Ranker Who Lives Twice

“…” High above the Outer District, Harmonia looked down with indifference at the round ‘egg’ under her feet. She looked dazzling, as if her expressionless face had been chiseled and created from stone. Her beauty was so extraordinary that she gave off a sense of mysteriousness.

The moment Harmonia had longed for, the creation of an ‘egg’, had arrived. Her sole task was to devour the Ruyi Bang and awaken the Balck King who had fallen asleep deep down in the emptiness, bound in the void. However, for some reason, she did not seem happy at all.

Harmonia just stared at the shadows oscillating ominously along the surface of the egg. No, the shadows were turning into a haze that slowly became increasingly black.

“Ohyohyo. You’re normally always hugging a large teddy bear and smiling softly. Where has all that softness gone? Why is your expression so cold?” A strange laughter rang out from behind Harmonia. It was a laughter that Harmonia had heard countless times as she charted and executed her plan, so it was one she found familiar.

Turning her head, Harmonia saw Yvlke standing alone while adjusting his monocle. Yvlke’s gaze was firmly fixed on the egg. Harmonia narrowed her eyes. “How did you come out?”

The guardians belonged to the Tower. They were subordinate to the Tower’s system and represented its will. They acted as the Tower system’s processing device. Thus, it should have been impossible for Yvlke to get out of the Tower. If he were able to get out, it meant that the system’s data was completely deleted, or the system’s data was intact with a disabled operating system due to a malfunctioning memory database. Hence, in virtually all conditions, a guardian was only able to survive within the Tower.

It should be impossible for Yvlke to be out and about, but…

“I left the guardian position. Ohyohyo!” Yvlke smiled pleasantly. It was as if what he said was not a big deal. “A leader should read the timing well, and personally come down to the lower levels and communicate with his or her employees.”

Harmonia did not bother to ask how Yvlke was able to do what he just said. Yvlke was the first guardian and the oldest existence within the Tower. Harmonia had long since abandoned trying to dig up his identity or origin. There were many suspicious things about Yvlke, but there was one reason Harmonia continued to work with Yvlke: their interests were aligned. Yvlke hated the Tower more than anything else in the world.

“Then, right now…?”

“The central bureau is a mess. Actually, I just threw my resignation letter on the desk and left.”

“…”

Everyone within the bureau was probably distracted and had their hands full because of Yeon-woo and the heavenly worlds invasion of the seventy-seventh floor. It was obvious what would happen if the head guardian of the central bureau disappeared.

Yvlke mentioned his resignation in a very playful way, but it was obvious that everything must have been calculated. He added, “Ohyohyo! Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ve become reckless and willing to throw away those who have agreed to join me. I also left a hint related to the external memory database, so those who find it should be able to make a separate backup.” Simply put, he planned to test the skills of his followers and weed out the unqualified.

The fact of the matter was that the central bureau was in complete shambles. The Tower’s system was not operating properly, so it would soon break down. The system’s incarnation, Allforone, was also paralyzed since his faith was extorted. Moreover, Yeon-woo hacked into the system here and there, so the system was essentially paralyzed.

‘The gods are going to start kicking up a ruckus.’ Harmonia seemed to clearly see what was going to happen in the heavenly world.

The central bureau was in jeopardy and complete disarray, the lower world was shrouded in darkness, and Allforone and Yeon-woo were clashing against each other. Essentially, the gods were trapped in the heavenly world with nowhere else to go. In the meantime, they had to powerlessly watch the Black King slowly awaken from the depths of the Tower. Moreover, they would have to watch helplessly as the Black King slowly took over the Tower.

The gods and demons of the heavenly world had no choice but to be terrified. They were existences that had considered ‘death’ as a concept completely irrelevant to them, so to realize that the things one thought only applied to the insects of the lower world were approaching their front door…

Such fear and terror would only help the Black King spread his influence further. Then, everything would end as if all was but a ‘dream’. The entire world would fall into the Black King’s dream.

