The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 91

91. Shrouded in Darkness.

As the name suggests, it’s a skill that cloaks mana imbued with an attribute around the body or weapon. It’s one of the few close-combat skills available to dark-attribute mages.

Flame Shroud, Earth Shroud, Wind Shroud, and so on…

It was a fairly well-known skill with various versions.

‘It’s almost the only close-combat skill among Heroic-grade skills.’

As befitting its Heroic grade, it was a signature skill unique to mages, boasting excellent performance among the few close-combat skills.

However, despite its position, the evaluation of the Shroud skills wasn’t very favorable.

“The performance is good, and considering the duration, the cooldown isn’t bad either… It’s all good. It’s all good, but…”

“…Do we really need to use this?”

The problem was the nature of the mage class.

As a class known as the epitome of ranged damage dealers, mages excel in firepower.

Therefore, party members usually protect the mage, and the mage safely pours out damage from behind.

There’s no reason for such a mage to even consider close combat.

“If there were many skill slots, maybe, but we’re already short on them, so why bother?”

“Honestly, if a mage allows close range, it’s already over. It’s better to include skills useful for escape. What are you going to do with Shroud when you’re stuck close?”

“Unless it’s for personal combat.”

Those who enjoy arenas or PKs [Player Killing, or player-versus-player combat] might arm themselves with close-combat skills, but that’s only in PVP (player versus player).

Most mage users enjoy PVE (player versus environment), so there was no reason to adopt ‘Shroud.’

Mages shine brightest at a distance.

‘But I’m different.’

However, Do-hyun isn’t a typical mage.

He’s God of OE’s only All-Master, armed with close-combat skills from various classes. For him, ‘Shroud’ was a seasoning to enhance his already excellent close combat.

It was a skill that would be like MSG [monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer] in kimchi stew.

‘At least, no one will use this skill more effectively than me.’

That wasn’t a guess, but a certainty.

It was a mage skill, but ‘Shroud’ was a skill that couldn’t exert its full potential when used by a mage.

It’s not for nothing that the question, ‘What if another class got it?’ always comes up in skill discussions.

It wasn’t the skill Do-hyun specifically wanted, but as an All-Master, it was something he could welcome with open arms.

‘It’s good, but…’

However, Do-hyun’s expression was slightly ambiguous.

It’s a good skill. It seems like it would be good to maintain the current combat style while utilizing existing skills.

It’s definitely all good, but…

‘I was expecting flashy magic…’

The downside was that the direction was too different from what he had expected.

Since it was his first magic skill, he had secretly imagined flashy and beautiful magic skills, but this was too unlike magic.

‘How is this different from just receiving a buff?’

It was practically the equivalent of a knight becoming a dark knight.

Unable to hide his disappointment, Do-hyun, who valued performance, quickly shook off his regret.

There are still many opportunities to acquire skills.

He’ll be able to acquire flashy magic anytime.

‘Should I try it out first?’

Before completing the quest, Do-hyun decided to experiment with the skill first and left the Rocky Forest Mountains.

Then, along with a thick fog, a group of orcs soon appeared.

Squeak-!

Almost simultaneously with being discovered, the orcs also spotted him and charged, making their characteristic sound.

Looking at those guys, Do-hyun grasped Thousand Transformations.

[Thousand Transformations is transforming into ‘Bastard’s Training Sword’.]

And Thousand Transformations, which had been transformed into Bastard’s Training Sword, transformed once more.

As if black paint was spreading, the sleek silver color darkened and soon became dyed in darkness as black as pitch.

As if that wasn’t enough, the overflowing darkness seemed endlessly ominous.

[You have used ‘Darkness Shroud’ on Thousand Transformations.]

[A 40-second cooldown is applied to the target ‘Thousand Transformations’.]

[Mana is consumed every second.]

It was the effect of Darkness Shroud.

A threatening effect befitting a Heroic skill. It wasn’t just the effect.

[By shrouding Thousand Transformations in darkness, the properties of darkness are imbued.]

[Darkness is merely silent and pierces through the essence.]

‘Hmm…’

After checking the message, Do-hyun swung Thousand Transformations a few times in the air.

The sound of cutting through the wind isn’t heard. He definitely feels the sensation of the sword cutting through the air, but only silence is maintained.

“It feels strange because there’s no sound.”

It’s like playing with the sound muted.

No, it’s a more supernatural feeling than that.

He can’t explain it exactly in words, but being muted alone in a world full of noise felt quite alien.

-Wow, what’s that, Master? That cool thing?

-Lizariza!

Jihad and Eliza were shining their eyes as if it looked quite cool.

Perhaps the effect of the black energy overflowing also played a part in stimulating their curiosity.

-Awesome!

-Liriza!

Every time he swung the sword and moved, the darkness rippled, and the guys’ reactions noticeably grew.

The point was that no sound was heard during all of that.

‘It seems like assassins would go crazy for this.’

The unique effect wouldn’t be very noticeable on a dark night.

If you use stealth with this level of secrecy, it wouldn’t be difficult to fail a surprise attack.

–!

Squeak…?

The orc’s eyes, which had been looking down at the stinging pain in its left chest, shook. The eyes of that guy were filled with questions.

What is this? I didn’t even hear the sound of being stabbed?

The guy’s eyes, as if saying that, soon contained a faint light and faded away.

[You have defeated an Orc.]

[Swordsmanship proficiency has increased.]

[Swordsmanship proficiency has become LV13.]

Squeak!?

The orc, who was running towards him at the sudden death of its comrade, stopped.

