Ranker's Return

“Hyung, let’s stop now. Didn’t you do a lot already?” Lee Hoon looked at Hyeonu with a pitiful face and begged.

It had already been two hours. It was a hellish sparring with Hyeonu. It had no end in sight.

“Hasn’t it only been two hours? It has been less than 30 minutes each.”

Hyeonu shook his head. There were six people practicing PvP in Crescent Moon. It had only been two hours, so it was around 20 minutes per person.

Not yet...

‘I have to do more.’

It was only 20 minutes. He had to do it for at least an hour for each person. That way, there would be victory in the next scrimmage, not a helpless defeat like the previous one.

“No, why does time matter? What matters is how hard we work.”

Lee Hoon was desperate. He didn’t have the confidence to do more. It had only been 20 minutes as Hyeonu said. That time alone was hard enough.

“Is that why you came in last? Hasn’t the training so far been too easy? There is no strength. You have to roughly sum it up and match it.”

Hyeonu lifted up Lee Hoon, who was lying on the ground.

“Now, let’s do it again. Player Lee Hoon. You’ve had enough rest, right?”

Hyeonu picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and placed it in Lee Hoon’s hand.

“Hah...”

Lee Hoon sighed softly and turned his head to look at his rear. The other players of Crescent Moon were standing where Lee Hoon looked, but they were all staring at the ground or the sky. No one made eye contact with Lee Hoon.

“They have no loyalty...”

Lee Hoon smiled bitterly and picked up the shield that had fallen to the ground. He held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other as he prepared to fight Hyeonu.

‘Let’s go back to the basics.’

Hyeonu had one practice theory. Practice the basics until the opponent was identified. That was the main thing. Aiming for something specific and practicing it was never done unless it was really urgent.

‘In the end, the type I will meet the most is the basics.’

“This time, I will go with the most standard style. It is the style that is easiest to meet in the area, even for professional gamers. Got it?”

The basics was the weapon used by most players in Arena. It was a longsword.

“I understand. Longsword... standard style...” Lee Hoon muttered to himself.

It was in order to ponder on Hyeonu’s words.

‘This is the most annoying thing.’

It was the standard style that Hyeonu used the most against the Crescent Moon players and what the players hated the most.

‘I’m already out of breath. It is suffocating.’

A standard move. It meant using a stereotypical style based on the basics. It also meant Hyeonu didn’t overdo it and slowly pushed Lee Hoon until he fell into despair.

“Let’s start, Coach-nim.”

The name Lee Hoon used to call Hyeonu had changed. It meant that he wasn’t going to treat the other person as his dear brother, Gang Hyeonu, during the spar, but as Crescent Moon’s coach, Gang Hyeonu. Lee Hoon stepped back and raised his shield slightly. At the same time, Lee Hoon’s body started shining. Like a paladin class, he started the battle by buffing himself.

Hyeonu just watched him silently. He couldn’t interfere anyway.

‘The time it takes to apply a buff is very short. I can’t catch that moment.’

No, to be precise, Hyeonu could catch it.

There were just two problems that made him unable to catch it. One problem was that Lee Hoon had previously been hit several times by Hyeonu while using the buffs, so now he raised the shield while using the buff.

‘I lowered my stats, so...’

If Hyeonu was to act with all his states, there would be no time for Lee Hoon to use his buff, regardless of whether Lee Hoon raised the shield or not. However, this was training. He practiced according to the level of other pro gamers. Hyeonu’s current stats was set at Reina’s level. It was because apart from Hyeonu, she was the best among pro gamers.

Hyeonu saw that the light had subsided and moved immediately. He lightly kicked off from the ground, rushed forward, and struck Lee Hoon’s shield. It wasn’t the sound of iron hitting iron, but the sound of a hammer hitting something.

Lee Hoon’s body was pushed back, but there was no major damage. He blocked it with a shield and dispersed the power through his body. Moreover, from the beginning, Hyeonu’s attack was more about hitting than slashing.

Lee Hoon gritted his teeth tightly and kicked off from the ground with all his might. It was because he knew very well of Hyeonu’s intentions behind this.

‘I will die if I get driven into a corner.’

If he stopped because he blocked the attack well, it was almost certain he would be pushed into a dead end by Hyeonu’s endless attacks. He had experienced countless defeats because of this. A brilliant light shone from Lee Hoon’s shield as he ran. It was a charge-type skill that players with shields, including paladins, had to learn.

Hyeonu saw it and slammed the longsword toward the ground. There was the sound of a bomb exploding and the ground started to crack. The path between Hyeonu and Lee Hoon changed precariously.

‘Is this right?’

Lee Hoon bit his lip when he saw the ground that was cracked like there had been an earthquake. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t think of a professional gamer who could play like this. There was no such player in the previous scrimmages.

Arena Week—no professional gamer who participated there could come up with the coping method that Hyeonu showed.

“Is this right?!” Lee Hoon screamed as he kicked off against the ground that hadn’t been cracked. The ground that Lee Hoon was stepping on as he ran broke and Lee Hoon’s body quickly shot forward. At the same time, the light from Lee Hoon’s shield enveloped Lee Hoon’s entire body.

“Uhuh... Then is it right or wrong?”

Hyeonu casually ignored Lee Hoon’s cry. Then he moved right away. He used the debris of the ground that had risen in the air to climb into the air.

