The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 444
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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 444
Chapter 444
The moment the first match of the main tournament ended.
“Korea! Korea! Korea! First place!”
“Waaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
The Tournament Arena was engulfed in roaring cheers.
The other competitors wouldn’t have known.
But the Announcer and spectators watching through holograms from outside could see it clearly.
The eight-trigram Taegeuk symbol that had slaughtered the monsters of Monster Island.
The fact that this catastrophic force was none other than the Korean Team’s doing.
“Korea! Korea! Korea! Korea!”
As such, the Tournament Arena overflowed with those chanting Korea’s name.
It wasn’t just Korea alone.
The power the Korean Team displayed in this match was utterly overwhelming.
“Wow!”
“Wow, this is serious.”
“Indeed, it’s Korea.”
“There must have been some mistake last year. Yes, there’s no way gaming powerhouse Korea would collapse like that.”
“Still, the skill gap is enormous, isn’t it?”
“Right, the wall between us is too high. First place is basically Korea’s level anyway.”
“I agree.”
“My country already fell out. So from now on, I’m rooting for Korea! Go Korea!”
“Me too!”
Other nations were also cheering for Korea.
Especially those whose own teams had already been eliminated in the preliminaries or main rounds, ranked too low, or were so outmatched they saw no hope.
As time passed, more and more people in the Tournament Arena chanted Korea’s name.
Of course, there were those who did not.
“This doesn’t make sense! How did Korea suddenly become first place! I checked the rankings—Korea was clearly dead last!”
These were the players who had just exited the game.
It was inevitable.
They hadn’t witnessed the massive eight-trigram Taegeuk symbol that appeared at the game’s end, so they didn’t know it was the Korean Team’s attack.
Seeing Korea take first place, one could have inferred it.
Yet no one accepted this fact.
Even if someone told them the truth.
“What? That was the Korean Team’s attack? Impossible!”
“It covered the entire Monster Island! A magic circle of that magnitude, cast by users! And only five of them at that? How is that possible?”
“Wasn’t that something the organizers deployed to clean up monsters when time ran out?”
“Honestly, does it make sense? That the Korean Team cast that?”
They refused to believe it easily.
In truth, it was only natural.
An attack that covered the entirety of Monster Island, annihilating every monster on it.
Logically, such an attack couldn’t possibly be unleashed by users.
And certainly not by just five of them.
In less than two hours—it was simply incomprehensible.
Moreover.
“Does this make any sense! Mountain Grizzly was a monster we were raiding!”
“Absolutely!”
“That pattern was from the Korean Team’s attack? But that’s not even the main issue! A player from the Korean Team stole our monster!”
“Exactly! This is unfair!”
Two teams were particularly vocal in their protests to the referee.
One was the Chinese Team, and the other was the team that had been preparing an ambush while observing the Chinese Team’s monster raid.
The Chinese Team had at least been recognized for their contribution and awarded points, allowing them to advance in this match, though their ranking was nearly at the bottom.
For the Chinese Team, who had been confident favorites for the championship, there was no choice but to be furious.
However.
“In the main event Monster Hunter, monster stealing is legal. If stealing isn’t possible, couldn’t you secure the monster first? Especially with boss monsters.”
“But…!”
“So are you saying that while you’re attacking a boss monster, no one else should ever attack it?”
“It’s not exactly that, but this is going too far!”
“Regardless, your contribution was recognized and you received point distribution. I won’t entertain further complaints.”
“Damn it!”
The referee refused to hear them out.
Under different circumstances, perhaps, but during the match, monster stealing wasn’t poor sportsmanship—it was legitimate competitive play.
In fact, the Chinese Team had it relatively better.
While their ranking was disappointing, they had been recognized for their contribution and advanced to the main tournament.
The team in truly dire straits was.
“What is this…”
The team that had been watching the Chinese Team’s boss raid, waiting to steal the final blow.
With three Dark Assassins and one Archer on their roster, they had planned to secure advancement by intercepting the boss monster’s final blow.
But thanks to the Korean Team and Mir’s performance, they were eliminated without ceremony.
The referee wasn’t listening to the Chinese Team’s protests, so there was no way they’d hear theirs.
And so.
“What do we do now…”
They simply exited the Tournament Arena in defeat.
Well, with their composition of three Dark Assassins and one Archer plus a Priest, they would have been eliminated in the next match anyway.
* * *
“Damn it!”
The Chinese Team’s leader cursed aloud.
As soon as the match ended, they returned to their Lodging.
Of course, it wasn’t to rest.
“What happened! Analysis team!”
“Yes, we’ll begin the briefing immediately.”
To understand what had gone wrong in this match.
That was the purpose of this analysis.
Seven analysts waiting at their lodging quickly prepared the briefing.
Soon after, all five members of the Chinese Team took their seats.
Through a massive monitor that seemed to touch the ceiling, footage of the match began to play.
What appeared immediately was.
“What on earth happened?”
The Korean Team, summoned to the outer region of Monster Island.
Having used their advantage, they were summoned to the outer region they had selected.
Naturally, not a single monster was visible in the vicinity.
I wondered what they could possibly be doing there.
“As you can see, the Korean Team split up and began moving in three directions.”
