Ranker's Return

Supplementary Story 28

“Where is this place?” the silver-haired man muttered as he looked around. He was in a cave previously. At that place, he had been looking at a magic circle that gave off a strange energy.

“Did I touch it for no reason?”

He had felt ominous energy from the magic circle and cut it with a sword because he thought he shouldn’t leave it alone. As a result, he was now standing in a place that he didn’t know.

‘I can roughly guess where I am...’

His surroundings were filled with dark attribute magic power. As far as the man knew, there was only one place that had such an environment.

‘The demon world...’

Saliva emerged from the man’s mouth.

“I have no luck.”

The man, John Blake, was now enjoying life a bit. He had wandered aimlessly around the continent until he found a place he favored. Then John Blake settled down and lived, enjoying the delicacies and the drinks. He swung his sword when he felt like it. It had been 20 years since he last lived like this.

‘Now I finally have some feeling of being alive...’

Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough yet. After suffering in the palace for decades, he had to enjoy it for several more decades.

“At this age, the demon world—!!!” John Blake couldn’t withstand the resentment that was rising inside him and eventually vented his runaway emotions to the outside.

Thump thump!

Shortly after John Blake shouted, the ground started to shake wildly. The shaking grew louder and louder and quickly approached him.

‘What is this now?’ John Blake turned his head toward where the vibration was felt. He saw dozens of giants rushing over with a fierce momentum.

‘It is a fight as soon as I come...’

“It is an unpredictable change, an unpredictable change,” John Blake muttered with a resentful expression and drew his sword at the incoming giants. At the same time, the sword was dyed a brilliant gold color. John Blake swung his sword and fired three large gold pure energies at the giants.

“Kuaaaaaah!!!”

“Kuwooooh!”

The giants roared wildly and struck the golden pure energies with the gigantic clubs they held in their hands. However, the golden pure energies exploded the clubs of the resisting giants without leaving any traces behind. Then they split apart the giants’ torsos as well. Dark red blood gushed like a fountain from the bodies of the giants.

Dozens of giants were knocked down by John Blake’s blow.

‘There is a welcome ceremony as soon as I arrive.’

John Blake put the sword back in the sheath like nothing had happened and started moving in the direction the giants had come from.

‘I have to find a way back...’

He wanted to return to the middle world as soon as possible. He didn’t want to be in the gloomy demon world any longer.

***

‘It is frustrating, frustrating.’

The silver-haired man, John Blake, frowned as he looked at the blood-stained ground.

“Damn things. I can’t even have a conversation with them.”

The demons and demonic creatures constantly attacked the man. However, John Blake had no desire to fight them. He just wanted to get out of the demon world and return to the middle world.

‘If I knew how to do this, I wouldn’t be so frustrated...’

“Do the demons only know how to fight?”

A sigh automatically emerged from him. John Blake hadn’t obtained any clues. It was natural since no one would talk to him.

‘I just need one guy I can talk to.’

Nevertheless, John Blake wasn’t discouraged. The days of his usual life were too rough for him to be frustrated by this.

‘If I keep killing, I’ll eventually find someone who can speak.’

Rather than feeling frustrated, he came up with a simple solution that was only possible for those confident in their own strength. In order to use such a solution properly, he had to gather a large number of demons. That way, there was a chance that one of them would hold a conversation.

‘Then I should head to a city.’

John Blake wasn’t completely lacking knowledge of the demon world. There were books about the demon world in the middle world. Thus, he knew some very basic information.

‘Here or in the middle world... They are both similar in the end.’

There were territories in the demon world and nobles who ruled there.

‘I don’t think there are only ignorant people who can’t communicate.’

A terrible assumption flashed through John Blake’s mind. It was of something that should never happen.

‘No, no.’

He shook his head widely. It was meaningless to think about something that hadn’t even happened.

“For now, moving is the priority.”

John Blake started walking again. The worst thing he could do was kill time while doing nothing.

***

John Blake silently insisted on going straight and discovered what was believed to be a city of the demon world. Of course, the process wasn’t smooth. He was attacked by demonic creatures once an hour. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop. In addition, the level of the demonic creatures was too low to tie up his feet.

“It is over there.”

John Blake had an emotional look on his face. There was a bit of hope that he could go back. He walked toward the gate that was full of demons and demonic creatures. There wasn’t a single bit of hesitation, just as it had been so far.

“Human!”

“A human has appeared!”

“A human?”

“A human?”

The voices of the demonic creatures who discovered John Blake burst out from all over the place. They had different emotions. Some showed curiosity about a human being they had never seen before, while others showed greed. However, the most common feeling was curiosity. This was because the demons living in the city knew how to control their desires to some extent.

“Have they never seen a human? Ah, that is possible,” John Blake answered his own question like a fool and laughed in vain.

‘There is hope seeing as they’re not rushing in.’

The seed of hope in his mind grew in size.

“I want to know how to go back to the middle world.” John Blake’s voice wasn’t loud or soft.

Nevertheless, his voice rang clearly in everyone’s ears.

“The middle world?”

“Is there such a way? I’ve lived for hundreds of years, but I’ve never heard of it?”

“I’ve heard of invading the middle world before, but...”

“If I knew, I would’ve gone already. It is said that all humans are weak...”

Upon hearing John Blake’s words, the demons all responded in a consistent manner as if this was new information to them.

