Ranker's Return

The purple ogre brothers cocked their heads at the sudden appearance of the bear in front of them. They had definitely been playing with a little human. The human was very agile, but they could still deal blows at him properly. So where did the little human go to, and where did the big bear appear from? Nevertheless, it didn’t matter to the purple ogres. They were sure that this bear would be their toy.

“Kuaaah!” One of the purple ogres shot up from the ground with a loud cry.

It was an agile movement that didn’t match its large size. The purple ogre crossed through the air and landed in front of Tang-E with a heavy sound. Simultaneously, it slammed down its club at Tang-E’s head. The purple ogre’s wooden club missed and slammed into the ground. The land was damaged, and a small pit appeared in it.

‘I can’t get hit by such a crude attack.’ Tang-E lightly dodged the purple ogre’s attack with tremendous speed.

The almost five-meter-tall mass showed movements that resembled the resilience of a rubber ball. With Giant Transformation, Tang-E had an agility value of over 4,000. In addition, Breath of the Wind made his movement speed increase even more.

“Yap!”

The plump Tang-E quickly appeared in front of the purple ogre and made a fist covered with blue sparks. Tang-E’s fist shot out straight and precisely struck the purple ogre’s side.

“Kuah!” A scream of pain emerged from the purple ogre’s mouth.

The purple ogre wouldn’t have been hit like this if it were a simple fist. The secret was in the blue sparks surrounding Tang-E’s fist. The identity of the blue sparks was lightning combined with the corrupted attribute. That lightning pierced through the purple ogre’s skin.

‘Wow, it seems Tang-E has become a bit stronger?’ Hyeonu was amazed by the scene. He now truly felt that Tang-E was a treasure. Tang-E could deal damage, tank, give buffs, and use magic.

‘Eh? Isn’t he a complete scam?’

The purple ogres Hyeonu needed to deal with had been reduced from three to two, so he was calmer now. It was to the extent where he could even think of silly things. Hyeonu shook his head a few times and focused again on observing the purple ogre’s movements.

Mysterious Sky was activated, and his sharpened five senses helped with his observation. He was already becoming familiar with the purple ogre’s attacks. The evidence was that the decreasing distance that Hyeonu needed to move in order to avoid the trajectory of the club. His use of minimal movements bought him some time to strike back. Every time he swung the Mysterious Sky Sword, blades of pure energy filled the air.

It was Mysterious Sky Range. The blades of pure energy were quickly fired at the purple ogre.

“Kuooooh!”

[The Fear of the purple ogre, the naughty one of the Balder Mountains, has been heard.]

[The influence of fighting energy allows you to ignore the Fear of the purple ogre.]

The purple ogre saw all the pure energy flying toward it and waved its club violently. However, the purple ogre’s limitations were clear. There were dozens of blades of pure energy, but there was only one club in the purple ogre’s hand. The purple ogre couldn’t stop the 10 blades with one hand. The black pure energy devastated the entire body of the purple ogre.

However, Hyeonu’s expression wasn’t relaxed. He continued to maintain a straight expression.

[The purple ogre has received the abnormal condition ‘petrification’.]

[The purple ogre has received the abnormal condition ‘bleeding’.]

Hyeonu only received two messages about an abnormal condition despite sending out dozens of pure energy attacks. The probability of triggering an abnormal state was too low.

‘The abnormality status is random.’

It was painful to change out Crasul’s Curse when it gave all stats +50, increased defense by 350, and had a chance of triggering an abnormal state. Indeed, it was a shame that the definitive CC had disappeared.

‘Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t work for players anyway...’

If it wasn’t as effective, then he could just find something better. Hyeonu had to think positively or else he would feel too uncomfortable. His regret was really temporary. There was an opponent in front of him who made him feel something else—the purple ogres, a monster that reduced Crasul’s Curse to an item that increased stats. The paradox was that he could get better items from the Balder Mountains that were full of these monsters.

Pure energy was once again released from the Mysterious Sky Sword. It was different from Mysterious Sky Range and had a large and long form.

‘Crescent Moon Cut.’

It was Hyeonu’s trademark, Crescent Moon Cut. A crescent moon that should be floating in the sky descended upon the earth. It abandoned the shimmering golden color and embraced a black color.

“Kuooooh!” The purple ogre roared loudly like it sensed a crisis from Hyeonu’s pure energy. The swinging club swelled with energy that was purple like the skin of the purple ogre. The ogre’s strike, containing a strength that would crush everything, struck Crescent Moon Cut which contained a force that seemed to cut the world.

An explosion occurred. Dust blew up like a large bomb had been detonated.

“Did it hit?” Hyeonu’s eyes narrowed. He seemed to be trying to see through the dust.

