The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 183

183.

“[Kyahahaha! You’re dodging well, like a rat! Let’s see how far you can run!]”

‘I knew it, there’s no such thing as a free lunch!’

The thought of an easy win vanished shortly after the battle began.

As expected of a raid, the difficulty was immense.

However, Ruidra was unpredictable in every way.

The Nightmare Dominator and Dream Witch.

Judging by the title alone, one would assume she specializes in dream-related magic, but her main focus was close combat.

Whoosh— Swoosh!

Each time she swung her massive scythe, which was over 2 meters long, the air tore apart, creating a chilling burst of sound.

It was truly a one-hit kill.

The power was so great that getting hit even once would surely result in being cut in half.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Swoosh— Swoosh!

Such deadly strikes poured in relentlessly.

They came at impossible angles and speeds, defying human anatomy.

The sight of the madwoman cackling maniacally as she swung her scythe was enough to send shivers down one’s spine.

Ruidra used dream-related magic purely for support.

‘So, those are magic support skills?’

Half right, half wrong.

[Hidden Raid Boss, Ruidra, uses ‘Lucid Dream’.]

[Ruidra’s senses become extremely sharp.]

[Hidden Raid Boss, Ruidra, uses ‘Fairy’s Dream’.]

[Ruidra’s body becomes lighter, and all speeds increase.]

……

[Hidden Raid Boss, Ruidra, uses ‘Butterfly Dream’.]

[Ruidra’s connection with her weapon greatly increases. She reaches a state of oneness.]

All dream-related skills were buff-type skills that enhanced her close combat abilities.

And that wasn’t all.

[Due to the unique effect of the Nightmare Swamp, all of Ruidra’s stats increase while here.]

Simply being in this place granted her a stat buff.

A raid boss who was already strong came charging with all sorts of buffs, making her a veritable destruction tank.

Pajijik-

‘Even with Lightning Dragon Descent, it’s not easy.’

She was so destructive that even with Lightning Dragon Descent active, he was still being pushed back in terms of speed and power.

He was only able to fight on par thanks to parrying and control; if it were just based on stats, he would have been crushed long ago.

‘At this point, shouldn’t she be called the Scythe Witch instead of the Dream Witch?’

He seriously wondered if her title was wrong.

Clicking his tongue, Do-hyun pushed back the sword he was holding against her with all his might.

Using that force, he leaped backward to create distance, and the Golem, whose body had collided with him, looked down with a groan.

Swish-!

-Are you alright, Master!

Charlie, who had cut down the Golem, asked after his well-being while swinging his sword again.

Gueooh- Swish!

-They keep reviving endlessly, those insignificant creatures. I cannot allow you to reach our Master!

-Lizariza!

-Master, leave this to us! Haa!

Kwaang! Bang!

A heavy boom echoed as metal clashed against metal.

The sound wasn’t coming from just one place.

-Ugh! Save me! Everyone, surround me!

Tadak… Tadadak.

-Did you just shake your head? Do you want to do the duck walk again?

Ttak? Ttakttak.

-Oh? This guy is trying to deny it… Ugh! Just come over here!

Jihad, who had escaped from dozens of Golems, was now surrounded and protected by Go-tong and the Undeads.

Bang! Kwadeuk- Pow!

Gueooh- Gueo!

Among them, Go-tong shone particularly brightly.

As if it wasn’t luck that he had pushed Do-hyun to the brink of death in the past, he was breaking, twisting, and touching the charging Golems, engaging in flamboyant close combat.

Tadadak!

Ttakttak!

Go-tong was putting on a one-versus-many show, and the outlaw Undeads were excellently guarding his blind spots.

The other Undeads overwhelmed the Golems, who were shrinking back from the ghostly soldiers’ momentum, knocking them down and ruthlessly stabbing them with their weapons.

A tenacious sight, close to obsession, as they never let go of their prey once they caught it.

-Nice shot!

On the opposite side of Jihad, who was enthusiastically cheering on the Undeads, silver spiderwebs were being fired.

Pyupyuk-! Swish!

-Lizariza!

