Chapter 149: Swamp of Despair 2
Translator: Moliere
Editor: SootyOwl
The watchtowers at the Swamp of Despair looked like they were built by barbarians when compared to the watchtowers from the Valley of Death. The swamp was surrounding them, and they looked hastily built, but the watchtowers had to have some magic protection.
Junhyuk looked at the lizardmen archers atop the watchtowers. They were sticking their tongues out while they looked at the enemy camp. When Junhyuk looked that way, he saw that the enemy also had lizardmen. It was a champions-only battlefield, and the champions would decide who would win since the minions were the same kind.
Their road had two enemy champions. If both of them had gone over to Aktur, he would have had to kill them. Both champions looked special, however.
"They don't have humans here?"
The heroes were mostly humanoid, but the swamp was completely different, starting with the champions standing in front of them.
One was a three-meter tall, four-armed, grey-skinned monster. He only had one eye, but he carried four weapons: a short spear, a longsword, an axe and a hammer. At first glance, he looked dangerous.
The other, standing next to the monster, was a female centaur, she had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a horse. There was a spear on her back, but she was holding a horn bow.
Junhyuk took stock of them and asked Kaljaque, "What kind of powers do they have?"
"We will know when we fight them. Why are you so curious? Don't fight with your brain."
Junhyuk now understood and agreed with Aktur about the troll, but the troll had to contribute. He couldn't just send him on the enemies' path. They would kill Kaljaque and make money, getting even more equipment. It would quickly go from bad to worse.
"This is my first time fighting here, and I'm worried. You've fought them before, so you must know!"
'Hhha! That's right. I fought them for a long time."
Kaljaque pointed to the four-armed, one-eyed monster.
"His name is Lugos. His skin turns black if you hit him, and I think he feels less pain that way."
He must mean Lugos buffs his own defense.
"When his arms double in size, be very careful. If he swings your way, it hurts a lot."
He means Lugos increases his muscle mass to attack.
"Lastly, be careful when he stomps the ground. It creates strange shockwaves that send you up in the air."
Junhyuk looked at Lugos. His size and defensive power meant the champion was some type of tank.
"What about that woman with the horse's body?"
"Her name is Gyulsean. She shoots her horn bow from a distance. She is hard to deal with."
A long-range attacker. She will be difficult.
"When she closes in, she uses rushes with her spear. It hurts you bad and also pushes you back."
Junhyuk looked at the flamewall next to him. Touching it would damage him and push him back. He had to be aware of it.
"What is the distance of her rush?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't measured it. It must be longer than my own rush."
Junhyuk expected it to be fifteen or twenty meters. He could cover that with his teleportation.
Kaljaque raised both of his hands.
"When she is close to you, she will spear and throw you. Be careful. She has killed many people that way."
He knows she has those powers, but he still got killed by her many times, Junhyuk thought and smiled bitterly.
"A tank and a full-range damage dealer. Hard to deal with. How do you fight them?"
"How do I fight them..." Kaljaque laughed, raised his staff and shouted, "Attack!"
"What?!"
Junhyuk didn't have time to respond. He and the lizardmen were already running.
"What about the watchtower?!"
"We will kill them first!" he shouted and ran forward.
The enemies had smiles on their faces. Gyulsean pulled her bowstring slowly, and Junhyuk felt better. When Gyulsean shoots her bow, Kaljaque will stop, and we won't be attacked by the watchtower, he thought. If they were attacked by the watchtower while fighting the enemies, they would be easily killed.
Gyulsean fired, and Kaljaque turned his head, but was hit on the shoulder and should have stopped then, but he kept moving.
"You can't make me stop!"
He moved faster, and Junhyuk despaired at the sight. Can I actually win with this guy?
Gyulsean fired again while she retreated, and Lugos stepped forward. Lugos was so much bigger than him, but Kaljaque didn't care.
"Come here, Lugos!"
Kaljaque rushed forward, covering fifteen meters in an instant, but Lugos didn't care. The one-eyed monster wasn't ignorant at all. He was very calm.
Boom!
Kaljaque's rush looked very stupid, but the hit created quite a shock. The giant Lugos was pushed back and staggered, and Kaljaque swung his staff at him without hesitation.
Boom, boom, boom!
The three-hit combo! That's his power! Why is he using all of his powers now? Lugos won't die from his attacks, and he seems strong!
Lugos raised his four weapons to block, but the shockwaves pushed him backward. Kaljaque kept moving forward, and the watchtower started attacking him. Each arrow was powerful. Junhyuk could see it with his eyes, and the lizardmen engaged in dogfights.
