Junhyuk had picked up to more items. He turned to Layla and asked, “What do we do now?”

“What?”

“Should we push on?”

Layla took a moment to think and replied, “It’ll be difficult with just the two of us.”

If Gongon weren’t present, the two would’ve been enough.

Layla added calmly, “We should join Ebodia, who went to the right.”

“We may not have enough time for that.”

“We should tell her to join us, then. We’ll hunt a nearby buff monster before joining her.”

“Then, you should contact her,” he said and turned to the minions. Two hundred and fifty minions had survived. Junhyuk and Layla had joined in the killing of the gorillas, and they had had a lot of minions to begin with.

Junhyuk wasn’t in a hurry. It would take some time for Ebodia to join them. They headed out to join her, and on the way, they met the Queen Harpy. The Queen Harpy was flying, and Junhyuk looked at it and said, “It’s flying. I should engage it.”

The Queen Harpy was an A-ranked monster. One shouldn’t be able to deal with it alone, but he had a strong opening strike. He raised his sword, and Layla said, “It’s not very high up. I can attack it as well.”

Junhyuk stepped forward and said, “This time, just watch.”

His attack stat was much higher now. As Junhyuk stepped forward, the Queen Harpy flew toward him. However, his attack was faster than the monster’s.

His Spatial Slash sliced through the Queen Harpy’s neck.

“Kyaak!” the Queen Harpy screamed, trying to attack him. Junhyuk teleported and grabbed the monster from behind. He swung his sword and slashed the Queen Harpy’s wing, severing it. The Queen Harpy started plummeting. He was riding it down, and when the Queen Harpy crashed against the ground, he stabbed through its neck.

Everything happened very quickly and smoothly, leaving Layla astonished.

“Amazing.”

[You’ve killed the Gale Queen Harpy. For the next five hours, you’ll have a 30 percent chance of triggering an extra attack. If an enemy kills you within that period, you’ll lose the buff to your enemy.]

Junhyuk had killed the A-ranked monster by himself, and it had been simple. It had looked simple, but his flurry of attacks dealt an absurd amount of damage. He could kill most heroes that way.

Now that Layla had seen him in action, she was astounded.

“Your powers are outstanding. I want to see what you can do in your dimension.”

“If that’s possible, sure.” Junhyuk raised his head and pointed at the harpies in the sky. “Shall we?”

Layla nodded and threw her katana. It pierced one of the harpies, and the others flocked together and swooped down at them.

“Raise your shields!” Junhyuk shouted.

The minions did so and covered their heads. Junhyuk and Layla used the shields as footholds and slashed the harpies while standing on them. The harpies swooped at them first, and Junhyuk and Layla ma.s.sacred them.

He turned to the minions. They had not been hurt by the harpies, and that was a relief. Looking at the fallen harpies, he saw that the Queen Harpy had dropped an item, its talon.

—

Gale Queen Harpy’s Talon

This item has a very low drop rate. You can combine it with other items to boost them. When synthesized, your extra attack rate will increase by 10 percent.

—

Previously, Junhyuk had gotten 50,000G for it, so he smiled. He could sell it, but the item itself was very special. Drops like it from Queen Harpies didn’t happen very often either. He wanted to give it to Elise so that she could use it in her magitek research. He wanted to gift her something nice, and it would really help her.

Junhyuk gathered the minions and started moving. They were heading to the castle’s main gate. On the way, stood the black-haired Ebodia. Still looking dreary, she walked toward them when she saw them. She had a hundred minions with her, so they had a significant minion army. If they failed now, they wouldn’t have enough minions to go all out next time.

“Let’s go.”

The enemies had probably changed their plains again, so the allies were pushing forward. Junhyuk moved with the group. They were headed to the main gate.

The enemies knew what was happening, and all five heroes were standing before the gate. He looked at the enemy minions. There were three hundred gorillas with them.

The allied minions numbered 350. However, the difference wasn’t that big, and unless the gate went down, the archers would be waiting for them. On top of that, they would have to get rid of the enemy minions first.

The allies also had to kill the heroes. Otherwise, the allied minions would be in grave danger of being annihilated.

Looking at the enemy forces, Junhyuk smacked his lips.

“Complicated.”

The enemies now knew about his powers, so they were keeping a regular distance from him. All of them were at least ten meters away from him.

From his perspective, creating a shockwave would be the best solution, but the enemies were also keeping a gap between each other. It looked like Gongon had given them instructions, and Junhyuk smiled bitterly at that.

He contacted Zareto and Railic then, “Zareto, all of the enemies are at the main gate. Go ahead and push for the second tower.”

“Will do.”

“Railic, occupy central buff tower.”

If Railic tried to join them, he would be too late for the battle. In that case, it was better for him to take the buff tower.

Junhyuk turned to Layla and asked, “What should we do now?”

Even though the allies had superior powers, they wouldn’t be able to deal with the archers and all of the enemies together.

