The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times

Chapter 7

Do-hyeon closed his eyes for a moment.

As he took a slow, deep breath and focused, the moment he opened his eyes, the world looked different from just a moment ago.

His vision cleared, the background noise faded, and the monster became more distinct.

He could clearly see the darkness rippling over the scales that covered its body like fur, and even the slight twitching of its fingers.

“…….”

It was as if even his breathing had stopped, leaving an eerie silence.

This was a phenomenon that occurred whenever Do-hyeon concentrated to the extreme.

With a cool head, he began to assess his physical condition objectively.

‘I’m in good shape.’

Perhaps it was because it had been a while since he last played a game?

He didn’t think he had ever been this clear-headed before, but today, his focus felt sharper than usual.

Kraaaaaah!!

Perhaps the monster had sensed something unusual from Do-hyeon.

It began to roar even more violently.

For a named boss, it seemed to have lost all reason, reacting purely on instinct.

Hup!

Do-hyeon moved first.

There was no time for any testing moves; he dashed forward, and the monster immediately reacted.

Of course, its response was quick, but its speed was slow.

However…

Boom!

Due to its enormous size, its arms covered an absurdly wide area.

It was a simple movement, just extending its arm, but that alone was enough to make Do-hyeon throw himself with all his strength to avoid it.

[Basic skill ‘Strike’ activated.]

Tick!

As he rolled and slashed at the arm, it made a sound like metal being struck.

The entire sequence flowed seamlessly, as if it were a single, fluid motion.

Kraaaah!

The monster roared, swinging its massive arms alternately.

Do-hyeon rolled in the opposite direction, dodging with all his might, then swung his sword again.

The impact felt like hitting metal with a plastic sword. After retreating out of its range, Do-hyeon checked the monster’s reduced health.

-HP: [999,880 / ???]

‘…120.’

That was the total HP decrease after two attacks.

And one of those had been with the Strike skill.

‘Using Strike reduces HP by 80, while a normal attack reduces it by 40.’

Considering the cooldown of Strike was 12 seconds, it would take around 20,000 slashes to defeat the monster.

Even if he tried to hit it repeatedly, his speed was reduced by the debuff, so at most, he could only strike twice.

Meanwhile, if Do-hyeon took a single hit, he would die.

He hadn’t been hit yet, but he was certain of this.

-HP: [200 / 200]

There was no way a weak level 1 character like him could survive such an overwhelming attack.

He had to dodge at least 10,000 attacks and land 20,000 of his own.

And all this while slowed by the debuff.

To survive, he would need to evade every attack with full concentration.

At the same time, he would need to force in attacks, and the moment he lost focus and failed to roll out of the way in time, it would all be over.

‘…This is an insanely difficult challenge.’

Was this really intended to be cleared as a hidden piece?

They said God of Savior was managed by an AI rather than humans, but this was so difficult that it made him wonder if the AI couldn’t understand human standards.

But in the face of such a seemingly impossible challenge, Do-hyeon laughed.

‘This is fun.’

The reason Do-hyeon had continued playing DemRock, despite all the frustrations of the luck-based game, was simple.

The incredibly high level of difficulty.

And the sense of achievement that came from overcoming that difficulty.

It was just too much fun.

What kind of reward would he get for killing this thing?

It wouldn’t just be some brick-like reward, like in DemRock.

Even in DemRock, when he cleared hidden pieces, there was always some sort of reward.

Kraaaaaah!

Glancing ahead, Do-hyeon saw the monster still thrashing its arms around, roaring into the air.

It was filled with killing intent, as if it wanted to tear him apart at any moment.

It almost looked like a child throwing a tantrum, but with a creature of this size, even such random flailing was the ultimate offense and defense.

Each of those seemingly aimless strikes was a death sentence, grazing one would mean instant death.

“Evade 10,000 attacks and strike 20,000 times… Let’s do this.”

With renewed determination, Do-hyeon charged at the monster again.

* * *

The official website of God of Savior was constantly flooded with posts.

From various tips and events to updates on the top 10 guilds and seasoned players, and even casual chats—there was a little bit of everything.

Like most game communities, the God of Savior website wasn’t much different from others.

The only notable difference was its massive scale and the fact that even after a year and six months, there was still a steady influx of new players.

[Just started God of Savior today, and it’s seriously amazing. Is the tutorial for real? The production quality is insane!]

Because of this, posts about the tutorial were commonplace on the website.

Since the first thing new players encountered was the tutorial.

And those posts were always flooded with comments.

-Yeah, the game’s so fun. Now I get why people call it a masterpiece.

-That final moment when the goddess shows up just before you die and seals the monster again… Wow…

-It’s so immersive! I felt a bit uneasy killing monsters at first, but by the end, I was so invested that I got completely absorbed in it.

-Charlie is pretty cool, isn’t he? He’s grumpy and rude, but he takes care of you in his own way. Classic tsundere lol.

-He’s not “taking care of” anything! He clicks his tongue and makes me want to punch him every time I mess up.

-That’s because you’re bad at the game. He’s all about performance. If you fight well, at least he won’t click his tongue at you.

-Anyway, he’s going to die in the end, so just be nice to him, guys.

-It’s heartwarming watching these new players… Soon they’ll all be cursing this game for being RNG hell…

For new players, it was relatable.

For veteran players, the excitement of new players discovering the game was adorable.

The tutorial always sparked interest for various reasons.

[Has anyone maxed out Charlie’s affinity?]

[Wait, he has affinity points?]

[I heard there’s a reward for maxing his affinity.]

