The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 240

240.

“No, you crazy bastard… What do you mean, the seal? Didn’t you say it would never open?”

I shouted, overwhelmed by the flood of warning messages, and the Guardian cleared his throat before replying.

[Ahem, I said it wouldn’t open as long as I held out.]

“And now?”

[I’m not holding out now, am I? Because it’s not the sealed door that should be there, but this cave.]

“Wow…”

I facepalmed.

How could a Guardian be so brazen?

[First, I’d like you to calm down a bit. I’m just as confused as you are right now.]

“I’m sure you are.”

[Tsk, this is an unexpected variable… Did I reveal myself too easily? I thought I hid the door well, but it seems the Apostles’ search skills are better than I thought.]

It was an absurd situation, but as the bewilderment subsided, I felt uneasy.

Listening to the Guardian, it seemed like I was partly to blame.

‘So, because I broke the fragment of the Calamity, the Guardian stepped in, and someone else found and opened the door of the seal?’

In other words, I was half responsible for this mess.

But I felt wronged.

‘Why does everything always get so twisted?’

I was just doing my best to overcome the blocked situations.

As soon as I untangle one knot, a bigger knot comes along.

At this point, I suspected that the artificial intelligence was giving me revenge trials, saying, ‘Oh? You broke what I told you not to break? Then try breaking this too!’

‘They’re really running this game like a gem [with meticulous detail and planning].’

I couldn’t help but praise them, but blaming them wouldn’t make things better.

First, I needed to fix the situation.

I sighed deeply and asked with a sulky face.

“So, what do we do now? Now that the door of the seal is open, will the Devourer of Existence appear?”

If so, I should prepare.

Fortunately, the Guardian shook his head, as it wasn’t the worst-case scenario yet.

[No. Did you think I could prepare for every situation? I have a backup plan left in case of the worst-case scenario.]

“What is it?”

[A seal.]

A seal?

[There’s a relic to seal that monster. If the target is from the Abyss and subdued, it can seal anyone. It’s a peerless relic created with great effort by the old Empire’s mages.]

“If there’s such a thing, isn’t that good?”

[Well, if we have it, there’s hope. It’ll be difficult, but if you guys can somehow seal him…]

“…If we have it?”

I had a bad feeling again and stared at the Guardian.

The Guardian avoided my gaze and turned his head slightly.

I felt like I knew the answer without hearing it.

As expected, the following words weren’t very positive.

[That relic. My main body has it.]

“…Why?”

[Because the main body is the one who self-destructed at the end and was buried underground together, sealing it.]

The main body naturally meant the Forgotten King.

And this meant one thing.

[My main body, who has lost his ego. The supreme knight and king whose existence has been swallowed and forgotten by everyone. Take the relic from him. That’s the only way to seal the monster.]

I had to fight the Forgotten King.

I had to take the relic from him and then seal the monster.

‘That’s easier said than done…’

People usually use the expression ‘a chicken instead of a pheasant [settling for something less desirable],’ but this felt like catching an Imugi [a mythical proto-dragon] instead of a phoenix, so it wasn’t comforting at all.

I clicked my tongue, feeling like I was in a hopeless situation.

[You don’t necessarily have to beat the main body. Subduing and taking it is the most certain way… But if that doesn’t work, awakening the main body’s spirit might be another way.]

Fortunately, I didn’t necessarily have to win.

‘So, saving the king was the condition for clearing the world quest.’

I nodded, seeing that the essence remained the same even though an unexpected situation had occurred.

Among the alarms that kept ringing like a siren, a particularly loud sound echoed.

[The Calamity’s reproduction rate is rising abnormally steeply.]

[The current Calamity reproduction rate is 50%.]

[Cracks are forming in the seal.]

[The great disaster is licking its lips, seeing the still faint cracks.]

‘Already 50 percent…’

‘I don’t know if we can handle this, Master.’

‘If that great disaster is really a being from the Abyss, a real disaster will occur if it comes out.’

‘Liza? Liza, Liza!’

I looked at Jihad, who was uneasy, and Charlie, who was clenching his fists with a serious face.

And as I was looking at Eliza, who was jumping next to them, a series of messages popped up.

[The Forgotten King is emerging through the cracks.]

[The ‘Forgotten King’ has appeared in the world quest dungeon, the Forgotten Tomb.]

[Stop him.]

The Forgotten King had finally revealed himself.

