A bullet grazed his thigh, and Junhyuk felt himself slowing down, but he gritted his teeth and stepped forward. Bron’s pistol and gatling gun were peppering in his direction.

He kicked the ground and jumped. While in the air, Junhyuk could become an easy target, but at that point, he had to escape Bron’s attacks. Still, his shoulder and thigh got hit by the riflemen.

Junhyuk sucked up the pain and fell on Bron. Bron raised both of his weapons to block, but Junhyuk used his swords to deflect them and give him an opening. Bron’s weapons bounced back, and Junhyuk kneed his nose, breaking it. With Bron’s head tilted back, Junhyuk pushed a swords into Bron’s neck.

“Argh!”

Bron writhed and moaned in pain while Junhyuk beheaded him. Junhyuk grabbed Bron’s head and jumped. Thanks to the Blood Rune Sword, he had regained a lot of his health, but the riflemen were still attacking him, and he was losing health quickly, so if he were to be attacked by another champion, he would be in danger.

Junhyuk dropped Bron’s head on the ground and went wild.

“Why you little s.h.i.ts?! Aren’t you afraid of me!”

The riflemen fired at him, and his swords moved about busily.

By the end, he was running to complete his quest, entirely covered in blood. Suddenly, he heard a soft announcement.

[Aktur killed Drakey.]

Junhyuk laughed.

“He really wants to kill Kraken.”

Considering just attack power, Gongon had a higher chance of winning. Aktur had killed Drakey because Gongon had let him. Gongon was focused only on Kraken.

“Am I in any danger?”

He had killed the riflemen and regained some of his health, but he would be at half of his health when he got back to that island. Taking that amount into consideration, it wasn’t a good idea to encounter an enemy. Drakey was dead, but the possibility of meeting Kraken and Lugos was still there, and the way that encounter went would make a huge difference.

Kraken could throw him in the swamp, and he wouldn’t be able to get out of it in time.

“He is difficult to deal with in the Swamp of Despair,” Junhyuk complained. Then, he raised a communication with the hatchling and added, “Gongon, come to the island quickly. I only have half of my health. If I come across an enemy, I may be killed.”

“Ha-ha-ha! Do you need me?”

“Yes, I need you.”

“I’m coming with Aktur. See you soon.”

“OK.”

The communication cut off, and he sped up. Suddenly, however, things jumped out of the forest ahead. It was a wolf pack.

He looked at the wolves and whistled.

“Thanks!”

The wolves attacked him, but he cut them down only with the Blood Rune Sword, leaving the Frozen Rune Sword unused.

Monsters could pop out sometimes, but he was grateful for it now. He killed all the wolves and gained another 20 percent of his health back, smiling.

“Thanks.” He walked through the corpses of the wolves, shook his head and said, “70 percent is plenty.”

He had enough health now, so he really sped up his pace.

—

Junhyuk had guessed correctly. He had to cross the stepping stones, but Kraken and Lugos were waiting for him. Gongon and Aktur were already standing on the island, on the opposite side. He looked at them and inhaled calmly.

“Do they want me to cross?”

His enemies were standing at the gate, and crossing that gate wouldn’t be easy to him. So, he cracked his neck right and left and shouted, “Gongon! At my signal.”

“OK!”

Gongon jumped up on Aktur’s shoulders, and the expression on Aktur’s face changed. Junhyuk laughed at it, but that way, Aktur and Gongon could move together.

Junhyuk ran forward, and Kraken ran toward him. Lugos ran in the direction of the stepping stones, meaning to block Aktur and Gongon.

Junhyuk looked over at Kraken. After Kraken fell into the swamp, it learned a valuable lesson. If Kraken got a hold of anyone, that person would be launched into the swamp. Should Junhyuk teleport or should he save his teleport?

Junhyuk made up his mind. He had Bron’s head tied to his waist, and his job was to give the head to Hatma.

“Gongon! I am coming!” Junhyuk shouted as he sped up.

Kraken whipped its tentacles at him. All four of them were coming in his direction, and he blocked them with his dual swords. Junhyuk got as close to Kraken as possible and teleported. The teleportation put him further away from Kraken, but the octopus chased after him with its tentacles as if it had eyes on the back of its head. Junhyuk wasn’t able to dog one of them, and it wrapped around his waist, so he used the Spatial Slash.

