The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 346

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 346
Chapter 346
So this is Hellfire?
Cronion’s most powerful mechanical weapon.
A mechanical dragon.
It was undeniably formidable.
More powerful than any mechanical weapon I’d faced thus far.
And more powerful than any boss monster I’d encountered before.
But.
‘It doesn’t compare to the Evil God.’
It was nothing compared to the Evil God.
Even so, defeating a monster of this caliber alone would have been quite challenging.
But I hadn’t merely been raising my level all this time.
[ Entering Black Flame Rampage state. ]
Black Flame Rampage.
In exchange for continuously losing health, I could dramatically amplify my physical stats.
Thanks to that, I could effortlessly evade the mechanical dragon’s attacks and strike back with precision.
It was because the mechanical dragon’s movements weren’t particularly fast.
Well, normally, the black flames erupting from each joint of the mechanical dragon would make any ordinary person fear even approaching it.
Whoosh!
But the black flames had no effect on me.
As such, I could exploit the mechanical dragon far too easily.
I’d already embedded weapons into multiple joints across its body, and each time, I used 6th-Circle magic to obliterate the structural mechanisms of those joints.
Thanks to that, the mechanical dragon’s body had already sustained considerable damage.
At this rate, I’d be able to bring down the mechanical dragon without difficulty before Black Flame Rampage ended.
But then.
“Bring down the Demon of the Empire!”
The moment the Commander’s cry rang out.
The Cronion soldiers and mechanical weapons that had been trembling in fear and keeping their distance due to the black flames unleashed by Hellfire.
“Open fire!”
“No matter how strong, he’s alone!”
“Grenades, rockets, everything! Fire it all! The Demon of the Empire is still human! A single bullet through a vital point will stop his heart!”
“Deploy the mechanical weapons!”
“Commence concentrated fire!”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!!
They began unleashing a barrage of attacks on me all at once.
This was somewhat problematic.
Even I couldn’t dodge every bullet fired by thousands of soldiers surrounding me.
If I turned my back to block the soldiers’ attacks, I’d be exposed to the mechanical dragon’s assault.
A troublesome situation from every angle.
In that instant.
Ting!
“Leave their attacks to us—face the mechanical beast without restraint!”
Knights bearing massive black shields materialized, intercepting the barrage of attacks directed at me.
Ordinary bullets, grenade assaults, and the magical cannon fire unleashed by the Mecha Scorpion alike.
The sight of them repelling every devastating attack with nothing but those black shields was truly magnificent.
And I recognized them instantly.
“The Black Shield Knights… Knight Commander Conrad Duran?”
“It’s been far too long! Marquis Mir!”
The shield of the Empire.
The Black Shield Knights.
It was them.
But that wasn’t all.
“Haha, I suspected as much from the start. When we first met at the Imperial Palace, it feels like yesterday—yet now you’ve grown strong enough to face that monster alone. Truly remarkable.”
“Knight Commander Ragnar.”
A knight order composed of the Empire’s finest swordmasters.
The Red Wolf Knights severed soldiers wielding threatening weapons and mechanical units charging their powerful cannons, providing me with support.
And even more.
“We’ll handle the command headquarters.”
“Gah!”
“An assassin!”
“No ordinary assassin! It’s the Ash Dust!”
“How did they even get here…!”
A knight order composed of the Empire’s finest assassins.
The Ash Dust Knight Order launched a surprise assault on the tent where the Cronion Commander was stationed.
As a result, Cronion’s command structure was paralyzed.
Thanks to that.
“Thank you.”
I could continue my one-on-one duel with the mechanical beast.
However, even with three knight orders covering my back, I couldn’t afford to drag this out.
The three knight orders were formidable, but we were deep in enemy territory.
Enemies surrounded us on all sides.
In such circumstances, even the Empire’s three greatest knight orders couldn’t hold indefinitely.
And there was one more thing.
[ Supreme-Grade Stamina Potion ]
“Hah.”
As I drained the stamina potion, my vitality surged back rapidly.
Yet it was depleting just as quickly.
A side effect of the Black Flame Rampage.
I had to end this before my stamina consumption exceeded the potion’s recovery rate.
To do so, I couldn’t gradually dismantle the mechanical dragon piece by piece—I had to find its vital point in one strike and destroy it.
– Master. I can sense it.
“Where?”
– Beneath its neck, do you see the reversed scales?
“…Inverse scales?”
– Yes. I can sense my heart from within those inverse scales.
“So it implemented inverse scales just because it’s a dragon. Exposing its weakness like that.”
– I believe it’s a matter of efficiency. The inverse scales aren’t merely a weakness—they function as a kind of breathing hole created to maintain the balance of power.
Luke had found the answer.
Beneath the mechanical dragon’s neck.
In other words, the inverse scales visible at the junction between neck and body.
They blended so seamlessly with the surrounding scales that they weren’t immediately noticeable, but once I spotted them, those inverse scales became unmistakably clear—and beneath them lay Luke’s heart.
There was a high probability that the chip, the mechanical dragon’s vital point, was located there.
Well, truthfully, even without the chip, it didn’t matter.
If I pierced through the inverse scales and extracted just the heart, I could cut off the Black Flame—the mechanical dragon’s primary weapon.
Moreover, seeing the Black Flame flowing from every joint, it appeared Luke’s heart was being used as a kind of power source.
Once I seized the heart, the power source would vanish, and it would surely collapse before long.
The moment I realized this.
Whoosh!
I charged toward its inverse scales without wasting another moment.
If it had been a true dragon, it would have attacked using breath, close combat, magic, and dragon language in addition to those.
“Roooaaarrr!”
But it was merely a counterfeit created by transplanting Luke’s heart.