[Now there’s really no time. I’ve heard that the other Apostles are stronger than you, but I don’t really trust them… I’m skeptical, but I have no choice but to put my hope in you.]

The Guardian, whose words had become somewhat faster, narrowed his wrinkled eyes and looked at me.

[There are two ways to get the relic from the main body, right?]

“Yes. Subdue and take it, or awaken his spirit.”

[The main body has only lost his identity because his existence has been swallowed, but he hasn’t been completely consumed by the Abyss yet. It’s unlikely, but if you give him a strong shock that reminds him of his life, it’s not impossible.]

The Guardian’s eyes changed as he stopped speaking.

He looked at me calmly, but I felt a steadfastness and pressure like a mountain.

The pressure was complete as the Guardian grabbed his sword and took a stance.

I wondered if he was the same old man I had faced a little while ago, as the suffocating pressure was immense.

Squeeze-

As I realized that I was holding Cheonbyeon without realizing it and hesitated.

The Guardian spoke in a low voice.

[Our swordsmanship that you received. You only received a part of it. Our swordsmanship is not an empty shell like the one that corpse would use, but a high-level swordsmanship containing ego. You haven’t even learned half of it properly.]

…Well, I learned it from a corpse, so that was natural.

But I didn’t bother to say that and listened attentively.

Because the words that would follow would solve that problem.

[Your Mythic Sword is the beloved sword that we have used for a long time. There should be a reaction when he sees it. There might be a reaction if you show him that and ‘this’ that I carry around. But that alone is not enough. So…]

“…”

[Perfect the only swordsmanship.]

Because we are knights who are most familiar with conversations through swords.

With those words, the Guardian aimed his sword instead of continuing to speak.

Then a blizzard raged. No, it wasn’t an ordinary blizzard.

It was as if each snowflake had an ego, swirling in different directions.

Kwaaa-

The white lion that had landed under the ground shone brightly and approached.

Then, in an instant, it rushed at me and covered me. I was startled and barely managed to resist swinging my sword.

‘…If I had swung it, I would have been hit.’

That was spirit.

The white lion was just standing still and watching, without moving at all.

The vividness of the blizzard and each lion seemed to be alive.

My keen senses reacted to the alienation coming from there.

[The Song of the White Lion. This is originally a swordsmanship that not only moves as the user wants, but also gives an ego to the energy. Can you follow it?]

The Guardian gestured as if to tell me to draw my sword quickly.

Ting-

[Sudden quest, ‘The Forgotten King’s True Swordsmanship’ has occurred.]

[The Forgotten King’s True Swordsmanship]

-Grade: Sudden Quest

-Description: The guardian of the Forgotten Tomb, ‘The Old King’s Belief,’ is trying to teach you the true Song of the White Lion.

There is not much time left.

Learn the swordsmanship within the limited time and complete the true Song of the White Lion.

-Quest Success: Transfer of the true Song of the White Lion.

-Quest Failure: Failure to transfer the true Song of the White Lion.

-Time Limit: Before the Calamity reproduction rate reaches 100%.

A swordsmanship that I don’t think I can follow just by looking at it.

That’s why I felt even more thrilled.

The special option of the unique legendary weapon becomes more perfect than it is now?

‘There’s no reason to refuse.’

Thinking about using this with the second style of Pa(破) [Destruction] that I got this time, my hands were trembling with excitement.

I smiled and grabbed Cheonbyeon, which had turned into the Mythic Sword of the White Lion, and took the same stance.

The Guardian seemed satisfied with my bold decision and smiled.

[Then let’s begin.]

Under the tomb where the great disaster was peeking out.

The moment the secret lesson began.

* * *

[Someone has opened the door of the seal.]

[The great disaster sleeping in the Forgotten Tomb has been awakened.]

[The Calamity’s reproduction rate is soaring rapidly.]

The moment the world message appeared in the world quest dungeon.

The first place that went crazy was the community.

-Crazy, what is this? A great disaster?

-Someone opened the door of the seal?

-What’s with the rate of the Calamity rising? It’s already at 40% in the blink of an eye.

-Who’s the bastard? A monster wave suddenly rushed in and everyone died. Fucking.

-The level of the Calamity is on a different level. It seems like it will be difficult for ordinary users to hunt monsters now. They all move around in legions.

-What is this? I was excited because it was a world quest, but is it okay for this to happen in less than a day?

-Seriously, it’s ridiculous.

It was because the users who had been killed due to the rapidly increased difficulty had connected to the community first.

