The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 235

235.

[I don’t know how you found the fragments, but I can’t let this go on. In my authority as Guardian, I will test your conviction.]

‘Hmm.’

Watching the giant statue openly display its rage, Do-hyun swallowed.

It wasn’t out of nervousness.

The giant lion statue was 5 meters tall and 15 meters long.

The statue filled the cave, so large that only its eyes and nose were visible.

It was incredibly imposing, but Do-hyun was more disappointed.

‘I could have leveled up if I had just done a little more……’

He was very disappointed that his bonanza harvesting operation was shut down by the Guardian.

That was why Do-hyun was making a sulky face, but he soon shook off his disappointment.

‘This kind of trickery can’t keep working anyway.’

The method Do-hyun used was not a normal one.

It was merely a happening close to an error caused by the fraudulent trait called the Eye of Truth.

If it ended like that, how could it be a world quest?

It was only natural that the Guardian, who had to stop it, would be furious.

‘Thanks to that, the Guardian came to find me himself, so it’s all good.’

He momentarily lost his mind, but the purpose of the world quest was to save the Forgotten King.

He couldn’t just raise the casualty rate recklessly.

It was better to find the conviction crystal from the Guardian.

[Sudden Quest, the Guardian’s Trial, has occurred.]

[Prove your conviction by passing the Guardian’s Trial.]

[The Forgotten King’s soldiers appear.]

[The level of the Forgotten Soldiers is determined in proportion to the challenger’s stats.]

Kugugugu-

-What are all those? Soldiers……? There seem to be over 100 of them?

-They look like they’re made of mud. But I feel a stronger energy than the undead we saw earlier.

……Of course, this wouldn’t be easy either.

[Each one is a soldier comparable to your strength. Can you defeat soldiers who use their skills from when they were alive?]

The Guardian laughed heartily and slowly retreated his massive body.

Thanks to this, he was hidden in the darkness of the cave, but the lion’s eyes were subtly shining. The Guardian felt certain.

That Do-hyun would fall here in vain.

But the next moment.

Flash!

Before the soldiers could even form ranks, Do-hyun shot out like a ray of light and extended his sword.

A white sword with a snowflake drawn on the handle—the White Lion.

As the dark sword energy emitted a strange light, drawing a streak of light.

Kwaddeuk-!

The soldier’s head exploded in one blow.

[……What.]

The instant he took out one of them, an eerie silence fell.

A situation where he was single-handedly stuck between 99 soldiers. The soldiers were surrounding him, but they were hesitating and retreating.

Their bodies were instinctively reacting to the overwhelming performance.

“You matched the level…… I think you matched it wrong?”

Do-hyun, who laughed like a beast in the middle of them, glanced at the message window that appeared before him.

[Cheonbyeon (千變) [Thousand Transformations] devours the White Lion’s Snowflake Sword.]

[Devoured an item of a higher grade than the existing grade.]

[Cheonbyeon’s (千變) grade is adjusted.]

[Cheonbyeon’s (千變) grade is changed to ‘Legendary (Unique)’.]

[Attack power and options are reorganized to match the grade.]

‘I was too busy breaking fragments to equip it…… I didn’t know this would help so much?’

The Forgotten King’s soldiers were formed before Do-hyun devoured the White Lion’s Snowflake Sword.

And the weapon’s attack power now is twice what it was then.

With Do-hyun armed with various buff skills that far exceeded his stats, there was no way those soldiers could stop him.

‘100 of them…… It’s perfect for testing.’

Do-hyun smiled and took out gloves from his inventory and put them on.

They were the legendary relic gloves, ‘Vergina’s Magic Gloves,’ which he had carefully considered and brought from the Lion King’s Treasure Vault.

It didn’t end here.

[Using Reverse Time (逆天期) [Reversing Heaven’s Mandate].]

[You can use the 1st Form, Beginning (始) [Origin].]

Do-hyun’s signature skill obtained from the Lion King’s Trial.

The time had finally come to use these.

“Then, shall we loosen up a bit?”

