The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 336

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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 336
Chapter 336
After repelling Cronion’s assault.
We immediately began regrouping.
“I apologize, but would it be alright if I logged out for a brief rest? My connection time has become far too long….”
“Me as well….”
“Of course. As long as you designate someone to hand over your duties to, there’s no problem.”
“I’ve entrusted the Vice Legion Commander position to our Vice Guild Master, so everything should be fine!”
“Hmm, considering this war may drag on, it would be wise to establish set login hours.”
“Haha! That’s a good idea! It’s true for other users as well, but our legion commanders especially need to maintain their posts!”
First came the logouts.
Many users had already logged out to rest, but plenty of others were hesitantly watching to see if it was acceptable to do so.
Especially the legion commanders.
Given how critical their positions were, they wavered over whether logging out was permissible.
But I couldn’t keep them tethered to the game while ignoring their real lives, so I approved it immediately.
In truth, I was grateful and apologetic that they’d even asked for permission in the first place.
“Engineering Corps, I’m entrusting you with the repair and expansion of the fortifications.”
“Yes, Commander!”
The fortifications needed attention too.
Most immediately, the mana cannons fired by the Mecha Scorpion during the recent battle.
The rankers had managed to block most of them, but some that slipped through or ricocheted wildly had destroyed several sections of the wall.
We needed to repair those sections and connect them to the fortifications on other fronts as well.
In essence, the Engineering Corps was the busiest unit right now.
“How does the situation look outside?”
“It appears Cronion’s garrison is stationed not far from here. However, beyond that point, their security is too stringent for us to conduct surveillance.”
“Is further expansion possible….”
“That seems unlikely. Above all, our user numbers haven’t decreased insignificantly.”
Based on what Watcher reported.
Further expansion seemed impractical.
There were many reasons.
As Watcher said, user numbers had dwindled, and despite repelling the assault, far greater enemy forces lay beyond this point.
Most critically, even the Twilight Plains we’d just captured remained inadequately managed.
Pushing forward recklessly risked being surrounded by enemies through gaps in our fortifications.
And there was one more thing.
“What do we do with all these prisoners…?”
Thanks to the Magnetic Field, we’d captured far more prisoners on this battlefield than anticipated.
We’d taken roughly half of the attacking enemy forces as prisoners—that said it all.
Thousands upon thousands of prisoners.
Simply housing and managing them consumed an enormous amount of manpower.
Since assigning this to users felt awkward, I entrusted the position of Warden to Colin, the commander originally overseeing the Twilight Plains.
Of course, I wasn’t planning to keep them around just because I’d assigned them a warden.
“Please arrange for the prisoners to be transported.”
– Capturing Cronion soldiers as prisoners—that’s impressive! How many are we talking about? A hundred? Two hundred?
“We haven’t finished the full count yet, but it’s several thousand.”
– …What?
“You heard me correctly. Several thousand. Please arrange for their transport as soon as possible.”
– Yes, understood!
I requested the Imperial Army to handle the prisoner transport.
From the Imperial Army’s perspective, prisoners were far from useless.
They could extract information about Cronion, or use the prisoners as leverage to demand concessions from Cronion, among other possibilities.
With several thousand prisoners, the amount of intelligence they could extract and the value of what they could demand would be substantial.
Even the initially flustered Imperial Army said they’d send transport units as quickly as possible, so it seemed the prisoners would be processed soon enough.
The one problem was that I needed rest too.
Fortunately, Kang Ju-hyuk had been taking breaks here and there.
“Take over as commander for me.”
“W-wait, really? Is that okay? Yul-ha is here too, after all.”
“That’s true, but in terms of command ability, you’re better suited. You’ve been by my side this whole time and understand my role and personality well.”
“Well, that’s true, but….”
“And besides, you’re the only one who knows my real-world phone number. If anything comes up, log out and give me a call.”
“Are you really sure about this?”
“I’m sure. You’re the Vice Guild Master of our guild anyway.”
“Then, I’ll really do it!”
“I’m counting on you, Vice Commander.”
