The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 70

Part 70.

* * *

A tavern selling special beer.

“……What? The Queen is in a coma!?”

“Shh, keep it down, mister.”

“Ah, ahem, sorry.”

Astru was shocked to hear Do-hyun’s news about the Queen’s condition, and he quickly glanced around after Do-hyun’s outburst.

Fortunately, the tavern was so noisy that no one seemed to be paying attention to them.

Astru lowered his voice and continued,

“……So, a coma? Tell me more.”

“Well, it’s as I said. There was a great war 100 years ago when the Abyss appeared, and she overused her Clairvoyance ability and collapsed. She’s been in a coma ever since.”

“The Abyss? The Abyss appeared back then too?”

Do-hyun chuckled at Astru, who looked bewildered, as if the more he heard, the more confused he became.

“You don’t know as much as I thought, do you, mister?”

“Ahem. Well, the other races don’t really tell us anything. You’re just special because you’re doing the main quest.”

“Tsk, tsk, what happens if your tongue is too long?”

“This kid…… Sigh, yeah, you’re so great. It’s always my fault.”

Astru grumbled, unable to argue back, and Do-hyun smirked.

They exchanged playful banter for a moment.

Do-hyun began to tell him about the Abyss, the current situation with the Elves and Dark Elves, and the invaders.

As the story continued, Astru’s face gradually hardened,

“Crazy…… Is the scale really that big?”

“I know, right? That’s why I can’t relax and do anything.”

By the end of the story, Astru was beyond serious, so dumbfounded that he let out a hollow laugh.

And for good reason…….

‘An eye that swallowed the sky? An intruder who drove a wedge between the Elves and Dark Elves, and Lusia Grandel? There were secrets like this?’

Just hearing it as a third party was serious enough.

Moreover, was Astru just an ordinary third party?

He was the leader of a top 10 guild and a user in the ranks of high rankers [players with high rankings].

‘Huh, I didn’t even know about this, and I graduated and went to the next new continent…….’

That was why he could say for sure.

‘The other guild guys probably never imagined that something like this was hidden.’

Whether it was a top 10 guild or not, no one would know this story.

Of course, Astru’s graduation ranking in Elanis was a whopping top 20.

Unlike the main continent, Elanis publicly recorded up to 30th place, so graduating within the top 20 was a huge deal.

Astru, who had no idea that something like this was hidden, was in the top 20, so the top 10 guild guys in similar rankings wouldn’t be any different.

‘……Or maybe? Myeolsal, did that guy know?’

For a moment, that guy came to mind, but Astru quickly shook his head.

If that guy knew, he would have攻略ed [completed/conquered] it somehow and left.

The reason his score was outstanding was because he had invested heavily in the new continent from the beginning, not because he did anything special.

That meant…….

‘We’re the first ones to be攻略ing [completing/conquering] this?’

Astru, who had come to that conclusion, twitched his scarred nose and grinned.

“Interesting. I never imagined I’d be doing something like this in a continent I graduated from.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? You’ve already graduated, so you won’t get any points.”

“Well, I’m already feeling sick to my stomach because of that. If I had攻略ed [completed/conquered] this too, my graduation ranking would have gone up by at least five places.”

Do-hyun leaned back in his chair with a playful look on his face at his half-serious appearance.

“Then you should have waited for me. What was the rush to grow so much on your own?”

“Hey, I’m being reasonable. Gugu and Sword Emperor are even worse. Don’t you feel sorry for me, struggling to survive among these talented people?”

“Tsk, tsk, but you’re a capital-ist [someone who focuses on wealth]. Your DPS-focused [damage per second] play is basically leeching [relying on others].”

“……Wow, it sounds so annoying when I hear it from you. What’s the point of DPS-focused [damage per second] play when you’re just going to parry everything? Even if I invest 10 billion, I get blocked by one skill. Is this even a game? Speaking of which, they need to delete parrying. The balance is completely off.”

Astru, who seemed to be feeling wronged, was visibly agitated.

And for good reason.

In fact, Astru’s record against Do-hyun in Demok was 100 matches, 97 wins, 3 draws, and 0 losses, remaining undefeated.

Considering that those three draws were in the early days when the item difference was severe and the damage wasn’t enough, it was virtually a perfect record.

And the biggest contributor to that victory was none other than parrying [blocking an attack].

“What’s the point of spamming smashes all day? If you just say ‘Parry~’ while picking your nose, I’ll just be digging in the air. I couldn’t even activate it, but why is the skill being activated? I get chills whenever I see a swordsman after that.”

-Wow, look at him talk without breathing. Eliza, he must have a lot of resentment towards his master.

-Rizariza.

-As expected of our lord…… Our lord has been shining since the distant past.

Due to Astru’s combat style, which was simple and brute-force DPS [damage per second], there was no way to 破Parry [break through] Do-hyun’s parrying.

Compared to Chunma, who was ranked 7th at the time and was his eternal rival, and the high rankers who avoided Astru’s burst damage, his record was too pathetic.

It wasn’t just against Do-hyun.

‘Come to think of it, Gugu and Sword Emperor are also hard counters for Astru.’

Gugu, who induces close-quarters combat and physical fights.

Sword Emperor, the master of incapacitation, uses his aerial advantage to deflect everything with swordsmanship, not as much as Do-hyun’s parrying, but still effective.

Both were extreme counters for Astru.

Thanks to this, there was an unfortunate modifier that referred to the purple flavor in Demok…….

-Gatekeeper.

