Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-425

“Dragon meat, give me dragon meat…! Dragon meat!”

“Your…Majesty! Urk!”

Duke Tarbing coughed up blood as he watched the Gluttony Emperor disappear into the distance. He’d barely been able to find the Gluttony Emperor despite his determination to protect his master as the labyrinth collapsed. But the Gluttony Emperor had lost all reason.

Duke Tarbing knew what it meant. The Gluttony Emperor was starving and hadn’t had enough nourishment because of the long battle. The worse his hunger and thirst, the worse the Gluttony Emperor’s lunacy would become. Even Duke Tuan Tien wouldn’t be able to stop the emperor when he was like this. He would swallow anything he came into contact with, friend or foe. Two counts had been sacrificed during the battle with White Dragon for this reason.

Duke Tarbing tried to stop him, but the only result was his left arm being ripped off. ‘It’s too dangerous right now…!” He needed to get back up and help his master. They had already lost over eighty percent of their forces in the labyrinth after being conned by the Hoarder. Now that the stage was Kalatus’ territory, they had to be prepared to lose everything and focus on figuring a way out. But even that would be difficult with the Gluttony Emperor’s condition. There was only one option: ‘Protect His Majesty.’

It would be impossible to escape the stage within the limited time anyway, so retreating after protecting the Gluttony Emperor was the best course of action. “Protect…His Majesty! All soldiers forward! Exterminate the dragon and show our courage to the dregs of the Tower!”

At Duke Tarbing’s shout, the Blood Land soldiers got into formation again and ran to their emperor. In the meantime, Kalatus stretched his neck back and spewed Breath again. The Breath filled with curses and poison swept through the ground and felled the opponents that dared challenge him.

However, some players tried to attack him from above. Boom! They were the kings who had temporarily formed an alliance to take on the great boss monster.

“A dragon with demonic energy. There’s nothing more hideous than losing your identity. Return to the land you’re from, great dragon!” High up in the sky, Magnus looked down at Kalatus with mixed emotions and spread his hands open. As a leader of the Elohim, who were descendants of higher beings, he pitied Kalatus. The Elohim’s most hated enemies were otherworld gods, as it was impossible to know what kind of legends they had. The skills that Magnus activated were more powerful than ever.

〈Giant Intent〉

“Meat! Delicious dragon meat! Hahaha!” Dripping with madness, the Gluttony Emperor appeared right in front of Kalatus. Although he was tiny in size compared to Kalatus, his aura was powerful, and the Stone of Gula glowed with a purple energy around his body. “If I eat that and make it mine, the stone will become completely mine!” Crunch! The Gluttony Emperor grinned and bit down on Kalatus’ right leg. His canines glowed with purple energy and pierced through the tough scales, even dismembering the leg. “Meat, meat! Hahaha!”

Boom!Rumble. Waltz unsealed her Hundred Step Fist. It was a Mugong that could attack enemies from far away. When she added magic to focus all her strength into one spot, she managed to crush Kalatus’ left eye. A large hole appeared in the back of his head, as though he’d been pierced through.

Tom, in his real body, descended and ripped Kalatus’ head with his teeth. With half of his head gone, Kalatus struggled in pain, casting magic randomly around him. However, it only affected foolish players and didn’t do much to the Nine Kings. Despite the Dragon’s Curse, they demonstrated why they were called the Nine Kings, unleashing their signature skills to cut off Kalatus’ wings and limbs as if to prove why they were at the peak of the Tower.

Although Kalatus was the mighty last dragon king, the average abilities of players had increased over the last thousands of years, and he wasn’t in his right mind after being taken over by the Crawling Chaos.

“I tried not to do this.” The Head Bishop unleashed the power of the Seven Demon Kings from his body with Seventy-Two Bian. “Oh well. I’ll have to overdo myself a bit.” Light gathered on each finger. The thunder Nye, explosive Pok, destructive Pa, heat Yeol, and burning So appeared. It was an incredible feat since each Bian was beyond the strength of an ordinary skill, and even the former Head Bishop, Black Dawn, could only achieve four.

Rumble! The Head Bishop struck, as if demonstrating how he’d managed to kill Black Dawn and the other bishops. Hundreds of lighting bolts fell from the sky on Kalatus, bursting and covering him in flames. Kalatus tried to use his magic to put the fire out, but it only became worse and ate away at him.

“Huhu. It won’t be that easy. I combined the winds and fire of a Demon King and the Monkey King.” The Head Bishop leaned on the bishop, catching his breath, the result of forcing the Seven Demon Kings’ power to appear even with the Channels disconnected. Still, the attack seemed to have been effective. Kalatus thrashed around the stage, unable to use magic to resolve the problem.

Cliffs tumbled down, burying the temple under a landslide. Breath heated up the atmosphere and steam rose over the ground as mountains fell.

The collapse of the labyrinth had nearly destroyed the stage, and Kalatus’ struggle only brought further ruin.

“The dragon is falling…?”

“Now…!”

“Let’s go!”

The players all believed it was the time to attack as Kalatus stumbled in the air. Rewards were allocated according to contribution, and if they didn’t act now as Kalatus lost his strength, they didn’t know when they’d get another chance.

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Kill him! Catch him!”

The players all ran to end Kalatus’ life, activating their individual skills, and the light from their Effects was blinding.

『Hahaha! That guy is mine!』

『What are you talking about?! Mine!』

『Get out of the way! I will take the dragon king’s heart!』

In the lead were the three leaders of Green Dragon, Hyall, Leesoo, and Baharatan, who were still injured by their fight with the Gluttony Emperor. However, they rushed forward in hopes of taking the last dragon king’s blood and complete their awakenings as Draconic species.