It was the moment when the positions of predator and prey were reversed.

* * *

The Guardian couldn’t believe the sight unfolding before his eyes.

[……What, what am I seeing?]

They were dolls that reproduced the soldiers of the great king.

As they had been incredibly famous in the past, their swordsmanship and skills were real.

[Surely that must be the case……]

But the swords of those great soldiers were not reaching him at all.

[What is that power! Surely the trial started by matching the challenger’s strength, but what is this nonsense!]

No, it wasn’t just because of that.

Something truly incomprehensible had happened, but there were still 100 soldiers.

He couldn’t overwhelm 100 people with that much of a stat difference.

He hated to admit it…… but that man’s skill was surpassing the soldiers.

‘Is an apostle who is just an individual has more overwhelming skills than the elite soldiers of the brilliant era? Does that make sense? Above all, his swordsmanship alone isn’t that outstanding……’

He was skilled, but he didn’t move with an understanding of the mysteries of swordsmanship, but rather with a feeling of having learned by looking at it with his eyes.

He was just using his unbelievable dynamic visual acuity and reflexes to calculate distances.

Through that, he was gaining an overwhelming advantage and continuing a favorable fight.

However, something was a little strange.

‘Surely he didn’t learn it…… but strangely, some swordsmanship is ‘real’.’

He didn’t feel like he had been taught swordsmanship by anyone. It felt like he would just swing his sword from any angle if he could.

Teobeok, Seogeok-!

But it was different when he performed that movement.

Teobeok.

A simple movement of taking a step forward.

Footwork, or stepping, which can be said to be the basics of swordsmanship.

It was so simple that anyone could do it, as it was the most basic of the basics, but it showed a huge difference depending on the user, so you could tell a person’s level just by looking at their footwork.

In that respect, that guy was irrational.

‘The moment he steps, he becomes as firm as a mountain. At the same time, he becomes as sharp as a beast, is that really the man he showed us until just now?’

When he moved his feet, he was so firm that he wouldn’t be shaken by any adversity, and when he extended his sword, he flashed so sharply that he would bite anything.

Was he just firm and fierce?

Hwirik-

Even when he was rampaging wildly, he showed a swordsmanship that was infinitely soft, as if nothing had happened.

Like a willow tree.

He didn’t get caught up in the typhoon, but let his body flow with it.

Taat, Puk!

Then the man revealed his teeth again like a beast.

The King’s soldiers couldn’t come to their senses at the swordsmanship that changed from moment to moment each time he took a step.

‘He’s a strange guy. That’s why he’s dangerous.’

The power that suddenly became noticeably stronger.

The bizarre swordsmanship of wielding a sword like a master of swordsmanship even though he was clumsy.

Breaking through a hundred enemies with the same stats and excellent swordsmanship. Originally, this trial was not made to catch a hundred soldiers.

‘A trial made to show the ‘conviction’ of never giving up.’

In fact, it was also a trial given out of a desire to make fun of that guy who was doing bad things, rather than confirming his conviction.

But now everything about that guy is beyond common sense.

The Guardian’s gut was telling him. That guy is dangerous.

‘Eyes that find fragments of the tragedy, overwhelming force. Could that guy be……’

The Guardian shook his head at the thought that suddenly came to mind.

‘Whether he will be a savior or a destroyer…… I have to figure it out here.’

Perhaps it was to respond to such a Guardian’s will.

Innumerable soldiers blocked the way, but the man, Do-hyun, did not back down.

He was just taking a step forward.

Seogeok-

The soldier fell to the sword he wielded, and Do-hyun moved his heavy feet again.

It seemed that nothing could stop him from moving forward.

Reverse Time (逆天期) [Reversing Heaven’s Mandate].

1st Form, Beginning (始) [Origin].

‘I expected a sword technique because it was a form, but I didn’t know it would be footwork.’

It was an unexpected form, but Do-hyun smiled as if he was happy about it.

He couldn’t help but smile.

Footwork is the basis of all swordsmanship.

