“Luke.”
– Thank you, Master.
[ Luke has consumed the ‘White Apostle’s Familiar’. ]
I commanded Luke to devour it.
I recalled Luke’s ability from before, when he had completely consumed and refined the dissipating aura of the Green Stone Demon.
Before that.
‘As expected.’
The identity of the fish that appeared in the System Message entered my view.
A familiar of the White Apostle of the Water Deity.
As I had suspected, the fish’s true nature was connected to the White Water Deity.
A familiar, being intimately linked to its master, meant I could weaken the Apostle’s power, however slightly, through its consumption.
And not long after.
[ Luke’s stats have increased by 100. ]
[ You accept the nutrients left behind by ‘Black Flame Dragon, Luknir Desperato Ignockton’. ]
Luke had finished his meal.
From consuming merely a single fish, my stats had risen by a full hundred points.
The magnitude of my stat increase was extraordinary.
The reason was simple enough—the fish, being the Apostle’s familiar, carried within it a faint trace of the White Water Deity’s power.
– I apologize, Master. The power was too faint this time to refine into a core.
“No, this is enough.”
– I was unable to discover any items either.
“Well, it’s a familiar, so that makes sense.”
– However, I have prepared all the items that dropped from the other monsters. I can retrieve them all whenever you give the order.
“Hold onto them for now. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
– Understood, Master.
With this, I had eliminated the final variable.
After all the traps I had set, including the whirlpool, had completely dissipated,
not a single monster remained visible in the Sea.
The poison, not having been used directly but rather as a magical medium, dispersed and neutralized along with the mana.
That was it.
The battle was over.
As I turned to look back,
“We won!”
“We repelled all the monsters!”
“Long live the Lord!”
“Long live!”
“The Sea Dragon’s blessing is with us!”
“The Sea Dragon protects us!”
The passionate cheers of the Territory residents reached my ears.
* * *
After repelling the monsters,
the residents of Kalbera Territory moved busily despite their exhaustion.
Repairing buildings, retrieving harpoons cast into the Sea, and more.
Though we had repelled the monsters, the damage was severe since the Territory had nearly fallen to them beforehand, so there was no helping it.
Still, one fortunate thing was that the quantity of materials I had brought was sufficient, and
“You are remarkable! To restore our buildings so quickly while preserving their original style!”
“You are far superior to our village architects!”
“Ahem, if you say that, what does that make us?”
“Why not? It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“Ahem. You make a fair point. So, if I may ask—would it be alright if we joined you and helped out? We’ll do our best to assist and learn as we go.”
“Of course!”
Lee Chul-geun’s construction skills were exceptional.
Beyond that, all my Guild members were talented, so the Territory’s restoration progressed rapidly.
Then, as night deepened.
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work!”
A modest celebration broke out.
The Red Beast Fortress had one, and the underground city of Moeldum had one too.
I couldn’t fathom why everyone loved parties so much.
‘Or perhaps this is actually normal.’
Come to think of it, maybe I was being too casual about the whole thing.
For me, hunting monsters was just about completing Quests, but for them, this was a day worthy of history—one where they’d defended their Territory and saved lives.
In that light, a modest celebration seemed only fitting.
“Come now, Lord, you should join us in the dance!”
“Pardon?”
“This is a traditional dance passed down through generations in our Caldera Village—or rather, your Kalbera Territory! It’s not difficult, so you’ll pick it up in no time!”
“I’d rather not—”
“Lord! Please, try this as well! It’s a traditional dish of Kalbera Territory! You won’t find a taste like this inland!”
“Lord, this one too!”
Both I and my Guild members were swept up in the Territory residents’ insistence.
We ate, we danced, we talked.
I was growing accustomed to this kind of atmosphere, but my Guild members seemed to find the whole situation quite novel.
Especially.
“Oh! This is actually really fun!”
“Vice Lord, your dancing is impressive! Ah, though I suppose we shouldn’t call you that? Haha, we’re still not used to the titles used in the Empire.”
“Vice Lord! Haha, what does it matter! Vice Lord—it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Come on, Grandmother, let’s dance together!”
“Guffaw, quite the lively fellow.”
Kang Ju-hyuk was adapting far better than I’d expected.
A few hours later.
Unlike the party in Moeldum, this one ended quickly.
Everyone had recovered from their wounds, finished the battle, and exhausted themselves with the Territory’s restoration, so they simply collapsed from fatigue.
After all my Guild members logged out and disappeared.
I was having a conversation with Luke.
– What will you do about the White Water Deity?
The White Water Deity.
That creature existed beneath the Sea, true to its name.
There were two ways to defeat it.
Either force it to surface, or descend into the depths and destroy it directly.
– Fighting it underwater will be a difficult battle.
I’m aware of that too.
After all, water has always been where the White Water Deity reigns supreme and where users are at their weakest.
That’s why during First, I provoked the White Water Deity into rising above the surface to engage in combat.
But.
“If it recovers enough strength to breach the surface, that’s when it will become truly formidable.”
The Evil God is currently recovering its power.
Unless I strike before it fully restores itself, victory would be beyond my reach in my current state.
The Black Insect God, the Red Beast God, the Green Stone Demon.
These Evil Gods grew stronger with each passing moment.
So starting tomorrow.
“Perhaps I should… construct a ship?”
I’d need to visit Lee Chul-geun and establish a shipyard first.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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