Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-443

Even though Yeon-woo had painstakingly searched the Bayluk’s lab on the twenty-eighth floor and scanned through the research notes and experiments, he had no way to truly understand what Bayluk had been doing. All he could guess was that the research was wide and intensive, and it was probably related to the Divine Human he was obsessed with.

Yeon-woo also assumed the poison that afflicted Hanryeong was one of the discoveries Bayluk had made during his research. Brahm was still analyzing the poison, but he’d already managed to discover something. “It seems like this is a type of Spirit Powder Poison.”

Spirit Powder Poison wasn’t composed of physical ingredients but spiritual ones. Most alchemists didn’t know how to handle spiritual matter since you had to be a master of alchemy to even think of working with it. If someone used spiritual matter as part of a poison, it meant that their understanding was extremely high.

It was difficult to make and handle Spirit Powder Poison, and even Brahm, whose knowledge surpassed the Tower’s accumulated history, didn’t have a strong grasp on the spirit world. He was curious how Bayluk managed to attain the knowledge to use Spirit Powder Poison.

“The Spirit Powder Poison is most likely a by-product of his experiments. What kind of research was he doing? It’s clear that he was trying to do something with souls. From his notes, I’m guessing that it’s related to connecting human bodies. I think…he was trying to create a homunculus.”

Homunculi were artificial intelligent beings made by alchemists. Brahm had managed to create a partial one for himself, but he’d never been able to complete it. His homunculus was little more than a shell stuffed with his soul thanks to the Black King’s power.

‘But Bayluk successfully created a homunculus? Bayluk?’ Bayluk was indeed an alchemist, but it was hard to imagine he had that much knowledge. How did he know things that even Brahm didn’t?

Yeon-woo wanted to deny it, but his logic and keen senses told him the homunculus protecting Bayluk was Jeong-woo. He could tell from the expressionless face that it was a combat machine without any emotions or reason, but because it had been created from Jeong-woo, he couldn’t just destroy it. However, Yeon-woo felt the question he’d been wondering for a long time had finally been answered. “So this is why you betrayed Arthia?”

“All traitors have reasons like this. Out of all the people I’ve met, no one was as close to being a Divine Human as you.”

Bayluk’s shameless attitude made a heat wave filled with murderous intent whirl around Yeon-woo. Bayluk had been searching for materials to achieve his dream of completing a Divine Human, and after observing for a long time, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to find a better one than Jeong-woo.

He had betrayed Arthia to gain Jeong-woo’s DNA and gather his genetic and spiritual information. Since the wall around Jeong-woo had been too strong, Bayluk had worked for a long time to crack it. As he regularly fed Jeong-woo Red Lotus Eye, he also manipulated Valdebich, who was pretty much Jeong-woo’s bodyguard, into leaving, and leaked information about Arthia to their enemies to ensure that Arthia would fall.

He had steadily pushed Arthia into destruction, and in the end, Jeong-woo had fallen as well. Small acts caused a snowball effect.

Whoosh! When Yeon-woo realized the reason behind the tragedies of the past, the fire around him grew more intense, completely overwhelming their surroundings. All the players frantically retreated, leaving Bayluk standing on his own.

The heat Yeon-woo exuded couldn’t touch him since his homunculus blocked it. It unfurled its wings, which touched the ground. Light fell from the sky and pushed away the heat.

“That stings.” Bayluk rubbed a small burn from the fire on his face. “What happened to you? It’s true that several years have passed, but how can someone change so much? It’s not just your personality—your traits, skill, graces, blessings, and all the information about you has changed. But from your biophysical information, you’re the same person.” Bayluk was perplexed and couldn’t conceal his academic curiosity. He looked at Yeon-woo with a cold laugh. “Since we’re here now, should I tell you more?”

His eyes flashed. “My initial plan was to catch you alive, but to my surprise, it failed. I never imagined you’d still be so powerful after ingesting all that Red Lotus Eye poison. I was shocked. I didn’t know you could withstand so much. According to my calculations, I gave you enough poison to drop a dragon.”

Yeon-woo didn’t want to listen to his jabbering anymore. He felt like his ears would rot off if he did.

“But thanks to that, I’m sure that no better material than you exists, nor will there ever be another one like you in the future!”

When Yeon-woo saw the mania growing in Bayluk’s eyes, he stepped on Blink and instantly appeared behind Bayluk. Bayluk was only outstanding as a toxicologist and alchemist; his physical skills were the same as any other normal player, and his reactions were slow.

The homunculus quickly turned its body to protect Bayluk and swung down its white blade, which clashed with Vigrid. Clang! The clear sound rang out, causing a great wave of pressure that crushed the ground they stood on. Heat began to rise again.

The business district, the largest section of the Outer District, was reduced to two-thirds of its original size with a single blow.

“This won’t be easy. You’re facing something I created using data from your peak as Heaven Wing.”

Yeon-woo moved again to chase after the chattering Bayluk, but the homunculus also moved with him, deflecting his attacks. Clang, clang, clang. Boom! Broken aura sparked around them, and the fire created craters on the ground. Yeon-woo and the homunculus were equal matches.

