Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-38

The fire in the western jungle started as a small spark. However, the flames swelled up as they devoured the now in ruins Kobold village, and the fire gradually spread until it engulfed the whole jungle.

Goblins and Kobolds who had lost their home to the fire began to migrate away from the unstoppable inferno. Numerous conflicts occurred between monsters that inhabited the area, but even so, they had to abandon their habitat soon after.

Confusion spread throughout Section E like a domino effect. Everyone had to be on high alert. Including both players, and monsters.

* * *

Black smoke and red flames could be seen everywhere.

Kieeek!

Kiek!

All hell broke loose in the Goblin village. Flames were consuming everything in it. Cries of help were heard from all over the place.

“Chief! Chief! We’re in a bi… Kuk!”

A Goblin flung open the door, hurriedly entering the barracks, but soon a hatchet flew in, splitting his head.

“I am not a chief. I am your king!”

The Goblin King frowned in annoyance as he looked at the other chiefs.

“You sure, it was the Orcs?”

“Yes. The destroyed villages, there are as many as my fingers. And the Orcs, their bodies were found in all of the villages.”

The Goblin King gritted his teeth.

Those damn Orcs. It wasn’t enough to trample on our villages, but you also dare set them on fire?

More than eight villages had been confirmed destroyed and countless numbers of Goblins were still asking for help.

Upon investigation, they had found that the Orcs were the ones responsible for their present predicament. They massacred whole villages and set them on fire burning down everything in it. They even let one or two survivors escape to other villages in order to follow them and continue killing the Goblins. Even someone’s worst enemy couldn’t possibly be this cruel.

And neither had they declared war nor there had been clashes between them. On the contrary, they had recently made a promise of cooperation because of the increased number of humans.

But in the end it was only the Goblins who got stabbed in the back. About a third of their power had evaporated in one night.

“Orcs, I don’t know what you want. But we Goblins, will never forget what you have done.”

The Goblin King’s eyes blazed with fire.

Then suddenly, a Goblin barged in.

“My lord! My lord! Kobolds and Gnolls have sent messengers! They are asking us to take revenge against the Orcs together! They want an alliance!”

The Goblin King then turned towards the Goblin standing at the door.

It wasn’t just us?

For a second, he smelled something fishy going on, but his doubt didn’t last for long. What was more important right now was to retaliate against the Orcs.

“Lead the way! I’ll meet them! Orcs, we will kill them all!”

The Goblin King sprang up from his seat and rushed towards the place where the Kobold and Gnoll messengers were.

Other monsters were also experiencing similar situations.

“We’re just like you! The Orcs attacked us!”

“Our worst enemy! The Orcs killed our king too! Together, we must avenge!”

When the Goblin King heard their stories, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. It looked like Orcs had gone mad and provoked all the monsters around them. If so, the Orcs must have attacked not just the monsters here, but also other monsters in this region.

The Goblin King immediately ordered his minions to check on other monsters around them.

And then,

“Many other races, they were just like us!”

“Trolls and Ogres were hurt too! They also asked for an alliance!”

Then suddenly, the Goblin King was struck with an idea.

‘This is a chance! A chance to be the real king of the entire forest!’

Since his childhood, it was often said that he had great intelligence for a Goblin. He even knew something was off about this whole situation. But for now, he didn’t care if the Orcs were the real culprits or not. What really mattered was that he could use this as an opportunity. An opportunity to bring together the angry monsters and stand tall as their hero! He could be the true king of the forest like he had been yearning for his whole life.

And when he heard the report about the armies of Lizardmen heading eastward, the Goblin King pounded on the table as he shouted out loud.

“There’s no time for this! Even those cowardly Lizardmen are waging war on the Orcs! How can we be simply standing here! Follow me! I will cut the throat of the Orc King!”

Was it the Goblin King’s charisma that captivated the other monsters?

Their eyes started to burn with determination. The loss of their home and the anger towards the Orcs had pushed them into complete madness.

“Follow the Goblin King!”

“For revenge! Kill the Orcs!”

Led by the Goblin King, a monster outbreak started. They were armies of monsters consisting of thousands of monsters, and they had only one destination.

The eastern desert.

* * *

[You have created conflict between monsters and led them to start a war. Additional Karma will be provided.]

[You have acquired 1,000 additional Karma.]

[Sudden Quest / Monster Outbreak]

Content: It is an unwritten rule among the monsters in Section E that they don’t intrude into each other’s territory. But the rule has been broken just now.

A war between the monsters has begun. Survive and eradicate the source of the war.

Rewards:

1. The title, ‘Monster Hunter’.

2. The Goblin King’s Eye.

3. Five colored jewel of monsters.

4. Additional Karma.

‘Yes! It’s progressing just the way I wanted.’

Yeon-woo smiled as he watched Goblin King giving out his speech in front of thousands of monsters.

Akasha’s Snake would revive faster proportionally to the number of monsters it consumed, and currently, waves of Lizardmen and the monsters were heading towards the Orcs. No matter how much power the Orcs had, it would be impossible to block them.

The revival won’t end up being just a normal revival. Perhaps it could be the biggest Akasha’s Snake in the entire history of the tutorial.

Now the seeds were sown. The only thing Yeon-woo had to do was to sit still until the fruit was ripe.

‘It’s a shame it turned into a Sudden Quest.’

There were many kinds of quests in The Tower. Main Quests, the main task of each floor in The Tower. Hidden Quests, concealed as hidden pieces and offered only to those with the right qualifications. And then there were Sudden Quests that occurred due to sudden turn of events.

The Sudden Quest was probably notified to all players in Section E, just like the Main Quests.

