Chapter 279: New Enemy 3
After Nid grazed his ribs and pa.s.sed him by, Junhyuk scowled. He had no way to block the attack just now. It was almost like sword energy had left Nid’s body to attack him.
When Junhyuk checked himself, he realized that Nid had taken away 30 percent of his health. Nid had the translucent sword attack and this seemingly phasing sword strike. If he used both powers at the same time, he would be able to deal incredibly high damage.
Junhyuk wanted to know what Nid’s remaining power was, but as he looked around and saw arrows flying at him from the watchtower, he ran toward Nid, who saw him coming and smiled.
“Ha-ha-ha! Let’s bring an end to all of this.”
Nid ran toward him, but Junhyuk wasn’t worried. He stepped forward, swinging his sword, and Nid did the same with his saw-bladed sword.
Clang!
When both swords clashed, Nid smirked at him…
“This is your end!”
… and suddenly howled. Junhyuk’s body froze with Nid’s howl. With only half of his health left, becoming paralyzed was the worst thing that could have happened. The howl also took 5 percent of his health away.
Nid slashed at him.
Slash, slash, slash, slas.h.!.+
A single cut dealt 8 percent of damage to him, and he was attacked four times, taking 32 percent of his health. Junhyuk only had 13 percent left.
After being paralyzed for three seconds, he was able to move again, so he dodged Nid’s next attack. Ducking, he escaped and followed up with his own swing, which he learned from fighting the Elidras.
The sword travelled quickly through Nid’s ribs.
“Argh!”
Nid lost 7 percent of his health, but Junhyuk pa.s.sed nimbly through Nid’s side and followed it up with another swing of his sword. After the second strike, Nid’s eyes widened.
He had started the engagement with 35 percent of his health and, now, he only had 21 percent left. Meanwhile, Junhyuk had regained a little of his own health, 3 percent, which put his health at 16 percent. Parrying Nid’s attack, Junhyuk stepped back.
Nid ran toward him, swinging his saw-bladed sword, and Junhyuk instinctively raised his own sword to block. That’s when Nid’s sword became translucent.
“Hm!”
Junhyuk did not block the saw-bladed sword. Instead, he tried to retreat quickly. However, he was too late in doing so and got sliced through his chest in the process. His armor tore apart, and blood splattered through it, taking 10 percent of Junhyuk’s health with it.
Junhyuk had 6 percent of his health left now and grimaced. That’s when Nid’s translucent sword came at him again. However, this time, he knew there was no way for him to dodge it, so he clicked his tongue and teleported twenty-meters back. As a result, Nid turned around and aimed for Gongon.
Gongon saw Nid coming toward him, scoffed and jumped by kicking off Kraken’s head. However, Kraken grabbed Gongon’s legs and kept him off the ground. Meanwhile, Nid swung his sword at Gongon unceasingly.
Gongon couldn’t move, and Nid went at him like crazy. Because Gongon couldn’t block, he started getting hit by critical hits. One of the slashes against his chest took 15 percent of his health. However, once the translucent sword ended, Nid had to wait on the cooldown to use it again, and at that moment, Gongon transformed into the large dragon.
Gongon deflected Nid’s saw-bladed sword and back-kicked Kraken, pus.h.i.+ng the octopus back. At the same, Junhyuk was running back toward them. The Spatial Slash was off cooldown, and Junhyuk thought he could put an end to the situation with it.
Meanwhile, Gongon had to stand his ground. With 72 percent of his health left, Gongon allowed some of Nid’s slashes to go through, and Kraken dealt some damage to him. However, Gongon was still strong enough.
The hatchling’s defense was very high, and he wouldn’t die in a situation like that.
Gongon was still transformed and running toward Kraken, and the octopus opened its mouth wide toward him. It was the ink attack. Losing his vision wouldn’t be a problem, but if Junhyuk was. .h.i.t by it, there was a chance he could get killed, and he didn’t want to die.
So, Junhyuk kept an eye out for the attack’s timing. Kraken shot out the black in from its mouth, and Junhyuk jumped.
Because he had jumped vertically, he was able to dodge the ink. In response, both Kraken and Nid looked up at him. However, they quickly lost interest and went back to focusing on Gongon. The enemies were running toward the dragon, and Junhyuk smiled and used the Spatial Slash.
This time, he slashed one of Kraken’s eyes, and the blood red shockwave swept across Nid.
[You’ve killed Nid and earned 3,000G.]
He had killed the champion and he landed smiling. Nid had had surprising powers, and he was capable of killing Junhyuk by himself, so Junhyuk had to be careful of him. Nid’s howl would be particularly dangerous during a team battle.
Junhyuk checked his health, which went from 6 percent to 18 percent.
Gongon was blind, and Kraken headb.u.t.ted him and grabbed the dragon’s legs, throwing him toward the watchtower. While under attack from the watchtower, Junhyuk ran toward Kraken, but the octopus simply ignored him and ran toward Gongon.
Kraken had 55 percent of its health left, and Gongon had 64 percent. Under attack from the tower’s archers, the hatchling had not recovered his sight yet. Junhyuk ran quickly toward Kraken. Although his regular movement speed had not increased, Junhyuk felt that his attack speed had increased a bit.
Kraken swung its tentacles at him without paying too much attention, and Junhyuk smiled. Before, he wouldn’t have been able to dodge the tentacles. But now, he had fought twenty-five Elidras and he was able to find the openings in Kraken’s attacks.
Kraken wasn’t focused at all, and Junhyuk threw himself at the openings between the tentacles.
Meanwhile, Gongon had recovered his sight and started running toward Kraken, grabbing the octopus’ attention. Junhyuk smiled.