Apart from breath powered by the Black Heart, it could only rely on close combat.
Since Black Flame didn’t work on me, fighting this creature felt less like facing a dragon and more like facing a drake.
Boom!
I evaded the sharp claw strike coming down.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
I blocked the bullets fired from the weapons installed across its body.
Clang!
I dodged its sharp metallic teeth as it lunged with its head extended, a spear lodged in its jaws, attempting to bite me.
[ Beowulf’s Flame Dragon Sword, Nailing ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Type : Sword
Grade : Mythic
Restriction : Level 800 or higher, Swordmaster Lv 80 or higher, Strength 3,000 or higher
Description : A sword wielded by the hero Beowulf in his later years when he challenged the Flame Dragon.
I drew the weapon to end this creature.
– Activating skill ‘Crimson Field Claw’.
Clang!
I swung my blade toward the reverse scales.
With all my strength behind the strike, the reverse scales parted slightly.
Through that gap, black flames erupted forth.
Black flames far more dense and potent than anything the beast had breathed poured out wildly, yet.
‘Not hot at all.’
They had no effect on me.
The denser the black flames became, the more familiar they felt to me.
And so, within the black flames pouring from the gaps in the reverse scales, I.
– Activate skill ‘Black Insect Flash’.
Thunk!
I drove ‘Nailing’ through the gaps in the reverse scales.
Mobilizing Nailing’s unique skills, magic, and techniques, I severed the armor, shattered the iron plating, destroyed every structure in my path, and pushed the blade deeper.
But then.
“Grrrrr….”
The blade stopped.
It wasn’t enough.
I hadn’t pierced the heart.
The mechanical beast exhaled hot breath and brought its head down toward me.
Its massive jaws opened wide, gleaming steel fangs ready to tear me apart at any moment.
But.
“I made contact.”
I could tell from the sensation transmitted through the blade’s tip.
I hadn’t pierced the heart, but I had succeeded in making contact with it.
And my objective was never to pierce the heart—it was to make contact with it.
If I’d intended to pierce it, I would have driven something like the longest spear through instead.
– Thank you, Master.
Luke’s gratitude followed.
And with it.
[ ‘Black Flame Dragon, Luknir Desperato Ignockton’ absorbs the ‘Black Flame Dragon’s Heart’. ]
Luke began to reclaim the mechanical beast’s heart.
No—his own heart.
[ ‘Luke’ reclaims his heart and partially recovers his former power. ]
[ Synchronization rate with ‘Luke’ in Black Flame Assimilation increases. ]
[ In Black Flame Assimilation with ‘Luke’, the black flames become even denser and more potent. ]
[ New unique skills are generated for use in Black Flame Assimilation with ‘Luke’. ]
Luke had reclaimed his heart.
Which meant the heart implanted in the mechanical beast—its power source—had vanished.
The black flames that had animated the mechanical beast’s body dissipated, and naturally, the black flames flowing from its joints extinguished.
The mechanical beast’s massive jaws, opened wide to devour me, froze in that very position.
The violet luminescence blazing from its eyes dimmed and faded.
Cronion’s mightiest mechanical weapon had come to a halt.
And then.
“No, Hellfire!”
“Hellfire has stopped!”
“This can’t be!”
“The Demon of the Empire has defeated Hellfire!”
“Hellfire, which is practically Cronion’s guardian!”
“What, what do we do now?”
Despair began to surge among Cronion’s soldiers.
“Marquis Mir has defeated Hellfire!”
“Commander!”
“The mechanical beast has stopped moving! Now it’s our turn!”
“Let’s show Cronion the power of the Empire!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
In contrast, the morale of the Imperial Army surged skyward.
Regardless of their fervor.
I focused on the power I had just absorbed.
Being in my Black Flame state, I could feel Luke’s power distinctly.
Simultaneously, I could also feel Luke’s heart that had just been absorbed with perfect clarity.
Thump, thump—.
Luke’s heart was no ordinary heart.
A dragon’s heart—a Dragon Heart.
The source of magical power that allows dragons to wield magic.
As such, I could immediately recognize what new ‘unique skill’ I had gained from absorbing the heart.
– There’s no need to hold back, Master.
– My power is now your power.
– Feel free to unleash it fully.
Luke’s voice reached me.
I nodded in acknowledgment and extended my hand toward the Cronion Commander and his officers, who were desperately fleeing far away to evade the Ash Dust Knight Order’s ambush.
Immediately after.
Whoooosh!
A new power born alongside Luke’s heart.
[ Dark Flame ]
The breath of the Black Flame Dragon I had witnessed when I first encountered and conquered Luke.
Dark Flame.
A dark inferno transcending Black Flame itself.
Roooaaaaarrr—!!!
It erupted from my palm.
A dragon’s breath incomparably more powerful than the sixth-circle magic I could currently wield, the mightiest spell at my disposal.
That dark flame burned with an ominous radiance, devouring the surrounding light as it surged forward.
“Gaaaaaahhhhh!”
“A demon! That’s definitely a demon! The Demon of the Empire! The Empire has made a pact with a demon!”
“Help me—!!”
The Cronion officers and commanders who had abandoned their soldiers and fled.
Along with the elite soldiers and mechanical weapons running alongside them, I incinerated them all.
No, incinerated hardly does it justice.
Those caught in the Dark Flame melted away without even leaving ash behind.
Like the breath of Hellfire, Cronion’s mightiest mechanical weapon.
No—even more devastating than that. The Cronion soldiers, having witnessed the Dark Flame’s power firsthand, understood the Black Flame’s might better than anyone.
“We surrender! We surrender!”
“Ahhhhh!”
“Retreat!”
“The Commander has fallen! Fall back, fall back!”
With palpable despair, their formation crumbled rapidly.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————