-Mm! Well done. Let’s coordinate again this time.

-Liza!

When Eliza shot out spiderwebs to slow down the Golems’ movements, Charlie easily sliced through them as he passed by.

While Jihad’s Undead army was generally positioned to block the Golems, the two of them roamed around like midfielders, coordinating to take down the Golems.

Thanks to them, they were able to fight without any interference inside the small circle that had formed within the enemy lines.

Swish.

That was the stage where Ruidra and Do-hyun were currently battling.

In the black-and-white battlefield where battles were unfolding everywhere, the current structure of the battlefield was that Ruidra, a seductive woman wielding a scythe, and Do-hyun were fighting fiercely.

[The Death Golems that were sleeping in the Nightmare Swamp awaken.]

Bringing only one enemy into the room while summoning an entire army himself was beyond shameless.

-Ugh, here we go again. Go-tong, can you do it? If you can’t, it’s 500 laps of duck walking, okay?

……Ttakttak.

-Mm! Let’s muster our strength again. Trust us, Master!

-Lizariza!

No, leading an army like a raid boss was understandable.

But the fact that it was an immortal army that revived no matter how many times they were killed was too much.

Do-hyun sighed at the endless repetition of battles.

‘This place is a mess too.’

Of course, he didn’t expect anything, but from the looks of it, it seemed like it wouldn’t be easy this time either.

Far from easy, it was actually disadvantageous for Do-hyun.

Unlike the endlessly reviving army, he had a limit called mana.

[Ruidra’s health is below 20%.]

[Phase 2 is activated.]

Moreover, unlike himself, whose health had already dropped below 50%, she was still at 20%.

In terms of numbers alone, he was higher, but considering the amount of damage taken, Do-hyun had taken overwhelmingly more.

Unlike Do-hyun, who had lost half of his health, she had only lost 10%.

The mana situation was similar.

[Remaining mana is below 50%.]

[The number of available ‘Lightning Teleportations’ is 1.]

Because all the skills consumed a lot of mana, he was trying to time his full power, but even that had already depleted half of his mana.

It was a solo raid with no information, so he had been observing the patterns for a while…

‘This should be enough.’

But that was the end of it.

He knew that if he excluded her unique space’s authority and army, she was a case of all-in on close combat.

He had already identified all the patterns.

There was no need to observe any further.

“Now it’s my turn.”

As Do-hyun muttered with a smirk, Ruidra frowned.

[…Laughing? Have you lost your mind, Apostle of Prophecy?]

“I can finally beat you up to my heart’s content, so why wouldn’t I laugh?”

[…The fate of Fratel is truly pitiful. To be such a weak existence that the Apostle of Prophecy, their only hope, was toying with them without even realizing it.]

In response to her words, which were dripping with sarcasm as if she genuinely felt sorry for him, Do-hyun responded by activating the skills he had been holding back.

[Uses Sword Aura.]

[Uses Striking.]

[Mana is consumed per second.]

Sword Aura, which increased the attack power and cutting power of all swords, and Striking, which increased physical attack power.

[Sword Aura is affected by Darkness Coating and gains dark properties.]

[The effects of dark properties are additionally applied.]

[Activates Ice Stream.]

[Mana is consumed per second, lowering the temperature of the air current within a certain range.]

In addition, Darkness Coating, which granted defense reduction and stealth, and Ice Stream.

Pajijik-

[The duration of Lightning Dragon Descent is 40 seconds.]

With Lightning Dragon Descent active, this was Do-hyun’s full power.

His white hair fluttered, sparks flew around his body, the lowered temperature coldly stung his skin, and the dark sword energy surged around his sword, exuding a menacing aura.

[You have so many amazing talents. It seems you have surpassed the range of abilities that one apostle can use.]

“Can you even compare?”

Seeing his mana rapidly depleting as soon as he used all his buffs, Do-hyun immediately charged forward.

He didn’t even want to waste time exchanging words with her.

Jihad and Charlie, who were fighting fiercely against the Golems, already had their mana below 50%.

[Uses Lightning Teleportation.]

Pa-jijik!

