Junhyuk visited his training facility frequently, focusing entirely on training. n.o.body else came to visit him after Jeffrey, so he trained freely.

He did not have specific instructions for the powered people, but they trained themselves at a park within the hotel. They practiced using their powers and, when they had time, they learned how to shoot. To train them to use firearms, the military built a shooting range behind the hotel.

The people in charge were told to provide the powered people whatever they needed. Junhyuk rarely showed himself, however, and by contrast, he thought that powered people wouldn’t be able to train within the hotel without causing problems. They didn’t look like any of the other hotel guests.

The public knew that the monster areas would increase, but they didn’t know when that would happen, so they naturally stayed away from those areas.

While the powered people were resting, the world suffered another monster wave, and it was bigger than ever before. Even Guardians had no answer for it.

In the end, the monsters were eliminated. That was the power of humanity. As he watched it unfold on TV, Junhyuk gritted his teeth. There were probably many people who had activate a power with that last wave, but a lot more people had died.

To activate more powered people, they were killing humans, and Junhyuk wanted and wished for a day to come when he could hold them accountable for murdering all those humans.

Thursday morning, he gathered the teams. They had rested for two days, and now, it was time to advance into the monster area. They came together quickly, their faces full of nervousness and expectation. They had also been training on their own time, without Junhyuk telling them to, so he was expecting good things from them.

Junhyuk wanted to find out how much their powers had improved. Looking at them, he said, “We will focus more on destroying the monster area. Today, we will make two campaigns, so steel your minds.”

They looked at each other and nodded. Last time, they had retreated after the first advance, but this time, they would advance a second time. Their hearts were pounding hard.

“Let’s go.”

The j.a.panese Self Defense Force provided them with vehicles, and they headed toward Tokyo’s monster area. When they reached the border of the area, they got off their vehicles and quickly formed groups without Junhyuk telling them to.

He looked at them and said, “Unlike last time, we’ll encounter flying monsters this time. When a flying monster comes at you, people with stunning powers should act first before everyone attacks it.”

“Yes, sir.”

There were nine teams there, but only five people had stunning powers, and Junhyuk thought they should stagger their actions. One of them stepped forward, and the others fell behind.

Junhyuk had guessed that each team would have a leader by now, but he didn’t realize that there would be a chief among those leaders. A red-haired woman was busily going over all of their tactics with them.

“Do you know who that is?” Junhyuk asked Peyton.

Peyton looked at the freckled, red-haired woman and answered, “Her name is Lucy. She’s American and a famous online gaming champion.”

Junhyuk turned to Major Sean, and the major nodded.

“She wrote a manual for the Department of Defense. You should look at it.”

“A manual?”

“When it all started, she stepped forward and befriended everyone. Now, she’s their chief leader.”

Junhyuk walked over to Lucy, the freckled, red-haired woman. She was slim, but she also looked quite limber. She was a master at online games, but she also looked quite athletic. Lucy looked at him nervously, her eyes beaming.

“Nice to meet you,” Junhyuk said calmly.

“I’m Lucy.”

He smiled, but no one could see it. Lucy could hear the chuckle in his voice.

“Call me Dark Knight.”

“Can I call you DK?”

“As you wish.”

He turned to the novices and said, “I heard you wrote a standards manual. I haven’t read it yet, but use it to lead the novices.”

“Should I?”

Junhyuk nodded.

“I’m in charge of the battles against the monsters within the area. Use your manual to lead, and we’ll find out if there’s anything lacking.”

“Yes, sir!” Lucy answered him mightily.

Junhyuk turned to Major Sean and said, “I want to read Lucy’s manual after the battle.”

“I’ll get a copy ready.”

Then, looking at the group, he said, “You should be less nervous after experiencing the battle last time, but remember to use your powers to adapt to different situations accordingly. If you fail to use your powers effectively, someone might die.”

The novices all nodded, and Junhyuk turned and walked off. There were monsters gathering at the border. There were only then, but others would join them soon. Junhyuk looked at the turtle-like monsters. They had sh.e.l.ls, but their mouths had fangs, and their chins split and opened in the middle, displaying even more rows of fangs. He did not want to look at them anymore.

