Chapter 190

KRAKAGAGA!

KUUWAAAH…!

The green light that had enveloped the world subsided.

And slowly, the scene before me came into view.

The first thing I saw was the battlefield, now cleared of fog.

Krrk!

Kiiieee!

Monsters.

The sacrifices of the Vile Dokgo—about half of them still alive—were swarming.

“Fight!”

“Drive out the evil and protect our families!”

“Don’t back down! Show those mafia bastards why we are Idam!”

Idam’s members holding the line were fierce and desperate.

When they grew tired, they fought while using my sturdy skeleton soldiers as shields.

The injured were being healed by Dana’s subordinates stationed across the battlefield.

And right before my eyes—

“Keo-heoook!”

Andrey clutched the deep wound carved into his chest and let out a hoarse sound.

It seemed the Formation had broken from that impact.

“……Hah!”

“How in the world did you do that? Dang Hwi-pyeong’s Formation was a skill that vied for the best in our world… Did you truly see through it with just a feeling, without even looking?”

‘I told you I’d show you.’

Fwoosh!

I flicked the blood off my sword and let it hang to my left.

My right cheek stung as if it had been struck.

But in the end, Poison Flash had won against his fist.

This was all thanks to Capu.

[Guide: That was good, Hoon.]

[Skeleton King: Don’t mention it.]

Heh.

As I smiled—

“You… you son… of a bitch…!”

Andrey, having forced himself up, tried to do something again.

Thwack!

I took a light step and kicked him in the abdomen.

“Kuaack!”

From the lightning-fast blow, his chest caved in as he was sent flying and tumbling across the ground.

Dust rose.

Andrey collapsed in a wretched heap.

And I stood perfectly fine above him.

“Waaaaah!”

“Woooooah!”

The front-line troops who saw it erupted into cheers.

“What!”

“What’s the situation?”

“The Skeleton King kicked Andrey, and Andrey went ‘Ugh!’ and flew away! And he looks like he’s in serious condition!”

“Then the Skeleton King… took down the Insect King? Rank 69…?”

Word spread instantly to the rear.

“Woooaaah!”

“We won! We beat Gotham! The leader of the Russian demons has fallen!”

“The Skeleton King has saved us!”

Soon, everyone was cheering.

Their grips tightened, and with that momentum, they began to drive back the monsters.

[Absolute Unrivaled: As expected.]

Maximilian, in the middle of the battlefield, let out a hollow laugh.

Around him, monsters lay dismembered.

[Absolute Unrivaled: He’s the Team leader, even if he dies trying, is that it? Well, I never thought we’d lose when we joined this fight. It doesn’t make sense, does it? The Team leader losing to someone.]

[Water Witch: Still, to think he’d beat Rank 69 in a 1-on-1 fight… Hoon is a true legend.]

[Spring Apostle: But don’t let your guard down yet! There are still many enemy Rankers left!]

The Rankers fighting on the front gained new strength as well.

The monsters, troops, and skeletons were roughly evenly matched.

But in terms of Ranker power, Idam had been clearly outmatched by Gotham.

“Then.”

I nodded once.

“Shall we change the mood a little more?”

Corpses were scattered everywhere.

Unfortunately, some of them were Idam’s troops.

And there were also the monsters Gotham had created.

Fwoosh!

I transformed the sword in my hand into a staff.

‘Although until now, I fought only with the power of Ten Thousand Arts…’

My original Unique Ability was the Skeleton King.

A Necromancer who rules the dead.

Now it was time to show them who I really was.

Thud!

I slammed the newly transformed staff into the ground.

[Using skill, ‘Resurrection of the Dead’ (A-Rank).]

[Using 50 Energy.]

Kwa-dududuk!

The flesh of the dead split open.

From within, bones began to rise all at once.

And—

[Using skill, ‘Wail of the Dead’ (A-Rank).]

[Using 50 Energy.]

KIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Wail of the Dead stained the world with a terrifying sound.

The tide turned so sharply that even Gotham’s crazed monsters flinched.

A spectral light streamed from the skeletons’ eyes.

“Are you… kidding me?”

Idam’s troops were horrified.

The ones they had fought so hard to kill were now rising again—this time as allies.

They grabbed the hideous monsters and tore into them.

“The skeletons… the skeletons have multiplied!”

“Woooaaah!”

The hunters roared in excitement.

With victory so clearly in sight, everyone’s heart burned.

How hard had it been until now?

How much had they suffered from baseless persecution and harassment?

The time to settle the score for those miserable moments was close.

“……!”

Vladimir Rodygin, who had been controlling the situation from the center, shot to his feet.

He instinctively knew there was no longer any need to hold back.

And perhaps he, too, wanted to avenge the sorrow of losing his family.

He picked up his staff and joined the battlefield.

Against the Rankers still fighting desperately to the last, he showcased the trickiness of his spatial arts.

“Hyaaaaaaah!”

As Idam’s leader, he let loose the excitement and sorrow he had kept buried for so long.

He swung his staff like a madman.

===

“Gotham executives!”

Andrey let out a final, desperate shout.

“Gather here! We live if we stick together! I’ll somehow revive the Formation…”

Swish!

Before he could finish, I kicked off the ground and dashed forward.

‘Sorry, Vladimir.’

Andrey’s life is mine.

I can’t give it to him.

Just in case the ranking system makes a strange judgment and steals the achievement I earned.

‘Until I’m Rank 1, I plan to monopolize the Rankers above me.’

In exchange for helping him, I was more than entitled to take this much.

Fwoosh!

As I closed in, the staff turned back into a sword.

The moment I was nearly upon Andrey, I thrust the blade I had drawn back.

