Ranker Who Lives Twice

"W-What are you talking about? The gate difficulty is being adjusted to seven-star?" The collecting crew that entered twenty-four hours later than the search team was shocked at the sudden turn of events. They knew that adjusting to seven-star could only mean one thing.

'An otherworld god appeared…? Why here?

Even though this dungeon had been unclosed, its magic power had continually been calculated. That was why it had remained four-star for ten years, and people regularly entered the dungeon to confirm its safety. If it was judged to be too dangerous, the entrance of the collecting crew would've been postponed, and the search team would've been strengthened. However, the situation had suddenly turned grave.

Of course, the search team ahead of the collecting crew wasn't weak. There were three S-rank players among them, and the rest were some of the strongest A-rank players. They were a force that could close any unclosed gate no matter where they were tossed, but the problem was that in front of an otherworld god, it was all futile. It was an otherworld god. As humans, dealing with it was impossible.

A part of an otherworld god's vestige had manifested in southern Africa, but the land had become a land of the dead where no living creatures would survive.

"The collecting team stops here! Scouters, check the path headed back toward the gate!" Captain Woo Sung-hyeon speedily attempted to secure an escape route amid the confusion, as if proving that his experience in his field hadn't been for nothing. However…

"T-The gate has disappeared!"

"What?"

"They're saying the gate can't be found!"

A player communicating with the scouting team through radio reported with a pale face, leading to widespread panic among the collecting team.

"Damn it! Was it a gate cancellation?"

Gate cancellation was the phenomenon of the door to Earth completely vanishing. It was a rare occurrence for the dimensional path that connected Earth and the dungeon to be distorted and lead to the entire gate disappearing. In these cases, there was only one way to escape.

"…we're gonna have to wait for the search team to quickly clear the trial."

But with the appearance of the otherworld god, it was almost impossible for the search team to safely complete the trial without getting caught by the creature.

"N-No way…!"

"Min-young! Waah, waah, my Min-young is gonna be left alone…!"

"Mom! Dad!"

The collectors all collapsed to the floor and began to cry. They had pretty much lost their home to return to. Woo Sung-hyeon, who should've been comforting them, seemed out of it as well. Swish! It was why none of them saw Kim Bum-seong quietly disappear in the air.

* * *

[Hidden Quest / Black King's Dream]

[Description: The Black King has been asleep since an inconceivably long time ago. He has silently watched through his "dream" what is happening in the universe.

Then, one day, the Black King successfully found a way to wake up, and he blessed an unidentifiable being for this means of escape (an ego).

His long slumber continued, and after tussling about and talking in his sleep, he slowly prepared to awake.

But unfortunately, he failed to completely escape from the "dream" and is currently unable to wake up from the illusion.

Now, search for the ego of the Black King that is deep in slumber somewhere around this area, and help his illusion transform into a lucid dream.]

[Conditions for success:

1. Find the deeply sleeping ego of the Black King.

2. You must wake the ego from its heavy slumber. However, the ego is surrounded by unknown defense traps, so be careful.

3. You must complete a faint lucid dream.]

[Warnings:

1. Darkness is very deep. The sleep has the property of easily influencing others. Take caution not to fall asleep next to the ego.

2. There is currently a being attempting to find the ego before you. If the being finds the ego first, the ego's condition may change.]

[Qualifications: -]

[Time Limit: Until the destruction of the gate]

[Rewards:

1. ???

2. ??? + ???]

'I'm certain! This definitely means Uncle is around here!' While dashing through the forest, Sesha forced herself to take deep breaths to calm herself down. As Laplace said, she was really able to confirm that Yeon-woo was here.

「Ohahaha! That's why I told you several times. My master is definitely here.」Laplace giggled as if he had been the one to make the discovery. Sesha could see her shadow shaking.「And we have a pathfinder on top of that. We failed every time, but things are going smoothly now.」

The pathfinder Laplace spoke about was the otherworld god flying high up in the sky. It was a grayish creature with features that resembled a stingray. Tens of what seemed to be his eyes rolled around, searching the ground. It was ghastly.

