Ronga lost his footing after the Spatial Collapse, so Junhyuk slashed at him. The hero swung his broadsword to defend himself, but he was unsuccessful. Aksha’s Longsword crossed over the broadsword and pierced Ronga.
It was a regular attack, and Ronga only received 6 percent in damage. He was avoiding critical hits. Junhyuk attacked more ferociously, but Ronga still managed to avoid critical hits.
While the pull was active, Junhyuk attacked Ronga three time. With the Spatial Collapse, he had managed to take a lot of health out of Ronga. The enemy hero had lost 80 percent of his health by then, leaving him with 20 percent.
Once the pull ended, Ronga went back to blocking every one of his attacks. The broadsword reminded him of a large steel wall when Ronda defended himself with it. He couldn’t find a way through.
Junhyuk had already accelerated, but he couldn’t get through the broadsword’s defenses, so he clicked his tongue. He wanted to attack more, but his force field also disappeared.
Junhyuk had 52 percent of his health left, more than twice that of his enemy, and soon, his Spatial Slash would come off cooldown.
With the force field gone, Junhyuk started blocking Ronga’s attacks. He was sure that Ronga’s powers would return soon.
At the same time, he wanted to find Ronga’s weaknesses. He was still accelerating, and he knew that every style of swordsmanship had its strong and weak points. As a hero, he had to seek the weak points and attack. While blocking, he searched for an opening.
Junhyuk noticed that Ronga wasn’t closing in on him. He was also not using his powers, which made Junhyuk smiled.
His Spatial Slash was off cooldown, so there was no need to drag the fight.
Junhyuk blocked one more time and stepped back, using his Spatial Slash. That would bring things to a close.
However, Ronga had realized what he had been tried to do, and suddenly, the hero started spinning. Junhyuk knew that the critical hit had failed, but he still thought he could kill the enemy hero.
Still spinning, Ronga scoffed at him. The lion had both swords out as he spun, and a gray whirlwind started forming around him.
Junhyuk blocked the swords, but he still received 15 percent of damage. He hadn’t seen that power before, which meant it had to be Ronga’s ultimate. However, its damage wasn’t very high.
Junhyuk wanted to know what else it could do, but that’s when he scowled. Ronga’s ultimate wasn’t a one-off. The enemy hero was spinning toward him.
“He can move with it active?!”
Ronga’s ultimate reminded Junhyuk of a move in a game he had played before. Ronga could move while spinning, slashing everything in his path. Junhyuk used his jump to distance himself, and once he was far away, he kept measuring the ultimate’s distance and active time.
The active time wasn’t that long, only four seconds, but Ronga’s ultimate had negated any damage from his Spatial Slash. While it was active, Ronga was impervious to attacks.
Junhyuk realized that, but he still ran toward Ronga. He had already used his Spatial Slash, but his teleports had come off cooldown.
Ronga smirked and ran toward him. This time, Junhyuk tried parrying Ronga’s sword attacks.
Clang! Cling! Cling! Clang!
He managed to successfully parry Ronga’s sword for the very first time, so he seized that moment to counter and was able to slash Ronga. Therefore, even without the Spatial Collapse’s pull, he was able to deal another 6 percent of damage to Ronga.
However, while he smiled, satisfied with himself, Ronga rushed at him from close range. Junhyuk didn’t have time to escape, and Ronga slammed against him.
Junhyuk, who was launched back, lost 20 percent of his health. He only had 20 percent left, which he did not consider a safe amount. He could die from a single use of Ronga’s powers.
The Spatial Slash was still in cooldown, and his enemy made the first move. He felt the hair on his body stand up from anxiety.
Junhyuk wasn’t being attacked by several heroes, but a single one. Ever since he started wearing the Vampire Lord set, he hadn’t expected things to go that badly in a battle.
Junhyuk couldn’t wait for his Spatial Slash to return. Ronga’s powers would come off cooldown before it.
After getting launched by the rush, he stood back up and ran toward Ronga again. The hero laughed and swung his sword at Junhyuk, who parried the attack again.
Junhyuk couldn’t parry every single one of Ronga’s attacks. He had to focus, so when he parried one of Ronga’s attacks, he immediately countered, slashing Ronga’s ribs. Another 6 percent of damage left the enemy hero with 8 percent of his health, but Junhyuk was not relieved.
