/

chapter 241




Drum roll!
The sight of Bernice Canyon and its countless stone pillars was accompanied by solemn background music. Thousands of wyverns flew through the sky. That in and of itself was a sight to behold.
All of a sudden, the music changed. It became tense, as if it had turned into a horror movie!
Kyaa!
Kyaahk!
The wyverns stopped flying and scattered, as if scared out of their minds. The change in music, as well as the sudden change in the wyvern’s attitude, said it all.
‘Something’s going to appear!’
The viewers were right.
Kuwaaaaahk!
The roar was like crackling thunder on a stormy night.
Then…
The wyvern stretched out its giant wings. The Wyvern King, Draka!
Flap!
Draka soared into the azure sky. A giant shadow cast over the Bernice Canyon. It was truly an overwhelming sight! The words ‘Aloof Ruler of the Azure Sky’ automatically came to mind.
The camera remained fixed on Draka until it disappeared from view.
Followed by…
Subtitles, which were as follows: The Supernova, Kang Oh versus the Wyvern King, Draka! Coming Soon!
* * *
“What did people think of the trailer?” GBS Producer, Jin Cheol, asked.
“People loved it. They keep posting on our message board, asking us when we’re showing it,” the veteran writer said. Of all of his writers, this particular writer had worked with Jin Cheol the longest.
“Is the next trailer ready?”
“Yes. That one will have a few bits of Mr. Kang Oh fighting Draka, so people will have an even better reaction to it.”
“Ok. Have you chosen a broadcast date?”
“We’re still undecided.”
“We need to reveal the air date in the next trailer.”
“Understood. We’ll have the date set by then.”
“Tell me when you come to a consensus. Upload the footage on social media too.”
“Understood!” a few writers replied immediately.
“How about the advertisements?”
“The advertising department told us that they were going to add expensive ads at the beginning, the middle, and the end,” the veteran writer said.
“Alright. As you know, the original footage is top-notch, and it was also well edited. All we need to do is promote it. We have to hit a high viewership rating! Let’s try getting into the double digits this time!” Jin Cheol clenched his fist.
GBS’s average viewership rating was 5%. Only three of their programs have ever risen to the double digits. But Jin Cheol believed that this clip would increase that number to four.
‘We bought it for 200 million won ($200,000 USD), so it has to at least get us into the double digits.’
If they managed to get into the double digits, then it’d be huge for Jin Cheol’s career. Of course, it wasn’t just good for Jin Cheol.
“If the viewership is high, then we’ll get a bonus, right?” the youngest writer asked.
“Of course.”
“I’ll do my best!”
Jin Cheol and his writers were putting their all into this program.
* * *
Killing the parasites went smoothly. They encountered Chulas, Hepirins, Molgons, etc. Chulas possessed 100 tentacles, Hepirins were long, spiked parasitic worms, and Molgons were sharp toothed parasitic bats.
None of them were difficult to kill. At the rate they were going, they would be able to kill 500 parasites in about 3 days. However, it didn’t take them very long to realize that that was a huge miscalculation.
The strength of the parasites varied! The ones they’d killed were the weakest, as they had drained only a small portion of Liviola’s strength!
Those that’d drained a significant amount of Liviola’s strength were so powerful that it was like they had evolved. All of their abilities, including their strength and speed, were far greater, and they had gained new properties as well.
The parasitic bat, Molgon, was a good example! Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be able to attack with ultrasonic waves. The best it could do was bite people. However, absorbing so much of Liviola’s power had given it the ability to unleash ultrasonic waves, which threatened to burst their eardrums.
Biiiik!
Biiik!
“Shut up!” Kang Oh angrily threw a Gladion’s Dagger at it. He couldn’t help himself; its ultrasonic waves made his ears hurt like crazy!
However, the Molgon flapped its wings and easily dodged the dagger.
‘None of the Molgons we’ve fought before have been able to dodge my dagger.’ Kang Oh furrowed his brow.
Then, Eder entered the fray.
“Constricting Bone!” Eder clenched his fist. Then, the Molgon was trapped in a bone prison, which prevented it from escaping.
Bone Bind.
Kya?
“Good job, Eder!” Kang Oh leapt into the air and swung Ubist downwards.
Swish!
Ubist cleaved through bone and bat, splitting the monster’s body in half. One down. Unfortunately, there were still several of them left.
Biiik!
The bats mercilessly emitted their ultrasonic waves.
“Haa.”
Kang Oh wanted to cover his ears, but he knew it wouldn’t help. If he wanted to shut them up, then he’d have to kill them as soon as possible.
“Uaaahk!” Kang Oh charged forward and continuously swung his sword. Eder backed him up from behind.
Eder used his necklace’s special ability: Summon Bees! Five bees engaged each of the Molgons. He also used Agrisan’s Poison! Eder cast various bone spells while the red powder permeated the air.
Ultimately, they began taking down the Molgons one or two at a time.
“Haa.” Kang Oh rubbed his ears. He could still hear the bats’ ‘Biii!’ ringing in his ears.
“Are you alright?” Eder asked.
“Yeah. By the way, do you have a silence curse?”
