With her face full of excitement, Sarang said quickly, âSo, Iâve met with the contract manager from the Dimensional Battlefield. The contract was so long! In any event, I read it and signed it.â
âDid you read it carefully?â
âTime had stopped, so I did. It was easy to understand.â
âYou did well reading through it all.â
âIâve acquired speed-reading skills.â
Sarang was very intelligent, so speed-reading hadnât been difficult for her to learn.
Junhyuk laughed and said, âThen, shall we train now?â
âWait, letâs eat first.â
âEat?â
âYeah, this.â
She brought out some food from a Korean fast food place. There were seasoned rice cakes, Korean sausages and two rolls of sushi. She had even brought some fish cake soup, and Junhyuk laughed at the sight.
âYou got so much.â
âIâm a growing girl, so I have to eat a lot.â
âRiiiiight.â
Both of them set the food on the table and took their seats. Sarang had locked her feet together and was swinging them underneath the table while she looked at him.
âThis is nice.â
âWhat is?â
âJust having a chance to eat with you.â
Junhyuk stabbed a rice cake with a fork and gave her the bite, then he took a bite of his own off the rice cake.
âThis is seasoned nicely!â
âItâs from a brand new fast food place, and the food there tastes good. The students from my school go there often.â
âYeah?â
He ate dinner with her. After dinner, he had a cup of coffee, and they both went to his training facility. The monsters hadnât shown up yet, but he unsheathed his swords and said, âYour health has increased.â
âOnly my basic stats have increased.â
âNevertheless, what you said before is right, you have grown stronger.â
He knew that sparring with her was not possible yet. Sarang still didnât have a lot of equipment.
âLetâs start by checking out your new power,â Junhyuk said smiling.
âIt has a forty-second cooldown.â
âThatâs very long.â
For an attack power, it was too long. However, considering the damage it inflicted, its range, and the fact that it hit over a wide area, it made sense that its cooldown would be long.
There had been times that her equipment had been better than his, but now, Junhyuk was better equipped. He had sold an item for 1,400,000G and upgraded most of what he owned. On top of that, he was wearing the earrings. Through it all, he had also developed his skills and powers.
Junhyuk chuckled.
âBy the way, B-ranked monsters arenât going to pose any problems now.â
âWe still have to train, and if I get hit by one of them, itâll still hurt,â she said.
âRightâ¦â
Junhyuk didnât intend for her to get hit. He would act as a shield for her and kill the monsters. But, her health wasnât the only thing that had increased as she turned into a champion. Her attack and defense had also increased. However, she still couldnât take a lot of hits from B-ranked monsters.
It was time, and a twin-headed ogre appeared. As he saw it, Junhyuk said, âTry your Thunderstorm out.â
âSure.â
After she said that, she put her orb forward, and thunder and lightning cracked from the sky.
Crrraaaacck, boom!
The twin-headed ogre didnât even have a chance to scream before it had become ash. Her power was overwhelming. A bed of lightning webbed through the surroundings on the floor, and Junhyuk dry coughed.
âWoah! This is huge!â
Junhyuk had also moved to slash the twin-headed ogre, but before he could even get there, Sarang had roasted the ogre in a flash.
She was also shocked by what she could do.
âIt isâ¦â
When considering the overall damage, her power was superior to the Spatial Slash, and he asked, âWhat is the range?â
âApproximately forty meters.â
Her powerâs range was longer than an ordinary heroâs attack, but shorter than the Spatial Slashâs range. He also measured how far the bed of lightning extended. It expanded to a radius of ten meters from the center of the lightning strike, covering an area greater than the range of his shockwave.
âThatâs some nice power you got.â
âBig brother.â
He turned to look at her, and with her head cocked to the side, she asked, âIâll be going to the Championsâ Battlefield with you. What is that place like?â
He answered her question calmly, âWhen you go, youâll meet Gongon. With Gongon and you, weâll win easily.â
âGongon⦠Do you mean that dragon?â
âYes.â
âIâve been wanting to meet him.â
âAnd you will.â
After they talked, they waited for the next wave. Two twin-headed ogres appeared, and Junhyuk looked at her.
âLetâs check it out one more time. We need to know the damage of the bed of lightning.â
âSure.â
Sarang pushed her orb forward, and the thunderbolt crashed down once more. When just looking at it, all you could see was lightning falling from a dry sky. However, the powerâs damage was enormous.
One of the twin-headed ogres got roasted again, and the bed of lightning extended from it to hit the other one beside it.
Crack, crack, crack!
âRoooaar!â the twin-headed ogre screamed as both of his legs were charred. Seeing the twin-headed ogre kneeling from the pain, Junhyuk realized that the damage of the bed of lightning could not be ignored. Then, he ran forward and beheaded the kneeling twin-headed ogre.
âThe area-of-effect part of the attack canât kill a twin-headed ogre by itself.â
Junhyukâs shockwave hit for 50 percent of his attack, and that always killed the twin-headed ogre when he used the Spatial Slash, but her powerâs bonus damage wasnât enough to kill by itself. That mean that the bed of lightning hit for less that 50 percent of the original attack.
