Chapter 152: High Ranking Sorcerer 2
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Gyulsean disappeared, and Junhyuk slowly turned and looked around the island. It wasn't big and it was full of tree stumps and roots. There was a muscular man tangled in the roots. He had a huge canine sticking out of his mouth and green-colored skin. He was staring at Junhyuk in wonder.
"You have interesting powers."
"Are you the the High-Ranking Sorcerer?"
The man shook his head.
"No. I'm the Peerless Sorcerer, the last and best sorcerer of the Rogenchra continent."
"Then, what are you doing here?"
The man stared at Junhyuk as he said that.
"Are you here to criticize me? Don't you want the buff?"
"No, it's nothing like that. I'm just curious. There's also a dragon at the Valley of Death."
"Are you comparing me to a dragon?"
Junhyuk realized that the man had a lot of pride and didn't want to argue with him.
"What do you mean compare you to a dragon?"
"Hmm..." The man was bothered by Junhyuk and shook his head. "I don't have to explain my situation to you. Go north, and you'll find an ant. Bring me the ant's fruit."
"Shall I kill the ant?"
"Do what you must."
The man waved his hand, and Junhyuk bowed and asked,
"I'm Junhyuk Lee. What is your name?"
"Ha-ha-ha! Thunder has called on me. I am Hatma."
"I'll get it for you quickly."
"I'll be waiting."
Junhyuk bowed before him again and asked, "Could I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
"Do you know where the Dimensional Merchant is in this place?"
Hatma was dumbfounded by the question and just stared at him.
"Why are you asking me?"
Junhyuk scratched his head and said, "This is my first time in the Swamp of Despair."
"Right. You haven't been a champion for long, then?"
"Yes."
Hatma laughed hard.
"But you have amazing powers."
"Thank you."
He bowed again, and Hatma pointed with his hand.
"Follow that road, and you will find the ant. The road next to it leads you to the Dimensional Merchant."
"Then, I will bring you the fruit first."
"The ant won't be easy to deal with. Be careful."
"Thanks for worrying about me."
Junhyuk bowed again and followed the road Hatma had shown him. He had told him the ant wouldn't be easy to deal with. Being a monster, the ant could be stronger than Junhyuk expected.
He ran for a while and heard a soft voice echo.
[Kaljaque has been killed by Lugos.]
The voice sounded off suddenly, and Junhyuk frowned.
"What did this troll do?!"
Gyulsean wasn't there, and Lugos had to have been alone. Junhyuk would've understood if it was one-on-one fight, but there was something fishy about it.
"I told him to retreat to the tower."
With the tower's support, he couldn't have lost. With the buff, he would have won any one-on-one fight. It looked like Kaljaque didn't follow his instructions.
"What am I going to do with that troll?"
Junhyuk sighed and ran fast. He was headed to where the ant was. The first thing to do was for him to take the fruit from the ant. Then, he would take the fruit to the sorcerer and get the buff. Kaljaque wasn't with him, and he couldn't expect anything from him. The allies had only lost 3,000G so far.
"Maybe it's a good thing that we've only lost 3,000G."
Heroes lost their items, so compared to the heroes' battlefield, that wasn't bad. His opponents wouldn't get strong with every fight.
Junhyuk ran, and a huge empty space appeared in front of him. He stopped. There was only one huge tree in the center of that space and nothing else.
"Ant?"
He looked again, but couldn't find anything that looked like a monster, so he shook his head and approached the tree. It was about twenty meters tall, and he stood in front of it thinking that the tree was truly humongous. It was at least the size of a seven-story building, so it was natural that Junhyuk felt it was big.
He looked around carefully. There was supposed to be an ant somewhere, but he could only see the tree. Junhyuk looked up the tree and saw a fruit hanging from the top. It was a twenty-meter tall tree, and the fruit was stuck to its branch, and Junhyuk quickly learned who the owner of the fruit was. He quickly took some steps back.
Fwoosh, fwoosh!
The roots of the tree came out of the ground and grabbed at the empty air, going back down after. The twenty-meter tall tree began to move.
Boom! Boom!
The tree had thick roots and started using its roots to go toward him. I was wrong! It isn't an ant. It's an Ent! Junhyuk wondered how he would go about fighting it. As he did, the tree swung its branches at him. The long branches swooshed through the empty space, but there was no place for Junhyuk to hide. The branches were that long.
Junhyuk moved back and escaped. The tree kept moving, and Junhyuk could observe it. He wanted to know how much health the tree had and used his Spatial Slash.
Crack!
It was an Ent. Junhyuk could deliver critical hits on humans, but he didn't know where a tree's weak spots would be. The bark tore apart and flew off. He didn't know where he had hit, but the tree lost 20 percent of its health. The Spatial Slash was Junhyuk's main weapon, and he had only dealt 20 percent of damage to it. The tree would be hard to deal with.
