The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 82

82.

Even investing his entire fortune, hundreds of millions of [in-game currency], hadn’t yielded a Mythic God.

In the end, he reluctantly chose a Heroic God. Still, it wasn’t the worst.

‘The traits are much better, and I picked a Transcendent Heroic God from among the Heroic Gods.’

It even had traits related to swordsmanship, which he wanted, and a unique ability.

Vastly superior to what he had before.

And if he added his know-how and connections to that?

‘I know over 10 hidden pieces alone.’

He thought that if he just put in the time, he could reach his previous position, or even surpass it.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that was a delusion.

‘Life sucks.’

Even while he was diligently leveling up, they were still pulling ahead.

It’s not that he thought they would stay put, but he hadn’t truly grasped the reality of the situation.

And when he deleted and remade his character, his boasted connections mostly vanished.

Now, only those he was genuinely close to remained.

‘I must have been completely out of my mind. Duke, what were you so confident about?’

Life is a series of choices, they say.

Duke made the wrong choice, driven by something, and he was paying a steep price for it.

No, let’s think positively.

Compared to before, he was building a solid foundation, and he cleared hidden pieces that he would have otherwise missed.

And weren’t his traits and unique abilities better now?

Surely, if he just put in the time… if he just had the time….

“Sigh. What am I even saying?”

Time flows equally for everyone, so what’s with all this talk about time?

Of course, they were almost at their level cap, so they would spend relatively more time increasing their stats, but they were still getting stronger.

To be more efficient than those guys, he had to grow like crazy, but what were the chances of that happening?

He had been breathing the air at the top for too long, forgetting what the world below was like.

Now, he would be satisfied just reaching the ranker position.

It was when he had come to terms with it to some extent and arrived at Brion [a major city in the game]. Around the time he was approaching the level to receive the graduation quest [a quest to leave the newbie area].

[Kaiser has returned!]

[The return of a god! Immediately upon arrival, he reclaims the throne of Raven!]

[Kaiser, who is he?]

The community, suddenly in an uproar, caught Duke’s attention.

‘Kaiser? Could it be *the* Kaiser I know?’

It was quite a familiar name.

It couldn’t help but be familiar.

He had only dabbled in Demroque [previous game] for a short time, but even then, Kaiser’s status was immense.

Even if he didn’t know the exact achievements, he knew that he was just an amazing player.

But he heard that he disappeared when Demroque shut down?

‘He suddenly came back like this? What the heck, is this real?’

At first, he didn’t believe it.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize it was true.

-Kaiser is awesome lol

-Oi oi, I believed in you!

-Is it real that he kicked out the Annihilation [a powerful guild] as soon as he arrived lol I’m really curious about Annihilation’s reaction.

-Oppa, you’re so cool, take me (wiggling) [internet slang for simping]

-Wow, every move is so cool… Is he going to cause an accident in Brion?

-He’s going to cause a huge accident.

Not only the God of Creation Online homepage and Naver [Korean search engine], but also the community was full of talk about Kaiser.

-But if this happens, isn’t it inevitable that everyone will target Kaiser?

-Expose all the guilds? Hey, they have a conscience. Surely they won’t dogpile him, right? They’ll just put subtle pressure on him.

-Frankly, wouldn’t it be better for them to declare that they’re going solo than to join another guild, from their perspective?

-No, no, not that. If there’s no guild, there’s no shield to protect him.

Was it a coincidence that Duke’s eyes were caught by that story at that time?

-Everyone knows Kaiser now. He’s incredibly famous, doesn’t have a guild, doesn’t have a party, isn’t he the perfect prey?

-Hey, it’s Kaiser. He’s achieved so much that he could kick achievements with his feet, who would be so reckless?

-Isn’t Kaiser a person? Whatever he was in the past, he’s just a newbie user who just graduated from Raven, am I wrong?

-That’s true… so what are you going to do?

Duke straightened his posture and focused on the story.

As a former ranker, Duke knew very well what kind of world God of Creation Online was.

