285 Power of the Upgrade 3
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Kilraden stared at Junhyuk. As an a.s.sa.s.sin, Kilraden did not want a head-to-head fight, but the important thing was that he was now buying more time.
They ran toward each other. Kilraden’s teleportation covered about eight meters, and Junhyuk wanted to prevent Kilraden from going into the castle’s force field, so he swung his sword. He had also wanted to use acceleration, but he couldn’t do it yet.
Clang, clang, clang!
Junhyuk swung his sword and focused, attacking to buy more time. His Spatial Slash would return faster than Kilraden’s powers. Waiting for it to return, he pressed on against Kilraden.
Junhyuk could see Kilraden’s moves. Kilraden was using the dagger for defense, something Junhyuk hadn’t seen before. The champion’s defensive abilities were designed for people stronger than Junhyuk. While fighting, Junhyuk learned more about Kilraden’s skill with the dagger.
Kilraden was able to block critical hits with the dagger, and Junhyuk had a lot to learn from him, but he did not want to waste any more time.
The Spatial Slash had returned, and Junhyuk stabbed at Kilraden with it right away. This time, he stabbed instead of slas.h.i.+ng, which was more difficult to block, but Kilraden’s eyes beamed. The champion raised his dagger and parried Junhyuk’s sword attack. Kilraden had been waiting for it the entire time, and tried to counter right after.
Kilraden had parried the Blood Rune Sword’s attack, but he didn’t notice the strike disappear for a split second. The Spatial Slash penetrated Kilraden’s neck and came out from the other side.
“Ugh!”
He had wanted Kilraden dead with a single blow, but it did not kill him. Junhyuk grimaced, but soon, realized he had been lucky enough. The Spatial Slash had triggered the extra attack, and while Kilraden was trying to stab Junhyuk with his dagger, the champion got hit again and finally disappeared.
[You’ve killed Kilraden and earned 3,000G.]
Junhyuk did not have time to celebrate Kilraden’s death. He turned around and pounded on the castle’s force field, trying to destroy it as soon as possible. Junhyuk knew that even though he had upgraded his items, he wouldn’t be able to bring the castle down on his own, and it would take a long time if he tried.
“Junhyuk, what is going on?”
“The giant golem is gone, and now, I have to destroy the castle’s force field.”
“Yeah?! That’s good!”
Junhyuk smiled and said, “But when the enemies revive, I have to run.”
“Right. We can gather up and go back.”
Junhyuk pounded against the force field even quicker and with all his might. That’s when he saw Nid inside the force field.
Nid saw him too and, without hesitation, walked out of the force field. Junhyuk took a moment to think. He could deal with Nid alone, but if Kraken also came out, it would be a problem.
Nid was a balanced champion, so Junhyuk thought he wouldn’t have a problem dealing with him. But Kraken was a tank, and he couldn’t deal with a tank, especially in the situation he was currently in.
As Nid walked out, he targeted Junhyuk. Nid was flying like a corkscrew in his direction, and Junhyuk teleported to escape the attack.
“You can’t do whatever you please!” Nid said.
Junhyuk looked at Nid and then at the castle’s force field. The force field had already been damage, so just a bit more would bring it down. But Kraken might revive while he was dealing with Nid, so he didn’t have a lot of time to think. He wanted to use everything he had on Nid. All of his powers had come back while he was trying to bring the force field down.
Nid ran toward him, and Junhyuk used the Spatial Slash.
“Ugh!”
It was a critical hit that took 55 percent of Nid’s health. Having an upgraded sword meant not only that his normal damage had gone up, but that the Spatial Slash damage had gone up as well. Junhyuk continued to attack.
Nid swung his saw-bladed sword at Junhyuk, who parried it.
At that moment, Nid opened his mouth.
“Howl!”
The sudden howl paralyzed Junhyuk, and Nid attacked him quickly. There was nothing he could do. He couldn’t move.
Quickly losing health, Junhyuk was left with 30 percent of it and frowned. If Nid attacked with his translucent blade, there would be nothing Junhyuk would be able to do.
Worried about what to do, he made a decision. If things went well, he would be able to kill Nid, and there was also a chance he would be able to destroy the castle’s force field.
Nid’s saw-bladed sword became translucent, and Junhyuk made up his mind.
He would fight.
Junhyuk focused on the living spirit and raised his force field. This time, the force field was small, like film around his body, and Nid did not bounce away when he struck it. However, the translucent sword did not penetrate the force field. Junhyuk slashed Nid’s elbow, and Nid scowled, moving sideways.
Junhyuk attacked him, but Nid blocked him calmly and went back inside of the force field.
Junhyuk was being covered by a force field, and Nid was doing the same. He hadn’t been able to kill Nid, but he wasn’t disappointed. Nid wasn’t around, so he could focus on destroying the castle’s force field.
Nid watched him pound against the force field and gritted his teeth. The champion couldn’t attack now. Meanwhile, Nid was regaining his health quickly. There was nothing he could do with Junhyuk inside his own force field.
