Ranker's Return Chapter 746

“Huh? Are you serious about that?” Reina asked like she couldn’t believe it.

It meant that Hyeonu’s words weren’t easy to believe.

“Yes, I think this is the best for Crescent Moon.”

Hyeonu nodded. He confirmed that Reina didn’t hear it incorrectly.

“I will talk to the team first. They will probably like it. A scrimmage between Crescent Moon in PvP…”

This was what Reina heard from Hyeonu. It was about periodic scrimmages between the New York Warriors and Crescent Moon.

“We can’t meet all year round unless it is Arena Week. There can’t be a team with better conditions than this.”

Hyeonu had several reasons for making this suggestion. Hyeonu alone wasn’t that efficient in improving Crescent Moon’s skills. Hyeonu was one person and there were six players participating in PvP. During the time when he practiced with one person, the other five had to practice among themselves. It was much better to bring in other PvP opponents for them to gain experience.

The opponents he found were the New York Warriors. They were better than the players of Crescent Moon and they wouldn’t meet in each other’s leagues, so there was no fear of exposure of power. Of course, they might meet at Arena Week, but that was too far away.

They wouldn’t even be able to go to Arena Week if they didn’t perform well in the league. He had to do this no matter the difficulties or obstacles faced. The conversation about work ended here. They arrived at the cafe that was their destination.

“What do you want to eat? I will have an iced Americano and a cheesecake.”

Hyeonu entered the cafe and immediately decided on what to order.

“Um… I will have a chocolate cake, two egg tarts, two macarons, and a hot latte.”

Hyeonu wasn’t embarrassed by Reina’s large order. This was also familiar now.

‘It is clear that she has a separate stomach for dessert.’

After ordering, Hyeonu and Reina settled down beside the window of the second floor of the cafe.

“Do you have any plans for the evening?” Hyeonu sat in a chair and asked Reina.

“This evening? I think I’m just going to play Arena,” Reina thought for a moment and answered Hyeonu’s question.

“Then do you want to go to Arena together?” Hyeonu joked. He was suggesting to go to a Korean club with the same name as Arena, the virtual reality game. It was a joke using the same name.

“Huh? Go to Arena together?” Reina couldn’t understand Hyeonu’s words properly and asked.

The only Arena she knew was the virtual reality game.

“No, let’s go to Arena together,” Hyeonu spoke in English the second time, not Korean, as Reina didn’t seem to understand. Perhaps it was because she learned Korean quickly, but she didn’t understand things like puns very well.

“Arena? Where is it?”

Even if he said this, Reina couldn’t understand Hyeonu’s words because she didn’t know what Arena was. She just guessed that Arena was the name of a place.

“It is a fun place. Would you like to come with me?”

“Yes. I’ll come.”

Reina nodded. She didn’t know what Arena was, but if it was with Hyeonu… 

There was no reason not to go.

***

The hunt in the Mapa Tribe’s Special Training Center, an instance dungeon within an instance dungeon, also ended. The hunt in the special training ground wasn’t very difficult. At first, there was a slight risk when examining the different patterns. It became quicker after he realized the pattern of the troll shaman.

He killed them instantly before the troll shamans could cast their powerful magic. In the process, Cutting the Moonlight achieved remarkable growth.

[The shaman of the Mapa Tribe has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[The skill proficiency of Cutting the Moonlight has increased to E.]

‘It has increased again.’

Hyeonu smiled when he saw that Cutting the Moonlight had increased in proficiency once again. It was now a more frequently used skill than Crescent Moon Cut. He used it unconditionally every time the cooldown ended. This was how powerful it was. In particular, the more magic power he poured out, the more the power rose.

Hyeonu was able to pour out magic power freely because he could restore it in proportion to the damage caused to the monster. He used the skill more frequently so the speed at which the skill proficiency rose also increased.

“Master dude, this is the end of it.”

Tang-E approached Hyeonu, who was smiling happily while looking at the skill window. They had searched the instance dungeon, the Mapa Tribe’s Special Training Center. However, they couldn’t find a boss monster anywhere. In such a situation, there was now only one area where they hadn’t hunted.

“Yes, this is the end. So we won’t rest and will go right away.”

Hyeonu picked up the gold coins that had fallen to the ground and moved straight to the remaining field. Trolls appeared steadily as they moved. One or two appeared and swung a wooden stick at Hyeonu but their offense ended with just one move. They weren’t given the chance to swing it twice.

After one attack, Hyeonu also swung the Mysterious Sky Sword once. That was the end of it.

‘That guy?’

Hyeonu found a troll in the distance. Outwardly, this troll wasn’t much different from the other trolls. There was just a clear difference on the face.

‘He is old.’

Even the troll’s regenerative power couldn’t withstand the passage of time. Wrinkles were everywhere on this troll’s face. Tang-E cocked his head when he saw the troll’s face.

