The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times

Chapter 98

The gaze was anything but ordinary.

The eyes filled with hostility and disgust intertwined, stabbing at Do-hyeon.

To them, Do-hyeon was already an enemy.

It was an expected reaction.

“…Only Kaiser is left now.”

By now, everyone had finished their measurements, and only Do-hyeon remained.

“See, I told you he was suspicious, this foreigner.”

“But it’s strange. Does that person really have that much divine power?”

“Apples are often different from what they appear. Apostles have many hidden talents. You can’t judge by appearances.”

“Everyone, be cautious. You never know when he might turn.”

As they spread out in a gradual encirclement, Do-hyeon clenched his fist tightly.

He couldn’t even run anymore.

He briefly looked forward and locked eyes with Gildetti, who was gazing at him intently.

The emotionless eyes made it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Was Gildetti suspicious of him too?

“…It’s just you left.”

At that moment, Zerdic approached.

With every step closer, his eyes flickered with anger, suspicion, and doubt—countless emotions.

By the time he reached him, Zerdic’s gaze was as cold as ice.

“Raise your hand.”

The phrase “like a rat caught in a trap” came to mind.

What a fitting name for a quest.

There couldn’t be a more perfect proverb for this situation.

As he thought, Do-hyeon spoke casually.

“Isn’t it just the high-ranking priests who need to be measured? Didn’t you say divine power was detected?”

“I heard that foreigners are different from us. Even if they’re not high-ranking priests, they still wield high-purity divine power quite well.”

“….”

“There’s no harm in proving it. Now, raise your hand. It’s not that difficult, is it?”

“Sigh…”

He sighed as if annoyed, but inside, he was burning up.

There was no rebuttal to his words.

If he insisted here, it would only raise more suspicion.

‘I don’t know.’

In the end, Do-hyeon reached out.

He couldn’t back down anyway. At this point, there was no choice but to leave it to fate.

Zing-.

Clink. Thud.

As the sensing orb absorbed mana, the high-ranking priests tensed, holding their wands and books.

The moment they saw the black color, they were ready to attack.

Zerdic didn’t even look at the orb, his eyes fixed firmly on Do-hyeon.

The orb absorbed the mana, and then,

Vroom-.

It glowed white before returning to its original state, making a deflating sound.

At the same time, from somewhere, a sucking noise was heard, and the murmurs grew louder.

They had assumed that Do-hyeon would be the contractor, but were they taken aback by the unexpected result?

Some even rubbed their eyes with both hands in doubt. But that reaction was short-lived.

Soon, their arrows were aimed at Jihad.

“…Then, could it be that person?”

If it wasn’t Do-hyeon or the priests, then the only other possibility was Jihad.

Soon, their eyes became half-lidded.

“Covering the face is suspicious…”

“Hurry up and check, Sir Zerdic.”

Without needing further prompting, Zerdic pushed the sensing orb closer.

-‘…Master, what should I do?’

The glance that Jihad shot him clearly seemed to say that.

At this rate, he would be falsely accused.

In this atmosphere, if black mana appeared?

He would have no time to explain and would certainly be chased as the public enemy.

He had to think. A way out of this situation.

-‘…Damn, there’s no way.’

His escape route was blocked, and in terms of strength, he was at a disadvantage.

He had even looked around carefully earlier, wondering if the Eye of Truth might activate, but nothing appeared.

For some reason, things had been going too smoothly ever since he started playing God of Savior.

To suddenly be caught in such a huge crisis like this. Should he call it DemRock’s next project, or just bad luck?

“…Are you refusing?”

It was then that a chilling voice was heard.

When he lifted his head, he met the gaze of Zerdic, whose eyes gleamed as cold as moonlight.

Holding back the suffocating feeling, Do-hyeon lightly poked his side.

-‘…Master?’

-‘Just do it. At this point, we go for a direct confrontation.’

An adversarial relationship?

What does it matter? After all, Do-hyeon was not an apostle of the gods.

The one in an adversarial relationship with the gods was the heir of humanity, Kashiar.

If you think about it, they were fundamentally enemies from the start.

‘As long as I don’t die, I’ll figure something out.’

The notification window displayed “Failure upon death.”

As long as he didn’t die, there might still be a way to clean things up.

It might not work, but it was worth trying since there was nothing to lose.

For now, he had to break through with all his might.

‘……’

After a brief exchange of glances, Jihad squeezed his eyes shut.

Do-hyeon’s thoughts had been completely transmitted.

With the intention of summoning the undead if needed, Jihad circulated his mana and reached out his hand.

Swish.

At the same time, Do-hyeon discreetly gripped the Thousand Transformations.

Over a hundred pairs of eyes were on them, but it was eerily quiet.

In the oppressive tension, just as Jihad’s hand was about to rest on the detection orb, a sound rang out.

Ziiiiiing-.

Do-hyeon, who had been about to activate the Thousand Transformations, froze.

The orb had reacted.

‘…Hmm?’

It wasn’t the detection orb, but another orb.

The taut tension from the unexpected situation suddenly loosened into emptiness.

A dazed atmosphere lingered among the spectators.

Gildetti, who had been watching the communication orb on the central table, spoke up.

“…I apologize. Please wait just a moment.”

