They started heading out. Junhyuk had Elise and Eunseo with him, and they took two hundred minions with them.
Eunseo was still getting used to her new boots and was practicing her kicks. They didnât look easy for her, but she seemed to be having fun.
Junhyuk looked at Eunseo and then at the faraway mountaintop. They were in the quarter-finals. With two more wins, theyâd be in the final round.
He slashed the air, feeling the need to improve his swordsmanship. Whenever he had time, he practiced his strikes. He reached the top of the mountain in no time as he walked while practicing. There, he waited until he saw his enemies. They were familiar faces.
He knew the enemy minions as well.
The allies all frowned when they saw the minions, riflemen. The huge-fisted Bater appeared behind them, and Regina, with her usual eyepatch, rollerbladed behind him.
Junhyuk chuckled and said, âI didnât expect to see them either!â
Bater stared at him and asked, âDo we know each other?â
Junhyuk removed his helmet and showed his face.
âDonât you remember me?â
Bater laughed out loud and replied, âYouâve grown!â
Bater was laughing, but he was not looking down on him. Junhyuk had been a significant annoyance to them. During their battles, Junhyuk had activated a new power and become even stronger. They knew he was a tough enemy.
Junhyuk was now a hero and in the quarter-finals. There was no way that Bater would look down on that. The hero turned to Regina and asked, âHeâs the one with the longest range, right?â
Regina nodded and replied, âThatâs right. He was annoying back then, and his attacks dealt a lot of damage.â
âLetâs be careful.â
Bater made a signal with his hand, and the enemy minions formed a line in front of them. Junhyuk looked at the allied minions and said, âForm a defensive line as well. The rifles donât shoot continuously, and your shield can protect you from the bullets.â
The allied minions were tense, so they all shielded themselves as they got in line. Looking at the enemies, Junhyuk saw that only Bater and Regina were there.
Only two heroes had climbed up the mountain. If their strategy required only two heroes at the buff tower, they had to be confident.
Previously, they had lost a lot of items fighting Artlanâs team, but that had been a long time ago, so Junhyuk couldnât tell how the heroes had changed.
They had also won twice, which meant that theyâd been paid 2,000,000G each, just like Junhyukâs team. Their items had probably been upgraded, so Junhyuk couldnât let his guard down.
He turned to Elise and said, âHow did you do on your upgrades?â
âI got lucky. My success rate was about 85 percent. I got up to +9.â
Elise had gotten through more upgrades than him, so he smiled at her and asked, âDo you want to tank?â
âI wanted to get my items up to +12 before that, but should I just do it now?â
She stepped forward, and Junhyuk turned to Eunseo and said, âDonât interfere with the battle. Fight the enemy minions while we deal with the heroes.â
Eunseo nodded. Junhyuk joined Elise. Bater, who was bumping his fists together, stepped forward as well. Regina, on her rollerblades, started moving.
Previously, Bater had been able to deal very high damage. He acted as both a damager and a tank. Junhyuk fought them right before he went up against the legend candidates.
Regina was more focused on attacking than Bater. If she had acquired new items, she would be extremely dangerous.
âLetâs begin.â
Junhyuk wanted Elise to act as the tank, so she buffed him and summed Zaira. With Zaira deployed, she moved toward Bater.
The hero looked at Zaira and smirked, putting both arms up to block the gynoidâs attack.
Boom, boom, boom!
After Bater blocked Zairaâs attacks, the hero wound his arm and punched her.
Boom!
Rather than a power, Bater delivered a regular punch, but Zaira went rolling across the ground. That single hit destroyed half of Zairaâs body, leaving Junhyuk speechless. He had never been hit by one of Baterâs punches, but he could tell the hero had gotten stronger.
Baterâs fists were shining now, which meant that Baterâs weapon had reached maximum upgrades. It was possible that Bater had focused entirely on that.
At the very least, the allies had to watch out for Baterâs damage.
Elise ran forward and shouted, âIâll tie him up? Can you take care of the other one?â
âOK! Letâs do that!â
Junhyuk followed her, and Bater ran toward them. Regina was moving behind the massive hero since she thought Junhyukâs powers hadnât changed.
