I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 225

225.

It looked like a red sun.

If someone unfamiliar with the gate’s emergence, painting the dark sea red, were to see it, they might mistake it for a beautiful sunrise.

But upon closer inspection, it was quite different from the sun. Within the surging red vortex, a bottomless, black abyss churned.

From there, ominous magic surged, spreading in all directions. One of the hunters on deck shouted.

“The gate has already broken!”

At that moment, a giant wave suddenly rose on the once-calm sea and crashed over the cruise ship.

Splash- Bang!

It wasn’t just a wave. The leg of a giant octopus monster became visible.

“Ugh!”

“Get off the ship!”

Of course, no hunter would be swept away simply by the ship capsizing. The hunters on board were all A-class and S-class high-ranking hunters, and they each escaped from the ship in their own way.

The giant octopus monster’s leg smashed the overturned ship and swallowed it whole.

“Seo-ah!”

Yoo Ji-ahn quickly summoned Kian and helped Seo-ah onto his back. Seo-ah lay flat on Kian and shouted to the hunters below.

“Move to that island!”

There was a small island in the direction Seo-ah pointed. It was an artificial island created by the magic emanating from the gate.

However, aquatic monsters, including octopuses, poured out of the already-breached gate and began to attack the hunters in the water. Avoiding them and crossing the choppy sea was no easy task, even for high-ranking hunters.

First, they had to deal with that rampaging octopus.

“Stay here.”

Yoo Ji-ahn left Seo-ah on Kian, gripped the Ruin Blade, and jumped down. Seo-ah grabbed a bird’s feather for support and looked down anxiously.

Immediately after Yoo Ji-ahn entered the water, the area flickered and flashed several times. Soon, the giant octopus’s corpse floated to the surface.

“Kian, lower!”

As Seo-ah shouted, Kian spread his wings wide and flew close to the surface of the water. At the same time, Seo-ah reached out her hand, and Yoo Ji-ahn grabbed it, climbing back onto Kian.

“Grab here!”

Seo-ah also rescued Kim Soo-hyuk and Bachelo, who were struggling in the water, pulling them up as she saw them.

“Cough, ugh. Swimming is not my forte.”

“Thank you, Mademoiselle.”

Just then, an aircraft zipped past Kian.

“Ah, Sister!”

Baek Eun-hee was flying around, using her splinter [likely referring to a magically-enhanced or unique weapon/ability] as a stepping stone.

“You stupid guys, can’t even avoid that!”

As if that wasn’t enough, Baek Eun-hee snatched Yang Tae-woo and Go Geon-hoo, who were Royal Guild members, in that precarious state, and threw them towards the island.

Cha Tae-woon walked step by step, freezing the water under his feet, rescuing several hunters.

“Grab on.”

“T, thank you!”

In that way, most of them were rescued and moved to the island by hunters who possessed the ability to traverse the water. But a small number of hunters remained stranded.

Jackson, without hesitation, froze the seawater around the island, even after seeing the remaining hunters.

Crack, crackle-

“Ah, damn it, there are still people…!”

A pitiful scream rang out from the side. But I couldn’t bring myself to protest. Looking at it from the island, there were far more monsters in the sea than I had initially thought.

If they all came ashore, an even more terrible disaster would follow.

Besides, there were already quite a few monsters roaming the island. Before I could even fully grasp the situation, a battle broke out.

“We must prevent the monsters from leaving the island!”

Hunters began to hunt monsters more freely, moving around on the frozen seawater that Jackson had created.

The monsters all looked different. From familiar mammals to slimes whose shapes defied identification, the forms were diverse, as were their origins.

First, Seo-ah dropped off Kim Soo-hyuk and Bachelo and then circled the island widely to assess the situation.

Even in the midst of that, monsters rushed at her.

Thwack!

Seo-ah swung her Bbyong Hammer [likely a unique weapon] at the monsters flying towards Kian. There were so many of them that the bare ground was obscured.

“Let’s go up a little higher.”

“Let’s do that.”

Yoo Ji-ahn and Seo-ah watched the fight between the hunters and the monsters in detail while dealing with the flying monsters in the air.

“They’re running away over there!”

“Leave it to me!”

Still, the hunters were far more dominant. Not a single monster escaped the island; rather, hunters chased after them with enthusiasm.

Since the monsters were only C to B grade, there were almost no casualties.

