Chapter 167: Monster 3

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The new monster attack happened only at Guardians HQ. It didn't show up in any other place.

Junhyuk watched them taking the monster's body and smacked his lips. They found a bloodstone in the monster, and bloodstones cost as much as mana stones, so he was annoyed because he was the one that killed it.

He looked at Elise, and she was controlling Zaira and looking at the monitors.

"The iron soldier is destroyed. What are you going to do?"

Elise stopped working and looked at Junhyuk.

"The iron soldier is getting improved. This monster was sent here to test the iron soldier's powers, so I'll deploy the iron soldier MK-II."

"There is a MK-II?"

"I got a hold of a high quality mana stone," she said, staring him down.

He turned away.

"Even with an increased output, the iron soldier won't be enough!"

Elise nodded heavily.

"I will research this monster's corpse and analyze its structure. I made weapons to deal with the previous monsters by researching them. If this monster has a similar structure, I will make something for it."

He looked back at her. The monsters were getting stronger, and she felt she could make weapons to deal with even stronger monsters. The woman was a genius among geniuses.

She smiled at him.

"Are you surprised?" Her eyes twinkled, and she whispered in his ear, "I'm more surprised with you."

He smiled awkwardly.

"We don't have any casualties."

"Right. How long are you going to stay with us?"

Elise turned the monitor, and Junhyuk looked at her, baffled. The monitor displayed the current time, and Junhyuk looked back. Eunseo was operating the monitors and looked at him.

"You may leave."

"Then, I'll be going."

A surreal event had taken place, but he couldn't do anything about it now. He couldn't even make claims to the bloodstone. However, he had killed the monster, so he expected them to send an even stronger one. Things would get more complicated.

Junhyuk looked around the bunker.

"How do I get out?"

"You can use the ladder."

Elise pressed a button, and a ladder came down from the ceiling. He walked up to it and felt someone looking at him. When he turned, he saw it was Sora.

She looked at his eyes and smiled furtively. Junhyuk nodded to her and began climbing. Sora would go to the Dimensional Battlefield, and that might be the last time he would see her. He climbed silently. If she returned, he would talk to her more.

Junhyuk saw the mess in the parking lot. The helicopter had exploded, and the building's brick wall was broken through, displaying the steel plates inside.

"This will be a hassle."

He wanted to leave before the reporters got there. On his way home, he picked up his burner phone.

"Big brother!"

Sarang sounded happy, and he laughed and explained what had happened that day.

"Guardians HQ was attacked by a completely new monster."

"Are you OK?"

She was always worried about him, and Junhyuk smiled.

"I'm fine. But this new monster couldn't be killed by ordinary weapons. It smashed the iron soldier to bits."

"Really?"

"It will be on the news soon. The Dimensional Battlefield's administration sent it, and it only happened at Guardians HQ.

"If the iron soldier was destroyed, who killed the monster?"

"Me."

She was silent for a while before saying, "If you killed it, they will send even more powerful monsters!"

"Nothing I can do now. If I hadn't killed it, it would've killed many people," he said and continued, "This monster targeted the iron soldier. The HQ is the only place it attacked. Things could be different from before."

"True. By the way, I will see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, back to the battlefield."

He was a champion, but he still had to survive. Sarang was an expert, so he felt better. However, he couldn't let his guard down.

"See you tomorrow."

"Right, see you."

He hung up the phone and headed home quickly. He planned to spend the rest of the time up to the next day learning new dual sword techniques.

---

Friday, 8:00 a.m.

Junhyuk had trained all night when, suddenly, he got a text message. Jeffrey had sent only a couple of words.

[Sora Shin deployed.]

Junhyuk felt strange. So far, he hadn't known many people going to the Dimensional Battlefield.

Many people went to the Dimensional Battlefield each week, but it was not a huge number when compared to the population of Earth.

However, this time was different. He knew Sora. He had dined with her twice and given her advice. His advice weren't secret, and they would help her.

Sora had looked at him as if he held her life in his hands, and he was a little nervous, but he had given her good advice. If Sora returned, he would include her in the allied camp like Jeffrey had proposed.

