Chapter 154: High-Ranking Sorcerer 3
Translator: Moliere
Editor: SootyOwl
Junhyuk stopped running forward and measured the distance to the enemy. There were about thirty meters in between them, with ten stepping stones remaining until he reached the island. He faced a serious dilemma. If he got closer, his enemies would surely attack. Lugos would block his path; Drakey would use his power; and Junhyuk would fall into the swamp.
Junhyuk's jump was still under cooldown, so he couldn't get any closer for now. He just stood there, and Lugos waved his index finger from side to side.
"Give me the Ent's fruit."
"I won't."
"Then, you will give it up when you die."
Junhyuk laughed out loud and said, "If I don't get any closer, you won't either!"
The stepping stones were a hard place to fight. The enemies couldn't easily come to him, so Junhyuk decided to use all of his powers to lure them in.
"You have to come here," he said, raising his sword.
His enemies looked at the Frozen Rune Sword, and Junhyuk pulled the Blood Rune Sword from the scabbard on his back and immediately used Spatial Slash.
"Ugh!"
Both of Drakey's necks had been cut, and blood gushed out of them. He staggered,and lost 50 percent of his health, but Junhyuk agreed that Drakey's stats were balanced. His defense was certainly higher than Gyulsean's. Lugos was also hurt in the process.
Junhyuk smiled coolly.
"Stay there and die."
Drakey quickly drank a potion, which increased his health by 20 percent, leaving it at 70 percent. Junhyuk just stared at him relaxedly while on the stepping stones. His power had a range of thirty meters, and Drakey and Lugos couldn't just stand there.
Lugos ran first. Fighting on the stepping stones was dangerous, so Junhyuk looked back. There were twenty stepping stones behind him, covering a distance of about sixty meters. As Lugos ran toward him, Junhyuk raised his swords.
Lugos was crossing the stones, but Junhyuk knew Drakey had to be behind him. Lugos didn't have a long-ranged attack. He had to attack from at least three meters away, so unless he crossed the stones he wouldn't be able to reach Junhyuk. Some of his weapons had a longer reach, but fighting on the stepping stones meant that they both had a chance to fall into the swamp.
Lugos was stronger than Junhyuk, so he had the advantage. However, his health wasn't greater. Junhyuk stepped back as Lugos came closer. If both sides tried to escape, there would be no place to go, so Junhyuk headed to the center of the stepping stone path.
Lugos followed him, taking large strides toward Junhyuk. Drakey attacked first. He opened his mouth, releasing sound waves. Junhyuk felt the danger, but didn't just leave. He wanted to know the damage the sound waves would inflict so that he could fight Drakey later on.
He couldn't cut sound waves, so he covered his body with his swords.
Boom!
The sound waves hit, and Junhyuk was pushed back. Before he went too far, he stabbed a stepping stone with his sword and used it to hold his weight.
"It hurts."
He had lost 30 percent of his health. Drakey's attack dealt a lot of damage. It wasn't a fatal hit, but still inflicted heavy damage.
Junhyuk balanced himself, and Lugos appeared close to him and stabbed at him with the short spear. He ducked and dodged the spear, swinging his sword in response. Junhyuk cut Lugos' hand. He was too far from Lugos, so cutting his hand was all he could do
Lugos was at the center, and a shockwave spread out from him that made Drakey grunt in pain. Drakey had been right behind Lugos, but he decided to retreat a bit. Meanwhile, Junhyuk was attacked again and countered with his own attack, generating another shockwave. Drakey was hurt again and retreated way back, measuring the range of Junhyuk's shockwaves.
"That's a useful power."
He only had one long range attack, his sound wave, so they had to get close, but the shockwaves would kill them. Every time Lugos was attacked, another shockwave was liberated. Both of them had to take turns when fighting Junhyuk. The stepping stones were too narrow for them to coordinate attacks on him.
Drakey went way back and prepared his attack, and Junhyuk merely smiled at him. Lugos had to fight him alone. Drakey couldn't help at that point. His sound wave was on cooldown, and Junhyuk would kill Lugos before the time was up.
Junhyuk increased his attack speed, and Lugos counterattacked. He was powerful. Each time Junhyuk blocked, he felt like he was about to fall into the swamp. Still, while fighting Lugos, he learned new things. From his point of view, it wasn't a good thing that Lugos was able to swing all four weapons.
Before Lugos could attack with his four arms, Junhyuk stabbed him quickly and continuously, keeping Lugos on lockdown.
He controlled the flow, and Lugos became furious.
"Graaaah!"
Lugos stomped his feet, and Junhyuk clicked his tongue. Shockwaves rose from the ground that sent him into the empty air and took 10 percent of his life away. He hung in the air for a while, and when he landed, it would be in the swamp.
As Lugos waited for Junhyuk to land, he raised his weapons trying to attack him in the air, but Junhyuk teleported.