“However, if there is one thing that’s unfortunate, it’s that more gods weren’t trapped in the ‘egg’. Cha Yeon-woo’s… Oh, it’s a little strange to hear myself call out his name so easily. Anyway, I don’t know what Cha Yeon-woo is planning.” Yvlke’s eyes twinkled through his monocle. From the tutorial to the present, seeing all the amazing things Yeon-woo had achieved, Yvlke was filled with anticipation to see what Yeon-woo would show him next.

As long as the damn Tower was destroyed, Yvlke did not care whether Harmonia obtained victory or whether Yeon-woo established some type of comeback.

“Still, we can’t just waste a good opportunity like this.”

Yvlke looked up for a moment and saw the ninety-eighth floor, which was hard to clearly see from his vantage point. Unlike the lower floors, the shadows had not reached the ninety-eighth floor, so the heavenly world floor was still emitting a cold light. It was also shaking precariously as if the light could go out at any moment. Currently, Zeus was probably faithfully fulfilling his deal with Yvlke.

“…” Harmonia no longer looked towards Yvlke. After all, they had nearly accomplished their common goal, so it was time for each to go their own way. Whatever else Yvlke was planning, Harmonia did not concern herself. However, one issue still gnawed at her.

‘Brahm…’ Harmonia quietly closed her eyes and conjured the name of someone who she would never see again.

Flash! In an instant, Harmonia was immersed in a dark light before her polymorph was released. A large dragon that seemed large enough to cover the entire area outside the Tower appeared. Roar! Her roar shook the area outside the Tower. Harmonia was readying to set out and do what she had to do. From now on, it was her turn to begin the hatching ceremony.

***

[An unknown force is attempting to gain control of the system!]

Parts were being crushed and torn apart.

[An unknown force has partially penetrated the control unit.]

[The system’s compare function has been infected.]

[The system’s calculation function has been weakened.]

[The system’s judgment function has ceased operation.]

Things were being ruined.

[The command operations have been neutralized!]

…

[Due to the incapacity of the central information processing unit, an enormous amount of time is needed to collect and interpret information.]

[There is a temporary network delay between the server and the client.]

Restoration was no longer possible.

[Due to the paralysis of the system functions, the power ‘Immortal’ will not be functional!]

『Ugh…!』 Allforone’s voice quavered slightly. If the clash continued at this rate, it would become too difficult for him. He let out a moan of pain, since Yeon-woo’s Sword Thunder strike had cut off

his left arm. Unless Allforone blocked all his senses, he had to feel the pain.

However, it was clear that Allforone was more embarrassed than hurt. His signature skill, which should have operated automatically, was malfunctioning.

[The sub-skill, ‘regeneration’, is about to be activated in place of the power, ‘Immortal’.]

[An unknown force partially blocks the activation of the skill, ‘regeneration’. Many different poisons have appeared.]

[Skill, ‘Formless Poison’ is active!]

[‘Death’ is being transplanted.]

The light could no longer cover Allforone’s severed left arm, and instead, a black shadow stuck onto the arm and tried to penetrate inside.

“It’s not going to go well. I didn’t go through all sorts of trouble to stop your fucking signature skills for nothing.”

『…you did a lot of research on me.』

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Yeon-woo laughed cynically.

Ever since Yeon-woo decided to carry out the Allforone raid, and after learning that Kronos had been brought down by Allforone, and how the Martial King's last will was for Yeon-woo to overcome Allforone… Yeon-woo had spent a countless amount of time researching how to bring Allforone down while perfecting his yin sword.

Fortunately, Yeon-woo had quite a bit of data on Allforone. There was the information his brother had seen in the simulation he performed on his pocket watch, the experiences his father had, and the things Yeon-woo had learned while competing with Allforone in the Changgong Library.

Based on all these reference materials, Yeon-woo created various strategies. He hacked the Tower’s system using the yin sword and interfered with the activation of Allforone’s powers. By disclosing his identity publicly, Yeon-woo extorted the faith that flowed into Allforone. He was able to forcibly damage Allforone’s spirit form by completing Scythe. Thus, it was for these reasons that ‘death’ was able to be forcibly transplanted using poison.

