The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 343

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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 343
Chapter 343
Mecha Snake.
A machine that fired bullets in all directions from the segmented sections across its entire body.
Those bullets were far more powerful than those fired by ordinary soldiers, making them quite threatening.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
But that threat only applied to ordinary soldiers.
From my perspective, the Mecha Snake was a multi-purpose weapon designed to bring down numerous ordinary soldiers.
As such, the bullets fired by the Mecha Snake posed little threat to me.
[ Iron Knight’s Arrow-Deflecting Armor ]
Wearing the arrow-deflecting armor I’d donned before—which reduced ranged damage—I endured the bullets with my body and charged forward.
[ Dark Link ]
I attempted to hack it.
Instead of escaping from me, it coiled its body for a counterattack and fired bullets like a madman.
“Shhhhh—.”
I completed the new inscription and hacked it before I could be brought down.
Then, from far away, something rushed toward me with the speed of a beam of light.
A cheetah-shaped mechanical weapon with sharp blades attached to its body came charging.
[ Iron Wall Shield ]
– Activating the skill ‘Jade Stone Fortress’.
I blocked it with the newly drawn shield and a mythic-grade defensive skill.
More than that, I pushed it back with the shield and knocked it over.
Then I drove my fist gripping Dark Link into the fallen machine’s body with all my might.
Whooooom!
I seized ownership.
The same pattern continued afterward.
Dozens of flying mechanical weapons called Mecha Hornets came at me.
“Shhhhh—.”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
I was no longer alone.
The mechanical weapons I’d hacked and claimed as my own filled the space behind me.
With the Mecha Snake providing covering fire, I immediately leaped up and began hacking the Mecha Hornets as well.
The Mecha Hornets were particularly easy to inscribe, similar to the Mecha Wolves, so I could leap between them and complete the hacking quickly.
And so.
“Roaaaaar!”
“Screeeee!”
“Groooowl!”
“Shhhhh—.”
“Whiiiiiine—.”
An enormous legion of mechanical weapons began forming behind me.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
They too began actively participating in the battlefield.
Even for Cronion, mechanical weapons don’t exist in unlimited quantities.
These mechanical weapons aren’t called ‘core weapons’ for nothing.
Dozens of such mechanical weapons had been hacked and now stood at my side.
“What in the world is happening?!”
“The Mecha Wolves are attacking us!”
“Their movements are abnormal!”
“Like actual beasts… Gahhh!”
“Reclaim ownership!”
“They won’t respond to our commands!”
“It’s him! That bastard is seizing our mechanical weapons!”
“Stop him!”
The Cronion soldiers could only panic.
Mechanical weapons being hacked—such a thing was unthinkable.
It had never happened before, and they’d believed it never would.
At this, Cronion’s soldiers launched a full assault against me.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Boom!
Concentrated fire directed at me.
Gunfire, grenade launchers, hand grenades—
Countless attacks rained down upon me.
Moreover, mechanical weapons like the Mecha Scorpions also fired mana cannons and more at me under their command.
Against such concentrated assault, I would normally have no choice but to raise my shield and focus entirely on defense.
“Kuoooooh!”
But they were too late.
If they’d wanted to target me, they should have done so before I hacked the mechanical weapons.
Now, I possessed—
“Tssss!”
“Shiiiii—.”
Mechanical weapons.
My mechanical weapons blocked before me, shielding me from the attacks.
The Mecha Rhino charged forward, using its massive frame to absorb the barrage.
The Mecha Snake coiled around me, blocking explosions while firing back at the enemy to suppress them.
I pressed forward with confidence in my mechanical weapons, hacking more of them as I advanced.
As time passed, the number of mechanical weapons following me began to outnumber those still under Cronion’s control on the immediate battlefield.
Facing such circumstances, Cronion’s officers couldn’t help but feel grave alarm.
“Pull all mechanical weapons back!”
“But if we do that, the frontline will…!”
“Is that our concern now? Send in the soldiers! Have them block with their bodies! Withdraw the mechanical weapons to positions that bastard can’t reach and order them to provide covering fire only!”
