The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 306

306.

[You have entered the Hidden Stage ‘???’.]

[The gatekeeper of the Hidden Stage appears.]

[As the first benefit, drop rate +50% and experience gain +50% are applied.]

Groan…….

Cough…….

Greeting Do-hyun and his party was a secret space markedly different from the passage they had just been in, and soldiers guarding that space.

-What is this…….

-Ugh, the smell. Isn’t this a corpse?

-Lizariza…….

The soldiers were covered in armor, and the bits of exposed skin were half-distorted, with black energy wriggling around them.

That was probably the source of the smell.

‘There’s a gatekeeper…….’

A hidden stage in a dark cave that looked suspicious at a glance.

And dozens of gatekeepers guarding the place.

Did anyone need more explanation?

‘It’s clear they’re hiding something.’

Something that shouldn’t be caught, and if caught, there’s a reason to kill them.

More than anything, the gatekeepers’ condition was very unsettling.

-……I’ve never seen anything like this, Master.

-Lizariza.

-Even as a lord and commander of the Knights, a mere lord cannot create such a space. Besides, those gatekeepers, their condition is strange. They are clearly alive, yet they feel similar to the undead…….

Charlie’s words were seconded by Jihad.

-I think so too, Master. I’ve dealt with the undead a lot, but I don’t sense the energy of the undead from those guys.

-Lizariza!

Even Eliza, who was sensitive to mana, nodded in agreement, so it had to be true.

At this point, there was only one thing to suspect.

‘The Abyss.’

What if those gatekeepers were corrupted by the Abyss? [A dark, chaotic dimension often associated with evil and corruption in fantasy settings.]

Then their appearance would make sense.

In fact, during the Legion Commander raid, he had seen users corrupted by the opening of the Eye of the Abyss turning into undead.

Of course, nothing was certain yet. It was just a guess.

-…….

That was also why Charlie didn’t express his anger and kept his mouth shut.

But more important than anything else.

‘I think I’ve found it. Traces.’

Whatever it was, Garion, it was all the same to say that he had something shady going on.

Now that he had found the traces, he could go back, but…….

-What are you going to do, Master?

At Jihad’s sly question, Do-hyun smirked.

“What else? We have to break through.”

From the very beginning, they encountered beings corrupted by the Abyss, so what would be at the end?

He could say for sure that there would be more traces than what he had seen now.

Maybe there would be undeniable evidence that Garion was an informant.

From the very beginning, the hidden stage’s name being ‘???’ showed that it was unusual.

In this situation, he wouldn’t be a man if he didn’t check it out.

-Understood, Master.

-Yes! That’s an excellent choice.

-Liza!

Then, as if answering that will, an undead legion rose from the ground.

[Guardian Jihad Black summons the Undead Legion.]

Grumble- Grumble-

Clatter, clack.

The quick-witted Jihad summoned Pain and the legion from the start to go all out.

Cough……?

Grumble!

The gatekeepers, already on alert because Do-hyun and his party had entered, went berserk and charged when the undead legion appeared.

Half-corpses wriggling with black energy were charging.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, but that didn’t mean Do-hyun and his party would back down.

“Then let’s go.”

-Roger!

-Yes, Master!

Clatter!

Starting with Do-hyun’s sword clashing with a gatekeeper’s at the front.

Clang!

The battle began.

* * *

Clang! Clang!

Slash-

The battle was smooth.

[The Flowing Water effect of the Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword is activated.]

[You can now use swordsmanship as natural as flowing water, and the more you use swordsmanship, the stronger the water energy becomes.]

-Return to where you belong!

Cough……!

Every time Charlie swung his sword, two or three gatekeepers were cut down, and he excellently took on the aggro [In gaming, ‘aggro’ refers to drawing the enemy’s attention and attacks.] of six or seven.

[The 1st Legion Commander, ‘Pain,’ uses intermediate black magic ‘Horrific Sensation.’]