Slash!

“AAAAHH!”

Kraken lost the tentacle along with 15 percent of its health. It wasn’t a critical hit, but he had still lost a tentacle. While Kraken screamed in pain, Junhyuk teleported again.

Heading toward Aktur and Gongon, he shouted, “I must complete the quest! Block the enemy!”

“Of course!”

Aktur understood everything and stood in the enemies’ path while Junhyuk went over to Hatma. With Gongon and Aktur blocking the way for Kraken and Lugos, Junhyuk handed Hatma Bron’s head. Hatma moved through the tree roots and extended his hand.

“Give it to me.”

Hatma took the head and split in half. Blood splattered on the ground, but he ignored it, took the brain out and started eating it, munching it loudly.

Hatma looked detestable to Junhyuk, but he wanted the buff so he could help Gongon and Aktur. Hatma closed his eyes, savoring the taste, then he opened his eyes and laughed.

“Bron’s brain is the best medicine for headaches!”

“He was hard to deal with.”

“It’s because he has a big brain.”

“How about that buff?”

“I’ll give it to you now.”

Hatma extended both of his arms.

“I was called by lightning. I am Hatma and I will give your strikes movement faster than wind and lightning.”

[The High-Ranking Sorcerer’s buff is applied. For one hour, your movement speed and your critical hit rate increase by 10 percent. When you deliver a critical hit, the opponent will receive an additional 30 percent of damage. If you die, the enemy will take the buff.]

Once Junhyuk was buffed, he shouted, “Gongon! Bring them here! Fight on the island!”

With the buff, Junhyuk wasn’t scared anymore, but Kraken headb.u.t.ted Gongon and Aktur at the same time. The two staggered, and Kraken held their legs and threw them both away from Junhyuk.

“s.h.i.t!”

When Aktur got thrown, he launched his own bandages against Kraken. His power was interesting. His bandages wrapped around Kraken, and it got pulled away with Aktur. They both fell into the swamp. Gongon did not.

Junhyuk didn’t hesitate, running toward Lugos. He was buffed and wouldn’t hesitate joining a fight.

Gongon also tried something different and headb.u.t.ted Lugos.

Boom!

Lugos staggered and got pushed away, and Junhyuk smiled of satisfaction. His critical hit rate had gone in, and the damage had increase. Lugos lost 52 percent of his health with Gongon’s single headb.u.t.t.

“Huh?! This is the buff!”

Junhyuk ran toward Lugos, who turned dark and tried to attack Gongon. However, transformed to fight Lugos.

Gongon uppercutted Lugos, and Junhyuk could see he must have trained really hard. However, although the strike wasn’t a critical hit, Lugos still lost 10 percent of his health, leaving him with 28 percent.

Junhyuk swung his sword at Lugos, but got parried with the axe. Gongon low-kicked Lugos, who was left with 18 percent of his health.

Lugos’ position wavered, and Junhyuk stabbed him in the ribs. The cyclops lost all of his health, and Gongon took a few steps back. The hatchling wasn’t interested in Lugos’ death.

Junhyuk pulled out one sword while beheading Lugos with the other, and the cyclops disappeared.

[You’ve killed Lugos and earned 3,000G.]

Junhyuk collected his breath and turned around. Kraken was trying to get out of the swamp, but was unable to. Still, Junhyuk couldn’t teleport to help Aktur, but the mummy looked at him and shouted, “I can’t get out! Take a tower for me!”

He and Gongon nodded. They looked at Aktur and Kraken sinking into the swamp. When they were no longer visible, he sighed.

“He killed himself.”

“Right. That octopus-head is able to think of nothing but that.”

He looked at them disappear and thought of something. Junhyuk had corpses in his Spatial Bag, and he threw them in the swamp. He reminded himself of his decision: to advance, to protect others, he would commit murder.

Gongon stared at the corpses.

“What are those?”

“Those are people who went against me on Earth,” Junhyuk explained calmly.

“Why did you save the bodies? Why didn’t you burn them?”

“I don’t have that kind of power.”

“I’ll make you something you can use later.”

He touched Gongon’s head and said, “You are my only friend.”

Gongon looked at him.

“So, you are giving me a piggyback ride, right?”