“Yes!”
The mechanical units retreated backward.
I couldn’t afford to lose more mechanical units to them, so it was a necessary choice.
However, that decision carried one significant problem.
Like other battlefields, this particular front where I’d charged in had concentrated firepower far more heavily in mechanical units than in soldiers.
And now I was pulling those mechanical units back.
“The mechanical units are withdrawing!”
“Now’s our chance! Charge!”
“Kyaaaaaaaa!”
The players surged forward toward Cronion, riding the momentum.
Gunfire from the mechanical units falling back?
Irrelevant.
Only a handful of mechanical unit types—including the Mecha Scorpions—were even capable of ranged fire.
The Mecha Wolves and Mecha Hornets could manage ranged attacks too, but their firepower was only slightly stronger than standard firearms.
The moment I pulled the mechanical units back, Cronion’s overall combat strength weakened dramatically.
And there was another advantage.
With the enemy’s mechanical units retreating, I no longer needed to hack Cronion’s machines.
[ Thunder Sapphire Staff ]
[ Cloak of the Thundering Day ]
[ Hat of the Thundering Day ]
….
The “Thundering Day” set.
In other words, the “electrical magic set”—I swapped my equipment rapidly and prepared my spells.
If enemies were at a distance, Thunder Cannon would be ideal.
But since I was positioned at the front to hack the mechanical units, I had a 5-Circle spell far more efficient than Thunder Cannon for this situation.
– Using 5-Circle electrical magic “Lightning Field”.
Crackle!
“Gaaahhhhh!”
Lightning Field—a wide-area spell that spreads an electrical zone to attack enemies.
As the spell unfurled, Cronion’s soldiers, clad in conductive iron armor, were electrocuted and collapsed.
And there was one more thing.
I had prepared a new spell.
A spell I’d been holding in reserve, accounting for issues of mana consumption, range, casting time, and efficiency.
A 6-Circle spell I could learn upon reaching level 500.
Snap!
Mana flowing through my hand transformed into electrical current as it passed through the Thunder Sapphire Staff.
The ultra-compressed current that formed rose skyward.
Rumble—.
Dark clouds began gathering around the compressed current.
These were no ordinary storm clouds.
A cloud wreathed in ferocious electricity, as if composed of pure current itself.
At my command, the cloud surged forward toward the heart of the Cronion lines.
– Casting 6th Circle Lightning Magic ‘Lightning Rain’.
CRACK!
Lightning bolts began pouring down upon the heads of the Cronion soldiers.
True to its name, Lightning Rain—a deluge of bolts cascading like rain.
The Cronion soldiers wore highly conductive iron armor, and the Mecha Scorpions with their raised tails were equally composed of metal.
SIZZLE!
“AAAAHHHHH!”
They absorbed the lightning as if drawing it in.
A far wider range than Lightning Field, with considerably greater destructive force.
The casting time was lengthy, but the mechanical units protected me while I channeled.
Being on the front lines allowed me to adjust the spell’s range freely—an attack only possible under these circumstances.
Watching Lightning Rain unfold before me.
‘I need to master this quickly.’
That thought crystallized within me.
Lightning Rain.
Its destructive power far exceeded my initial expectations.
If that were true, then other 6th Circle magics like ‘Ice Rain’, ‘Fire Rain’, and ‘Stone Rain’ would surely be equally formidable.
Moreover, among 6th Circle spells existed not only such area-of-effect magic but also single-target attacks like ‘Giga Lightning’.
The faster I mastered these spells, the more my combat strength would surge exponentially.
With that conviction.
“Mechanical units, charge forward.”
“ROOOAR!”
“SCREECH!”
“HOWWWL!”
With the mechanical units leading the assault.
“Attack!”
“Now’s our chance!”
“Hahahaha! Merits! We’re racking up merits!”
“Crush them all—Cronion and everything!”
“Breakthrough!”
The players began brutally pushing through Cronion’s frontline.
I too hacked into every mechanical unit that appeared.
