Ranker's Return

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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Meanwhile, Yuri had a disgruntled expression as she visited the Temple of the Moon. She was in a rush and didn’t like going through all the usual procedures.

‘There is an undead army outside the group right now. Is it okay to drag out the time so leisurely?’

Still, she was a priest of the Temple of the Moon God. She couldn’t express any complaints because she might be penalized. Less than 20 minutes later, Yuri was able to meet the high priest in charge of Brigs’ temple. The high priest truly possessed the image of a priest.

He had white hair, a beard, and a benevolent face. It was just that the stubbornness visible all over his face showed the character of the high priest. The high priest stared into Yuri’s eyes for a while. Only then did he open his mouth to speak in an intimidating manner, “You want to receive help from the temple... Do you know what it means for the temple to interfere in the empire’s civil war, Priest Yuri?”

Yuri wasn’t discouraged by the high priest’s words and explained the situation as objectively as possible. “This isn’t just a civil war.”

“Everyone knows it is a power struggle with the former imperial prince. The difference is that the fight isn’t kept between them and it’s damaging the general public.”

“They aren’t rebels. They’re evil black magicians summoning the undead and making chimeras.”

At Yuri’s words, cracks started to appear on the high priest’s calm face. “What does that mean? Necromancers have joined the rebels?”

Yuri shook her head at the high priest’s words. “They didn’t. Their base only consists of necromancers and black magicians.”

“You should hope that your words aren’t false, Priest Yuri.”

“I am just telling you the facts. High Priest, it is up to you to make the judgment.”

The high priest groaned. Soon, the high priest glanced at Yuri and called out to someone outside, “Sir Dahan, would you like to come inside?”

A short time later, a man in platinum armor entered the high priest’s study. “Did you call, High Priest?”

“Sir Dahan, along with Priest Yuri here, lead the paladins and priests to the city walls first. I have heard that the outside army doesn’t just consist of rebels. They are also a group of wicked people.”

“So, High Priest...?”

“I will contact the Seong Kingdom and ask them to join immediately. If Priest Yuri’s words are true, there is no time. The quality of the knights of Brigs is high, but there are only a small number of them. I don't know when the wall will fall.”

Once the high priest finished speaking, a wave of magic power struck them. The temple was far away from the walls, but the abilities of the black magicians were enough to make the distance meaningless.

“This... I think it has already started. You have to hurry, Sir Dahan.” 

“I understand, High Priest.” The knight called Sir Dahan nodded at the high priest and made a holy salute. “Come with us, Priest Yuri.”

“I understand.”

Five minutes after the battle began, Yuri succeeded in gaining the support of the temple.

 

***

 

The battle was fierce. The undead rose endlessly, and many people were exhausted.

“Kuaack! The monsters are revived!”

“There are no signs of diminishing no matter how many arrows have been fired.”

Yet some people, the players, weren’t exhausted at all. Their experience was quickly filling up, so level-ups kept occurring constantly. For players, this place was currently heaven.

“Hey, aren’t we lucky? If we weren’t here in Brigs...”

“It is as you say. Aren’t they like scarecrows?”

They were getting experience from monsters like lucky fishermen catching fish. Hyeonu cut at a monster aiming for a knight’s body.

 

[The weapon ogre has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

 

In the past, killing a weapon ogre required using the giant skills. Even Brig’s knight commander Brown was hurt in a battle against them, and it wasn’t easy to split apart a weapon ogre’s body with one blow.

“Are you okay?” Hyeonu reached out to Brown.

“Thank you,” Brown thanked the rising star of the empire that saved his life. The disciple of Duke Lebron, the one who gained the status of a viscount after defeating the rebels—Hyeonu broke the prejudice of being an adventurer and was already a knight.

“If you’re struggling, take a break from the walls for a while. In a few minutes, support from the temple will come.” Hyeonu knew that the knights and priests of the temple would soon arrive at the wall because of Yuri’s whisper.

“I’ll just endure a bit more. It isn’t too late to take a break when the paladin comes.” Brown left behind these words before raising his sword again and heading toward the monsters.

Seeing Brown act like this, Hyeonu also raised his sword again and rushed into the center of the monsters. Hyeonu personally felt that this large battleground was better than one-on-one combat. In any case, he wasn’t tired. It was because the effect of Memories of a Murderer could always provide him with stamina and magic power. As such, there was no limit to the use of his skills.

There was a clear way to recover magic power. The crescent moon as large as the first one destroyed the monsters’ formation again. Hyeonu was moving to finish the fallen monsters when a white light fell from the air. The identity of the light was divine power. The divine power bombardment was enough to stop the monsters’ breaths.

 

[The weapon ogre has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[A poisonous ghoul has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The lizardman contaminated with black magic has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

 

‘Divine power? Have they arrived?’

Hyeonu was turning his head to confirm the temple’s support when a voice rang through the plains.

“The Lunatic Knights will cleanse all unclean things!” Dahan, the man in platinum armor, shouted loudly and ran toward the monsters.

