The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 437

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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 437
Chapter 437
“Well then, the long-awaited Second World Championship has finally begun!”
“Wooooooah!”
– Wow, there really are so many people in the arena.
– I wanted to go too ㅠㅠ
The Second World Championship had commenced.
Inside the massively expansive Tournament Arena, an equally enormous crowd of spectators filled the seats.
Not just Koreans, either.
People from every corner of the globe who had successfully secured tickets had gathered here.
But wait—it’s an online game anyway, so couldn’t spectators just watch from inside the game itself?
That’s a fair point.
In truth, those physically present here represented only an extremely select few among all spectators.
The vast majority of players were watching the World Championship from within the game.
Yet these people had come regardless, because even though it was a game, they wanted to witness the matches unfold directly before their eyes.
Just as in the past, when people would travel to venues to watch and cheer for computer-based competitive games.
“Now then, we finally reveal it! The preliminary round of the Third World Championship is…”
And so the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived.
What would the preliminary round of this World Championship be?
Most people had assumed it would be a survival match.
After all, the preliminary rounds of both the first and second World Championships had been conducted as survival matches.
But, defying everyone’s expectations.
[ Dungeon Conquest ]
“It’s Dungeon Conquest!”
– Dungeon?
– Wait, Dungeon Conquest?
– Not a survival match?
– Wow, insane.
– They’re changing the preliminary format?
– I heard tons of teams had already devised strategies based on the survival match format.
– I heard some countries even formed alliances before the competition even started, serves them right.
– Yeah, this is definitely more fair.
– Survival matches were always uncomfortable to watch because of all those alliance shenanigans.
Dungeon Conquest had been selected.
The spectators could only react with shock.
But the shock wasn’t limited to the spectators alone.
The competitors in the Waiting Room, upon learning this fact, were equally stunned.
“How can they suddenly change the competition format like this!”
“Damn it, we’ve already planned our entire strategy around the survival match.”
“What about the alliances we’ve already formed?”
“What else? It flew away.”
“Damn it!”
Everyone was caught off guard.
However, not all the athletes were surprised.
Among the nations that had heard the preliminary round would be a Dungeon conquest:
“I had a feeling the preliminary event wouldn’t change for no reason.”
“The fact that the preliminary round changed to a raid format was the hint from the start.”
“Good. We came prepared, having focused our training on boss raids and Dungeon conquests. That’s enough.”
Nations that had anticipated this fact.
“Captain, they’re saying it’s a Dungeon conquest, not a survival match?”
“It doesn’t matter. What’s important is us. As long as we perform well, the event format is irrelevant.”
“Krhehe, that’s true.”
There were many who didn’t concern themselves with the event format.
In any case, as the commotion continued.
“I will now explain how the preliminary round will proceed!”
The Announcer began explaining the preliminary round.
“The match will be judged entirely by records! Only one thing is recorded!”
Then a message displayed via hologram in the center of the Tournament Arena.
[ Clear Time ]
“Clear time! In other words, conquest time! Rankings will be determined by comparing the time until the boss monster’s last breath!”
– That’s fair enough
– Yeah, this is it
– A competition where you can confirm the team’s true strength without interference
– Since Dungeon conquest is Second’s primary objective, this is perfect
Clear time.
A structure where rankings were determined by comparing the time it took to conquer a Dungeon, and nations that failed to reach a certain rank were all eliminated.
“Now, the first team to face the monsters is none other than! The nation of knights! The British Team!”
– Ooh, Britain!
– I heard that out of the five members of the British team, four were knights.
– What about the fifth?
New Building ○○
Wow haha
And so, the match began.
“Grooooooooo-!!”
Second’s preliminary round officially commenced.
* * *
Dungeon conquest.
After learning the preliminary round format, we could finally catch our breath.
Other teams had apparently formed alliances with their respective nations in advance to prepare for a survival match.
But Korea had no such alliances whatsoever.
“The type of monster hasn’t been revealed.”
“Well, that’s only natural, isn’t it?”
Trapped in the Waiting Room as we were, we had no way of knowing what was happening outside.
The monitors displayed nothing, and they’d even confiscated our phones.
Fortunately, the tedium didn’t last long.
“Korean Team, you’re up in five minutes!”
“Understood.”
Our turn came quickly enough.
“Let’s move out!”
“Yes.”
“Here we go.”
“Finally.”
“Let’s go.”
“Why is everyone so tense? If you’re nervous, should I take the lead?”
“Do as you see fit.”
Our moment had arrived at last.
Jeok-hwa had tried to step forward, but I was the leader, wasn’t I?
I took point, with Jeok-hwa, Yul-ha, Tae-ryeon, and Million falling into line behind me.
Following the Tower Guide, we headed toward the entrance.
“Roooaaarrr!”
“Korea! Korea! Korea! Korea! Korea!”
“Please show us something this time!”
“Just make it past the preliminaries! Please!”
The crowd’s fervent cheers washed over us.
I’d heard plenty of cheering in the game before, but—
‘Reality is… different.’
The roar of a real crowd felt entirely different.
How to describe it?
It was as though my emotions were swelling up inside me.
The heat of the crowd seemed to resonate within me, stoking my own fervor higher.
“Here we go.”
“What’s with everyone? Smile—it’s a beautiful day like this.”
“Ha, it’s quite an experience.”
“I’m nervous.”
My teammates seemed to feel the same way.
As we ascended the stage amid the roaring cheers, I spotted the specialized capsules prepared for us.
We naturally found our respective positions and entered.
[ The Second World. ]
[ Welcome to ‘Second’. ]
I’d logged into Second.
Normally, I should have been summoned in the Kalbera Territory where I had last logged out.
‘It’s dark.’
