Chapter 248: Crapshoot 2
Aktur pulled Drakey toward him.
“Where do you think you are going? You are mine!”
“You have a good team. That’s it. Don’t be so proud of yourself.”
Aktur got angry.
“Don’t interfere!”
Junhyuk and Gongon blocked Drakey’s escape routes and watched the two dueling. They were about evenly matched, but because Drakey had the perfect evasion, Aktur couldn’t win easily. While the two fought, Junhyuk asked Gongon, “What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re just gonna watch?”
Gongon shook his head and asked, “May I interfere?”
“No,” Junhyuk answered and added, “We have to destroy the castle’s force field before they revive.”
Gongon wagged his tail.
“If he tries to escape, I’ll block him. You go and pound on the force field.”
“OK.”
Junhyuk started beating against the force field. With him working alone, it would take a rather long time to get the job done. He continued to pound the force field while watching the duel from time to time. Drakey had put his pride on the line in fighting Aktur.
Aktur had used all of his powers and was struggling. Drakey, with his perfect evasion, had the upper hand. Both required some time before their powers would return, and Junhyuk kept on beating the force field.
The castle’s force field was going down. However, he thought he would still need more time. Suddenly, however, Gongon shouted, “Junhyuk!”
Drakey had pushed Aktur away and was running toward Gongon. The hatchling tried to kick Drakey, but Drakey didn’t stop or try to avoid it. Gongon’s attack failed, and Drakey passed him by, running toward Junhyuk.
Junhyuk shook his head and said, “I can’t let you through.”
Junhyuk attacked, and Drakey parried with the trident. After that, Drakey let the next attack through, trying to push past, and Junhyuk thought he might lose him.
“Aktur!”
“Kill him!”
Junhyuk used the Spatial Slash. Drakey had just used the perfect evasion, and couldn’t use it again so quickly. Junhyuk’s attack hit him.
Slash!
Drakey lost one head and was left with 10 percent of his health. He had already lost some health fighting Aktur, but he was still running away. At that moment, Junhyuk grabbed Drakey’s remaining head and said, “Where do you think you are going?!”
Junhyuk teleported with Drakey to appear behind Aktur. Drakey was still alive, and Junhyuk delivered him to Aktur, who swung his claw-like nails at the enemy. In a final attempt to dodge, Drakey turned to face Aktur, but by then he had already been hit.
Drakey died.
[Aktur killed Drakey.]
Junhyuk looked back and said, “Time to finish this.”
The group pounded against the force field. Lugos showed up it, and his eyes smoldered, but he didn’t come out.
Junhyuk looked at Lugos while pounding the force field and said, “You guys are finished.”
Gongon popped a piece of candy in his mouth and shouted, “These enemies are too easy. We’ll keep winning.”
Lugos gritted his teeth and tightened the grip around his weapons, but he still didn’t come out, so Junhyuk said calmly, “OK. Before I came here, they’d won ten straight victories.”
Gongon stared at him blankly.
“But you are a special human being.”
“Thanks for saying that.”
Aktur said after listening, “The team won’t change.” His eyes sparkled. “Time for payback.”
Junhyuk laughed.
“Sure, it’s payback time.”
The castle force field was finally destroyed, and Gongon looked at Junhyuk and laughed.
“Then, see you later.”
“Don’t fight with the heroes in your team. Do well.”
“Don’t worry.”
Gongon smiled and disappeared, and Junhyuk looked at Aktur and closed his eyes.
The room was white, and there was a square box in front of him. His heart raced as he looked at it.
[Your reward for winning at the Swamp of Despair is in front of you. Please, inspect the contents.]
He touched the box, and it opened suddenly. A bag appeared inside it.
[The bag sack contains enhancement stones. The number you receive is random.]
Junhyuk touched the sack. He wanted to find out how many stones were inside, but he hesitated.
If he touched the sack, it would open, so before that, he rubbed his hands together and murmured, “More than two.”
Once he made up his mind, he touched the bag. A light shone from it, and he saw an enhancement stone, only one, and he gritted his teeth.
“Shit!”
He was in the middle of complaining that there was only one, when another one popped up.
