Former Ranker's Newbie Life

Chapter 122

The place Do-Jin picked for the finale was the big lake where the Steelpeak Dwarves drew their drinking water, the spot where all the hot-spring runoff pooled.

Rockel hated having his shit taken away, Do-Jin recalled.

He couldn’t stand losing anything, whether it was men, territory, or treasure. His possessiveness and need to dominate were ugly, plain and simple. And for a man who treated the dwarven underground as his personal kingdom, the idea of intruders slipping around in the shadows was intolerable.

If some assholes are spreading poison in the kingdom’s well, he’s not going to just sit on his hands.

Rockel would move to stop it before the problem spiraled out of control. The man was not the kind to give up territory without a fight.

This place is top priority. He’s coming for it first, no doubt.

Not long after Do-Jin convinced himself of that, Rockel and his crew showed up.

I guess it was urgent, huh? He came himself.

There were thirteen of them. That number meant Rockel had scraped together every available man after leaving the bare minimum to watch the village.

So the mine’s probably been written off, then. I wanted them split up, but this will do.

Do-Jin would have liked the enemy force spread thinner, but this was still solid. If he cleaned Rockel and his lot out here, only a handful of small fry would remain. He kept his breath steady and his shape small on the high ground. Rockel and his men approached the lake with tight perimeter checks, eyes scanning like predators on the hunt.

“Word is there’s a mage among the enemy, so don’t let your guard down. Keep your damn eyes wide open and stay alert. You never know where a spell might come flying from!” Rockel barked, his gaze fierce and twitchy as he ordered them to sweep the area.

Do-Jin thought to himself, They set up a decent formation, so one-hit mass casualties will be hard. And they’re not dumb. At least they know the basics for dealing with mages.

Still, the advantage of a first strike was priceless. If I wound Rockel and manage to snag one or two of his men in the blast, that’s perfect for me.

Do-Jin’s options came down to one area attack that packed a real punch, Flame Shell. He counted down from three, waiting for the exact moment the enemies reached the sweet spot before striking. The attack that rained down from above couldn’t have been any cleaner.

“Enemy spotted!” Rockel shouted.

Rockel reacted faster than Do-Jin expected. The moment Do-Jin moved from behind the rocks, Rockel spotted him. Just as the Flame Shell left his hand, Rockel snapped a dagger through the air like lightning. The blade struck the spell midflight, detonating it in a thunderous bang.

Holy shit, this guy’s insane! Do-Jin couldn’t help but admire the skill.

For a quest mob whose level was in the low hundreds, pulling off that kind of defense was absurd.

Whether he’s screwed up upstairs or not, he’s still one of the real threats.

“What the hell are you waiting for! Kill that bastard!” Rockel roared at his men, forcing them out of their stupor.

An arrow sliced past and chipped the edge of the rock where Do-Jin was crouched. If he’d been a split second slower ducking down, it would’ve gone straight through him.

“Keep him pinned down with rapid fire! The rest of you, follow me!” Rockel charged uphill like a man possessed, his men pulling out their weapons and storming after him.

Arrows, bolts, and throwing knives hammered into the stone around Do-Jin, each hit echoing with a deadly twang. He couldn’t even counter with short-range spells as the barrage kept him locked in place.

Tch. There’s nothing I can do about it. I didn’t even manage to thin their numbers, but I’ll make up for it in the next phase. Do-Jin turned and sprinted downhill without a glance back.

Behind him, Rockel’s roar split the air. “That bastard’s running away! Go after him!” The mad dwarf’s boots thundered against the dirt.

Short legs, my ass. The fucker’s fast! Do-Jin spun around and fired off a volley of Tier-1 spells to try and stall him, but the distance between them was shrinking fast.

“Think that weak crap’ll work on me?!” Rockel batted away Gale Arrow and Frozen Arrow with his axe and bare fists like it was nothing. However, his men weren’t so lucky. One of them took an ice shard straight through the knee and went down screaming.

“I guess it just doesn’t work on your dumb ass!” Do-Jin shouted back.

Rockel’s face flushed bright red. He somehow kicked into an even faster sprint. Just then, an axe flew through the air and buried itself in Do-Jin’s side, causing his health to take a hard dive.

“Shit!” If it had been a clean hit, Do-Jin doubted he would have survived it. “Anemone!”

Realizing he couldn’t keep drawing their attention on his own any longer, he leaped onto her back and shouted, “Run!”

No matter how fast Rockel was, he was still a dwarf who paled in comparison to a spirit wolf.

“Chase after him! If he gets away, we’re screwed! Kill the mage while you can!”

Rockel’s roar shook the hillside as he pushed his body to the limit. The power of a warrior over level one hundred burst through his muscles, propelling him forward. Even so, the gap wasn’t closing; it was widening. Then, Do-Jin’s body jerked awkwardly, wobbling on Anemone’s back, and her pace suddenly faltered before the wolf vanished entirely. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Rockel’s eyes lit up. He’s hurt so bad he can’t keep his summon active!