“Hehe, I’m the one counting on you! Commander!”
I entrusted the role of deputy commander to Kang Ju-hyuk.
There was no falsehood in what I said.
Yul-ha led the users well enough in her own way, but she preferred to take the field herself and wield her sword rather than lead from behind.
She had never been one for titles and positions.
If she wanted authority, she would have created her own guild long ago, or demanded the Vice Guild Master position instead of Kang Ju-hyuk when she joined Black Flame.
“Phew.”
With that, I handed over military command to Kang Ju-hyuk and logged out.
I’d fought battles the moment I arrived on the battlefield, immediately expanded the frontline while cutting down remaining enemies, and then launched a full-scale assault from Cronion right after capturing their garrison.
I’d experienced all those battles and handled the aftermath as well.
Because of it all, my connection time had been longer than anyone else’s on the battlefield.
With this much playtime, my real-world body should have been in terrible condition.
“Not bad.”
I couldn’t say my body was in good shape.
But it wasn’t at its worst either.
It was thanks to the capsule I’d recently upgraded.
It must be thanks to the capsule I changed recently.
After all, it’s the latest premium capsule that Second just released.
Considering how much I paid for this capsule, it should be worth every penny.
Growl.
No matter how good my physical condition was, hunger was inevitable.
After fasting all day, I squeezed down a protein shake from the refrigerator first.
The convenient thing about it was that it contained virtually every component of a comprehensive multivitamin, so drinking this alone meant there was no reason to consume anything else nutritionally.
After that, I loosened my stiff body with the exercise equipment installed at home, then took a shower.
Still hungry from fasting all day, I drank another shake to satisfy my growling stomach before finally lying down in bed.
As I was falling into deep sleep.
Ring ring!
A call came through under Kang Ju-hyuk’s name.
Since he was currently acting as commander in my place, there was only one reason he would log out and call me.
I immediately got up from bed, grabbed a shake to drink, and answered the call.
– Hey, Mir! Right now….
“I’m logging in.”
It seemed Cronion was thoroughly displeased that we were occupying the Twilight Plains.
* * *
Cronion’s frontline was divided into three major sections: lower, middle, and upper.
Each frontline had a commander, and among them, the lower section wasn’t particularly busy.
The lower section was a position the Imperial Army found burdensome to push into, and Cronion had little need to forcefully drive them out.
However, that didn’t mean they were just sitting idle.
Recently, they had devised a masterful plan: reinforce their troops, completely overwhelm the Imperial Army who had grown complacent, and seize the Stone Territory.
But then.
“It failed.”
It failed.
Not a simple failure.
The Mecha Scorpion sent as reinforcement and the troops were completely annihilated.
This alone was shocking.
“The Dawn Plains were completely occupied?”
The Imperial Army wasn’t satisfied with that.
They pushed straight through and even occupied Cronion’s garrison positioned in the Dawn Plains.
I never expected the plains to be surrendered so pathetically.
Panicked, he urgently sent reinforcements to retake the occupied territory.
“Did it fail again?”
It failed.
Moreover, this time it was annihilation level as well.
In fact, I heard that beyond just suffering losses, approximately half the troops were captured as prisoners by the Empire.
Did this even make sense?
This was absolutely unacceptable.
Losing the plains was problematic enough, but being overwhelmingly defeated by the Imperial Army like this was utterly intolerable.
This was a matter of Cronion’s pride.
With that thought, the commander led an even larger force this time and attacked the Imperial Army directly.
And now.
The commander could finally understand why their forces had suffered such a devastating defeat and been taken prisoner.
“Commander! A massive magnetic field has spread across the Battlefield! The magnetic field is pulling at our soldiers’ armor and weapons!”
“That’s not all! Our mechanical weapons are also powerless against the magnetic field!”
“What kind of sorcery is this!”
A magnetic field sprawling across the Battlefield.
Because of it, they couldn’t engage in proper combat.
Even ordinary soldiers clad in iron armor found themselves completely immobilized upon the magnetic field.
Their core weapons—the mechanical units—were equally useless.