It was instinct. It felt a sense of incongruity at the death without even a scream.

The orc, feeling a strange chill, looked around.

Excellent senses befitting a monster inheriting the blood of a warrior.

However, despite the response close to instinct, nothing was felt around him.

Only the comrade who had fallen in vain in the thick fog was visible, and nothing else could be seen or heard.

At that moment.

Thud-.

Squeak…?

Suddenly, the trachea was pierced along with the neck.

Feeling suffocated and blood gushing out, the orc breathed its last.

Without even knowing why it had to die until the moment of its death.

Swish.

And behind it, Do-hyun, the culprit who created the futile death, revealed himself.

Do-hyun’s sword, as well as his entire body, were dyed black, and the sight of the black energy rippling little by little looked like an avatar of darkness.

[You have used Darkness Shroud on yourself.]

[A 40-second cooldown is applied to the player ‘Kaiser’.]

[Mana is consumed every second.]

It was the influence of Darkness Shroud.

When he shrouded even his clothes in darkness, no sound was heard even when the clothes fluttered as he moved.

Originally, he was going to use it even on his shoes, but fortunately, there was no need to do so.

[The option of ‘Stealthy Leather Shoes Made in a Special Workshop’ is activated.]

[No footsteps are heard when walking.]

Fortunately, the effect of the shoes he had obtained this time was doing its part.

The fog that made the orc’s reckless charge powerful had now become a dagger aimed at their necks.

“Wow…”

Do-hyun, who had made good use of that dagger, was impressed.

He couldn’t help but be.

“The style is crazy. This is assassination.”

It was the best assassination itself, even to himself.

To exaggerate a little, it was so perfect that it could be included in textbooks.

If there was an assassination manual, it should be made based on this!

‘It seems like I’m getting closer to being an assassin, but whatever.’

Heroic skills are all specialized for assassins, and even though it’s a slight stealth, he has constant stealth and shoes that silence footsteps.

At this point, wouldn’t it be okay to call him an assassin rather than a swordsman?

He briefly had such thoughts, but soon stopped caring.

Who cares? It’s enough if it’s cool and strong.

-Mas, Master. Me too! I want to try using that too!

-Lizariza!

Those guys can’t take their eyes off this style and are clamoring.

“How can you guys use this? It’s my skill… Huh?”

He was about to wave his hand with a smirk when suddenly.

Do-hyun paused at a memory that flashed through his mind.

‘Wait a minute.’

Just as the Shroud itself was being forgotten by people as it was a more useful skill for close-combat characters than mages.

A mage had shown a special way to utilize it.

‘There was a guy who used it on a Guardian, wasn’t there?’

That was to use Flame Shroud on the Guardian Salamander.

How could he use Shroud, which couldn’t be used on others, on a Guardian?

The answer to this question was simple.

-Guardians are judged as belonging to the user, not others.

Therefore, Guardians are not themselves, but they are not others either.

It was a brilliant move that exploited the loopholes in the skill settings.

Thanks to that, he was able to create a Salamander that spewed stronger flames, and this became an issue, and for a while, it was briefly popular to strengthen Guardians by utilizing Shroud.

‘It was quickly buried, though.’

Unfortunately, it didn’t become a national build [a popular and widely used character build or strategy].

The idea itself was good, but the problem was that Guardians themselves couldn’t exert much power in the later stages.

Even if you strengthen them, they can’t even do one person’s worth.

Therefore, wasting one precious skill slot just to strengthen a Guardian a little was a huge loss.

As a result, it eventually fell into a joker card [an unexpected or unconventional strategy] that only mages who handle divine beasts occasionally adopt.

‘That means…’

Do-hyun’s gaze turned to Jihad.

That’s all from Demlock, but God of OE basically has the same skill system.

Wouldn’t it apply the same here?

“Hey, summon the undead quickly.”

-Huh? Why?

“You said you wanted to try using this too.”

-Really? Okay, Master. I’ll summon them quickly.”

Jihad’s listless body became busy.

You could feel just from his actions how anxious he was that Do-hyun might change his mind.

It seemed like he was quite greedy for Darkness Shroud.

‘Well, it’s a perfect fit.’

It wasn’t just about the appearance, but for Jihad, who handles black mana, Darkness Shroud wouldn’t be a perfect fit for his taste.

But thinking about it, it was unique.

‘I don’t think he has any dark attributes, so why is his mana black?’

Originally, mana is born with an attribute.

And the color of mana is determined in proportion to that attribute.

If it’s fire attribute, it’s red mana, if it’s water attribute, it’s blue mana, if you handle divine power, it’s light mana, if it’s dark attribute, it’s black mana… like that.

That was the setting of this game.

But Jihad seemed to twist that setting, showing no characteristics of any attribute.

It’s just that his mana is purely black.

‘Is it related to his clan?’

Perhaps that’s the most likely candidate.

It’s not like an onion, but unique things keep coming out even when you peel it, and the longer he spends time with him, the more curious he becomes about his identity.

[Guardian ‘Jihad Black’ summons the undead.]

[Summons 2 Forest Red Goblin Undead, 1 Forest Blue Goblin Undead, and 1 Orc Undead.]

-Master! I summoned them!

In the meantime, Jihad, who had successfully completed the summoning, shone his eyes.

The guy was looking up with shining eyes like a nephew expecting a Christmas present when he was young.

Looking at that guy, Do-hyun nodded.

“I’ll use it.”

-Okay!

Whether it will be applied or not.

After a bit of tension, Do-hyun activated Darkness Shroud.