Ranker’s Return

Chapter 786

Hyeonu was moved to a strange place due to a snap of Liru’s fingers and he was wary of every direction. He didn’t know where this place was so he tightened the strings of tension.

‘There are no signs of them.’

Fortunately, there were no demonic creatures or the god tribe around him.

‘There is less risk of being raided due to the title, but…’

The title wasn’t universal. It didn’t work for those with higher levels. Therefore, he couldn’t let go of his vigilance. There was nothing more vain than being hit by an unintentional blow.

“Tang-E, use the buffs every hour,” Hyeonu requested buffs from Tang-E due to them being cut off during his meeting with Liru.

“Understood, Master dude. Have strength.” Tang-E patted Hyeonu’s shoulder with his soft front paws.

“Am I the only one who needs strength? You need it as well. Don’t even think about taking a break.”

Hyeonu stopped Tang-E, who was trying to relax. Normally, Tang-E wouldn’t have needed to be vigilant as well. However, this was the divine world. It was his first time coming here. They needed to do their best for now.

“Understood, Master dude. Tang-E will help.”

Tang-E, who was hanging onto Hyeonu’s back, stepped on his shoulder and sat with his butt on Hyeonu’s head.

‘Assuming that Liru didn’t lie…’

Liru told Hyeonu that he would send Hyeonu to the place where the descendants of the Luos Empire were. It was clear that the descendants of the Luos Empire were around here.

‘A god wouldn’t play a clumsy trick.’

Of course, the basis for this judgment was that Liru was the sun god.

‘He didn’t throw me just anywhere in the south, did he?’

Anxiety started to blossom in Hyeonu’s mind as he continued to think.

‘If you can’t find it in a week….no, if I can’t take the descendants of the Luos Empire to the northern part of the divine world in a week…’

It would be a failure. Then he would have to choose between one of three options. If he couldn’t find the descendants of the Luos Empire, go and see the emperor. If it took a long time to find them but he did find them, he would have to lead the descendants of the Luos Empire and cross the divine world without leaving them or going to meet the emperor.

‘By the way, how will I cross the divine world?’

Even if the descendants of the Luos Empire stood in front of him, there was no way to bring them to the other side of the divine world within five days. It had been two days in real time since he received the quest from the emperor.

Therefore, Hyeonu had only five days left.

“Master dude, there is a place over there that feels familiar. It is amazing. This is my first time here, but I’m used to that.”

Just then, Tang-E stretched out one paw. Simultaneously, the other paw patted Hyeonu’s left temple.

“Huh? Where?”

Hyeonu’s head automatically turned in the direction that Tang-E’s paw was pointing at. There were sparse trees there.

“Here. The tree with many leaves missing.”

Tang-E picked up exactly where he felt familiar.

‘There.’

Most of the trees were overgrown with leaves. However, one tree was missing a lot of leaves.

‘It is the only one in winter.’

Hyeonu also saw the tree that Tang-E mentioned. The tree only had thin branches. Hyeonu slowly approached the tree. The distance to the tree narrowed and Hyeonu focused his senses on the tree.

‘I have a feeling, a feeling…’

His long built up gamer senses were shouting that this was what Hyeonu was looking for. It was quickly proven that his senses weren’t wrong.

‘This is right.’

He arrived in front of the leafless tree and found all types of patterns carved into the tree. At the same time, traces of intense magic power were felt from the tree.

[Do you want to enter the Traces of the Empire Left in the Divine World?]

Perfect evidence emerged that the bare tree was the site of the Luos Empire that Hyeonu was looking for.

“I will enter,” Hyeonu saw the message window in front of him and opened his mouth without hesitation.

***

[You have entered the Traces of the Empire Left in the Divine World.]

Hyeonu entered the instance dungeon and faced a landscape that was a bit more desolate than the divine world he had seen.

‘I need to hurry and take them.’

He had found the instance dungeon with the descendants of the Luos Empire, so he was going to give up the quest to visit the empire. It was crazy to go to see the emperor and then come back again..

‘The emperor will turn his attention to the divine world…’

There was also a reasonable excuse. He wanted to go to see the emperor, but he was lost in the divine world. If so, the emperor would have nothing to say.

‘Rather, he is likely to show an interest in the divine world.’

Hyeonu knew the emperor well. Once the emperor heard about the divine world, he would be interested in the divine world itself rather than rebuking Hyeonu.

‘By the way, why aren’t people coming out here?’

Hyeonu’s expression distorted. Unlike the site of the middle world where he met the descendants of the Luos Empire within a short time, the divine world site showed no signs of life, let alone footprints. It was just like the site of the demon world. This meant that time was absolutely necessary.

“Tang-E, let’s take it easy. I don’t think there will be any danger anyway.”

Hyeonu knew from his experience that the site of the Luos Empire weren’t very dangerous. It wasn’t that monsters didn’t appear, but that Hyeonu could handle it very lightly with his current specs. This was even the case with the boss monster.

“I know, Master dude,” Tang-E said so, but he roughly moved his paws and buffed Hyeonu.