[The 1st Legion Commander, ‘Pain,’ uses Outlaw-style battle mage skills.]

Clatter, clack!

-Good job, Clatter!

Clatter!!

The undead legion, led by Legion Commander Pain, boasted truly explosive firepower.

The gatekeepers were swept away overwhelmingly, so much so that it was meaningless to say they were blocking the way.

It seemed like Pain was yelling something at Jihad, but Jihad just kept shouting, “Clatter, fighting!” without paying attention.

Slash- Thud-

Swoosh-

With Do-hyun joining in, they were truly running rampant.

Each of them took on more than ten gatekeepers, so the dozens of gatekeepers were cut down like tofu [Meaning easily defeated.].

‘They’ve definitely gotten stronger.’

Not only himself, but he could also feel that the guardians had grown significantly in a short period.

Charlie had become an all-around knight with no weaknesses thanks to obtaining the Flowing Water Secret Fire Sword and legendary skills, and Jihad was leading a legion that was on a different level from ordinary necromancers.

[Summon Ogre Monster Undead]

Wooger wooger grumble

‘Changing the undead composition makes a difference in power.’

Before encountering the 1st Prince.

It was thanks to removing the early undead like goblins and orcs and filling them with monsters from the Empire in the past week.

As a result, the 16 undead were now filled to the maximum of 20 based on the current standard.

[Since more than 50% of the legion’s undead are judged to be monsters from the lower city, mana consumption is reduced.]

‘The synergy effect between Outlaw, who is beyond the lower tier, and Pain is really awesome.’

Thanks to this, he was able to barely fill 50% of the lower city monsters and maintain the mana reduction effect, so it was a perfect upgrade.

Woah- Woah-!

And among them, there was one undead that stood out in particular.

A guy who was more than twice the size of other ogre undead.

[2nd Legion Commander]

[Wooger]

-Ash Gray Barbarian Ogre Chieftain

He was a mid-boss he had urgently obtained this time.

From field boss level and up, they couldn’t be undeadized except in special cases, so he chose the next best thing.

It was a shame, but the performance was certain.

There was a huge difference between having one legion commander and two.

[The characteristics and traits of the legion change under the influence of the 2nd Legion Commander, ‘Wooger.’]

[The 2nd Legion’s durability and impulsiveness are greatly increased as long as they do not exceed the limits of the race.]

It was because of the legion buff.

The 2nd Legion, which had Wooger’s characteristics passed on as they were, was truly like a runaway tank.

Woah-!

Kwaaa-!

Whether the gatekeepers blocked them or not, they just rammed into them with their bodies, and the huge bodies pushed them away like a screen.

Moreover, they weren’t just pushing with their bodies.

[The hero skill, ‘Undead Weapon Creation,’ is applied.]

[The 2nd Legion Commander, ‘Wooger,’ equips his exclusive weapon, ‘Adbaram Club.’]

The sight of that huge body wielding a club the size of a tree trunk was the epitome of overwhelming power.

Wooger wasn’t the only one holding a weapon.

[The Ash Gray Ogre Undead equips a ‘Tough Club.’]

[The Troll Undead equips a ‘Mace.’]

…….

[The Outlaw Undead equips his exclusive weapon, ‘Resentful Longsword.’]

Not all undead, but half of them were fighting with weapons.

Thanks to this, it was clear that they had become much stronger than before.

In particular, the weapons with the name exclusive weapon attached to them had outstanding performance because they had to be at least mid-boss level to handle exclusive weapons.

‘Exclusive weapons are the weapons that the undead used when they were alive. There’s no way an ordinary monster would have that.’

In fact, it was a weapon that could be said to be exclusive to the legion commander.

But there were exceptions everywhere.

‘Even now, it’s still beyond undead that Outlaw is handling that.’

The moment he held the exclusive weapon, he was even better than the Empire’s undead.

