Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

Ku-gu-gung-

The Demon King’s castle shook, and an ominous aura spread around.

-Warning. A Demon King’s wrath has been activated.

‘Has that bastard really gone mad?!’

Kriksha couldn’t believe his eyes. This phenomenon only occurred when Demon Kings used their ultimate skills.

If this was real, Hermit must have unleashed his power with the resolve to kill the Demon God.

“I don’t care whether you’re the real Demon God or not. Isn’t it the law of nature that the strong take everything?”

Hermit snapped his fingers with a triumphant expression.

“If I defeat you, does that mean I’ll be called the Demon God from then on?”

[Look at how that fellow talks! Caught doing such a lowly act, yet he dares to look so arrogant! We must teach him a lesson right now!]

Ahezar, who had been quiet until now—Habin had asked him to stay silent to avoid revealing her identity—unleashed his energy in response. Hermit’s black aura faltered and dissipated.

“What is this…!”

Hermit’s eyebrows twitched at the unexpected level of power. Habin asked:

“But can you actually beat me?”

“Eeeek!”

Hermit’s veins bulged on his forehead, apparently furious. Habin grabbed Ipsine beside her and pushed her behind her back.

At this rate, not only Ipsine but all the surrounding demons murmuring would be swept up. She spoke without turning her head.

“Kriksha. Are you there?”

‘What does she want to order now!’

Kriksha, who had been snickering quietly, hoping to watch Hermit die, was startled when Habin suddenly called him.

But even in that moment, he didn’t forget to answer diligently out of reflex.

“Ah, yes! Did you call for me?”

“What? Kriksha?”

Seeing this, Hermit wore an exasperated expression.

To think Kriksha, a fellow Demon King, would answer so respectfully.

“What’s this? Kriksha, are you on their side too? What do you gain by trailing after the Demon God’s behind!”

He pointed his finger accusingly at Habin.

“Besides, this bastard might not even be the Demon God! Their aura is subtly different! My instincts are surely…”

“How dare you! Blasphemous fool! How dare you speak to our great Demon God like that!”

Kriksha scolded Hermit harshly, his neck veins bulging, as Hermit voiced his suspicions.

Then he scurried to Habin’s side. With an extremely sly expression, he whispered to Habin as if tattling:

“You heard that, right, Demon God? You must eliminate that blasphemous fool!”

“For now, take care of Ipsine and step back. Make sure no one gets hurt.”

“How could I refuse! Trust in me, Kriksha! Miss, this way please…”

Kriksha nodded again with a sinister expression and retreated, taking Ipsine with him.

He had worried about being told to fight alongside her or getting caught in the crossfire, but now he could still watch Hermit get beaten up.

‘I’ll get what I want without lifting a finger!’

Crunch, crunch.

Kriksha munched on snacks handed to him by a nearby demon, wearing an excited expression.

“Demon God…”

On the other hand, Ipsine wore a troubled expression. She hadn’t wanted to burden her like this.

Wasn’t the current situation like an internal conflict within the Demon King’s castle? And because of her, no less. Ipsine clenched her fist in frustration. Habin continued speaking, looking at Hermit:

“Honestly, I don’t care how hopeless you are. I’m so annoyed, do I really need to care about your hopeless personality too?”

Habin gripped Ahezar with one hand.

“But. You shouldn’t have bothered Ipsine when she was minding her own business. Especially after I publicly declared that I cherished her.”

Ipsine had been consistently kind to Habin since they arrived in the Demon Realm. Ipsine, who provided a 7-star luxury vacation instead of a treacherous Demon Realm exploration!

‘You dare try to drag away such a precious and kind Ipsine?’

Habin frowned. Hermit opened his mouth:

“Looks like you have time to worry about others?”

There’s a limit to being dismissive. He was thoroughly angered now.

“That leisurely attitude of yours ends now!”

Hermit stretched out his hand and used a skill.

Whoosh-

-The third Demon King ‘Hermit’s’ unique skill ‘Twisted Authority’ is activated.

-From now on, fatal restrictions will be placed on your actions.

*The level of restriction varies depending on the charm and mental power stats of the caster and the target.

A rainbow-colored footnote flickered at the end of the notification window. Information provided like a hint.

‘So the degree depends on each other’s charm stats?’

Habin recalled what Jiseok had said before. He had read the Demon Realm guidebook to her while she was watching a movie at Ipsine’s house.

‘Hyun Habin, don’t just watch the movie, listen to this. Aren’t you scared about going to the Demon King’s castle tomorrow? You should know the Demon Kings’ characteristics!’

Chae Jiseok, who had reorganized the already summarized information to make it easier to understand and only told her the essentials.

‘He was like a cram school tutor.’

If he had been an instructor in Daechi-dong, he might have become a popular top-tier lecturer?

His ability to pinpoint the core concepts and explain them easily must have been the driving force that made him a good vice guild master, leading his team members well.

‘Now, listen. The Demon King in charge of Lust. This guy’s characteristic is-‘

Even while watching the movie, Habin had listened to Chae Jiseok’s explanation.

‘This guy’s characteristic is mind control.’

‘Mind control?’

‘He should specialize in mental skills, and usually mental skills are heavily influenced by stats. Based on the information in the guidebook, I suspect it’s proportional to this guy’s charm stat.’

Habin tilted her head.

‘Chae-ssi’s guess was right on the mark.’

It seems Hermit’s skill is influenced by his charm stat.

Because it’s a mind control type skill, the warning message about “fatal restrictions on actions” appeared.

But.

-You have successfully resisted the opponent’s skill due to your high mental power!

-The skill is not applied!