At that point, Sora was living at Guardians HQ, but they would release her soon. He might keep a close watch over her. She had only activated one power, but she could activate more. She could become a champion or a hero. Only the heavens knew.

Junhyuk texted Jeffrey.

[If she wakes up, let me know.]

---

He thought about training, but he felt uneasy, so he sent his swords away and teleported to the first floor. He sat on the bed and watched TV. The news was covering the event from the day before.

It was good for him to watch the news about the monsters. Iron soldiers were becoming a symbol of hope, but they had to remain honest. The news said that the iron soldier had killed the monster, but they weren't showing the battle. They only had footage of Guardians HQ.

The news' focus was that the monster had only appeared at Guardians HQ. They were saying that many scientists would research the cause, but Junhyuk knew that only a few people knew the truth.

He browsed the internet and read people's responses to the incident. They were scared of the monsters, and some were writing about the end of the world. People had bigger reactions when the monsters first showed up. The appearance of the iron soldier gave them hope, and even newer monsters were killed by them.

The iron soldier was the world's hope, but it had been destroyed, which made people despair. They talked about how the monster had only shown up at Guardians HQ and thought it was a warning against the iron soldiers, predicting that stronger monsters would appear.

Junhyuk shook his head severely.

"This can't be."

Defeatism just killed minions and prevented people from activating new powers.

He kept shaking his head while he lay on his bed.

Suddenly, he got a new text message. It was nine in the morning, so Junhyuk got up quickly and checked his texts.

[Sora Shin returned.]

He looked at the text, and his eyes widened.

"She survived!"

Survivors from the Dimensional Battlefield were rare, and Junhyuk only knew a few novices. She had activated her power on Earth and she had returned. That was a big moment. She was lucky, but more survivors would return.

Junhyuk looked for her phone number on his phone and sent her a text.

[Congratulation on your return.]

He lay in bed again, and his phone rang. It was Sora, and he picked it up.

"Can we talk now?"

She sounded shaky, and he guessed at the state she was in. She had to have faced death many times, so she needed to relax more than anything.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm OK," she said, but a moment later, she went back on it. "NO! I'm not OK!"

Of course, Junhyuk could empathize with her. He had felt the same way the first time. He hadn't felt like himself, and time passed differently over there.

One couldn't survive with Earthly morals at the Dimensional Battlefield. When one returned to their dimension, the shock was too great.

"You did what you had to do," he said calmly.

"But…"

"Trust me. You did what you had to do."

She was silent, and he heard her sobbing.

"Can I trust you?"

"Trust me."

The silence passed, and Sora stopped sobbing and answered, "I trust you."

She was herself again, and Junhyuk was relieved.

"I will buy you a drink later. Then, we will talk some more."

She sounded chipper and answered, "Get me something very expensive!"

Junhyuk laughed loudly.

"You choose. I can get you anything you want for a drink."

"I'll be waiting."

He hung up thinking she could adjust to any situation. Then, he got up and summoned his swords. Sora had returned, and that was a good thing. He knew her, and she had returned. This time he had to return alive.

"At least four times."

That was how many times he had killed Adolphe, and still Adolphe kept showing up in the battlefield. That meant that champions had four revives.

This time, he also had the Spatial Bag. At that point, he needed the bag to bring things back from the Dimensional Battlefield, specially things that he didn't want to engrave. He needed the bag to hide them.

The Spatial Bag wouldn't help him much in battle, but he was getting stronger step-by-step. That week, Junhyuk had come to understand dual swordsmanship and trained in what he learned. It would help him a lot.

He couldn't do much at all with his normal attacks, but his Spatial Slash and Doctor Tula's glasses would help him get deathblows. He wouldn't just do it every time because Vera might kill him, but he wouldn't just stand there.

"I have to get stronger."

He had killed a monster on South Korean soil and he would have to face stronger monsters. Junhyuk himself had to get stronger. He wanted to be a hero and he had the items to make him stronger.

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