Bater rushed at him, and Junhyuk teleported. The hero cancelled his rush, and Junhyuk left Elise behind to deal with Bater. He teleported again and slashed at Regina.
Clang!
Regina blocked the attack with her cutlass, so Junhyuk used his Dimensional Slash at close range. There was no way for heroes to predict the Dimensional Slash, which acted as an upgraded version of the Spatial Slash in the Dimensional Battlefield.
âUgh!â
Reginaâs eyes widened. The slash had hit her neck, dealing critical damage. He was dealing even more damage since his upgrades, but Regina did not die. She lost 70 percent of her health.
Junhyukâs items were much better than before, but he had failed to kill her in that single strike. He tried attacking again, but Regina was already aiming her pistol at him.
Bang!
Junhyuk evaded the attack by teleporting. He tried to stab her neck then, but Regina was not easily hit. She turned sideways, so he struck her shoulder. The regular attack took 12 percent off her health. At the same time, Regina started shooting in all directions.
Junhyuk did not raise his force field, so he received 15 percent of damage. He couldnât ignore that.
Regina tried to remove her eyepatch, and since Junhyuk did not want to end up petrified, he triggered his Spatial Collapse. He had been planning on saving it for Bater, but the fear of petrification was greater than his worry about the hero.
Regina died, and Junhyuk launched himself toward Bater. When he saw Elise, he was stunned. She had lost half of her health already.
Her defense was great, but it had not helped much. Her enemy had great combat proficiency. If Bater managed to use his powers again, he would kill Elise.
When Bater extended both of his fists forward, Junhyuk raised his force field around Elise.
Boom!
Elise was launched back with the force field. At the same time, Junhyuk closed in on Bater and slashed at the hero. Junhyuk was still buffed, so his attack speed was faster.
However, Bater moved his fists only slightly. They were so large that they acted as a shield for the hero.
Junhyuk went around Baterâs fists and attacked ferociously. He was using the Triple Yin Yang while buffed with increased attack speed, so he managed to cut Baterâs side.
He swung his swords incessantly, which surprised Bater. The human had just become a hero, so Bater had thought him to be lacking proper training, but now, Baterâs mind had changed about that.
Junhyuk was displaying shocking sword techniques, and Bater came to the conclusion that Junhyuk was a natural hero.
Bater laughed and delivered a one-two punch. Junhyuk blocked the attacks with his sword.
Clang!
He got pushed back, inspecting himself in the meantime. Baterâs damage was outstanding. Junhyuk lost 18 percent of his health from the attack. Since he had upgraded his items, he couldnât believe it. Bater seemed to scoff at his defense, and the hero hadnât even used his ultimate.
Remembering Baterâs ultimate, Junhyuk thought it had to deal an enormous amount of damage.
Bater could have fought the legend candidates. He was that strong.
Junhyuk was grateful to have grown over this time and slashed at the enemy hero. Bater raised both of his arms above his head.
The hero could slam them against the ground to create a massive shockwave. Knowing that, Junhyuk frowned and turned to Elise. She had her ultimate prepared, and the many Moon Cores released a giant beam toward the enemy hero.
Bater didnât have time to attack. Her ultimate slammed against him. The damage of Eliseâs ultimate was comparable to that of Junhyukâs ultimate.
Bater lost 45 percent of his health. Even though the hero was hit, he still managed to slam his fists against the ground.
Boom!
Junhyuk was launched up the shockwave. Eunseo, who had been far away, disappeared and reappeared behind Baterâs back, kicking the back of the heroâs skull.
Bater got pushed toward Junhyuk, who ran toward Bater as soon as he landed.
There was a chance he would still die if he was not careful.
Bater tried punching Eunseo, but she disappeared and reappeared behind him, kicking him again. Her power had upgraded like his teleportation, so she could use it twice now.
Baterâs eyebrow twitched as the hero punched at Eunseo one last time, but Junhyuk managed to step in front of her and block the hit.
Clang!
âYou are mine!â