Spheres of light descended upon the Black Forest like a meteor shower! The thin, bizarrely twisted trees were crushed, and several craters were left in the ground.
Despite that, Kang Oh remained completely unharmed. He either dodged the spheres of light or swung his sword at them.
[Demon Sword Ubist has absorbed Flash.]
[Demon Sword Ubistâs satiation has increased by 0.0003%.]
The magic eater, Demon Sword Ubist, kept him safe from Diakâs attack, but the rest of his teammates werenât so lucky.
âUgh,â someone cried out.
âEder!â Kang Oh rushed over to him. Ederâs face had lost all color, and his body was completely burnt as if heâd been in a fire. He had taken a direct hit from the sudden light bombardment.
âGet a hold of yourself!â Kang Oh pulled off a health potion from his belt and poured the contents into Ederâs mouth. He also gave him a fire resistance potion, since they healed burns.
However, Eder was so badly hurt that a health potion wouldnât be enough to get him back on his feet.
Kang Oh heard an arrow fly through the air. It was Sephiro. He had used Absolute Evasion, allowing him to dodge the Light Bombardment. Sephiro remembered to hold Waryong tight, keeping him safe too.
Once the Light Bombardment was over, Sephiro fought Diak one-on-one. He drew its attention, preventing it from finishing off his injured teammates.
However, fighting Diak one-on-one was by no means an easy feat. It easily dodged his arrows, closed in, and viciously swung its paws.
Huge shards of light flew through the air. Sephiro fell to the floor and rolled a few times.
âHow dare you hurt daddy!â Waryong spewed flames. Soon enough, however, it met the same fate as Sephiro.
âI have to get in there!â Kang Oh rushed at Diak. While he ran over, Ubistâs darkness wrapped around his body.
A beast mask covered his face, the eye sockets glowing red as if embedded with red gems. Sharp pauldrons covered his shoulders, a jet-black tail jutted out from behind, and darkness rose from his body like a haze!
A three-lined aura flew at Diak like the swipe of a giant beast.
It unleashed a shrill cry and a shockwave. The shockwave and aura clashed head-on.
Diak pushed through the explosion and rushed at Kang Oh. It was so fast that Kang Oh reacted a bit too slowly.
A claw mark appeared on his blackened chest. Obviously, shards of light came out too. Unlike Sephiro, however, he didnât fall to the ground. His legs shook from the sudden impact, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. He then swung his sword horizontally.
Diak quickly backed off, avoiding his attack, and then charged with blistering speed. Kang Oh swung his sword using his Hyper Intuition, not his sight.
His attack worked this time, leaving behind a crooked mark on Diakâs neck.
âCâmon!â Kang Oh yelled.
While Kang Oh engaged Diak, Sephiro stood up and checked on Waryongâs condition. Fortunately, it was still alive. However, it wouldnât be able to fight anymore.
This skill placed a pet inside oneâs inventory.
Sephiro looked around, and saw a robe underneath a downed tree. Then, he rushed over and removed the tree.
Soren had been underneath it. Sephiro gave her a potion and used the support skill, First Aid, on her.
âYesâŚâ Soren replied arduously.
âTch, if only Iâd known sooner.â Sephiro was disappointed in himself. If heâd have known about Diakâs Light Bombardment, then he wouldâve prepared for it.
âAh, what about Darion?â
Sephiro looked around once more, but he didnât see Darion anywhere.
However, he was worried over nothing.
âPhew!â Darion popped out of a deep crater. Of course, he wasnât in good condition. However, he wasnât on the brink like Soren or Eder.
âYou bastard!â Darion looked at his burnt skin, and furiously rushed at Diak.
But⌠a short while later.
Diak had overpowered him, causing him to roll onto the floor.
âHey, donât get in my way! Go over there and recover! No, take Soren with you and go someplace safe. Mr. Sephiro!â Kang Oh yelled.
âYes!â Sephiro replied.
âEderâs not in good shape. Take him with you and retreat from the battlefield.â
Eder and Darion were NPCs. Which meant they only had one life. Thus, they couldnât afford to keep them here any longer.
âThen youâll have to fight Diak by yourself,â Sephiro said.
âIâll do whatever it takes to stay alive. So take the injured and go! If you donât, then theyâll all die when it uses its next AoE attack!â
âUnderstood!â Darion stood up and yelled. Then, he carried Soren and began running away.
âWhere do you think youâre going!?â, Diak seemingly said, as it attempted to pursue Darion. However, Kang Oh realized what it was planning and stopped it in its tracks.
âHurry!â Kang Oh yelled.
He was right. If his teammates stayed here, then theyâd be killed by Diakâs next Light Bombardment.
âIâll be back soon!â Sephiro picked up Eder and ran as fast as he could.
First Hunterâs production crew were watching Kang Ohâs party fight against Diak in real time.
âNo, you can keep going!â
The staff members were in disagreement.