Junhyuk dodged all of Kraken’s attacks, closing in and stabbing it with the Frozen Rune Sword. The sword sunk deep into Kraken, and Kraken’s eyes widened. It swung all of its tentacles at Junhyuk, who blocked them with the Blood Rune Sword and twisted the Frozen Rune Sword deeper into the octopus.
“Ugh!” Kraken groaned and writhed in pain. It lost 15 percent of its health, leaving it with 40 percent. Junhyuk knew he couldn’t let up, so he pulled out the Frozen Rune Sword, slashed one of the tentacles and retreated.
Kraken’s attack speed was debuffed, and Junhyuk was able to dodge everything. At that point, Gongon joined in and switched with Junhyuk.
“You did well!” Gongon said calmly, kicking Kraken.
“Should I help you some more?”
“There is no need!”
Gongon dodged the tentacles, closed in and kicked Kraken again.
Boom!
Then, he breathed fire, which was a critical hit, and Kraken disappeared.
[Gongon killed Kraken.]
Junhyuk sighed, relieved, but that’s when he heard another soft announcement.
[Kilraden killed Aktur.]
Junhyuk grimaced.
“Aktur was killed?”
Up to now, Aktur had had a lot of experience fighting Drakey, and he had learned to deter his enemy for some time by using the watchtower. Even if the enemy was strong, Junhyuk thought Aktur would’ve been able to handle the situation. However, Aktur had died way too easily!
Junhyuk sighed and said, “This one must be stronger than the old champions.”
Nid was quite dangerous, and the champion who had killed Aktur had to be dangerous as well.
Gongon wagged his tail and added, “Aktur is a bit weak.”
Junhyuk wanted to say something, but he couldn’t compare Aktur to Gongon. Gongon had fought Drakey in the past and displayed his superior strength. To Gongon, Aktur had to be weak.
Junhyuk looked ahead and said, “Let’s destroy the watchtower.”
Gongon whistled, and the lizardmen rushed crazily. That was the best way to fight before Junhyuk’s Spatial Slash came off cooldown. Unworried, he joined the lizardmen in destroying the watchtower.
Once it was down, Junhyuk inhaled deeply. Gongon had his eyes slightly widened as he stared at Junhyuk.
“What are you doing?”
Junhyuk was absorbing mana, and he smiled at the hatchling’s question.
“Nothing much. By the way, let’s go see the sorcerer.”
“Right.”
Gongon got on his neck, and Junhyuk sighed.
“You must, huh?”
With the dragon on his shoulders, he looked at the lizardmen.
“Follow us.”
There were thirty-five lizardmen remaining, and he did not want to waste them. They could be of use in the future.
Then, he started running while giving Gongon a piggyback ride, headed to the island where Hatma was located. On the way, Aktur connected with him.
“You must be careful.”
“Of Kilraden? What are his powers?”
“He is a lot like you. He can teleport, but only for a short distance. However, he can do it three times straight.”
Junhyuk frowned. He had never met Kilraden, but even if the range of his teleportation was short, by being able to do it three times at once, he would be a difficult opponent.
Even if Aktur pulled him, he could simply escape.
Junhyuk continued, “What about his other powers?”
“He can hide for three seconds.”
“Hide? Is he an a.s.sa.s.sin?”
“He dealt an absurd amount of damage to me.”
With the ability to hide and teleport, Kilraden was a dangerous a.s.sa.s.sin.
“What about his other power?”
“I haven’t seen it.”
Junhyuk scowled. Aktur had only been able to see two powers before he was killed. His defense was low, but that was still shocking.
“OK. When we meet him, we’ll find out. By the way, we are on our way to meet Hatma.”
“I’ll head there as well.”
“OK.”
Considering that they would meet enemies on the island, it would be better if Aktur also came along. Their enemies had to reincarnate and make their way there, so Junhyuk would get there first. However, they would probably interfere once he tried to leave the island.
Junhyuk told Gongon what Aktur had told him.
“The person who killed Aktur must be an a.s.sa.s.sin.”
“An a.s.sa.s.sin?”
“He can hide for three seconds and teleport three times, even if the range of each teleport is short.”
“Ha! Someone else has powers related to s.p.a.ce?”
“Yes, and he’ll probably be difficult to handle.”
Gongon thought for a moment and said, “Usually, a.s.sa.s.sins have a high attack stat, but their defense is s.h.i.+tty!”
“That’s usually the case.”
Gongon laughed.
“Then, you kill him.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Honestly speaking, Junhyuk wanted to meet Kilraden. a.s.sa.s.sins could deal a lot of damage if their attacks landed correctly.
As he ran, he absorbed mana without letting the living spirit into his veins. Instead, the spirit ran through his arteries, which enabled it to absorb a lot more mana than otherwise.
The Dimensional Battlefield was a good place to nurture the spirit.
“Let’s go see Hatma!”
As he ran, Junhyuk heard a soft voice.
[The high-ranking sorcerer in the Swamp of Despair has woken up. Help him out, and he’ll give you satisfying rewards.]
Junhyuk turned to Gongon and said, “Maybe we’ve taken longer than we thought? Or is Hatma waking up earlier than usual?”
“He woke up early. Does it matter?”
Junhyuk looked at the purple sky. Hatma was one of the staples of the battlefield. That he had woken up early meant that something had changed. It was not something to simply ignore.
Letting go of his thoughts, Junhyuk picked up the pace and reached the island. He started crossing the stepping stones while seeing someone at the opposite end of them.
The person was wearing all white clothing. A bandana covered his eyes, and only his chin was visible. The man was standing where Junhyuk was about to land on the island.
Gongon smiled.
“That is the a.s.sa.s.sin?”
Junhyuk tapped Gongon’s feet lightly, and Gongon got off of him.
“Kill him.”