“What are they doing?”
The Korean Team was running along the Coastline, drawing lines on the ground.
It seemed like a meaningless action, but.
“According to our analysis, it appears they were drawing a magic circle.”
“A magic circle?”
The analysis team immediately provided the answer.
After that, it was simply a repetition of the same scene.
The Korean Team continued drawing lines on the ground as they rushed forward, clearing away every obstacle in their path.
Then, the players running along the Coastline met and connected the lines.
The moment light burst forth from Island Center, they teleported there.
Boom!
The magic circle activated.
The pattern of the Eight Trigrams and Taegeuk that they had thought was a calamity.
That calamity which annihilated every monster on Monster Island was indeed brought forth by the hands of the Korean Team.
“Insane….”
Words failed them.
That this was truly an attack executed by the Korean Team.
“Is that even possible?”
A ridiculously vast range targeting the entirety of Monster Island.
Not only did it completely annihilate ordinary monsters, but despite the Chinese Team having dealt significant damage, the power was strong enough to bring the boss monster to the brink of death.
If they were in that position, could they execute an attack of such magnitude?
‘There’s no way.’
It was impossible.
This had long since surpassed the level of attacks a user could produce.
This was a transcendent attack that only a boss monster like a dragon could create, not a user.
“Is this even possible?”
The Chinese Team questioned the analysts.
Seven analysts answered with difficulty, beads of sweat trickling down their faces as they faced the Chinese Team’s irritable questioning.
“Honestly, no matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand it. Even if I try to comprehend it theoretically, it’s simply an impossible attack.”
“But the Korean Team did it, didn’t they?”
“That’s the problem.”
The analysts who shook their heads began presenting their analysis results in earnest.
“Drawing the magic circle itself isn’t problematic. It was actually a good strategy. There were fewer monsters and users in the outer region….”
“Are you praising Korea right now in front of us?”
“I-I apologize. The problem comes after that. To activate a magic circle of this magnitude, you’d first need at least two practitioners of the same class.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Moreover, that’s no ordinary magic circle. It appears to be a uniquely Korean class, but no matter how I look at it, all five players seem to have different classes, which makes it incomprehensible.”
“And?”
“Mana.”
“Mana?”
“A magic circle vast enough to cover Monster Island. Activating it would require an enormous amount of mana.”
“If all five of them combined their strength….”
“It’s not that simple. Even if all five Korean Team members were Sages, it still wouldn’t make sense.”
“Then?”
“At least dozens of Sages at that level would need to gather to meet the minimum activation conditions. In fact, even dozens might not be enough.”
“What if they used high-grade mana stones?”
“Even that wouldn’t have been remotely possible.”
“So how exactly did the Korean Team pull this off?!”
“…I apologize. Aside from the possibility that they used that ‘crimson crystal,’ there was no way to determine it.”
“Damn it, you useless fools!”
The analysts lowered their heads deeply and left their seats at the Chinese Team’s outburst.
The Korean Team’s magic circle.
I don’t know what loophole they used to deploy such a massive magic circle.
‘This is unforgivable.’
They dared to steal even the boss monster we were hunting, lowering our ranking.
This was absolutely unforgivable.
Regardless of other nations, Korea would be utterly crushed.
With that resolve, the Chinese Team’s players clenched their fists tightly.
* * *
While other teams urgently reviewed the ‘Monster Hunter’ match and analyzed our team’s strength.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Everyone did great!”
“Phew, my feet are burning from all that running.”
“Haha, you’ve all done well.”
We were celebrating our victory.
Following the preliminaries, we secured first place in the first match of the main tournament, opening up an overwhelming gap over other nations.
Just last year, the Korean Team had been eliminated in the preliminaries.
Right now, people are calling us one of the strongest championship contenders.
No, it’s not even at the level of being a contender anymore—people are actually saying things like “The Korean Team will obviously win the championship!”
There was no way my mood could be anything but excellent.
“Let me start with some quick feedback.”
Still, I couldn’t let myself get too caught up in the victory.
We quickly regained our composure and began reviewing the match again.
In truth, there was quite a bit of feedback to go through.
After all, far more variables had emerged than we’d anticipated while executing our formation strategy.
Still, since it had been a flawless victory, the feedback wrapped up quickly.
The important part came next.
“What’s the next match?”
Quite a few teams had already been eliminated.
Given that.
“From here on, we’ll be in genuine competition between teams from each nation.”
The preliminary culling was over.
What lay ahead was the true beginning of the main tournament.
“Sixteen teams remain—we’re at the round of sixteen. But if it proceeds like last year, twelve teams will be eliminated in the next match, not eight.”
“So if we win the next match, we go straight to the semifinals? That’s when the semifinals begin?”
“Yes. And the semifinals will likely be conducted as team battles without any special missions. The next match will be the last one in mission format.”
That was right.
One more match, and we’d advance straight to the semifinals.
We’d only played two matches.
And yet we’d already climbed this far.
“So let’s make sure we win the next match too. No matter what.”
Not long after making that resolve.
“Thank you for your patience! The Second World Tournament! The second match of the main tournament is about to begin!!”
The second match of the main tournament began immediately.
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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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