But if they discarded their metal equipment?
That would mean fighting bare-handed, which was absurd.
In the end, only one option remained.
“Long-range bombardment! Destroy the Imperial Army and their fortifications with ultra-distance fire!”
From beyond the reach of that sorcery.
Ultra-long-range attacks were their only option.
Yet even this proved difficult.
The magical field’s range was so vast that ordinary weapons lacked sufficient range.
Still, whenever they managed to prepare an attack and launch it—
Twang!
Boom!!
“Argh!”
A magical projectile fired from afar detonated their ammunition stockpile.
Kaboom!!!
Flaming arrows fell from the sky, igniting another ammunition pile.
Then, as three Mecha Scorpions merged to prepare an ultra-long-range magical cannon, an even more powerful barrage came flying in and destroyed the combined unit.
“Impossible! The Imperial Army possesses such power! And if they have such strength, why are they demonstrating it on the lower front instead of the Central Front!”
It made no sense.
That the Imperial Army possessed such power.
And that they would reveal it on the lower front rather than the Central Front.
“Damn it, if only we had the Mecha Hawk or Mecha Turtle!”
With the Mecha Hawk—the flying mechanical unit—they could have ignored the magnetic field and soared above the Imperial Army to rain down bombardment.
The Mecha Turtle, called a mobile fortress, with its massive body, hardened shell, and a colossal curved cannon mounted on top, boasted incredible range.
Had they possessed such a mechanical unit, they could have ignored the magnetic field and crushed the Imperial Army.
But all such core weapons were currently deployed on the Central Front.
Requests for reinforcements went unanswered on the lower front.
Thus, with no other options available—
“Damn it all. We’ll establish a camp beyond the magnetic field and hold position! At the very least, we must prevent the Imperial Army from advancing further!”
The commander decided to abandon any further meaningless attacks.
I’ll certainly fall out of favor with the Supreme Commander, but it’s better to hold our ground like this than to recklessly press the attack and lose all our forces, allowing the lower front lines to collapse entirely.
If we hold firm and continue requesting reinforcements, the higher-ups will eventually recognize the gravity of the situation.
Once we receive support from Mecha Hawks or Mecha Turtles, we’ll have more than enough firepower to bring down the Imperial Army.
With that thought in mind.
“Damn those Imperial bastards…!”
The commander of Cronion’s lower front line clenched his teeth.
* * *
Meanwhile, I reactivated the magical formation to continue repelling Cronion’s relentless assaults.
“Mir, what are your orders?”
“Hahahaha! Why don’t we just break through them right here and now!”
“Our defensive capabilities have improved within the Magnetized Territory, but theirs have as well. If we charge in without a plan, we’ll suffer heavy losses.”
“Then we’ll just have to come up with a plan!”
“If you have one, Victor, why don’t you share it?”
“Hmm.”
I was in conference with the legion commanders.
“What if we shift our focus upward instead?”
“The Center?”
“The Central Front, to be precise. Looking at the map, from our current position, we could strike at Cronion’s flank during the battle on the Central Front.”
The general sentiment was to stop expanding the front line further.
After all, with Cronion fortifying their defensive position right in front of us.
Even if all our users charged at them together, we wouldn’t break through easily.
While we demonstrated strong defensive capabilities with our colossal magical formation projecting the Magnetized Territory.
In truth, it was Cronion—armed with various mechanical weapons, sturdy armor, and explosive ordnance—that excelled in defense over offense.
“However, will Cronion simply stand by and watch? The enemy forces right there won’t passively allow us to advance toward the Center.”
As the legion commanders offered various opinions on this matter.
I opened my mouth after reaching a decision.
“We will not halt our forward expansion.”
“Sir?”
“However…”
Just as originally planned, we will not stop our forward expansion.
Therefore.
“We will break through Cronion and seize their garrison located in the Southeastern Sea.”
We would pierce through Cronion’s forces blocking the passage.
By capturing Cronion’s garrison shown on the map, we would summon the “Navy” of the Southern Continent.
That was my decision as commander.

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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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