After thinking for a moment, Layla said, “If we use all of our powers, we’ll at least take one out each. If that happens, things will get easier.”

“I know.”

The allies could kill them all if they bunched up together, but the enemies weren’t grouping. Each ally could kill two of them, so the enemies weren’t stepping forward. Four of them had already died to three allies, so no single enemy hero was advancing.”

They would rely on support from the archers on the wall, and Junhyuk also knew the enemies would attack him ferociously if he used up all of his powers.

“We should focus our powers on Gongon.”

“You want to attack Gongon first?”

Junhyuk shook his head and replied, “No, we’ll attack the others first.” He continued calmly, “Layla, can you deal with a hero by yourself?”

“That’s possible.”

Junhyuk turned to Ebodia and asked, “Ebodia, what are your powers?”

She lifted her hand, and streams of black magic twisted from her fingertips. The streams formed a small cage.

“I can imprison an enemy, but I need to be within a certain distance to make it happen, so it has a high failure rate.”

The black magic on Ebodia’s fingertips moved around and formed the shape of a spear.

“I can pierce an enemy’s chest. This one can’t be dodged.”

The black magic turned into an orb.

“When I throw this on the ground, it breaks into shrapnel that cover a certain area.” Then, she added calmly, “My ultimate creates three magic rings that tighten up around the enemy for three seconds. Think of it a large prison. I’ve never seen anyone break free from it.”

“What about if someone teleports? Could they escape it then?”

Ebodia shook her head, and Junhyuk thought her ultimate was a high-ranking power. He said then, “You deal with Gongon.”

“That hatchling? Honestly, I’m not very confident.”

“It’s only for a little while.”

Looking at Gongon, Ebodia nodded. Junhyuk turned to Layla and said, “Layla, you deal with Pelt. I’ll take care of the rest of them.”

“Right.”

Layla raised her katana, and Junhyuk looked at the minions. They were anxious, gulping nonstop.

Grimacing, Junhyuk said, “If you want to live, don’t let your shields go down. We’ll advance slowly.”

Human minions weren’t fit for rushing, so they gathered shoulder to shoulder and formed a shield wall. Looking at them, Junhyuk ordered, “Advance.”

The minions advanced, and the enemy camp responded. The gorillas broke toward the left and the right. They meant to flank the allies and pincer them as they advanced.

The enemy heroes tensed up, and looking at them, Junhyuk gulped as well.

“Then, Layla, let’s move.”

“OK.”

Junhyuk looked at Ebodia and said, “You’ll do well.”

“Don’t worry,” Ebodia answered drearily.

Junhyuk and Layla walked with the rest of the minions, and as they closed in, Gongon shouted, “Let’s start!”

The enemy heroes ran forward, all of them keeping a ten-meter distance from each other and Junhyuk. Junhyuk looked toward the enemy hero whose name he didn’t know. He had a push power, which Junhyuk had already seen.

Gongon was in command, so Junhyuk knew the enemy heroes wouldn’t come after him.

He sped up. Junhyuk and Layla ran toward the nameless hero, and the hero extended his hand toward Junhyuk, but Junhyuk teleported immediately.

Boom!

The enemy’s power reached the spot where Junhyuk had been standing, but he was now in front of the nameless hero and he stabbed the hero through the neck.

The hero’s blood splattered on him, and while covered in it, Junhyuk grabbed the hero and jumped. He kept the height of his jump low, maximizing its horizontal distance.

He landed next to the manticore hero, who tried to swat him with his front paws. Junhyuk blocked the attack with his sword and teleported again while touching the manticore.

This time, he appeared next to Kalta, who was shocked when he saw Junhyuk and extended his right arm toward him. However, Junhyuk triggered a Spatial Collapse on the manticore’s chest. The collapse was triggered at close range, and the manticore howled loudly. The attack dealt 72 percent of damage to the hero. The others were sucked into the collapsed s.p.a.ce and damaged as well. Then, Junhyuk used his Spatial Slash on Kalta.

Blood spurted out of Kalta’s neck like a fountain, and Kalta faded. The shockwave swept through the surrounding enemies, and the manticore faded as well.

Junhyuk stabbed the nameless hero, who tried to push him off.

Thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck!

The three enemies heroes died suddenly, but the archers started attacking him from the back. Junhyuk got hit by five arrows and lost 15 percent of his health. While the archers were reloading, Junhyuk picked up the three items and started running.

Gongon shouted immediately, “Don’t let him escape! Gorillas, turn around and attack him!”

The gorillas turned and went after Junhyuk. He could tell what Gongon was thinking. Just like he had done to the hatchling, Gongon was trying to keep him within the archers’ range.

Ebodia was extending her hand toward Gongon, and Junhyuk turned to Layla.

Layla was finishing her eight-hit combo on Pelt, and Pelt faded away.

Things were going well for the allies.