Even though he was judged to be a lower city monster, there was no such cheat key.

The only downside was that Pain, who could be said to be the main force of Jihad’s legion, was not holding a weapon.

It wasn’t that Jihad was discriminating against Pain.

[Mana consumption varies depending on the performance of the weapon wielded by the undead.]

[Exclusive weapons consume even more mana.]

[Caution. The 1st Legion Commander ‘Pain’ is very high-ranking.]

[There may be abnormalities in the manifestation and duration of the weapon.]

Pain was the king of the outlaws.

As the king of a race, he was different from other undead because of his innate rank.

Just once.

When Pain, who had obtained a weapon when he first obtained the skill and hunted, was truly a mana-eating hippopotamus.

It was visible to the eye that Jihad’s mana, which had recently become more relaxed, was being cut off in real time.

‘The performance was ridiculously good as well…….’

It was wise not to take it out unless it was an extraordinary situation.

Considering that even the outlaws only let one of them hold a weapon because they said mana was precious, wouldn’t there be almost no chance for Pain to hold a weapon?

Look at him now.

Thwack! Thwack!

Pow!

-Good job, good job, Clatter!

He was fighting well even without an exclusive weapon.

Pain was already doing more than his part as a legion commander, so Jihad wouldn’t bother consuming mana.

‘Now, even a decent necromancer can’t even hand in a business card [Meaning they are not even worth considering as competition].’

Jihad alone could slaughter field bosses.

That Jihad, who could only pick up junk items with his quick hand movements, had grown this much.

It was a new feeling.

‘It would be perfect if I could get him a legendary item later.’

If possible, something that would help with mana.

That guy’s strength and mana were inversely proportional, so the stronger he got, the more mana he consumed.

Meanwhile, at that time when everyone was proudly proving that they had grown.

-Liza!

Our Eliza…….

-Oh, our Wooger is doing well too!

Woah!

-Lizariza!

She was diligently cheering next to Jihad, hopping around.

Everyone had grown, but surprisingly, Eliza boasted that she was the same without any changes.

It was a strange thing.

With the same mechanism as Pain, a system that grew along with Jihad’s growth.

Why was her skill still just thread-pulling?

‘Wasn’t Eliza definitely a special race too?’

I think Kashiyar recognized her as a spider…….

There were many questions, but it didn’t matter.

-Liza?

She was already doing her job by being so cute.

‘Yeah, that’s right.’

As Do-hyun looked at her with satisfaction, Eliza tilted her head.

As he stroked Eliza’s head with his finger, the gatekeepers were all cleared out.

[The gatekeepers have been defeated.]

[As proof of the bond, the experience gain of the guardians increases.]

[Guardian ‘Charlie’ has leveled up.]

“Oh?”

At that moment, Do-hyun exclaimed at the level-up message that popped up.

[Charlie LV 49]

[Jihad LV 47]

With this, Charlie was now 2 levels higher than Jihad.

-No, why don’t I level up? When am I going to get stronger?

Jihad, who could tolerate up to 1 level, couldn’t tolerate the 2-level gap and became angry.

-You have excellent subordinates. You are strong enough now, so you don’t have to be impatient.

-They’re the ones who are strong. If it was Poke, I would have had some fun…….

-Huh! How can you say that with such excellent subordinates? A great lord must know the strengths of his subordinates better than anyone else. Your legion is by far the best of the necromancers I have seen.

-R, really? Well, that’s true!

-Liza…….

Charlie, who now manages Jihad so that he doesn’t change his mind without even being told.

He was very reliable.

‘Yes! Trust me, Master!’

Charlie sent a look as if he was saying that when their eyes met.

It was then that he quietly gave him a thumbs up.

Ding-

“Hmm?”

A sudden notification sound.

Do-hyun was puzzled by the sudden notification that rang without him doing anything.

Soon, Do-hyun’s eyes widened when he saw the message window that appeared.