Junhyuk led his minions to the destruction of the enemy watchtower. After picking up the items dropped by the heroes, he contacted Sarang. It took her longer to go through her path, so it was possible that she hadn’t met any enemies yet.
“Big brother, did you meet our enemies?”
“Yes. I killed three of them.”
“Was it easy?”
“Yes, very much so. You know who they are.”
“I know them?”
“Right. Minota, Skia and Warren.”
“What?! They are in the round of thirty-two?”
“Their items weren’t great, but there’s still something I need to know.”
“Should I be careful?”
“If they got in the tournament, one of them might be as strong as Aktur.”
“Just like Ronga?”
“Yeah, so be very careful.”
“I will.”
It was time for Junhyuk and Elise to go hunt buff monsters.
“I’ll go after the dragon. Take the portal to the left path, and you’ll meet the Mantis Lord.”
Elise took a moment to think before saying, “Maybe I should go after the dragon. I don’t think I’d be any good against the Mantis Lord.”
Junhyuk thought about it and nodded, “That’s good thinking. I should fight the Mantis Lord.”
Junhyuk used the portal and took the left path. There, he contacted Gongon and told him that there might be one strong hero among them.
He kept on after the Mantis Lord. It was possible that Junhyuk wouldn’t find the Mantis Lord, but considering his enemies’ strength, he didn’t really care. He thought he would just kill all of the buff monsters.
I he could get more synthesis materials from buff monsters, the battle would be plenty worth it. In the tournament, he needed five straight wins to reach the final round, but he didn’t know if he would have time to hunt for materials during future fights.
For that reason, he had to hunt all of the buff monsters now that they had some slack.
On his way down the left path, he came up against the Ghost White Tiger, but did not get anything from it. With the stealth buff, Junhyuk moved even faster.
He headed toward the middle path from the left and came up against the Mantis Lord. Junhyuk had already acquire the synthesis material from the Mantis Lord, so he didn’t have to kill it again. However, he wanted to test his strength against the monster.
While in stealth, he attacked the Mantis Lord. The monster’s eyes beamed as it went after Junhyuk
Junhyuk fought ferociously against it. While under the sharp attacks of the Mantis Lord, Junhyuk realized something: he had become stronger. He managed to block all of the monster’s attacks. Even if the Mantis Lord was incredibly fast, Junhyuk learned that he could handle it.
He was honing his technique through actual battles. The previous time, the Mantis Lord had pushed him back, but now, things were different, and Junhyuk wanted to take full advantage of that.
As he deflected the attacks of the incredibly strong Mantis Lord, Junhyuk learned. Junhyuk was learning how to deal with stronger enemies. He could always fight those weaker than him, but he would come up against stronger adversaries soon. For that reason, he had to learn to survive those battles.
The Mantis Lord had three stages of fury.
Junhyuk poured everything he had into the exchange. After triggering its second fury stage, the Mantis Lord displayed its fastest attack speed yet. Junhyuk started getting injured, and limited his movements a bit, so he used his force field and triggered a Spatial Collapse immediately after.
The Mantis Lord moved, avoiding a critical hit, but it lost an arm.
The monster wasn’t dead, but Junhyuk attacked it in a berserker’s dance. The Mantis Lord couldn’t dodge his attacks, so it died soon after.
Junhyuk received the buff from the dead Mantis Lord and headed back to the buff tower. He would be able to make it there before his enemies.
On the way, he contacted the others and received good news.
Both Gongon and Sarang had killed their adversaries with ease. Since three had gone middle, the two teams fought one hero each.
Sarang and Layla fought one, whereas Gongon and Helen fought the other. Helen was still just a champion, but her powers had helped.
Junhyuk thought that the allies were overwhelming, but then Elise contacted him with bad news. She had been found by the roaming buff monster and been killed while hunting.
Her powers were incredible, but that roaming buff monster had a stun, and since her health and defense were rather low in comparison, she was vulnerable. Junhyuk had barely managed against that roaming buff monster with his force field. Elise had grown, but she still lacked in her ability to kill.