‘I have to get away from this distance anyway...’

The distance between Hyeonu and Lee Hoon wasn’t very far. Monsters called pro gamers had the ability to follow any movement at this distance, unless it was evasion using a particular skill. Hyeonu thought about it and moved in a completely different direction.

Lee Hoon saw Hyeonu moving toward the sky and struck the ground with his shield. The floor of the arena was hollowed out and the light around Lee Hoon’s body disappeared. However, Lee Hoon’s shield was still full of divine power.

‘Unconditionally attack.’

Lee Hoon had realized something through his countless battles with Hyeonu: Defending against Hyeonu was a meaningless act. It was the end once he gave up the initiative. Coming back was like a dream.

Attack and attack again—that was the only solution.

‘I haven’t broken through yet...’

Of course, he never succeeded once against Hyeonu, but it was definitely better than before.

“Aren’t you throwing your shield?”

Hyeonu rose high into the air and clicked his tongue. Apart from Hyeonu himself, no other players could freely move in the air. There was none. Then he had to unconditionally attack when the opponent emerged in the air. It was because they couldn’t avoid it in the air and had to block unconditionally.

‘He said he learned a new skill a while ago...’

There was another reason why Hyeonu said this. It was because he heard something from Lee Hoon. Originally, Lee Hoon had several shield throwing skills. However, it was over once he threw it. There was no way to recover the shield. Then he saw that among the new skills he recently learned, there was a way to recover the shield he threw.

‘If you have it, then use it. What are you doing?’

Hyeonu grabbed the shield and swung his longsword at Lee Hoon, who was standing and looking at him. It tore through the air. Following the trajectory of the longsword, purple pure energy poured out toward Lee Hoon. At this moment, Lee Hoon’s shield shone even more. Pure energy was pouring out from Lee Hoon’s shield.

The pure energy was shaped like Lee Hoon’s shield and it started to deflect the purple pure energy. The purple pure energy slammed against the shield-shaped pure energy made of divine power.

The explosions continued.

Hyeonu clicked his tongue as he watched Lee Hoon’s approaching pure energy.

‘As expected, it can’t break it.’

Hyeonu’s pure energy couldn’t break Lee Hoon’s pure energy as usual. It was because Hyeonu had restricted his stats. At this moment, Hyeonu’s body disappeared. He descended quickly as if someone had pulled him to the ground.

Meanwhile, Hyeonu’s sword didn’t stop. Lee Hoon continued to fire pure energies. He didn’t let his mind wander. Lee Hoon’s body shook up and down. The more he did so, the more divine power entered the hand holding the shield and the more he gave strength to both feet as he held on.

‘What country is this standard based on...?’

Then he poured out a lot of curses toward Hyeonu in his heart. Hyeonu’s pure energy wasn’t at the level of a normal pro gamer.

The ace of some of the world’s top teams—it was a level he could only feel from them.

‘The goal is to win unconditionally...’

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand why they were practicing like this. But what was embarrassing was embarrassing.

‘He’s coming...!’

Something sharp caught on Lee Hoon’s senses. It was a feeling that came from endlessly fighting with Hyeonu. There was no way he could be wrong.

Lee Hoon immediately released the strength in his body and stepped back. A huge pure energy pierced the spot where Lee Hoon had just been standing.

“Hey, isn’t that a bit harsh? Who pours out so much pure energy and casually uses their skills? I never saw anyone like that during the scrimmage yesterday.”

Lee Hoon shook his head.

‘There are no ghosts like this either...’

Hyeonu lowered his stats, but he couldn’t lower his skills. His heart ached every time Hyeonu’s skills appeared.

“Didn’t you avoid it now? Then it’s fine.”

Hyeonu threw the longsword at Lee Hoon. The longsword continued to grow in size as it got closer to Lee Hoon. To be precise, it was correct to call it pure energy in the form of a longsword. Lee Hoon threw his shield and sword and literally fell to the ground. The option to block it didn’t exist in the first place.

‘I will die if I block it.’

Lee Hoon’s choice was outstanding. The longsword that passed over Lee Hoon’s body literally smashed one side of the arena. Huge damage was left on the arena.

“You did well, our Hoon.” Hyeonu suddenly approached Lee Hoon and held out his hand.

“Oh my, Coach-nim. So can you give the armor to me...?” Lee Hoon smiled as he grabbed Hyeonu’s hand to stand up.

“Armor? Ah, that! Why should I give it to you?” Hyeonu cocked his head for a moment at Lee Hoon’s words before clapping his hands and staring at Lee Hoon. “I would rather give it to Hyeonsu if I had to give it. Why give it to you? To be honest, you don’t have an authentic tanker position, right? Hyeonsu is an authentic tanker.”

Hyeonu patted Lee Hoon on the shoulder.

“How am I not a tanker? A paladin is classified as a tanker,” Lee Hoon exclaimed.

However, Hyeonu didn’t budge. He just said what he had to say. “Join the event if you want it. Can I just give it to anyone? The people who want to get it will probably do their best...”

A meaningful smile appeared on Hyeonu’s face. His gaze was fixed on the Crescent Moon players.

“Is it too late? Still, there is quite a bit of time left. Challenge it.”

Hyeonu patted Lee Hoon’s shoulder and disappeared from the arena.