Junhyuk walked outside and saw the lizardmen kneeling in front of Gongon and Aktur. Gongon wagged his tail at him and tilted his head slightly toward him.

“Looks like you have grown taller?”

“Is that right?”

He looked around for something to measure his height against, but could not find anything suitable for comparison. Aktur, who had his arms crossed, said calmly, “You’ve certainly grown taller.”

Junhyuk smiled.

“Did I really grow?” he asked. Then, he stretched his arms and added, “What should we do this time? Same as last time?”

Aktur shook his head.

“Our enemies have changed.”

“They’ve changed? I thought teams couldn’t change.”

“Correct.”

He didn’t know where Aktur had gotten that information, but he realized that Aktur had better connections than he did. Junhyuk looked at the mummy rather strangely, and Aktur continued calmly, “Drakey and Lugos are dead. So, they brought in two more champions.”

“Drakey and Lugos are dead?!”

Junhyuk had fought them last time, and hearing that they were dead now made him feel strange. They couldn’t have been killed in a silly way. They had been too skilled for that.

“It happened in their dimensions, so I don’t know the details. However, others were brought in.”

“What are they like, these new ones?” Gongon asked.

Aktur showed him his palms and said, “I don’t know anything about them. We’ll have to fight them to find out more.”

Something was nagging at Junhyuk. Only Kraken still remained.

“Did Kraken kill those two?”

“He wouldn’t be that stupid.”

“We don’t know that.”

Of their three enemies, two had died, so Junhyuk was suspicious of the third. Gongon shrugged.

“This place has many limitations. There is no way to be sure of who is stronger in their own dimensions, but I don’t think Kraken can travel between dimensions.”

“You think it’s a coincidence?”

Gongon wagged his tail.

“That’s my thought on the subject.”

Junhyuk looked at Aktur and asked, “Then, are we adopting a new strategy?”

“No. When you meet the enemy, make sure to communicate to the others. We have to know what kind of enemies they are before coming up with a new strategy?”

Junhyuk nodded and looked at Gongon, saying, “Then, let’s move together!”

“Sure.”

Aktur took the upper bath, and Gongon and Junhyuk went toward the bottom. Junhyuk took fifty lizardmen and headed toward the watchtower.

When Junhyuk had first arrived, he had wanted to check on his teleportation’s range, so as he walked with Gongon, he teleported suddenly. Seeing the distance he had covered, he smiled.

“OK.”

Gongon ran toward him while wagging his tail.

“Did you just teleport through twenty meters?”

“I trained like a dog. It was worth it,” Junhyuk said, smiling.

Previously, the distance had not increased at all. However, this time, it had doubled at once. Before, he would’ve been vulnerable to attacks, but now, his enemies wouldn’t be able to reach him unless they used their powers.

And when considering two teleportations, even long-ranged attacks wouldn’t be able to hit him. He could also always run away.

Junhyuk looked at the sword he was holding and wondered about how the Spatial Slash had changed. He couldn’t use it on Gongon, so he wanted to meet their enemies quickly.

Placing a hand on Gongon’s head, he said, “This time, I worked hard as well.”

“Hi-hi-hi. You are something else.”

Last time, Gongon had trained hard before going to the battlefield, and they had gotten satisfying results from his effort. This time, Junhyuk had worked hard in hopes of similar results.

His powers hadn’t improved only in South Korea, but in the battlefield as well, and that was all because of the living spirit within him. Junhyuk had learned that even if the battlefield had limitations, he could still improve his powers.

He tried to walk away quickly, but Gongon jumped on his neck. Junhyuk looked at the hatchling, who simply wagged his tail.

“Let’s go!”

He smiled bitterly while giving Gongon a piggyback ride and ran.

As always, the watchtowers were weaker than in the Valley of Death. Once he reached it, he tapped Gongon’s foot lightly. After Gongon dropped to the ground, Junhyuk looked at the enemies in front of him.

He had met Kraken before, but there was another champion there. However, that champion looked familiar.

“An Elidra?”

Opposite of him, was a champion with an alligator head and broad shoulders. Elidras were quick, but they weren’t as big as the one in front of him, who had even wider shoulders and a highly trained body.

The Elidra stepped forward and pulled out two saw-bladed swords from his waist.

“Nice to meet you. I am Nid, the savior of the Elidra species.”

Junhyuk had already seen the Elidras’ wild dual swordsmanship, but the others hadn’t been able to use proper technique. The Elidra in front of him was different, however, and without knowing what powers the Elidra had, he couldn’t just step forward.

Gongon walked ahead and said, “Kraken, two of your teammates have changed, but you still can’t win.”

The hatchling turned to Nid and added, “Especially when you are paired with that low cla.s.s species.”

A spark appeared in Nid’s eyes, and he stared coldly at the dragon.

“Don’t get him excited,” Junhyuk said.

Gongon shook his head.

“No. Some excitement is good. I want to see his powers.”

Gongon’s eyes also looked cold, and Junhyuk smiled bitterly. Even though he is young, Gongon was still a dragon, and the things he said weren’t wrong.

Junhyuk saw Nid running toward them and said, “I’ll start.”

“OK.”

How much stronger had the Spatial Slash gotten?

Junhyuk ran toward Nid, and when there were about fifty meters between them, he swung the Blood Rune Sword from behind him. With a flash, the sword disappeared.

