Chapter 139: Guardians 1

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Screeech!

Junhyuk was driving on the highway when he heard the news on the radio. He slammed the breaks and parked by the rest area.

"What is this?"

"The Iron Soldier Model 01 is a robot that made its appearance on Mt. Seolak, displaying scary firepower and killing the bears. ST Capsule's Doyeol Kim is now holding a press conference. We'll connect you to it live."

"Iron soldier?"

Junhyuk searched the internet in his smartphone, looking for the iron soldier. Doyeol's breaking press conference was everywhere. The iron soldier's appearance was sudden, and the press conference helped spread the news all over the world.

Doyeol's press conference was being broadcast live on the internet, and Junhyuk found a link to watch it. Jeffrey was standing behind Doyeol. The announcer made a speech, and Doyeol stepped up.

"The monsters were killed by the iron series robot. It was invented jointly by ST Capsule and Robotics. There was no right time to introduce them, but the world was under attack by monsters, and we decided we needed to deploy them."

Doyeol paused and looked at the reporters.

"So, we created Guardians. We will do our best to stop the monsters. We promise."

Doyeol had declared the establishment of Guardians. All of the reporters got up, and he raised his hand to calm them down.

"I will only take three questions," he said and pointed to one of the reporters.

"I'm Junghwa Lim from Korea Daily. The iron soldiers showed up at an opportune time. Did you expect the appearance of monsters?"

Doyeol smiled and said, "You are mistaken about that. We made the iron soldiers to maximize the metal model's functionality. If you watch today's performance, the iron soldier is still in the experimental stage. They are under development, but when we saw the monsters, we couldn't just sit and watch."

The reporters were going wild, and Doyeol pointed to another.

"Korea Broadcasting's Gukhawn Kim. I'm curious if in fact the iron soldiers could stop the monsters showing up all over the world. There are over a hundred places with monsters. Could Guardians stop them all?"

"Guardians has over a hundred iron soldiers in production. We were able to stop the bears that showed up in Korea, which the army couldn't do, and we will only deal with monsters that the army has no answers for. Also, the iron soldiers can fly and be deployed faster than any army."

The reporters went wild again, and Doyeol pointed for the last time.

"I'm Sungho Lim from Donga.com. Weapons are illegal in South Korea. Isn't there an issue with the deployments of irons soldiers in South Korea?"

"We are willing to make compromises with the Korean government. We will use the iron soldiers only to fight monsters and won't use it in any other way."

The reporters raised their hands, but Doyeol got up and said, "This is the end of the conference on Guardians. We are not just talk and we'll be proactive in every scenario."

Doyeol left, and Junhyuk watched the screen with a blank stare. He hadn't known about the iron soldiers' existence. Modern science can deal with monsters from the Dimensional Battlefield?

They were confident, and the situation was getting out of hand. The appearance of the bears made things worse. The Dimensional Battlefield managers didn't want iron soldiers to stop the monsters.

He would see where they were going with that.

Junhyuk leaned back on his seat and looked up at the sky.

"What shall I do now?"

They could stop the monsters without him, and he shouldn't step in anyway. He had only wanted to watch the events unfold, but when people died, he stepped in. Junhyuk had thought they wouldn't be able to stop the bears, but they didn't need him anymore.

"Should I just see what will happen next?" he murmured, staring at the sky.

Depending on how well Guardians performed, the Dimensional Battlefield managers could send even stronger monsters that couldn't be dealt with by them.

Junhyuk started driving again. It was time for him to go home.

---

Right after he got home, he was lying on his bed when he decided to check the distance he could teleport. He couldn't teleport at home anymore because the distance had increased, so he thought he needed a new place to practice. All of his powers had increased, so he couldn't keep practicing at home.

He was checking the internet for a new s.p.a.ce when the doorbell rang. Junhyuk knew he wasn't expecting any guests, so he looked at the interphone's screen and frowned.

"Jeffrey?"

Jeffrey was holding a six pack of beer and said, "How about some beer?"

Junhyuk thought about Jeffrey standing behind Doyeol earlier and opened the door. Maybe he knew a lot about Guardians.

Jeffrey looked around and laughed.

"Your place is really empty."

He kept it s.p.a.cious to train, so like Jeffrey said, it was empty. Junhyuk got a small table and said, "I don't have any appetizers..."

"I thought so, and I brought something."

Jeffrey pulled out some beef jerky, and Junhyuk chuckled. He got a few plates and set the beef jerky on one.