– Casting 6th Circle Lightning Magic ‘Lightning Rain’.
Whenever an opening presented itself, I unleashed torrents of lightning, pressing the assault against Cronion.
As we drove the line forward.
“Ah, a demon!”
“The Empire’s demon has appeared!”
“A demon who dominates mechanical units and rains lightning upon us!”
The Black Sea Dragon of the Southern Region.
I had obtained my third epithet following the Apostle of the Western Desert.
* * *
The Central Front of the East.
This was where the war between the Empire and Cronion raged most fiercely.
And recently, the Chronion Commander of the Central Front wore the radiant expression of one who had already claimed victory in war.
“The deployment of Hellfire has been successful.”
“It could be no other way. It is Cronion’s mightiest mechanical weapon, forged by the Chronion Lord himself with his own power.”
“The frontline continues to crumble.”
“At this rate, we should be able to completely occupy the Eastern Region in no time.”
Hellfire—the mightiest mechanical weapon said to have been created personally by the Chronion Lord.
Its power exceeded everyone’s imagination.
From the moment of its appearance, it slaughtered the Imperial Army and shattered the frontline in a single stroke.
At this rate, occupying the Eastern Region of the Continent was merely a formality.
“It won’t be long before our Cronion dominates the entire Continent.”
“Indeed!”
“The Imperial Knights and all else—none will withstand Hellfire!”
At this rate, domination of the Continent was possible.
No—it was inevitable.
Then would come the extraction of all the Continent’s resources, transforming it into the mightiest mechanical civilization.
That was the true purpose of the current Cronion.
But then.
“The Lower Front Line has been captured by the Imperial Army.”
“What?”
Just when spirits were highest.
News arrived that twisted the Commander’s face into a scowl.
The Lower Front Line captured?
Though the Lower Front Line held no great strategic importance and thus had fewer troops, it still possessed considerable elite forces and mechanical weapons.
For such a position to fall so swiftly was infuriating.
“It appears the forces from the Lower Front Line are now advancing toward our position.”
“They mean to strike our flank?”
“Yes.”
“Fools. As I’ve said before, they don’t even number ten thousand. They think they can strike us with such paltry forces? They’ve grown arrogant from capturing the Lower Front Line, it seems.”
The Imperial Army was advancing from the Lower Front Line.
Irritation rose to the crown of my head.
“No matter. Hellfire’s charging will be complete soon. We need only hold until then.”
“Yes.”
“We have their position. Prepare defensive formations to repel the Imperial Army advancing from below.”
“Yes!”
There was no problem.
Tens of thousands of Imperial Army soldiers alone wouldn’t change the course of the battlefield.
If I simply deployed Hellfire again, annihilating the Imperial Army wouldn’t be impossible.
With that thought, I issued defensive orders.
“Commander! We have a crisis!”
“What is it?”
“The military force of the Imperial Army coming up from the Lower Front Line exceeds our imagination! Our forces are being pushed back!”
Unexpected news reached my ears.
Cronion was being pushed back.
Cronion, which hadn’t yielded even against the Imperial Army at the Center, was now being pushed back by mere tens of thousands of reinforcements rising from the Lower Front Line.
What did this mean?
“The one called the Empire’s Demon is seizing our mechanical weapons!”
“Seizing them?”
“Literally stealing ownership of the mechanical weapons! The stolen mechanical weapons are obeying the Demon’s commands!”
“That can’t be…”
“That’s not all. The lightning that Demon created coils around our soldiers like serpents! Every time dark clouds rise, hundreds of soldiers fall!”
“Damn it!”
Merely tens of thousands of reinforcements.
With just that, Cronion’s forces—which had dreamed of dominating the entire Continent, let alone winning the war—began to be driven back.
At this, the Chronion Commander’s eyes blazed as he shouted.
“Deploy Hellfire!”
“B-but, the charging hasn’t finished yet!”
“By now, more than half its power should have recovered! If not now, even the Charging Station where Hellfire is being charged could be in danger!”
The mechanical weapon cradling Black Flame.
The deployment order for Hellfire had been given.

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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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