One of the infected stepped forward. It was the same person who had used the shotgun power to shoot down helicopters from one kilometer away.

Junhyuk stood in front of Charles. He had made up his mind to attack the infected with any sudden movement. Junhyuk didn’t know if the infected were completely overtaken by the poring, or if it was possible to reason with them.

“My name is Denver.” The man introduced himself without attacking. He pointed toward Junhyuk and said, “We all volunteered for the P-Project. For our country and for money.”

Denver looked at Charles and continued, “While the project was active, many died, but many survived as well. We worked harder to activate even more powers, but our positions haven’t changed. The way they treat us hasn’t changed.”

“WHY?! WHY MUST WE BE CAGED HERE?!” Denver shouted.

Junhyuk stared at the man and asked, “Is that why you kidnapped Charles Rockefeller? What do you want?”

“We just want our freedom back. We want to fight for our country. We have that right.”

Junhyuk shook his head and said, “No. Unless you are in complete control of yourself, you can’t join Guardians.”

“Is that why you took our rights away?”

“No, but there is a reason for why you can’t fight with Guardians.”

The dimensional managers might be monitoring the infected, and so, they could inadvertently act as spies for the managers.

“Then, must we stay here?”

Junhyuk turned to Charles and saw that Charles seemed relaxed.

“You attacked me and killed my bodyguards. There is no way I can make a deal with you people now.”

Junhyuk sighed after hearing what Charles said and turned to Denver. The infected had been in containment, and their lives must have been very hard that way. However, Guardians couldn’t do anything about it.”

Staring at Denver, he asked, “Did you kill people?”

Denver nodded and said, “I had no choice.”

“With your powers, you probably did.”

“I can fight other powered people without killing them, but normal people…”

Junhyuk sighed. The infected weren’t wrong to want their freedom, but they had already killed innocent people.

“You may not have your freedom yet.”

“Dark Knight!” Charles exclaimed, but Junhyuk was entirely focused on Denver.

“You’ve committed murder. After you are judged in a court of law and do your time, you may join Guardians.”

Denver’s brow twitched, but Junhyuk kept going, “I’ll give you what you want then: money and the right to fight for your country.”

Denver gritted his teeth and said, “We had no choice! They had kept us locked here and they tried to kill us!”

Junhyuk scoffed at his response and asked, “You acknowledge no wrongdoing?”

“Of course!”

“There is nothing I can do,” Junhyuk said somberly. “You seem to have control of your faculties, but the fact that you use your powers to achieve your goals makes you worse than those under control of the poring.”

After saying that, Junhyuk raised his sword and added, “I can’t let you be.”

Staring at him, Denver said, “Dark Knight, there are only two of you. Do you think you can deal with us all?”

Junhyuk shrugged and said, “It’ll be difficult if I’m to let you live, but it’ll be easy if I just kill you.”

“Do your worst!”

Denver extended his hand forward, and the green energy bullets shot from his fingertips. Junhyuk decided to block for those standing behind him and spun Aksha’s Longsword. The sword shield blocked all of the green projectiles.

On Earth, he was able to use his mana to defend with Aksha’s Longsword, so without worrying, he ran forward.

“Helen, protect Charles!”

Helen brandished the Wolf Warlord’s Claw Sword with her left hand and extended her right. Junhyuk trusted her to do the job.

Junhyuk extended Aksha’s Longsword, and Copper extended both hands forward. His hands were surrounded by green energy, and he used them to block.

Clang!

Junhyuk’s attacks were deflected by the green energy. Junhyuk was accelerating, but the infected could still see his movements. Not only that, they could also respond to his movements, which was unexpected.

They were slower than him, but they could react to him. He started thinking he might kill them if they continued fighting that way, so he removed one of the Pure Golden Knight set items. If he triggered a shockwave, he would end up killing them all.

Denver used his shotgun shot, and Junhyuk raised his force field to look at the flying bullets. He closed in even faster with the force field, swinging Aksha’s Longsword repeatedly.

Cooper tried to defend the infected, but his leg got slashed off.

“Argh!” he screamed.

Then, Junhyuk swung Dentra’s Magic Sword. He couldn’t wield Dentra’s Magic Sword like Aksha’s Longsword yet, but he thought he would be able to disable his enemies. Wind Blades flew everywhere, but the infected kept attacking him.

