The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 372

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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 372
Chapter 372
The moment Mir began pouring water into the tunnel.
‘Ay, surely not.’
Team 1’s members denied what they were witnessing.
They already knew Mir was remarkable.
Even the Lava River had poured forth an enormous volume of water, which they’d solidified and crossed together.
But even for Mir, filling the entire tunnel system of Zone 4 with water seemed impossible.
They thought it defied all logic.
And yet.
Whoooooosh—!!
“What?”
“Is this even possible?”
“There’s so much water!”
The instant Mir pressed the Eternal Crystal against his staff.
The volume of water erupting from the staff surged dramatically.
If the water that had been pouring out before resembled a fire truck’s hose, what poured forth now was like the floodgates of a dam opening wide.
The difference was that staggering.
Watching the water gush forth with such ferocity.
‘Perhaps….’
The thought arose unbidden.
And it was not the team members who felt this gravity most acutely.
“Ssshhhhh!”
“Lava Snakes are emerging!”
“We must protect Mir!”
“Defensive formation!”
It was the monsters.
Lava Snakes that had been lurking within the tunnel, waiting for their moment.
They desperately fled the tunnel and attempted to strike at Mir, who dared to flood their domain with water.
But.
Scrape—!
“We will not let them through.”
Sword God and Yul-ha.
Team 1, with her at the fore, shielded Mir with absolute resolve.
As they held back the creatures.
At some point, water began visibly rising from the tunnel opening in the ground.
And moments later.
Trickle, trickle, trickle.
Not only had the tunnel in the floor filled completely, but water also began flowing from the tunnel openings in the lower walls.
Splash, splash, splash!
The torrent didn’t stop there—water streamed from the walls and ceiling, filling the entire tunnel.
The monsters, startled by this sudden deluge, scrambled out of the tunnel.
They had never experienced a flood in their entire existence, and as panic seized them, the lava coating their skin began to harden and solidify.
* * *
My unconventional strategy had worked perfectly.
Though I’d consumed a fair amount of Eternal Crystals, if this allowed me to breeze through Zone 4, the gain was well worth it.
With my Eternal Crystal count already exceeding ten, this expenditure posed no significant burden.
Moreover, the tunnel’s structure was proving quite advantageous.
“Shrieeeek!”
Water wasn’t just flooding the lower tunnel—it was also seeping through the passages connected to the walls and ceiling.
Naturally, all the Lava Snakes, Lava Bats, and Lava Lizards resting within came scrambling out in desperation.
Of course, with water erupting from all directions, even their frantic escape couldn’t spare them from it.
Their bodies’ lava inevitably began to harden.
“Kee-ik!”
Splash!
The Lava Bat’s wings, their lava solidified, could no longer sustain flight, and it plummeted downward.
Water had risen to my ankles below, and the fallen Lava Bat struggled even more in the current.
“Churrrk—”
Splash!
The Lava Salamander met the same fate.
Its feet, specialized for crawling across lava walls, lost their grip once soaked, and it tumbled to the floor.
Yet there was one monster facing a far more dire situation.
Glug glug glug—
The Lava Snakes.
Though they scrambled upward desperately as the water rose, many of those whose surface lava had hardened from contact with water couldn’t escape the tunnel.
Worse, these trapped creatures blocked the passage, and the water surged even faster.
A considerable number of Lava Snakes that couldn’t escape in time drowned.
The Lava Snakes were drowning, while the Lava Bats and Lava Lizards thrashed helplessly on the ground.
Thanks to this—
Thud!
“…This is too easy?”
“Since it’s Zone 4 and there are so many monsters, I thought it would be incredibly difficult.”
“It feels like the easiest of all four zones.”
“Of course, that’s all thanks to you, Mir.”
Zone 4 had been conquered with remarkable ease.
There wasn’t even much to call a conquest, really.
All I had to do was finish off the creatures whose bodies had hardened and were flailing on the ground.
Of course, this approach had the drawback of making it difficult to recover items dropped by the Lava Snakes that died in the tunnel.
[ Lugh has consumed a ‘Lava Snake’. ]
[ Lugh has consumed a ‘Lava Snake’. ]
….
Don’t I have Luke?
No matter how deep underground the monsters fell, Luke perfectly consumed them and recovered the items they dropped.
By clearing Zone 4 in that manner, in what felt like an instant.
“This is it.”
“Anyone can tell this is the Boss Room.”
“Just how massive must the monster be to require a chamber like this….”
Finally, the last zone.
We arrived before the Boss Room.
The Boss Room of the Volcanic Heart Ore Vein had no door, so I could observe its interior without stepping inside.
Its form was a vast cavern.
But more importantly, there was a lava lake at the center of the cavern.
A lake as expansive as the Lava River itself.
The dungeon’s boss monster was undoubtedly sleeping within that lake.
‘This is troublesome.’
Even if the level were high, if something like the lava dragon I’d summoned as a mount before—a Volcano Drake—appeared, I could have conquered it more directly.
But this is different.
A monster sleeping in a lake.
With that setup, attacks wouldn’t land well while the monster remained submerged in the lava lake, and it would certainly employ far more varied mechanics than a Volcano Drake.
In fact, even setting that aside, judging by the layout and difficulty up through Zone 4, this boss monster battle would undoubtedly be extraordinarily challenging.
Given as much.
“We’ll make final preparations before entering.”
“Understood.”
“That sounds wise.”
We decided to prepare here.
In truth, there wasn’t much to prepare.
Checking equipment condition, organizing potions for quick access—that sort of thing.
Particularly, vitality and similar stats decrease in maximum value the more one acts, and these are difficult to recover with potions alone, requiring direct rest like this.