[Is it even possible to max it out?]

One of the hot topics was the knight commander, Charlie.

Unlike other games where NPCs followed scripted actions, God of Savior’s AI was almost indistinguishable from real people.

Because of that, Charlie’s behavior toward players changed based on their affinity with him, and this sparked interest in the concept of building affinity.

At first, it was just curiosity, but soon, it became something more.

[This is Redfingers Guild. Anyone who raised Charlie’s affinity twice or more during the tutorial, please contact us. We’ll offer you a good deal.]

[Looking for players who raised Charlie’s affinity three times or more. We’ll provide the best terms.]

[We’ll reference your gameplay and tutorial videos for a simple test.]

How much Charlie praised you during the tutorial, and how much you managed to raise that notoriously difficult man’s affinity, became a measure of skill.

And many mid- and large-sized guilds, eager to recruit skilled players, used that as a reference.

It became a kind of résumé.

As a result, even among casual players, raising Charlie’s affinity became a point of pride.

It was something worth boasting about to friends, drawing the attention of both new and veteran players to the tutorial.

-Who’s managed to max out Charlie’s affinity so far?

-No idea? Probably all the masters of the top 10 guilds have done it by now?

-I bet the Armory Owner didn’t manage to do it.

-He’s suspicious. He’s the kind of guy who just brute forces everything with money.

-Nowadays, no one has maxed it out.

-All the top players started ages ago, so it makes sense.

Compared to the early days, when many skilled players emerged, now, 18 months after release, there hadn’t been anyone who managed to max out Charlie’s affinity recently.

Of course, that was understandable.

The best players had already started playing God of Savior long ago, and even among them, only a handful had maxed out Charlie’s affinity.

Out of the game’s 1 billion players, only around 10,000 had accomplished it.

Those who had claimed such a prestigious spot had one thing in common.

“Can you kill the tutorial boss? Are you crazy?”

“There’s no way. That thing isn’t meant to be killed.”

“Don’t even mention Ironblood Dragon or whatever it’s called. Just thinking about it gives me chills.”

For some reason, they hated the tutorial boss more than even the regular players.

Even when asked about the reason for their disdain, they wouldn’t answer directly, leaving other players to guess that it was somehow related to maxing out Charlie’s affinity.

“…Ironblood Dragon, was it? It doesn’t bring back pleasant memories.”

Even Myeolsal, one of the most famous players, was among them.

Though his answer was vague, seeing someone usually so confident hesitate left a huge impression, and players ultimately accepted the idea.

***

[The tutorial boss isn’t designed to be defeated.]

[It’s just an event to show players that such a monster exists.]

The tutorial boss, the Ironblood Dragon.

It was never meant to be killed.

[Isn’t it possible to kill the tutorial boss? I mean, I did manage to deal damage.]

-Yeah, no. Even Myeolsal couldn’t kill it.

-They probably just made it so you can damage it for the sake of realism.

-Wow, you actually thought to hit it. I just stood there and let it kill me.

Sometimes, new players who didn’t know better would ask whether it was possible to kill the boss, noticing that they could deal damage to it. And every time, the veteran players would give the same answer: ‘impossible.’

[Wait? What? Its name changed?]

-??

-What are you talking about?

-No, it was supposed to be Ironblood Dragon, but now it says Slothful Dragon instead.

-?? Whoa? What? For real?

-Can its name change?

However, today, for the first time since the game’s release, this established belief cracked.

-Why did its name change on its own?

-Is it a bug?

-How could it be a bug? God of Savior’s AI is leagues ahead of anything like Algogo.

-Then what is it? Did someone kill it?

-No way… seriously?

After all, the tutorial boss, which had remained unchanged since launch, had shown its first sign of transformation.

Some speculated that this meant the boss had finally been defeated after 18 months.

But that theory was quickly dismissed.

-No way… There’s no way.

-How would a level 1 even manage that?

-Myeolsal couldn’t kill it, and now, someone has? Who?

-If someone had killed it, there would’ve been a video by now.

-There’s no proof it’s been defeated. And even if it’s a named boss, aside from the name change, everything else looks the same, right?

It was simply too unbelievable.

Even if someone showed actual evidence, it would be dismissed as a hoax.

In a situation with no proof at all, the theory had no credibility.

“The tutorial boss’s name changed?”

“…It’s an error.”

“They do update the game regularly… There was an update today, so maybe that’s the cause.”

“They killed it? That’s impossible. Well, maybe if Kaiser brought his old party back.”

“What about Kaiser? Didn’t you hear me? He’d need his entire party to do it. Kaiser or not, ‘that thing’ can’t be killed solo.”

Even high-rankers who had maxed out Charlie’s affinity dismissed the idea, leaving no room for rebuttal.

Myeolsal remained silent on the matter, but since he didn’t deny it, and so many top players felt the same way, ordinary users had no choice but to accept it as fact.

Still, there was some lingering curiosity.

-But if you did manage to kill it, what kind of reward would you get?

-This game has some insane difficulty spikes, but… every time, the rewards are always worth it, aren’t they?

-True, whenever I think God of Savior is just pure RNG hell, they give out amazing rewards, and I end up calling it a masterpiece again.

If someone did somehow manage to defeat that ridiculous boss… what would they get in return?

-Who knows. But whatever it is, it would probably be the greatest reward in the history of God of Savior.

Of course, it was all just speculation, and the players soon dismissed it as a joke.

Which is why none of them could have imagined.

That what they thought was an outlandish fantasy… was actually happening.