He sprinted harder until his lungs started burning. The cocky mage was staggering now, clutching his wound and running like a cornered rat. At this distance, Rockel could already taste victory.

However, that very thought was his mistake. A low, thunderous noise rolled over the ground. Rockel’s eyes flicked upward just in time to see shapes moving high above.

What the hell is that sound...?

Then his head tilted back so fast it almost snapped. Up on the ridge, dozens of dwarves were waiting. An avalanche of boulders, each the size of a man’s head, came crashing down, the air shaking with explosions as charges went off among them.

“Take cover!” Rockel screamed.

His men were already panicking, scattering in every direction, but Do-Jin wasn’t done just yet. The fleeing mage had turned back with his hand raised.

“Ignite.”

The moment the word left his lips, the oil he’d spread earlier went up in a roar of flame. The entire slope where Rockel and his men stood became a blazing inferno.

“F-fire! It’s fire!”

“Arghhh!”

“This won’t kill us! Push forward or fall back, just move, damn it!”

The chaos only got worse. The boulders, still rolling, crushed anyone who stumbled or tripped. The sickening sound of stone meeting flesh filled the air. A few of the hardier guys were still alive, but their numbers were dropping fast. Anyone who lost their balance was crushed under the avalanche.

“Fucking hell!” Rockel cursed, smashing through falling debris with his axe, clawing a path forward through the inferno.

“Flash Lance.” Do-Jin’s voice cut through the firelight.

A high-pitched piiiing tore the air, and a point of light burst against Rockel’s forehead. The blast made his vision go white for a second. Ironically, what brought him back to his senses was the heavy rock that slammed into his face right after.

“Urgh!” Rockel staggered, blood gushing from his nose. He shook his head and hurled an axe back, all while shouting, “You son of a bitch!”

The weapon tore through the air like a cannonball, and Do-Jin had to twist his body at the last second to dodge.

He’s bleeding out and still throwing that kind of shit? Do-Jin was stunned by the sheer speed and precision, and the pain began to rip through his thigh. He thought he’d dodged it clean, but the axe suddenly curved midflight like a boomerang and grazed him.

“Fuck!” Rockel cursed, furious that his perfect strike hadn’t finished the job.

It doesn’t matter. That bastard’s done now!

He yanked out the last dagger strapped to his ankle. It was his final weapon. He knew better than anyone that there were no more chances after this. For that reason, he had to throw it right. The thought made him hesitate for a heartbeat. The flames swirling around them didn’t help; they were blinding, flickering across his sight.

“Goddamn it!” he roared, flinging the dagger with every ounce of strength left in him.

It was a guaranteed hit. No way in hell that mage could dodge now. But just as the dagger was about to land, Do-Jin activated Phantom Form, his body flickering and turning translucent as the blade passed through him harmlessly.

Rockel’s eyes went wide as Do-Jin solidified again right in front of him. “Fuck.”

Do-Jin’s hand crackled with blue lightning. Timing lost was timing gone forever. That was the law of the battlefield.

“Lightning Spear,” he said calmly, splitting the air with a thunder-charged spear of mana that dictated life and death.

***

Rockel dropped into a groggy heap from a single hit of Lightning Spear, and the fight ended almost insultingly fast. As for his men, shaken and half-panicked, they were nothing but overleveled thugs with no discipline. The moment Do-Jin recovered, he fired off spell after spell, downing one after the other.

Compared to the force that had left the village earlier, the few stragglers remaining behind were no better than scarecrows. They didn’t even manage to pull off a pathetic hostage attempt before they either got captured or turned into corpses.

[Quest Complete!]

[Level Up!]

[You have completely eradicated the Rotten Sprout.]

[You have defied your destined fate.]

[You have partially fulfilled the conditions for the great achievement “The One Who Twisted Fate.”]

[Partial achievement rewards and Fate Quest rewards will also be granted as part of the “Romantic Treasure Hunt” quest.]

The moment the village was liberated, the Fate Quest completion window popped up. As no material rewards came in, it meant the rewards had likely merged with his ongoing quest chain.

While Do-Jin was checking the messages, Maglo came sprinting up, face flushed with excitement. “It’s over, it’s truly over! The guys Rockel brought, there aren’t any left!”

Before Do-Jin could say more, an older dwarven woman pushed through the crowd and muttered, “Maglo?”

The moment Maglo saw her, he froze like he’d been turned to stone. Do-Jin, sharp as ever, immediately took a step back, and the other dwarves followed suit.

“M-Mom...”

Of course. That was exactly the word Do-Jin had been expecting. So this is the tearful reunion part you’d see in movies, huh?

Then, a heavy fist smashed right into the middle of Maglo’s face, causing him to let out a strange grunt. That impact sounded meaty enough to make even Do-Jin wince.

“Guhh!”

“Where the hell have you been, you little shit?! You disappear for gods know how long, and this is how you come crawling back?!”

The beating began in earnest, her fists flying as she shouted. The long-awaited mother-son reunion had devolved into a full-on ass-whooping.