The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 280

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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 280
Chapter 280
A duel with Tae-ryeon.
When I fought Yul-ha during the entrance exam before, I hadn’t been particularly worried, but this time felt different.
‘A Taoist.’
Tae-ryeon’s class as a Taoist was by no means a common profession.
Even in First, the number of NPCs with the Taoist class could be counted on one hand, and while there were monsters that used sorcery like yokai, there were almost no monsters in Taoist form.
An enemy type I was facing for the first time.
And since I was matched against Tae-ryeon, the Guild Master of the Taegeuk Guild and a ranker, I couldn’t help but feel tense.
‘It seemed there were no item restrictions.’
All the guild members who went before me conducted their duels while wearing their original equipment.
Tae-ryeon, standing right before my eyes, still held the Taoist robes she originally wore and what appeared to be a fan as a weapon.
Given that, I equipped myself properly as well.
My understanding of the Taoist class wasn’t exceptionally high, but I knew the basic combat methods.
[ Wise Sage’s Mystic Robe ]
[ Wise Sage’s Mystic Armor ]
….
[ You have equipped the complete ‘Wise Sage’ set (5/5). ]
[ The ‘Wise Sage’ set effect activates. ]
[ Wise Sage: Magic resistance and magic attack power increase. ]
I changed into my armor first.
Even if it’s a Taoist, it’s ultimately a class that uses magic attack power, so I equipped gear that raised magic resistance.
The increase in magic attack power was a bonus on top of that.
Since I had recently strengthened my intelligence, my magic attack power had increased, so using magic this time should be fine as well.
As for my weapon.
[ Anti-Magic Sword of the Magic Slayer Corps ]
( Non-tradeable )
Type: Sword
Grade: Epic
Requirements: Level 400 or higher, Sword Mastery Lv 40 or higher, Wisdom 300 or higher
Description: An anti-magic sword used by the commander of the Magic Slayer Corps, an anti-magic organization formed by those who lost their lives to magic.
I drew a sword well-suited for countering magic.
I didn’t equip items at a level higher than my own, but rather gear that matched my level exactly.
Right after that, as I faced her.
“First, thank you for hearing my request. Regardless of the outcome of this duel, I believe the Taegeuk Guild will be able to entrust our backs to the Black Flame.”
“You speak as if you’ve already decided the victory?”
“I saw you fight evenly with Yul-ha during the entrance exam, but I’m aware that Yul-ha held back at the time. And I’m also a Guild Master of a Major Guild in my own right.”
She seemed quite confident in her abilities.
It didn’t seem like she entertained even a thought of losing to me.
Well, there was no need for a long conversation.
It wasn’t long after I faced her.
“Begin!”
With Kang Ju-hyuk’s shout, the duel commenced.
Immediately, Tae-ryeon wielded the fan in her hands and unleashed the Taoist skill, ‘Mystical Art.’
“Immortal Wind.”
Whoooosh!
A violent gale erupted from the fan, crashing down upon me.
The wind itself wasn’t sharp, but the pressure was tremendous.
Not only did it become difficult to move my body, but even opening my eyes was a struggle.
In that moment, Tae-ryeon completed her incantation and immediately unleashed the next Mystical Art.
“Raging Inferno.”
Whoosh!
Scorching flames erupted from the fan.
As she swung it, the flames caught onto the heavy wind she’d conjured moments before, rushing toward me.
The range was too vast to block with defensive skills, and the wind pressure pinned my body down, making escape impossible.
Had I been an ordinary criminal, this combination alone would have left me defenseless and defeated.
Shing!
I slashed my blade horizontally against the incoming flames.
The sword I’d drawn to face her was none other than the ‘Anti-Magic Sword.’
In other words, a blade capable of severing magic itself.
Crack!
My blade cut through her magic.
Of course, I didn’t sever it completely.
Because the magic’s range was too vast, I only managed to cut through a portion of it.
Yet even that was enough to significantly weaken the wind pressure and heat.
