Junhyuk had received another buff, so he contacted the others. With his new buff, he was sure he could help anyone.

Gongon greeted him matter-of-factly, “Time is up. Did you get the buff?”

“I did, and it’s surprisingly strong.”

“Yeah? That’s nice.”

Junhyuk knew Gongon was safe, so he turned to Layla. She had a serious look on her face as she said, “We’ll retreat now and meet you at the portal. Ronga is here.”

“It’ll take me a couple of hours.”

Fleeing Ronga that entire time wouldn’t be easy. His rush and his ground dig could both shorten the distance between them.

Junhyuk teleported quicky. He did it three times before he started to run, glad that he had left Elise behind.

His speed was faster than most, and with his teleportations, he could move nearly twice as fast as anyone.

Junhyuk was at least two hours from a portal. Even with his teleportations, he would be two hours late. After running for thirty minutes, he contacted Layla.

“Rodrey’s been killed.”

“And you?”

“I’m still running.”

“What about your enemies?”

“We damaged them, but they are all still alive.”

Junhyuk smacked his lips then. Cuba, Tros and Ronga were all up. Junhyuk and Layla wouldn’t be enough against them.

“Go through the portal and head for the buff tower. Wait there. I’ll meet you there,” he said quickly.

“OK.”

After that, Junhyuk contacted Gongon and said, “Gon! Take the portal and head to the buff tower.”

“I’m already on the move. Give me thirty minutes, and I’ll reach the portal.”

“Thanks! Hurry!”

Gongon had an impressive understanding of the flow of the battle. He would get there quickly, and Junhyuk would be able to fight the enemy heroes with his help.

“Wait! What happened to your enemies?”

“They are chasing after me.”

Junhyuk smiled bitterly. The enemies would use the portal as well, gathering in one place.

Junhyuk knew he would be late, so he said, “I’m going to be late, so can you buy me some time?”

“Of course!”

“The watchtower is still there. Use it and have Elise help you.”

“What?! Do you think I’m an amateur?”

“No. You’ll do fine.”

“Don’t worry.”

Junhyuk disconnected and picked up the pace. He had never maintained constant teleportations like he was doing now. Every time the cooldown was up, he teleported immediately.

After thirty minutes of running and teleporting, he realized that the distance of his teleportations had increased. It wasn’t much, only a meter.

It was a small change, but it meant that his power would evolve over time, so he smiled. He refocused and teleported. Another thirty minutes went by. The allies had to have engaged their enemies by then.

Junhyuk waited for someone to contact him since he didn’t want to distract them from the fight. Gongon contacted him first.

“What happened?”

“s.h.i.t! Five is too many! We killed two, but we got pushed back. We lost the buff tower.”

Even with Elise to help them, there were only three allied heroes there, so they had to be in dire straights.

Junhyuk sighed and said, “It’s OK. I’ll join you soon. Return to the castle now, and we’ll attack them together.”

“Right. I’ll wait for you there.”

“Tell Rodrey to return as well.”

“Sure.”

Junhyuk disconnected and returned to the castle. After the bright light faded, he found himself in the sp.a.w.n room with Ariel waiting for him.

“The new buffs are way too strong.”

She smiled and said, [They are meant to change the battle.]

“They are weaker than the dragon’s buff, but they’re still way too strong.”

[Of course. They should help you kill the dragon, but there is a limit to them here, and you already used them all.]

Junhyuk gave her a bitter smile. He might not be able to keep the buff tower with the roaming monsters in play. Even getting to them used up buff time.

“Seeing how important they are, it would be nice if they lasted longer.”

[There has to be a limit.]

Junhyuk waved at her and said, “I’ll be back.”

He headed for the exit, and Ariel shouted, [Hero Junhyuk Lee deployed.]

He walked outside and saw the allies gathered in one place. Gongon asked first, “Is that the new buff?”

“Yes. It’ll be easier to deal with our enemies with it.”

“How much time is left?”

“Three hours. We won’t be able to use it this time.”

“I’m just glad we didn’t lose it to them.”

Junhyuk nodded and turned to the allies. He noticed then that they hadn’t been able to return. All of them had died instead, and their eyes looked angry. Elise seemed to be focused on something.

