Chapter 400: Abel, the Gambler 2
Junhyuk was running faster than the allied minions, and he realized that the mantis hero was running faster than him. The mantis was moving at incredible speed.
They were closing in against each other, and Junhyuk was keeping an eye on the porcupine behind the mantis. The porcupine was keeping a distance from him.
Junhyuk was now twenty meters away from the mantis, but sixty meters away from the porcupine. The hero seemed to know about Junhyuk and was keeping his distance.
Junhyuk watched as the mantis rushed suddenly. It closed in even faster. While the mantis rushed, Junhyuk teleported. They traded places, and Junhyuk used his Spatial Slash on the porcupine. It triggered an additional hit, so with one Spatial Slash, the porcupine died.
The porcupine was a long range attacker, so he couldn’t survive the Spatial Slash hit with the extra damage. Once the porcupine died, Junhyuk turned around and chased after the mantis, who was running straight toward Abel.
Abel threw a card at the mantis. It flew quickly through the air and hit the mantis, who kept on running. Junhyuk frowned as he chased after the hero.
Elise was standing behind Abel. If the mantis had his way, Abel and Elise would be in danger.
The mantis closed in on Abel, and Junhyuk teleported. He got closer, but the mantis was still moving faster than him, so he couldn’t gain on the mantis.
Abel shuffled his deck and pulled out a card. Suddenly, Abel divided in two, and one moved left, while the other moved right. Abel had created an illusion.
The mantis knew Junhyuk was chasing him, so he picked a side and ran. He was very decisive.
Junhyuk had thought the mantis was a real hero, but the mantis chose to run to the illusion’s side. Both Abels ran out and turned to throw cards at the same time. Both cards flew toward the mantis, but one was an illusion. At that moment, Junhyuk thought that Abel was both crazy and stupid.
Abel had fooled the mantis, so what was he doing?
The mantis sliced one of the cards thrown by Abel and realized it was an illusion, so he turned. The hero was now heading toward the real Abel.
Abel shuffled his deck again and threw another card. His whole attack pattern seemed hit-or-miss, so Junhyuk ran faster. The card landed on the mantis and stunned it. It was only for a short while, but it was long enough.
Junhyuk closed in and slashed at the mantis’ neck. It was stunned, but the effect time was too short. Right as his sword was about to slash the mantis, the hero started moving again and blocked Junhyuk’s sword with his front legs.
Junhyuk accelerated. That wouldn’t make him move any faster, but it would enable him to predict his enemy’s movements.
He moved his swords quickly and sliced one of the mantis’ front legs. The mantis couldn’t do anything about it.
“AAARRrrrh!” the mantis screamed loudly, while Junhyuk swung at the other leg.
Junhyuk blocked the leg with his sword. The mantis was fast, but after Junhyuk accelerated, he was able to read the hero’s movements.
Clang!
As his sword deflected the leg, a card pierced the mantis’ chest. Junhyuk could read Abel’s attack power. It had been a regular attack, but it had taken 25 percent off of the mantis’ health.
It might have been a critical hit, but even then, the damage was shocking.
The mantis hero stared at Abel, and Junhyuk sliced his head. The mantis lost all of his health. With Abel’s attack followed by Junhyuk’s, the hero breathed his last breath.
Junhyuk stared at the surviving enemy minions. They had six legs and they could climb over the allied minions’ shields, so the number of allied casualties was high.
He ran toward the enemy minions and swung his sword. His attacks were now buffed, which meant that the team at the central tower had won. Layla and Sarang had carried out their task well. As Junhyuk began to kill the enemy minions, Abel’s cards flew off, killing them as well.
Once he had killed all of the enemy minions, he started attacking the tower. With the allied minions, he destroyed the tower quickly, turning to Abel after.
Abel’s attack stat was stronger than he had imagine. The interesting thing, however, was that his powers dealt no damage. His powers only inflicted status effects, lacking whatever base damage his attack stat should give them.
Junhyuk asked Abel, “Your damage is outstanding. How did that happen?”
Abel laughed loudly.
“I don’t have a lot of items outside of this one.” Abel showed his his deck of cards and said, “Most of my items buff my health, but I brought my cards from my dimension. Getting new equipment is a type of gambling, and I’m rather lucky.”