Players who had weak stomachs had gone into spasms just seeing pictures of the otherworld gods. However, Sesha wasn't too affected. She had spent such a long time with a muscled bunny skinhead, so she took the otherworld god's appearance with ease.

「It seems to be chasing after traces of chaos… What a useful radar. After we find Master, we can go ahead and stab it in the back.」

Thinking Laplace treated stabbing others in the back like it was nothing made Sesha laugh. The song she had sung with Shanon when she was young had suddenly popped up in her head. However, she buried the memories and asked in a serious voice. 'But do you think it'll be easy? It seems as strong as an Outer God…'

「You must've forgotten.」

'…?'

「I'm Laplace. One of the Eight Gods of Disorder who succeeded the Lord of the Pole. And I'm also the king of the Demonic Sea. Something like that can easily be taken care of with my cute and sweet punch!」

'But that's before you were nerfed.'

Naturally, the farther away and longer apart a familiar was from its owner, nothing good would come of it. It meant the familiar would be apart from their origin of power, and they had less time to recuperate. That was Laplace's case. Unless it was Yeon-woo's territory, there were limits to Laplace roaming around freely with a spirit body. Moreover, this place had an entirely different environment from the Demonic Sea, Laplace's birthplace, and the Night. There would also be limits to how much he could recover his used strength.

It was why Laplace hadn't been able to leave with Cha Jeong-woo despite his power and remained on Earth in Sesha's shadow. He required a significant amount of power just to stay manifested, so he needed to use the least of his power as possible.

「Then I need to add my lovely bunny tackle to the mix. Hahaha!」However, Laplace just smiled mischievously as if he wasn't worried.

'He must have some plan.' Sesha didn't bother digging into Laplace about it. Right now, she was busy enough focusing on chasing the otherworld god without getting caught. But it wasn't easy.

[Poison has been sensed!]

[Poison has been sensed!]

…

[With the help of familiar 'Laplace,' the power 'Formless Poison' has been activated to neutralize the poison.]

[The currently sensed poison is ???.]

[You have gained resistance to ???.]

'The poisonous air is becoming thicker.' The poison in the air had been particularly severe. The further Sesha went into the forest, the thicker it became. She was free from the poison with Laplace's help, but the other search team members would all be annihilated from the thick air.

'And my feet are sinking deeper as I go. Is there a swamp nearby?' Now that Sesha thought about it, there was something about a swamp in the dungeon's name. With that in consideration, it seemed she was getting closer to her destination.

Krrrrooo. Just then, the flying otherworld god suddenly stopped. Sesha quickly hid behind a nearby large tree and pulled up her shadow to her nose. Laplace's energy erased her presence that was already well-hidden.

'It's a swamp.' Beyond tall thorn trees was a vast swamp that Sesha could see no end. No, could she call that a "swamp?" It had a thicker blackness than darkness Bubbles simmered on the surface and waves swelled, spraying vapor in the air. She felt dizzy and nauseous just by looking at it from far away. 'What is that…?'

[You are the first to have discovered the 'Swamp of Darkness!']

[You have made the first achievement.]

[The blessing of the rune 'Baptism of Darkness' is given.]

Although Sesha had received the reward for "first achievement" that was only given to those who made outstanding accomplishments, like in the Hall of Fame, she wasn't able to pay attention to it.

「Ohohaha. It seems we've come to a more fundamental place than what we thought.」

'What does that mean?'

「I'm not sure, but I heard the first king talk about it in passing. There are remnants of 'dream' in a place where darkness faded, light was created, and the world began. I think this is it.」

'And that means?'

「Master is probably somewhere over there? If Master really fought with the Black King's other identities and won, becoming the ego, he'll be there.」

'If he didn't?'

「If he didn't…we'll all be jumping into the end of things.」

'…'

「But I don't think you need to worry too much. There's no better backstabber than Master. He probably stabbed all the other Demonisms of the Black King and will wake up.」Laplace smiled widely with amusement. Sesha's shadow shook.「Alright, then should we prepare to backstab—!」

Just when Laplace was attempting to manifest, long sad cries rang out.