“Y-You!”

Andrey, face pale, tried to flee.

But I was the one who started running first.

Could he possibly outrun the momentum I had built?

‘Not a chance.’

Slice!

Godslayer.

A weapon that can kill even gods—beautifully and lightly—sliced through his leg.

“Kuaaack!”

A creature that has lost a leg cannot stand.

Andrey tumbled to the ground, staring at his severed leg with a blank expression.

“Eu, euah… Euaaaah!”

He wailed, pushing against the ground with his remaining hands.

“Why, why! Why the hell are you doing this to me! If you became a Ranker, you should be living large in your own country for generations! Why the hell did you come all the way to Russia to raise such a fuss!”

And then he screamed at me, demanding to know why.

Truly, a funny thing to say.

In front of the tens of thousands of victims on this battlefield—

And the innocent citizens who had to die for no reason—was that something he should be saying?

– “As I always say.”

The Elder muttered.

– “There is no need to try and teach an insect anything. An insect…”

– ‘Yes.’

– “Is simply to be crushed. Do you understand?”

‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

Puk!

So I stabbed him in the neck.

“Keok!”

Compared to what he had done, it was an easy death.

But I had no desire to make him pay through torture.

‘Because he’s an insect.’

I just don’t care.

Spurt!

When I nonchalantly pulled the blade out, blood splattered.

And his body went limp and collapsed.

[The rankings have been updated.]

[Please refer to the World Ranking Board.]

A message floated in the air.

[Your rank is updated to 69th.]

By taking down Andrey, I jumped from 78th to 69th.

Nine ranks at once.

===

Andrey’s death improved the situation even further.

First—

Krr-eek?

Grrrr?

The Vile Dokgos embedded in the monsters’ brains began to die.

As the parasites gnawing away at their hosts vanished, the monsters that had been spewing madness lost their strength and collapsed one by one.

With the monsters—who made up the bulk of Gotham—gone, only the Rankers were left.

“D-Damn it?”

“How did it come to this…!”

They wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.

My Skeleton Legion already controlled the entire area.

“Hoo.”

I won’t bother finishing them myself.

Shouldn’t I give Idam a chance to vent the fury they’ve stored up for years?

“Those ones… those ones at least.”

Whoong!

Vladimir Rodygin, having dropped his staff before me, gritted his teeth.

Behind him stood Idam’s Rankers and their elite combat agents.

“Those ones, at least, I will tear to shreds with my own hands.”

With Vladimir’s mutter—

“Let’s go! To avenge the grudges of our dead citizens!”

“You pieces of trash! I’ve dreamed of this day every single moment!”

“Uwaaaaaah!”

Dudududu…….

The entire force charged together.

They unleashed their ultimate skills with all their might toward the Gotham Rankers gathered in the center.

Kwagagagang!

Explosions erupted at the center.

Red.

Orange, yellow, green, blue…

All kinds of skills swirled brilliantly.

No matter how high-ranked they were, they couldn’t withstand a merciless bombardment alongside thousands of skeletons.

[The rankings have been updated.]

[Please refer to the World Ranking Board.]

[The rankings have been updated.]

[Please refer to the World Ranking Board.]

[The rankings have been updated.]

[Please refer to the World Ranking Board.]

[The rankings have been updated.]

[Please refer to the World Ranking Board.]

…….

“Ah.”

I looked up at the countless status windows floating in the sky.

The end of the war.

The world rankings would shift by as many Rankers as had died.

And just as many new Rankers would join the list.

And—

“Yo, Master!”

Pajajeuk!

Floa approached, wiping sweat from her forehead.

“What should we do with this one?”

“This one?”

Ah.

There was Bong Jaeyoung.

I looked where she pointed.

Grrk, grrrk!

He was foaming at the mouth, green blood spilling out.

– “Hah.”

The Elder marveled.

– “Amazing, truly amazing. To think that thing survived even after the Vile Dokgo in its head died?”

The Vile Dokgo was dreadful.

When it died, it completely drained the host’s life force.

Because of that, not a single one of the monsters here had survived.

But—

Krrrk!

Bong Jaeyoung was different.

Even after expending so much energy, he clung to life with stubborn tenacity.

– “Indeed, one must live a long life to see such a bizarre sight… It seems he survived because his brain is made of iron… Hah. No matter how I look at it, it’s fascinating.”

Because he was a blockhead, he survived.

“What should I do? Kill him?”

Floa looked at me with an innocent expression.

Pajik, pajik!

High-voltage currents crawled between her knuckles, like she would crush him the moment I gave the word.

No. It was honestly terrifying to hear her talk about killing with that face.

“No need.”

I shook my head.

My judgment on Bong Jaeyoung was simple.

‘There’s no need to save him, but there’s also no need to kill him for no reason.’

That was all.

“Ah.”

My gaze left Bong Jaeyoung and turned to Floa.

“By the way. You said you joined our workshop, right?”

I’d been so busy I hadn’t even properly greeted her.

“Yep, with Uncle Maxi.”

She nodded.

“Then, once things are wrapped up here, are you coming to Korea?”

“Goes without saying. I’m a Ranker in your guild now, so we have to go together! Treat me well, you punk.”

Hmm.

As for her treatment, I left that to Kim Jina.

Anyway—

“I don’t know why a big shot like you would go out of your way to join our workshop, but.”

Seeing her today, she’d be quite helpful.

“For now, welcome.”

I held out my hand to Floa.

A sign of gratitude for approaching and helping me first, without needing to use the wish ticket.

“…….”

After tilting her head for a moment, Floa took my hand.

“Alright, you master punk.”

Smiling brightly.

************************************************************

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