The best method would be to log out.
In the meantime.
“Mir, what are you doing?”
“You must be the most exhausted—you should rest properly.”
“No.”
I had something else to prepare.
That was.
[ Imperial Court Chef’s Premium Pot ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Form: Tool
Grade: Heroic
[ Imperial Court Chef’s Premium Cooking Knife ]
[Imperial Court Chef’s Premium Ladle]
….
I was retrieving and setting up cooking ingredients.
Then, the team members who had been resting suddenly gasped and rushed over to stop me.
“No, Guild Master! If you’re hungry, just say so! We’ll handle the cooking—please sit over there and rest!”
“Let us do it! Please!”
“Hand me the knife. Is there anything you’d like to eat? I’ve worked at a Chinese restaurant before, so I’m confident with Chinese cuisine!”
“I-I can do Western cuisine! I can handle most dishes, so just leave it to me!”
“I have cooking skills too!”
The Heukryeom Guild didn’t establish any strict hierarchy.
When had things become like this?
Normally we got along without any formality, but it seemed they only acted this way when I cooked.
Did it burden them that much?
Or perhaps it was because of Kang Ju-hyuk.
While I was away, he might have acted as Vice Guild Master and established this hierarchy.
Well, I’d settle that with Kang Ju-hyuk later.
“I’ll do it this time.”
“No! Let us do it for you! Please!”
“We can make anything! Just tell us what you want to eat….”
“It’s not because I want to eat something.”
“Then….”
“It’s because of the cooking buff effects.”
I had no intention of stopping cooking here.
Why did we eat cooked food in the first place?
Wasn’t it for the buff effects?
“Once we enter the boss battle, I won’t have the leeway to maintain ‘Aqua Veil.'”
“If we drink heat resistance potions….”
“That’s not enough—that’s why you’ve been struggling with the dungeon, right? If I cook well and you eat it, combined with heat resistance potions, you’ll be able to endure this heat without needing my magic.”
That was precisely why my cooking was necessary right now.
If I made it well, I could completely free the guild members from this heat that had become far more intense than at the dungeon’s entrance.
“That’s not all. If I do this right, I can create dishes with effects optimized for the boss battle.”
“But that’s something even professional chefs struggle with.”
“I can do it.”
“Guild Master, is your cooking skill level perhaps…?”
“Over a hundred.”
“O-over a hundred?”
“But isn’t a hundred the maximum skill level?”
“My alchemy skill is also over a hundred.”
“…? Why are you mentioning your alchemy skill level?”
The effect of All Master.
The skill level of All Master is linked with the skill levels of cooking and alchemy.
Therefore, my cooking skill level is never inferior to that of a professional chef.
Let me put it this way.
“…I understand!”
“We’ll trust you, Guild Master!”
“For the boss battle!”
“So as not to hinder you, Guild Master!”
They responded with stern faces and determined voices.
I wasn’t sure why they were making such a big deal out of eating a single dish.
But since they seemed convinced, I got started on the cooking right away.
It would have been troublesome if I lacked ingredients, but fortunately, I was able to gather all the usable materials from this Dungeon.
The first thing I pulled out was a small, red pouch-shaped organ.
Its identity was none other than.
[ Lava Salamander’s Gallbladder ]
The Lava Salamander we faced in the First Zone.
Its gallbladder.
“W-wait, Guild Master? That’s not a cooking ingredient, is it?”
“It’s a material with effects on vitality, and since it’s from a Lava Salamander, we should be able to gain environmental additional effects.”
“Can’t we just add regular meat or something…?”
“This has better effects.”
“But why….”
“It’s alchemy theory.”
Adding the gallbladder was far more efficient than adding meat.
That wasn’t all.
To gain various buff effects, I sliced in the wing membrane of a Lava Bat and tore in the shed skin of a Lava Serpent.
Not only materials obtained from monsters, but also materials I’d specifically picked up and collected on the way here.
[ Thousand-Year-Old Lava Stone ]
Just as I was about to add the stone that radiated intense heat.
“Guild Master?”
One of the Team 1 members suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“That’s clearly not a food ingredient no matter how you look at it…?”
They seemed to have doubts.
“You can just grind it up and add it.”
I briefly explained the cooking method and ground the lava stone.
I added the finely ground lava stone to the pot so it was safe to consume.
Beyond that, lava membrane, crimson flame secretion, scales from a Lava Snake, magma serum, volcanic ash, and more.
Applying alchemy theory, I added the most efficient materials possible.
– I use the 4-Circle fire spell ‘Fire Wall’.
I spread out a small Fire Wall to heat the pot.
As I boiled the materials together with diluted lava liquid, adding not only materials obtained from this Dungeon but also various precious materials I’d brought along in preparation, the dish began to take shape.
“Phew.”
[ Cooking successful. ]
[ Verdict: Transcendent Success ]
[ Burning Hell’s Lava Porridge ]
Type: Food
Grade: Legendary
Restrictions: –
Description: A piping hot volcanic-style nutritional sustenance crafted by Chef Mir through meticulous refinement, blending culinary arts with alchemical principles.
The dish was complete.
My focused efforts had paid off—the verdict came back as a transcendent success.
I could have read the effects immediately, but since I’d made this dish myself, I decided to take the first bite and taste it.
“Not bad at all.”
For something I’d created with only its effects in mind, the flavor was surprisingly pleasant.
And the buff effect that came to mind matched exactly what I’d anticipated.
“Everyone, take a bowl. To maximize the buff effects, you’ll need to eat a full serving.”
I quickly began distributing the dish among the Guild members.

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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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