Ranker's Return

Chapter 627

Translator: rainbowturtle

“What is this?” Reina looked at the box in Hyeonu’s hand and asked. At first glance, the box looked very luxurious.

‘What is in it?’ Reina was looking forward to it. She started to imagine what would be in the box that Hyeonu took out.

‘I received a ring last time…’

Last time, the gift was a ring. One of the rings Reina was wearing on her left hand was given to her by Hyeonu.

“Take it. It is a useful item. Well, if it isn’t better than what you are wearing now… just give it back to me.” Hyeonu shoved the box further in front of Reina.

‘Although that won’t happen…’

There was little chance that the bracelet given by Hyeonu was worse than the one Reina was wearing. In the first place, accessories had a very low drop rate.

‘It might be different if it is a class item.’

Hyeonu didn’t have it, but some rare classes were able to get class-related items.

“Thank you. I was thinking about changing items…” Reina accepted the box and opened it immediately. She couldn’t stand the curiosity any longer.

‘A bracelet?’

Reina had a gut feeling when she saw the white bracelet that felt cold just looking at it. This bracelet would be of great help to her.

‘All stats increased by 200 and an additional 15% ice attribute damage?’

“Isn’t this really good? Can you give me something like this? Are you really giving it to me?”

Reina was surprised when she checked the item information. The effects of the bracelet were too good to just accept it for free.

“Then should I charge some money? It is something I don’t need. I am giving it to you because it is something you need. It is a gift, a gift,” Hyeonu spoke in a seemingly casual tone to the surprised Reina.

“Thank you very much. I’ll never forget this bracelet for the rest of my life.” Reina immediately put the bracelet that was on her arm into the inventory and replaced it with the bracelet given by Hyeonu. Her left arm was fitted with both the ring and bracelet given by Hyeonu.

“This is how you do it.” Tang-E observed the scene and nodded. He was able to realize what Hyeonu meant about the gift. Personally experiencing it today was better than hearing about it a hundred times. “As expected, Master dude is great.”

***

‘I have to walk to Penn.’

Hyeonu encountered an unexpected obstacle. If he was just moving with Tang-E, then it was easy to move using the return stone. However, it was currently impossible due to the addition of Reina. He was in a situation where he had to travel on foot.

‘This is a situation I never thought about…’

Hyeonu had rarely hunted near Etono since players entered the demon world. There was no particular reason. He didn’t avoid hunting near Etono, but there was no need to waste time hunting in crowded places. There were many other cities where not a single player could be found. Thus, there was no reason to be here.

“By the way, where do you usually hunt? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before…” Reina was just curious about it because it was something she did not know. No matter who it was, no one in Etono had caught any glimpse of Hyeonu.

“Me? I do it somewhere else. There are too many people here.”

“Somewhere else? Ah… I guess so.” Reina nodded. It might have been different when it came to others, but she could understand it if it was Hyeonu that said this. It wasn’t that they didn’t try to expand the range using Etono as a base. However, it wasn’t possible.

‘There have been more than one or two guilds who met high level demonic creatures and died…’

The reason why most players couldn’t leave the area around Etono was a lack of power. Even the large guilds had their limits. They didn’t have enough power to kill the boss level demonic creatures and demons who could appear at an unknown place or time.

“Currently, we are moving to a new city called Penn. There are many demons and demonic creatures, but it isn’t that dangerous. There aren’t that many strong existences in the city,” Hyeonu briefly explained to Reina about the upcoming schedule.

She needed to know what they were going to do and the purpose of going around.

“I am going to that city to get something. I am going to ride it to find other cities… by the way…”

Hyeonu’s words paused. It was impossible to complete this schedule in a day or two. It was a long schedule that might take a week or two in real time.

‘Will our connection time fit?’

Reina was in New York which had a 14 hour time difference with Hyeonu. It was very difficult to keep their times aligned for a long period of time.

‘However, she can’t go alone…’

If he left Reina alone, then it wouldn’t be strange if she was logged out anytime and anywhere. That would be a dereliction of duty. Hyeonu had accepted Reina as a party member, so he had the responsibility of caring for her.

‘I will try to match it as much as possible.’

“I think we need to adjust the connection time… when is it convenient for you?”

Hyeonu was thinking about matching his game time to Reina. Originally, Hyeonu’s lifestyle wasn’t that good. On the days when he didn’t have to exercise, he would sleep at dawn and wake up in the afternoon.

“I’ll match my time to you, Hyeonu. I am in the position where I joined you… you don’t have to match it to my time.”

“Then tell me the time when you are available. It doesn’t matter how much you can access in a day or what time is convenient. I will pick from the time you tell me. Of course, not now. You can tell me before you log out later.”

