I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 204

204.

From the moment the middle-aged woman appeared, the surroundings became eerily silent. Not even a breeze stirred, and the sounds of birds or water vanished.

Like the hatchling from before, the woman who seemed fragile on the surface was anything but. In the first place, dragons had an ambiguous concept of gender.

In this situation where even breathing felt cautious, the hunters couldn’t even think of running away.

‘If I move, I’ll die.’

Of course, they would die even if they didn’t move.

That’s how overwhelming the opponent was. Even S-class hunters felt instinctive fear.

[Skill ‘Silent Night’ is strongly activated.]

Even if it was an SS-class monster, they wouldn’t be so overwhelmingly defeated if they kept their wits about them. But in this psychological state, it was impossible.

‘If I freeze up like this, I’ll just die a meaningless death.’

Seo-ah steeled her mind and moved her legs. She was the only one who could move here right now.

Seo-ah stood between the hunters and the suddenly appearing woman, then broadly activated [Silent Night].

As Seo-ah obscured the view and used her skill, she heard the hunters behind her taking deep breaths. In the midst of all this, Ruben was so frightened that he even hiccuped.

As S-class hunters, this was probably the first time they had experienced something like this.

“My baby, my baby… how could this happen….”

A sorrow so deep it was painful emanated from the woman. Seo-ah, who had been relatively calm in the face of the opponent’s intense magical power and force, couldn’t help but flinch and step back at the almost crazed grief.

‘What, what do I do?’

Was Yoo Ji-an on his way? Should she buy time and run?

“Hic, hic. How could this happen… did those bug-like things do this?”

The woman, who had been weeping and shedding tears on the hatchling’s corpse, lifted her head with a chilling expression the next moment.

“Humans, I gave you enough chances. But you repay me like this. Devouring you won’t be enough to quell my anger.”

“……”

What excuse could work in front of a mother whose child had died?

Seo-ah was rather relieved that [Gentle Sunlight] didn’t activate here. If such a skill had been activated and had an effect now, Seo-ah would have been ashamed.

Right now, it was better to fight than talk.

After all, that Red Dragon was the boss of this gate.

She had to fight. To clear this gate, she had to fight and win. But how? Was that even possible? How did Yoo Ji-an do it?

Jackson reached out to Seo-ah but couldn’t say a word. He was a strong hunter. And as strong as he was, he accurately recognized the opponent’s strength.

Even though he had asked Seo-ah to protect them, he didn’t realize she would really step forward and shield them like this. At the same time, he felt ashamed.

Then the woman uttered a curse.

“Starting with you, I will wipe out the seeds of humanity… completely.”

“…Hunter Park Seo-ah.”

The moment Jackson stretched out his foot to go next to Seo-ah, Seo-ah felt an enormous and vast storm of emotions rushing in with [Emotional Transference].

“Be careful!”

Seo-ah instinctively wrapped her arms around the three behind her all at once.

Jackson’s blue eyes widened in surprise.

At the same time, the four of them fell backward together in the storm of magical power.

“Ugh!”

Someone screamed, and a huge flame engulfed Seo-ah’s back.

The SS-class Red Dragon’s fire breath was truly terrifying.

Already, the surroundings had been reduced to ashes from the battle with the hatchling. But this dragon’s breath went even further, melting the ground with its heat.

“Ugh.”

Seo-ah cast buffs on herself and raised [Fire Resistance] as much as possible.

SS-class was definitely different. The hatchling’s breath was just a little warm, but now, even with [Fire Resistance], her back was burning.

She could feel her mana draining rapidly. How long could she last?

Seo-ah compared the rate at which [Mana Battery] was replenishing her mana with the rate at which her mana was being consumed and calculated the time.

Not only [Fire Resistance] but also [Brain], [Silent Night], [Ironclad Pine], and [Love Yourself] were running simultaneously.

Sweat profusely beaded on her forehead.

“Hey, at this rate, you’ll die first.”

Even Ruben, who had been ignoring Seo-ah all along, spoke in a worried tone. Mila chimed in.

“Yes. Come out for a moment; we’ll move back on our own. We didn’t come here just to be protected like this.”

“But….”

If they were exposed to this heat without any protection, even S-class hunters wouldn’t be safe.

As Seo-ah despaired, Jackson propped himself up, placing his hand on the ground.