“Thank you, Tang-E.”

Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head and started moving.

***

Hyeonu wandered around the site of the Luos Empire for a whole day in real time. He didn’t just look for the descendants of the Luos Empire. He steadily hunted. It wasn’t exactly a hunt that he wanted to do. Rather, Hyeonu was forced to kill the divine creatures when they attacked him. There was no particular harvest. He just gained one level. That was all.

‘No. My skill proficiency went up.’

Sentry’s Symbol—it was a skill obtained from the imperial library as a reward from the emperor after finishing the scenario in the demon world. The proficiency of this skill had risen like crazy. Originally, Sentry’s Symbol was F+, but even considering this, the skill proficiency had risen like crazy.

‘It reached E-rank in one day.’

The alphabet letter had changed in a day. Originally, he had accumulated some proficiency, but it was clear that it would’ve taken quite some time to reach this rank in normal circumstances. Something that couldn’t happen in common sense ended up happening.

‘Are there any hidden growth conditions?’

He had no choice but to think like this. It was a speed that wasn’t comparable to when he killed the dark elves or monsters in Anfra Forest. As a result, Hyeonu felt good even if there weren’t any other special achievements.

“Master dude, is it okay to cook meat like this? Aren’t we here to find humans again?” Tang-E shook his head while watching Hyeonu, who was killing the divine creatures in a relaxed manner. In Tang-E’s eyes, Hyeonu didn’t seem to be looking for anything at all. He just walked around where he could.

“It’s fine. We’ll find them eventually. This isn’t a continent. It was a limited space anyway.”

Hyeonu was calm. There was no need to rush if he wasn’t planning to meet the emperor anyway. It was enough to raise his skill’s proficiency at ease. Then once he met the descendants of the Luos Empire, he would take them to cross the divine world.

‘Let’s go calmly.’

There was no need to rush and cause problems. He only had to go forward, even if it was slowly. He knocked on every stone.

‘This?’

Hyeonu’s attitude brought about good results. He found traces left behind by humans. The identity of the traces were footprints. There were a lot of human footprints. Hyeonu pressed his feet next to the footprints in the ground, thinking about checking it one more time.

“Tang-E, what do you think?” Hyeonu made a footprint and asked Tang-E for his opinion.

“It seems similar, Master dude.”

The footprints made by Hyeonu were similar to the original ones. The footprints had a pattern that couldn’t come out without shoes being worn.

‘All I have to do is follow the footprints.’

The footsteps continued in an uninterrupted manner. It was as if the navigation system was guiding the route.

“Tang-E, let’s take it easy again.”

Hyeonu lifted Tang-E, who he was holding in his arms, onto his shoulder.

“Okay, Master dude. Let’s go.” Tang-E smiled widely and reached out his front paws.

***

“Erwan, there is an intruder.” A blond-haired young man knelt down on one knee in front of the white-haired old man and lowered his head.

“Did they come again…?”

An old man called Erwan took a deep breath. It wasn’t just once or twice that their space had been invaded.

“It isn’t them, Erwan. This time, it is just one.”

The young man raised his head and made eye contact with Erwan.

“Just one?”

Erwan’s expression changed suddenly. It was completely unexpected.

“It is also a human. He isn’t from the god tribe.”

“Really? Did a human come here?”

“Additionally, that human… there is talk that he is with a bear believed to be a Marionette Bear.”

At the young man’s last words, Erwan’s body started to tremble. It was impossible for him to maintain his composure any longer.

A Marionette Bear—Erwan knew the meaning of its existence.

“That human, no, I’m going to where he is right now! To the new guardian,” Erwan shouted at the young man. However, the young man sat blankly because he didn’t know how to react to Erwan’s sudden words.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and guide me!” Erwan burst out loudly. It was only then that the young man got up from where he was and started to guide Erwan to Hyeonu.

***

“I greet you, glorious guardian of the empire.”

Erwan, the white-haired old man who suddenly appeared, knelt down in front of Hyeonu.

‘What? This?’

Hyeonu couldn’t help frowning. An unexpected situation happened, so he couldn’t make a good expression. It was even more so because he was wearing a mask. He didn’t care about other people’s eyes, so he couldn’t manage his facial expression at all.

“Who are you?” Hyeonu maintained his silence for a moment before asking the old man on his knees.

“My name is Erwan. I was tasked by His Majesty the Emperor to wait for the guardian. I am currently leading the descendants of the Luos Empire,” Erwan introduced himself.

“I know that. This is the last one. I’ve already accepted those who were in the demon world and the middle world to my territory.”

“Is that so? It is really amazing. It wouldn’t have been easy to bring people from the demon world…” Erwan exclaimed with an amazed expression.

“It wasn’t that hard. It was in the middle of a war with the demon world, so I was able to move more safely than expected.”

“Did you say… a war?” Erwan asked with a disbelieving expression. The fact that a war took place in the demon world meant that humans had invaded the demon world.

“The present day empire is that powerful. In particular, the emperor at the peak of it is even more powerful,” Hyeonu added.

Erwan’s expression slightly subsided.