Things were bad for the enemy hero, so Garu started running away. He was simply a tank, and as a tank, Garu could face an opponent and hold out, but with two heroes and a champion against him, he had to run away.

However, running away wasn’t that easy. Junhyuk teleported and blocked Garu’s path. Right as he appeared, Garu used his jump. Normally, he would use his jump to attack enemies, but now, he was using it to flee.

Right when Garu landed, Junhyuk appeared in front of him, blocking his path again. Garu’s expression hardened, and the hero used his taunt.

“Come at me!”

Junhyuk lost his will and rushed to attack Garu, but the taunt had a weak side to it. The taunt raised Garu’s defense sharply, but the hero couldn’t really move around while that was in effect.

At the same time, someone came up nonchalantly behind Garu. It was Elise, the champion of Junhyuk’s team, and suddenly, the taunt was dispelled.

“Now, you can’t run away.”

Junhyuk aimed his sword at the hero’s chest. Garu blocked the frontal attack, but Junhyuk’s second sword grazed his thigh. Garu tried to grab Junhyuk with his trunk, but his power didn’t trigger.

Gongon launched himself toward Garu and slammed against Garu’s waist.

“Ugh!” Garu let out. The elephant screamed as Junhyuk attacked him repeatedly and raised both arms to block the attacks.

Laughing, Junhyuk shouted, “Gon! Get ready!”

At the same time, Garu felt his heart stop. It felt like his heart was disappearing, and pain seared through his chest. Transformed, Gongon had used his firebreath on the elephant.

While being attacked, Garu became curious about something. He hadn’t been able to use his powers before, so how were the allies using their powers now? The answer to the mystery was Elise. Once the allies used their powers, Garu realized he too could use his, so he blew a gust with his trunk.

Junhyuk was pushed back, and Garu tried to run away, but Junhyuk’s ultimate was holding him in place, a gaping hole in his chest.

Garu was unable to move, so the allies continued to attack him. Junhyuk’s attacks were fatal to the hero. They pierced right through Garu’s high defensive stat.

When Junhyuk’s ultimate faded, Garu extended both hands and tried to grab him. It wasn’t a power, but Garu thought he would be able to escape that way. Junhyuk dodged the attack, and Garu started running, but not for long. Transformed, Gongon stood in Garu’s path.

The small, but fully grown dragon, breathed a huge fireball at the enemy hero. Garu was struck by it, and his consciousness faded.

—

Almost dead, Garu had still rushed at Junhyuk, who had stepped aside. He had wanted Gongon to have the kill. Using his ultimate, Gongon killed Garu and smirked.

“Let’s destroy the watchtower.”

Since Yagi had come that way, the opposite side only had Tros to deal with. Tros had long range attacks and a unique ultimate, but he wouldn’t be able to deal with three heroes. With her ultimate, Sarang could completely ignore Tros’ attacks and close in.

They destroyed the watchtower, and Junhyuk turned to the group. Gongon had lost nearly half of his minions. Adding them to Junhyuk’s minions, they had 180 minions left. It was plenty to keep going.

“Let’s destroy the second watchtower.”

“OK!”

While moving as a group, Junhyuk thought hard about their positions. He wanted to know where the enemies were, but with the portals, he couldn’t guess when and where they would show up. Looking at his group, he asked, “Shouldn’t one of us stay at the center portal?”

Gongon thought for a moment and asked, “Can you go anywhere from that portal?”

“Yes.”

“Then, are we not gonna take the second watchtower?”

Junhyuk smacked his lips. He wasn’t gonna give up the central tower, but he couldn’t send Gongon to attack the second watchtower alone.

Elise spoke up, saying, “The revived heroes have been moving around for an hour. We should check the middle tower first, and if they aren’t there, we’ll head right or left accordingly. We can use the portals to get there and check.”

Junhyuk nodded. If their enemies weren’t at the buff tower, they would have gone either left or right. Sarang had gone right, and she might have killed Tros already. There was no way to tell where the enemies were now, but he could always camp at the central tower and wait for his enemies to show up.

“We need to know where the enemies are, so let’s go to the portal. I’ll use it to head to the buff tower.”

“Let’s do it.”

Elise was carrying Gongon in a hug in front of her and talking about magitek. He didn’t know what they were talking about, but it didn’t matter, he would be leaving them back by the portal.