‘No one knows?’ John Blake’s expression distorted in an instant. He couldn’t believe that out of hundreds of demons, not a single one of them knew.

‘The answer is a noble.’ John Blake quickly realized that there was no hope with ordinary demons. It was unconditionally necessary to find a noble—perhaps one that was old and knowledgeable.

‘Maybe... I might have to go as far as the demon kings...’

John Blake’s seed of hope withered quickly.

“Open a path. I have to ask the noble of this castle,” John Blake’s voice rang out in front of the gate again.

“A path for who?”

“This human is arrogant.”

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to kill him?”

“I can’t believe I have a chance to eat human flesh that I’ve only heard of...”

The demons suddenly released killing intent. Now their instinct for slaughter preceded their curiosity of humans. The minds of the demons were already full of thoughts of killing a human and tasting blood and flesh.

“These guys are the same after all.” John Blake frowned and clicked his tongue.

He wanted them to have rationality, but in the end, they were the same as the others.

‘For those who can’t even understand the opponent in front of them...’

“Punishment is the medicine.”

John Blake drew his sword and extended it into the air. Then an intense golden pure energy emerged from the tip of the sword and poured down as hundreds of strands. It was like golden rain falling from the sky. The golden pure energies bombarded the demons and city indiscriminately.

“Kuaack!”

“Help me!”

“Block it!”

“Don’t run away and join forces! You idiots!”

Faced with the unexpected and powerful attack, the demons became preoccupied with running away in a panic. They didn’t even think about responding. John Blake’s attack was that overwhelming.

‘This is enough.’

He put the sword away. The demons were already dominated by fear, and no one showed hostility to him.

John Blake walked calmly toward the gate as if nothing had happened. “Open the gate.”

The moment he finished speaking, the demons guarding the walls stepped aside. He walked calmly along the path opened up by the demons and entered the city.

***

‘I think it has become a spectacle...’

John Blake frowned as he saw the demons filling the surroundings. For some reason, the demons followed him while keeping a certain distance from him.

‘Yes, I would rather they watch.’

John Blake was annoyed. He didn’t want to wield his sword, regardless of whether his opponents were demons or someone else.

‘I am the intruder here...’

Of course, he would’ve fought with clenched teeth if this were the middle world. However, the place where John Blake stood right now was the land of the demons—the demon world. He was the uninvited visitor, and the demons were the natives.

‘I just need to go back.’

There was no need for unnecessary conflict. It was enough for him to just achieve his purpose.

‘Is it here?’

John Blake stopped in front of another wall in the city. “Is this the castle where the noble dwells?”

No one answered his question. Everyone remained silent.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting an answer.” John Blake glanced around at the surrounding demons and boldly walked through the gate of the castle. From then on, no demons followed him. They just stood in line outside the castle.

John Blake didn’t care about such a trivial thing. He just looked ahead and walked.

‘Where is it...?’

The castle was too large. There were more than ten buildings inside, and each one wasn’t small in size.

‘I need to call for him.’

John Blake decided to find the noble using a simple method. Suddenly, a golden aura burned around his entire body, and he released a powerful force in all directions. Then the ground shook, and the buildings started to break.

“What type of jerk is acting like this in my castle?!” The response was immediate. A heavy mass screamed and jumped down from one of the huge buildings.

John Blake raised his pressure and asked, “Are you the master of this city?”

“You? Why did you disturb my sleep?” The opponent didn’t answer John Blake’s question and instead vented his anger.

“I will ask again. Are you the master of this city?” John Blake frowned and the magic power around him burned even more fiercely.

At the same time, a wave—which was so strong it was incomparable to the previous one—swept through the entire territory.

“Th... That’s right. I am the master of this city,” the big demon replied while trembling.

“Then you must be a noble.”

“Yes, I am Viscount Tsuyun under the seventh demon king, Rubolle.”

“Viscount? It isn’t that high a ranking.” John Blake looked unhappy when he heard the title of the big demon.

‘If he’s a viscount, he might not know anything...’

This wasn’t a very satisfying find. Even so, a noble was a noble.

John Blake asked the question he’d prepared, “Do you know how to return to the middle world?”

“Return to the middle world? Y-You’re a human, not a demon?!” The big demon now realized a fact that he hadn’t been aware of due to being overwhelmed by John Blake’s explosive energy.

‘Why is a human in the middle world?’ All sorts of questions swept through his mind, but the big demon wasn’t given time to think.

“Hurry up and answer!”

It was because John Blake pulled out a sword and pointed it at the neck of the big demon.

“I... don’t know. In the first place, the invasion of the middle world was a long time ago. Nobody will know... with the exception of some demon kings,” the big demon replied with an urgent expression.

Nevertheless, John Blake didn’t remove his sword. Instead, he cursed, “Damn!”

‘Nobody knows except for a few demon kings?’

It was the worst-case scenario, so flames soared in John Blake’s eyes.

“Then who are the demon kings who know about it?”

“Rubolle would know. He is one of the older ones among the demon kings.”

In fact, he didn’t really know if Rubolle knew how to get to the middle world or not. It was just an answer that he thought would kill the human in front of him.

“Rubolle? How can I meet him?”

The big demon was inwardly delighted at John Blake’s follow-up question. ‘You are dead now, stupid human.’

“I’ll try to contact him.”

There was a really insidious smile on the big demon’s face.

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