I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 174

174.

“Sis, this is too tough! We can’t do it alone!”

Kang Su-jeong shouted as she landed, having been struck in the side by the statue’s arm.

The [Necklace Queen] statue hadn’t directly attacked, but it wasn’t entirely unresponsive to the hunters’ attacks.

It deflected attacks with its arms and stomped its feet. Even that was a threatening move for lower-level hunters.

“Hmm.”

Of course, if Seo-ah stepped in, it would be over in an instant.

Even a C-grade boss was an easy target for an S-grade hunter. As proof, Seo-ah didn’t feel any pressure or fear from the boss.

She was just thinking about how to clear it while gaining as much as possible, and to practice being a supporter a bit. That’s why she hadn’t stepped forward.

“Okay, just a moment.”

Dragging it out too long was also inefficient. And that red necklace had been bothering her.

As the group backed away, the slightly scratched [Necklace Queen] sang louder and thrashed its body as if dancing.

Seo-ah watched the scene intently before leaping lightly. Then, she snatched the necklace from the swaying statue and landed on the ground in an instant.

Kiyaaaaaaak-

A tearing scream came from the ice statue.

“Ugh.”

Even Seo-ah had to cover her ears.

But it couldn’t sing anymore. The movements of the snowmen that had been attacking slowed down a bit.

“Keep them in check!”

Seo-ah instructed them to keep the statue and snowmen’s attacks in check. Meanwhile, she looked down at the necklace in her hand. She could clearly feel the wriggling, evil magical energy from the jewel on the necklace.

‘I’m sure. This necklace is the cause of this situation.’

Seo-ah placed the necklace on the ground.

And she slammed it with all her might with the [Laundry Bat]. The jewel didn’t seem to be affected much, probably because it was so hard. Instead, the [Laundry Bat] became tattered.

It seemed inevitable since it was a hastily bought, low-grade weapon.

“Hmm, is this not enough?”

Seo-ah looked at the [Bbyong Hammer] in her inventory. Then she looked at Noh Hak-young. Noh Hak-young was focused on melting the ice statue.

Seo-ah turned her back to them and took out the [Bbyong Hammer]. The [Bbyong Hammer] in her hand vibrated. It felt like it was scolding her for taking it out so late.

‘Sorry, but please help me.’

Seo-ah gripped the [Bbyong Hammer] and slammed it down with all her might. A crack appeared on the first hit, and a crunching sound came on the second.

As the jewel shattered, the struggling statue stopped abruptly. At the same time, Noh Yoon-ji threw a [Hot Punch] with all her might, and Kang Su-jeong kicked the lower part of the statue with all her might from the opposite side.

Bang! Thud-

The statue rolled backward and tumbled on the ground.

“It’s done!”

The three rushed towards the fallen [Necklace Queen] statue.

“Wait a minute.”

Then Seo-ah stopped them and quickly approached. The three hesitated and stepped back.

“Why?”

“I’ll check it out for a second.”

They might not have felt it at all, but at the same time as the necklace broke, the emotions flowing in through [Emotional Transference] were too intense. It was beyond sadness; it was even tragic.

It was on a different level from the concentration of emotions that had been faintly felt in the song earlier.

Even if she ended up killing this monster, Seo-ah wanted to find out the truth about these emotions.

Seo-ah approached the ice statue and bent one knee.

‘Has it completely frozen over?’

Just as she was about to raise her hand slightly, a skill popped up and she flinched.

[Skill ‘Gentle Sunlight’ is activated.]

It wasn’t the first time it had reacted to a monster, but she felt bewildered every time she experienced it. There was no particular reaction visible on the ice statue.

‘The flow of the wind has changed.’

The cold wind that had been blowing all along subsided a little.

Seo-ah regained her senses and placed her hand on it again.

At that moment,

“Uh-oh…!”

Noh Hak-young, who was watching from behind, shouted, covering his mouth.

The moment Seo-ah raised her hand, the ice statue melted into water in an instant.

And a system message popped up for everyone.

[Main Mission Cleared! An exit is created.]

[Rewards will be calculated based on contribution.]

As expected, the boss of this gate was that necklace. It was simpler than expected, but there was a slight trick, so you could get lost if you weren’t careful.

There was a person inside the ice statue. The statue was a ‘woman,’ but the person inside was a young man with platinum blonde hair.

Of course, he was beautiful enough to be mistaken for a woman.