The Spatial Slash disappeared from his enemy’s sight and reappeared immediately. His enemy couldn’t match its speed, and without any uncertainty, blood gushed out of Nid’s neck.

“Ugh!”

Junhyuk had added the living spirit to the Spatial Slash and noticed a difference. While he wasn’t sure of what kind of equipment Nid had, as Nid’s neck tore apart, Nid lost 45 percent of his health.

The strike created a shockwave, and since Kraken had been following Nid, Kranken lost 17 percent of its health.

The shockwave dealt 50 percent of the original strike’s damage, and it had dealt 17 percent of damage to Kraken’s health, which meant that the shockwave had hit for 2 percent more damage than before.

Even if he wasn’t sure about Nid’s defense, he was satisfied with the damage increase. Junhyuk did not stop, running forward as fast as he could. Of course, his regular speed hadn’t changed. However, the Dimensional Battlefield had unlimited mana, and there was no way to compare it to the training facility.

He had been absorbing mana all the while, so he focused on the living spirit so it wouldn’t enter his veins. With a burst of speed, he clashed against Nid.

Clang!

The swords clashed, and Nid bared his teeth against him.

“Your skills are astounding.”

Junhyuk felt Nid’s strength pressing against his sword and frowned. Junhyuk possessed the highest quality attack rune and was strong himself, but Nid was not being pushed around by him.

Elidras specialized in speed, so he thought Nid was surely a champion. Then, Nid laughed and said, “Shall I repay my debt to you?”

Junhyuk realized that Nid was about to use a power and became anxious. At once and regardless of Nid’s power, he decided to be hit by it. There was no single blow that could kill him.

At that moment, Nid’s sword became translucent and pa.s.sed by his sword, slashing him in the chest.

“Ugh!” Junhyuk groaned and winced in pain, but more importantly, he had to dodge Nid’s next attack.

So, Junhyuk stepped back, but Nid tracked after him, saying, “I am sorry, but you can’t outrun me.”

Nid closed in quickly, so Junhyuk teleported.

At once, he appeared twenty meters back, and Nid stared at him with wide eyes. At that moment, Gongon rushed toward Nid.

Boom!

Gongon headb.u.t.ted Nid, who bounced back, rolling on the ground. Kraken appeared suddenly, grabbing Gongon by the legs and raising him up. As Kraken held on to Gongon’s limbs, Junhyuk clicked his tongue.

He hadn’t wanted to show all of his powers from the start, but he, too, had experienced Kraken’s twisting power and did not want anyone to feel that violated.

Junhyuk extended his hand, and an ivory light appeared from Gongon’s body. Kraken no longer had a hold of Gongon, and Junhyuk looked at Nid.

NId’s translucent sword had returned to its normal consistency.

As Gongon dropped to the ground, he could not hold his fury back, and a firebreath spewed from his mouth. The flames swept across the enemy line.

After being hit by Gongon’s headb.u.t.t and now his firebreath, Nid was left with 15 percent of his health. Nid grimaced and looked at Junhyuk and Gongon, who were within the force field.

“A protective shield?”

“Correct. Even heroes don’t have that type of force field,” Kraken said.

Nid nodded and stepped back, drinking a potion. His health went back up to 35 percent.

“They are strong enough.”

Kraken’s eyes sparked as it said, “They aren’t easy.”

Gongon hadn’t transformed yet, so Kraken retreated within the watchtower’s range. Junhyuk and Gongon chased after their enemies, but they couldn’t close in. Junhyuk had already used his teleports, and Gongon didn’t have any speed boost items.

The force field had prevented Kraken’s power, but that was its only use. While standing next to Junhyuk, Gongon wagged his tail and asked, “How is your injury?”

Junhyuk checked his health and murmured softly, “Nid’s power disappeared, so it looks like it has a time limit. His strike took 20 percent off my health.”

“Was it a critical hit?”

“Yes.”

“Then, don’t worry about it. I kept an eye on it, and it only lasts for three seconds.”

“Don’t dismiss it. He has high movement speed, and you can’t block his attack when his power is active.”

If Junhyuk got hit by three attacks within those three seconds, he might even lose 60 percent of his health. And they hadn’t seen Nid’s two other powers yet. If Nid really went all out, he might die.

Gongon laughed and said, “I’ll go first and be the shield.”

The hatchling stepped forward, and Junhyuk walked behind him.

“We haven’t seen his other powers. Be careful.”

“When a lion hunts a rabbit, a lion does his best,” Gongon said, running ahead. He entered the watchtower’s range to kill Nid, who had 35 percent of his health left.

Nid’s health and defense weren’t great. Compared to Kraken, Nid’s defense was rather low. However, Nid’s attack stat seemed to be significant.

Junhyuk stopped worrying and ran behind Gongon, who was already ahead. If Gongon were to use his power at that point, it would be his transformation.

Junhyuk saw Kraken taking the front and swinging its long tentacles. Gongon was very small, but that he was able to dodge all of Kraken’s tentacles was unbelievable. Then, Gongon headb.u.t.ted Kraken and shouted as he continued to attack, “You finish him off!”

Thinking of it, Gongon held a deep grudge against Kraken. Junhyuk laughed and closed in on Nid, who he thought he could kill easily with the amount of health Nid had left.

As he approached, Junhyuk swung his sword, but Nid blocked it with his own. A smile appeared on Nid’s face, and he said, “Now, it’s my turn, right?”

Nid spun around, touching Junhyuk lightly.