Ranker's Return

Supplementary Story 36

Recently, the Arena community had been noisy. It was a different phenomenon from what had been hailed as a recession just a while ago. It felt like the few months of quietness had been preparation for now. This wasn’t a firepower created by ordinary users who used the community on a daily basis. It was caused by several famous rankers rushing in first and setting it on fire.

It was to the extent that the fire couldn’t be extinguished.

[The Venom Guild’s master, Kalen, has declared ‘the war will start again soon.’]

[A shocking comment during Teika’s interview, ‘there will be a bit change in the League of Different Species.’]

[The provocation of the former No. 1, Rain, ‘the Yuxin Empire alone won’t be able to stop them.’]

Kalen; Teika; Rain—they were the main rankers who created the issue.

They had only one thing in common. They were rankers who led the non-human forces.

“They are doing well. It is very satisfying.”

Hyeonu nodded with a bright smile as he looked through the Arena community on his laptop.

‘If their gazes go over there...’

It was natural that the more people intervened, the bigger the game board would become. Once the board became bigger...

Naturally, the possibility that the picture drawn by Hyeonu could be fulfilled was even greater.

‘Now the important thing is to bring out the emperor and his son...’

The stage was perfect. There was nothing more to prepare. The thing Hyeonu had to do now was to recruit the actors to go on the stage.

‘To be exact, I only need the prince.’

The son of Alexander, the former emperor, and the traditional heir to the empire—the character that Hyeonu would present as the protagonist was the prince.

‘If the prince doesn’t come out... it will be ruined.’

The entire thing would be in vain. No, it wouldn’t be in vain. It was at the level of Hyeonu opening and entering the gates of hell on his own. He had to control the war on all sides.

‘If something happens in the west at a time like this...’

The Holy Kingdom wasn’t far from the western part of the empire. If help was asked from the Holy Kingdom, then it seemed like he could bring the emperor back out.

“I don’t think I can ask for anything more than that.”

Hyeonu shook his head. It was a terrible imagination. It couldn’t happen. He thought it was better to use his mind to think of a method that was more feasible.

‘How do I bring out the imperial prince?’

He thought about it, but he didn’t know where to start. He wished there was a clue, but there was no such thing.

‘Nobody has even seen the prince...’

No one knew the prince’s name or what he looked like. So no matter what Hyeonu tried to do, he couldn’t do it. Hyeonu couldn’t turn off the Arena community and continued to look through it with regret. It was an attempt to find anything.

‘What is this?’

Hyeonu’s hand moved busily for a moment. There was an article that caught Hyeonu’s eye with the title alone.

[Strange NPCs appear as a group on the western frontier. I have a few photos.]

The number of views of the article was quite high. It was even ranked among the weekly best.

‘NPCs have appeared in the west?’

Hyeonu immediately clicked on the article. He couldn’t stand the curiosity.

-You might not be able to see it well because I shot it from far away. Only the person in front with the spear is a player. The rest are NPCs. By the way, the NPCs aren’t a joke. They seem to almost be the strongest NPCs I have ever seen. I don’t know about Lebron or the emperor because I haven’t seen them. They look much stronger than some city knights.

The content was a few photos and an article. Yet this alone showed why this article was on the list of the best.

‘It is amazing.’

It was a very rare sight. Hundreds of NPCs dressed in proper knight’s attire were gathered.

“By the way, why do they look so familiar...?”

Hyeonu looked at the few photos over and over again. The NPCs in the photo were a bit familiar.

‘I’ve never seen these faces before...’

They were obviously NPCs he had never seen before. He had never met them while playing Arena. However, they felt familiar.

‘Why is it like this?’

Hyeonu stared at the laptop screen in a piercing manner. Hyeonu sat like this for a few minutes before suddenly clapping.

“Yes, the armor is the problem!”

The reason for the familiarity was the armor worn by the NPCs. It wasn’t exactly the same but he had seen similar-looking armor. This was why he felt this feeling of deja vu.

‘Then... these NPCs...’

He found out the identity of the familiarity but this caused Hyeonu to have another question.

“Did they live in the days of the Luos Empire? Does this make sense?”

There was only one reason why Hyeonu remembered this armor—it was because he had seen it several times.

‘Was it Senu and Lepil?’

It happened twice as far as what he could remember. It was once during the exam of Senu, the intermediate academy of the Luos Empire.

The second time was dealing with the ghosts in Lepil, the ancient capital of Luos.

“It means we have to meet...”

No matter how things went, if it was related to the Luos Empire, then it was inevitable that it would eventually be connected to Hyeonu. It was natural since Hyeonu had the legacy of the Luos Empire.

“Huu...”

Hyeonu frowned. It felt like he had received an unexpected homework assignment.

“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out somehow.”

Hyeonu closed the laptop. His head was a mess.

‘Please let it work out in a good way.’

Hyeonu closed his eyes and prayed to an unknown god.

