The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 98

98.

The gazes directed at me were far from ordinary.

Eyes filled with animosity and disgust intertwined, piercing through Do-hyun.

In their eyes, Do-hyun was already the enemy.

A natural reaction.

“…Only Kaiser is left.”

Before they knew it, everyone had finished their measurements, leaving only Do-hyun.

“See? Didn’t I say that stranger was suspicious?”

“But it’s strange. Does he really possess that much divine power?”

“Apostles have more talents than they appear. You can’t judge by appearances.”

“Everyone, be careful. He might suddenly turn on us.”

As they spread out and encircled him, Do-hyun clenched his fist.

Now, there was no escape.

He glanced ahead and met Gil-deti’s gaze.

His indifferent eyes gave no clue as to what he was thinking.

Did Gil-deti also suspect him?

“…You’re the only one left.”

In the meantime, Zerdic approached.

With each step closer, anger, suspicion, doubt… countless emotions flashed across his eyes.

Finally, when he reached the front, Zerdic’s gaze was simply cold.

“Raise your hands.”

Why did the phrase ‘a rat in a trap’ come to mind?

The quest name was disgustingly well-chosen. There couldn’t be a more perfect proverb for the current situation.

Do-hyun, who had been racking his brain, blurted out.

“Aren’t you only supposed to measure high-ranking priests? You said divine power was detected?”

“I heard that strangers are different from us. They can use high-purity divine power even if they’re not high-ranking priests.”

“……”

“There’s no harm in proving it. Just raise your hands. It’s not difficult, is it?”

“Haa….”

He sighed as if he were annoyed, but his insides were burning.

There was no room for argument.

If he insisted here, he would only arouse more suspicion.

‘I don’t know.’

In the end, Do-hyun reached out his hand.

There was no turning back anyway. He had no choice but to leave it to fate.

Whirr-.

Clack. Clatter.

As the detection orb absorbed mana, the high-ranking priests tensed up, holding their staffs and books.

It was to attack immediately the moment black mana was detected.

Zerdic, too, kept his eyes on Do-hyun, not on the orb.

Then, mana flowed into the orb,

Whoosh-.

The detection orb, which had been dyed white, made a deflated sound as it returned to its original state.

At the same time, a gasp was heard from somewhere, and the whispers grew louder.

They must have assumed that Do-hyun was the contractor [someone who made a deal with a dark entity], and were taken aback by the unexpected result.

Some even rubbed their eyes in disbelief. But such reactions were only temporary. Soon, their arrows turned to Jihad.

“…Then is it him?”

If it wasn’t the priests or Do-hyun, then the only one left was Jihad.

Soon, their eyes narrowed.

“Covering his face is also suspicious….”

“Please examine him quickly, Lord Zerdic.”

As if he was going to do so even without being urged, Zerdic held out the detection orb.

‘…Master, what should I do?’

Jihad’s eyes, which glanced at him, were clearly saying that.

At this rate, he would be framed without a doubt.

Black mana coming out in this atmosphere?

He would become a public enemy and be hunted down without even having time to explain.

He had to think. He had to find a way to get through this situation.

‘…Damn it, there’s no way.’

The escape routes were blocked, and he was at a disadvantage in terms of force.

He had been diligently looking around earlier, hoping that the Eye of Truth would activate, but he couldn’t see anything.

For some reason, things had been going too smoothly since he started God of Creation.

To suddenly face such a big crisis. Should he say that this was like Demroque’s next work, or that he was unlucky…….

“…Are you refusing?”

It was then that he heard a chilling voice.

When he raised his head, he met Zerdic’s eyes, which gleamed coldly like moonlight. Holding back his breath, Do-hyun subtly poked his side.

‘…Master?’

‘Just do it. We’re going to face this head-on.’

Hostile relationship?

What did he care? Do-hyun wasn’t an apostle of God anyway.

The one who had a hostile relationship with God was the successor of humanity, Kasiar. When you think about it, it meant that they were fundamentally hostile from the start.

‘Just don’t die.’

The notification window said that failure would occur upon death.

If he didn’t die, he might be able to clean up the mess somehow.

Maybe not, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

First, he had to break through with all his might.

‘…….’

In a brief exchange of glances, Jihad closed his eyes tightly.

Do-hyun’s thoughts were fully conveyed.

With the intention of summoning the undead immediately if anything happened, Jihad circulated mana and reached out his hand.

Swish.

At the same time, Do-hyun secretly gripped Thousand Transformations [Do-hyun’s weapon].

More than a hundred pairs of eyes were on them, but it was too quiet.

In the suffocating tension, Jihad’s hand was about to be placed on the detection orb.

Whirring-.

Do-hyun, who was about to activate Thousand Transformations, paused.

The orb had reacted.

‘…Hmm?’

Not the detection orb, but another orb.

In the face of an unexpected situation, the tightly drawn tension was released in vain.

A dazed atmosphere lingered among the crowd.

Gil-deti, who was looking at the communication orb ringing on the central table, opened his mouth.

“…I’m sorry. Please wait a moment.”

Then, he bowed and asked for understanding before carefully connecting the communication.

His face turned cold as he listened silently for a while.

“Are you sure? …I understand. Don’t hang up yet.”

