Ranker's Return - Supplementary Story 29

Tsuyun led John Blake to a building. It was the most remote building in the castle complex. This was an indirect way of expressing that he didn’t want to see John Blake.

“Stay silent here until Rubolle comes,” Tsuyun said while opening the door.

John Blake passed by Tsuyun and entered the room.

John Blake roughly glanced around the room and muttered, “The room is uselessly gorgeous.”

Tsuyun gritted his teeth at John Blake’s actions. It was only for a moment though. He quickly regained his composure and smiled.

“There is food inside the warehouse inside the room, so take it yourself and eat it,” Tsuyun continued the explanation with a smile.

‘He can’t control his expression.’ John Blake clicked his tongue inaudibly at Tsuyun. Tsuyun looked like he had a plan.

‘It is like he is hiding something, but…’

It was nothing compared to the schemes of the imperial nobles that John Blake had seen for decades. He could tell what Tsuyun was thinking with just a quick glance.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

However, John Blake didn’t mind such a Tsuyun. He was only interested in Rubolle. To be precise…

‘I wish he could send me back to the middle world…’

He could only hope that Rubolle would live up to his expectations.

“I’ll be going now.” Tsuyun glanced at John Blake, who hadn’t reacted much since entering the room, and exited the room as if fleeing.

“He’s gone.” John Blake moved only when he could no longer hear Tsuyun’s footsteps. He tapped on the desk, opened and closed the closet-like furniture, and checked where the doors and windows were. John Blake searched all over the room before finally finding the warehouse that Tsuyun had spoken about.

‘It isn’t very good.’

The warehouse was full of dried meat and fruit. There was nothing special.

‘What?’

John Blake frowned at the unpleasant sensation that he suddenly felt. Then he walked to the window and looked outside. At this moment, John Blake narrowed his eyes, and a golden light flashed in them.

‘Was it because of them?

A large number of demons and demonic creatures surrounded the castle. The number was tens of times higher than when John Blake entered the castle.

“I don’t know what you are trusting in.”

It wasn’t just an increase in the number of heads. The demons and demonic creatures were exuding a fierce hostility. Anyone could see that it was directed toward John Blake himself.

“It is going to be fun.”

John Blake smiled nonchalantly and walked to the warehouse. He took a piece of fruit and ate it.

‘Do these guys with a matching level of ability think they can become something when they gather together?’

He went back to the window and jumped down.

‘I thought he would move after the demon king came but…’

John Blake had expected that Tsuyun would do some type of trick. He just hadn’t thought it would be this fast.

‘I can’t accept a favor as a favor.’

John Blake had never preemptively attacked a demon or demonic creature since entering the demon world. It was only when they showed hostility and attacked fast that he pulled out a sword and swung it. This was due to John Blake’s annoyance, but it was also a type of goodwill. If he tried to fight properly, he would be the only one still standing on his feet in the city right now.

‘It is enough to pay the price.’

John Blake quickly arrived at the outskirts of the castle and climbed onto the walls to get an accurate look at the situation.

“It is a foul number.”

He shook his head as he looked at the demons and demonic creatures who had gathered. There were so many of them that the ground couldn’t be seen. It was a terrifying sight.

‘Over there.’

John Blake quickly found Tsuyun among the countless demons and demonic creatures. Tsuyun was on the back of a giant demonic creature.

“We were attacked by you earlier, but you better not hope for such a fluke this time!” Tsuyun shouted with an expression full of anger.

‘Call Rubolle? He is crazy.’ Tsuyun was so flustered earlier that he really tried to ask Rubolle for help.

Then on second thought, it didn’t make sense that he, who was only a viscount, would ask a demon king to come. In addition, Rubolle would be sure to ignore his call. In the end, Tsuyun chose to attract troops instead of calling Rubolle.

“Kill that human right now! I’ll give generous rewards to those who kill him!” Tsuyun reached out and pointed to John Blake on the wall. Then the demons and demonic creatures simultaneously ran toward John Blake.

‘I think it is worth a try.’

Tsuyun alternated looking between the running demons and demonic creatures and John Blake. He didn’t think they could kill John Blake on their own.

‘What should I want from those who are blinded by rewards and are rushing to their graves?’

Their role was just to deplete John Blake’s physical strength and magic power. It was that much.

‘If he loses all his strength…’

Tsuyun would step out at that time.

***

John Blake’s vision darkened. It was because there were so many demons and demonic creatures that they covered the light. Nevertheless, John Blake remained calm.

“You don’t even know that life is precious…”

On the contrary, he clicked his tongue with a look of regret. It was sincere. John Blake felt sorry for those who had no eye for recognizing their opponents.

“I hope you have good sight in your next life.”

That said, this didn’t mean he was going to go easy on them. John Blake never spared those who bared their claws at him.

“Summon a Giant Sword.” John Blake swung his bare hands at the approaching enemies.

“The human is out of his mind.”

“He is crazy.”

“Does he mistakenly think he is holding a weapon now?”