Still, Nid couldn’t just watch. He was glaring at Junhyuk when Kraken appeared behind him.
“What are you doing? Why are you letting him be?”
“He has a force field around him.”
“But you still can’t let him be!”
As soon as Kraken came out of the force field, it hit Junhyuk.
Boom!
Junhyuk still had the force field around him, so he didn’t take any damage, but he was pushed back, and Kraken stood between him and the force field. Soon after, Nid appeared behind Kraken.
The two were standing in front of him, so if possible, he had to retreat.
“s.h.i.+t!”
The castle’s force field wouldn’t last long. He thought he would be able to destroy it with three more hits. If he retreated now, they would have to have a team battle again.
Junhyuk looked at his own health. He could still teleport, but he wouldn’t be able to destroy the force field like that. With his health the way it was, if he fought the two of them, Junhyuk would die.
“Nothing I can do!”
He sighed and started taking some steps back, but that’s when Kraken shot its black ink. Without hesitation, Junhyuk teleported himself back. He had dodged whatever attacks followed up, but his force field had disappeared before the ink attack, and now he was blind. Junhyuk could die at any moment.
Kraken and Nid ran toward him quickly and started attacking.
Junhyuk was nervous, and although he had highly trained senses, he still didn’t have his sight, so he couldn’t fight them both right now.
However, he still managed to dodge Kraken’s tentacles. Thinking Kraken might use a power on him, which would kill Junhyuk, he retreated. Nid ran at him, swinging his saw-bladed sword.
While both champions were attacking him, bones started sprouting from the ground in front of him.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Junhyuk recovered his sight and saw the wall of bones in front of him.
“What are these?”
He could hear Nid and Kraken, but he did not know what to do. Then, he heard another voice from behind him.
“It works well.”
Looking back, Junhyuk saw Aktur. Aktur couldn’t be there, but he was. Junhyuk looked at him, and Aktur, s.h.i.+ning with a light blue aura, said, “Be ready to destroy the force field soon!”
“What?”
“Destroy the castle’s force field!”
Junhyuk gulped.
“You… Did you just become a hero?”
“Correct.” Aktur wanted to say more, but he opened his mouth and added, “I’ll distract them.”
After speaking, the wall came down, and Nid and Kraken appeared. Surprised to see Aktur, their eyes widened when they noticed him. However, they couldn’t just stand there.
Aktur launched his bandages and pulled Kraken while d.a.m.ning the ground at the same time. Kraken couldn’t move, so Aktur headed toward Nid and summoned the skeleton soldiers.
Once the soldiers surrounded Nid, Aktur shouted, “Destroy the force field!”
Junhyuk knew that even though Aktur had evolved into a hero and his basic power had increased, he couldn’t expect much from him. So, Junhyuk ran toward the castle’s force field.
Behind him, Kraken tried to swing his tentacles at him, but Junhyuk ran left and right to avoid being caught. Because he was running away from Kraken, he easily dodged all of its tentacles.
Junhyuk stabbed at the castle’s force field. Nid was tied down with the skeleton soldiers, and Aktur was covering for him well.
Seeing Aktur’s sharp claw-like nails, Junhyuk smiled bitterly. Aktur had been the weakest existence at the Champions’ Battlefield. After the enemy champions changed, Aktur had become even weaker by comparison, but now, he was a hero, and that was amazing.
Junhyuk didn’t think about it anymore. Kraken grabbed Aktur and started twisting his limbs, while Nid pushed the skeleton soldiers back.
Junhyuk knew he could not procrastinate, so he used all his might to pound at the castle’s force field. Nid was already behind him, but he blocked the attack and shouted, “We’ve won!”
Junhyuk slashed the force field one final time, and it was gone.
“No way!” Nid shouted from his back. Junhyuk heaved a sigh of relief and watched the castle go down. Then, he turned around slowly, saw Aktur and stared at him.
“Now, we can’t meet each other…” Junhyuk asked.
“Probably.”
Junhyuk offered him his hand, and when Aktur shook it, he smiled.
“Can I ask you one thing?”
“Sure.”
“Were you stuck in the Champions’ Battlefield for a long time?”
Aktur nodded slowly.
“Too long.”
“This is nice. Do well now that you are a hero.”
Aktur’s s.h.i.+ning blue eyes stared at him, and the mummy said, “I’ll see you when you become a hero. Thanks to you, we stopped losing. Thanks.”
After saying that, Aktur started disappearing. Junhyuk looked at him and said, “May the fortunes of war be with you.”
Aktur disappeared, and the surroundings were filled with light. Junhyuk closed and opened his eyes again. Everything around him was white, but he saw a square box. He sighed deeply and looked at it.
[This is the Swamp of Despair’s victory reward. Please, take it.]
He put his hand on the box, and when it popped open, a beam of light came from within it.
[That is your reward. Please place your hand on it.]
Junhyuk’s heart kept pounding as he placed his hand on the light. When he did, it slowly started taking shape. As he looked at it, the light slowly faded away, leaving a gauntlet in its place.
Looking at the gauntlet, Junhyuk murmured, “What are your stats?”