The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 34
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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 34
Chapter 34
The Ash Ossuary.
According to the records, this place was originally the ossuary of Lisen Village, which lay just beside it.
To be precise, it had been a kind of ancient ruin since the time Lisen Village was first established.
But then someone accidentally started a fire, and burning corpses crawled out from there to set the village ablaze—or so the story goes?
Word of this reached the Hunter Guild, and the Ash Ossuary was recognized as a Dungeon, which spawned a commission.
And so.
Click.
“Stop. This is an area under investigation by the Hunter Guild. No outsiders are permitted entry until authorization is granted.”
As I drew closer, several people blocked my path.
Their attire varied, but all of them bore the Hunter Guild badge on their upper garments.
Facing them, I confidently displayed my special commission.
“This is….”
“As you can see, this is a special commission issued by the Guild Master himself. That should be more than sufficient qualification, shouldn’t it?”
The hunter’s brow furrowed upon seeing the special commission I had produced.
For some reason, he seemed quite displeased with my commission.
But regardless, one cannot simply ignore a special commission from the Guild Master.
The hunter examined the commission carefully, then alternated his gaze between the document and me as he spoke.
“I find this hard to believe. You’ve only just been promoted to E-rank, and you’ve been registered with the Hunter Guild for barely a day—essentially still an F-rank hunter—yet the Guild Master issues you a special commission?”
“The commission is authentic regardless of your doubts, isn’t it? Now, please escort me inside.”
“How presumptuous. Have you not learned the hierarchy of the Hunter Guild in the short time since joining?”
The hunter pointed to the badge hanging on his upper garment as he spoke.
A hunter badge gleaming in copper.
While it was true I had only recently joined the Guild, I had studied the Hunter Guild beforehand, so I understood what that signified.
‘An E-rank hunter badge.’
Hunter badges are crafted with different materials and colors depending on rank.
F-rank hunter badges are made of ordinary iron, while the badge I received upon my early promotion is made of copper.
In other words, this hunter was the same E-rank as me.
So why was he going on about hierarchy?
Since I remained unmoved, the hunter continued, as if exasperated.
“Even if we’re the same rank, there is such a thing as hierarchy! I have five years more experience as a hunter than you, and you dare disrespect me…!”
“Five years?”
Five years, he said.
Upon hearing those words, I couldn’t help but be taken aback.
And for good reason.
Because those words meant he had been a hunter for five years and yet remained stuck at E-rank.
And did my eyes betray that thought?
“You chick dares disrespect your senior? I’ll make you feel the hierarchy of the Hunter Guild deep in your bones right now!”
The hunter’s face flushed red as he placed his hand on his waist as if to draw a weapon immediately.
But.
“Hey, Derek. What’s going on?”
“Ah, senior. This bright-eyed young pup here is—”
“Isn’t that a special commission?”
“Yes, well… it doesn’t seem like such an important commission…”
“A special commission isn’t important? No wonder you’re stuck without a promotion, spouting such nonsense.”
“…My apologies.”
Derek’s actions were cut short by the voice that had just arrived.
The newly arrived hunter wore a silver badge on his chest.
The mark of a D-rank hunter.
He approached me, read through the commission, and upon seeing the Guild Master’s seal stamped at the bottom, his face brightened with a smile.
“Oh, someone sent by the Guild Master himself. Welcome. You probably don’t know much about this place yet, so I’ll assign Derek to you. He’s been here since the camp was first built, so he’ll show you around well.”
“S-senior!”
“I’m telling you again. If you mess this up too, I won’t just deny your promotion—I’ll demote you to F-rank. Remember that.”
“…”
Derek had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.
As his superior gripped his shoulder, gave him a sharp look, and walked past, Derek hung his head low, turned away, and spoke to me.
“Follow me. As your senior, I’ll specially guide you through the Ash Ossuary.”
Despite everything, Derek maintained his arrogant tone.
I wasn’t pleased, but since I needed his guidance for now, I followed behind him.
‘I thought it was a newly discovered Dungeon, so I could just walk right in. This is more elaborate than I expected.’
Proper tents were set up all around.
Numerous hunters were stationed around the Dungeon, investigating it.
This must be how they evaluate the Dungeon’s rank and identify the types and information about the monsters that appear.
Once the Dungeon investigation is complete, the Hunter Guild would issue a ‘commission’ as the final step.
‘It’s certainly far more developed than First was.’
If First, which I created, focused more on game mechanics than realism,
Second seems to concentrate a bit more on realism.
Just seeing how a simple Dungeon raid is structured so realistically, like actual society, made that clear.
“The Ash Ossuary is a Dungeon where charred undead appear. Since they’re undead, they’re quite difficult to deal with.”
This was information I’d already heard.
Actually, just hearing the name “Ash Ossuary” was enough to deduce this much.
Especially with the database of hundreds and thousands of Dungeons I’d cleared in First, I could make even more educated guesses.
Derek, unaware of this, was excitedly showing off on his own.
“See over there? Even just the skeleton loitering outside the entrance is E-rank level. Even if you got promoted, being promoted early means you’re essentially F-rank, so facing it would be impossible for you!”
With those words, Derek drew his sword and stepped forward.
Then, the black-boned skeleton that had been loitering at the entrance recognized him and drew closer.
“Now I’ll show you the power of your senior. Then even an arrogant brat like you will come to your senses!”