Some of the demons saw it and laughed. They chuckled while saying that the human in front of them was crazy.

“What is this…?”

Then the eyes of those mocking him widened. It was because 10 golden swords over dozens of meters in size suddenly appeared above the human’s head. The huge sword was an embodiment of fear itself. In addition to its large size, the aura of the sword itself was very intense. It was obvious what would happen if they were attacked with such a sword.

“Avoid it!” the demons screamed with flustered expressions when they saw the 10 swords. Even if they tried to escape, they had nowhere to go. The front, back, left, and right were all full of demons and demonic creatures.

John Blake watched the scene and reached out his hand. Then the golden swords floating in the air started to fall in an instant, crushing everything that they touched. The demons and demonic creatures who filled the space below the swords quickly disappeared.

Finally, the giant swords were lodged in the ground, and the ground shook like there was an earthquake. The walls and other buildings couldn’t withstand the aftermath and shattered.

“Too many have survived.”

John Blake scratched at the back of his head.

‘I was going to finish it all at once…’

He had expected more attack power than this. However, he used too little magic power, so the attack power was greatly reduced.

‘It has been a while, so it can’t be helped.’

Summon a Giant Sword—this was one of the few formal attack techniques in the Knights of Keon. It was a technique John Blake used primarily when dealing with troops or large monsters, and he hadn’t used it for over 10 years.

‘Still… I think it is almost cleaned up…?’

Around half of the demons and demonic creatures who swarmed around him like ants earlier disappeared at once. It was unfortunate, but this was enough to instill fear in those who remained.

“I’ll show you how stupid your choice was.”

John Blake drew his sword, kicked off from the wall and flew like a bird. At this moment, a smile appeared on John Blake’s face. It was a very bright one.

***

30 minutes—it was just half an hour. In that short period of time, more than 10,000 demons and demonic creatures died. Tsuyun was included among them.

“If you had called the demon king obediently, you wouldn’t have died… How stupid are you?” John Blake said with his sword lodged in Tsuyun’s chest.

“Just… kill…” Tsuyun barely managed to open his mouth to speak, and blood poured from it.

“You don’t have to worry too much because it won’t happen until I get the answer I want to hear.” John Blake completely distorted Tsuyun’s intentions and gave a very erratic answer.

“Da… mn.” Tsuyun gave a desperate look and shook his head. He wanted to die, but he couldn’t. First of all, his strong body, unique to demons and their excellent regenerative ability, was holding out despite his chest being pierced.

‘I can’t even kill myself…’

The human’s magic power was flowing through the sword embedded in his chest. It thoroughly restrained Tsuyun’s body. He could only move his face properly.

“Why didn’t you call Rubolle?” John Blake said.

Right after that, Tsuyun looked up. He had a very outraged expression on his face. “Do humans have no concept of ranking? What means should a viscount use to call a demon king?”

Rubolle was a demon king and Tsuyun was a viscount. It made sense for Rubolle to call Tsuyun, but the opposite was impossible, especially in the demon world where fists took precedence over words.

‘That is true,’ John Blake realized his mistake. ‘I was thinking too much with my standards.’

John Blake was a duke of the empire, so he could meet anyone he wanted to meet. He had lived this way for decades.

“It is my mistake. I admit it,” John Blake coolly admitted his mistake and apologized. “Then where can I meet Rubolle?”

“Rubolle is in Blanc.”

“Blanc? Where is that?” John Blake cocked his head.

“I forgot you were human. Blanc can be reached if you go south from here for half a year,” Tsuyun replied with a frown.

‘Half a year?’

It was a lot further away than John Blake thought.

‘It is unfortunate that I can’t do magic at times like this.’

If he had known how to use space movement magic, he would’ve been able to move there in a single breath, no matter how far away it was.

“What is the standard for the half-a-year time frame?”

“It is the time it takes for one of the lowest-rated demonic creatures to walk and run.”

“Okay, it isn’t as far as I thought.”

The lowest-rated demonic creatures possessed incomparably superior physical abilities compared to ordinary humans, but John Blake was far better than them.

‘I’ll reach there in a month or two.’

It was a time frame that emerged when taking into account all types of variables. If he could keep running without any variables, he would naturally reach there faster than that.

“Thank you for teaching me a lot,” John Blake said.

It was a short question-and-answer session, but he got everything he wanted. If he needed more, he could get it from the other demons. This was it for Tsuyun.

John Blake patted Tsuyun’s shoulder.

‘I taught a lot?’ Tsuyun thought.

“Me? When?” Tsuyun looked at John Blake with questioning eyes. That was his end. Tsuyun turned into black ashes and disappeared.

‘The biggest thing you taught me is…’

“I should defeat the demons first.”

There would never be a time in the future when he reserved his strength. Fists were unconditionally better than words. He would put forth his sword before his fist.

“Blanc…” John Blake recited the destinations in a small voice and left the city. He headed toward the south as Tsuyun said.