Chapter 286: Imperial Ranking War: Ren Goes For A Walk

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Shortly before Diana and her fifteen-person squad departed to eliminate the Deep Blue God Empire Team, Ren had made another decision.

He was going to deal with Burning Firmament himself.

Nobody knew about it. Not Diana, not Lily, not even the other members of Heavenly Bronze who remained inside The Rock. Ren had no intention of explaining himself because, frankly, there wasn’t much to explain.

He was bored.

For the past several days, he had spent most of his time inside the base, monitoring the remaining teams through his sensory network and directing his people from a comfortable distance. Everything had gone according to plan. Berserk Mountain God had been eliminated by Adrian’s squad, Free Heavenly Paradise had fallen to Diana and Lily, and the other two teams had spent the next day frightening themselves half to death.

It was all very efficient.

It was also getting rather dull.

Ren wasn’t the type to complain about having a comfortable place to live, enough food to eat, and no immediate threat to his life. He appreciated those things more than most people. However, he was still a martial artist, and martial arts required movement. Sitting around and giving orders was useful, but it wasn’t exactly satisfying.

He wanted to fight something.

And since the remaining opponents were conveniently located within the same secret realm, he saw no reason to waste the opportunity.

Shortly after Diana’s squad left, Ren departed through another exit. He didn’t announce his departure or leave instructions explaining where he was going. There was no need. His sensory network already covered the entire realm, and he knew exactly where Burning Firmament was stationed.

Besides, he wasn’t going on a long expedition.

He was going for a walk.

A rather fast walk, as it turned out.

Ren crossed the wilderness at a speed that would have left most martial artists struggling to follow his movements. His footsteps struck the ground with enough force to propel him forward, yet his control was precise enough to avoid wasting energy on unnecessary movements. Trees and rocks passed behind him, and the distance that would have taken an ordinary hunting party hours to cross disappeared beneath his feet.

He didn’t bother concealing his presence.

There was no reason to sneak around when he intended to fight fifty people alone.

By the time Burning Firmament’s scouts spotted him, Ren was already approaching their position.

The alarm spread through the camp almost immediately.

"Someone’s coming!"

The representatives stopped what they were doing and reached for their weapons. Their recent experiences had left them jumpy, so the sight of a lone figure approaching their position was enough to bring the entire team to attention. Several martial artists rushed toward the front while the others secured the camp and prepared to respond.

At first, they assumed the approaching man was a scout.

Then they noticed that he wasn’t slowing down.

He continued walking toward them with his hands empty, wearing ordinary clothes without armor or any visible weapon. There was no attempt to hide behind the terrain, no attempt to approach from an unexpected direction, and no sign that he was waiting for reinforcements.

He was coming straight toward them.

One of the representatives suddenly felt a chill crawl down his spine.

His instincts had always been unusually sharp. They had saved his life more than once during the six months they had spent in the secret realm, allowing him to recognize dangerous monsters before the rest of his team noticed anything wrong. He had learned to trust that feeling, even when he couldn’t explain it.

And right now, every instinct he possessed was screaming at him to run.

The man approaching their camp was dangerous.

No, that wasn’t enough to describe it.

He was more frightening than any monster the team had encountered so far. Those creatures had possessed overwhelming strength, but they still had recognizable limits. Their movements could be studied, their weaknesses exploited, and their attacks avoided.

This man gave him no such confidence.

The representative’s palms became damp with cold sweat. He watched Ren approach and felt as though something enormous was walking toward them, something that had no reason to fear the people standing in its way.

"Captain," he whispered, struggling to keep his voice steady. "Something’s wrong."

Their leader turned toward him. "What do you mean?"

"I don’t know. But that man—"

Before he could finish, Ren stopped in front of the assembled team.

The leader stepped forward, keeping his weapon ready.

"Who are you?"

Ren looked at him, then at the fifty or so representatives gathered behind him. Their equipment was worn from months of survival, their expressions were tense, and several looked as though they hadn’t slept properly in days.

He almost felt sorry for them.

Almost.

"Soren Marek Vire."

The name immediately caught their attention.

Soren Marek Vire.

The lead contributor of the Heavenly Bronze Empire Team, the man responsible for their absurd advantage in merit points.

The name that had appeared beside the highest ranking since the beginning of the Imperial Ranking War.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then the captain’s expression changed.

"You came here alone?"

"Yes."

"Where are the others?"

"Back at our base, probably eating or training. I didn’t really check before leaving."

Ren answered so casually that several people stared at him in disbelief.

He glanced around at their formation and smiled.

"Relax. I’m not here to negotiate, and you don’t need to worry about reinforcements. I’m by myself."

The captain tightened his grip on his weapon. "Then what do you want?"

"To end your participation in the war."

Ren paused, as if considering whether he should explain himself further.

"Look, you’ve all suffered enough. Six months in this place can’t have been easy. The calamities, the monsters, the terrible food, the contaminated water, the endless struggle to survive. It’s been rough."

His expression became almost sympathetic.

"So, out of the goodness and kindness of my own heart, I’ve decided to send you home. You’re welcome."

Silence followed.

Ren tilted his head.

"Well? No need to thank me."

The captain’s face turned red.

The rest of the team had similar reactions. After spending days fearing an attack from Heavenly Bronze, they had finally received their visitor, only to discover that he was their enemy’s lead contributor, standing alone in front of them and treating their elimination like a charitable service.

They couldn’t tell whether he was mocking them or genuinely believed they were beneath his concern.

It hardly mattered.

"Kill him!"

The captain’s shout broke the silence.