“Elise, are you OK?”

She looked at him and smiled.

“Dying is always an interesting experience. It helped me.”

Elise had travelled through the harrowing void. He turned to the others and said, “The enemies have only a few options now. We’ll push through the middle, take the tower and pierce through their defenses.”

“Do we have enough time?”

Junhyuk nodded and said, “They have to go back to the buff tower to keep it, so let’s hurry.”

“OK.”

The allies took only three hundred minions with them. They had four hours of climbing ahead of them. Meanwhile, their enemies could be attacking other paths.

By taking the central portal, their enemies could go anywhere they wanted and destroy whichever watchtower. It would take them less than an hour to do it. They could even destroy both towers on the left and right paths, but once the allies occupied the buff tower, they would have to go back there.

All of the first towers on the enemies’ side had been destroyed. If the allies advanced through the middle even after losing both side paths, they could still win.

Junhyuk looked at the group and asked, “What items did you lose?”

Sarang smiled and said, “Nothing from the new set.”

“That’s nice.”

He turned to the others. Gongon and Layla hadn’t lost anything important, but Rodrey gave him a bitter smile.

“All my savings were spent on the item I lost. That was a ma.s.sive blow.”

Junhyuk replied with encouragement, “Don’t worry too much. You’ll kill many more.”

Their enemies had lost more items than them.

While they moved, the enemy heroes destroy watchtowers. By making use of the portals, their enemies destroyed the allied towers on both the right and left paths.

Junhyuk kept moving toward the buff tower without hesitation. They reached the top and saw that the buff was already up for grabs. The allies occupied the buff tower, taking the buff again.

“OK. We can move faster now.”

Using their speed buff, the allies could catch up to their enemies. They moved together toward the second enemy watchtower in the middle path.

They ran with all three hundred minions and, from high up in the mountain, saw enemies waiting for them at the tower. There were two heroes with a hundred minions there, not an incredible defense.

With the boosted speed, the allies expected to get there quickly. As they ran toward the second watchtower, they watched as more enemies came out of the reed fields.

Junhyuk scowled and said, “They killed the dragon.”

The other three heroes had the dragon’s buff. There were only three of them, but the buff was amazing.

The dragon’s buff gave them a 30-percent increase to attack speed. It also increased defense, but with the allies’ high piercing stats, that mattered little. However, killing Ronga had become more complicated.

With their enemies supported by the watchtower, the allies had no advantage.

Junhyuk smacked his lips and turned to the group, saying, “We have to steal that dragon’s buff. Focus on Yagi and Tros. Not Ronga.”

Ronga would step forward first, but with some luck, he would be able to kill Yagi in a single hit. As they got closer, Elise buffed him.

“Take my buffs.”

After that, Junhyuk held tightly to his swords. Elise’s buffs were the same as two buff monsters combined. Later, once she got more synthesis items, her buffs would be absurd.

Junhyuk stepped forward and Layla said, “Buff me as well. I’ll go with you.”

He turned to Elise and nodded. She couldn’t buff all of the allies, but she could buff three heroes without the first losing their buff.

The enemies did not leave the watchtower.

“Give Layla and Gongon the buffs, and we’ll attack together.”

When her power’s cooldown was up, Elise buffed Layla, who turned to her with astonishment.

“That’s really strong!”

Elise smiled and said, “It’ll be even better if I can synthesize the buffs from the new buff monsters.”

“I’ll be waiting for that.”

The allies had no reason to refuse strong buffs. Junhyuk would hunt the roaming buff monsters and give her any synthesis items he got from them.

The three heroes were buffed, so Junhyuk looked at the group and asked, “Are you ready?”

Gongon grinned, “I can trigger extra attacks now!”

Junhyuk laughed and said, “Don’t forget that Ronga isn’t our target.”

“I know.”

Three enemy heroes had received their buffs from killing the dragon, but the allies had three that had been buffed by Elise.

“Let’s go,” he shouted, and the five heroes, Elise and the three hundred minions ran forward together.

The enemy formation changed quickly. Ronga, Garu and Cuba stepped forward, while Yagi and Tros stayed by the watchtower.

As he ran, Junhyuk unsheathed both of his swords.