The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 40

Part 40.

‘……Is it just bravado [a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate]?’

Perhaps it was Do-hyun’s confident demeanor.

For a moment, Ibak couldn’t answer and just stood there blankly.

He felt guilty.

It was also because Ibak rarely talked to anyone else, making him bad at hiding things.

“……Of course it is. You have no way to break through my Undead Legion, do you?”

After a moment of contemplation, Ibak decided to brazen it out, but it was no use.

To Do-hyun, who already knew the answer, it just seemed like a pathetic bluff.

“Undead Legion, my foot… Just a bunch of guys who’d be done for if you smashed their cores.”

Ibak flinched. At the word ‘core,’ he couldn’t hide it any longer and trembled greatly.

‘H, how does that guy know……?’

There’s no such thing as an Undead Legion in this world.

Unless you’re a powerhouse of the Abyss, it’s logically impossible.

If there’s someone who seems immortal, there must be some other trick.

Ibak was one of them.

He created a legion that seemed immortal by giving them cores and traits suitable for them.

‘……No. It doesn’t matter how he found out. Golems usually have cores, right? He must have just guessed somehow.’

He was momentarily flustered by the sudden insight, but only for a moment.

Ibak quickly calmed himself down.

No, he went beyond calming down, even wearing a sneer as if it were laughable.

“Heh heh heh…… Okay, I admit it. There are definitely cores. But…… so what? Does knowing that change anything?”

Were his golems just common golems that were lying around everywhere?

Not all cores are the same just because they have cores.

“You think my golems are the same as those pathetic golems?”

“Well, a core is a core. I’m not really curious.”

“No! My golems’ cores are special.”

Perhaps annoyed by Do-hyun’s attitude of picking his ear and ignoring him,

Ibak, possessed by the spirit of a developer whose life’s work had been insulted, began listing the characteristics of the core without even being asked.

“My core is much smaller than any other pathetic comparison. That core is constantly moving throughout the golem’s body…… If it’s damaged even a little, its location changes immediately, and it boasts tremendous performance with regeneration…….”

To summarize the long explanation:

“So, in other words, you have to blow it up accurately in one shot, right?”

“Yes, that’s it!”

Ibak clapped his hands as if he was completely satisfied with the simple and clear summary.

He looked relieved, as if he had finally vented his frustrations.

Certainly, the core sounded unbelievably advanced just from the explanation.

A state-of-the-art core that wouldn’t be understandable without the help of magical engineering.

‘I’d be stuck fighting golems all day.’

Moreover, these golems don’t consume mana.

Regeneration, division, and body enhancement are all characteristics of the golems, so they don’t consume Ibak’s mana.

Perhaps only enough mana to maintain the first seven golems he summoned would be used.

On the other hand, Jihad was notorious for his lack of mana.

Even Do-hyun himself, with his large mana pool, often ran short, so he would be overwhelmingly disadvantaged in a prolonged battle.

“Heh heh…… But even that is impossible. It’s realistically impossible.”

Furthermore, the golems’ cores were blocked by very thick rocks.

As he said, it was impossible to break through that and destroy the core in one shot.

Perhaps the original strategy wasn’t that either.

It would be either stopping the summoner somehow before a prolonged battle or utilizing something else.

But…….

“Who says? That it’s impossible.”

“……What?”

Just because the general strategy was like that, there was no reason for Do-hyun to be the same.

[The Eye of Truth is activated.]

Especially for Do-hyun, who had the Eye of Truth.

Do-hyun, seeing the clearly revealed location of the core, smiled and took a stance with Thousand Transformations.

A stance as if he were shooting a bow.

[Thousand Transformations is transformed into ‘Archer’s Bow Piercing the Rock Wall.’]

Then, Thousand Transformations, which had been a white sword, turned into a bow with elegant curves.

It wasn’t just that, but the posture that had been awkward with a sword in hand became very natural.

It wasn’t a professionally learned posture, but it felt like the momentum of a hunter with a lot of experience.

“……H, a bluff.”

“Yeah.”

His eyes didn’t seem to consider failure.

Eyes gleaming with deep conviction.

Like a beast slowly approaching prey caught in a trap.

Just slowly pulling the bowstring was enough to send shivers down Ibak’s spine, and his face became anxious.

‘It’s a bluff. There’s no way it’s possible. My core is perfect!’

Perfect technology that combined his life’s research and Orga’s magical engineering.

He could confidently say it was the best core.

He was thinking that he had truly come close to the realm of immortality.

‘Ah…….’

But why?

The more he looked into that man’s eyes, the more his pride shrank.

In the end, Ibak, pushed back by the momentum, squeezed his eyes shut and shouted urgently.

“S, stop that guy from shooting the bow! Stop him somehow! Stop him!”

Kugugugu- Keueo-!

Then, the golems who received the order rushed towards Do-hyun.

Five out of eight were running.

Since they were huge, the distance closed quickly with just a few steps, but unfortunately, the distance didn’t narrow beyond 20 meters.

Kuuung-!

Ueo! Ueo Ueo!

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

-Nice, Uger! Good job!

-Lizariza!

Uger and his undead subordinates charged forward to stop the golems.

Among them, Uger’s performance was tremendous.

Ueoeo-!

Kwagaga-!

