Elise and Sarang gathered in his room an hour before they had to go to the battlefield.

They brought instant food, ate and conversed. While Elise was eating her food, she pulled new equipment one by one. She was holding three new pieces in total, and they were all part of the Red Dragon set.

Seeing them displayed, she smiled.

“I listened to what you said about my lack of items, so I spent great effort into making these. I hurried, and the materials disappeared quickly. With the success rate as it is now, I can make two more items.”

The Red Dragon set now had six pieces. None of the pieces were rings. They were all pieces of armor that carried stat buffs with them.

Elise, with her set, was comparable to Gongon. She wouldn’t be lacking much against the whole team. The Red Dragon set was a fire attribute set, which work just fine against their enemies.

Smiling, Junhyuk asked, “Are you wearing the duplicates?”

“Yes.”

Junhyuk nodded and gave a piece to Sarang, saying, “Take this and sell it.”

“Is that OK?”

“Yes.” Looking at the two of them, he said, “Helen will join us as our champion this time. Since Elise is a hero now, Helen will take her place.”

“I thought the human champions would go to other teams.”

“Correct, but Agenchra helped us get Helen. Also, there will be no monster waves for a couple of weeks.”

“That’s good news!”

Junhyuk nodded and added, “We should aim for another hero, but it won’t be easy.”

Guardians was hard at work, but stopping the monster waves wasn’t easy. There were always human casualties. If they got another hero, the waves would stop altogether.

“My expectations are high,” she said.

He looked at Elise. It was her first battle since becoming a hero. She shouldn’t simply follow him around. She needed to do her part.

Junhyuk trusted her.

“Then, win this round.”

Aktur’s team was strong, but Aktur was the only really strong hero among them. The allies could win. He wanted to buy a new cloak and win, but the real problem was the Perfect Evasion.

“Do I need more runestones?”

WIth more runestones, he could negate the effect of Perfect Evasion. Junhyuk was planning to fill all of the slots in his gear.

The bright light pounded against his eyes, and when he opened them slowly, he saw Ariel.

[How have you been?]

“I’m fine,” he answered as he checked on how much gold he had: 763,613G.

It was a good amount. If he had bet more in a battle with higher returns, he would’ve won more. Then again, he might’ve lost it all.

Junhyuk summoned his items and turned to Ariel, saying, “I’ll be back.”

Ariel shouted out loud, [Hero Junhyuk Lee deployed!]

Junhyuk walked out of the sp.a.w.n room and pa.s.sed the minions. He had seen some of the others from far away, so he joined Gongon and Layla.

The rest hadn’t come out yet. After a while, Sarang, Elise and Helen walked out to meet them. Some time after that, Eunseo appeared.

She was slightly taller than the minions, but her items were rather expensive. Junhyuk recognized her right away. Her items had been crafted from B- and higher-ranked monsters.

After looking around, Eunseo headed for the heroes. She was very surprised not to see the usual heroes with whom she fought.

Junhyuk walked up to her and said, “Welcome, Eunseo.”

“Junhyuk?!”

“Yes, I recruited you to my team.”

Her eyes widened, and he smiled and turned to the group.

“One of the managers helped us this time, so I recruited a champion. Is that OK?”

Gongon stared at Helen and said, “It’s fine. We needed a champion, so this is good.”

Layla nodded and added, “It would’ve taken too long for a minion to become a champion, so this is nice.”

Then, he introduced Eunseo.

“She’s a novice, and her name is Eunseo Kim. I want her to stay within the castle.”

Shaking her head, Layla said, “If she stays here, she won’t activate any new powers.”

Junhyuk gave her a bitter smile and replied, “I know, but she’s an important figure on Earth. I don’t want her to die here.”

Gongon smiled and teased, “Oh! So, you are protecting her?”

“Protection,” Eunseo said with a sigh. “You want me to stay here?”

“You can activate other powers on Earth. If you die here, that’ll be the end. Without you, Earth will be in danger of collapse.”

Eunseo inhaled and replied, “If the others allow it, I’ll stay here. However, I want to join the fight next time.”

He couldn’t promise her he would protect her in the battlefield, but he nodded.

“Sure. However, I want you to activate your powers on Earth while being safe in the battlefield.”

“Thanks.”

He turned to the others and said, “OK. Let’s go to Bebe’s.”

Everyone nodded and entered the shop. Bebe greeted them warmly.

“Welcome!”

Junhyuk pulled out the items he had picked up from the previous round and the two Red Dragon items he was carrying. Bebe smirked and said, “Let’s see. These are new! I’ll give you 700,000G for the two set items. The other five items are worth 120,000G each, so 600,000G. That’s a total of 1,300,000G.”

Junhyuk had some gold of his own, so combining everything, he now had 2,000,000G. There were things to get out of the way first.

“I need the highest-tier sets of runestones. Strength, defense, and hit chance. Give me four sets of each of those three.”

“All twelve sets come to 816,000G with the discount.”

Junhyuk paid the price, leaving him without enough money for another legendary item. He unsocketed the lowest-tiered runestones he had and socketed all of the highest-tier runestones.

“Do you have any cloaks?”

“I have many, as long as you have the gold.”

“Do you have the Vampire Lord Cloak?”

“No. I’ve sold that already.”

Junhyuk wanted all of the items from that set, so he scowled at the Yeti’s reply.

“How much is your most expensive cloak?”

“About 2,000,000G each. The useful ones will cost you at least 1,500,000G.”

Junhyuk didn’t have the gold for that now, but he could have if he won that round.

The others were also shopping. With their upgrades, they were getting stronger. Elise did as many upgrades as she could.

Eunseo was jealous of the heroes. They had far too much gold with which to purchase things. She could feel that they were trying to become legends.

Junhyuk turned to Eunseo and said, “All of us are reaching for legend status, so Eunseo, you need to activate another power.”

She looked at him, and he added, “I’ll support you until you become a hero.”

“Thanks.”

This was a good opportunity for her too. Previously, she could’ve died at any time, but now, she could stay safe while getting stronger.

“Then, let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Junhyuk grouped the minions and turned to Eunseo, saying, “Take care of the castle for us.”

She stayed within it. This time, Junhyuk a.s.signed different paths from the previous round. He needed to send someone with long range attacks to the right, and among them, only Elise and Sarang had those, so he sent Sarang.

She would be in danger by herself, so he sent Helen with her.

Gongon went left while he took Elise and Layla with him up the mountain. They were climbing as three heroes just in case.

Sarang had her invulnerability, so when she went middle, her survival rate was higher than most. She would survive her new path.

Looking at the allies, he said, “Push from the sides and then join us.”

“Right. I’ll be the first to get there,” Gongon shouted as he took his two hundred minions out with him.

“Big brother, I’ll deal with my side.”

Junhyuk was worried about her, but he had no choice but to send her down the right path.

“Please.”

Sarang left, and he looked at his group.

“We should be even with our enemies in number.”

“I’ll help,” Elise said, and he smiled.

“Of course. I’m expecting good things from you.”

They team was different now, but was it stronger? Junhyuk wanted to find out. They headed out quickly.