All stats at 2.14 billion each. Even in an inactive state, Habin’s stats were off the charts. The effect was minimal on her from the start.

“Hey.”

“…?”

“Are you done?”

“What…?”

As Habin didn’t budge an inch despite his skill, confusion gradually spread across Hermit’s face. Habin shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, did you do something? How long do I have to wait?”

“Eep!”

“What’s with the ‘eep’? Did you do something great?”

“This can’t be!”

Hermit was confident. After all, he had risen to the position of Demon King by defeating the previous Demon King with this technique.

He was overflowing with confidence that he could win even against other Demon Kings. Moreover, no matter how strong the opponent, it was unbelievable that the skill wouldn’t work at all. Normally, there should be at least a minimal effect.

Yet the opponent looked far too unaffected.

Hermit hurriedly used his skill again.

-‘Twisted Authority’ is activated!

-Resisted due to high mental power!

-‘Twisted Authority’ is activa…

-Resisted!

-Activa…

-Resisted!

Ding ding ding.

As the notification sounds kept ringing, Habin yawned with a bored expression.

“Yawn.”

“This! Let’s see how far you can go!”

Ahezar advised:

[You can’t leave it like this! We can’t be sure how long the resistance will last!]

Mental skills had a dual nature. While they were easy to block for someone with overwhelming stats like Habin, they were also the most dangerous skills once you fell victim to them.

[Even my old comrades were caught off guard by mental magic before. Don’t let your guard down.]

‘Then this should do the trick.’

Habin used a skill.

‘Void Contagion. Designate the opponent’s charm stat.’

-From now on, all of the opponent’s charm stats will be ignored!

After that, the notification window changed:

-Due to ignoring the charm stat, ‘Hermit’s’ mental skill ‘Twisted Authority’ is permanently nullified from now on.

Hermit’s mental skill, whose effect was proportional to the charm stat. But what if the charm stat is treated as 0?

Anything multiplied by 0 is 0. This means nothing he uses will work.

“W-Why is this…!”

Hermit, growing desperate, used another mental skill. But-

-Due to ignoring the charm stat, ‘Hermit’s’ mental skill ‘Enchantment’ is permanently nullified from now on!

-Due to ignoring the charm stat, ‘Hermit’s’ mental skill ‘Cruel Illusion’ is permanently nullified from now on!

All skills were nullified.

“I think I’ve waited long enough by now.”

Habin tapped Ahezar’s blade with her palm.

“Are you done preparing to get hit?”

“Wh-What!”

“Do you have anything else left to use?”

‘That’s it, that’s the way!’

Kriksha, watching, clenched his fist excitedly.

‘Haha. I got beaten up like that too! Now it’s your turn to taste it!’

Habin asked:

“Do you know why I waited?”

“I don’t need to know! I won’t listen to anything you say!”

“…It would be a waste to end it in one go. There’d be no pain.”

Ipsine had trembled in fear so much, but if this guy just gets cleanly knocked out and faints in one hit?

Then he wouldn’t even remember it.

However, Hermit wasn’t listening to those words.

Kriksha, the Demon King of Pride, was the type to calmly shift gears the more surprised and flustered he became, but Hermit was different.

The more flustered he became, the more he denied reality, and the more enraged he became, blurring his vision. With bloodshot eyes, Hermit shouted in his final fit of anger:

“If you’re so great, try blocking this!”

Whoosh!

Hermit leaped quickly into hand-to-hand combat without using skills. However, his target wasn’t Habin’s direction.

In a split second, he changed direction and launched an attack rushing towards Ipsine.

“…!”

Though startled by the sudden attack, Ipsine didn’t back down. She couldn’t run away and be a hindrance until this moment.

Though she might be weak compared to the Demon God or other Demon Kings, she was still a noble. She had her own strength that she had honed to maintain that position.

Even if it wasn’t enough, she would do her best.

Just as Ipsine prepared to face the attack with a resolute expression.

“Using tricks?”

Thwack-.

“Gaaah!”

Habin’s leisurely sword swing, without even moving from her spot.

Hermit was struck by the sword energy before he could reach Ipsine and was thrown far away.

-Thud!

“Ugh… Grrk.”

Hermit thrashed about, foaming at the mouth.

Seeing this, Habin wore a somewhat puzzled expression.

‘I held back, though?’

She had controlled her strength, thinking of ant’s tears, to avoid knocking him out in one hit. That guy needed to get hit multiple times.

But he took this much damage from one hit?

She saw her notification window pop up. Habin belatedly checked the notification.

-Critical hit!

-The attack strikes a vital point!

‘Huh? Vital point?’

“You…! Cow… urk… ard…!”

Hermit trembled, unable to string his words together properly.

[Hyun Habin…]

At that moment, Ahezar quietly called out to Habin. He added in a sympathetic voice:

[That fellow, he was hit in a very unfortunate place!]

“……”

[……]

As if others had noticed this too, a chilly silence briefly fell over the surroundings.

“……”

Murmur, murmur.

“Oh my!”

“Goodness!”

“You said you wanted to give pain, but in the end, you gave tremendous pain!”

“The Demon King of Lust is now finished(?)!”

“Are you trying to subdue the Demon Realm from the start!”

“Oh, Demon God, as expected, you are warm yet cruel!”

“……”

‘I-I didn’t intend to go that far.’

Habin stepped back hesitantly at the fervent reactions. Hermit was still struggling on the brink of death.

“Gaaaargh…”

‘Ah… Who told you to move?!’

This is why you shouldn’t move, whether you’re getting an injection or getting hit!

Habin rolled her eyes, avoiding Hermit’s miserable state, as if making excuses.