Chapter 14: Jungle 2
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He knew what was about to happen, but he still had a hard time enduring the bright lights on his eyes. Still, this was not his first time, so he covered his eyes with both hands and felt less anxiety. The lights disappeared as the time passed. He slowly stretched out his fingers and opened his eyes.
"I am here again, after all."
They had told him that he would come back, but he hadn't wanted to return. This was the place where he must risk his life.
A delicate white light lit up the room. At the corner of the room, a number popped up.
[780G]
He could guess what the number meant. He received pure gold coins in this place. It looked as though it was marking the dimensional currency.
Junhyuk tried to figure out if anything else was different and realized his armor had changed. It was thicker than last time, but its weight felt the same.
"Did my survival chance go up from last time?"
Still, an armor meant nothing. Artlan could tear it up like a piece of paper. The only thing he could trust was his power.
Junhyuk looked down at his legs. The broken shin had already completely healed.
"I will just pretend that I'm still a patient when I return."
Junhyuk finished checking himself and heard a soft voice. It was the very sexy tone that he did not want to hear.
[Welcome to the Valley of Death.]
The Dimensional Battlefield had many places, but he was back at the Valley of Death. It was a good thing. He had already spent a month in this place.
Junhyuk tried to collect his thoughts calmly. Then a double-edged blade appeared.
"A double-edged sword?"
He frowned because he wanted a shield and a sword. He did not plan to attack often, and he had wanted a thicker shield, but nothing happened according to what he wanted.
[You may exit using the middle doorway.]
He had no choice but to pick up the double-edged sword. Soon, a door appeared in a corner of the room. Junhyuk went through and heard another voice.
[Novice 007 deployed.]
Junhyuk had a wry smile. Vera had already told him that when a minion activated his power, he would become a novice, and, until that day, over 100,000 people had died on the Dimensional Battlefield, but only 7 people had activated their powers. He realized that Vera had been telling the truth.
Junhyuk flexed his body, trying to warm up. Outside, there were minions who did not understand what was going on, just like the previous time, but they looked shorter than him. Junhyuk compared his height against their height and shook his head.
"Did I get taller?"
He shook his head when he saw a tall, large man appear. That face looked familiar. It was Artlan. He showed up and looked at the minions, and his eyes reached Junhyuk's. He smiled and said:
"You. Follow me."
People's attention turned to Junhyuk, who went to him and asked as he walked:
"Only I shall follow you?"
"No. From this one to this one, follow me."
Artlan pointed to ten people only. The number was less than the previous time. Before Junhyuk had the time to express his curiosity, a man stepped forward.
"What?"
The man had long blond hair and a tough look. As he stepped forward, Junhyuk jumped quickly. He knew what Artlan would do and he wanted to stop it, but Artlan was faster than him.
Bang!
Artlan jumped up and fell down, and the man became a pool of blood. The people around took many steps back quickly. Artlan got up and said:
"Follow me."
Junhyuk sighed. He did not want anyone to die, but he was not in a position to question Artlan, yet. Also, he had seen too many people die the last time he was summoned and, at this point, watching people die did not bother him as much as it used to.
Artlan took the lead, and ten people followed him, as well as Junhyuk.
They all went outside and saw a castle wall just like last time. Artlan looked at the castle wall and looked behind himself without a second thought.
"Don't lag behind."
After making his speech, Artlan turned and took the lead. A strained Junhyuk followed him closely. Even though he had been there before and was now a novice, he couldn't let his guard down.
This was the Dimensional Battlefield. Death was not a strange occurrence.
They went out of the castle wall. After a while, Artlan ran toward a forest. Junhyuk was nervous and approached him.
"Where are you going?"
Artlan replied curtly.
"Follow me."
He knew Artlan's character, so he did not ask any more question and followed him, but the people following them were getting nervous. They were feeling anxious, and one of them moved forward.
She might have been about seventeen years old. A big-eyed girl wearing thick armor came up to him and asked:
"Are you a Korean?"
There was no such thing as automatic interpretation on the Dimensional Battlefield. If one wanted to use automatic interpretation, one had to go to the dimensional traders and buy from them interpretation pills to swallow, but that was only possible for heroes like Artlan who could afford to buy the pills. One pill cost a hundred gold, outrageous right?
Junhyuk nodded toward the girl who spoke to him.
"Yes."
"Wh-where am I?
Junhyuk looked at Artlan. He was already running away from them. People were looking at the girl and Junhyuk.
Junhyuk realized it was not a good thing to get separated from Artlan. The forests had wolves and monsters, and if anyone met those things, they would not survive.
Junhyuk had activated only one power. He could not fight the monsters in the forest by himself, so he ran toward Artlan and said:
"I will answer your questions later. Follow me for now."