At that time, Junhyuk got behind Kaljaque. Lugos was strafing to one side while fighting, and Junhyuk noticed that too. He was making way so that Gyulsean could attack, but the most important thing was to get out of the tower's range.
Gyulsean saw Lugos making way, and instead of shooting an arrow, she rushed with her spear.
Boom!
The rush hit Kaljaque in the ribs and launched him away. Junhyuk watched him bounce five meters away and understood her power. Gyunsean put more emphasis on launching her opponent than simply striking him. In terms of damage, it was lower than Kaljaque's rush, but she could use her power in many different ways.
Kaljaque was pushed back and shouted loudly, "You coward! Your rush again?!"
At first sight, Lugos and Gyulsean showed coordinated and powerful attacks. They were cooperating with each other and easily dealing with Kaljaque.
Junhyuk ran over to Kaljaque, touched his back and teleported.
"Hm?"
When he opened his eyes, Kaljaque saw that Lugos and Gyulsean were farther away, so he looked back.
"Cool your head and then fight."
"What are you talking about?! Did you see me being attacked?"
Junhyuk inspected Kaljaque. He was looking to see how much of Kaljaque's health had gone down. The enemies' attacks were fierce, but he still had half of his health left, and it was regenerating at incredible speed.
Gyulsean's attacks weren't weak, so Kaljaque's health had to be higher than Junhyuk had imagined. He was also regenerating quickly, so he had to be a tank-type champion.
Tanks needed to rush and grab the enemy's attention, but diving in took timing as well. He was just being ignorant and he could get himself killed.
Kaljaque saw his lizardmen getting maimed and tried to run back, but Junhyuk grabbed his arm.
"What?" he shouted, and Junhyuk shook his head.
"Let's retreat."
"Why?"
"We are being attacked by the tower, and we can't fight them both that way."
"You should help out. I will take one down, and you take one down. Since you can teleport, you deal with Gyulsean."
Junhyuk shook his head.
"Gylsean's attack range is longer than the distance of my teleportation."
"While you get close to her, I will distract them."
Junhyuk stared at him. His eyes were very serious, and Kaljaque felt extremely dumb. Junhyuk had seen him rushing and thought Kaljaque only cared about himself. When he told him he would distract the enemy, Junhyuk understood he could also think about others.
"We have to retreat."
"Then our minions will be killed."
"If the minions all die, we can still kill the champions. That will be better."
Kaljaque stared at him. If the minions died, that was the end, and killing champions sounded better. Junhyuk had just arrived, but he knew Junhyuk was right. However, he had never retreated before. He is a troll warrior.
Kaljaque looked at the enemy and smacked his lips.
"If we retreat, can we win?"
"When we are outside of the tower's range, I will fight with you."
"If we don't retreat?"
"I won't come."
"Even if I die?"
Junhyuk nodded heavily.
"To win, I must not."
Kaljaque shouted, "Retreat!"
The lizardmen heard him and got back slowly. They were different from men in that they did it orderly. They had been trained the right way, so they weren't all dead. Twenty of them remained. While they retreated, the enemy champions didn't do anything.
The enemies just kept staring at them while Junhyuk took Kaljaque and retreated to his own tower. Then, they started talking among themselves.
Kaljaque started pounding the ground with his staff and glancing at his enemies. He also didn't forget to complain.
"Warriors are suppose to fight until their heads get crushed. We are teasing them, and I don't like it."
Junhyuk didn't answer and just kept paying attention to what the enemies were up to.
"Without that tower, we will win."
"I trust what you say."
Junhyuk knew the opponents didn't know about him, and he wanted to use that to his advantage. So, Kaljaque had to get their attention.
The enemy champions talked for a while before stepping forward along with their eighty surviving lizardmen.
Junhyuk didn't care about the lizardmen minions. He could kill them all with a few strikes, but he wanted to watch how the enemies responded.
He looked at Kaljaque. His muscles were twitching, and Junhyuk noticed that his health had gotten over 60 percent. In just a short period, he had regained 10 percent of his health, and Junhyuk was shocked by his ability to regenerate.
Kaljaque acted like and had the powers of a troll.
The enemy was just outside of the range of the allied tower when Kaljaque took his staff and started running.
"Attack!"
Junhyuk followed him and sighed deeply. He had to fight with that troll and gain experience in the battlefield, but he already had a headache.