Under Dahan’s orders, the paladins rushed at the monsters with their weapons. A monster that was less than two meters long and a monster nearly five meters long were hit. There was a collision sound like that of a traffic accident. Common sense said that people would bounce off the monsters due to the force.

However, the paladins had their bodies covered with divine power and didn’t bounce off the monsters. This didn’t mean the paladins were injury-free. They were also human, so the damage was obvious. Nevertheless, the paladins had the means to restore their wounds.

“Give hope to your poor servants.” It was the priest’s recovery.

The combination of priests and paladins was enough for the knights to be called cockroaches.

‘Then I’ll leave it to the paladins.’

“I have to extract the main part.” Hyeonu moved to handle the named NPCs, who were likely to give the biggest rewards. The dark pure energy shook the center of the rebels.

 

[A rebel soldier has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[A rebel black magician has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

 

Hyeonu moved around the rebel group. He seemed to be surrounded, but he used Blink to repeatedly escape and stirred up the center of the army. However, no named NPCs were visible to Hyeonu.

‘Where the hell are they hiding?’

Despite being stirred up like this, no named NPCs appeared. Hyeonu felt a sense of emptiness, and his strength drained from his body.

“I have to go back.”

Hyeonu wanted to return to the wall and rest due to the helplessness that filled his body.

 

***

 

“Oppa, are you okay?” Yuri greeted Hyeonu from where she was using heals and buffs on the wall. Yuri used Heal because she saw Hyeonu’s sagging shoulders and thought he was injured. However, Hyeonu’s shoulders didn’t move. It was natural. This wasn’t a physical wound.

“What is the situation now? Are we still being pushed?” Hyeonu asked Yuri about the battle. He had been distracted when he returned to the wall, so he hadn’t looked around. 

“There are the temple’s knights and priests, so we are winning overwhelmingly. I think it will be over in 30 minutes.”

“Really?” Hyeonu felt even more depressed by Yuri’s answer. “When are the black magicians going to come...?”

‘She didn’t tell me this.’

His resentment toward Sunny was increasing.

“I will take a break. I’m a bit tired.”

“Take a break, Oppa. Don’t overdo it.” Yuri looked anxious upon hearing Hyeonu’s words.

Hyeonu fought harder than anyone else to be in the leading position. It wasn’t a bad situation, so he had enough time to rest. However, Hyeonu’s break didn’t last that long. The troops from Brigs, aided by the Temple of the Moon, started to take control of the rebels. Then the named NPCs that Hyeonu had been looking for showed up one after another. The appearance of the named NPCs made the castle walls noisy again. As the battle drew to a close, the people moved differently from when the battle was in full swing.

Now they were bustling about again. Hyeonu saw the people on the wall suddenly become busy and called to Yuri, “Yuri, what’s going on?”

“There are many black magicians. They’ve brought monsters over and raised the undead,” Yuri responded casually to Hyeonu’s question. It was because she thought nothing would change. Divine power was supreme against black magicians. The priests still had a lot of divine power remaining. “Oppa, I think you can keep resting. The paladins will handle it.”

Hyeonu was distracted by Yuri’s words.

“The named NPCs appeared?” Hyeonu could no longer rest and quickly rose from his seat. There was a reason he chose to defend this place, so he couldn’t sit back and relax. Hyeonu raised a hand and called for Tang-E. Meanwhile, he asked Yuri for buffs. “Yuri, can you buff me?” 

If he could get the buffs of a healer who was close to the third class advancement, he would unconditionally obtain benefits.

“Understood, Oppa.” Yuri placed all her buffs on Hyeonu.

 

[You have received divine energy.]

[Your weapon is filled with a high divine power.]

[Attack power has increased.]

 

[You have received the goddess’ blessing.]

[All stats will increase.]

[Movement speed has increased.]

 

[You have been baptized by moonlight.]

[Magic power will continue to recover.]

[Movement speed has increased.]

 

“These are all the buffs I know. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? This is great.”

Hyeonu stroked Yuri’s head as she looked apologetic. He wasn’t sorry at all. In terms of stats increase, it couldn’t be called better than the effect of Tang-E’s buffs, but it was difficult to distinguish who was a superior buffer due to the movement speed increase.

‘Besides, they aren’t the only buffs I’m getting.’

“Master dude!!” Tang-E ran and threw himself at Hyeonu. “If you’re resting, you should’ve called me. Does it make sense for you to rest alone?”

Tang-E looked aggrieved. Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head. “Yes, I’m sorry. Sorry, can you give me some buffs? I have to fight again.”

Perhaps Tang-E was reassured by Hyeonu’s touch, but he easily gave the buffs. “Don’t die, Master dude.” 

 

[You have received Bear’s Momentum.]

[Physique has increased.]

[Strength has increased.]

[You have received the Forest’s Blessing.]

[Defense has increased.]

[Health will continue to recover.]

 

Hyeonu felt that his stats were higher than usual as he walked toward the wall.

‘There are treasures here.’

Hyeonu’s eyes shone as he gazed at the walls.

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