Ranker's Return Chapter 69

"I'll challenge you."

It was a man in a black suit. Romantic Assassin climbed onto the sparring grounds.

-Look at this ambitious person, challenging despite knowing it is Reina.

-Perhaps he knows? Is it Rain?

-It isn't Rain. Rain is streaming right now.

-Sorry, I don't know.

Viewers started to guess Romantic Assassin's identity. However, it was impossible to determine his identity when he had yet to fight a single duel. They could've chosen from a list if he made a slip of the tongue or showed a weapon, but Romantic Assassin only spoke enough to answer the question.

"Then we'll start the second match straight away. Romantic Assassin against Countess' Hostess. The duel between Countess' Hostess and Romantic Assassin will start!"

[Countess' Hostess VS Romantic Assassin]

Romantic Assassin pulled out the sword attached to his waist. Everyone who saw it was astonished. No one was an exception, not even Alley Leader who was in charge of hosting. They responded to each other in succession.

"Why that sword?"

"Did you bring the wrong one?"

-It is a broadcasting accident.

-Are my eyes seeing wrong?

-Wow, a decisive guy. He came out with a weapon to hide his identity.

Romantic Assassin's weapon was a half-broken sword. It looked fine when it was in the scabbard. That was natural since only the hilt of the sword was visible. Then once it was pulled out, it was obvious that it wasn't a proper weapon. The sword was around 50 centimeters long.

"Wait, wait a minute." Alley Leader came forward to resolve everyone's question. "That weapon... Did you pick it by mistake?"

"No, this is my weapon."

"You aren't thinking about changing it?"

"Yes, I'll fight with this."

Romantic Assassin's resolute attitude meant that Alley Leader no longer suggested replacing the weapon.

"Then let's start the match again." Alley Leader started the match. It was difficult to draw things out anymore. The 2nd Masked Fighting King had already been delayed by around 30 minutes. If the recording went longer, it wouldn't be good for Nike. The masked fighters had great identities, so it would be difficult to cope if they complained. Furthermore, the time it took to edit the episode wasn't short. Thus, they had to proceed as quickly as possible.

***

'I don't know who he is, but he's ignoring me?'

To be exact, Romantic Assassin wasn't ignoring Reina. He just came onto Masked Fighting King with a broken weapon. However, he was challenging her with such a weapon...

She wasn't angry, merely discontent. This person would pay the price for ignoring her.

"Haap!" Reina used her sword energy attribute from the start. She was going to smash this person badly… thoroughly. The distance between Reina and Romantic Assassin was roughly 20 meters. Reina and Assassin ran toward each other until a distance of around 10 meters existed between them.

At this point, Romantic Assassin's sword moved.

'Why is he wielding his sword from over there?'

As this thought entered Reina's eyes, Romantic Assassin's power grew. Then Reina's neck was cut. It was a deep wound. The wound system judged it as 'instant death.'

[Romantic Assassin has won.]

It was a futile result and also an unexpected result. This was Ice Princess Reina's impractical defeat. The match lasted less than 30 seconds. It spanned for only 10 seconds. Ice Princess was destroyed in a single attack.

-What is this?

-Is what I saw reality?

-No replays? Why did Reina suddenly die?

-We need the broadcast viewing angle. Sunday has to come.

The viewers were also flustered. They couldn't understand it. The viewers only saw that Romantic Assassin wielded his weapon and ended the game with a faint light. They didn't see anything else. All the people at the scene were flustered. The only difference was that they were wearing masks, so their expressions weren't visible. They had high stats, so they had seen exactly what happened.

"Obviously, the sword energy grew in length."

"Does he have a skill to increase sword energy at one point?"

"Is it a unique skill? Otherwise..."

There were some things that couldn't be believed with the eyes. The current situation was the same. Sword energy shouldn't appear instantaneously. Just like a magician's spells, it was a skill that required the player to concentrate. It wasn't a skill that should appear instantly.

However, this atmosphere didn't last long. They were too busy looking at each other.

'Who is going to appear next?'

'Should I go out?'

The thing that mattered right now wasn't the skill the assassin used. The problem was that they had to appear on stage and deal with Romantic Assassin.

"We'll take a 10-minute break before starting the next match!" After shouting, Alley Leader dragged Romantic Assassin away. He scolded, "Hey, you jerk. Did you call me here because of this?"

"What's wrong? Don't you know me?"

"Hey! Gang Hyeonu!" The angry Alley Leader shouted at Romantic Assassin.

The latter hurriedly blocked Alley Leader's mouth. "Are you crazy? Why are you doing this?"

"Hey! You! Didn't you call me to come out? You tricked me, so I came out."

"Yeongchan, do this for me today. I won't ask you again next time."

They were shocking words. Romantic Assassin's identity was Gang Hyeonu—Alley Leader. It was Yeongchan who pretended to be Alley Leader and was hosting Masked Fighting King today. Masked Fighting King was normally recorded from Hyeonu's perspective, but it was possible to record from a third-person point of view as well as the masked fighter's point of view.

"So why did you leave it to me today? Tell me why," Yeongchan asked with a serious expression. Of course, it couldn't be seen because he was wearing a mask, but the seriousness could be felt from his tone.

"Today, Jung Hanbaek has appeared. Jung Hanbaek's identity is Superman. I'm going to take it seriously today."

"Is that why you were late?"

"No, I was just late. Ah, that's right. Go to find Jung Hanbaek and persuade him gently. He has to come up or I'll surrender." 

"Understood." Yeongchan nodded at Hyeonu's words.

