I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 137

137.

As soon as Cha Tae-woon descended, he deflected the crab’s pincers with his shield.

The force sent the large crab flying backward, slamming into the wall.

[Crab]

[Overall Grade: B⁻]

[Attacks by swinging its massive pincers, which can cut through rebar in one go. It is faster and more threatening in the water.]

[Item: Crab Carapace, Pincers]

“Ugh, what is all this?”

Song Jin-ah, who followed him down, wrinkled her nose in disgust. Pirates and crabs, unable to climb the stairs, were gathered in a large group below.

“We need to take care of these guys first.”

“Alright.”

With a loud shout, Cha Tae-woon held his shield and sword in a cross shape. A pure white mist erupted around him.

Everything that touched the mist, except for Song Jin-ah, froze rapidly.

Song Jin-ah switched her weapon to a mace and began to smash the frozen creatures one by one.

Bang, bang, bang, rumble!

Ice shards flew everywhere as towering ice statues collapsed.

When [Ice Fog] filled the entire space, Cha Tae-woon finally began to move.

Every time he swung his shield and sword, the enemies around him crumbled.

“We must reclaim our treasure… Keuk!”

Occasionally, those not completely frozen were pinned down with his sword. The dead creatures vanished without bleeding.

The fact that they vanished proved they were truly ‘magical creatures.’

Whack! Crack-

Song Jin-ah jumped high and swung her mace wide, shattering four crabs into pieces with a single motion.

“Looks like it’s somewhat cleared up?”

Song Jin-ah caught her breath and looked back. Cha Tae-woon nodded slightly.

Every time this happened, Cha Tae-woon momentarily forgot that her primary role was as a healer.

“Let’s go deeper.”

Cha Tae-woon pointed to the entrance of a small cave, just big enough for one person to enter.

“I hope this isn’t the scenic route. If it is, it’s going to be totally unpopular… this narrow and rough path.”

“As I said before, I have never been here, even in the other world.”

“Ah, yes, yes. Of course, you haven’t.”

Song Jin-ah waved her hand dismissively at Cha Tae-woon’s inflexible words and stepped forward.

“Wait for me.”

Song Jin-ah sent [Tail of the Sun] (a magical dagger) into the cave. The dagger shot in quickly and was seemingly sucked inside with a long wail.

Meanwhile, she felt the vibration of [Tail of the Moon] (another magical dagger). If something happened to [Tail of the Sun], [Tail of the Moon] would definitely send a signal.

After waiting a moment, [Tail of the Sun] returned safely to Song Jin-ah’s hand.

“Looks like the path itself is okay. Let’s go in.”

Song Jin-ah walked ahead first, and then Cha Tae-woon entered.

At first, he had to bend over because his head touched the ceiling, but gradually he was able to straighten up and walk. The passage widened as they went further in.

Suddenly, Song Jin-ah, who was walking in front, turned around abruptly and beckoned to Cha Tae-woon. He approached her with a questioning look.

Song Jin-ah lightly placed her hand on his exposed wrist.

“Is [Ice Fog] consuming quite a bit of mana? Is it because the range is wide?”

“How did you know?”

“What do you take me for? I’m the best healer in the country, you know.”

Song Jin-ah immediately cast [Mana Recovery] on Cha Tae-woon.

[Mana Recovery] wasn’t like a typical [Health Recovery] that fills you up all at once, but rather a method that increases the recovery rate over a certain period.

After casting [Mana Recovery], Song Jin-ah walked forward again without looking back. Cha Tae-woon rubbed his wrist slightly and followed her.

Like a long-necked jar, a large, round space appeared at the end of the cave.

There was some water on the floor, just enough to wet the soles of their shoes.

There, they discovered a bizarre pirate.

Song Jin-ah stopped when she saw him and whispered to Cha Tae-woon.

“That’s probably…”

“The boss of this place.”

“What boss? He’s a pirate, so he’s a captain.”

“Ah.”

He was wearing a large hat like you’d see in a pirate movie and stood tall in the middle of the wide space.

The pirate captain shouted loudly when he spotted them.

“Are you the ones who stole the treasure?”

However, Cha Tae-woon and Song Jin-ah lightly ignored the captain’s booming voice and spoke among themselves.