The important thing was to not get separated from Artlan. Junhyuk took the lead and every one of the ten minions followed him as fast as they could.
---
Junhyuk had nothing to say, for now. They were all quiet and followed him. They did not dare to ask questions to Artlan, so they followed him without talking.
They went deep inside of the forest. Artlan lifted up his hand and everyone stopped running. There was a group of ten wolves in front of them.
"Are you going to attack them?" Junhyuk asked.
"Yes."
"But there are ten wolves!"
Artlan nodded and said:
"You should use your body."
Junhyuk sighed and stepped forward.
"Ten seconds."
"I know."
Junhyuk took a deep breath and ran. Sensing Junhyuk's approach, the wolves looked at him. Junhyuk knew how precious the ten seconds were, so he did not launch his field immediately.
The wolves were the size of oxen. The biggest wolf ran and tried to bite Junhyuk. At that moment, he launched his force field. The ivory-colored light surrounded Junhyuk, and the wolf bit it, but the field did not break.
Junhyuk held fast onto his double-edged sword and stabbed. The wolf opened his mouth wide, standing outside the field, and the double-edged sword went inside his mouth.
Shlickt!
Junhyuk pulled out the sword and ran again. There were six seconds left. The wolves ran toward him, and then Artlan showed up.
RRROOAAAHHH!
Artlan swung his saber, cutting all the the wolves in half. A wolf survived the attack, but Junhyuk stabbed it.
He had become a novice, and his new double-edged sword had a higher attack power than the sword he used before. The wolf died from one stab.
Artlan looked around and said:
"We will take a short rest."
Junhyuk picked up the gold coins left behind by the dead wolves. He picked up four gold coins left by the two wolves he killed and saw Artlan taking a seat.
"What's your plan?" He asked Artlan.
"We will cross the forest, and attack the enemy from behind."
Junhyuk looked at the people following him.
"With just these people?"
"Aside from you, they can't help anyway." Artlan looked over to Junhyuk and continued. "That's that. You've worked hard."
"I need to return alive."
Artlan knew just by looking at Junhyuk that he had trained like Artlan told him to and increased his physical ability. When one increased his physical power, that would help increasing their mind power.
If they pushed each other, they would get more power.
"We will start in three minutes," Artlan said calmly.
"Yes."
Junhyuk walked toward the minions. They were speechless after watching Junhyuk kill wolves that size. He looked around and said to the girl:
"What's your name?"
"Sarang Kim."
Junhyuk decided to explain some things to her, at least.
"Our bodies are now experiencing abnormal narcolepsy."
"Abnormal narcolepsy?"
Junhyuk Lee nodded and continued talking.
"I don't have much time, so I will make it short. If I get another chance, I will explain some more later. Only our souls are in this place, the Dimensional Battlefield, and if we die our souls will disappear. Then, our bodies will be fall in a coma."
Sarang's eyes opened wide. Her eyes were already big, and, as they widened, they made her look even cuter.
"How do you know these things?"
"This is my second time here."
"What?"
Junhyuk continued calmly.
"Focus on survival. If you stay alive you can return."
"Is that possible?"
"If you are lucky, you will activate your power and increase your survivability."
"Power?"
Junhyuk grinned, and looked at the other people.
"Do you speak any English?"
"I can have a short conversation."
"Then interpret it for me. The most important thing is to stay alive in this place. Explain it to them."
"OK."
Sarang stepped forward and started to explain it all to them. Some people did not understand her English, but they all understood it from her gestures.
Meanwhile, Junhyuk walked to Artlan. He looked as though he had something to say.
"My power has evolved," Junhyuk said.
Artlan was curious.
"How? Does it last longer? Did the interval time decrease?"
Junhyuk extended his hand toward Artlan without an answer. He thought about saving Artlan.
Artlan looked at the ivory-colored protective field around himself and his eyes widened. He took out his saber and swung at it.
The ivory-colored protective field protected against every outside attack. Both physical attacks or magical attacks, it protected against everything, but, inside the field, it was still possible to attack.
Artlan smiled for a long time.
"You should use it well."
"That will be nice."
"Did you check how much distance it covers?"
"I haven't checked that yet."
"We will check it out on our next hunt."
"OK."
Artlan got up and said:
"Time to move."
Artlan spoke first, and Junhyuk looked at the minions. They had listened to the story with curiosity. It was hard to see Artlan as a human, but Junhyuk had survived this hell before. They felt that if they followed him, their survival rate would increase. Their eyes beamed, and
Junhyuk felt the pressure of their stares. He could hardly take care of himself. This was the Dimensional Battlefield, and he did not feel confident enough to help others.
"Let's go!"
Artlan took the lead, and Junhyuk and the ten minions followed.