There was no way he couldn’t know what that person was trying to say.

-Now is the chance.

-What chance?

-A chance to rise, you idiot. If you catch Kaiser, you’ll become a star right away. Wouldn’t you get a free pass to the top 100 guilds right away? What top 100 guilds? If you do well, you might even get into the top 10 guilds?

-…Come to think of it, that’s true?

-I heard that the guys in Brion are already forming teams. They’re going to go all-in if necessary.

Gulp.

Duke, who had read that far, raised his head.

After that, he saw chats chattering, but he didn’t care about that.

-A chance to rise, you idiot.

-If you do well, you might even get into the top 10 guilds?

Only that chat was rummaging through his head.

‘…This is it.’

A ranker in the top 0.01%.

A man who deleted and restarted and caught Kaiser.

He could already hear the sound of people clicking their mice. Everyone would be focused on him, and that would soon lead to a guild free pass.

Because what they value as much as talent is star quality.

‘Something I didn’t have….’

A ranker of misfortune who had no star quality at all, and who people didn’t know well even though he was a ranker.

That was the Duke of the past.

But if he took the title of catching Kaiser, it would be different.

Everyone would call him the Kaiser Hunter, or the God Slayer.

Thump-.

Duke dived into the capsule that had just come out [VR capsule].

Then, he logged into God of Creation Online and frantically searched for Kaiser. It wasn’t difficult to find Kaiser.

Creak-.

Step, step.

In the middle of the city.

A man walking through the crowd, parted like the Red Sea, as if Moses’ miracle had opened.

Seeing that man, he could only think of one person.

‘Kaiser….’

His appearance, not at all intimidated by the gazes of the people, and confidently entering the Grand Temple, was so cool.

The ideal image that Duke had always wanted. That’s why his fighting spirit burned even more.

‘I can have it.’

He had a hope that he might be able to have that position.

That was the reason.

“Damn it, he logged out.”

“What kind of person is so free-spirited? There’s nothing predictable about him.”

“Sigh. Well… I guess if it were me, I’d just turn it off in this situation. How many people are gathered.”

“Tsk tsk. Let’s go hunting. We’ll hear news again if we see him.”

When everyone gave up and went to do their own thing when they heard that Kaiser had logged out, Duke didn’t give up.

“Huh? Isn’t that Kaiser’s porter [someone who carries items for another player]?”

“That’s right? What, why is he alone? Should we follow him?”

“Hey, stop it. We’ll be in big trouble if we get caught. Anyway, even if we follow him, Kaiser isn’t there.”

“Well… he’s a swordsman, so does he have stealth or space warp [skills that allow a player to disappear or teleport]?”

When Kaiser’s party member wearing robes was seen in the field.

Even when everyone just looked at him with curiosity, he didn’t give up and followed him.

And that effort has now paid off.

“Wow, he didn’t get caught.”

After persistently following the robed man for a few minutes.

The man who suddenly appeared next to him was none other than Kaiser.

He didn’t know why he could use stealth, but it was definitely Kaiser.

Thumping, thumping.

‘Oh my god….’

His heart was pumping as if it would burst.

To see that Kaiser, who he had only heard about in the news and only vaguely seen in videos and photos!

He felt strange and excited, as if he had met a great man in a history book.

But that emotion soon subsided and turned into fighting spirit and greed.

‘This is a chance. I found him first. If I take care of him now, I’ll have the Kaiser hunting title.’

He was just amazed to meet a star, but he wasn’t particularly nervous.

He must be around level 24-27 at best. On the other hand, he was level 34 and had been diligently leveling up while building a solid foundation.

There was almost a 10-level difference, so there was no way he could lose in a one-on-one fight.

He was confident in his skills.

…Or so he thought.

Slash-!

“Good feel.”

‘……?’

Until he saw Kaiser killing the rushing orc in one hit.

He didn’t avoid and hit, or block and hit.

He just cut off the neck of the rushing orc as it was. A natural counterattack that made it seem like the orc was a suicide bomber.