'That son of a bitch will appear.'

An enemy of Hyeonu was an enemy of Yeongchan. Even more so when it was Jung Hanbaek, whom he had a bad relationship with in the past.

***

"Then let's start the third match. If you want to challenge Romantic Assassin, please come up on stage!"

'Come up, Jung Hanbaek.' Hyeonu longed for it.

He prayed that Jung Hanbaek had been caught by Yeongchan's incitement.

'Let Jung Hanbaek come up to the sparring field.'

Was it thanks to Hyeonu's prayer...? Flying Superman rose from his seat. "I'll challenge you." Superman—Jung Hanbaek—appeared on the sparring field with a confident expression. The two people who saw this, Yeongchan and Hyeonu, were singing a happy song in their hearts.

'That's it. That's it.' Yeongchan turned his head slightly toward Hyeonu and gave a small nod.

'Thank you, Yeongchan.' Hyeonu nodded slightly back at Yeongchan. A small revenge game had been set up. 'I'll step on him at least twice today.'

Flames raged in Hyeonu's heart.

[Romantic Assassin VS Flying Superman]

Hyeonu and Jung Hanbaek stood face to face.

'I'll show you a miserable end today.'

Hyeonu pulled out his sword. Deep in his heart, the sword was very sharp. Hyeonu was confident in himself.

'Now, let's start my professional debut.'

He grasped the half-broken sword. It was the weapon he gained at the end of the fourth scenario quest when he sought out Aldred after the battle at Lipa Castle. At the time, Hyeonu might've been disappointed with the appearance of the half-sword and shoved it into his inventory, but it was actually a very good item.

[Half-Sword]

[-An unidentified half-sword. There is no information. It is in a sealed state, and it is impossible to change its appearance.

Rating: Unique

Restrictions: 600 strength, 400 physique.

Durability: 2500/2500

Attack Power: 1200

Effect: Reduces magic power consumption by 20%, and defense penetration is increased by 20%.]

It was the right weapon for Hyeonu. The half-sword was a very good weapon that reduced the amount of magic power used to create his sword energy and increased defense penetration. Hyeonu swung the half-sword toward Jung Hanbaek with a distance of 10 meters between them.

This was the attack that Reina had suffered from. The only difference was that the sword energy was slower than when it was used against Reina. It seemed there was a reason why Jung Hanbaek managed to become a pro gamer. He raised his sword to block Hyeonu's attack.

Jung Hanbaek also created sword energy.

'Just this?' This was the impression that Jung Hanbaek got when he was attacked by Hyeonu. It wasn't as powerful as he thought. Thus, there was a question in Jung Hanbaek's mind. 'Why couldn't Reina stop this?'

It was a bit unusual. The arena had all types of skills. There were swordsmen like Reina who could use the ice attribute while some magicians could use magic constantly. However, the only thing that mattered was this person's ability. It was the only unusual thing. Once he blocked it two or three times, it wouldn't work anymore.

'It was luck.' This was Jung Hanbaek's conclusion, and it was his most deadly mistake. He came to this judgment without knowing that Hyeonu had deliberately increased his sword energy slowly. Jung Hanbaek swung his sword to fight back. However, Romantic Assassin's strength was greater than before.

Everyone knew that attacking was more advantageous than defending. So, when Hyeonu was blocking, he had no strength. Yet when Jung Hanbaek ran in to attack, something didn't make sense. 'What? Why did his strength suddenly increase?'

Hyeonu smiled at Jung Hanbaek, who had backed down after the exchange. 'You must be confused right now? Why were you pushed back out of nowhere?'

[Giant's Power has been used.]

[Your strength stat has increased.]

This was why Hyeonu's strength increased suddenly. He used the giant skill. Now with just one kill, his strength stat was increased by a huge 600 points. It was almost double his basic stat.

'I'll stop short of stepping on you this time. There is one more chance.'

It was clear that if Jung Hanbaek lost in a flash, he would never admit his defeat. Hyeonu aimed for this point. This time, he would make it seem like a coincidence and a vain defeat. So...

'Try it again. I'll step on you then as well.'

Hyeonu swung his longsword as he ran toward Jung Hanbaek. Jung Hanbaek saw the sword heading toward him and swung his weapon full of magic power. Now he was being pushed hard. Using strength against strength wasn't the answer. Additionally, the lengths of their weapons were different. In this way, it was clear that he would be defeated one-sidedly.

'I can't use that long sword energy. Then I'll use melee.'

Jung Hanbaek used his skills to quickly cling to Hyeonu. He swung his sword.

'What are you going to do if I do this?'

"Huh?"

Clearly, Romantic Assassin's sword energy had been a few meters long. So why was the sword energy visible in front of him now 50 centimeters long and transparent? Suddenly, the 50-centimeter-long sword energy changed. In a crescent shape, it flew a few meters toward Jung Hanbaek. It was the Crescent Moon Cut seen only in videos.

Jung Hanbaek received the sword energy without responding.

[Romantic Assassin has won.] 

***

After the defeat, Jung Hanbaek came down from the sparring field.

'I lost.'

It was empty. It was too much. No matter the opponent, he just had to show his own play. However, he was distracted by his opponent's sword energy and was defeated without even using his skills properly. It was unfair and made him angry.

'One more time. I want to fight him one more time...' Then he would surely win.

At this moment, a familiar voice was heard. It was the voice of Romantic Assassin. Jung Hanbaek's head turned back to the sparring field.

"I'll surrender. I'm really tired. Let me rest for 30 minutes." Romantic Assassin dropped a bomb. 

Chapter end