The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 369

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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 369
Chapter 369
‘A supporter?’
The role Mir had taken on—supporter.
The members of Team 1 couldn’t help but feel bewildered upon hearing this.
Just moments ago, watching Mir fell those Lava Salamanders, it seemed he should be standing at the vanguard.
Yet here he was, positioning himself at the rear.
Wasn’t this a waste of his talents?
Such thoughts crossed their minds, but these were Mir’s words, after all.
Though puzzled, the team members followed his instructions without question.
Then.
– 5th Circle Water Magic ‘Aqua Veil’ is activated.
“Ahhh!”
The team members couldn’t help but gasp in admiration from the start.
The oppressive heat that had plagued them ever since entering this Dungeon—heat that even heat-resistance potions couldn’t completely block—vanished as if it had never existed.
The heat wasn’t merely unpleasant.
The heat that potions couldn’t perfectly suppress had continuously drained their stamina and vitality, hampering their movements.
With that heat gone, their combat power would undoubtedly surge significantly.
Advancing with this thought in mind.
“Monsters!”
“Churrrk—.”
“Churk!”
Familiar monsters appeared.
The problem was.
“Aren’t there far too many of them?”
“Let’s prepare for combat first!”
“Prepare for combat!”
Their sheer numbers.
The count of salamanders had doubled compared to the first battle.
These were already formidable monsters, and now their numbers had swelled like this.
No matter how I thought about it, this was a number difficult to handle.
“Let’s prepare for combat first!”
“Prepare for combat!”
Neither Mir nor Yul-ha.
Gave orders to retreat.
With this, Team 1, like seasoned players, erased any thought of retreat from their minds and swiftly prepared for battle.
And in that moment.
Upon Mir’s palm, gathering mana amidst the Dungeon’s scorching heat.
Completed magic radiated brilliance from the azure orb.
– 6th Circle Water Magic ‘Aqua Rain’ is activated.
Aqua Rain—a spell that unleashes torrential downpours powerful enough to flood vast expanses.
As the magic was cast, the ceiling that had been dripping with lava was shrouded in dark storm clouds.
And not long after.
Whoooosh—!
The downpour began in earnest.
An enormous volume of raindrops.
At first, the intense heat of the Dungeon caused the raindrops to evaporate into steam before even touching the ground, but the sheer volume of the deluge was staggering.
As the torrential rain diminished the surrounding heat, the raindrops were finally able to reach the ground unimpeded.
Sizzzzle—!
The lava on the walls and floor where the raindrops struck hardened as it lost its temperature.
And this applied equally to the monsters cloaked entirely in lava.
The lava newts, the Lava Salamanders, were no exception.
“Churrrr—.”
“Churr—.”
The lava covering the newts’ bodies began to harden.
The newts cried out in agony as their skin seemed to stiffen.
This alone constituted severe damage, but the real problem came next.
“The newts are slowing down!”
The lava that had enveloped their bodies had solidified.
What had once protected them had now become a heavy shackle.
As a result, the newts’ movements, which had once glided with serpentine speed, became noticeably sluggish.
“Now! Attack!”
Team One seized this opportunity without hesitation.
They charged forward, wielding their weapons with swift precision.
The hardened newts could not evade, and their numbers dwindled rapidly.
A 6-Circle spell, Aqua Rain.
With just this single spell, everyone could understand what Mir had meant.
And.
“We can do this!”
With Mir at their side, they could conquer this Dungeon that had once brought them to despair.
That confidence began to surge within them.
* * *
The Lava Salamander’s vital point is its heart.
Though small and difficult to target, a precise strike with a long, sharp weapon guarantees a critical hit—a true weakness.
And separate from this, there existed an elemental weakness as well.
Which was.
Whoooosh—.
‘Water.’
The water element.
Since Lava Salamanders survive by cloaking themselves in lava, their bodies become severely sluggish once the lava cools.
So even just sprinkling water like this can weaken them significantly.
Once that happens.
“Now’s the moment!”
A sharp cutting sound.
The Sword God and the rest of Team One would handle the salamanders on their own.
The enemy numbers had more than doubled since we first arrived, but salamanders frozen solid were no match for Team One.
As Team One fought, the salamander count dropped rapidly.
Then.
A problem emerged.
A violent splash.
“Ssssshhhhhhh—.”
“A unique specimen!”
“Is it the leader?”
From within the particularly large and expansive lava pool.
A salamander far larger than any standard Lava Salamander erupted forth.
While the salamanders we’d faced until now wore a thin coating of lava on their bodies, this one was different.
Rather than merely wearing lava, it seemed as though it were made of lava itself—it was covered in an enormous amount of it, and the sheer volume was staggering.
Because of that, the pressure it emanated was on an entirely different level from ordinary salamanders.
As my teammates tensed.
I, who had anticipated its existence through the increased salamander numbers, immediately cast the magic I had prepared.
– Using 6th Circle water magic ‘Water Blaster’.
6th Circle water magic, Water Blaster.
The magic I had once installed on the Black Dragon Ship to subjugate the Pirate Guide of the Sea and conquer the White Water Deity.
As that powerful magic was cast.
A tremendous roar—!!
A high-pressure jet of water far more powerful than Aqua Cannon shot forth.
The salamanders’ leader, who had just emerged from the lava and was preparing to attack.
It was startled, but there was no way to evade the high-pressure water cannon fired the moment it appeared.
“Screeeeeeee—!”
It was struck by my magic without any chance to escape.
What happened afterward was not much different from the other salamanders.
The hardened lava fell away from the salamander’s body as it was sent flying by the high-pressure jet.