Junhyuk appeared on his back and kicked, jumping off. Lugos lost his balance and started falling into the swamp, but he stabbed a stepping stone with his weapons to keep himself up. However, Junhyuk didn't have time for him and dashed toward Drakey.
Drakey scoffed at him. His cooldown was over, and Junhyuk would lose. He measured Junhyuk's speed and summoned a tornado.
Junhyuk was running when a tornado appeared in front of him and sent him into the air. He lost 15 percent of his health and teleported again. As he appeared behind Drakey, he swung his sword.
Slash!
Junhyuk's sword only grazed him even though Drakey didn't dodge. Junhyuk felt like he was cutting air. Drakey turned around and swung his spear. Junhyuk raised his sword, but it got deflected, pushing him off from the stepping stones. Drakey opened his mouth and released the sound wave.
Boom!
Junhyuk fell into the swamp.
[You have fallen in the Swamp of Despair. Your ability to escape has decreased by 70 percent, and your movement speed has decreased by 95 percent. If you don't leave the swamp within ten seconds, you will die.]
The sound wave had dealt another 30 percent of damage to him. At that point, he had 15 percent of his health left and he was in the swamp. He had lost 95 percent of his movement speed, and there was no way for him to escape. Junhyuk gritted his teeth and tried to move his feet, but he couldn't get out.
He was slowly drowning and thought he had used his teleports too soon. Then, someone with bandages all over started running toward him. It was Aktur.
"Aktur!" Junhyuk shouted, and Aktur ran faster.
Drakey turned toward Aktur. Junhyuk wished Aktur would save him, but he had to face off against Drakey. Still, Junhyuk tried his best to move toward Aktur.
Drakey was coming toward him, and Aktur extended his hand. Drakey had to cross the stepping stones, but three skeleton soldiers appeared, and he stopped. Meanwhile, Aktur extended his hand in Junhyuk's direction. His bandage unwrapped and flew toward Junhyuk, wrapping his wrist.
Junhyuk didn't have time to respond before the bandage pulled him out of the swamp, and he jumped to where Aktur was standing. Aktur retreated to another stepping stone.
Junhyuk sighed and stood on the stepping stone where Aktur had been standing.
"Retreat! We'll fight on the island," Aktur shouted.
He used the stepping stones to get to the island, and Junhyuk followed him quickly. Both escaped, and Drakey and Lugos went after them, but stopped thirty meters shy of the island. Junhyuk and Aktur were already there.
Drakey stared at them. The island was a far better place to fight than on the stepping stones. Junhyuk had a thirty-meter long-ranged attack, and Aktur could pull enemies twenty meters away.
He knew they couldn't win.
Lugos appeared behind him and asked, "What are we going to do?"
"We have to retreat," Drakey answered, and Lugos thought for a moment.
"Let's."
"We've lost the buff. Let's save ourselves."
"Nothing we can do. They still have Kaljaque, so we'll get one buff out of him."
Drakey laughed and turned around.
"Let's turn back now. They might come after us."
Lugos and Drakey turned, and Aktur said, "Give him the quest item. We'll get the buff and chase after them."
Junhyuk agreed and went over to Hatma. He offered him the Ent's fruit, and Hatma opened mouth.
"Put it in."
Junhyuk put the fruit in his mouth, and Hatma chewed it. Junhyuk was speechless. He had almost died getting it, and Hatma was just eating it.
"It's delicious," Hatma said.
"What about the buffs?"
"Wait."
Hatma's muscles started swelling, and the roots restraining him broke off. There were still branches around his arms, but Hatma put his hands on his chest and opened his mouth.
"I call on you, Thunder. Hatma says that you will move faster than the wind and strike harder than thunder."
[The High-Ranking Sorcerer's buff is applied. For one hour, your movement speed and your critical hit rate increase by 10 percent. When you deliver a critical hit, the opponent will receive 305 additional damage. If you die, the enemy will take the buff.]
Junhyuk was surprised and stared at Hatma. Hatma smirked and looked back at him.
"Kill everyone! Now you know why they were trying to take the quest I'd given you!"
Junhyuk nodded.
Hatma was restrained by the trees again and said, "See you later."
The trees wrapped him and pulled him half underground, to the center of the island. Junhyuk approached him and extended his hand, meaning to pull him out.
"Hatma!"
Hatma smirked and said, "Until the next battlefield."
He went completely under, and Junhyuk realized that was supposed to be his seal and felt bad for him.
"Buried alive."
He clicked his tongue, and Aktur stared at him.
"What are you doing? We will lose them."
"Let's go."
Aktur took off first, and Junhyuk went after him. They headed in the direction Drakey and Lugos had gone, but the two hadn't run away. They were waiting at the end of the stepping stones.
When Aktur saw them, he smiled coldly.
"He-he-he. They want to die."
Junhyuk agreed with him. They were buffed and couldn't lose even if they tried. It would be difficult to fight on the stepping stones, but the buffs were very powerful.
Aktur was already running, and Junhyuk ran after him.