The group ran fast, and when they reached the enemy castle, their enemies, stationed behind their own lizardmen, were waiting for them.

Kraken was in the center of the group, and they were all filled with confidence. Junhyuk scoffed at them. He had fought them already and he knew how strong they had become. If the allies were careful, no one would die while they killed all of their enemies.

He stepped forward.

“I’ll lure them in.”

Junhyuk Spatial Slash had the longest range of all of the attacks, and he thought it would be enough. Kraken stepped forward after seeing Junhyuk approach, and Junhyuk became seriously conflicted.

He wanted to use the Spatial Slash on Kraken, so he looked back and asked, “Do you trust me?”

Sarang nodded, and Gongon’s eyes widened slightly.

“What are you going to do?”

“I want to know what kind of damage I can deal to Kraken.”

Gongon laughed and said, “Just don’t kill the octopus.”

“I’m not going to kill Kraken.”

Junhyuk pointed at Kraken with the Frozen Rune Sword, but Kraken, completely relaxed, ran quickly toward him.

Junhyuk couldn’t understand why Kraken was running his way, but he couldn’t ignore his enemy. So, when Kraken came within range, Junhyuk used the Spatial Slash.

It hit Kraken’s eye, and Junhyuk looked to see how much health Kraken had lost. Junhyuk had thought his increased piercing would’ve increased the damage, but Kraken lost only 45 percent of its health. The additional 3 percent triggered, but Junhyuk had still not expected that.

Before, he was able to take 40 percent off of Kraken’s health, so technically, somehow, his attack was weaker because his new equipment was giving a 30 percent boost to his critical hits.

Junhyuk couldn’t think of a reason for the damage to be that low, and that’s when Kraken rushed him. Kraken couldn’t reach Junhyuk with its rush, but the octopus wanted to get closer, so it used the rush.

“Did Kraken get new equipment?”

That wasn’t possible. The season was over, and heroes couldn’t go to the battlefield. Kraken hadn’t had time to visit the merchant.

As Junhyuk thought about it, Kraken’s tentacles pierced the ground. Junhyuk didn’t know what Kraken was doing. Then, something came out from the ground under his feet. It was Kraken’s tentacles.

Thuck, thuck, thuck, thuck!

A total of six tentacles came out. Two of them started hitting Junhyuk, and the others went for Sarang and Gongon.

Junhyuk’s eyes widened.

“You too?!”

That was Kraken’s ultimate. Those hit by the tentacles were stunned, and nobody knew for how long, but they couldn’t move.

The attack dealt 5 percent of damage to Junhyuk. Considering his increased defense, the damage was severe, and now the enemies were coming at him.

Nid was taking the lead for them. The elidra had already started rushing when Kraken rushed, so he closed in, spinning fast.

Nid dealt another 7 percent of damage to Junhyuk and started swinging his sword. The hero must have felt something while fighting Junhyuk before because his attacks were now very sharp and precise. Nid’s sword sliced Junhyuk’s neck.

Slash!

It was a critical hit, which took another 5 percent off of Junhyuk’s health, and Nid attacked two more times. Junhyuk had been stunned for more than four seconds, and he was shocked by that.

Kraken’s ultimate stunned an opponent for five seconds. Within five seconds, their enemies would be able to kill almost anyone. On top of that, it was a long-ranged stun. The attack’s range was greater than twenty meters.

Kraken’s ultimate had to have a weakness somewhere, but for now, Junhyuk was at a loss.

Then, Nid smirked and howled. Before Junhyuk had a chance to move again, he was stunned again by the howl. His allies standing behind him were also stunned.

Junhyuk was stronger than before, so he was standing his ground. However, Nid attacked again while he was still unable to move. He lost another 5 percent of his health, and Kilraden teleported and attacked him as well. Kraken also joined in.

“You made up your minds!”

Nid’s howl stunned opponents for three seconds. Nid attacked two more times, and Kilraden attacked after teleporting.

At that point, Junhyuk knew that the stun would only last another second, but he still had 50 percent of his health left. Among the legend candidates, Aak had gone through something similar.

Aak’s enemies could stun and attack him mercilessly, but the legend was able to withstand those attacks.

Junhyuk smiled coldly. Once he was able to move again, he would kill everybody. However, that’s when he saw Kilraden smile. Kilraden rarely smiled. The hero turned translucent. They were expecting the most out of Kilraden’s ultimate.

Junhyuk could guess the reason for Kilraden’s smile. Kilraden though his ultimate would do something against him, but he could endure it. After enduring it, he would have a chance to mount an attack of his own.

This time, he had been too confident and hadn’t been able to use his powers. He would raise a force field and, once he regained momentum, he should win.

Kilraden’s doppelgangers attacked him. The first doppelganger hit him for 15 percent, and the rest followed suit. Two more attacks landed, and Junhyuk watched himself lose 45 percent of his health.

Right before he came off the stun, Nid and Kraken both attacked him.

Junhyuk’s vision was filled by Kilraden’s smile, and soon, the world faded away.