“Master dude, he looks familiar,” Tang-E suddenly clapped and whispered in a small voice to Hyeonu.

“Huh? Familiar? Where did you see him?”

Hyeonu cocked his head like Tang-E after hearing Tang-E’s whisper.

‘Where did Tang-E see that troll?’

“It must be an illusion. Where did you see something like this?”

As far as Hyeonu knew, Tang-E had experienced very little of the world before joining him. The number of times he left Bung Bung Island could be counted using his fingers.

“I guess? That is why I asked you, Master dude.”

At Hyeonu’s resolute words, Tang-E shook his head slightly and smiled at Hyeonu.

‘Still, I can’t just ignore it.’

Unless Tang-E made it up, he might’ve seen a creature similar to the troll one day. Being a bit cautious wasn’t a bad thing. Hyeonu carefully approached the old troll. He got closer and the old troll’s appearance became more clearly visible.

‘He looks like a shaman.’

The old troll was wearing all types of ornaments made of bones. Unlike the other troll shamans, he was carrying a well-cut wooden staff. Hyeonu saw this and his gaze moved up and down.

‘He is somewhat familiar…’

Unexpectedly, the appearance of the old troll was also familiar to Hyeonu.

“Who is it?!”

It happened at this moment…

The old troll yelled sharply while turning his head in the direction where Hyeonu was standing. At the same time, he extended the wooden staff in his hand. A thunderbolt poured toward Hyeonu’s head, but there was nobody in the spot where the thunderbolt struck.

Hyeonu and Tang-E had already escaped. The thunderbolt fell in an instant, but the time it took the old troll to wield the wooden staff was long enough for Hyeonu to avoid it.

“Isn’t this greeting a bit rough?”

“Yes, Master dude. Tang-E doesn’t like a fierce greeting.”

Hyeonu and Tang-E appeared quite far away from the thunderbolt. They both pretended to be fine, but they were quite surprised. They never imagined that the old troll would speak or that he would attack like this.

“It doesn’t fit my personality to just be beaten.”

“Yes, Master dude. It didn’t hit, but he obviously attacked. We have to do it once.”

Hyeonu and Tang-E were in sync. Before making a physical attack, they first shook the opponent’s mind with words.

“Tang-E will pay him back first.”

Tang-E summoned a golden orb, a Heart, and focused his magic power on the Heart. Huge magic power flowed out of Tang-E’s body and moved into the Heart. The Heart full of magic power dropped a ray of lightning from the sky. Lightning struck the old troll and it was several times louder than the thunderbolt of the old troll.

“Who do you think will be hit so easily?”

The old troll’s expression distorted and he swung his wooden staff. Then a blue film formed over his head. Tang-E’s lightning was blocked by it. The blue film around the old troll started to crack. It couldn’t withstand Tang-E’s lightning. Then a wedge was driven in such a crack. Hyeonu’s purple giant sword completely shattered the blue film.

“There are two of us.”

“Set, set. You stupid troll.”

Hyeonu and Tang-E threw mocking words at the old troll, whose shoulder was crushed by the giant sword.

“This… I can’t die like this. Spare me. Then… I’ll give you a treasure.”

The old troll’s expression changed suddenly. There was a very urgent expression on his face.

“Treasure? Master dude, he says he will give you a treasure. What are you going to do?”

Tang-E instinctively stared at Hyeonu when the old troll said the word ‘treasure.’ Hyeonu briefly made eye contact with Tang-E before shouting at the old troll.

“There is no need for that. All I need is your life!” Hyeonu shouted firmly.

Tang-E showed a surprised expression at Hyeonu’s words. It was a completely unexpected answer. Hyeonu refused a treasure.

“What enmity do you have with him? No… we are obviously meeting for the first time today.”

Tang-E made a confused expression.

“Kuooh… If only I had a bit more time… if so…”

The old troll looked helpless as he pulled out the giant sword embedded in his shoulder. No, it was correct to say that he crushed it rather than pulled it out. It was because the giant sword was made with Hyeonu’s magic power. It would naturally lose its form when Hyeonu’s magic power was scattered.

“Enmity… there is no enmity, but… what if you’ve had an experience where you were almost hit in the back of the head?” Hyeonu answered Tang-E’s question with his eyes fixed on the old troll. The old troll was dispersing the magic power of the giant sword with a pained expression. Then he heard Hyeonu’s words and turned to look at Hyeonu.

“What? It has been so long that you don’t remember me?” Hyeonu spoke derisively to the old troll.

“You… who are you to say this to me? Reveal your identity, human!” the old troll yelled at Hyeonu.

“You can’t even remember the face that killed you. I don’t know how you came back to life, but I will kill you again, Chroma.”

The eyes of the old troll, Chroma, widened at Hyeonu’s words.