“It’s not just the physical information. The blessings, powers, graces, and skills… wasn’t able to copy everything, but the level isn’t embarrassing. I think I got seventy to eighty percent? The Elohim were quite helpful in this matter.”

Even in the hellish atmosphere, Bayluk didn’t lose his cool as the air around him sizzled. “Essentially—" Crack. “You’re facing your past self.”

Rumble! After another great explosion that left smoke and dust spinning around them, Yeon-woo wet his lips, thinking of a way to eliminate Bayluk. ‘Shanon. Hanryeong.’

「Good, I was getting pretty annoyed because he kept on blabbering so loudly.」

「I shall do whatever it takes to cut his throat.」

Swish. At his order, his shadow stretched on the ground and shot up to the sky to capture the retreating Bayluk. The homunculus quickly tried to chase after them, but Yeon-woo twisted to stop him. However, even though Yeon-woo’s shadow was reaching out after him like a tentacle, Bayluk didn’t seem flustered at all. He laughed, as though he were enjoying the whole thing. “Since I managed to create this, do you think I would have stopped at only one?”As soon as he finished, Bayluk’s surroundings shook, and two rays of light appeared, blocking the shadows instantly.

Clang. The shadows turned into Hanryeong and Shanon, whose Inferno Sights widened at the sight of two more homunculi with the same face and abilities as the one fighting Yeon-woo.

「What is this…!」

「Those crazy bastards!」

It was only then that Yeon-woo realized how unforgivable Bayluk and the Elohim’s ruthlessness was. Their plans to restore the ancient species through their obsessive experiments were so insane that words failed him. However, there was something he didn’t understand: if Bayluk and the Elohim had the ability to create more than one homunculus of a high ranker, why didn’t they just steal the DNA of high rankers and kings to create an army of homunculi? If they’d done so, the Elohim would’ve been controlling the Tower by now. But why hadn’t they been able to do that?

Questions led to more questions, but Yeon-woo couldn’t regain his composure as he faced his brother’s homunculus.

[You have been afflicted with the status ‘Agitation’.]

[The trait ‘Cold-blooded’ has failed.]

[The trait ‘Cold-blooded’ has failed.]

Urrrng. Space continued to rumble and homunculi that looked like Jeong-woo continued to appear. Four, five, six…by the time he counted nine, Yeon-woo completely lost all ability to think logically. “Bayluk!”

[5th-Step Dragon Body Awakening]

[All powers have been released.]

Crack. Dragon scales appeared on his skin. The scales were still with fury and emanated a dense heat. All the powers connected to his Channels began to strengthen.

[Heaven Bracket - Lightning Strike]

[Wave of Fire]

[Black Gubitara]

As soon as he brought Vigrid down, there was a loud crackle and Fire Lightning rained down. Boom! The fiery lightning spread through the sky in a complex pattern like a spiderweb. The sight was overwhelming. The fire was aiming for the homunculi as the Draconic Divine Eyes combined with Fiery Golden Eyes searched for their imperfections. However, the homunculi weren’t completely vulnerable.

“Expand.”

〈Spirit Powder Poison Wings〉

〈Spirit Powder Poison Wings〉

…

At Bayluk’s command, wings similar to Sky Wings grew out of the backs of the homunculi, unrolling ominously. The bright white wings were filled with various types of poison that squeezed Jeong-woo’s genetic information out and drained his lifespan to increase all possibilities.

Although the wings were below the level of Sky Wings, they were destructive because they were using up all of Jeong-woo’s potential. Since there were nine homunculi, the light they radiation was bright enough to blind people.

Yeon-woo was even more enraged. Bayluk was treating his brother’s homunculi as nothing more than disposable objects, forcing them to use up their already short lifespans. Whoosh.

〈Wave of Spirit Powder Poison〉

The homunculi gathered poison in their hands as though it were Wave of Light and sent out a poisonous explosion that melted half of the Outer District. However, something blocked the Wave of Spirit Powder Poison, preventing it from spreading farther. Yeon-woo added more firepower to Wave of Fire, which shot up to the sky to create a column of fire that swept the poison aside.

Roar. When the fire settled down, four of the homunculi were completely swept away, and two could barely stop Yeon-woo.

The rest of the homunculi protected Bayluk and tried to take him away from the battlefield. For the first time, Bayluk’s relaxed expression was mixed with surprise and annoyance. “He was already so monstrous, but he’s grown even worse. Even though the homunculi have been made with the Crawling Chaos’ Gray Fragments, they were defeated so easily.”

The ancient wisdom of the Elohim, Bayluk’s experience, and the items the Crawling Chaos gave him due to their contract had created a more profound system of knowledge than the Emerald Tablet. The Elohim had use up their entire resources on these treasures and half of them had been blown away by a single strike.

“Is it that difficult to deal with him now? I must add more to the collection.” Bayluk muttered to himself and vanished within some energy that had been set up before Yeon-woo’s next attack could reach him. He disappeared with all of the Infallible Soldiers as though they had cut space itself, and his right arm and two of the homunculi’s severed heads fell powerlessly to the ground.

Thud.