Junhyuk inhaled deeply, and the Ent swung its branches angrily. There was no place to hide from them, so Junhyuk teleported and appeared on the spot where the tree was standing and swung his sword.
Thuck, thuck, thuck!
Junhyuk's attacks were sharp, but his three consecutive hits had only dealt 10 percent of damage to the Ent. He retreated.
Crack, crack!
Roots rose form the spot where Junhyuk had been standing. He was nervous and moved sideways to attack the branches. The tree was huge, and its range and attack motions were huge. It was hard for him to find places to hide from its attacks.
He could dodge the root attacks, but he couldn't find a space to hide from the branches. He teleported and attacked again. Junhyuk's combos chipped at the Ent's health.
The Ent had about 50 percent of its health left, and it sent a sharp branch toward him. Junhyuk deflected it with his swords, but the branch came down on his head.
Clang!
Junhyuk was bounced back and barely got himself steady to look at the Ent. Its mouth opened, and very powerful branches shot out of it. Junhyuk knew he had already lost 10 percent of his health with that single hit.
"Is this its power?"
The Ent wasn't speaking, but it kept swinging the branches. Junhyuk got out of the range of the branches altogether and looked around. It was a spacious lot, and at the edge of the space, there were a lot of tall trees.
He moved to the edge, and the Ent became very angry and chased him down, all the while swinging its branches. Junhyuk leaned on a tree. When the Ent swung at him, Junhyuk ducked forward, just close enough to the ground to almost hit it.
Behind him, he heard the trees breaking and falling and felt the branch moving. As soon as that happened, he ran toward the empty space in the middle of the area, cutting through the branches and escaping again.
He went back to the edge of the area and leaned on a tree, gathering his breath.
The Ent was turning around, and he wanted to attack it again, but he saw a branch shooting forward and barely dodged it. The branch penetrated the tree on which he was leaning.
Thunk!
It was gut wrenching, but that had to be the Ent's power, and it had a cooldown. He would have his chance. Junhyuk ran and cut up more branches. As the branches broke off from the trunk, he heard a scream.
GGRRROOOOAAAAAARR!!!!
The scream shook the earth, and he staggered. However, his attacks had been successful. The Ent had lost 20 percent of its health.
"Was that its weak spot?"
Junhyuk closed in on it and wanted to attack the same spot, but the branches covered the Ent, and roots rose from the ground.
The Ent had 30 percent of its health left, and Junhyuk had made up his mind. It was time to decide who won and who lost.
He launched the force field, ignored the branch attacks and swung his swords hard. Junhyuk's attacks decreased the Ent's health, but it also swung its branches hard.
Boom!
If the branches had come from the side, he would have been pushed aside. However, the branches came down on him, pushing the force field downward. The force field was stuck to the ground, but Junhyuk continued his attacks. The Ent had 10 percent of its health left, and when the force field disappeared, Junhyuk retreated.
He couldn't die while fighting the Ent.
A branch fell on the spot where he had been standing. Junhyuk's attacks had debuffed the Ent. Its attack and movement speeds had decreased, so Junhyuk could escape from it and distance himself from the Ent. He ran to the opposite side of the clearing, and the Ent moved its huge trunk and chased him down.
Junhyuk looked at it, gathered his breath and smiled.
"Now is the time."
He used the Spatial Slash. The strike covered the distance and delivered the final blow to the Ent. A red shockwave expanded from the spot, and the End crashed down slowly.
Boom!
The Ent fell, and Junhyuk picked the fruit from its branch.
[You've acquired the quest item Ent's Fruit. Be careful. If you die, you will drop the quest item.]
It was the first time Junhyuk had heard about quest items and that he would drop it if he died. He wanted the buffs from the High-Ranking Sorcerer and he had already fought a fierce battle for the quest.
He had gotten the quest first this time, but if someone ever got the quest before him, he could kill that person to steal the quest. It was just like stealing the dragons from the enemies at the Valley of Death.
Junhyuk looked around checking that nobody else was there, and he took the fruit and started running. He thought about going to the Dimensional Merchant, but he wanted the buff first.
He ran for a while until he saw the swamp where he would soon meet Hatma and exchange the item for the buff.
Junhyuk stepped on the stepping stones and saw someone on the island. It wasn't Hatma. The four-armed Lugos was standing at the end of the stone path. He was a tank and he would be bothersome, but Junhyuk didn't think he would lose. He was about to step on the island when, from behind Lugos, a two-headed enemy appeared.
"Drakey."
Drakey was supposed to be fighting Aktur, and Junhyuk scowled.