Reina readily nodded. It wasn’t that difficult.

“I understand. Then I'll tell you.”

***

Hyeonu, Reina, and Tang-E—their first battle took place quite a distance from Etono. The opponents were demons that were passing by. They weren’t nobles, but they were clearly demons above the intermediate level.

“Tang-E, give Reina your buffs. Then give it to me next,” Hyeonu spoke in a relaxed tone even as he checked the demons running toward them.

“Understood, Master dude. I will do so." Tang-E didn’t question Hyeonu’s instructions. It was because he knew that his buffs weren’t very important when it came to Hyeonu dealing with the demons

“Reina, just do what you’ve been doing.” Hyeonu didn’t have separate orders for Reina. Reina was also a top ranker. There was no need to give her orders. She would know what she had to do and just do it.

“I understand,” Reina answered Hyeonu’s words in a brief manner before pulling out her white sword.

‘This much should be easy.’

There might be no priests in the team, but there was Tang-E with comparable buffs. The tricolor light from Tang-E’s paws permeated Reina’s body. Reina felt her body becoming lighter in an instant and rushed toward the demon running toward her.

Reina’s sword shone white. She swung her white sword toward the demon in front. Ice started to appear in the air along the trajectory of Reina’s sword. The ice had a shape. It became a gorgeous and huge flower. The flower with a complete shape immediately rotated quickly and moved forward.

The huge flower was really fast. Its speed didn’t fit its size. In an instant, it reached in front of the demon. At this moment, there was a change in the flower. Numerous petals started to scatter toward the surroundings. The demons saw the scattered petals and started to move quickly.

Some demons raised their magic power to create a shield in front of them. Others created balls of magic power and threw them at the petals. It happened at this moment…

A red energy rose from Hyeonu’s body. The red energy quickly moved toward the demons

It was Fighting Energy Emission. It wasn’t just that. Purple energy gathered behind Hyung to form a single shape. They were sharp eyes. The identity of the eyes was Dragon Fear. Dragon Fear was the set effect of the ‘Empty Dragon’ set. The combination of Fighting Energy Emission and Dragon Fear created a terrifying effect.

The movements of the demons stopped momentarily, and at the same time, their magic power control shook. This brief shaking caused enormous damage. The scattered petals of ice devastated the demons In an instant, dozens or hundreds of solid lines were left on the bodies of the demons The solid lines split open and blood gushed out. The demons were wounded all over and died. There were too many wounds to survive.

‘They died from this?’

Reina’s movements stopped when she saw it. She hadn’t expected to do this much damage in her first attack. From previous hunts, Reina knew how powerful the demons were. In particular, those in front of her were at least the intermediate level. Some looked like advanced demons. However, they were hit by the lightly blown ice petals like flies hit by a fly swatter.

‘As expected. That is the reason.’ Reina hadn’t seen the Dragon Fear, but Hyeonu’s Fighting Energy Emission was clearly visible.

The red solid threads passing by her side.

‘It is highly effective when hunting.’

She hadn’t felt it that much when watching from the sidelines. It was only when meeting Hyeonu as an enemy that she knew it properly. Hyeonu’s Fighting Energy Emission was a huge skill. In an instant, her stats were decreased and her body felt weighed down like cotton in water.

At this moment, a dark red figure passed by Reina’s side. It was Hyeonu. He moved to deal with the remaining demons.

Hyeonu shot forward using Mysterious Sky Steps and stopped in front of a demon with the Mysterious Sky Sword held in a reverse grip, its tip pointing downwards. What came after was just a simple upward cut. The Mysterious Sky Sword moved diagonally from right to left and neatly cut the body of a demon in two.

Hyeonu quickly took care of one demon and moved his feet again. His figure disappeared like he had teleported and he reappeared in front of another demon. Hyeonu turned his wrist to change the position of the sword. Then he swung his arm. The head of the cut demon rose high in the air and blood soared like a fountain from the cut surface.

“Human!!” The demons who understood the situation shouted at Hyeonu. They were shouting rather than attacking or fleeing. They had to choose between these two things. This was a fatal mistake.

Hyeonu turned toward the shouting demons. At the same time, he moved his position using Mysterious Sky Steps and swung his empty left hand. Hyeonu’s fist was quickly covered with purple magic power. The head of the demon that was hit shattered, making even their proper appearance unrecognizable.

‘So cool…’ Reina blankly stared and sighed with admiration.

“Master dude! Don’t act cool and get it done quickly! Why are you playing tricks?” Only Tang-E couldn’t watch like Reina. He shouted and jumped around.