I Became The Rankers’ Number One Pick [EN]: Chapter 240

240.

My heart tightened with tension. Seo-ah barely managed to speak. This was the crucial moment.

“So, what is it that you desire most?”

“Death, a death most perfect.”

Chronos’s expression as he said that was strange. He seemed to be smiling, yet also crying.

“However, against my will, my instinct struggles to live. You’d better hurry.”

Seo-ah’s [Time Stop] skill was faltering. The numbers counting down were ticking faster, now only about 10 seconds remained.

An ominous magical power emanated from Chronos. His black pupils widened, covering his entire eye, making it look like a dark, bottomless hole.

It was a chilling sight, but Seo-ah didn’t move.

‘Please, quickly.’

She tried not to look away from Chronos’s eyes, waiting for something to happen. Meanwhile, his emotions flowed mercilessly, tearing through Seo-ah’s mind.

A pain stabbed at the back of her head, as if someone were digging with a knife.

“Ugh.”

Just as Seo-ah was about to grab her head, Chronos groaned, clutching his head first. His eyes flashed a dark red light.

In the meantime, 5 seconds, 4 seconds, more time passed.

And finally, the system window that Seo-ah had been waiting for appeared.

[Wish of the monster ‘Chronos’ accepted: Unique skill ‘Genie of the Lamp’ is activated!]

‘Now!’

Seo-ah jumped up and grabbed Chronos’s hand, which was clutching his head.

[Wish fulfillment for the monster ‘Chronos’: Skill ‘Annihilation’]

Seo-ah thought.

Time cannot disappear. Time is not something that can die or vanish. But the Time Wraith, Chronos, was different.

[Annihilation: Can erase existence. (Uses: 1)]

3 seconds, 2 seconds…

Having created the skill, Seo-ah intended to use [Annihilation] herself if Chronos didn’t use it.

She could see Chronos’s lips curving into a smile. He suddenly sat up straight and closed his eyes.

[00:00:01]

At that moment, with 1 second remaining, time stopped.

The ticking sound in her head faded away.

“…He.”

Seo-ah tried to say something but stopped herself.

She didn’t need to call him to know. His presence had completely disappeared. The visible body remained, but it was no longer Chronos. It was a remnant of the data that had contained Chronos, merely an empty vessel.

‘Really, he’s gone? Just like that?’

Even as she experienced it, she couldn’t believe it. Just in case, Seo-ah stood motionless, watching Chronos’s shell. But even after several minutes, nothing happened. Not even a second passed.

“Haa…”

Thud.

Only now, convinced that he was gone, Seo-ah’s legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground.

[The final enemy ‘Chronos’ has been defeated!]

The status window appeared a little late.

The only new thing was the phrase ‘final enemy’ at the beginning; otherwise, it was the same familiar, monotonous message.

[Calculating rewards.]

[Reward: Key of Return]

Seo-ah accepted the old, rusty key that was spinning in front of her eyes.

“Key of Return…”

The process of defeating the final enemy was easier than she had thought.

‘No, I can’t say it was easy.’

There was no fierce battle, but Seo-ah had come here carrying everyone’s lives. And to face him, to stop time, she needed the magical power of five Rankers [top-ranked players].

‘And… I learned too much.’

Reading and accepting the emotions of Chronos, the Time Wraith who lived for eternity, was not something an ordinary human could handle.

Even now, she was suppressing it with [Silent Night], but she felt nauseous and wanted to collapse at any moment.

‘Someday, another being like Chronos might appear again.’

She didn’t know if it was easy for time to develop a self, but once it had happened, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. However, it wouldn’t be during Seo-ah’s current life.

Seo-ah struggled to lift her head.

Outside the small wooden house’s window, it was just dark. Instead, a familiar vortex had formed at the door leading out of the house.

She was worried about how System Administrator Serpens would react after the Time Wraith Chronos disappeared.

Chronos had stopped his time; would he be safe?

‘I have to go back.’

Everyone would be waiting. But her body wouldn’t move as she willed. It was the aftereffect of using far more magical power than she could handle.