"Busy day?"

"Since the monsters started showing up, yes."

Jeffrey got a beer can and smiled.

"Did you see the Dark Knight? It's all over the internet."

Junhyuk took another can and answered, "I saw it. He has quite the power."

Jeffrey saw through Junhyuk's denial and laughed out loud.

"Surely, he has to be an expert. Teleportation and long range attacks, I'm very curious."

Junhyuk opened the can, and sipped on it. He had no reply to what Jeffery had just said.

"I'm more curious about Guardians' iron soldiers. They must be powerful to kill those bears."

Jeffrey had guessed at why Junhyuk opened the door and smiled.

"I saw today's battle on TV. The robots are capable of flight. Before landing, that one used its weaponry to burn and kill the bear."

"Is that even possible?"

"The robot fired small missiles that were actually napalm bombs. The bears were roasted."

Junhyuk wondered if his black armor could withstand the napalm bombs. His magic defense was lower than his regular defence, so he wasn't sure he could. However, he could teleport and use his Spatial Slash to destroy one of the iron soldiers. He felt confident he could win in a fight.

Jeffrey stared cooly at Junhyuk.

"Modern science has evolved beyond my imagination," he said.

"Can Guardians' iron soldiers kill other monsters?" Junhyuk asked.

"Today's show isn't everything. Don't worry about it for a while."

"For a while?"

Jeffrey looked calmly at Junhyuk.

"Why are the monsters here? Why now?"

"The abnormal narcolepsy also came without warning."

Jeffrey laughed.

"That's right."

Junhyuk emptied the can.

"I'm done drinking."

"I'm not done yet."

Jeffrey seemed relaxed, but Junhyuk thought he was shameless. However, Junhyuk couldn't let his guard down around him. He had survived the Dimensional Battlefield so far.

Junhyuk didn't know which battlefield he was on, but he was a novice, and that was something. Experts had an extra life, but novices had to survive in there, and that took more than just a power.

Jeffrey was smiling now, but he had to have a strong desire to live.

"Keep drinking."

Junhyuk chewed on the beef jerky and looked at Jeffrey. He drank slowly and asked, "What a difficult thing it is to become an expert!"

"What is an expert?"

Jeffrey forgot where he was and answered, "An expert is someone who has activated two powers. It's hard to activate one power, so how hard must it be to activate two?"

Junhyuk thought it wasn't that hard. There were only a few novices, and now there were two experts. The rate was higher than Jeffrey thought. Considering all of the people summoned to the Dimensional Battlefield, the rate was still low however.

"The Dark Knight has two powers, and they are exceptional. He can teleport a distance of fifty meters, so even heroes can't chase him down."

If he could teleport that distance at the Dimensional Battlefield, he wouldn't be killed ever, but over there, he could only cover a thirteen-meter distance.

Junhyuk didn't want to talk about it.

"This place, the Dimensional Battlefield, I can't fathom at what it's like. However, to survive, it seems important to gain your allies' trust rather than antagonize them."

"How do you earn your allies' trust?"

"If your allies are willing to die for you, your survival rate will increase exponentially."

Jeffrey shook his head.

"You mean those haughty heroes?"

Junhyuk nodded calmly. He knew why Jeffrey had that att.i.tude, but the heroes had told him they would die in his place, and their health went down because they tried to save him.

Was it because they needed him?

That's part of it, but Junhyuk had fought with them, so he thought of them as his comrades.

Jeffrey looked at Junhyuk and shrugged.

"It's something to think about," he said and emptied his beer can. "I'll put the rest of them in your refrigerator and I'll come back again."

"If you do that, I'll drink them all!"

"No worries," he said and got up. "Today, Doyeol asked me about the Dark Knight. I told him nothing."

"Really?"

Junhyuk was very relaxed, and Jeffrey shrugged and turned to leave. He walked to the door, put his shoes on and asked, "I meant to ask you, where did you get that old pair of gla.s.ses?"

"I have bad eyesight nowadays."

Jeffrey's eyes beamed, but he shrugged and turned around. Junhyuk was wearing an antique pair of gla.s.ses, and they had to be from the Dimensional Battlefield. Still, he wouldn't ask. He had seen Junhyuk's power and he didn't want to die.

Jeffrey said goodbye, and Junhyuk watched him with his gla.s.ses and thought Jeffrey was a capable person. He had 150 health and 200 mana. Ordinary humans only had 10 health, so Jeffrey was impressive.