‘No, does that make sense?’

It’s not for nothing that people avoid the orc’s rush.

The first reason is that if you block it, you often get bounced off due to being pushed back by the stats.

Even if you don’t get pushed back in the power struggle, it doesn’t make sense to attack the rushing enemy as it is, so the second reason was to just avoid it.

It’s not for nothing that it’s not the orthodox strategy. But how can he do that so naturally as if he’s breathing? For a moment, I almost mistook that for the orthodox strategy.

What was strange was that it wasn’t the end.

‘No, more than that, what’s with the damage… why is there a one-hit kill? Wasn’t he in his 20s?’

Even he, who prided himself on his stats, had to hit at least three times.

That’s when he hits well, usually, wouldn’t he need more hits?

‘…He must have focused all his stats on attack power. He must be a glass cannon [a character build that focuses on high damage output but has low health].’

Yes, that’s a reasonable judgment.

Originally, rankers who are confident in their control tend to focus more on attack power than health.

If it’s Kaiser, that tendency might be somewhat extreme.

If he ambushes him well, he can try it enough. After all, the only person next to him is that porter.

‘I guess Guardian [another player] was right. Is he raising it for item collection?’

That was reasonable.

Duke’s complexion brightened again.

‘Yes. It’s not too late to deal with the porter later…?’

Groan- groan-.

Until he saw the appearance of orcs and goblins making strange noises.

He thought the orcs were okay, but when he looked closely at why the goblins were here, their appearance was unique.

They were too decayed to be living things, their eyes were dead, and they were emitting some kind of ominous black energy.

That’s like….

‘…Undead?’

And they soon brought an orc.

They all rushed over in a group, picked it up, and then unilaterally beat it.

The orc lost its life like that.

“…….”

Duke, who was watching the scene, made a decision.

‘Let’s run away.’

He can’t win that.

Even that abnormal Kaiser’s damage is burdensome, but even the undead?

Starting a fight with this is a suicide attempt.

Who the hell said that was a porter? He’s a noble necromancer walking the royal road [a powerful and respected class]!

Is there a guardian with that kind of ability among the guardians?

‘I don’t care if he’s a guardian or a party member.’

At least he didn’t know, but what’s important now is that the person who had no presence was a commander necromancer.

‘I should have tried to get a team….’

If he contacts his connections now… of course, it will be too late.

Damn it, he was too hasty.

No, in fact, he thought that he might be able to do it alone to some extent. Also, his status would be higher if he defeated him alone.

‘Whatever, let’s back off for now. That’s right.’

Still, Duke wasn’t stupid enough to repeat a stupid choice twice.

One character deletion was enough for such a choice in his God of Creation Online.

It was fortunate that he wasn’t caught because he was hiding behind a rock now.

It was when Duke was trying to find a gap to escape properly.

Swish-.

A shadow suddenly cast over him.

When he unconsciously raised his head, an orc with a hideous face was looking down at him.

“Ugh! ?”

People’s hands move first when they are surprised.

Maybe not everyone, but at least Duke did. Duke had a spear in his hand, and he stabbed the orc’s leg without realizing it.

-Liza!!

“…Liza?”

A voice that was too cute to be an orc.

In the blink of an eye, a message window popped up above Duke’s head as he questioned it.

[You have made a preemptive attack on player ‘Kaiser’.]

[The probability of dropping items increases if you are killed by the opponent.]

“? What is this….”

He couldn’t understand.

He just hit the orc, but what is a preemptive attack?

In Duke’s eyes, looking at the orc with a bewildered look, he saw the orc’s white hand.

‘Was the color originally like that…?’

Before he could solve that question, a mid-bass voice was heard.

“What? A person?”

“Heok! ?”

“Oh, my gosh. Why are you screaming?”

It was Kaiser.

Kaiser and the porter… no, the necromancer, who had already come close to him, were surrounding him.

At that, Duke unknowingly muttered to himself.

‘…I’m screwed.’