It was natural that swordsmanship with excellent footwork would also have excellent performance in later forms.

‘I don’t know much about swordsmanship…… but there’s no way there’s a swordsmanship that suits me better than this. If the footwork is this good, I can’t even imagine what the next form will be like.’

He was also looking forward to it.

What would the next form of swordsmanship that was perfect for him be like?

He was so sorry that there was no way to check that information right now.

That wasn’t the only thing he was sorry about.

‘I haven’t even been able to use the gloves and Snowflake Sword abilities.’

The basic attack power of the Snowflake Sword and the performance of Reverse Time were better than expected, so he couldn’t use anything else.

‘Is this the end of this guy?’

On the other hand, there was only one soldier left.

He had made his way through the path full of soldiers and reached the end.

It was the moment when Do-hyun pierced the last soldier’s neck without hesitation.

[It seems I misjudged.]

The majestic voice echoed as if filling the cave.

[Sudden Quest, the Guardian’s Trial, has been cleared.]

[You have been recognized by the Guardian and cleared it at an absurd speed.]

[Hidden conditions have been achieved.]

[All linked quests of the Guardian’s Trial will be deleted.]

[Hidden Event, ‘The Old King’s Conviction,’ has occurred.]

[Obtain conviction from the Guardian of the Forgotten Tomb, ‘The Old King’s Conviction’.]

[If you obtain conviction, you can obtain the Guardian’s treasure, and a special event may open.]

[Be careful. The Guardian’s strike is coming.]

The feast of messages that appeared at the same time confused Do-hyun’s eyes and ears.

‘What is this……’

Do-hyun was stunned by the embarrassing situation.

But there was no time to figure out the situation.

—-!

“……!?”

Do-hyun hurriedly stepped back at the sensation of something flashing.

Based on the instinctive judgment that that alone was not enough, he stretched out his hand wearing Vergina’s Magic Gloves.

Almost at the same time, he felt a heavy sensation and Do-hyun’s body floated.

Kwaaang-!!

-Master!

-My Lord!!

-Liza!?

Do-hyun, who had broken through the soldiers, was embedded in the wall of the first starting point, and rose through the dust.

Messages were floating above his head.

[The effect of Vergina’s Magic Gloves has been activated.]

[The special option, ‘Touching Hand,’ allows you to touch intangible energy.]

[The special option, ‘Coordinate Change,’ allows you to change the coordinates of intangible energy and move it to the desired location. (Cooldown of 400 seconds per use after two uses)]

[This is a strike that cannot be handled at the user’s level. Only the coordinates of some energy are changed.]

[Health is below 50%.]

‘Did I just see this crazy surprise gift……’

There’s a limit to how much you can ambush.

If it hadn’t been for Vergina’s Magic Gloves, he would have been gone in one hit.

‘I was sorry that I couldn’t use the gloves, but I didn’t want this…… No, what did I get hit by?’

It literally felt like a flash of light.

But the moment he looked down at his trembling hand. To be exact, the moment he saw the cold energy on the gloves, Do-hyun could tell.

It was the same trace as when he received the Forgotten King’s sword strike, like snow falling.

[You shouldn’t be able to react at your current level……. You are strange after all. That’s why you’re dangerous.]

A low, old voice.

What appeared was not a giant lion statue.

A much smaller body than that. It was a person.

He was infinitely small compared to when he was a statue, but he was an old man with a height of 2M and a sickly look.

[So I will test you.]

But the momentum exuded by the old man who came teobeok teobeok [staggering] was greater than anything else.

Jihad and Charlie were tense at the pressure and took a fighting stance, and Do-hyun instinctively grabbed Cheonbyeon right away.

[Whether I can entrust my conviction to you.]

A king who was forgotten by everyone and abandoned in a tomb in his old age.

Even so, the one conviction that the old king left behind as he died without giving up.

Tting-

[The Forgotten King’s Conviction, ‘Determination Crystal,’ has been discovered.]

‘……Is the crystal the Guardian?’

The old age of the Forgotten King.

That was the Guardian’s identity.