Seo-ah groped for the floor and crawled towards the door. She barely managed to insert the key into the keyhole of the door.

As she felt her body being sucked into the vortex, Seo-ah lost consciousness.

***

“How much longer do we have to endure!”

Thwack!

Wang Cheon-yu smacked the head of a [Black Fly] buzzing in front of him, exclaiming irritably.

“It’s only been 8 minutes,” Jackson replied indifferently, looking at his watch. His voice was calm, but his hands were busy. He pierced the bodies of the flies with the sharp sticks in his hands.

“But she seems to be safe so far.”

They were checking on Seo-ah’s well-being by how quickly their magical power was draining from their bodies.

Yu Ji-an glanced at Seo-ah, who was lying down. After confirming that she was breathing comfortably, he focused on eliminating the [Black Flies] again.

Tszzzzzz-

The [Black Flies] weren’t attacking anything. But it was clear that they were targeting Park Seo-ah. So, they were blocking them from approaching at all.

“Why are they only targeting Seo-ah?”

Baek Eun-hee swung the splinter around at an invisible speed. Any [Black Fly] that touched the splinter’s serrated edge turned to dust.

“They might have judged that facing the final enemy itself is a distortion.”

Yu Ji-an replied in a calm tone. But his heart was just as anxious.

While constantly catching the [Black Flies], his eyes kept going to Seo-ah. Then he saw her eyes twitch.

“Seo-ah?”

“Cough!”

Seo-ah coughed and flipped over to lie on her stomach. Then, the swarm of [Black Flies] that had been rushing in like crazy miraculously began to retreat.

The hunters all lowered their weapons and sighed.

“Hah, they swarmed so disgustingly, and now they’re finally leaving.”

Wang Cheon-yu rotated his stiff shoulders. Baek Eun-hee took care of Seo-ah with Yu Ji-an.

“Seo-ah, are you okay?”

“…Ah, I have a bit of a headache.”

Everyone’s eyes were on Seo-ah. They seemed to have a lot of questions, but they were waiting for her to regain her strength first.

Yu Ji-an handed Seo-ah a potion.

“Drink this first.”

Seo-ah took the potion and drank it, then stood up with the support of Baek Eun-hee and Yu Ji-an. The first thing she did was look for the System Administrator.

“Where’s the administrator?”

Yu Ji-an answered by stepping aside.

Behind him was the System Administrator, whose form was now barely recognizable. Even until just now, it had maintained a sticky slime form, but now it was drying up and fragmenting.

Seo-ah had something to say to him. She quickly approached and bent down.

“Chronos is gone.”

“Chronos?” Baek Eun-hee asked, and Seo-ah quickly added an explanation.

“That’s, the final boss’s name. He was a Time Wraith.”

Seo-ah, who had answered hastily, stared at the System Administrator. Was he still alive?

She poked the clumped mass with her fingertip. Immediately, emotions flooded in.

“…Ah.”

She still felt a deep sadness, but unlike before, she also felt relief and comfort.

Really, this administrator must have wanted death too.

Knowing that Seo-ah was waiting, the administrator opened a system window. It was a window visible to everyone, not just Seo-ah.

[The final enemy has been defeated. Calculating the final reward.]

“I don’t think I did anything special.”

Wang Cheon-yu mumbled, but he seemed to be subtly anticipating the reward.

“You shared your magical power. We would have been in big trouble without that.”

“Was he strong? Chronos.”

“I didn’t fight him. I read his emotions…”

[Final Reward: System Management Room Access]

The hunters looked a little embarrassed at the reward.

“What are we supposed to do by going in and out of here?”

“The System Administrator will disappear now. We won’t be able to manage the system, but we’ll still be able to come and see the situation,” Yu Ji-an said, looking around the management room. The damaged management room remained unrepaired, but the screens still showed each world.

The dark, lumpy masses gradually scattered.

Seo-ah watched it and quietly murmured.

“Rest in peace now.”

[Press the red button to move to Earth.]

The System Administrator left them with the final message and completely disappeared.