Junhyuk ran toward Gongon. His mind had settled. Gongon wasn’t using his powers at that point. One of his powers was a ma.s.sive fireball that dealt heavy damage, and he could also fly to distance himself from the enemy.

Junhyuk put his thoughts aside and slashed at the dragon.

Gongon tried to dodge his attacks, but the dragon was already too close to Junhyuk, so he couldn’t dodge it. Junhyuk’s sword left a gash on Gongon’s wing, and Gongon lost another 8 percent of his health.

Gongon’s eyes widened slightly, and he opened his mouth. Junhyuk knew that Gongon would use his power then, and suddenly, his force field disappeared.

A huge fireball left Gongon’s mouth, heading straight toward Junhyuk, and Junhyuk used his remaining teleportation to move behind the dragon.

He stabbed forward hard. The teleportation stab was almost like a Spatial Slash, but Gongon had expected that move and dove forward, dodging the sword.

The dragon raised his tail, and even though Junhyuk was using acceleration, he couldn’t escape it. Gongon’s timing was near perfect. Junhyuk could only prevent a critical hit.

Clang!

Junhyuk got pushed back. When he got up, he saw that he had prevented the critical, but he had still lost 5 percent of his health. Gongon was a dragon now, and even without using his powers, his damage was outstanding.

Junhyuk thought that it was time he seized the opportunity, and he began his attack on the dragon.

If both of them only traded regular attacks, Junhyuk would win. Junhyuk also had to accelerate to deal with Gongon. It was only by a small margin, but Junhyuk had the advantage.

Gongon had received more damage than Junhyuk by that point.

Then, Gongon breathed fire. However, he wasn’t simply breathing fire. They were at close range, and Gongon dodged half of Junhyuk’s attacks as he used the firebreath.

Gongon’s firebreath only went in one direction however, so Junhyuk could predict its path and dodge it.

Meanwhile, Junhyuk landed two more attacks, dealing 16 percent of damage to Gongon. In total, he had inflicted 67 percent of damage to Gongon, leaving the dragon with 33 percent. He expected to be victorious.

Every time he dealt damage with the Blood Rune Sword, he regained 4 percent of his health. When he used the Spatial Slash, his health had been nearly full, so he only recovered a small amount of it.

Junhyuk had ma.s.sive recovery capability, while Gongon was simply losing health, so he thought that all that would be enough.

Gongon smirked then and beat his wings.

Flames burst out of Gongon’s entire body, and Junhyuk couldn’t escape them. Junhyuk’s entire body was on fire, but he still got closer and stabbed at the dragon.

However, Gongon’s ultimate had run out. He was small again, so Junhyuk stabbed the empty air in front of him.

Without panicking, Junhyuk swung his other sword. However, Gongon dodged it, moving to the side and gaining some distance from him.

Why? Junhyuk knew that the fire on his body was still burning, and that’s when understanding flashed through his eyes. He kept chasing Gongon while a.n.a.lyzing the situation, but he was losing health while doing that, 2 percent per second.

“Were you hiding this power?”

He chased after Gongon, swinging his swords at the dragon. However, Gongon was so small now that he dodged all of Junhyuk’s attacks. If Junhyuk attacked five times, one of them might actually get through. Gongon also made sure to dodge all of the attacks from the Frozen Rune Sword.

They both stopped moving once Junhyuk had lost 14 percent of his health. He realized that his total health and defense didn’t matter. Gongon’s power would always take away 14 percent of his health.

Junhyuk closed in and swung his sword down at the hatchling, but Gongon smirked and used his rush.

Clang!

The sword blocked the attack, but he was still pushed back. Junhyuk lost another 13 percent of his health, but Gongon did not stop there. The hatchling used his firebreath, taking another 10 percent off of Junhyuk’s health.

When Gongon went back to his hatchling form, all of his cooldowns reset. Besides, in hatchling form, he could use all of his powers in sequence. With the ultimate active, Gongon’s powers seemed to have longer cooldowns, so he couldn’t just use them all at once.

Junhyuk had lost half of his health by then. He had been successful with some regular attacks and recovered a little bit of it.

Gongon was certainly strong. He moved fast and used the lower half of his body to attack. Meanwhile, Junhyuk acceleration was nearly over. So, he stopped it early, and that decision cost him a lot.

Clang! Boom!

Junhyuk got hit and kept getting pushed back, losing health in the process.

Gongon was Gongon, and Junhyuk already recognized him as a difficult opponent. However, he couldn’t give up. Finally, he used the power he had been saving up to that point. His ultimate: Spatial Collapse.

Gongon was slamming his tail against Junhyuk’s calf when Junhyuk triggered the Spatial Collapse on Gongon’s chest. It was a critical hit.

