Chapter 73: Grave Danger 3
One hundred and thirty feet. It was the height of a fifteen-story building. Even while measuring its height, Junhyuk continued to run. The entrance was blocked, and there was only one escape route.
Running toward cliff, Junhyuk looked back. Sarang, just like himself, had the dragon’s buff, so they both displayed great movement speed, but Minota also had the buff.
Minota already had a long stride. He was thirteen feet tall and running, shortening the distance between them. Junhyuk gritted his teeth. If this continued, Minota would catch them.
"Sarang."
"What?"
"Go to the cliff by yourself."
"What about you?"
Junhyuk looked back once and said:
"I’ll follow you."
"I’ll help you."
"No. I’ll also run. Get there first though."
"Big brother!"
He pushed her forward and said:
"We came together and will return together. Go!"
Sarang ran with all of her might, and Junhyuk pulled out his swords and turned around. The doppelganger Minota had lost a lot of health, but he had zero chance of winning. Junhyuk knew that and wanted to hold him off just a little longer.
"Filthy ox! The buck stops here!"
Minota continued running and rushed ahead. He looked at the dangerous rush and sidestepped it, but he couldn’t let Minota continue running.
As he stepped aside, Junhyuk swung his swords. His strikes were coordinated and smooth. Junhyuk swung at Minota’s ribs, and Minota’s eyes opened wide. Minota stopped suddenly and swung his fist. Junhyuk put all his focus on Minota’s attack and escaped it.
Minota’s attack speed had increased along with his movement speed, so Junhyuk did not try to block him and, instead, dodged and countered.
Minota gritted his teeth at being attacked and lifted his hoof high and stomped the ground.
Boom!
Shockwaves shot out in concentric circles from where Minota’s hoof hit the ground, and they made Junhyuk stagger. It was not just a simple stomp. It was Minota’s power and it inflicted a lot of damage.
Minota swung his fist at Junhyuk, who dodged it while staggering, and also swung his swords in response. Because of the Blood Rune Sword, he was regaining health.
Junhyuk attacked three times consecutively with the Frozen Rune Sword, and Minota tried to attack again, but Junhyuk teleported away and started running again.
Sarang was very far away, waiting for him. He ran toward her and briefly looked back. Minota’s movement speed had decreased because of his attacks.
Junhyuk was gaining some distance from him, and as he reached Sarang, they started running again. The cliff was right in front of them.
Junhyuk stood in front of the cliff and clenched his jaw. Even though Minota had slowed down, he would be there any minute. There was no point in just standing there.
He grabbed Sarang’s hand, looked up and bent his knees. His muscles were tensed up, and Junhyuk used his new skill.
"Jump!"
The skill had a long cooldown, two hours, but it was the only thing he could do at that point.
Junhyuk jumped with Sarang in toll. He knew he had power, but actually jumping over a hundred feet was impossible by human standards.
However, the cliff was tall. After jumping a hundred feet, they still had a ways to go. The jump reached its highest point, and Junhyuk calculated the remaining distance and teleported.
He had teleported once against Minota, so he had one remaining. Both of them teleported and saw the top of the cliff. Junhyuk stabbed the cliffside with the Blood Rune Sword and hung by there. The cliff must’ve been taller than 130 feet because the spatial relocation did not make up the rest of way.
Junhyuk calculated the remaining distance and looked at Sarang. She looked back at him, and he smiled and said:
"You go up first and wait."
"What?"
It wasn’t easy pulling a person with one hand. He pulled her up and threw her to the top of the cliff.
"Aaahh!" She screamed and landed safely.
He stabbed the cliff with his other sword and pulled himself up. Having two swords came in handy. He got to the top and rested while looking down.
Minota was going crazy down below, and Junhyuk showed him the middle finger:
"Take this."
At the bottom, Halo was killing Ellic, but in the end, he was killed by Minota joining the fight. He watched everything and gritted his teeth.
At last, all of the allied heroes had been killed.
"Wait! We will be right there!" Minota shouted from below.
"You think you can catch us?"
Junhyuk was not worried and got up, looking at Sarang. She asked him carefully:
"What do we do now?"
Junhyuk sighed.
"We should go to the castle. We should be there when the heroes reincarnate."
"You think we’ll get there?"
He wasn’t completely sure. The forest was full of monsters, and it wouldn’t be an easy task.
"We’ll get back," he said.
He took Sarang’s hand and looked at Minota again. He was still down there, and Junhyuk gave him another middle finger.