Junhyuk told Elise to be careful as he reoccupied the buff tower. Then, he walked over to the destroyed enemy watchtower and looked down the mountain. Nobody was coming up his path.
The enemy team had a second watchtower, and they meant to use it as support in their fight. There were three enemy heroes waiting for him there.
Junhyuk looked back and decided to leave his minions at the buff tower. They all stared at him.
Before he left, he contacted Gongon and Sarang.
“Where are you?”
“We destroyed the first tower and are in the middle of pushing. Why?”
“There are three heroes at the second watchtower in the middle. What should I do? They had the watchtower as support.”
“Should I join you?”
“Are you far from a portal?”
“No. I’ll get there soon.”
“OK. Then, head middle. Let’s go!”
Junhyuk could kill three enemy heroes, but he did not want to place himself in danger. He didn’t want to be killed even once.
Junhyuk waited and his fellow heroes appeared. Gongon, Layla and Sarang had come through, and the group followed down the middle path.
Even without Elise, the allies were strong enough to deal with the enemy heroes. They had brought the minions from both paths, so they had a total of 520 minions at the buff tower.
Junhyuk smiled, thinking that he should push on and finish the fight.
“How were the other two enemy heroes?”
“The one on our side was very easy to kill.”
Layla and Sarang had access to Sarang’s electric blast, so if the enemy hero didn’t have any special defensive power, they would be killed easily. The allies had all managed to kill their enemies with ease in this first round, so Junhyuk didn’t think the enemy heroes had a special hero among them.
“Gongon?”
“Nothing to it. Kill them easily.”
Junhyuk stopped worrying about it then and headed down the mountain. The allies might even win without Elise there, though Junhyuk wanted to destroy the second tower and hunt for buff monsters after.
He had to kill as many buff monsters as possible. Finishing the fight could come later.
“After we destroy the tower, let’s split and hunt buff monsters. This battle is too easy.”
An enemy hero appeared from each of the side paths, and all five heroes gathered at the tower. Junhyuk smiled brightly when he saw them, and the enemy heroes greeted him.
“I didn’t expect to see you again.”
Libya said hello, and Ellic, wielding his huge hammer, said, “You were a bothersome novice. I didn’t think you’d become a hero. I should’ve killed you back then.”
Junhyuk unsheathed his swords and said, “Thanks, but now I must kick your asses.”
Minota rolled his hooves against the ground and stepped forward, “You already killed me!”
The minotaur took the lead, and the enemy heroes followed him. Junhyuk watched as the enemy heroes left the range of the watchtower and looked back at his allies.
“I want to fight by myself.”
“Even if their items are shitty, there are five of them! We should share!” Gongon shouted back.
Junhyuk shook his head and said, “I’m sorry. I have to vent my anger first. I’ll repay you for their items.”
“Fine.”
The dragon stepped aside, and Junhyuk stepped forward.
“Are you going to be OK?” Sarang asked.
“I will be.”
Junhyuk thought the three enemies he had already faced were rather weak. Of the two remaining enemies, one might be stronger, so he decided to be careful with Libya.
“This will be a pentakill!” Junhyuk declared as he stepped forward. All of his enemies’ eyebrows twitched, and Junhyuk added, “Get over here! I want that pentakill bonus!”
Minota, who was enraged, said, “Let’s kill him!”
The minotaur spat on the ground, and the enemy heroes ran toward Junhyuk. They had gotten out of the watchtower’s range now.
Junhyuk didn’t expect the fight against the five enemy heroes to be easy, but he remembered how much of a nightmare they were in the past. He had given his all in his battles against them.
Junhyuk was able to upgrade his force field to trigger on others while fighting those same enemies. Artlan had also fought ferociously against them.
They had died multiple times at those heroes’ hands. Now, it was time to test himself against them. They were the first heroes he fought, and now, he would kill them all for a pentakill.
“You are first, son of a bitch!”