He stabbed hard, and his sword pierced Ronga’s torso, puncturing the lion’s lung. Junhyuk was expecting to win with that. It wasn’t a critical hit, but once he twisted his sword, he would kill Ronga.
Just a beat later, Ronga swung his sword down at Junhyuk, who thought to simply block the strike and then twist his own sword to finish the fight.
Suddenly, Ronga smirked. Junhyuk was entirely focused on blocking the strike when he heard Ronga shout, “Just die!”
Junhyuk didn’t answer. Keros’ Broadsword had exploded as it struck Junhyuk’s sword.
Darkness covered him suddenly. It had been a long time, but he hadn’t forgotten about that feeling. The void often made one forget oneself.
Junhyuk walked through the void and thought about what Elise had told him. She had been too busy to worry about herself.
He desired Aksha’s swordsmanship. He could think about the moveset in his head, but he couldn’t master all of it that quickly.
He thought about Aksha’s Longsword, about mastering the swordsmanship. Why had Aksha developed his own style? Why couldn’t he use the longsword like Aksha? As he thought hard about it, he felt like he was getting close to an answer.
When he regained his consciousness, Junhyuk got up and inspected his items. He frowned when he noticed he had dropped an earring, but thankfully, he had not dropped the earring from the Vampire Lord set.
The earring he had lost had a buff to his damage, so he clicked his tongue. He had lost 100,000G.
Looking at Ariel, he saw she was about to cry and chuckled.
“Why are you so sad?”
[That’s the first time you’ve been killed since you became a hero.]
Junhyuk pounded his own chest and declared, “I’m fine. I need to get stronger and I learned I shouldn’t rely entirely on my equipment.”
He walked toward the door and said, “And I won’t die again.”
He had a better grasp of Aksha’s Longsword now.
[You’ll do fine.]
“Don’t worry.”
He stood in front of the door, and Ariel made a cone with her hands around her mouth and shouted, [Hero Junhyuk Lee deployed!]
Outside, he saw that Sarang was trying to contact him.
“What happened?”
Junhyuk had died, so the enemies had been left with the numerical advantage. The allies would have had a difficult time winning, so he wanted to know the details.
“Hurry up and get back here!” she said quickly.
“You’re still alive?”
“Of course! As soon as you died, Elise used her power to kill Ronga. We are facing the two enemy heroes now.”
“Can you handle it?”
“Things seem bad, but we are enduring them. We are buffed, and Elise summoned Zaira. Hurry up!”
Junhyuk smiled and said, “OK! I’ll be right there!”
Junhyuk knew the buff tower was safe for now, but he moved quickly. He picked out a hundred minions and headed out, connecting to the allies on the way.
There was the possibility that only Ronga was powerful among the enemies and the other allies might be winning.
He connected to Gongon and Layla, but Gongon asked him a question first, “When do we get our buffs?”
“That’s not the problem here. I got killed in a duel.”
“What!?” Gongon asked and laughed at him. “What’s going on? You were so confident. Who killed you?”
“His name is Ronga, and he has a legendary weapon.”
“Oh! So, that’s why you lost!”
“No. Ronga is more than just the weapon he wields. His swordsmanship is exquisite.”
Ronga was skilled with Keros’ Broadsword, and the sword still had a version of Keros’ ultimate within it, though the amount of damage was different.
Frowning, Layla said, “This won’t be an easy round.”
“Ronga has a rush and a combo. He can also dig into the ground, and when he breaks out, he releases a shockwave. His ultimate is a spin and slash move, and when that’s active, he’s impervious to attacks. Keros’ Broadsword also has an ability. The sword can explode on impact.”
Junhyuk had lost the remaining 20 percent of his health from that explosion.
“What does he look like?”
“You’ll recognize him when you see him. He’s a lion.”
Gongon laughed and said, “By the way, they are all animals. I’m fighting a rhinoceros right now.”
“We are fighting a bird-like hero. The bird hits and runs and has long range attacks.”
“There are two of you. Can’t you do anything about it?”
“The bird is perched on the tower. Should we attack?”
Junhyuk took a moment to think and said, “Try to create an opportunity. The minions can attack the tower, and when they do, you launch a simultaneous attack. If either of you see an opening, kill your enemies.”
“What are you going to do?”
“They are still fighting at the buff tower, so I have to hurry there. I don’t know where Ronga is now, so be careful.”
“Sure.”
Gongon smiled at him and asked, “Are you going to die a second time?”
Junhyuk smiled back at him and replied, “One death was enough.”