No matter how much faith was extorted to Yeon-woo’s side, there was bound to be a limit. This was because Allforone had existed in the Tower for a long time, allowing him to leave his mark in all parts of the Tower and create an innumerable number of achievements and legends. Thus, Yeon-woo had to lower Allforone’s physical abilities by using another method. Once immortality failed and death came knocking at Allforone’s door, that fear alone would be a seemingly irrecoverable blow for Allforone. However…

‘He’s still strong.’ Unlike his outwardly relaxed smile, Yeon-woo was growing slightly impatient. He was obviously able to use several moves to reach Allforone’s level. Yeon-woo had also shaken the foundation of Allforone’s divine position as the incarnation of the Tower’s system. This was an achievement that no one had ever achieved during the Tower’s long history.

But that was the problem. It was still a tight confrontation. It was not an overwhelming victory.

‘Should I consider it obvious and expected since he’s the Heavenly Demon’s son? It’s not easy.’

Even if it was not for his domains, Allforone was already strong. He also possessed great martial arts skills, presumably the Heavenly Bracket, and the occasional spurt of Heavenly Demon Ruling Steps was very intimidating. It was not for nothing that he was able to firmly maintain his position as the number one rank.

This seeming stalemate inevitably threw a wrench in Yeon-woo’s plan to destroy Allforone and the Tower. Moreover, the problem was…

[The scenario quest (Black King’s Ambition I) is proceeding smoothly!]

[The Black King is satisfied with the proxy battle between his clones.]

[The Heavenly Demon is silently observing the proxy war.]

The issue was that Yeon-woo had no idea what the Black King and Heavenly Demon were thinking. No matter how hard Yeon-woo tried not to pay attention to the two, it was not easy.

The Black King was trying to wake himself up from his ‘dream’ while the Heavenly Demon stood on the sidelines with seemingly no intention to intervene, even though his son was in danger of dying. Both existences were too burdensome for Yeon-woo.

Moreover, Yeon-woo did not know what Harmonia and Yvlke were thinking and planning.

Eventually, Yeon-woo determined that a new action was needed to break the tense confrontation and turn the tide of the battle. ‘As I thought… I need the Bright Tai Chi Pangu Sword.’

The Martial King had stated the fact over and over in the past. He had said that the Bright Tai Chi Pangu Sword was needed to deal with Allforone and completely destroy the Tower’s system. The question was whether there was a yang sword.

‘But there’s no way I can learn the yang sword in my current state.’ Just like the One-horned Tribe members who could not acquire the yin sword due to their underlying sun attribute, it was impossible for Yeon-woo to acquire the yang sword since his main characteristic was based on the yin sword. It was a dilemma. ‘I was hoping to find a solution once I exuviated…’

[Exuviation is in progress. 24, 25… 26%...]

Perhaps due to the overwhelming extorted faith rushing in, the rate of Yeon-woo’s exuviation was too slow. As a result, his 7th-step Awakening was also progressing remarkably slowly. In the end, there was only one option left.

‘But that’s…’ Yeon-woo’s eyes narrowed.

***

“Damn it! It’s so annoying that we can’t help him with anything…!” Phante bared his teeth as he watched the Tower being dyed black. His helpless expression reflected his inner lament. He was also bothered by the fact that Yeon-woo had not yet mastered the Bright Tai Chi Pangu Sword. According to the Martial King, it was not possible to completely destroy Allforone and the Tower’s system without it…

At that time, Phante’s sister, Edora, who had been quietly observing the Tower, spoke with a soft, low tone of voice, “No. There’s a way I can help.”

“What?”

“Help me become Yeon-woo’s familiar.”

“What nonsense are you spewing?!” Phante frantically jumped up and down without realizing it. To ask for permission to become Yeon-woo’s familiar…he knew that Edora was seeking death to join Yeon-woo’s shadow.

“Think soberly. He hasn’t mastered the yang… No, it’s not possible for him to master the yang sword.”

“…!”