Without even a chance to flee, struck by the incoming water stream, all the lava on its body hardened and fell away.
Finally, across the soft flesh now exposed, Yul-ha’s blade passed through.
That was it.
The battle with the salamanders, including their leader, ended in an instant.
My teammates murmured as if entranced.
“Unbelievable.”
“We won that easily?”
“That can’t be right. Those things are supposed to be incredibly powerful monsters.”
“Exploiting weaknesses makes combat so much easier….”
It had to be.
Before I arrived, they were nearly losing their lives just facing a handful of salamanders.
Yet I brought down far more of them in an instant.
“I believe you all understand now.”
I spoke then.
“You truly are the Guild Master!”
“We believe in you-!!”
“If you say it, Guild Master, we’d believe that the World Tree grows from a bean!”
My team cheered and understood my words.
From then on, the same hunting pattern continued.
When I provided support with water-attribute magic, Yul-ha and Team One would step forward to fell the monsters.
Thanks to that, I was able to bring down an enormous swarm of Lava Salamanders.
[ Your level has increased. ]
As if proving they were high-level monsters, the experience gain was tremendous.
[ Giant Lava Salamander Hide ]
Type: Material
Grade: Unique
The materials were the same.
The leader-class salamander, particularly strong among its kind, dropped a Unique-grade material.
Normally, materials dropped by common monsters max out at Rare to Heroic grade.
The fact that it dropped a Unique-grade item alone spoke volumes about the monsters’ strength and the dungeon’s difficulty.
The problem came next.
“This must be the Second Zone.”
“Yes. Before informing you, we managed to avoid the monsters and reach here somehow. But beyond this point, we couldn’t proceed any further.”
The zone we had temporarily named the First Zone—where the Lava Salamanders dwelled.
After passing through that massive corridor with lava dripping down, what appeared was an enormous river.
A river with nowhere to set foot—completely impassable.
The problem was.
Bubble, bubble—.
The river was made of lava.
“I thought I understood how to clear it, but I didn’t have the courage to attempt it.”
“A way to clear it?”
“Would you look at the ceiling?”
I lifted my head, following her finger.
What I saw was.
“Stalactites.”
Red icicles grown above the flowing lava.
Given the vast size of this space, the stalactites glowed an enormous crimson.
The moment I saw them, I could anticipate the strategy she had conceived.
“Yes. As you can see, the size is enormous. I suspect we’re meant to drop those stalactites onto the lava to create footholds and advance forward.”
An excellent analysis.
This was likely the official strategy for clearing this zone.
“You figured out the strategy, so why did you say you couldn’t attempt it?”
“That’s… well, Garos. Could you hit just one of the outer stalactites for me?”
“Of course.”
Had she grown accustomed to my philosophy that actions speak louder than words?
Instead of answering my question, she demonstrated through action.
The Archer from Team One, bearing the name Garos, drew her bowstring taut the moment she received the command.
The arrow that followed embedded itself in one of the outer stalactites.
Crack.
That massive stalactite.
The stalactite, which seemed unmoved by ordinary impacts, separated from the ceiling with a small tremor and plummeted downward.
Indeed, this was the true strategy for crossing the lava river.
The fallen stalactite pierced the lava river.
Being so enormous, the cross-section that had been attached to the ceiling barely protruded above the lava river’s surface.
We would have to cross the lava river this way, advancing across the exposed surfaces of the fallen stalactites.
But.
“Shrieeeeeeek—!”
The moment the stalactite fell.
Monsters emerged from around the stalactite.
Sea serpents.
No, Lava serpents.
Creatures that lived within the scorching lava, their bodies covered in scales where red magma and black stone intertwined.
Rather than a living being, the monster resembled lava writhing and taking the form of a serpent.
Such monsters.
Boom!
Rammed their heads into the stalactite in fury.
And that was not all.
The Lava serpents that appeared in succession began attacking the stalactite.
Striking with their tails, spraying lava to push it with water pressure.
The largest one even coiled around the stalactite and began constricting it.
Unable to withstand much longer.
Crumble—
The stalactite slowly tilted and sank into the lava river below.
Seeing this, I finally understood completely what Yul-ha meant when she said she couldn’t attempt it.
“It’s already difficult just dropping stalactites and moving across them. On top of that, we have to fight those monsters. And if we can’t defeat them all within the time limit, the stalactite will collapse anyway.”
An absurd difficulty level.
Her hesitation was not without reason.
Beyond the Dungeon being difficult to clear at the current level, the strategy itself carried an excessively high difficulty.
I suspect this is a Dungeon that can only be conquered by coming with a level significantly higher than the recommended level.
But.
‘There’s no rule saying I must proceed with the standard strategy the Dungeon prescribes.’
To conquer a Dungeon, I need to think flexibly.
I cannot become trapped by the existence of a predetermined strategy.
My current situation.
The party’s circumstances and the items we possess.
It’s equally important to assess all these comprehensive factors and devise an alternative strategy rather than adhering to the prescribed one.
With that in mind.
“I will skip the method of using stalactites.”
“What? Then how….”
To create an alternative strategy.
I raised the ‘Azure Dragon’s Orb’ high in my palm and activated its unique skill.
– Activating the unique skill of the ‘Azure Dragon’s Orb’, ‘Azure Dragon’s Great Sea’.
Immediately, an enormous amount of mana from my body was drawn into the orb.
And with it.
Whoooosh!
A tremendous torrent of water born from the orb crashed down upon the lava river.
Sizzzzle!
The surface of the lava river began to harden and solidify.

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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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