Silence curses ‘silenced’ a target, preventing them from speaking.
“I do.”
“Then why didn’t you use it earlier!?” Kang Oh hatefully stared at him.
“I tried as soon as they used their ultrasonic waves, but it had no effect.”
“Ugh, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“They drained so much of Liviola’s power that their curse resistance went up too. That’s why the silence curse didn’t work on them. Tch.” Kang Oh hypothesized why the silence curse hadn’t worked on the bats.
“Our best bet is to kill any monsters that use ultrasonic waves ASAP,” Eder said.
Kang Oh nodded his head.
The two went back to hunting parasites.
And…
Their troubles continued.
* * *
An infinite variety. They felt these three words deep in their heart.
Parasite Zigarum. On the outside, it looked like a wolf, but it was as large as a tiger. However, each one of them possessed a different element. Fire, water, wind, lightning, and even light and darkness too!
Obviously, they used different skills too. Thus, the way you went about hunting them differed based on their element.
Moreover, the amount of power they’d drained from Liviola had a direct correlation on how powerful they were. Some of them would die in a single hit, while others would take an hour to take down.
They didn’t appear one by one either. When they appeared in packs, it made them even harder to take down.
The newest additions to the parasite family, the Crerabs, Taldans, and Boyas, were just as hard to take down.
They had to fight each of them a different way, while keeping their guards up and focusing entirely on hunting. It was extremely tiring, and it took them a long time too. There was a reason they’d only killed 200 of them, even though they’d gone way past three days already.
Plus…
There was a being that was completely out of their league.
“Mm.”
Kang Oh and Eder quickly hid behind a crystal.
Thud! Thud!
A giant monster passed by them. Its back was filled with Chulas, and its crocodile-like mouth was filled with Hepirins. Bloodstone monsters, which were designed to deal with parasites like it, were sprawled behind it like a red carpet.
[You are the first to discover the source of the parasites, the Parasite King, Kiladen.]
‘A raid boss!’
Without a doubt, it was an extremely powerful raid boss. Kang Oh and Eder had no choice but to hide until it passed by.
“Phew. I sure am glad that killing that isn’t part of our quest.” When it was completely gone, Eder sighed in relief.
“Yeah.”
After encountering the Parasite King, Kang Oh and Eder were forced to hunt even more carefully than before. If it suddenly showed up while they were fighting, then they’d been in huge trouble!
‘Dying is already an issue, but the count also goes down to 0 if you die.’
Ultimately, it took Kang Oh and Eder ten days before they could complete the Kill the Parasite quest.
* * *
The second trailer of the Draka hunt was shown. This time, however, the trailer was short and sweet.
When Draka returned to his nest, Draka popped out of the pile of corpses and attacked! They showed small glimpses of the battle, and the tension kept building and building!
Just that small glimpse was enough to draw people’s interest. After all, the original footage had been amazing enough!
At the end, the program’s title and the air date was shown.
Predator! Eat or be Eaten!
The second trailer drew a ton of interest from the playerbase. As evidence of that, GBS’s chat channel was filled with messages.
– Man, just show the program already I can’t wait for it.
– Me neither.
– Didn’t it show everything already?
– If that’s all there is to it, then I’m suing GBS.
– It probably isn’t. I have faith in Oga, no, Kang Oh!
– I bought some extra underwear just in case.
– Buy some more.
– No, no. I doubt it’ll be that good.
– Isn’t Kang Oh just all bark and no bite?
– Has that ever applied to any of the Numbers before?
– This program will show us if he’s the real deal or not.
– Agreed.
– Well, we’ll see I suppose.
– In any case, hurry it up!
– Yeah!
* * *
Kang Oh and Eder stood in front of Liviola’s Heart. The heart raised its eyelid, revealing the red crystal eye underneath.
“You took awhile,” Liviola’s Heart stared at them and said.
“It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be,” Kang Oh replied, looking exhausted.
“Those damn parasites, they’re a thorn in my side! Of course it wasn’t easy.”
“Indeed.”
“Did you happen to see the Parasite King?” it asked.
“Yes, we saw it.”
“I have to get rid of it no matter what. If I could move freely, then I’d kill it myself!” the heart said disappointedly.
Kang Oh and Eder kept their mouths shut. If they said something, then they might get caught up in something tiresome again.
‘Something like ‘Lure the Parasite King here.’.’
“Anyhow, good work,” Liviola’s Heart said, and then a message popped up
[You have completed the quest, Kill the Parasites.]
[Accept your reward from Liviola’s Heart.]
“I want to go to Despia!” Kang Oh yelled.
“Alright.”
Then, the heart’s eye radiated intense light. At the same time, the heart’s mouth opened wide. A blazing, oval-shaped portal appeared within it.
[You have discovered a portal that leads to the Land that Borders Hell, Despia.]
[What an amazing feat!]
[Fame has increased significantly.]
[If the Tower, the Historical Association, colleges, etc. learn of this, then your name will be recorded in the annals of history.]
Kang Oh clenched his fist, while Eder looked deeply moved. Finally, the gate to Despia had been opened!