Whoosh!
Derek charged toward the skeleton.
Then he swung his longsword with all his might.
Clang!
The longsword he wielded couldn’t even cut through the skeleton’s bones—it only left a shallow scratch.
Fortunately, his body was nimble enough to dodge the skeleton’s follow-up strike, and he launched his next attack.
Naturally, that attack also failed to deal any real damage.
Watching this unfold, I felt my chest tighten with frustration.
‘Why is he even attacking there?’
First and foremost, the target area.
To send a skeleton down in one blow, you need to target the cervical spine or the skull.
If your attack power isn’t particularly high, you should start by targeting the joints, or attack the legs to restrict its movement first.
So what was Derek doing?
He was striking the humerus and femur—the hardest bones on the skeleton’s body—while complaining that the skeleton was too tough.
He was even celebrating breaking the ribs, which served absolutely no purpose.
It was nothing but a series of meaningless attacks.
‘Why is he even wielding a longsword in the first place?’
Quick movements and insufficient strength.
If that’s the case, he should be using a dagger or short sword to target the gaps between the skeleton’s joints—that would be optimal.
I couldn’t fathom why he was swinging a longsword.
There were countless other things that made no sense.
Still, for an E-rank hunter, his level was fairly high, and thanks to his superior stats, he managed to push through.
Crash—
“Hahaha! Did you see that? This is the true power of a proper E-rank hunter!”
He finally managed to bring down the skeleton.
It took him ten whole minutes just to defeat a single skeleton, and now he was gasping for breath.
If this was truly the average combat ability of an E-rank hunter, I almost felt sorry for the Guild Master who led them.
“Sigh…”
“You! Your senior just showed you the power of an E-rank hunter, and you sigh? You’ve gotten cocky because I’ve been nice to you, haven’t you? This won’t do. I’m going to really…”
“It’s my turn now, isn’t it?”
“C-casual speech? You really are losing it!”
“You started with casual speech first. What hierarchy? We’re the same rank anyway.”
This won’t do.
Watching that guy fight made me so frustrated I nearly developed cancer.
To expel those cancer cells, I needed to show him directly how to fight properly.
“W-wait! Yeah! Go ahead! Even if you get overwhelmed by the skeleton’s strength and cry and cling to me, I absolutely won’t help!”
I walked past Derek, who couldn’t contain his anger, and moved forward.
Then two black skeletons that had been lurking near the entrance of the Ash Ossuary sensed my presence and approached.
“Haha, you fool! You call yourself an E-rank hunter without even understanding your perception range? The basics are to check your perception range first, then lure and hunt them one at a time!”
Ignoring Derek’s words, I drew my weapon.
If I pulled out a good weapon, he’d definitely refuse to acknowledge it and blame the item instead, so I drew out a reasonably ordinary weapon.
[ Sturdy Short Sword ]
Not blunt weapons effective against skeletons, nor arms imbued with holy attributes.
Just an ordinary short sword.
Its rank was nothing special either—merely “Intermediate.”
With this, Derek couldn’t blame his weapon even after the battle ended, so I approached the skeleton directly.
‘With a skeleton, I won’t even need to use skills.’
Even the weakest skeleton, if it’s E-rank, would be at least level 50 or higher.
Judging purely by level and ability, it was a monster far more powerful than me.
Yet I felt no fear whatsoever.
Rather.
‘How many times have I swung my blade against skeletons?’
The skeleton felt far too familiar.
That made sense—skeletons were the monsters I’d practiced against most frequently.
They were the perfect opponent for practicing how to identify a monster’s skeletal structure and target its joints.
With that in mind, as I closed in on the skeleton.
Swish.
I slashed my short sword across the skeleton’s wrist.
The blade passed between the skeleton’s wrist bones with perfect precision.
Crack.
The skeleton’s wrist separated far too easily.
And this was only the beginning.
Swish-swish-swish.
My short sword moved at tremendous speed.
The skeleton’s elbow joints, shoulder joints, clavicle joints.
Then, starting from the ankle joints, I severed the knee joints, hip joints, pelvic joints, and vertebral joints in order from bottom to top.
As a result.
Crash.
The skeleton’s joints completely disintegrated and collapsed to the ground.
Stronger skeletons could reattach their joints and revive even in that state, but an E-rank skeleton couldn’t possibly have such an ability.
The skeleton’s eye sockets dimmed pathetically as its entire body lay in pieces.
“Wh-what!”
Derek’s voice came through, panicked.
An intelligent person would have learned how to handle skeletons from watching this.
“Impossible! What did you do!”
That man was clearly not one of them.
If he were the type to understand, he wouldn’t have been pounding the skeleton’s bones with a weapon that didn’t suit him in the first place.
Since it seemed he wouldn’t accept mere bone separation, I approached the remaining skeleton.
Before the skeleton could even swing its claws to attack me.
My lowered stance drove my short sword upward, piercing the space between the skeleton’s mandible.
Crack!
Why was the skull the skeleton’s weakness in the first place?
The reason is simple: whether naturally or artificially created, skeletons possess magical circles inscribed within their skulls, drawing mana toward them.
However, without needing to shatter the skull itself, if I could simply thrust a short blade inside and destroy the magical circle etched within, then—
Crumble—
“This can’t be…”
Felling a skeleton in a single strike was far simpler than I’d imagined.
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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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