The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 399

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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 399
Chapter 399
‘Toying with them?’
Toying with the mystical beasts? What in the world was she talking about?
All the mystical beasts following me chose to do so of their own volition.
I never once commanded them to follow me.
I hadn’t even considered a temporary contract, but the mystical beasts themselves desired one, so I granted it.
Furthermore, when I entered the domain, wasn’t it the guardian mystical beasts who attacked first, not I?
“Wait…”
I attempted to clarify, but.
“To toy with the mystical beasts is to toy with the entire Spirit Realm itself. I, the Celestial Fantasy Dragon, shall never forgive such an unprecedented mockery of the Spirit Realm.”
Roooaarrr!
She immediately unleashed her breath attack upon me.
As if she wouldn’t hear any explanation.
She had already determined my guilt.
I hastily prepared my defenses, but.
‘Mist?’
Her breath attack was not something I could block.
A breath composed of mist.
The mist ignored my defenses, engulfed me entirely, and swiftly began filling the space around me.
[ I activate Black Flame Transformation. ]
[ I borrow the power of the Black Flame Dragon, Luknir Desperato Ignockton. ]
I swiftly activated Black Flame Transformation and enhanced my dark vision to survey my surroundings, but.
‘I can’t see.’
Even with my dark vision enhanced, my surroundings remained obscured.
Faint black shadows were barely visible around me, but there were far too many to discern, and their nature remained unclear.
Most troubling of all.
‘Where are the mystical beasts?’
Just moments ago, the mystical beasts had surrounded me completely.
Their presence had vanished entirely.
Had the space been displaced?
Or had my senses been severed?
Perhaps I had fallen under an illusion.
What was certain was that her mist had surpassed my abilities, including my dark vision.
Then.
“Roaarrgh!”
“Cerberus?”
Some creature attacked from within the mist.
Not a mystical beast.
The guardian of the underworld—Cerberus.
A mythical-grade monster with three heads.
When you think about it, Cerberus—a creature that could be called closer to a demonic beast than a typical monster—why had it emerged from the Spirit Realm?
There was only one answer.
‘It’s an illusion.’
This isn’t real.
It’s an illusion.
But the mist that trembled each time Cerberus moved, its howl, its murderous intent—everything felt far too vivid.
All of it felt overwhelmingly real.
If it were merely an illusion, I could have ignored it, but faced with something so convincingly tangible, I found myself instinctively drawing my shield to block its attack.
Crash!
“Ugh.”
“Grrrrr!”
A tremendous impact reverberated through my shield.
This is an illusion?
That couldn’t be.
Even back in First, there were many monsters that launched mental attacks, and among them were plenty that wielded illusions and phantasms.
But I had never encountered an illusion this perfect.
Yet, contrary to my thoughts.
Whoosh.
The moment my attack was blocked.
Cerberus’s body scattered and vanished into the mist.
Cerberus was indeed a hallucination.
But the dented shield and the sharp impact I felt through it were undeniably real.
Before I could even breathe a sigh of relief at Cerberus’s disappearance.
“Kyaaauuu—.”
A nine-tailed fox—a mythical-grade monster just like Cerberus.
I found myself facing the fox fire unleashed by the Nine-tailed Fox.
* * *
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon.
She hadn’t intended to launch an attack outright from the beginning.
Rather, upon arriving at the scene and witnessing the sight before her.
The moment she saw the mystical beasts clashing because of Mir, her thoughts shifted.
‘Sowing discord in the Spirit Realm.’
The Spirit Realm was a place of peace.
The strong did not torment the weak; instead, they helped one another through hardship and sang of peace.
Yet those mystical beasts of the Spirit Realm.
Were fighting because of that human.
For the Celestial Fantasy Dragon, who had maintained the Spirit Realm’s peace through countless ages, this was an utterly unforgivable sight.
And so.
Roaaaar!
She immediately unleashed her mist upon the human.
Her mist was the most powerful illusory art in the Spirit Realm.
Until now, no one had ever escaped her mist through their own strength.
Once trapped within the mist, they would suffer attacks from monsters within the illusions until she chose to release them—a punishment for mocking the Spirit Realm.
And yet.
“Roooar!”
“That’s… Cerberus?”
An entirely unexpected creature burst forth from her mist.
Cerberus, no less.
Wasn’t that a mythological beast that had long since vanished from existence?
Even she knew the status of Cerberus, the legendary guardian of the underworld, and could not help but be astonished.
Moreover.
“Why did Cerberus emerge?”
Her mist was not simply an illusory art that conjured strong phantom monsters.
It reconstructed powerful monsters from among those the trapped target had once faced.
Drawing upon their memories and experiences, it manifested illusory creatures of its own accord.
But why had Cerberus been created?
Cerberus should have already vanished before she came to rule the Spirit Realm.
Yet that was not the only problem.
“The Nine-tailed Fox?”
The legendary fox of legend, the Nine-tailed Fox.
Fenrir, the wolf that devoured gods.
Typhon, the giant of mythology, and more.
Mythological beasts that should never have appeared were being manifested.
Who could this person be? What manner of life had they lived to conjure such visions?