When they reached the portal, Junhyuk used it to reach the top of the mountain. He walked over to the enemy camp and saw n.o.body was coming up the path.

“Where are they?”

He wanted to maintain a team in the middle: him, Elise and Sarang. But, it would be better for Sarang to join Gongon.

Junhyuk and Elise would be enough to hold the tower. Ronga was the most dangerous of the bunch, but everyone had upgraded their items. They would be able to fight anyone who wasn’t Ronga.

Junhyuk contacted the others and said, “The enemies aren’t at the buff tower. We should watch out for Ronga, but let’s change teams. We’ll have two teams push the sides. If you come up against Ronga, pull him to the portal. I’ll use it to show up and deal with him.”

Shaking his head, Gongon asked, “Is that even possible? They might be hunting the dragon or trying to attack us from behind.”

“They can use the forest to go around us,” Layla said, and Junhyuk smacked his lips.

“Then, what do we do?”

After some thought, Gongon said, “Occupy the buff tower. Let’s follow your plan, but we’ll use the portals if we are attacked from behind.”

Smiling, Junhyuk said, “OK. Sarang, use the nearest portal to join up with Gongon. Elise, you come over to the tower. I’ll stay here.”

Everyone agreed with the plan, and Junhyuk added, “The goal of the strategy is to lure our enemies to the portals.”

Gongon shrugged and said, “If it isn’t Ronga, we don’t need to do that.”

“That’s what I think as well,” Junhyuk said with a laugh.

Ronga was the strongest enemy.

Junhyuk would occupy the buff tower, and unless their enemies concentrated their efforts against him, he would remain there.

Junhyuk disconnected, and soon after, Elise appeared. She yawned hard as she walked out of the portal.

“Are we taking a rest?”

It would be at least another hour before they met any enemies, so Junhyuk nodded, and Elise walked toward the buff tower while searching for something in her Spatial Bag.

“Nice! I’ve been wanting to research this place.”

She pulled out a lot of tools, and after she had everything installed around the tower, she sat down. He sat next to her, and Elise looked up at the sky.

“As a scientist, I didn’t believe in G.o.d, but looking at this, I have to.”

Junhyuk agreed. The Dimensional Battlefield couldn’t be explained scientifically. He didn’t know if the G.o.d they talked about on Earth existed, but the dimensional managers certainly possessed G.o.dly powers.

He was training himself to fight them, and his goal was to be able to use the Dimensional Slash. With it, he would be able to fight the managers. For the time being, Junhyuk pulled out a core and focused on the energies within it.

Simply by understanding the core, Junhyuk knew he would be able to increase his control over mana. At the same time, he focused on grasping Dentra’s swordsmanship.

Elise pulled out a tablet and checked some information on it. He knew Elise was bold, and she seemed to be enjoying herself during her rest.

After an hour, both sides contacted him, which made him scowl.

“We’ve got Garu and Yagi.”

“And we have Cuba and Tros.”

n.o.body had seen Ronga.

“Ronga?”

“Not here,” both sides replied at the same time, and he sighed. Ronga was unaccounted for, and that made him uncomfortable.

“Where is Ronga?”

The hero had disappeared.

While Junhyuk thought hard about it, Elise showed him her tablet.

“I’ve made this.”

He looked at her tablet with astonishment. The tablet was displaying a top view map of Nightmare Mountain in 3D. Looking at the screen, Junhyuk tried to guess where Ronga was.

The hero had died first, but both paths had enemy heroes appear in them. So, where was Ronga? Junhyuk hadn’t been able to guess where he could’ve gone alone, but Elise said, “Maybe he went off to hunt a buff monster?”

“Regular buff monsters wouldn’t help much.”

Ronga could kill a series of buff monsters by himself. The Ghost White Tiger was dead, but Ronga could hunt other buff monsters. Would those buffs change the battle?

“There are roaming buff monsters now.”

Junhyuk scowled at that. Could Ronga kill a roaming buff monster by himself? He had no idea of what kind of buff Ronga might show up with if so.

He was deep in thought when, suddenly, someone appeared from the portal. The figure had two broadswords lashed behind his back. Under his feet, Junhyuk saw colorful rings.

Ronga smirked and said, “I knew you’d be here.