Chapter 261: Strong Enemy 2
Junhyuk turned around and looked at the amount of gold he had: 222,760G. It was a lot, so he smiled at the sight. When he started hearing the soft voice announcing where he was, he cut it short.
“Stop. I’ve been here already, so there’s no need to explain anything. If anything changes, let me know.”
[From now on, I will inform you if there are any changes to the Valley of Death.]
“Thanks.”
After replying, he summoned every item he had, walked toward the exit and stopped.
[Champion Junhyuk Lee deployed.]
He opened the door, walked out and saw a throng of minions. Pa.s.sing them by, he heard someone call him from behind.
“Big brother!”
Sarang was running toward him, and he smiled. Her helmet was covering her face, but when she got ot him, she hugged him tightly.
He tapped her helmet and said, “Get off me.”
“It’s been a while.”
Sarang’s voice transpired joy at seeing him. They were in a battlefield, so why were they so relaxed? They were still talking when the heroes arrived, all with serious looks on their faces.
The minions made way, and Artlan walked toward Junhyuk. Junhyuk bowed to Artlan, who said, “You did well at the Champions’ Battlefield.”
“There was a new champion, but it wasn’t too dangerous.”
Artlan turned to the other heroes and said, “We have to find out who we will face.”
They nodded, and Artlan continued, “You’ll all likely die on this battlefield.”
The heroes tared at Junhyuk and at Sarang, and Junhyuk said, “If Sarang dies, let her stay inside the castle.”
n.o.body said anything, but Vera stepped forward and patted her shoulder.
“Anybody against this suggestion come forward now.”
No one opposed her, and Artlan looked at Junhyuk.
“If you die four times, stay inside the castle.”
Junhyuk smiled and answered, “I will.”
Artlan looked around and said, “I will take him and Sarang through the bottom path.”
“Take me too.”
They did not know anything about their enemies, so they wanted to focus on synergy.
“I’ll go top.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Diane and Nudra agreed to move together, Halo said, “I’ll check out the enemies in the center path.”
Junhyuk walked over to Diane and asked, “Can I get more seeds?”
“Seeds?”
He nodded, and Diane raised her hand.
“You know the price, right?”
“Sure.”
“Then, I’ll get you more.”
Artlan selected fifty minions and looked at the group.
“This is a reconnaissance mission. We’ll find out more about the near-legends now.”
Artlan took lead, and Junhyuk followed him.
Vera was having a serious conversation with Sarang, and Junhyuk just walked after Artlan quietly. Outside castle, Junhyuk suddenly stopped. He felt an enormous amount of mana around him, and the living spirit started moving. Seeing that, Artlan picked him up.
“Focus on the living spirit.”
Junhyuk couldn’t utter one word. The living spirit was feeling all the mana around him and moving intensely. He thought his veins, arteries and pathways were strong, but they were being torn apart by the spirit moving so quickly. However, just as quickly as they tore, they were repaired by the spirit. The living spirit was entirely focused on repairing the pathways, and he had to pay attention to the spirit’s movements. That’s what Artlan wanted him to do even if he hadn’t said it out loud.
Junhyuk didn’t answer Artlan. Instead, he focused on the living spirit, and suddenly felt a warm energy on his back. After that, the living spirit went back to its normal place. In his gut, the living spirit was now twice its previous size. Once it stopped moving, Junhyuk opened his eyes wide.
“Get down.” He landed on the ground, and Artlan asked him, “How are you?”
“I can’t believe it.”
The pathways in his body had become even wider, and as he felt them, he stared at Artlan.
“Even though the living spirit is bigger now, it’s fine. Whenever you have time to pay attention to the living spirit, do so. I can carry you.”
Junhyuk bowed. His soul had to grow with the living spirit, and even if his soul couldn’t keep up, he wanted to let the living spirit grow.
Artlan was giving him the opportunity to do just that.
“I am not sure what management is thinking, but this place has a lot of mana. If a place has this much mana, it’ll produce many strong individuals.”
Junhyuk looked around. Because of the warm energy on his back, he felt a little drowsy, but if necessary, he would engorge on the mana like a dog on its bone.
