Former Ranker's Newbie Life

Chapter 121

The moment Do-Jin cleanly took one head off with a perfect ambush, Anemone burst from the hiding place where she’d been waiting in silence. Her roar tore through the air as she sprang out from a completely different spot, loud enough to drag the two remaining enemies’ attention off him.

“That’s a w-wolf?”

“Can’t you tell? It’s a damn monster!”

They didn’t even have time to process their comrade’s sudden death before the next threat came barreling toward them.

“You filthy mutt! I’ll split you in half!” one of them barked, yanking out a throwing axe and rearing back to hurl it at her.

Do-Jin’s voice suddenly cut through. “Earth Shackles.”

Before the axe could leave his hand, the ground erupted beneath their feet, locking their lower bodies in place.

“Wh-what the—?”

The bind wouldn’t last long, but it only had to disrupt their timing. While the axe-thrower was still trying to process what had just happened, a barrage of Tier 1 attack spells smashed into him one after another, leaving him screaming and smoking. By the time his body hit the ground, the last guy standing was already losing his mind.

“Shit!”

Ignoring his bound companion, he lunged at the charging wolf with a wild scream and thrust his spear. Anemone let out a deep roar as she twisted her head just right, bit down on the spear’s shaft, and continued to sprint, shoving him back with all her weight.

“Guhk!” The man went flying like a ragdoll, hit the ground hard, and rolled across the dirt.

He tried to push himself up, gasping for air, but Anemone’s paw came crashing down before he could even stand.

“Urgh...!” Through his fading vision, a silhouette stepped closer, calm and deliberate.

“Your magic resistance is all shit, but I guess you can still take a beating,” Do-Jin muttered as he approached. “You guys are dumb as hell and tough as bricks. A great combo.”

The man’s voice shook. “Y-you... what the hell are y—”

Do-Jin’s hand slammed down over his face. “Hm... I’ll have to adjust my power. This should be enough.”

The man’s scream tore through the clearing as electricity crawled over his body. His limbs shot straight out, twitching and convulsing under the current, but he remained alive through all of it.

Do-Jin watched him calmly. “Your buddy’s already out cold. Stop fighting it and pass out already. I’m wasting mana on your sorry ass.”

The man’s body spasmed violently for a few more seconds before his eyes rolled back and he finally went limp.

***

“Huff!”

Gordon’s eyes snapped open, and the first thing he did was scan his surroundings. There was nothing. Not a single soul remained. The two bastards who had been with him were gone. There were no corpses, no blood, nothing. The wolf and that sadistic bastard who had tortured him with electricity had vanished too.

Shit, I gotta run.

Panic clawed up his throat as he scrambled to his feet and bolted toward the mining site. His body moved on instinct. He’d woken up far from the village, so his legs had carried him to the closest place. It didn’t take long for the mine to come into view.

Gordon screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran, “T-there’s an enemy! An enemy! There’s also a wolf and some dark, creepy bastard!”

A few familiar faces popped out from the mine entrance and their expressions twisted into scowls.

“What the hell are you yelling about, you dumb fuck? And why are you alone? Where are the others? Don’t tell me they’re late because they’re busy shaking their dicks again. If that’s the kind of bullshit you’re about to spin, I’ll cut off that tiny thing of yours and shove it down your throat myself!”

“They’re dead, you idiots! I’m not making this up! Pakki’s dead, and I almost fucking died too! Look at me!”

As he got closer, the men guarding the mine finally saw him clearly, and their expressions shifted from annoyance to alarm. Gordon looked like an absolute mess, barely standing, his clothes torn to rags.

One of them stepped forward. “What do you mean he’s dead? There were only you and Pakki for your shift. Who else was there? What happened to the third guy?”

The flood of questions made Gordon’s head spin. The world tilted and swirled around him. “Goddammit... I think I’m gonna puke.”

“Talk, you asshole!”

“I told you already! Some bastard ambushed us! Pakki’s head got blown to pieces, and I—” He panted as he spoke, yanking at his torn shirt in frustration when, all of a sudden, something fell to the ground.

“What the hell?”

It was a finely cut mana stone, gleaming faintly in the dirt. Gordon stared at it with his confusion twisting his face.

What the hell is that doing—

Before the thought could finish, a sudden jolt of something sharp and heavy slammed into his back.

***

From a distance, Do-Jin clicked his tongue as he watched Gordon run.

It would’ve been nice to drag the whole damn mining crew into that blast.

Gordon was currently running with mana stone bombs strapped all over his back and chest. Do-Jin had planned to detonate them at a more dramatic moment, but the idiot had been discovered sooner than expected.

Oh well, guess I’ll take what I can get. At least the fool had sprinted all the way to the mine without realizing he was wearing a bomb vest.

The moment the mana stones came into view, Do-Jin used Psychokinesis to slam a shockwave into them. The bombs clattered to the ground, and Gordon turned back in a daze to look. A violent explosion rocked the air, followed by another detonation right after.

Do-Jin hated doing things halfway. If he was going to put in the effort, he might as well make it count in one shot. That was why he’d packed Gordon with more than enough explosives to put all three of them out of commission.

I didn’t expect them to survive that much of a blast, but if they’re half-dead anyway, that’s good enough.