***

There was an idiom that meant seeing it once was better than hearing about it a hundred times. However, there were many people in the world who weren’t satisfied with just seeing.

“Brothers, can you see? I’m at the western frontier, which has been hot in the community these days,” a young man with a young face muttered as he pointed at the empty desert.

The young man’s name was Jacob, one of the average streamers of A-World. He was also a man who was ready to do anything to rise up.

-Why are you here?

-The frontier? Let’s just hunt.

-Did you prepare content?

-It isn’t a big deal. Just go and catch the kids who are squatting to PK.

The viewers watching Jacob’s live stream didn’t quite understand the current situation. His presence in this desert was questionable.

“Brothers, why are you giving such a lukewarm response? I’ve prepared amazing content today,” Jacob hurriedly continued to speak when he saw the reaction of the viewers. It would be a big problem if even a small number of viewers left.

-What content?

-Is it fun?

-Just do what you have been doing. What content?

-That won’t increase the number of viewers.

The viewers burst out laughing. The remaining viewers were all longtime fans of Jacob. They were fans who wouldn’t leave the live stream just because they didn’t like the day’s content.

‘I hope it works out...’

However, that was just the viewers’ thoughts. Jacob was anxious. The growth of his live stream had been stagnant for a long time. It seemed like he would remain at this level for the rest of his life.

“The reason I came here today is... it is because of the popular NPC knights.”

-Are you really going to fight them?

-Don’t they look really strong? They are beyond Jacob’s level.

-Why don’t you just go and do an interview?

-Don’t crash into them for nothing. Do as we say.

The viewers expressed their concern. It was because they could roughly predict what Jacob would do. It would definitely be too much. It was just the act of causing trouble.

"Don't worry too much. That is why I called some people to help me today.”

Jacob shook his head. He knew it as well. He was insignificant compared to the NPC knights who had become an issue in the community. Therefore, he got people to help.

“Please come out.”

Five people showed up. They were faces that the viewers knew.

-Huh? What? He only bought those with a small number of viewers.

-I thought he had recruited rankers from somewhere else.

-Those who are bad are bad even when they gather together. Give up.

-You have already gathered so do other content. I’ll give you a lot of sponsorship.

The reaction from the viewers wasn’t very good. It was because all the people Jacob brought as helpers were at an equal level. Their level and awareness were similar.

-The estimated level of the NPC knights is over 380. Is this enough?

-Is your level 380?

-You won’t be able to kill a single one and will all die.

-Their number is at least 300.

-Don’t frown after you die and give up.

-Stop when we are saying good things.

The chat window started to rise at a rapid rate. It was a rare pace in Jacob’s streaming. The reaction from viewers wasn’t that good. At this moment, Jacob suddenly knelt on the ground.

“It is fine if this challenge doesn’t work out, but just remember one thing. I did my best and worked hard. Thank you for your worries, brothers.”

Jacob was giving a sincere appeal. All the players gathered here, including him, knew it. The fact that attacking the NPC knights was no different from hitting a rock with eggs. However, he didn’t see a way to go any further without doing this.

-I know what you mean.

-Think about recovering the experience points that will be lost.

-Don’t take a break and stream until you recover.

-Let’s hang in there for one minute. Have pride.

The viewers were touched by Jacob’s sincerity. They didn’t stop him any longer. Instead, they tried to calm Jacob down with light jokes.

“Then I’ll leave now, brothers.”

Jacob had a lighter heart as he started running toward the NPC knights, who could be seen in the distance.

***

‘What?’

The eyebrow of the red-haired, middle-aged man, Lenek, twitched. It was because he felt suspicious signs behind him. It wasn’t just one, but six.

“It is an attack.”

“I felt it too, Lenek.”

Dot, the middle-aged man with blue hair, also felt the traces that Lenek felt.

“Who will go out?” Dot looked around at the faces of the knights and asked.

One of the knights answered Dot’s question, “There are six attackers, so I think only six of us need to step out, Deputy Commander.”

“Six?” Dot frowned. He didn’t like it. He couldn’t believe it would take six knights to deal with these guys.

“I used to do it all alone when I was young. Isn’t that right, Lenek.”

“Yes, if it was like us, we would’ve swept them all away alone. How did the guardian knights become like this...?”

Lenek clicked his tongue. The guardian knights were the shield, sword, and last bastion of the Luos Empire. They weren’t supposed to come out this weakly.

“I will handle the attackers. You guys will start training from today. In this rotten state of mind, you aren’t worthy of meeting the descendants of the empire.”

Lenek looked at the guardian knights like they were pathetic. Then he quickly drew his sword and disappeared somewhere. After a while, white pure energy started to fill the desert sky. At the same time, loud screams were heard one after another.

“They were terrible guys. Acting like thieves with only these skills... how peaceful is the present continent?!”

Lenek returned as if nothing had happened and shook his head.

Lindbergh heard Lenek’s words and shook his head. ‘It isn’t that the continent is peaceful. It is that you are a monster.’

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