Fifty representatives surged forward.

The first attacks arrived from every direction.

Blades flashed, spears thrust, and techniques erupted as the Burning Firmament Team unleashed its strength on the lone intruder. Their martial arts carried the combined experience of six months of fighting for survival, and they had no intention of allowing a single man to walk away after insulting them in front of their entire team.

Ren didn’t draw a weapon.

He didn’t need one.

His right fist moved forward.

The punch looked almost ordinary. There was no elaborate stance, no complicated technique, and no dazzling display of energy. Yet when it struck the first incoming attack, the result was so violent that the surrounding ground trembled.

The technique shattered.

The man behind it was thrown backward, crashing into two of his companions. Before they could recover, Ren had already stepped into the next group.

His second punch struck the ground between them.

The earth erupted.

Soil, stones, and broken roots burst upward as the shockwave tore through the formation. Several representatives were thrown off their feet, while others struggled to maintain their balance. The ground beneath them cracked and buckled, turning their carefully arranged defensive line into a mess.

Ren walked through the chaos.

To the people facing him, his appearance seemed to grow larger with every movement. Their eyes could still see an ordinary man in ordinary clothes, but their instincts perceived something else entirely. It was as if a titan had risen before them, a colossal figure capable of holding heaven and earth apart through sheer physical might.

Their attacks suddenly felt meaningless.

Ren’s fist landed against a reinforced defense, and the technique collapsed beneath the impact. Another punch caught two attackers at once, sending both flying. When three more tried to surround him, he turned his body and swept his arm across their approach, striking them with such overwhelming force that they were thrown aside before they could complete their movements.

There was no wasted motion.

That was the most frightening part.

Ren wasn’t relying on elaborate techniques or desperate bursts of power. His movements were simple, direct, and frighteningly precise. Every punch landed where it would cause the greatest disruption, and every step placed him in a position where the next attack could reach multiple opponents.

He didn’t fight one person at a time.

He fought entire groups.

Sometimes two fell together. Sometimes three. When the enemy crowded around him, a single movement could send several representatives crashing into the ground.

Their numerical advantage became a liability.

They couldn’t approach without interfering with one another, and they couldn’t retreat without colliding with the people behind them. Their techniques were interrupted before they could take effect, while their strongest attacks failed to stop Ren’s advance.

The battle quickly turned into a slaughter.

The captain tried to reorganize the team, shouting orders while searching for an opening, but the formation he had built was already gone. His representatives were being scattered across the battlefield, and every attempt to concentrate their attacks only gave Ren more opportunities to strike multiple targets.

The sharp-instincted martial artist had long since abandoned any thought of victory. He tried to escape the chaos, only to witness Ren punch through a defensive technique that had once protected him from a monster several times his size.

The technique didn’t weaken.

It didn’t crack gradually.

It simply broke.

Ren’s fist continued through it, striking the man behind it and sending him flying.

That was when the representative finally understood the difference between fighting a powerful opponent and fighting someone whose raw strength could overwhelm the very techniques meant to defend against him.

They weren’t losing because they had made a mistake.

They were losing because the gap between them was too large.

Within minutes, the fifty-person team had been reduced to a handful of survivors. The battlefield was littered with broken weapons and motionless bodies, and the remaining representatives stared at Ren with expressions that had nothing to do with anger anymore.

They were terrified.

One man attempted to beg, but Ren was already standing before him. Another raised his weapon with trembling hands, only for Ren to knock it aside with a casual movement.

The final representative turned to flee.

He didn’t get far.

Ren caught him by the face and lifted him off the ground. The man grabbed Ren’s wrist, struggling desperately, but his efforts were useless. Ren’s fingers tightened slightly.

The man’s head burst beneath the pressure.

His body fell limp.

And just like that, the Burning Firmament Empire Team ceased to exist as a fighting force.

Ren released the corpse and looked around at the battlefield.

He had barely broken a sweat.

For a moment, he simply stood there, enjoying the quiet that followed the fight. The deep satisfaction settling in his chest had little to do with the deaths themselves. It was the satisfaction of finally moving his body after days of sitting around, of testing his strength against actual opponents instead of merely watching others fight through his sensory network.

That had been a decent exercise.

He stretched his shoulders, then heard the World System’s announcement.

[The Deep Blue God Empire Team has been completely eliminated.]

[All fifty participants have been removed from the Imperial Ranking War.]

[The Deep Blue God Empire’s participation in the Imperial Ranking War has ended.]

Ren glanced upward.

A moment later, the second announcement followed.

[The Burning Firmament Empire Team has been completely eliminated.]

[All fifty participants have been removed from the Imperial Ranking War.]

[The Burning Firmament Empire’s participation in the Imperial Ranking War has ended.]

Hearing the announcements one after another brought a deep, bone-deep satisfaction.

Four teams had entered the confrontation against Heavenly Bronze.

Now, all four were gone.

Ren looked toward the distant sky, wondering what the World System would do next. The forced confrontation had been designed to make the teams fight until the end of their stay, but there was now only one team left in the entire competition.

Would the system end the event early?

Would it introduce another condition?

Or would it force Heavenly Bronze to remain in the secret realm for the rest of the year despite having no opponents left?

Ren didn’t know.

But he was certainly interested in finding out.

With the fighting finished, he turned toward The Rock and began making his way back.

After all, he had left without telling anyone.

And if Diana discovered that he had gone out alone to punch fifty people to death simply because he was bored, he suspected she would have something to say about it.

Ren smiled at the thought.

Well, she could complain after he got back.

For now, the exercise had been worth it.