—

Thick emptiness. Previously, it hadn’t been easy for him to maintain his ego, but he realized that he had changed. Within the emptiness, he felt mana flowing and he reached for his ego more easily.

He exited the emptiness faster than ever before, but he still did not want to experience it. Once he was out, he coughed up, trying to breathe. Then, he summoned his equipment and walked out of the door.

“Kraken is also a hero?!”

Kraken had unexpectedly become a hero, and Junhyuk hadn’t been able to do anything before being defeated.

That wasn’t the problem, however.

“Two of them have stuns now!”

Their combined attacks gave them an eight-second stun.

“What about Kilraden’s ultimate?!”

Junhyuk had not fathomed such damage. His own health and defense were much greater than before, but he still lost 45 percent of his health.

“I must be going crazy… How come the damage is so high?”

He should have been able to reduce damage taken by 60 percent with his increase health and defense, so something was different.

“Is it percent damage based on Kilraden’s max health?”

Junhyuk had just got done fighting, and he thought that Kilraden’s ultimate being percent damage based on max health made sense. However, he couldn’t be sure of it without seeing how it would affect others.

“It must be a high-ranking ultimate!”

Junhyuk had already seen the highest-ranked ultimate, the Vampire Lord Lujet’s Demon Summoning.

Shaking his head, Junhyuk heard the announcement.

[Champion Junhyuk Lee deployed.]

When he walked out, he tried to raise communications with Gongon and Sarang, but he was unable to connect with them.

“They must’ve all been killed.”

He thought that the allies would win after he had purchased all of that equipment, but things weren’t going well. He hadn’t helped at all, and the allies hadn’t been able to win.

Junhyuk kept thinking as he walked. He had taken the lizardmen that time because he had felt confident that the allies would have won. So, now, they had less than half the original number of lizardmen remaining.

Junhyuk waited, and soon, Sarang showed up. He had guessed that she would’ve been killed first and he was right.

Sarang was anxious, and Junhyuk walked up to her and hugged her.

“Are you OK?”

“To be honest, I’m not fine.”

Since the battle began, she had died three times. She was not OK, so he helped her take a seat and waited.

There was a loud clanking noise, and Gongon appeared.

“Raaaarh! So frustrated!” Gongon was irritated, and he was puffing hard as he headed toward Junhyuk. “The three of them became heroes! How is that possible?!”

Junhyuk nodded.

“It’s certainly unexpected.”

Gongon stomped around and complained.

“Raaarh! I have to activate one more power.”

“It’s not as easy as wishing for it.”

The hatchling bared his teeth. He looked ferocious.

“What are you going to do?”

Junhyuk spoke calmly, “We have to be mindful of a few things. I lost 45 percent of my health to Kilraden’s ultimate. It’s better than the other powers. Also, I think the damage is based on a percentage of Kilraden’s max health. If either of you are hit by it, I’m not sure what will happen.”

“Really? I thought you died easily.”

Junhyuk smiled bitterly and said, “I let my guard down. I put too much trust in my equipment.”

When Kraken wasted his rush against nothing, Junhyuk didn’t expect he would lose.

“What do we do?” Sarang asked calmly.

“We’ll use the force field to deal with them. We should go all out right at the start,” he answered.

Getting new equipment wasn’t everything.

“We have to kill Kraken first. Keep it from using its ultimate.”

“But we all know Kraken’s powers.”

“Right. So, be extra careful,” Junhyuk said and continued, “We don’t know where we will meet our enemies, but we’ll take the lower path toward their castle. We still have a tower there, so we have an advantage.”

“We don’t have the advantage. It’s heroes versus champions now.”

Junhyuk smiled and said, “We’ll be legends if we kill heroes as champions.”

Gongon and Sarang smiled at that.

“OK. Let’s go.”

Gongon and Sarang followed him. They took the lower path to attack the castle. If they were lucky, their enemies would have taken the upper path. If not, they would encounter their enemies ahead.

“Encountering them might be better…”

—

They were lucky. They did not encounter their enemies on the way. Once they reached the enemy castle’s gate, they destroyed it before their enemies could return. They also killed all the archers and went inside. That’s when the allies saw the heroes coming from the rooms within.

Junhyuk smacked his lips after the enemies showed up. The golem was standing right in front of them.

They were cautious of Junhyuk. None of them wanted to fight him alone, which is why they had the golem between them.

“Are you going to be like that?”

If the enemies kept their distance, Junhyuk would be grateful. He had the longest range of all attacks, so he would simply sit back and use Spatial Slashes.

Everything depended on how his enemies would react.

Junhyuk took a step forward, and the heroes smirked and retreated. Although they were heroes, they did not want to fight him. They would let the golem do the job.

Junhyuk was thinking about teleporting and using the Spatial Slash when Gongon stepped forward. He wagged his tail at the heroes and shouted, “You are a hero now! Step forward, octopus head!”

Junhyuk laughed at Gongon’s shout. He didn’t think Kraken would react to it, but Kraken started stepping forward.

“Good job, Gon.”