“Hunter Park Seo-ah.”

Seo-ah couldn’t answer and barely managed to open her eyes to look at him.

“I didn’t mean for you to handle it alone.”

Then Jackson’s eye storm fiercely enveloped their surroundings as if to counter the breath. It evaporated as soon as it touched the heat, but the temperature definitely dropped.

Seo-ah also breathed a sigh of relief.

But just enduring like this wouldn’t solve the problem. Just as she thought that, the breath stopped.

As Seo-ah got up and turned around, a much heavier and lower voice than the hatchling’s echoed in her head.

【That is, it belongs to Ignis.】

Just hearing that voice made her feel like she was falling into an endless abyss.

“Yes.”

Seo-ah stood up without removing [Fire Resistance] and faced the giant dragon.

The dragon also deeply lowered its head to look at the small Seo-ah.

If the hatchling was about the height of a four-story building, this was…

It seemed to be ten times that size. She had thought the hatchling was quite large, but seeing this, it was clear that the hatchling was just a baby.

So she had to tilt her head back quite a bit to see where the dragon’s ‘face’ might be.

【I have fought with the man who had it. Even if all other memories are faint, I can clearly recall the moment of death.】

What did that mean? Someone else had Ignis’s [Fire Resistance] too?

【That man did not have it in the first battle, but he had it in the second battle. I lost both times. But I was reborn with that memory.】

‘Regression!’

This Red Dragon also recognized that his life was repeating, just like Yoo Ji-an.

The two battles the dragon was talking about were the battles Yoo Ji-an had fought in his past life.

Seo-ah looked at the other hunters in dismay, but this voice seemed to be audible only to Seo-ah.

The hunters seemed to have come to their senses as the breath stopped and took out their weapons.

But the dragon didn’t waver at all and spoke to Seo-ah again.

【Are you acquainted with that man?】

“Yes, and he’s here too.”

【Good, it will be nice to meet him. It doesn’t matter that I lost in the past. During the long years, there were few enemies as interesting as him.】

He said with a voice tinged with regret.

Was the dragon’s anger a little relieved? Of course not. His intense sorrow was still ongoing. Seo-ah didn’t let go of her tension.

【I knew there were other worlds. So I was going to leave this world with my child when it grew up. Ah! But you ruined it.】

The dragon’s head disappeared above Seo-ah’s field of vision. When she raised her head again, it was even bigger. It was enough to cover an entire mountain.

Listening to his words, it became even clearer. The dragon would not forgive them.

And because the system didn’t want the Red Dragon to escape, it gave us a mission to kill him instead.

‘What exactly is the system?’

It gives missions to awaken Seo-ah as an S-class supporter, creates gates [dungeons], summons monsters to put her in danger, and gives rewards if she defeats them.

It was too complicated and huge a problem to think about, but after clearing upper-level gates in succession, she couldn’t help but wonder.

In the very brief moment she was lost in thought, Jackson’s urgent voice was heard.

“Get out of the way!”

The dragon was casting magic. Moreover, mana was condensing in a form that surrounded Seo-ah.

It seemed like it was going to eliminate Seo-ah, who had [Fire Resistance], first.

There was no way to physically avoid that ring of mana right now.

‘I don’t want to get caught, but.’

Seo-ah’s hesitation was short. She used [Teleportation], which she had obtained by granting Mila’s wish, without hesitation and went next to Jackson.

“You, as expected.”

“Come back!”

Jackson was about to say something, but Seo-ah cut him off.

As a huge fireball flew in, Jackson and Seo-ah dodged in opposite directions.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

The experienced dragon relentlessly poured out magic in all directions. Most of it was fire magic, so Seo-ah could withstand it relatively well, but the others couldn’t.

Occasionally, physical force was mixed in with the magic.

As soon as Ruben skillfully dodged a fire arrow, a hot stone hit his shoulder and passed by.

Instantly, his armor was torn, and Ruben collapsed, clutching his shoulder.

“Aaaagh!”

The power of each shot was extraordinary. As if determined to completely kill the bug, the dragon didn’t miss and reloaded its breath directly at Ruben.

‘I’m going to die.’

Ruben squeezed his eyes shut at the pouring pillar of fire. But contrary to what he had expected, he felt nothing.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Seo-ah’s face.