– Activating skill ‘White Fish Swimming.’
Using the movement skill, I slipped through the gap and escaped.
Then.
“Spear Fan.”
A sharp killing intent struck from behind.
It seemed I couldn’t evade it by merely twisting my body.
– Activating skill ‘Emerald Stone Fortress.’
Clang!
I flipped my blade backward and activated the defensive skill, barely managing to block it.
Turning my head, I saw her fan—now sharpened like a spear—ricocheting away.
Immortal Wind and Raging Inferno.
Those seemingly powerful combination attacks were merely feints to obscure my vision and remove me from her sight.
This was her true attack all along.
Still, having managed to deflect the fan, I moved to exploit the opening.
“Instant Step.”
Her form vanished abruptly.
My blade pierced through empty air, and in that very instant, her fan swept down from behind, unleashing a torrent of Taoist magic.
It continued the same way thereafter.
Even when I dispelled her magic and found her to strike, she would simply vanish like a mirage using her movement technique.
Before I could even devise a countermeasure.
“Phantom Dance.”
Her numbers multiplied rapidly.
It was a clone technique, one of the Taoist’s signature abilities.
With her numbers increased, each of her clones wielded their fans.
Whoosh!
Rumble!
Crash!
Dozens of spells rained down upon me.
No—Taoist magic, rather.
* * *
Tae-ryeon, Guild Master of the Taegeuk Guild.
Her martial prowess was objectively far from weak.
Though she hadn’t participated in this Second Crown due to personal circumstances, she had placed second in the previous Second Crown—a testament to her strength.
‘When it comes to sparring, I’m even more confident than fighting monsters.’
After her defeat to the Sword God Yul-ha in last year’s Second Crown.
She had trained relentlessly in sparring, determined to win next time without fail.
Fortunately, her class as a Taoist—despite being a magic-type profession—was formidable in sparring, allowing her to defeat most challengers.
So she had assumed next time would surely be Yul-ha’s turn.
‘Never did I expect my sparring opponent to be Mir.’
She hadn’t anticipated using this strength against him.
But it didn’t matter.
She had never underestimated Mir.
So from the start, she pushed him with all her might.
She opened with her finest combination techniques, then pressed harder using the Taoist’s greatest strengths—the movement technique of Swift Step and the clone technique of Phantom Dance.
Mir’s weapon cleaved through her magic, and his armor’s magical resistance was so high it didn’t fall easily.
But that was fine.
If she steadily whittled down his stamina this way, victory was assured.
As long as she maintained Swift Step and Phantom Dance, she was confident she wouldn’t take a single hit.
‘I’ve even prepared for area attacks.’
One of her clones had already readied the defensive spell Diamond Body.
Clone magic naturally lost potency, but blocking an area attack once or twice wasn’t particularly difficult.
So in the moment she was certain of victory.
Whoosh—
‘What is that.’
Black flames erupted from Mir’s body.
No, it wasn’t merely black flames.
Between the black flames, a translucent skeletal structure of a dragon materialized.
Sharp fangs and dragon bones, and above all else.
A chill ran down the spine.
Mir’s pupils turned a deep crimson.
From those vertically slit eyes emanated an indescribable ferocity, an eerie dread, and an overwhelming pressure that was unmistakably palpable.
And that gaze of Mir’s.
‘How is this possible!’
Had pinpointed Tae-ryeon’s true body with perfect accuracy.
In that instant, the certainty that this was Tae-ryeon’s true body radiated from Mir’s rushing gaze.
There was no doubt.
I didn’t know how it was done, but those eyes were somehow piercing through Tae-ryeon’s clones.
“Evasion!”
With an urgent cry, her form vanished.
To a place beyond Mir’s line of sight.
Always moving backward would make her position predictable, so she shifted to the left edge of her field of vision instead.
But then.
To the direction of movement that no one had ever predicted until now.
“Hah!”
Mir’s head turned with perfect precision.
Immediately, Mir’s direction changed.
It wasn’t merely a pivot.