Abel had meant that he had brought the cards with him and upgraded them.
“How many upgrades?”
“Sixteen.”
Junhyuk was stunned. After the basic enhancements, the rate of success for further upgrades decreased with each subsequent one. But, sixteen upgrades? Abel’s other items increased his health, and he had an absurd attack stat. After sixteen upgrades, his attack stat would be eighteen times what it had been originally.
Abel said calmly, “I’m not sure if you know, but the last thing a hero will drop in the Dimensional Battlefield is their weapon.”
“So, you went all in on your weapon?”
“Correct.”
Junhyuk picked up the two dropped items from the ground and said, “Let’s contact our allies and move out.”
Junhyuk contacted the others. Layla had told Sarang to protect the tower and told him that she was gonna head toward Gongon. Sarang had a hundred minions with her. With them, she wouldn’t lose the tower.
From the central tower, one could see the bottom of the mountain, so they could always see if the enemy was coming.
It was a different story if the enemies moved from the sides, but the allies had a lot of time now. It was time to move.
Junhyuk contacted Gongon.
“Shit! He isn’t leaving the watchtower.”
“Layla is heading your way.”
“What if the enemies go middle?”
“Sarang is still there. We’ll push toward their second tower on the right.”
“OK.”
Junhyuk could trust Gongon. He trusted Gongon to handle the left and started moving. As he did, he looked at Abel.
“Let’s go.”
“Right.”
Abel was shuffling his deck as he moved. The allied minions were following them. They had suffered a lot of casualties due to the insects’ ability to climb. There were only sixty-five of them now.
Junhyuk walked next to Elise. She was carrying two swords, but it did not look like she would use them. If in danger, Junhyuk was sure she would summon Zaira.
“How are you?” he asked her.
“Me? I didn’t fight.”
Junhyuk thought that Elise was brave. The insect minions had gone berserk, killing and being killed, and she had watched it all.
Even though they had all died without doing much, the enemy heroes were giant monsters.
As he walked with Elise, Junhyuk stared at Abel. His powers made him unique, but his hit-or-miss abilities were a problem. On top of that, his items made him a standard damage dealer.
Abel would upgrade his deck again, and if he failed the upgrade, his fighting capabilities would go down significantly.
Junhyuk did not want to be on his team, but he decided to hold out on his decision. Abel’s attack stat could go down, but he wanted to see what kind of battle sense he had.
Thanks to the buff from the buff tower, the allies’ speed was really fast. Before the enemy reincarnated, the allies reached the second tower. At that moment, Sarang contacted him.
“Big brother, two of them are coming this way.”
“Are you going to be OK?”
“I’ve fought them, and they aren’t that good.”
“Sure.”
This was her first round as a hero, and she was doing fine.
“Use the watchtower and fight. We’ll be able to help you.”
Junhyuk disconnected and turned to Abel.
“Let’s hurry. You have a job to do.”
“Yeah?”
The allies were buffed, so they had reached the second tower before the enemy. Without enemy heroes there, destroying it was easy. There were two enemies heading to the buff tower, which meant the other two would either be heading left or right.
Should the allies advance and kill them, or use the time to move to other paths?
Junhyuk looked at Abel and said, “Use your ultimate to move somewhere else. Anywhere but here.”
Abel laughed and shuffled his cards.
“Sure, I can go anywhere.” Abel pulled a card and smirked, saying, “This isn’t bad.”
Abel disappeared, and Junhyuk turned to the allied minions and Elise. He shouldn’t advance. Their enemies should be close now.
“We’ll go into the forest.”
Inside the forest, he would kill a buff monster and attack the enemies from behind. He still had the buff from the buff tower. He was almost certain two heroes were heading his way, but he was sure that he could kill them with Elise.
He tried to find out where Abel was. Abel had appeared next to Layla, who was heading toward Gongon. Three on one would be very easy, and they would destroy the watchtower.
Junhyuk took Elise and the minions and started moving. His goal was to kill the buff monster and counterattack. On top of that, the location of the buff monster had to be full of the things Elise loved.