Junhyuk and Layla were allies who fought together in the battlefield. After learning from Halo, it was the first time he was sparring with her.
Halo was an outstanding teacher, and Layla had learned from him ever since she was a child. By now, she should have mastered the basics.
Sparring with Layla, Junhyukâs heart was pounding. As he was now, he didnât think he would lose easily to Halo, so as a result, he didnât think he would lose to Haloâs student. However, he didnât plan on letting his guard down.
Junhyuk ran toward her, and she ran toward him. Her movements left vestiges like an illusion, and they were incredibly fast. Junhyuk was astonished by that. She could accelerate even faster than Artlanâs acceleration at the second level.
Layla swung her katana, and Junhyuk swung his sword.
Clang!
Junhyuk thought he had parried the strike, but the pressure of her attacked launched him into the air. Layla launched her katana at him, so Junhyuk released a gust with Dentraâs Magic Sword.
He could control wind better than her. His gust hit the side of her blade, and the katana changed trajectories, but it still flew toward him.
Layla was also heading for him. While she closed in, Junhyuk readied a mana blade.
Suddenly, there were two Layla, or at least he felt like he was dealing with two of them. Junhyuk swung Akshaâs Longsword to keep her from getting closer and released another gust with Dentraâs Magic Sword.
Boom, boom, boom!
As things exploded, he tried to step forward. His sword and her katana clashed. Thought the speed of her katana was faster than the speed of his sword, she lacked continuity in her attacks.
Junhyuk exchanged a few hits with her, and after a while, he was able to read her movements. He could see her openings as she tried to attack him nonstop. Junhyuk was different from the others in that he could counter her strikes.
Clang, clang, clang!
Deflecting her attacks required a lot of energy. He parried one and stabbed at an opening. His sword stopped in front of her chest, and she frowned.
She had seen his attack, but she hadnât been able to dodge it. She wouldnât have been able to evade the hit.
Layla had thought her attacks to be perfect. She had thought he wouldnât be able to counter them. Lowering her katana, she sighed and said, âYou got me completely.â
He replied, âMaybe Iâm not the one who should say this, but your attacks have a pattern.â
âA pattern?â
âKind of a habit?â
Layla closed her eyes and took a seat. Halo put a hand on Junhyukâs shoulder and said, âLayla developed her sword to go over her limits. She did not expect her katana would create another limit.â
âYou knew?â
âI did. I told her about it, but she did not change. Now, however, she learned it for good.â
âThatâs nice.â
Junhyuk had helped her out and repaid the debt he owed Halo. Layla was still meditating, so he turned to the others.
âLetâs drink till she wakes up.â
âRight.â
Junhyuk wanted to hear Artlanâs heroic exploits. The other heroes had told him about their pasts, but Artlanâs story wasnât that fun.
Artlan had been strong as a child and had learned to control mana by himself. At one point, he met a teacher who had taught him more methodically. I had taken a year for Artlan to defeat that teacher. Artlan increased his territory, but he soon encountered the ocean.
He couldnât cross the ocean by himself, and thatâs when he met the dimensional manager. From then on, Artlan focused on the Dimensional Battlefield.
Vera told him that she was an unparalleled genius. The mages of the magic tower had tried to kill her by burying her alive, but she managed to kill them all. Her magic had been far beyond their expectations. After killing them, she became the towerâs elder and, eventually, the master of the tower.
Vera could control dimensional movement, so it was easy to see how outstanding she was. Even dragons had recognized her prowess.
Nudra was about to tell his story when Layla woke up. He couldnât tell if Layla had attained a new level, but she seemed to have learned a lot from her mediation.
âThank you. I learned a lot,â she told him.
âI was about time you come to terms with it. Itâs good you learned.â
âI needed something to trigger the process,â Layla replied.
She looked at Halo and said, âI want to go train.â
âSure.â
Layla turned back to Junhyuk and said, âSee you in the nest battlefield.â
âRight.â
Layla left, and Junhyuk looked at the others. They were all getting up.
âItâs no fun if sheâs the only one training. See you next time.â
The group left one by one, and Junhyuk looked at the bottles left. Some were still full. He put those in his Spatial Bag and yawned hard. Sarang and Elise were still there.
âI should be going.â
âMe too.â
Junhyuk nodded. After they both left, he pulled out his swords. The Triple Yin Yang was complete, but he had to improve himself even further.
He started training again.
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On Friday, he watched Ling Lingâs match. Her battle was more ferocious than before, but in the end, Ling Ling won. Junhyuk was paid his winning and went back to Earth. There, he got a call from Elise.
There was a tear, so he quickly exited his training facility. Junhyuk teleported to Eliseâs lab and saw her with a grave look on her face as she looked into a monitor.
âWhat is the size of it?â
âItâs bigger than before, but look over here.â
Elise showed him the sky above Jeju Island.
âWhat is that?â
âThis is where the biggest tear is. A dragon can come out from something that size.â
âA dragon?!â
Junhyuk was speechless. A single dragon wasnât a problem, but there were 150 tears around the world. If a dragon appeared, all of the heroes would have to join forces to fight it. They couldnât deal with 150 tears.
âDid you call Eunseo?â
âI told her about it. Lucy is coming up with a strategy.â
âHow many iron soldiers do we have ready?â
âThere are three thousand at the ready, but Iâm not sure if I can stop the tears.â
With the decomposition compound, they would be able to stop the monsters, but without enough of it, they would have to fight normally. They didnât know how many monsters would exit the tears, but three thousand iron soldiers wouldnât be enough.
âLetâs send teams of powered people. Iâm not sure a new hero will appear, but we shouldnât deal with these tears like the previous ones.â
âOK. I detected the tears early, so we have five minutes to spare. I already deployed the iron soldiers to every location. We should send the powered to nine specific spots.â
âRight, but getting to Jeju Island will take time.â
âWe canâ¦â she said, stopping mid-sentence and motioning with her hand across the air. Junhyuk walked out with her, and saw that Jeffrey, Sarang and the champions were already there. He also noticed a plane he had never seen before.
Elise smiled and said, âI made it so that we could go there. Itâll get us to the island in five minutes.â
âItâs that fast?!â
âGet on. We are wasting time.â
They all got on the plane, and Elise smiled and said, âPut your seatbelts on.â
The plane took off vertically. The turbines turned direction and sped up. There was loud screaming, and Junhyuk looked out the window. It was incredibly fast, but he was not scared.
It took the plane four and a half minutes to cross the air and reach Jeju Island. There, they saw a tear bigger than anything they had ever seen.
Junhyuk got up, and Elise turned the plane, saying, âGet out, please.â
The people exited the plane, and Junhyuk looked up at the tear. It was even bigger than the last tear with the dragon.
âWhat are you going to send?â
Junhyuk wanted, and suddenly, a head appeared through the tear. It was a dragonâs head.
âA dragon again?â
The last dragon had been hard to kill, but a dragon wouldnât pose that much of a problem for the powered people now.
Still looking at it, Junhyuk watched as another head appeared.
âIt isnât a dragon.â
He was intrigued. It was a five-headed dragon.
âNo. Thatâs not a dragon. Itâs a hydra.â
The hydra had massive wings, along with a thick mana shield. It was even bigger than a dragon.
âThey mustâve crafted it, a chimera of many dragons.â
The heads all had different colors.
Junhyuk unsheathed his swords and said, âI donât care if it was engineered.â He got on his drone and took off toward the hydra.