He then bowed his head in apology before carefully connecting the communication.

After listening silently for a while, his expression turned cold.

“Are you sure? …I understand. I’ll hang up now.”

A brief exchange.

When the communication was cut, Gildetti’s face was noticeably different. His previously calm demeanor was now replaced with a serious expression that seemed tinged with worry.

Unable to hold back, the elders asked.

“What happened, Gildetti, High Priest?”

“You look troubled.”

Gildetti, who couldn’t immediately respond, fidgeted with his lips before letting out a long sigh.

It was clear that something had happened.

The crowd’s attention shifted from Jihad to Gildetti, with Do-hyeon among them.

‘What’s going on?’

They had been on high alert in the crisis situation, but suddenly the atmosphere had changed.

It wasn’t over yet, to make matters worse.

While Do-hyeon was left bewildered in a situation he couldn’t understand, Gildetti waved his hand.

“It seems that further measurements are no longer meaningful.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…I find it hard to agree. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

This was a very favorable turn of events for Do-hyeon.

‘…An opportunity like this?’

He had prepared himself for an all-out war if it came to that, but for it to stop on its own like this was better than he could have hoped for.

Do-hyeon had no reason to refuse.

However, there was one question.

‘Why now, during Jihad’s turn?’

Should he call this a coincidence?

The timing seemed too perfect for that…

Ding-.

[The measurement has been completed successfully.]

[You have cleared the forced-linked quest ‘A Rat in the Trap’.]

At that moment, a message popped up, as if giving a final confirmation, and Do-hyeon nodded.

‘Ah, so that’s it.’

Now he understood.

This wasn’t a coincidence, but an event that was bound to happen.

The measurement quest was a hidden piece only the top graduate who met the hidden conditions could undertake.

It had been set up from the beginning so that only users progressing with high-ranking priests could perform the measurements.

Now that the measurement was complete, the event would occur as scheduled.

‘Yes, this is right.’

Naturally, this was to be expected, as the quest could not be performed by more than one person.

The event scene, originally added for the progression of the story, had become dynamic because of Jihad, who disguised himself as a human.

Originally, they wouldn’t have measured the Guardian either.

‘…No wonder it feels off.’

-‘Ugh… I think I’ve lost about 5kg, Master.’

-‘Liza Liza…’

Jihad, now relieved of his tension, slumped.

Eliza seemed quite nervous as well, sighing deeply. This time, Do-hyeon empathized with their feelings.

‘This was really dangerous.’

This was the greatest crisis since starting God of Savior.

So far, he had been lucky, and he always thought that a dangerous moment would come, but never expected it to feel like this.

But since they had luckily escaped the crisis, he just needed to step back and watch how it would unfold.

Of course, that didn’t mean he could relax.

He still didn’t know what was about to happen.

“So, what about the author? How can we measure in this situation?”

“It seems a more detailed explanation is needed, High Priest.”

It seemed that the Elders were on the same page.

Not everyone spoke, but their silent gazes clearly conveyed that they were thinking the same thing.

After being urged by the more than a hundred people, Gildetti finally spoke.

“Do you remember the traces the ones we saw earlier left behind?”

“Of course. How could I not recognize those horrific traces?”

“…Actually, just in case, I had them sent to the forensics team for a detailed analysis after gathering you all. I told them to let me know if they found anything else. No margin of error can be allowed.”

After a brief pause, he continued.

“And we just received a report.”

“…What did they say?”

Why did it feel so ominous?

The tense high priests swallowed nervously, waiting for the next response.

A few seconds passed before Gildetti’s answer came.

“Upon comparison, it was confirmed that the last trace we discovered earlier is an exact match.”

“Excuse me?”

“What do you mean…?”

Suddenly, what traces from before?

The moment they started questioning, the expressions of those who understood the meaning filled with horror.

Then, to seal it, Gildetti’s next words were like a nail in the coffin.

“In the past 30 years, there have been three appearances of someone who made a contract with the Abyss in Brion. Two of those times, the person was executed.”

Gildetti’s expression was solemn.

No, it wasn’t just solemn; it was something beyond that. It was better described as tension than solemnity.

And soon, the other faces reflected the same expression.

“…Do you mean?”

“Oh my god.”

“Could it be him…?”

From the high priests nervously muttering in disbelief, to the Elders with their mouths agape, and the High Priests leaping to their feet.

Though their actions were different, their expressions were all the same.

Zerdic and Taxinel were no different.

Their cold expressions clearly showed their anger.

‘…What’s going on here?’

Only Do-hyeon in this place couldn’t understand the situation.

-‘Liza?’

-‘What’s going on…?’

…To be precise, it was only Do-hyeon and his group who were confused.

Everyone else looked just as astonished, their heads filled with question marks.

Thankfully, they soon understood the situation.

“…Yes. What you all are thinking is correct.”

Gildetti’s voice, which had become split, revealed the true nature of what had been hidden.

“It seems the Destroyer Gamon has reappeared.”

[You have heard the name of the Abyss Contract breaker, ‘Destroyer Gamon’.]

[The forced-linked quest ‘……’ is now in progress.]

It was the culprit behind the warning message that appeared before Do-hyeon, the key figure who would mark the climax of this forced-linked quest.

It was the moment when the Destroyer Gamon appeared.