Seo-ah glanced at Yoo Ji-ahn behind her.

“How is it?”

Yoo Ji-ahn immediately understood that the question was about how it compared to the previous timeline.

“It’s better than before. There are a lot more hunters gathered, and the extermination speed is faster.”

“That’s a relief… or can we say that?”

“Yes. But that also means that sacrifices may increase.”

Seo-ah bit her lower lip.

And as if his words were a prediction, the hunters near the gate began to slowly be pushed back. Perhaps because the extermination speed was fast, A-grade monsters were already starting to mix in little by little.

“Over there…!”

“I’m going.”

Before Seo-ah could even speak, Yoo Ji-ahn directed Kian to the place where the ranks were collapsing. As soon as he arrived, a pure white light flashed in the sky.

Rumble- Bang!

The monsters piled up in front of the gate were instantly turned to dust by Yoo Ji-ahn’s lightning magic.

“Wow, crazy. Who is that right now?”

“It’s Yoo Ji-ahn. He’s amazing as expected.”

While being surprised by the power, the hunters were able to catch their breath for a while thanks to him.

As it was closest to the gate, this line was mainly occupied by tankers [hunters specializing in defense]. Seo-ah quickly jumped down and gave buffs [magical enhancements] to the hunters.

“Hunter Cha Tae-woon! Are you okay?”

“Yes, I can still hold on.”

“Be careful!”

In addition to Cha Tae-woon, there was also the German hunter Johannes here.

His transformed body was almost twenty times the size of a human. Every time he swung his huge arm, dozens of monsters flew into the air. On top of that, Seo-ah even cast [Ironclad Pine] [a defensive buff] on him, so Johannes was almost invincible.

Seo-ah still didn’t just blindly give buffs and walk around. She only gave as much as needed when needed. Seo-ah’s mana [magical energy] was by no means infinite, so it was to save strength for the second half.

Judging that the situation here was somewhat under control, Seo-ah jumped back without even looking. At that timing, Yoo Ji-ahn grabbed Seo-ah’s hand from above Kian and pulled her up.

As soon as Seo-ah got on, he frowned and said.

“Don’t jump down alone, it’s dangerous.”

Since Seo-ah is also an S-class, it’s not that dangerous yet, but he seemed surprised by the sudden jump. Seo-ah smiled slightly and apologized obediently.

“I’m sorry. I just thought that once we get pushed back, it’s the end.”

“Now you can use skills from a distance, right?”

Seo-ah nodded. When using it as a wide-area skill rather than using it on one person at a time, long-range is better.

“Then I’ll go from now on. Play the role of watching from here. You’re not a combat type. It’ll be more difficult if you get caught up in it.”

“…Okay.”

Seo-ah answered a little uncertainly. In fact, she felt like she would jump down again if the same situation came, but she decided to reassure Yoo Ji-ahn for now. And as he said, Seo-ah also needed to save her strength a little.

Because Seo-ah’s buff skills will become even more important in the second half.

As they were flying towards the center of the island, someone flew from somewhere and quickly climbed onto Kian’s back.

“Sister.”

“Eun-gyeol, where were you?”

“I was late because I was rescuing some healers from the sea. Sister, please give me some buffs. I saw that the east side was blocked on the way here.”

“Okay.”

Seo-ah hurriedly cast [Love Yourself] [a healing/buff skill] on Choi Eun-gyeol.

“Thank you.”

“You be careful too!”

As soon as he received the skill, Choi Eun-gyeol flew to the east, and soon red flames and strong winds blew in, turning the swarming monsters into ashes.

“That’s really amazing. To be able to transform magic so freely.”

Jackson, who had appeared stepping on ice floating in the air, quietly admired.

Choi Eun-gyeol often envied Jackson, who is the strongest in ice magic, but Jackson admired Choi Eun-gyeol, who freely uses four types of magic.

“I can’t fall behind either.”

Even at Seo-ah’s absurd retort, Jackson didn’t care, fluttered his robe, and fell down like an arrow. White frost fell wherever he passed, and the monsters in the area froze solid.

Certainly, I felt it with Choi Eun-gyeol and Jackson, but magic is eye-catching because the effects are flashy and the range is wide.

“Wow, they’re both cool.”

As soon as Seo-ah’s exclamation came out, lightning struck the entire island. It was Yoo Ji-ahn’s ultimate lightning magic [Thunderstorm] that unfolded.