“Ugh!”

Gongon’s eyes widened. He had heard about the Spatial Collapse, but he had never seen it before. Gongon had been too confident that he would win.

He lost all of his health and fell to the ground. Junhyuk went to him and gave him some support, making Gongon laugh at him.

“You are a human who controls s.p.a.ce.”

He smiled at Gongon.

“I won this time.”

“Ha-ha-ha. We’ll meet more than once in this battlefield.”

Gongon faded, and Junhyuk picked up his item. He meant to give it back, so he didn’t check on what the item was, afraid that he’d go back on his decision to relinquish it.

Junhyuk put the item in his Spatial Bag and looked around. Layla was slicing gorillas in half.

He didn’t know how strong the enemy Layla had faced was, but she had taken care of things quickly. Layla was a good hero.

Junhyuk wasn’t bothered by the fact that he had killed Gongon. Instead, he started moving. Minions meant money now, and if he was diligent, he would be able to earn a lot from killing them, so he joined Layla in the fight. The enemy minions soon disappeared.

After that, he ordered the allied minions to attack the watchtower, and he and Layla didn’t have to do anything while the tower fell.

Instead, he walked into the buff tower with her.

[You’ve reached Nightmare Mountain’s buff tower. If you hold the tower for five minutes, you’ll be buffed. If you have more allied heroes help you, the buff will trigger quicker.]

When another person joined him in taking the tower, a minute was subtracted from the total time, which meant that if all five held the tower at the same time, it would only take a minute for the buff to trigger.

After four minutes pa.s.sed, he heard Ariel’s voice again.

[You’ve taken Nightmare Mountain’s buff tower. For the next three hours, health recovery and movement speed will increase by 15 percent, and attack will increase by 10 percent for you and all of your allies.]

Junhyuk was buffed, but he was worried. He hadn’t seen Layla fight. He wanted to know more about her, but he hadn’t been able to learn anything.

He stared at her and asked, “What do we do now?”

“We are buffed, so we should move out.”

After some thought, he replied, “If we move together, we’ll take over at least one place. However, while we do that, we’ll give up the first watchtower near the buff tower.”

“Do we kill a hero instead?”

Junhyuk nodded.

“If only one of us moves out, we can guard the center path and help in the battlefield at the same time.”

Layla thought it over and asked, “Do you want me to stay here?”

“I don’t care if I stay.”

He was being honest. If Gongon were to show up again, it would be better if he stayed. What happened in the center would decide the victors and losers of the match, so a strong hero should protect it.

Layla stared at him and asked, “Can you stay here by yourself?”

Junhyuk shrugged.

“I won’t be alone. I’ll have a lot of minions with me.”

She looked at the surviving minions. There were seventy-two of them left. They had defended themselves well, and many had survived. Of the dead minions, most of them died by the archers on the watchtower. They had really overpowered the gorillas. Layla had killed her enemy quickly and joined their fight, which was the main reason for them to come out so well.

Junhyuk said calmly, “Whoever leaves will have to go alone.”

Layla laughed.

“I don’t need minions with me.” She paused and then added, “I’ll go.”

Junhyuk nodded.

“OK.” Then, he asked her, “Where are you going?”

“To the right path.”

Junhyuk nodded and said, “The enemy might get there faster than you if they don’t come center.”

“I’ll finish before they get to where they’re going. And if the enemy is Gongon, I’ll say now, I don’t care. It’ll just mean more items for me.”

Layla was extremely confident, and he clicked his tongue. Without saying anything else, she moved out. Her goal was to thwart enemy advances, so she needed all the time she could get.

Junhyuk took all the minions with him to the enemy watchtower they had destroyed. In the previous match, he had attacked the second central tower. Then, he had been confident he’d be able to kill three heroes. Now, however, things were different.

If Gongon were to head center again, Junhyuk would have to deal with him. If Gongon were to have another hero with him, Junhyuk would need the help of his own watchtower to manage.

Once again, Junhyuk realized how important Gongon really was. He looked over at the enemy castle. The gate opened, and enemies came out of it. Better yet, they poured out.

“Huh!?”

Three hundred gorillas crossed the threshold. The enemies had to have realized the importance of the minions, and they were all heading center.

Junhyuk clicked his tongue.

“Will two heroes come this way?”

Gongon wanted a rematch with Junhyuk, so he would definitely come center. If Layla were still there, the plan wouldn’t work. They already knew the other enemy hero was no match for her.

Junhyuk was worried. Should he recall Layla?

He shook his head.

If he protected the center path, the others would advance in other places. Smacking his lips, he muttered, “Gon, I can’t let my guard down with you.”