What was truly remarkable.
“How is he withstanding those monsters?”
The human was perfectly defending against every attack from those creatures.
As if he knew what attacks were coming.
As if he had truly faced those monsters before.
Even she, who had ruled the Spirit Realm for countless ages, could not comprehend this sight.
And then.
“The Evil God?”
Evil Gods began to emerge from the human’s mist.
The Red Beast God, bearing the form of a crimson lion.
The Green Stone Demon, taking the shape of a verdant golem.
The White Aquatic Deity, unleashing torrents of water, and more.
The moment those formidable entities began to manifest.
Crack—
Her mist began to unravel.
As the Spirit Realm’s greatest illusionist, she had never encountered anyone who could withstand the power of her mist until now.
But now the situation had reversed.
Her mist could not contend with the monsters dwelling within that human’s mind.
The limit was fast approaching as she continued expending her power to maintain the mist.
“ROOOOOOOAAAARRR—!!”
Finally, within her mist appeared the colossal beast that had once sought to annihilate the world itself.
The Golden Dragon of Greed emerged and unleashed a deafening roar.
Whoosh—
Her mist could no longer hold and scattered into nothingness.
In truth, even without the mist, it mattered little.
Though the human was undeniably powerful, she who governed the Spirit Realm should certainly be able to prevail.
This was her domain, and countless illusory beasts would obey her commands.
She could attack the human with all her might and order the illusory beasts to assault him—perhaps that would be enough to bring him down.
“What exactly are you?”
Now that she had recognized not only the monsters of myth and legend, but also the Evil Gods who once sought to destroy the world, and most of all the Golden Dragon of Greed itself.
She could no longer bring herself to attack the human.
* * *
The monsters within the illusion.
I was certain they were illusions, yet their attacks were undeniably real.
Was it true that illusions of the highest caliber were indistinguishable from reality?
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon’s illusion felt precisely like that.
‘How do I break free from this?’
Though I had experienced various illusions during my time in First, this was my first encounter with magic of such overwhelming caliber.
‘Can I escape?’
These illusions were monsters formed from condensed mist.
Though the mist the Celestial Fantasy Dragon exhaled had spread widely, it had to have boundaries, so I attempted to sprint rapidly and break through the mist’s perimeter.
‘That won’t work.’
This mist had already transcended physical limitations.
No matter how far I ran in one direction, the mist showed no end.
But as I continued,
the more I evaded the monsters’ attacks without blocking them, the more their numbers multiplied, and in that moment, I discovered the mist’s weakness.
‘It’s becoming translucent.’
The Cerberus that first appeared had been vivid, as if truly alive.
But as the monsters’ numbers increased, their forms grew progressively fainter.
‘Even the Celestial Fantasy Dragon’s mist has its limits.’
Having grasped the mist’s vulnerability,
I began in earnest to evade and flee from the monsters’ assault.
Slash—
After all, I had already learned all of their attack patterns.
I already know all of their attack patterns anyway.
Evading them isn’t difficult.
Rather than engaging them directly, I dragged out the battle and increased the number of monsters.
Then, as the Golden Dragon of Greed—my final opponent from First, beyond even the Evil God—appeared and let out a roar.
Ssshhh—.
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon’s mist dissipated.
And what was revealed was.
“What exactly are you?”
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon’s face.
I immediately prepared my defense, but fortunately, she didn’t seem intent on attacking me.
For me, that was a relief.
And for good reason.
‘I can’t win.’
Is she truly the ruler of the Spirit Realm?
Even that mist from moments ago was an attack I could barely withstand in my current state.
However, I didn’t believe that was the full extent of the Celestial Fantasy Dragon’s power.
The Celestial Fantasy Dragon would be far stronger, and if her command fell, the spirit beasts around us would attack me in unison.
No matter how capable I am, simultaneously facing the Celestial Fantasy Dragon and the spirit beasts in the Spirit Realm is impossible.
Having made that assessment.
“I am Mir.”
I lowered my weapon.
Here, dialogue was the answer.
If I provoked her carelessly and ended up dead or expelled from the Spirit Realm, all the plans I’d conceived would crumble to dust.
“I suspect you know that’s not what I’m asking.”
Had she followed up with an immediate attack after I dispersed her mist, it would have been difficult to withstand.
So why did she suddenly stop attacking and ask this question?
As I pondered this, recalling the form of her mist, I could make one deduction.
‘Otherwise, there’s no way creatures like the Evil God or the Golden Dragon would appear.’
Her mist likely worked by manifesting powerful enemies the target had faced and attacking with them.
Yet from that mist emerged Cerberus, the Evil God, and the Golden Dragon.
From her perspective, this would be incomprehensible.
The problem was how to answer here.
‘I can’t bring up First.’
My opponent was an NPC.
A character in the game.
I couldn’t tell such an opponent that “they’re all monsters I defeated during First, and it seems I’m now playing Second, which is the next version and successor to that game.”
After a moment of deliberation.
“I am a reincarnate.”
I had no choice but to utter the lie that best fit this situation.
And fortunately.
“A reincarnate…?”
She seemed to trust my words.

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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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