"Let’s go."
Minota watched them leave and said:
"I will kill that son of bitch for sure."
Ellic laughed at him.
"You don’t have to say it, but I will be the one to kill him."
"Where do you end up when you follow that road?" Minota asked, laughing.
"There are two paths. What do you want to do?"
"What do you mean? Whoever catches him will kill him."
"OK."
Ellic and Minota smiled at each other, turned around and started running.
---
The forest was much more dangerous when compared to before. They had already encountered three monsters. Luckily, the monsters hadn’t been strong.
However, he couldn’t let his guard down. They had only encountered weak monsters, but with Artlan, they had fought strong monsters that could only be killed by heroes.
Junhyuk had just killed another black lion when Sarang asked:
"By the way, are we moving in the right direction?"
"We are?!"
There was no way to tell directions in that place. There were no stars or sun, so he wasn’t sure he was going the right way. He had been there before, so he trusted his senses, but he wasn’t sure. Junhyuk looked at her.
"Let’s keep moving."
"OK."
Junhyuk laughed and followed a road inside the forest. They had run for a while when they saw a monster.
Boom! Boom!
It was a two-headed ogre. Junhyuk frowned.
"Shit! That can’t be..."
It was a monster on a level that only heroes would be able to beat.
"We should run, right?" He asked her.
"I think so too."
They couldn’t kill it, even if they were buffed, and Sarang realized that too.
"We’ll walk back the way we came," he told her.
"OK."
Sarang and Junhyuk retreated, but the twin-headed ogre bellowed and ran after them. It was coming their way, and Junhyuk stopped.
"Big brother!"
He didn’t mean to fight the ogre. It swung a tree trunk and slammed it, and Junhyuk swung his swords at the ogre’s ankle.
"Ugh!"
The ogre kicked, and Junhyuk rolled on the ground. Junhyuk remembered fighting against Minota, and attacked the ogre three times with the Frozen Rune Sword and teleported out.
He grabbed Sarang’s hand, and both started running.
"I’m going crazy," he complained.
"I see that."
The two-headed ogre threw the tree trunk, and Junhyuk teleported with Sarang.
"Roooarr!"
The two-headed ogre couldn’t hold its anger in and ran faster. The ogre’s movement speed was debuffed, and it couldn’t shorten the distance.
Junhyuk was running with Sarang when he heard the ogre’s loud dying scream.
"Aaaarrrghh!"
He stopped, looked back and saw someone stepping on the dead ogre. With a giant hammer on his shoulder, Ellic was standing on the body.
"I found them."
Junhyuk saw a magic circle around Ellic and frowned. Ellic was buffed. There was no way to fight a hero alone. Skia had been different. Skia had a very low defense, but Ellic was the opposite.
Junhyuk realized it wouldn’t be easy to run away and stopped. Ellic took big strides and said:
"You’re smart. It’s impossible to escape."
Junhyuk looked at the forest. It wouldn’t be easy get off the road. He couldn’t jump and he had already used both spatial relocations, so he couldn’t do anything.
He still had his force field, but it only lasted ten seconds. It would take more than that to kill Ellic, so he sighed and stepped forward.
"Sarang."
"Yes, big brother."
"I will hold him off. You run."
"I don’t want to," Sarang answered curtly.
"I have one spare life, but you can’t reincarnate. So run," he replied just a curtly.
Sarang was speechless, and he continued:
"You heard Vera. I have to save you even if I die. Go!"
Sarang hesitated, but she turned around and ran.
"Don’t die! I’ll kill you if you die!" Sarang shouted, and Junhyuk laughed at what she said and looked at Ellic.
Ellic wanted him dead, badly. He was crazy at that point and said while twisting his lips:
"You thought you could run away?"
From his position, Ellic could not fathom a way for Junhyuk to get away, and Junhyuk believed that Sarang could, but Ellic thought Junhyuk would last about eleven seconds: ten seconds because of the force field, and the remaining second to kill him.
Junhyuk shook his head.
"What are you talking about? I am not planning on dying."
Junhyuk pulled out his swords and stepped forward. Ellic was speechless. Did Junhyuk mean to attack him? Skia had been killed because of Diane and not because Junhyuk had fought well.
Ellic knew he only had a little health left after being beaten by Halo, but he thought he could handle Junhyuk.
"Fine! I will tear you apart and kill that bitch too!"
Ellic rushed forward holding his hammer, and Junhyuk ran toward him, shouting:
"Give me the set item!"