With no reason left to hide, Do-Jin sprinted straight toward the mine.

“Urgh...”

“Gaaah! M-my arm... my arm!”

Gordon, who had been carrying the bombs, was already blown to smithereens. The other three were sprawled on the ground, clutching whatever limbs they still had left and wailing in agony.

Ignoring those on the floor, Do-Jin prayed, Please... come on out now.

As he ran toward the entrance of the mining site, he saw the bastards who had reacted to the explosion scrambling out in a panic.

“What the hell happened?!”

They froze at the sight of their friends writhing on the ground, arms and legs missing. Do-Jin raised his hand and cast Flash Spear, leaving a glowing mark on one man’s chest. The man glanced down with a strangled gasp just before a blinding light burst and hurled him backward.

“Guhhh!”

Do-Jin watched the man twitch on the ground, bleeding and smoking. Although it didn’t show on his face, he was thinking, You’re still alive after that?Tough bastard.

He then looked at the others who had drawn their weapons and said in a low voice, “If you wanna live, drop your weapons.”

Six glowing orbs floated up beside him as he spoke. This time, they were nothing more than harmless spheres of light with no offensive power. But the remaining enemies had just watched their comrades get torn apart by explosions and a single burst of blinding light. Now that the same man stood before them with six more orbs drifting calmly at his side, of course they would misunderstand.

What the hell is this dude?

That light just blew a guy apart, and now there are six of them?!

One of them swallowed hard, and the two at the front hesitated, their eyes darting between Do-Jin and the lights.

It looks like they’re buying it. While they stood frozen, Do-Jin silently began stacking mana into his Magic Circuits. The time he bought with the bluff was all he needed.

“Fireball,” he murmured.

Thanks. I still need a bit more time before I can use Tier 5 spells. As the glowing orb created by Light faded away, more than ten fist-sized fireballs appeared in its place.

The sight broke whatever courage the men had left.

“S-sorry! We’re sorry! We’ll drop our weapons! Please, don’t kill us!”

“I-I dropped mine! See? I dropped it! Please don’t—” One of them fell to his knees, shaking like a leaf. They thought Do-Jin was about to kill them because they’d hesitated to surrender.

Of course, Do-Jin didn’t care whether they surrendered or not. The fireballs roared forward all at once, engulfing them in a storm of overlapping explosions. They didn’t even manage a proper scream before they were gone.

“Spare m—”

Do-Jin finished off the ones who’d been caught in the mana stone blast, burning away what little life they had left in silence.

Good. The mine’s cleared.

He stepped cautiously inside. The dwarves inside were already looking toward the entrance, their faces tight with fear. They’d definitely heard the explosions.

Do-Jin gave a faint, crooked smile as he caught their wary gazes. I can’t really blame them. I’d be nervous too.

He walked over to one of the dwarves chained to the wall, holding a worn pickaxe. The sound of chains rattling filled the mine as the dwarves flinched and backed away from him.

Do-Jin stopped in front of an older-looking dwarf. “Do you know a dwarf named Maglo Lloyd?” he asked.

The dwarf’s expression, tense with fear just moments ago, shifted ever so slightly.

***

Maglo peered at the man with nervous eyes as if to check whether he was still alive. The one who had been heading for the mine had died first, one of the captured pair had been taken by Do-Jin, and this one had been brought back as Anemone’s share.

“When is he going to wake up?”

“His eyelids are twitching right now.”

“Perfect, then let’s get started.”

Maglo hurried and grabbed a bottle. The booze inside was already gone, so he filled the bottle with the hot-spring water and ran to the pool where the water had gathered. The man who had been knocked out blinked, realized where he was, and then immediately pretended to be unconscious again. Maglo watched that little performance and let a crooked grin spread across his face.

“Hahaha, we’ll poison every drop of water here and wipe them clean,” Maglo said in a stiff voice, acting like he was reading from a school textbook. Then he tipped the hot-spring water from the bottle back into the pool.

Anemone chimed in with innocent enthusiasm as if she were playing along. “Shouldn’t we make sure the poison has spread properly?”

“Don’t worry. That’s exactly why we brought this bastard back alive.”

“What? If you poison it, my snack gets contaminated.”

As the fake conversation went on, the man on the ground started trembling like a leaf. He was in no state to notice the awkward acting. Maglo, playing the part of the cruel ringleader, kept up the act.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll only feed him enough to not kill him, then the boss will use him for magic experiments—”

“Argh!” The man couldn’t take it anymore. He sprang up and bolted. He couldn’t launch a sneak attack without a weapon anyway, but the bindings had been sloppy enough for him to tear free.

Maglo and Anemone simply watched him go.

“Feels like we fooled him completely, doesn’t it?”

“Our acting was that good,” Anemone replied, sounding pleased.

They wore satisfied expressions. Now that man would report that some unknown force was going around poisoning the water supply, just as Do-Jin intended.

“Our job here is done. Let’s head back.”

“Okay.”

They moved toward Do-Jin to regroup. Halfway there they ran into him and the dwarves who had been working the mine. Do-Jin called Anemone over and turned to Maglo.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“Perfect. We think he’s completely fooled.”

“In that case, help these folks get ready for the next phase. Do it by the book.”

“Don’t worry.”

The final phase of the operation was closing in.