A concise conversation.

But when he hung up, Gil-deti’s face was clearly different from before. He was endlessly serious and even looked somewhat troubled.

In the end, the elders couldn’t help but ask.

“What’s wrong, High Priest Gil-deti?”

“You look troubled.”

Gil-deti, who couldn’t answer right away and moved his lips, eventually let out a long sigh.

It was clear to anyone that something had happened.

At that, the crowd’s attention turned to Gil-deti, not Jihad, and that included Do-hyun.

‘What’s going on?’

He had been tense in the face of a crisis, but suddenly the atmosphere changed.

To make matters worse, this wasn’t the end.

While he was bewildered by the inexplicable situation, Gil-deti waved his hand.

“It seems that further measurement would be meaningless.”

“What do you mean?”

“…It’s hard to agree. Can you tell us what’s going on?”

That was a very good flow for Do-hyun.

‘…Such an opportunity?’

He was prepared for an all-out war if necessary, but they were going to stop on their own. It couldn’t be better.

Do-hyun had no reason to refuse.

However, he was a little doubtful.

‘Why at Jihad’s turn?’

Should he call this a coincidence?

The timing was too perfect…….

Ding-.

[You have successfully completed the measurement.]

[You have cleared the forced linked quest ‘A Rat in a Trap.’]

At that moment, Do-hyun nodded at the message that popped up as if to confirm.

‘Ah, is that so.’

He understood now.

This wasn’t a coincidence, but an inevitable event.

The measurement quest was a hidden piece that only the top graduate who met the hidden conditions could do.

From the beginning, it was set up to measure priests of high-ranking priest level or higher, and even users who were doing the quest.

Since he had completed the measurement, the event would occur as planned.

‘Yes, that’s right.’

Since it was a quest that only two or more people couldn’t do, it was natural.

The event scene, which was originally put in for story progression, became dynamic thanks to Jihad, who was disguised as a person.

Originally, they wouldn’t have bothered to measure the Guardian.

‘…I feel drained for some reason.’

‘Hoo… I feel like I’ve lost 5kg, Master.’

‘Eliza….’

Jihad slumped, relieved of the tension.

Eliza must have been quite anxious as well, as she was sighing. Do-hyun agreed with their feelings this time.

‘This was really dangerous.’

It was the biggest crisis he had faced while playing God of Creation.

He had been lucky so far and thought that a dangerous moment would come someday, but he never thought he would feel a crisis like this.

But he had luckily escaped the crisis, so now he could just step back and watch how things went.

Of course, he couldn’t let his guard down.

Because Do-hyun still didn’t know what was going to happen.

“Then what about him? How can we not measure him in this situation?”

“A detailed explanation is needed, High Priest.”

That must have been the same for the elders.

Not everyone opened their mouths, but the unspoken gazes showed that they were all thinking the same thing.

In response to the urging of more than a hundred people, Gil-deti finally opened his mouth.

“Do you remember the traces of those guys I showed you earlier?”

“Of course. How could we not recognize those terrible traces?”

“…Actually, just in case, even after summoning you, I had the forensic team do a detailed analysis. I told them to let me know if anything else was found. Because even the slightest error should not be allowed.”

After pausing for a moment, he continued.

“And I just got a call.”

“…What did they say?”

Why was it that he had a very bad feeling?

The nervous high-ranking priests swallowed hard and waited for the next answer.

Eventually, after a few seconds, Gil-deti’s answer followed.

“As a result of comparing them, it turns out that they are exactly the same as the last traces that were found before.”

“Yes?”

“What does that……”

Suddenly, what were these traces from before?

They were about to question it, but soon the expressions of those who understood the meaning were filled with shock.

As if to drive a wedge into it, Gil-deti’s words continued.

“In the past 30 years, there have been a total of three cases of those who have contracted with the Abyss in Brion. Two of them have been executed.”

Gil-deti’s expression was endlessly serious.

No, it was something beyond seriousness. It was more like he was nervous.

And the expressions of the others soon became the same as his.

“…Are you saying, by any chance?”

“Good heavens.”

“Could it be that he……?”

From the high-ranking priests who were uneasy with a ‘could it be’ face, to the elders who had their mouths wide open, and even the high priests who jumped up from their seats.

Their actions were all different, but their expressions were all similar.

Zerdic and Taxinel were no different.

Their cold expressions clearly showed their anger.

‘…What’s going on with them?’

Only Do-hyun in this place couldn’t understand this situation.

-Liza?

-What’s going on……?

……To be exact, only Do-hyun’s party did.

They were bewildered by the sight of everyone being shocked as if they had exclamation marks above their heads.

Fortunately, they were soon able to understand the situation.

“…Yes. What you’re thinking is correct.”

Gil-deti’s cracked voice revealed the identity of what he had been wrapping up.

“The Destroyer Gaiman, it seems that he has reappeared.”

[You have heard the name of the Abyss Contractor who broke the taboo, ‘Destroyer Gaiman.’]

[The forced linked quest ‘…….’ will proceed.]

The culprit behind the warning message that appeared in front of Do-hyun, and the key figure who would decorate the finale of this forced linked quest.

It was the moment when the Destroyer Gaiman appeared.