Then a huge shadow appeared above Hyeonu. It was the other purple ogre that Hyeonu hadn’t cared about. In the blink of an eye, the purple ogre waved its wooden club toward Hyeonu.

“Kuaaah!” It roared with joy like it had finally caught its prey.

Thump!

The dust that had settled rose again. There was the impact of something falling to the ground and causing the ground to shake. Then a young man walked out of it. It was a man with a long sword, Hyeonu.

‘I would’ve been logged out if I had changed my armor.'

Just before the purple ogre’s attack hit, Hyeonu managed to pull himself out using Blink. Then he saw the other purple ogre that was bleeding all over and moved to it with Blink, eventually cutting off its breath.

[The purple ogre, the naughty one of the Balder Mountains, has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

There was another piece of good news for Hyeonu.

“Master dude!!”

After the battle with the purple ogre, Tang-E ran toward Hyeonu. Giant Transformation had ended, and Tang-E looked as cute as usual.

“Hey, our Tang-E has become really strong!” Hyeonu said with admiration.

Yet Tang-E’s expression crumpled in response. “Now isn’t the time for this. Praise and admire me after killing that monster, Master dude.” 

Master dude was clearly crazy. How could he praise Tang-E when there was still a monster in front of them? It was true that Tang-E was excellent, but everything had a time and place.

‘Sometimes he is too lax. Sometimes he is too much. Damn Master dude.’

Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head a few times like he knew Tang-E’s heart. “Use magic once or twice. I think I’ll kill it soon.”

Then Hyeonu kicked against the ground and flew through the air. He seemed to rise endlessly before falling in a downward curve toward the purple ogre’s waist. The purple ogre didn’t miss this chance. It knew from experience that a wingless creature was defenseless in the air. This was the purple ogre’s fastest and strongest attack ever. No, it was a completely different level of attack. If Hyeonu moved without any thought and only remembered the previous attacks, then he would’ve been hit by the club and logged out.

However, this was part of Hyeonu’s plan. Hyeonu used Blink to move to a tree the moment the purple ogre’s club was about to hit him.

‘This is it. This is it.’

He kicked off from the tree stump behind the purple ogre and flew toward the purple ogre’s back. His destination was the purple ogre’s shoulder. Once he was seated on the purple ogre’s shoulder, Hyeonu slammed the Mysterious Sky Sword into it. Then he injected his magic power into the Mysterious Sky Sword.

Due to Hyeonu’s immense magic power, the black pure energy started to grow endlessly. Soon after, the pure energy that penetrated the purple ogre’s huge muscles emerged from the ribs. It went without saying that blood spurted out like a fountain.

“Kuah!” The purple ogre screamed with pain. It has been a long time since it showed such ferocity. Even so, a wounded beast was still a beast. The purple ogre struggled with the pain and threw the club at Hyeonu who was hanging from its shoulder. Then it waved its fist.

It was still possible for it to attack even if one of its shoulders couldn’t be used. There was just a clear limitation to this method. Unlike the previous attacks, the loss of sharpness in this one provided Hyeonu with another means of attack.

Hyeonu jumped over the purple ogre’s huge fist and started to climb down its arm. Once he finally arrived at the purple ogre’s face, Hyeonu rapidly cut horizontally using the Mysterious Sky Sword. It wasn’t just a normal cut; it was a skill.

‘Crescent Moon Cut.’

The giant pure energy burst in front of the purple ogre’s eyes and succeeded in breaking the hard skull.

[The purple ogre, the naughty one of the Balder Mountains, has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

“Uwah, that was hard.”

The long battle was over.

*** 

Hyeonu sat down on the ground. Behind the mask, he had a rotten expression.

No, it was a dejected look.

‘No items were dropped? I fought so hard for nothing?’

“Uwahh!” A roar erupted from Hyeonu’s mouth that was similar to that of the purple ogres.

“Master dude, take this.” Tang-E threw something at Hyeonu.

The item was an earring with a small metal piece attached to it. The one purple earring looked crude but felt intense.

“What is this?” Hyeonu looked up at Tang-E in front of him.

Tang-E couldn’t look at Hyeonu’s face and just stared at the earring on the ground.

“I picked it up. I got it from the purple guy I killed earlier, but since Master dude looks sad... I won’t give it to you next time,” Tang-E replied in an aloof manner.

‘Cute guy.’ Hyeonu approached Tang-E and hugged him hard. “Thank you. I will use it well.”

However, Tang-E looked like he was choking and beat at Hyeonu’s chest. He just wasn’t sincere because he didn’t show his usual strong power.

“So frustrating, stupid Master dude! Release me quickly!”

Hyeonu stood still for a long time and hugged Tang-E. After a while, Hyeonu sat back down on the ground and checked the information of the earring that Tang-E gave him.

“Item Information.”