Junhyuk pulled out the two Wolf Warlord claw swords. He wanted to open a path. He ran toward the area and, when he crossed the border, he frowned. He had felt something odd.

As he crossed the border, the turtle’s necks grew longer, reaching ten meters in length. He was surprised that their necks could extend, so he wanted to a.n.a.lyze them more. Those were new monsters, and he wanted to know more about them.

The turtles tried to bite him, but he dodged them all. So, they tried pounding him with their heads by whipping their necks around. Clicking his tongue, Junhyuk retreated.

He wanted to deal with just one, but there were too many of them, making it difficult for him to learn anything. So, he closed in on a turtle, placed his foot under it and kicked it up upward.

As the turtle flew into the air, he spun around and slashed it. Another turtle was closing in on him, but the first strike generated a shockwave, and he killed both turtles with that single attack.

The Vampire Lord’s set boosted piercing, and the turtles looked like C-ranked monsters, so they couldn’t withstand an attack from the Vampire Lord’s set.

To Junhyuk, the wolves’ defense and the turtles’ defense were essentially the same thing. After killing most of the turtles, he walked over to the remaining one.

The turtle extended its neck and used it like a whip against him. Junhyuk dodged the attacks, running forward. The turtle then quickly withdrew its head and legs within its sh.e.l.l, and Junhyuk’s stabbed the top of the turtle’s sh.e.l.l, sinking the sword in deeper.

Because of his piercing stat, the sword went through the sh.e.l.l and got stuck on the ground. After he killed the ten turtles, Junhyuk looked at the group of powered people, and they crossed the border.

They were still close to the border, so the collection teams gathered the bodies. As Junhyuk looked at the group, he said, “In just a few days, new monsters have shown up. As you just witnessed, those ten-meter long necks whip around very fast. Be very cautious of them.”

“They looked dense. Will our weapons work?”

After some thought, Junhyuk asked, “Does anyone have a long range attack power?”

Lucy raised her hand.

“I can hit an eyeball within 250 meters.”

Junhyuk realized that Lucy wasn’t just some loser gaming addict, and Sean also raised his hand.

“I can do the same with my weapon.”

“Then, shoot the next turtle from afar. Try to hit its sh.e.l.l and its head.”

“Yes, sir.”

Junhyuk continued calmly, “The flying monsters will show up soon. We’ll hunt for two hours and go back and rest. After that, we’ll make another advance.”

Junhyuk did not want a repeat of the previous time, when they had ended up surrounded. His plan was simple, and he explained it to them.

The experts were taking the front, and Peyton murmured, “I have no powers that can deal with flying monsters.”

“There are other types of monsters, so don’t be despondent,” Aleksei told Peyton.

Peyton smiled at that. Aleksei looked like a bear, but he and Peyton got along well.

“Should I turn a turtle on its back?” They joked as they walked.

A group of five turtles soon showed up in front of them. Sean and Lucy sat on the ground and raised their weapons. They gathered their breaths and shot at the turtles.

Bang, bang!

Two gunshots rang out. One bullet hit the turtle’s head, and the other ricocheted off its sh.e.l.l. The one that hit the head, however, sunk in deep.

Wrrraaah!

The turtles screamed as they approached, and looking at them, Junhyuk frowned.

“They are calling for help!”

As the turtles made that noise, more monsters came toward them, increasing the number of enemies they would have to deal with. Junhyuk, who could sense it happening in the distance, said, “I’ll deal with the left side. Lucy, you handle the right with the novices. The experts will take the lead in the middle.”

“Yes, sir!”

Junhyuk headed left without wasting time. They didn’t have a lot of it left before the monsters would fall on them.

He swung his swords against the five turtles already there, a horizontal slash that generated a shockwave that swept through the turtles.

Then, he jumped to the top of a building nearby, and from there, he looked around the battlefield. The Tokyo Tower had been destroyed, and the Black Turtle was sitting on the wreckage with flying monsters surrounding it. He looked closer to the group and saw that the turtle monsters were surrounding them.

“The flying monsters are sticking to the Black Turtle.”

Junhyuk shrugged and looked down. There were five turtle monsters ahead and five on the right side.

Lucy was quickly giving out orders, and Junhyuk decided to see how things would unfold.