âWhen you upgrade your equipment, itâll get stronger.â
âThatâs what Iâm expecting as well. When you kill an opponent in the Championsâ Battlefield, you get 3,000G, right?â
âCorrect. But you have to be careful.â
âWhy?â
He added calmly, âOur enemies are extremely powerful.â
There was an assassin among the enemy champions, and if Sarang were to fight alone, she would be killed. Now that Junhyukâs defense had increased, he would take them on.
âIâm worried. My defense is not high enough yet.â
âItâll increase.â He placed a hand on her head and added, âYou should try to reach for Tuelusâ level.â
âWhat?! The now legend Tuelus?!â
âThatâs right. You should increase your attack stat, but that will have its limitations. So, increase your defense and magic as well. Your defense should be comparable to Artlanâs, and your attack should be similar to Tuelusâ.â
âI feel burdened by it all already.â
âIf possible, Iâll help you grow. Also, your power is better than my Spatial Slash. Itâs so fast, there is no way to dodge it or escape from it. However, combined, we have six powers, so one of us will be reassigned to a different team. In any event, we are champions, so we can at least die four times.â
âAre you saying I should aim for the last strike?â
âIf you just do that, even your hero partners may turn on you.â
âIâll be discrete.â
He smiled at her.
âYou are like me. Your have utility powers, so you can be of great help, so try to be deliberate and careful with your last strikes.â
âSure.â She smiled and added, âThen, shall we?â
Another wave of monsters was appearing, and she had already prepared her magic.
Junhyuk had enhanced his equipment, so twin-headed ogres posed no problems for him. He, himself, managed to kill twenty-five twin-headed ogres while they experimented with Sarangâs new power.
After killing the twenty-fifth monster, Junhyuk collapsed from exhaustion with Sarang next to him.
âWhew! Our power levels have increased too much!â
Sarang looked at him from head to toe and said, âHonestly, you have become many times stronger. The power of money is scary.â
He laughed at her.
âIs that right?â
He had spent 1,400,000G on top of having set items, but he knew he had been lucky that he had been able to collect all of those set items.
âConsidering what I got, Iâll have to earn more money.â
Junhyuk already had Pure Golden Knight items, but he also wanted to collect items from the Vampire Lord set. Set items of higher ranks had useful boosts and effects. Gongon was proof of that.
He wanted to buy 2,000,000G items, and finish his Pure Golden Knight collection. There were also the runestones. Junhyuk wanted to rain money, and he wanted to upgrade his weapons some more times. There was a lot more money he needed to spend.
They were in the middle of a conversation when they heard a soft voice.
[The champion Junhyukâs training facility has another champion, so we will increase the rank of incoming monsters.]
âWhat?!â
He got up, and suddenly, a dimensional tear appeared, and a large werewolf walked through it.
âA Wolf Warlord?â
An A-ranked monster had suddenly appeared, so Sarang got up fast, and he shouted, âGet behind me!â
Junhyuk stood in front of her and stared at the Wolf Warlord, the A-ranked monster. Junhyukâs defense was comparable to a regular heroâs defense, and although his weapons were of lower quality, he could offset that difference.
That meant that although he didnât have an ultimate yet, his overall power was similar to a heroâs.
Trusting Sarang, Junhyuk ran forward. The Wolf Warlord swung its claws at him, and the claws clashed against the Blood Rune Sword.
Clang!
There was a loud clashing sound, and Junhyuk saw that he wasnât able to cut the claws off. The real problem was the Wolf Warlordâs size. It was ten meters tall, and its claws were two meters long.
Junhyuk felt like he was standing in front of a giant.
âSarang!â
Sarang cast her Thunderstorm.
Boom!
The lightning struck the Wolf Warlordâs head, but it was not dead yet. Then, the Wolf Warlord mounted its own attacks. Its eyes were filled with revenge, and it jumped over Junhyuk.
Junhyuk teleported. He had read the trajectory of the Wolf Warlordâs jump and appeared in front of it, using his Spatial Slash as he did so.
Junhyuk thought the Spatial Slash would kill the Wolf Warlord, but the monster merely turned his head away. Usually, the Spatial Slash would have penetrated the enemyâs neck, but the attack had only grazed its neck area.
The Wolf Warlord was still in the air when it swung its claws down at him. Junhyuk blocked them with his dual swords.
Clang!
He parried them, but he still got bounced away. While Junhyuk landed, the monster moved toward Sarang.
Junhyuk raised the force field around her. The Wolf Warlord was falling on her head when the force field appeared, and the monster pounded against it with its fists.
Boom, boom, boom!
The blows were severe, and the force field got pushed down into the ground. At the same time, Junhyuk gritted his teeth and started running.
The Wolf Warlord had evaded the Spatial Slash, which meant that he would have to fight it with regular attacks, and that wouldnât be easy to do.
The Thunderstorm had worked and damaged the monster, but the Wolf Warlord wasnât an easy enemy. Junhyukâs attack stat was high, but he couldnât do anything against the werewolfâs claws.
As he ran, Sarang shouted, âIâll stop it!â
âOK!â
When he approached the Wolf Warlord, Sarang shot her electric blast. It travelled like a light arrow and hit the Wolf Warlord, paralyzing it.
Then, Junhyuk jumped on it. He hadnât used his jump in a while, but he jumped high enough to reach the Wolf Warlordâs head, swinging the Blood Rune Sword in the process.