Those who didn’t know how things were in the tutorial might think they were just given more quests to hunt monsters.

‘But those who know a thing or two might suspect something about the change.’

That slight chance of arousing other players’ suspicions made Yeon-woo uneasy, but he decided not to worry.

‘Even if they know it, it’s already too late.’

There was nothing left for others to intervene in. The flare had already been fired.

What would happen after this?

Yeon-woo looked at march of monsters from a distance. Then he quietly followed them behind their backs.

*Swish*

* * *

During the time when the Goblin King was rallying the monsters together.

“I see some useless players here.”

Bain twisted his lip as he gave a quick glance to the people around him. They were the players of Team 1 gathered under Bild’s order.

Other players also had sullen faces.

“And look who’s talking here.”

Crassus muttered in a seemingly irritated tone.

They always quarreled like cats and dogs whenever he bumped into Bain. Of course, nothing good came out of his mouth.

Bain creased his brows and scowled at Crassus.

Crassus then laughed coldly in response.

“What else can you do other than staring at me?”

“You cocky little asshole. You don’t even know who you’re messing with.”

“I’m afraid I do. And we can test that right away if you want.”

Bain and Crassus emitted their aura as they gazed at each other. The air around them heated up and the wind blew in gusts.

The players around them stood aside with their arms folded.

They were the two most talented players in Team 1. A fight between such players should be interesting to watch. Plus, at least one of the two would be eliminated from the tutorial rankings. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

However, their fight was stopped before it could begin.

*Clap*

“Both of you, stop fighting like children. Why don’t you realize we’d be better off eliminating the target instead of wasting our time?”

Dyke, who took on the ‘adult’ role in Team 1, stepped forward as he clapped his hands.

Bain and Crassus frowned at the same time, but none of them complained. They knew Dyke’s point was absolutely correct. Only the other players smacked their lips in frustration.

Dyke said as he looked around.

“I hear the target is near the Orc settlements, not far from here. So let’s get rid of him as quickly as possible and get back to our business. Of course, we shouldn’t let our guard down, as he is the one who wiped out Team 2.”

Bain and other players nodded.

“Then let’s get in formation and move on.”

The players advanced in a battle formation as they learned from Bild.

The relationship between each other might not be good, however, the long training made them well prepared for battles. But at the same time, their eyes were filled with greed.

‘I must be the one to take his head, no matter what.’

‘Even if I have to betray them.’

‘I have to get to the top somehow. I can’t settle with my current rank.’

‘There’s gonna be a fight even after we take down the target. How do I get away from these idiots?’

They got themselves ready to move as they each dreamed of different things in their mind.

It was at this moment

*Kung*

A faint rumble was heard.

Dyke raised his hand and stopped the march.

“Hold it.”

“Why?”

“What’s going on?”

Bain and Crassus had to stop as they were about to dash forward. They looked back at Dyke with a frown on their face.

Dyke knitted his brows.

“Did you not hear it?”

Bain was about to yell at him, but suddenly another rumble rang in his ears.

*Kung* *Kung*

Something was definitely resounding.

“The ground?”

They stood bewildered on their spot.

What was making the earth shake this much?

Then Crassus, the one with the keenest senses out of Team 1, suddenly turned towards the west.

“Dyke, look over there!”

When Bain, Dyke and the rest of the members turned their eyes towards the direction he had pointed, the expression on their face froze.

*Kung* *Kung*

*Creak* *Kuung*

There was a massive “tidal wave” sweeping over the forest towards the dry wasteland. It was a wave of monsters.

The numbers were at least tens of thousands even at a rough estimation. It seemed like all the monsters in Section E had rushed out.

“Th, this is ridiculous…”

None of them had ever seen anything like this before, or even heard of it. Especially, the sight of monsters like Goblins, Ogres, and Trolls that could not get along together marching as one army gave them chills all over their bodies.

“Dyke!”

Crassus quickly turned to Dyke.

Dyke gritted his teeth.

No matter how excellent they were as players, such an amount of monsters would easily trample over them.

“Re, retreat!”

With Dyke’s shout, the players of Team 1 began to run away desperately.

However,

“Get out of my way! Human! Stand in my way and you’ll die!”

“Die, humans!”

For the monsters, the humans in front of them were nothing more than a mere obstacle blocking their way.

Hatchets flew in from all directions, and poisonous darts poured out like rain.

*Swish*

“Kuaak!”

“Aak!”

Players hit by the attacks fell to the floor one by one. Soon, angry Ogres and Trolls charged at them.

*Puck*

The players got annihilated in just a few seconds before they could even resist.

Dyke was crushed under swarms of monsters. Crassus’ limbs were torn off and disappeared inside an Ogre’s mouth.

Krrr…

Kieeek!

The monsters rushed towards their next targets.

In an instant, the players of Team 1 had been swept away by the tidal wave named Monster Outbreak.

“You piece of shit!”

Bain was resentful at the fact that he had to flee from mere monsters, so he turned back to them and tried to fight. However, no matter how hard he tried, monsters just poured in nonstop. Even if he wielded his sword or used his skills, it made no difference. He was on the edge of losing his mind.

‘Not now! Not like this!’

His wildest ambition was being shattered by these monsters.

‘I will be the ‘sword’ of Cheonghwado and have the whole army under my…!’

“Die, human!”

But before he could even finish his thoughts, a large axe flew right in front of his face.

‘When…!’

*Puck*

One of his arms flew off into the air. Blood gushed out from his shoulder.

Before Bain could take any action, the Goblin King held his halberd up in the air as he let out a deafening roar.

“Death! Death to all those who stand in our way!”