This. Place.

Where. Father.

But.

Weak.

Only. Ego. Left.

Suddenly, pockets of darkness were made in the air and small otherworld gods began to appear. A few of them even rose from the swamp. The eyes that flashed between their squirming tentacles were grisly to see.

[A part of 'Night (Nox)' has descended!]

「—is what I was going to do, but I think we should strategically retreat for a while, hm?」Laplace muttered as he trailed off. He seemed nervous, which was unlike him.

There were a total of five otherworld gods that appeared in the swamp. Three of them seemed like lower-level gods, but the other two weren't weak at all. It was a burdensome force for the nerfed Laplace to face head-on.

'But I can't go back.' Sesha bit her lower lip and planned to aim for their weaknesses. She desperately wanted to go back and return with her uncle's subordinates and her dad, but it was likely she'd lose her uncle's whereabouts. Additionally, the quest window said if the otherworld gods took her uncle first, it could result in a change for the worse.

'Can I get through them…?' However, Sesha wasn't confident. She wasn't anywhere near transcending or exuviating. If at the very least her mom Ananta was here, she wouldn't be as worried.

While concern flashed through her head, the otherworld gods had some kind of conversation and began to gather and project their holy power into the swamp.

Before. Day. Comes. Finish.

Hurry.

Dududu! The entire dungeon began to quake. The sticky swamp swelled in waves that tossed in all directions and slowly revealed something through its opened surface. The moment Sesha saw what it was, she almost shouted. '…Uncle!'

It was Yeon-woo—deep in sleep with black-red wings surrounding his body. However, he was inside of a firm-looking crystal, so he looked as if he was dead. But his face was exactly the same as when Sesha last saw him ten years ago. Her dad, mom, and the familiar had all changed over the years, but Yeon-woo alone seemed to be frozen in time.

「Get yourself together, Miss. Things are gonna be bad if you get caught!」Sesha was able to reign in her shaking presence with Laplace's warning.

Where. Other.

Unlike Sesha, the otherworld gods were still searching the area, seemingly looking for something else despite having found Yeon-woo's soul.

Find. Later.

Day. Move.

Alright.

This. Place. Explode.

The otherworld god that looked like a stingray spread its tentacles and wrapped them around the crystal that held Yeon-woo.

At this rate, it appeared they'd lose Yeon-woo to the otherworld gods, so Sesha had no choice but to move to action with Laplace immediately. 'In a single stroke! I have to cut the tentacles and take Uncle!'

[The skill 'Draconic Eyes' searches for imperfections!]

With her Draconic Eyes wide open, Sesha was searching for an appropriate timing, when Big Mountain and Kill King suddenly came running toward her urgently.

"Miss Cha!"

"Be careful. We'll rescue you…!"

「Dammit! Why now…!」

Laplace wanted to kill the frustrating players, but the otherworld gods had already turned toward where Sesha was.

Other. Being.

Insects. Dare.

Thousands of tentacles shot toward Sesha.

Whoosh! At that moment, the shadow protecting Sesha soared up and deflected the tentacles. Simultaneously, Laplace appeared and slapped the god at the very front with his giant hand.

「Very, very adorable bunny thwak!」

Boom! Shockwaves that shook the swamp of darkness rippled in the air.

Crash! The other otherworld gods shot their gathered holy power toward Sesha. Sharp winds fell from the sky like rain. Part of the splashing swamp mixed with the wind and the smell became more acrid.

Sesha wasn't able to avoid it because storms of fire and ice were coming at her from other directions. She quickly formed a barrier, but it was only a candle in front of the wind with all those powers. She squeezed her eyes and called for the person who had always saved her from danger. "Uncle!"

The moment his niece's desperate voice rang in the air, the crystal holding Yeon-woo began to crack. Crack! With the sound of glass splitting, the crystal exploded. Crash!