In his wyvern form, Leeson flapped his lone wing and dashed forward. 『Hahaha! I’ll take…!』 He was cut off in mid-sentence. As soon as he tried to jump in the fire to chew on Kalatus’ head, another hand suddenly shot up from below and ripped him in two.

“My meat! Don’t touch my meat!” The Gluttony Emperor, who had been eating Kalatus the entire time, growled like a beast. Although his body was covered in horrendous-looking burns, the purple light in his eyes made him look terrifying.

『Leesoo!』

『How dare you touch my brother!』

Hyall and Baharatan cried out as they watched their brother’s gruesome death. Although they argued at the drop of a hat, they all saw each other as brothers since they shared the blood of the Summer Queen. They never wanted any one of them to die like that.

However, that short moment of inattention brought another death. Kalatus, whom they thought was on the brink of death, raised his head and snatched Hyall.

『No…!』 It was the last thing Hyall would say. Crunch! Kalatus chomped on Hyall like gum and swallowed him. Hyall’s blood dribbled down his chin. The dragon king’s eyes refocused now that he’d healed a bit. He roared again despite his broken body wrapped in the flames, regaining his vitality.

[The demonic energy of the ‘Corrupted Dragon King, Kalatus’ has successfully been removed. His hidden holy power is activating.]

[Warning! The second phase is beginning.]

The atmosphere was plunged in Dragon Fear. The players running towards the dragon turned pale. The pressure on the stage grew even heavier, as though gravity had increased. A hundred players around Kalatus were instantly reduced to scraps of flesh and blood. The scorching winds blew once more, turning the ground over and sweeping the players away.

『No…way…This can’t be…!』 Baharatan was flung to the ground, his wings, legs, and tail all dislocated. His frightened eyes were fixed on Kalatus, who was looking in his direction. Baharatan was little more than prey overwhelmed with terror as a predator leagues above him in power stared at him.

It was only at this moment that Baharatan realized what he was doing. A lower-class dragon like him was no match for the dragon king. He had made a mistake. Kalatus bent down to absorb Baharatan’s blood as well, his shadow looming over Baharatan.

At that moment, the sky brightened as though another sun had appeared, and a massive column of fire fell to the ground. Whoosh.

Kalatus stopped biting Baharatan’s neck and quickly looked up, flapping his wings to cover his body. However, the fire not only instantly turned Bahartan into ash but changed direction and cut through Kalatus’ imperfections. Kalatus’ imperfections were a Channel that connected him to the Crawling Chaos. Without it, the holy power which had no owner overloaded, and Kalatus convulsed. On top of that, Vigrid sliced through his body with the folklore of Lancelot killing dragons.

Blood poured out of his torn skin, enough to create a lake, only to evaporate from the heat. Kalatus cried out loudly in pain as his existence began to disappear.

The players frozen by Dragon Fear and Pressure were speechless from shock. To them, it seemed as though the sun itself had cut through Kalatus. When they saw that the sun was changing directions again and heading for them, it was too late. They didn’t even have the chance to shout or activate skills before they were turned to ashes. A tornado of fire swept away their remains before rushing through everything else, as though it wanted to remove all traces of existence from the stage.

The mercenaries and magicians of the Lion Alliance, the Blood Land, the Elohim, White Dragon, Green Dragon, Black Dragon, the Devil Army, and rankers and others who came to the labyrinth all disappeared in a flash.

However, it didn’t stop there. The column of fire divided the stage again and again, sweeping through everything, connecting sparks until Fire Lightning descended. A disaster was swallowing up the stage.

Even the Nine Kings couldn’t avoid it. They had used most of their strength from dealing with Kalatus, and with the Dragon’s Curse still in effect, they couldn’t escape injury. All of Waltz’s Nascent Soul Bodies were destroyed, and Tom’s right arm was cut off. The Head Bishop pitched over after forcefully using the power of Seven Demon Kings again, and Magnus was at death’s door from trying to protect his subordinates. When what seemed like eternity passed and the hellfire had burned out, a deep voice rang out. “Domain Declaration.”

Darkness descended.

[The dragon territory ‘Binah’ has been declared.]

The sparks lightning up the world suddenly extinguished, and shadows stretched out over the still-steaming ground. Spirit Guai appeared above them. Keekeekee!

Laughing ghoulishly, they attacked the players still clinging to life. The entire place was filled with delicious souls and they voraciously filled their stomachs. The stage filled with screams of terror.

“Aaaack! Save me!”

“Aaaack! Aaaaaaack!”

“Hoarder! Why is the Hoarder…urk!”

The players of the Blood Land who still didn’t know what was going on and believed Yeon-woo to be their ally suffered even more painfully from his betrayal.

“Cain!” In the midst of this hell, the Gluttony Emperor lifted his head after crawling out from under Kalatus. His burned face, which had been filled with hunger and thirst, was now filled with rage and hate. “Why? Why?” He seemed to have regained some of his reason and cried out, wanting to know why Cain had done this. He’d treated Yeon-woo so well, the Gluttony Emperor didn’t understand what was going on. They’d made a plan to get rid of their enemies, how could Cain betray them? “Why?

Yeon-woo looked down from the sky with a cold smile. “Let me teach you now.” He dove towards the ground with his Sky Wings spread open. Wave of Fire enveloped the Gluttony Emperor once again.