Despite logging into the game, all I could see was pitch-black darkness.
Then a System Message appeared.
[ Preliminary Round – Dungeon Conquest begins. ]
[ 10… 9… 8…. ]
A message announcing the preliminary round.
The moment the numbers reached zero.
[ Preliminary Round – Dungeon Conquest has started. ]
My vision brightened.
Well, it brightened ever so slightly, but my surroundings were still difficult to make out.
The first sound I heard was.
“Blessing.”
Million’s voice.
And with it.
Whoosh!
Everything around me suddenly blazed with light.
This was one of the Paladin’s greatest advantages.
Without needing to cast a separate spell to illuminate the surroundings.
Simply using a skill powered by holy energy was enough to brighten the area.
In that newly illuminated vision.
“Hehe, a dungeon conquest? This should be fun!”
“Jeok-hwa, please follow orders this time. You absolutely cannot go running off down some strange path on your own.”
“Focus.”
“Ha ha.”
Together with my teammates.
‘Walls.’
The surrounding environment came into view.
A narrow passage.
A low ceiling.
Brick walls and ceiling stretched along the cramped corridor.
The most important thing was the end of the passage.
The end of the corridor, barely illuminated by Million’s light.
There, the path split into two directions.
The moment I saw this, I pushed off the ground and sprinted forward.
Dash!
My teammates immediately followed suit.
This was because I had already anticipated such a situation.
And so I quickly briefed them on the dungeon’s nature.
“The dungeon type is a labyrinth. More specifically, it appears to be a maze-type dungeon.”
“Hmm, as expected.”
“This dungeon is the type where you need to be careful not just about monsters, but especially about traps and getting lost in the passages. So….”
Among us, I was the most confident in dungeon clearing.
So we decided that everyone would follow me the moment we entered any dungeon.
We quickly reached a fork in the path.
Normally, you’d have to analyze the fork first to find clues about the correct route, or rush down one direction to establish a sense of direction.
“Luke, the compass.”
– Yes, Master.
[ Golden Compass ]
( Non-Tradeable )
Type: Tool
Grade: Mythic
I had plenty of dedicated items for pathfinding.
“It’s to the right.”
“Got it!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, I could choose the correct path at the fork.
* * *
“The Korean Team is beginning their dungeon clear!”
– Korea! Korea! Korea!
Please, I’m begging you.
– Just pass the preliminaries! Please!
– Jeok-hwa won’t act alone this time, right?
The Korean Team’s preliminary match had begun.
All the Koreans watching the match cheered for their team, but worry was unavoidable.
– But this match is incredibly difficult
– If it was just like the preliminaries where we only fought the boss monster, Mir could have carried us!
– Dungeon clearing is harder than expected
– Yeah, even Mir won’t find this easy
– Other countries’ rogue class users struggled too
– Now that I think about it, the Korean Team doesn’t have any rogue class users
– Wow, it’s true ㅠㅠ If this happens, won’t you be unable to find your way and get caught in all the traps?
– Rogues are never around when you need them!
– But Tae-ryeon is pretty versatile, so maybe there’s a way…?
The people had already seen how other countries cleared this dungeon.
The dungeon’s difficulty was far greater than expected.
The fastest country so far had cleared it in just over 40 minutes.
Even that was absurdly fast, and there was even a team that got wiped out by traps while wandering through the maze.
So everyone thought the Korean Team, lacking a rogue class to find paths and disarm traps, would inevitably struggle.
Whoosh!
– ??
The Korean Team began running the moment the competition started.
I had watched preliminary rounds from many nations until now, but this was my first time seeing something like this.
Then.
– They’re deciding the direction without even hesitating?
– What’s going on?
– That’s the right way, isn’t it? Do they know the path?
– That can’t be. Even Thief-class rankers need to use skills to figure it out, but the Korean Team is just running without skills or anything?
– From what I can see, they’re just running without thinking.
– Well, without a Thief-class member, there are limited ways to figure out the path anyway. This might actually be a strategy.
– But didn’t other teams step into traps as a group and fall into the abyss?
– Yeah, they did.
– I’m anxious ㅠㅠ
Without time to deliberate, I decide on the direction immediately.
Until this point, all the spectators believed the Korean Team was choosing their path thoughtlessly.
But then.
– Huh? Right?
– They’re lucky.
– Left?
– What, that’s the correct answer again?
– Again.
– Are they really deciding randomly? Every path is correct?
– But can every path be correct just from random selection?
– But if they used skills to figure out the path, they’re deciding directions way too quickly.
As time passed, their thoughts had no choice but to change.
The Korean Team was finding the maze’s paths perfectly.
The remarkable fact didn’t end there.
The traps in this maze weren’t only laid on the wrong paths.
Threatening traps were scattered throughout the correct paths as well.
And yet.
“I’ll move while staying against the left wall.”
– ?
“This floor section cannot be stepped on. I’ll move by leaping across here.”
– ??
“This one… I’ll destroy it and proceed.”
Crash!!
– ???
The Korean Team.
No—Mir, leading at the front, had detected every single trap in advance.
He either circumvented the traps by detouring around them, destroyed them, or even pulled out a kit to disarm them directly.
And even.
“Around the corner, there’s a monster. It looks like it’s preparing an ambush, but I’ll strike first instead.”
Thwack!
“Kyieeeek—”
I turned the tables on the monster that had been readying its ambush, striking it preemptively.
Watching this unfold,
– Wooooaaaah!
– Incredible!
– Keep it up all the way to the Boss Room!
– Crush it right now!!
Among the excited spectators,
– Wait, is he carrying a map or something…?
– A map?
– Could he have received information beforehand?
– Like cheating or something
– No way…?
Suspicions of foul play by the Korean Team began to emerge.

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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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