“Holy cow! There are two!”
With two stones, he had earned 100,000G. He was very happy at that point, but yet another stone popped up, and he stared in disbelief. By the end of it, a total of six stones appeared, and he was about to cry.
“So cool!”
[These all belong to you. You may use the stones at the Dimensional Merchant.]
He had seen how they worked, but he wasn’t entirely sure of what they did. Junhyuk placed the six stones in his Spatial Bag.
[The next Champions’ Battlefield will take place in two weeks. We will see you then.]
The world lit up white, and he close his eyes quickly, opening them again slowly later. With hands balled into fists, he cheered, “Success!”
He had wanted two, but he got six, so he smiled and pulled out the communication crystal.
“How many did you get?” the question came in Aktur’s voice.
Junhyuk was surprised that Aktur had contacted him first.
“How many did you get?” Aktur asked again.
“Six.”
“Shit!”
“How many did you get?”
“Two.”
Two wasn’t bad, but Junhyuk had gotten a lot more. Aktur was probably bitter about it.
“Next time, you’ll get more,” Junhyuk said.
“Right. See you next time.”
Aktur disconnected, and Gongon called him right after. The hatchling was still sucking on candy, and Junhyuk laughed when he saw him.
“What’s up?”
“How many did you get?”
“Six.”
Gongon laughed very hard at that, and Junhyuk frowned. Gongon bit the piece of candy and said, “I got ten.”
He scowled. Gongon had already earned a lot of money, and now he had all those enhancement stones. Junhyuk felt sick.
Meanwhile, Gongon waved his short arm and said, “Then, see you later.”
Junhyuk waved back.
“Right, till next time.”
He had gotten more than he had hoped for, but he was still bitter about Gongon getting more. Still, he felt better when he remembered Aktur had told him he got two.
Junhyuk got up and moved about lightly. He had come out with a lot of spoils from the battle.
“I have to collect the Pure Golden Knight set items.”
He wanted to save money so he could get the items, but he didn’t know when Bebe would have them. He also wanted to upgrade his equipment.
Junhyuk thought of something and raised Artlan on the communicator.
“Artlan.”
“Yes? Why can I see your face?!”
“A dragon I met boosted my crystal. I think we’ll advance next time.”
Artlan laughed.
“Dragons waste time with nothing. Right, we are advancing.”
“It took more time to advance last time. What about this time?”
Artlan said, “It won’t take any more time this time.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s not that good.”
“Why?”
“We will face enemies the likes of which we have never faced with this advancement.”
Junhyuk smiled awkwardly.
“When we moved, the last ones were really strong…”
“Right. They were at a high level, but this time, we’ll meet enemies of the highest level.”
“The highest level?”
“Correct. And they must protect their ranks. With ten straight victories, one becomes a legend.”
“You need to advance to the highest tier and then win ten straight victories?”
“Correct, and they’ve already won eight.”
Junhyuk got the cold sweats. The new enemies would be stronger than ever.
Artlan continued, “You have to get stronger.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Don’t just do your best.” Artlan was silent for a minute before he spoke again, “You are weapons that are different from mine.”
“Yes.”
He had gotten stronger with Artlan’s instructions. Without his teachings, Junhyuk wouldn’t be as strong.
“I’ve had many students, but you are my best one.”
Junhyuk smiled awkwardly. He wanted to see Artlan’s face.
Artlan said in a hushed voice, “Do you want to get stronger?”
“I want to get stronger,” Junhyuk answered without hesitation.
Artlan could see him, so he put on the most decisive expression he had.
A moment later, Junhyuk heard Artlan’s voice again.
“Hmm… you have made up your mind.” Then, he added curtly, “That’s good.”
Junhyuk was curious about his remark, but Artlan asked, “Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“How big is your place?”
“My place?”
“You can’t have anything within twenty meters of you.”
Junhyuk teleported to basement. Standing at the center of it, he said to the crystal, “I’m ready.”
“OK. I’ll send it over.”
He didn’t have to chance to ask what before a dimensional tear appeared. The tear generated a big shock wave that swept everything.
Boom!