“A person, it’s a person! Is he dead?”

Kang Su-jeong fidgeted and moved forward a little. Perhaps Kang Su-jeong mainly went to lower-level dungeons, so it seemed like it was her first time seeing a humanoid monster.

‘C-grades are rare too….’

“Everything that comes out of the gate is a monster.”

Noh Yoon-ji, who had seen and heard a little more, said cautiously. But seeing it in person made her feel uneasy, so she couldn’t say it strongly.

“Hmm. You can go out first.”

Seo-ah said to the group, looking down at the man.

The gate was cleared. In fact, it didn’t matter if she just left this man behind now.

“What about you, sis?”

“I’m….”

After hesitating for a moment, Seo-ah placed her hand on his chest instead of answering and used a recovery skill.

Thump, thump.

The beating of his heart was transmitted to her palm. He was definitely alive. It was a bit of a shame that her recovery skill level was low.

“Ugh….”

After some time, the man’s blue eyes appeared. His eyes were so clear that they sparkled as if they had been embedded with blue jewels. He was a man of considerable beauty.

“You are….”

“Are you awake?”

“It’s you! You saved me!”

Suddenly, the man jumped up and grabbed Seo-ah’s hands with both hands.

“Ah… well.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!”

As the man expressed his gratitude, another system window popped up.

[Acquired Alexander’s Blessing ‘Cold Resistance’.]

‘It worked!’

Seo-ah’s prediction was correct.

His name was Alexander. Anyway, Seo-ah calmly looked at the man while rejoicing inwardly.

The man, who was expressing his gratitude to Seo-ah, suddenly looked around. And when he saw the world, which was just a desolate snowfield, his eyes filled with tears.

“Sob, sob… the world… everything.”

When he woke up, the world was just a snowfield. The only person he had found in this world so far was this person.

“Because of me….”

The man wept, shedding tears.

“If only I hadn’t coveted the necklace….”

Seo-ah, whose hand was being held, was embarrassed but waited for the man to calm down. [Silent Night] was executed with good timing.

The three members of the group were still watching the situation without leaving.

“What do you mean it’s because of you?”

Noh Yoon-ji asked curiously from behind, and the man, who had calmed down a little, sobbed and told his story.

The man was a prince of a small kingdom. Originally, it wasn’t such a desolate world, and it was a land of abundance with mild weather.

The prince was originally a wizard who could use ice magic, but one day he happened to find a necklace.

The cursed necklace charmed the prince, and from then on, the prince couldn’t control his emotions and indiscriminately used ice magic, even killing people.

The king and queen tried to cover up the sins of their beloved son, the prince. The vassals [loyal subjects] protested to take the necklace from the prince, but the prince froze those vassals.

Other vassals, unable to bear it, started a rebellion and killed the king and queen. And just as they were about to attack the prince for the last time, the prince went berserk and froze the whole world—it was just such a story.

Seo-ah, who had been listening to the story silently, thought.

Then, was the knight with the key a loyalist who tried to protect the royal family until the end?

Su-jeong scratched her cheek at the novel-like story, and Noh Yoon-ji didn’t have much of a response.

“Well, let’s get out of here now anyway. The gate has been cleared.”

Noh Hak-young urged the group, and Seo-ah was about to get up now. She had gotten what she needed, and she had heard the general story, so there was no reason to stay any longer.

“Wait a minute! You’re leaving; where are you going?”

“Well, outside the gate….”

Kang Su-jeong was about to answer absentmindedly, but Seo-ah raised her hand and gave her a look. Kang Su-jeong immediately shut her mouth.

Even if he had intelligence, he probably hadn’t realized that this place was a trapped world yet because it was a C-grade gate. There was no need to remind him of that first.

“We are not from this kingdom. We are going to leave for another place.”

The prince’s expression suddenly changed coldly at Seo-ah’s calm words.

“…Leaving? That won’t do.”

Then he grabbed Seo-ah’s wrist and froze her. It happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that everyone, including Seo-ah, couldn’t stop him.

“This crazy bastard!”

Su-jeong stopped with her fist raised in anger. It was because the prince had taken Seo-ah, who had become an ice sculpture, hostage.

“You’re going to leave me alone? No, you can’t leave. You have to live here with me. Especially you; you saved me.”

At that moment, the exit, which had been swirling in blue, suddenly fluctuated.