Some of them cheered Kang Oh on, saying he could keep going, while others said that heâd done enough! There was a reason they were in disagreement; it was the white board at the corner of the room.
Some of them betted on his victory, while others betted on his defeat.
What was interesting was that more people betted on his victory than his defeat, despite the fact that Kang Oh had gone first. It was a sign that they were confident in Kang Ohâs skills, and it made a lot of sense. After all, look at what heâd shown them thus far.
Jin Cheol had bet on Kang Oh winning too.
âItâs because moneyâs on the line,â Jin Cheol muttered. To his knowledge, Kang Oh would show his best when a ton of money was on the line. He assumed that he would do the same this time too.
âWhat did you say?â Yoon Mi stared at him from the side.
âI think heâs going to win,â Jin Cheol said.
âAre you watching the same thing I am?â Yoon Mi pointed at the screen.
Kang Ohâs team had left him to fend for himself. At the moment, he was arduously fighting Diak one-on-one.
âKang Oh hasnât used his trump card yet.â
âIt doesnât look like Diakâs in its final phase yet either.â
Which meant that Diak still had a trick up its sleeve.
âDidnât you bet that Kang Oh would win?â
âSo why does it feel like you want him to lose?â
âDiakâs stronger than I expected. I just think itâd be hard for him to pull out a win.â
âIs that so? I think itâs just about right. It has to be that strong for us to reward him with that much money.â
Diakâs greatest weapon was its speed. Obviously, the key to beating it was doing something about its speed. However, its special ability, âSelf-Healâ, quickly cured it of any status ailments like paralysis or slow. Unseeable speed and Self-Heal⌠It was quite the vicious combination.
Moreover, it had several AoE attacks thatâd make you think it was a raid boss. At the same time, it was skilled in combat, and its attack patterns werenât predictable. It was definitely worth calling unbeatable.
However, it would be even harder to beat if it werenât such a proud beast; if it made use of the shadows and struck from behind, then itâd be even harder to combat.
Anyhow, it didnât change the fact that Diak was a ridiculously strong monster. Even so, Kang Oh was the one fighting it. The same Kang Oh, who became exponentially stronger when a lot of money was involved!
Jin Cheol could see it; Kang Oh happily dancing around with 300 million won ($300,000 USD)!
Something flashed. It was Diakâs claw.
It cut into Kang Ohâs right forearm.
He belatedly swung his sword, but it retreated in the blink of an eye. After that, Kang Ohâs body gradually accrued injury after injury.
Of course, he got some hits in too via his Hyper Intuition, but most of the time, heâd just be on the receiving end of a one-sided beat down. The difference in speed was too massive. At the same time, he couldnât just spam Transcendent Blade, as it had a hefty cost to using it.
âI canât keep going like this.â
He had no hope of defeating it one-on-one without Gluttony. Kang Oh pulled out an item that heâd prepared just for Diak.
Speed Stealerâs Metal Gloves!
It was an AA-rank item with a level 250 equip requirement and one item effect.
If you inflict a critical hit, then you will steal a small amount of your opponentâs speed. The faster your opponent, the more speed you will steal. This effect is capped at half of your opponentâs speed.
It was the best effect to use against such a speedy opponent, wouldnât you say?
Why was he using this just now? He didnât have enough information on Diak before.
What if he used Gluttony and Diak used its incredible speed to run away? Like the Shadow Leopards heâd fought before, which retreated when the battle turned against them. And what if he used Gluttony, but Diak used an unforeseen attack pattern, and he wasnât able to kill it?
Thatâs why heâd been saving Gluttony until now. However, itâd all go to waste if he kept saving it. Heâd die if he didnât use Gluttony now.
Anyhow, Kang Oh attempted to use Gluttony. However, Diak attacked him at the same time.
His face felt cold, so he had to duck first.
Diakâs paw grazed the back of his head. Kang Oh didnât counterattack, and used a move to buy time instead.
His body sank into the darkness, and Diak tried to bite him before he could disappear completely. However, it was too late. It bit nothing but dirt.
Diak spat out the dirt, looked around, and began sniffing with its nose. Then, its eyes sharply glowed, and it charged somewhere with blistering speed.
It was charging at the location where Kang Oh had reappeared. Darkness rose from his form. While he was traveling through the darkness, he had activated Gluttony.
[Demon Sword Ubist has consumed Speed Stealerâs Metal Gloves.]
[Entering Gluttony mode.]
[For 20 minutes, the demon sword and your characterâs abilities are tripled.]
[You may use the consumed itemâs ability, Speed Steal.]
It screamed and swiped with its claw.
Kang Oh belatedly swung his sword.
It wasnât just any Transcendent Blade; all of his abilities had been increased threefold!
He left a long scar on Diakâs face, and red shards of light burst from the wound.
[You have inflicted a critical hit on Diak. Speed has been stolen.]
For the first time, Kang Oh had become faster than Diak!