Do-hyun’s figure disappeared, becoming a streak of lightning.

[……!]

Sensing the electric current behind her, Ruidra instinctively rotated her body and swung her scythe.

Clang! Whoosh-

Sparks flew as the sword and scythe collided.

The sword was pushed back by the force, even with all the buffs.

However, Do-hyun used that force to spin his body like a top and unleashed a back kick.

An unconventional attack.

However, Ruidra easily blocked it with the handle of her scythe, despite being caught off guard.

Whirlick- Thud!

Then, she destructively slammed down her scythe.

[Due to the effect of Ice Stream, Ruidra’s movements are slowed.]

[The target’s level is high, resisting Ice Stream.]

[Slightly slows movement.]

Do-hyun didn’t bother resisting the force and instead let it flow to the ground, burrowing inside.

Even though it didn’t have its full effect, he was able to penetrate more easily thanks to the slight slowdown caused by Ice Stream.

The black thread was wrapped around Do-hyun’s hand.

By the time he rolled past Ruidra’s chest and to the opposite side, Ruidra’s scythe and legs were entangled in the black thread.

[Fuse – Attached thread.]

[Fuse – Uses Explosion.]

—-!!

And then, a silent black explosion followed.

It was the Fuse he had been saving for this moment.

[Kuh……!? What is this!]

‘As expected, the first Fuse always works.’

He had felt it when fighting Go-tong, but high-intelligence bosses are particularly flustered when they first encounter this Fuse thread.

Even if they were named and had accumulated combat experience, he was still a Hidden Raid Boss.

How many times would he have encountered Do-hyun’s unique skills [Do-bung]?

It was only natural that he couldn’t imagine that Fuse would come from Do-hyun, who was a swordsman.

Stagger-

In the moment when Ruidra, who had been properly hit by an unexpected blow, faltered,

Do-hyun smiled and raised his sword high.

[Activates Fierce Strike.]

[The energy of Fierce Strike is imbued in the sword.]

With that, a flurry of sword strikes poured down.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes, four strikes…

Ruidra, who was beaten like a dog on a hot summer day, tumbled to the ground.

[Kuhk……!]

Every time she was cut by the sword, that strange energy was pushing her back, making it difficult to regain her balance.

Whoosh-!

Thanks to that, Ruidra, who had belatedly regained her senses after being hit four times in quick succession, swung her scythe…

Swish.

Do-hyun stopped approaching and stopped at a distance where the scythe grazed right in front of him, as if measured with a ruler.

It was one of Do-hyun’s specialties, stop-moving.

-How can you hit so reliably without getting hit?

A question that was asked in an interview during his Demonic Era days.

Do-hyun had answered like this back then.

Any enemy is bound to be defenseless while swinging a missed attack.

You just have to dodge and attack at that moment.

Swish-!

Kaaa!

‘Just like now.’

Induce the enemy’s attack, dodge it, and then counterattack.

That was Do-hyun’s fighting style when facing an enemy stronger than himself.

[Ruidra is exposed to Ice Stream for a long time and falls into a state of frostbite.]

[The target’s level is high, resisting frostbite.]

[Suffers from mild frostbite.]

If it was an attack that had been slowed down due to the stiffening of a part of the body due to Ice Stream in a field he was already confident in, there was no need to say anything.

He was confident that he could succeed several more times, but there was no need to do so.

It would only work once or twice at most against a high-intelligence human-type enemy.

‘Once is enough.’

And that one chance was more than enough.

Now that he had grasped all the patterns, it was a sufficient opportunity to pour out his full power.

“I told you, it’s my turn now.”

[Ah…….]

The man who was raising the corners of his mouth while holding his sword high.

And the raid boss who was kneeling in front of him in an awkward posture.

[……Ah?]

By the time she realized that the positions seemed to have changed, the strange light in Do-hyun’s sword had already turned into an even more threatening color.

[Five Strikes are stacked.]

[The power of Fierce Strike has intensified, increasing the stiffness time and knockback intensity.]

[Damage is amplified.]

‘Shall we give her a good beating after a long time?’

Do-hyun took a breath and slammed his sword down.