The community was already crowded with talk about the world quest.

In that situation, those who had died flocked in like a tide and spread their eyewitness accounts, so naturally, the topic was bound to be the center of attention.

-It seems that this mess happened because that door of the seal was opened.

-Who’s the bastard who touched it? If I catch you, you’re dead.

-I’m starting an investigation right away. Just wait.

There’s a saying on the internet.

That the internet detectives are better than most formal detectives.

That saying, which can be said to be an immutable truth, worked without fail in God of Seeker as well.

No, as it was a game played by 1 billion people, it was even more so, and they were able to find the culprit in less than 5 minutes.

-Found the bastard who opened the door.

-Those damn Honest bastards. They stopped controlling the area and suddenly disappeared.

-They found a hidden piece, then found the door of the seal and ran away.

-Have you ever seen such X-like [despicable] guys? You should clean up the mess before you run away.

-But Harrington is nowhere to be seen?

-He probably ran away first.

The 1st ranked guild, Honest.

The time when they stopped controlling the area and the time when the door of the seal was opened coincided perfectly.

Originally, they wouldn’t dare to touch the top 10 guilds, but it was different now.

Because the justification was so clear.

The top 10 guilds and high rankers who hadn’t arrived yet were anxious, and those who were already attacking couldn’t have been happy with the sudden increase in difficulty.

-Does Honest matter?

-There are so many high rankers in the world quest dungeon. Let’s just pass on the information.

-It’s best to pass it on to a user belonging to an NPC.

-Just wait, you troll bastards.

When they passed on the information to those who were more angry than anyone else, the necks of the Honest guild members who were running away were quickly caught.

-I caught them running away in fear and beat them up, but their condition is strange.

-They keep repeating the word, monster? They keep saying everyone will die.

-They keep saying strange things that the world quest will fail.

-? What about Harrington? What is Harrington doing? The guild’s image is about to be ruined.

-Hey, crazy… Big news. Harrington is dead. He was killed by a monster as soon as he opened the door of the seal?

-Harrington? He’s a top-class archer, even though he’s ignored for just shooting from afar?

-It seems like he died before he could even take out his bow.

-Something is going strangely. Is this the right difficulty? Isn’t something wrong?

But when they caught them and beat them up, something was strange.

They felt that things were more serious than they thought.

[The current Calamity reproduction rate is 50%.]

[The Forgotten King is emerging through the cracks.]

[The ‘Forgotten King’ has appeared in the world quest dungeon, the Forgotten Tomb.]

[Stop him.]

The seriousness was felt on their skin the moment the Calamity reproduction rate reached 50 percent.

-Hey, the king is here!

-Wasn’t the world quest’s attack condition to save the Forgotten King?

-Honest, it turns out they were carrying [contributing positively] instead of screwing up.

-Who’s the bastard who said to beat them up? I’ll be caught later for no reason.

-Is that the problem now? If you don’t go in quickly, you’ll be robbed [of the opportunity].

-I’m logging in right away. Everyone, good luck for now.

-The rankers are all gathering, hurry up and log in before you miss it! Everyone log in first!

-It’ll be so much fun if we clear it before the remaining top 10 guilds arrive.

When the king first appeared, people cheered.

There was no reason not to cheer as they were getting closer to attacking the world quest.

The king was easy to find.

“It’s over there!”

“It looks like a shrine. There’s a door here too?”

“If it’s a door… First come, first served?”

“There’s a limit to the number of people who can enter. Only one person can enter at a time.”

“Get out, I was here first!”

Like a large mart that had gone on sale, people started to swarm in an instant.

The atmosphere was that the person who arrived first would achieve 1st place in the attack.

But it didn’t take even 5 minutes to realize that it was a delusion.

[Lipard has entered the Forgotten King’s Shrine.]

“Damn it! Lipard challenged it.”

“Ah… Isn’t it too much for a high ranker to enter from the start? You have to give us a chance too.”

“Damn it, it’s over…”

Lipard, a promising player from the Knightage.

He was a top-tier user in the knight class, having shown outstanding talent from the start and quickly growing to become a direct disciple of the lord of Hilden Castle.

His challenge gave many users disappointment.

It was when many users were about to start gossiping with regret.

[Lipard has died.]

[The Calamity’s reproduction rate increases as the user who entered the shrine dies.]

[The current Calamity reproduction rate is 51%.]

“…?”

“Huh?”

An unexpected message popped up.