To suppress the living spirit, his soul had to grow as well. Junhyuk nodded, looking around, and Artlan added suddenly, “Enemy spotted.”
Junhyuk looked at the enemies. There were two of them, but no experts or champions, and they gave off strong aura.
The minions couldn’t see them, however.
The blond man wearing goggles was really skinny. When the white-skinned man looked at the allies, they could see he had the face of a porcelain doll.
The other was a wide-shouldered man in armor. He had a horn on his forehead and held a gigantic sword. The man was three meters tall, and the sword was three meters long.
Minions could also make a difference on the battlefield. For instance, riflemen minions posed more danger than sword-and-s.h.i.+eld minions. When Junhyuk looked at the enemy minions, however, he frowned. They were in full armor, and sharp blades stuck out from their hands.
“Gillettes?”
They were all holding two blades, and Sarang asked him, “What is a gillette?”
“Our world has something like gillettes,” he said and looked at Artlan, who was smirking.
“We should check them out first.”
Artlan stepped forward, and the man with the giant sword did the same from the opposite side. The sword was wide enough to place beef on top of it and roast it to a steak. The size of it looked surreal, so the hero must have focused on attacking.
Junhyuk gripped his swords tightly, and Vera put a hand on his shoulder.
“We should find out their powers first. Save your own.”
He realized that the enemy had scared him and inhaled deeply. Artlan was his teacher, so Artlan would be fine in dealing with them.
Artlan stepped forward, and the single-horned hero pointed his sword on him.
“Let’s play.”
Artlan pulled out his sabers and ran. He wasn’t using his powers, so the single-horned hero smiled.
“Interesting fellow.”
The hero raised his sword high and swung it down hard, and Artlan used his sabers to parry.
Screeeeech!
The impact between the sabers and the sword created sparks, and the two came shoulder to shoulder. Artlan parried the giant sword to the side. Normally, the sword was so big that it forced its opponents to use their powers.
The two were measuring each other, trying to figure out who would use their powers first. Artlan closed in with the sabers, and the single-horned hero did the same and tried to elbow him.
Artlan tried to move his head quickly, but got hit, and his forehead started bleeding. The horned hero pa.s.sed by Artlan and turned around while swinging the sword, but Artlan dodged it and closed in again.
The horned hero was not only handling the large sword, but he knew exactly how to duel with it.
Artlan had a smile on his face, and the horned hero pulled the big sword toward him and slashed at Artlan, moving his sword like it was his own hand, masterfully.
Artlan’s back was facing the hero, and he turned around swinging his sabers.
Clink, clink!
Artlan closed in again, and the horned hero covered his eyes and, using his pauldron, pushed Artlan away. Seeing the impact, Artlan covered his chest with his sabers.
Boom!
There was some distance between the two now.
“My name is Artlan.”
The horned hero rested the sword on his shoulder.
“You are good enough to learn my name. I’m Keros.”
Artlen felt his saber’s blade with his fingers.
“We’ve checked each other out. Now, let’s really fight.”
“Good idea.”
Keros brandished his sword and positioned himself. He was staring at Artlan with cold eyes, and Artlan ran toward Keros, who swung at Artlan.
Artlan dodged it, and Keros tried to elbow him again, but Artlan used his seven-strike attack on Keros. They flash like lightning.
Keros stepped back and covered his body with his sword, but he couldn’t escape the power. Suddenly, a red light shone from Kero’s sword.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
The red light took all seven strikes, and Keros seemed OK. However, Artlan staggered backward. He was spitting blood.
Everyone was curious about what had happened, and Artlan wiped his mouth.
“Reflective damage?”
When Keros swung again, the red light had already disappeared.
“It decreases enemy-attack damage by 80 percent, so I only take in 20 percent, but it also returns 50 percent of the damage to the attacker.” Keros shrugged and added, “But I have to time it right. Otherwise, it’s useless.”
Artlan had used the seven-strike combo, but Keros had blocked it and reflected the damage. He smiled bitterly. Counterattacking was hard, but Kero’s had done it perfectly.
Keros was a legend candidate, so he was in complete control of his counters.
“That’s a nice power.”
But such a power had to have a long cooldown, and Artlan would exploit that weakness.
He ran toward Keros again.