Commonly used in games to refer to those who act as gatekeepers for users trying to enter a certain tier.

Like that word, Astru always grumbled among the top 5 users, saying, “That’s why talented people are no good,” but he was a solid gatekeeper called a disaster to users below 8th place.

If Do-hyun and his companions weren’t extreme counters, perhaps Astru’s evaluation would have been higher?

‘At least he’s the best item빨er [someone who relies heavily on items] I know.’

As the saying goes, the game is all about items.

But unfortunately, items weren’t everything in Demok and God of Creation Online, and Do-hyun had only one thing to say to Astru, who was lamenting.

“Then you should have changed your job to swordsman.”

Do-hyun shrugged and said casually, and Astru closed his mouth for a moment.

“Wow, wow…… really wow…….”

Astru, who wanted to argue but couldn’t find the words, kept moving his lips and only said “wow” before finally letting out a deep sigh.

“Sigh, never mind. Anyway, that’s why talented people are like this…… I’ll just get more angry if I say more.”

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t say that anymore?”

“Shut up, you. I can’t live without saying this.”

How long did they exchange playful banter like that?

Gulp, gulp, Astru finished the last glass in one go, slammed the glass down roughly, and got up from his seat.

It wasn’t because he was sulking.

“Let’s stop talking about this and go now.”

“Where to?”

“Where else? We have to go find the Great Sage.”

“Oh, are you going to come with me there too?”

“Of course. If I get involved in the middle, I might get rejected again, so I have to be with you from the start, or it won’t work.”

Astru grumbled and said as he passed by.

“I’m also curious about how your transcendence will turn out.”

“Well, I’m curious about that too.”

“So let’s go quickly. So where is the Great Sage?”

“The Tower of Trials.”

“Yeah, the Tower of Trials…… Huh?”

Astru, who was answering without much thought to Do-hyun’s cool answer, trailed off and tilted his head.

“……What tower?”

“The Tower of Calamity.”

“? The Tower of Calamity I know?”

“I think you’re thinking of the right one? Unless there are two of the same tower.”

“Crazy…….”

Astru couldn’t help but swear.

It was a natural reaction.

The Tower of Calamity. It was a tower that no user in Arcana could not know.

-The tower that made Arcana the sanctuary of trolls [people who intentionally disrupt and annoy others online].

-The Tower of Calamity? Don’t even mention it, it’s a real disaster.

-The X-like Tower of Calamity. Why did they make content like this? The rewards are unnecessarily good, so you have to攻略 [complete/conquer] it no matter what, which is really X-like [annoying/frustrating].

-I think I’ll get social anxiety if I攻略 [complete/conquer] that.

-It’s really X-like [annoying/frustrating].

When you hear the reviews, the word X-like [annoying/frustrating] is the most common and weakest, and all sorts of swear words are rampant.

The place that made Arcana, the home of the Nymphs, known as the sanctuary of trolls [people who intentionally disrupt and annoy others online], and the place that first spread the notoriety of the lawless zone.

In addition, it is the place where the most users are scouted into the lawless zone due to intentional trolling [disruptive behavior].

“He’s said to be there.”

“……Can’t I not go?”

Astru, who was in danger of stepping into that place again, said with a cold sweat, and Do-hyun grinned and shook his head firmly.

“No way. Aren’t we eternal comrades?”

It was the moment when Do-hyun, who had more enemies than anyone else, was about to step into the sanctuary of trolls [people who intentionally disrupt and annoy others online].

“……Me? Why?”

“A promise is a promise. No time for this, let’s go quickly.”

“……Sigh, how did I get involved with this guy…….”

“That’s life.”

Together with Astru.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that moment, on the ??th floor of the Tower of Calamity.

Saaa-

A desolate forest with a bleak atmosphere, untouched by human feet.

On this floor, where no one enters except for one person, there were very rare traces of battle.

Numerous trees in the surrounding area were cut down and burned, and the floor was full of craters.

Thump, thump.

The only thing intact in this devastated place was the black temple located deep in the forest.

And there was a man sitting on a small rock in front of it.

His body was full of black shadows, and the dark energy flowing from the black temple was covering his body.

“…….”

The forest was scarred with traces of battle.

It was then that the man, who had been silently watching the traces for a while, received an alert.

[2nd Division 5th Unit Commander: L, Laon-nim. I am sorry. I really have nothing to say.]

[2nd Division 5th Unit Commander: Due to my subordinate’s independent actions…… Kaiser and the owner of the armory joined hands…… Our unit suffered near-total annihilation…….]

…….

The series of alerts spewed out messages from his subordinate, full of excuses.

The man, who had been silently looking at the messages for a while, opened his mouth for the first time.

“……They’re moving faster than expected.”

It was a nonchalant voice, but if the subordinate who sent the message was here, he would have been surprised.

The emotion that was faintly visible between the calm voices was clearly a deep ‘interest.’

And it was very rare for him to show such interest, and whenever he did, destruction always occurred.

Crack-!

Just like now.

[Player ‘Lihas’ has been killed.]

[Player ‘Lihas’ has failed to攻略 [complete/conquer] the floor.]

“Kaiser and the owner of the armory…….”

He crushed the head of Lihas, who was lying at his feet, and muttered softly as he watched Lihas’s traces scatter and disappear.

“……I hope you satisfy me more than this guy, Lihas.”

In his hand was a piece of clothing that looked like it had been scorched by black fire.

[Torn Robe of the Great Sage Rasha]

The Great Sage, Brillion Rasha.

The hem of the pure white robe he was wearing.