I didn’t know what movement skill was being used, but the direction changed not in a curve but at angles exceeding ninety degrees, yet the speed didn’t diminish in the slightest.
It wasn’t a teleportation skill, but aside from that limitation, it was undoubtedly a top-tier movement technique.
“Adamantine!”
My position had been exposed, but I couldn’t simply accept this.
Her fan fluttered, and a thick defensive barrier materialized.
The power would be reduced since I couldn’t recite the incantation, but I thought it would at least be possible to block one attack.
Thunk!
Mir’s blade pierced through the weakest point of the Adamantine barrier with surgical precision.
Tae-ryeon couldn’t help but be taken aback.
Until now, no one had ever exploited the vulnerability of Adamantine, and in fact, she hadn’t even known that such a weakness existed in the technique itself.
Blocking or evading the attack was already impossible.
She had no choice but to twist her body to avoid vital points, create distance from Mir, and unleash another barrage of techniques.
But she, and everyone gathered here, could see it clearly.
The tide of battle had already shifted in Mir’s favor.
* * *
Black Eyes.
These were Luke’s eyes—the eyes of a dragon.
A dragon’s eyes are more sensitive to the flow of mana than any species on earth.
[ I activate Black Flame Transformation. ]
[ I borrow the power of the Black Flame Dragon, Lucknir Desperate Ignoxtan. ]
The moment I activated that draconic sight.
‘I can see it.’
All of her clone techniques became distinguishable.
Even if it was called a Taoist art, it was ultimately a skill that manipulated mana, and there was no way a dragon’s eyes could fail to discern illusions composed of mana.
“Shunpo!”
The subsequent movement technique was no different.
Shunpo was certainly a top-tier instant teleportation skill among the movement techniques I remembered.
But the dragon’s eyes clearly perceived the flow of mana, and I could track her location by following that flow.
“Vajra!”
The defensive skill was the same.
When I pierced the weakest point in the mana-constructed barrier, the Anti Magic Sword—a blade that dispels magic—gently penetrated through the defense.
The sparring that followed proceeded smoothly for me.
Since I had grasped the scope and vulnerabilities of all her Taoist techniques, evading or countering them became effortless.
Her specialties—Shunpo and phantom dance—no longer worked against me.
‘Dragon’s eyes, better than I expected.’
– I’m glad you’re satisfied, Master.
There was no need to draw out high-level, high-grade equipment.
Using Black Flame Transformation alone, combined with heightened stats and the dragon’s eyes, I could sufficiently pressure her.
But.
‘She shows no signs of giving up.’
Her eyes still burned with determination.
I had to be careful.
Those with much to protect, like Tae-ryeon, the Guild Master of a Major Guild, never surrender easily.
Thud!
Scrape—
Slash.
But she was now approaching her limit.
She was somehow avoiding vital points, but that was the extent of it.
Especially the Taoist’s characteristically low vitality was already driving Tae-ryeon to the brink of death without even landing a critical hit.
Just as I moved to finish her.
“I’ve completed it.”
Tae-ryeon, driven to the brink of death and covered in wounds, smiled.
The moment she unfolded her fan.
Whoooosh!
“Taegeuk Formation.”
The traces left where she had deployed Shunpo connected together, forming one massive formation that began to glow with ethereal radiance.
I could see it at a glance.
This was dangerous.
It’s a new skill that didn’t exist even in First, but it’s unmistakably her secret technique and killing blow.
“Luke!”
– Grrrrrrr.
Luke responded immediately to my call and began materializing his form.
I was preparing Dragon Fear.
Incapacitating an opponent like Tae-ryeon with Dragon Fear would be impossible, but disrupting her concentration should be within reach.
Just before Tae-ryeon’s secret technique and my Dragon Fear could be cast.
“Guild Master!”
The Vice Guild Master of the Taegeuk Guild stepped in front of Tae-ryeon.
“Mir.”
Yul-ha blocked my path just as I was about to unleash a roar.

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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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