There were powers flying from all directions, and they were moving incredibly fast.

It wasn’t possible to keep up with him since he was accelerating. The infected lacked enough speed to fight him continuously, but they were as fast as a Wolf Warlord.

Could humans move that fast?

Junhyuk was curious about their condition, but he had to keep fighting. Without hesitation, he used the Wind Blades again. A few blocked his attacks, but a few got hit and fell.

The enemies wounds were closing quickly, and they kept regaining health. Junhyuk frowned when he saw Cooper reattaching his sliced leg.

At that point, he realized he had to kill them, so he used his Wind Blades again.

Boom, boom, boom!

The infected were blown away. Junhyuk looked at them and gathered his breath.

“Their powers aren’t the problem. What’s going on?”

“They’ve been injected with R-Potions, but even that can’t explain their speed.”

Junhyuk knew that something more than the R-Potions was at work. They couldn’t have gotten that strong with just the R-Potions.

Looking at them, Junhyuk saw that they were ready to attack him again. They weren’t heroes, but their strength went well beyond human limitations.

They had the powers of experts and champions, but their health pool went well beyond their level. Charles Rockefeller’s powered bodyguard had died trying to protect him.

Junhyuk started to worry. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, so he lowered his swords and asked, “Are you working on an antidote to disperse the influence of the infection on the infected?”

“Of course!”

Junhyuk looked at the infected and said, “You have a choice to make right now. Accept your wrongdoings and give yourselves up to the authorities. Once the treatment is complete, I’ll make sure you all get treated.”

Charles Rockefeller frowned, but he did not say anything to dispute Junhyuk’s claim.

“We’ve done no wrong!” Denver said coldly.

“You are too forgiving of yourself. You have murdered,” Junhyuk said. “I can’t let you live this way. What is your choice?”

Denver prepared another energy shot on his fingertips and said, “I can’t agree to your conditions.”

Junhyuk used his Spatial Slash. To him, the infected had given up their humanity. Right as his slash was released toward Denver, something else happened. Denver disappeared. Time seemed to have stopped.

Junhyuk scowled. That could only mean one thing.

Eltor appeared in front of him, taking the Spatial Slash in place of Denver. It did nothing against the manager.

Eltor smiled and asked, “How have you been?”

“Why are you here?”

He looked back at the infected and said, “These people are valuable to us. They have activated their powers solely by their will. We can’t let them die.”

Junhyuk laughed. Eltor had had something to do with the infected.

“I have a question for you,” he said as he pointed his sword at the manager. “When those heroes crossed over, you made that dimensional tear, right?”

Eltor didn’t seem to know what he was referring to and simply shrugged.

“You’ve got it all wrong. We need time to set up large dimensional tears. Without that time delay, we’d have already sent a lot more monsters to Earth.”

“Then, you are telling me those heroes knew when you’d trigger the tears?”

“Probably.”

“How did they know when to cross over?”

Eltor really didn’t know.

“Coincidence?”

“Now, you’re just trying make me mad!”

Junhyuk was furious, but he didn’t do anything. He had to master the Dimensional Slash before he could attack Eltor. Relaxed, Eltor smiled at him. He seemed to be enjoying making Junhyuk angry, and Junhyuk didn’t want to show him that he could.

Junhyuk stepped back and asked, “What are you going to do with them?”

“You earthlings have shut down your research on them, but we’ll continue where you stopped.”

“Are you taking them with you?”

“It’s too bad for them, but I am.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“You were just trying to kill them. That seems funny to me.”

“Death would be better. They don’t want to be lab rats.”

The infected had risked their lives for their freedom. Junhyuk couldn’t contain their powers, so he had to kill them.

Eltor stared at him and smiled.

“This decision has nothing to do with you.”

The manager snapped his fingers, and all of the infected disappeared, gone into a dimensional tear.

Junhyuk knew Eltor was powerful.

“I’m sorry to take them, but I will give you a present in return. Until you go to the Dimensional Battlefield again, no more waves will trigger on Earth.”

Junhyuk gripped his sword tightly. He had to do what Eltor was telling him, at least for now. He was extremely disappointed with himself.