“Treasure? What are you talking about?”

“Could he be talking about the item that combines the elixir?”

“Ah, is that so?”

The pirate captain shouted even louder when he was ignored.

“Hand over the treasure willingly! Otherwise…!”

Whoosh-!

Before the captain could finish speaking, Cha Tae-woon fired an [Ice Missile].

He deliberately didn’t attack too quickly because he wanted to gauge the captain’s skills.

Thanks to that, the captain was able to avoid it, but he looked like he aged ten years. He caught his breath and shouted in a slightly more trembling voice than before.

“Formidable guys have come!”

Cha Tae-woon still ignored the captain and said to Song Jin-ah.

“It would be good to capture that guy and interrogate him. I think he knows something.”

“That’s a very… Association President-like solution, but I agree.”

As soon as their opinions aligned, Cha Tae-woon and Song Jin-ah shot towards the captain quickly.

Still, as the leader of the pirates, he was more difficult than the other pirates.

The captain took out a rope with a hook from somewhere, threw it at the ceiling to secure it, and then swung away on the rope.

He began to throw throwing stars at them.

“Those who covet the pirate’s treasure! Disaster will befall you!”

He moved faster than he looked, uttering lines like a scene from a movie.

But even so, he was no match for S-class hunters.

Song Jin-ah, dodging the throwing stars while watching his movements, jumped high, using Cha Tae-woon’s shoulder as a stepping stone.

Then, she cut the rope that the captain was riding on.

Cha Tae-woon froze the captain’s feet as he fell and tried to escape.

Song Jin-ah grabbed the rope that the captain had dropped, and it became the rope that bound him.

A B-class magical creature wouldn’t be able to cut a single rope, but the captain somehow couldn’t bring himself to try to break free, overwhelmed by the terrifying aura emanating from them.

Song Jin-ah held the captain tightly, and Cha Tae-woon stood in front of him, slowly fiddling with his fist.

“It would be better for everyone if you spoke quickly.”

“I won’t say a word to thieves… Euhuk!”

After that, the captain’s screams echoed several times inside the cave.

After a while, the pirate captain’s face was swollen and blotchy, and one of his front teeth was missing.

“Ugh… Some guy took the treasure that I was carefully keeping in the treasure chest. He was a very, very nimble and strong man. He disappeared before I could even chase him, so I was looking for him.”

“Where is the treasure chest?”

“It’s naturally on our ship….”

“Lead the way.”

The captain flinched, but when Song Jin-ah pulled the rope tightly from behind, he quickly said again.

“It’s, it’s over there!”

Song Jin-ah and Cha Tae-woon exchanged glances and made the captain lead the way. Where they followed him, there was a small model pirate ship.

Even though they were magical creatures, it was questionable that they sincerely believed that was a pirate ship, but they followed without any change in expression.

As the pirate captain said, the treasure chest was inside the ship. At first glance, this chest also looked more like a model decorated in an amusement park.

The chest was wide open, and the inside was empty. A small gate [a portal to another dimension] was swirling on top of the chest.

“Did you come from this gate?”

When Song Jin-ah asked, the pirate captain asked back with a blank expression.

“What is a gate? I am a pirate. Of course, I sail the wide sea on this ship and temporarily docked here. If it weren’t for that thief, I would have already left.”

“…Okay.”

The empty pupils were strange for a moment, but it was a consistent reaction when asking a human living inside the gate about the gate.

Cha Tae-woon looked inside the gate. Something else was wriggling inside, trying to come out.

He hesitated for a moment and then casually closed the lid of the treasure chest.

“Wait…!”

At that moment, the pirate captain disappeared with a final scream, along with the rope. The gate gradually became smaller, became a dot, and then disappeared.

“Ah, the pirates were magical creatures to protect this chest.”

Cha Tae-woon, who had made a surprising discovery, had a strangely proud voice. Song Jin-ah nonchalantly poured cold water on his pride.

“I guess so. Anyway, our mission failed.”

“…….”

Mission failed.

There was no more shocking word than that for the perfectionist Cha Tae-woon.

While he was momentarily shocked and silent, a team chat came.

– Baek Eun-hee: Is everyone alive? If you see this, someone reply.