The golems were pushed back greatly and parts of their bodies were destroyed each time he swung his club with a size that was not at all inferior to the golems.

It was only a few seconds, but that was enough.

Shuaaaak-!

It was more than enough time for Do-hyun, who accurately aimed at the core, to release the string.

The arrow released in that way cut through the air sharply,

Puk-!

It was stuck near the golem’s shoulder like a magnet.

A not-so-big impact sound.

Strictly speaking, it felt like sticking a dart needle into a target, but the scene that unfolded afterward was truly enormous.

Warrreureu-!

The golem crumbled into stones as easily as if it were falling apart.

That was the end.

A complete death that did not regenerate or divide.

Silence flowed for a moment, and the silence was filled with a cheerful notification that didn’t fit the situation.

[The core has been destroyed.]

[Ibak’s Contaminated Rock Golem has been completely defeated.]

“Good heavens. I, such an absurd……!”

And almost at the same time, Ibak vomited.

A voice trembling violently as if he couldn’t believe it.

Although his face couldn’t be seen, his eyes must have been shaking as if an earthquake had occurred.

“M, my core…… my perfect core……. T, there’s no way. There’s no way…… This is a dream. It’s an absurd thing. My life’s research……!”

“Kya, feels good. It feels good to shoot after a long time.”

Ibak, whose life was denied in an instant, kept muttering like a madman, but regardless, Do-hyun, with a refreshing smile, was just pulling the string again.

“N, no…… Don’t let him destroy my core anymore! Stop him somehow! Stop him!”

Ibak, who had become impatient, now sent all the guarding golems to Do-hyun.

Of course, he didn’t send them without any countermeasures.

[Ibak covers the golem with a rock shield.]

[The rock shield protects the core.]

A rock shield the size of a head moved around the golem’s body.

It was because it moved along with the core, protecting the body.

It was no different from openly telling the location of the core, but it was the best choice for Ibak.

For some reason, that man was clearly seeing through the core accurately.

‘If there are obstacles, he won’t be able to break it. If we just drag it out into a long battle……!’

But that wish was mercilessly shattered.

[The ‘Grotesque Shot’ option of ‘Archer’s Bow Piercing the Rock Wall’ is activated.]

[Fires an arrow that pierces obstacles in a straight trajectory. At this time, the types and range of objects that can be pierced are proportional to the wearer’s strength.]

The moment a heavy energy suddenly formed on the arrow that was flying normally.

[The rock shield is an obstacle that can be pierced with the wearer’s strength.]

Kwagagaga!!

The arrow pierced through the shield like tofu.

It wasn’t just the shield.

[Ibak’s Contaminated Rock Golem is an obstacle that can be pierced with the wearer’s strength.]

[The core is an obstacle that can be pierced.]

[Ibak’s Contaminated Rock Golem is an obstacle that can be pierced with the wearer’s strength.]

…….

“……Huh?”

-Oh my god.

-Lizariza!

-Um……!?

As if it wasn’t enough to pierce the shield, the arrow continued to pierce through the golem and core behind it, destroying them.

Do-hyun, the person who did it, was stunned at how coolly it was destroying them.

If the perpetrator’s reaction was like that, what about the victim?

“……???”

Was it because he didn’t feel real enough to be shocked?

Countless hooks floated over Ibak’s head.

He had attached a shield because it was timidly stuck and accurately destroying the core, but why was it now destroying everything?

‘……Is that an archer?’

He had never seen an archer who shot such a brutal arrow in his life.

That was the same for Do-hyun.

‘……No, the power I saw wasn’t like this?’

Clearly, the villain he fought back then had only broken rocks at best, but this was almost a legendary skill.

Unlike archers with high agility, was it because Do-hyun had invested the most in strength?

Or was it because the options were enhanced as it became the only legendary item due to Thousand Transformations?

‘It’s probably both…….’

Do-hyun swallowed dry saliva.

The 10-minute cooldown and the narrow range that it had to be in a straight line close to one point were a shame…….

Even considering that, it was an amazing penetration.

Kwagagagak-!

The arrow, which everyone was watching with blank expressions, stopped only after piercing through a total of four golems.

In an instant, there were only three golems left.

But even that golem was ambiguous to be considered remaining.

Ueoeo-!

Ttadak!

All three golems were tied up by Jihad’s undead legion.

In other words, there were no golems to protect Ibak right now.

“You’re all alone?”

“……Ah.”

Do-hyun and Ibak grasped the situation almost simultaneously.

Do-hyun smiled kindly as he watched Ibak step back.

“If you don’t have anything else to show, shall we go in first this time?”

“W, wait…… Keuheok! W, wait a minute, I got hit in the bone……!”

At the sound of beatings echoing in the cave, Jihad shook his head with a sense of camaraderie.

-Ugh, I know exactly what that feels like.

-L, Liza…….

-Um, no matter when I see it, the Lord’s punching skills are excellent. He only picks the painful spots accurately. Even if he had become a martial artist instead of a swordsman, he would have become a hero.

-Charlie, if you got hit, you wouldn’t say that, would you?

Charlie nodded at Jihad’s words, who was having a seizure after seeing Ibak, who was shouting, ‘Agh! I got hit in the bone!’ for a while.

-……Um. It’s a little pitiful.

Charlie doesn’t lie.