Kang Oh was lost in thought.
âI only have 100 days to do this. There are three things I need to do by then.â
Master Demonic Swordsmanship, seal a demon within Akanhoff, and learn a Demonic Swordsman secret technique!
The simplest task was sealing a demon.
Although the demon had to be at least a level 500 raid boss, it was comparatively much easier than the other two tasks.
The problem lay in the other two tasks: mastering Demonic Swordsmanship and learning a Demonic Swordsman secret technique!
His proficiency in High-Rank Demonic Swordsmanship was currently at 67%. Which meant that he needed to raise it another 33% within 100 days.
Normally, heâd say it was impossible. After all, proficiency rose at a snailâs pace in Arth.
However, there were three things in his favor.
First, the Earthâs Blessing!
The Earthâs Blessing would double his experience and proficiency gain.
Second, his talent as a Demonic Swordsman had increased!
Once he obtained his third demon sword, Kang Ohâs proficiency in all Demonic Swordsman related skills would increase more quickly.
Finally, the legendary potion, Elixium!
Elixium required four rare ingredients. Dragonâs Blood and the Gold Bean could be obtained from his soul dungeons, and he had asked Man Bok to procure the Sunâs Seed and the Seaâs Tears. If given to a skilled enough Alchemist, these ingredients could be used to produce Elixium.
Drinking this legendary potion increased proficiency gain.
Even taking all of this into account, mastering Demonic Swordsmanship would prove to be a difficult endeavor.
Learning a Demonic Swordsmanship secret technique would be a problem too. Where exactly was he supposed to learn it?
âI guess I have no choice but to find out during my 100 days.â
Kang Oh planned to use his information network to its fullest.
Burkan placed his hand on Kang Ohâs shoulder.
âIf you master Demonic Swordsmanship, then you wonât have to worry about the secret technique.â
âWhat do you mean?â Kang Oh tilted his head.
âWhen you become a Master, you get the opportunity to create your own secret technique.â
Kang Ohâs face brightened. âThen?â
âMastering Demonic Swordsmanship and the secret technique are one issue, not two.â
âAh, thank you very much, Brother!â Kang Oh clasped Burkanâs hands.
âIf youâre done, then go out and train. Youâre wasting time that you could have spent killing another monster, or swinging your sword,â Valan, whoâd been listening in on Kang Oh and Burkanâs conversation, said.
Kang Oh stared at Valan. âYou bastard!â
âWhy are you looking at me like that? Want to die?â Valan asked, and Kang Oh immediately turned away.
âI have one more piece of advice. You canât become a Master by just training your swordsâŠâ
âEnough.â Valan cut Burkan off. âHe has to figure that out himself. You canât spoon feed him,â Valan added.
âWhat is it? What were you trying to tell me?â Kang Oh asked.
Burkan shook his head. âNever mind. Just keep this in mind. You can do it!â
âOk.â Kang Oh nodded his head.
âRemember to do the missions,â Valan said.
Not only did he need to complete Valanâs quest, but he needed to complete the Guardian of the Continentâs missions too. He didnât have much time.
âIâll have to hold off on searching for dungeons.â
He had a bitter taste in his mouth. If not for Valanâs impossible quest, then he wouldâve been looking for soul dungeons right now, and making a huge profit!
Oh well. He didnât have the luxury of choice. Thus, he had to put everything he had into mastering Demonic Swordsmanship.
âItâd be great if I could fight him along the way.â Kang Oh thought of the perfect target and place.
âIf youâll excuse me.â Kang Oh quickly left.
âEvery second is precious!â
Now, only Valan and Burkan were left.
Then, Burkan said, âThat was too much.â In other words, âThat quest was cruel.â.
âIt canât be helped. The Evil God Worshippers already have two of their sacred treasures. I lost one of my arms too. I canât train him the conventional way.â
With two of their sacred treasures reclaimed, the Evil God Worshippers were rapidly increasing their strength and influence at this very moment. Itâll be chaos when they decide to use their accumulated power and influence to the fullest.
Thus, he didnât have the time to patiently wait for Kang Oh to grow. Thatâs why he had chosen to be so heartless and cruel. Then again, he was always ill-tempered.
âDo you think heâll be able to do it?â
âHe has to if heâs going to be my successor.â
There were three kingdoms in the eastern desert region: the Arabas Kingdom, the Baiyan Kingdom, and the Dellas Kingdom. Of these three, however, the Arabas Kingdom was by far the largest and most powerful.
It was said that their mages were superior to the other two nations as well.
In other words, the Arabas Kingdom was like the oldest in the family!
Its desert cities, which were built around oases, were always bustling with nightlife, and were called the Desertâs Lamps. Befitting its title as the Desertâs Treasure, the Arabas Kingdomâs capital, Numeka, was extremely beautiful and mysterious.
However, the Arabas Kingdom was incredibly unstable right now.
The crown prince had suspiciously died, and the current king, Yomund, had fallen deeply ill and could die at any moment now.
With those two out of the picture, the 2nd and 3rd princes were next in line. Thus, the two fought in order to succeed the king.
Fierce battles took place all across the Arabas Kingdom between the 2nd and 3rd princeâs forces.
The 2nd and 3rd princeâs forces clashed above the large sand dune, Camelâs Hump.
The 2nd princeâs forces were led by the Lord of Cule City, Narbaham.
He led countless Desert Warriors and Insect Mages into battle. The Empire Guild, which was assisting the 2nd prince in the war, had lent them two of their squads, the Moby Dick Squad and the Iron Horse Squad.
The 3rd princeâs forces were led by Phukal, a warrior nicknamed the Ghost Spear. He led Desert Warriors and Sand Mages, as well as six intermediate-size mercenary groups.
âIâm your opponent!â
The Desert Warriors, which rode on camels and wore white turbans, swung their scimitars and killed each other.
The sound of metal striking metal, as well as screams, curses, and camelâs cries resounded throughout the battlefield.
âSummon Swarm of Red Flies!â
The 2nd princeâs Insect Mages summoned swarms of red blood-sucking flies, which covered the sky.
Then, the 3rd princeâs Sand Mages responded with magic of their own.
âThe desertâs heartless winds!â
A sandstorm swept through the swarms of flies.
Summon â Bladed Mantises, Emperor Dragonflies, and Poisonous Spiders!
The two magical disciplines in the east, insect and sand, only made the battle more chaotic and intense.
To add to that, the Empire Guildâs Moby Dick and Iron Horse Squads clashed with the 3rd princeâs mercenaries.
âTheyâre small fry. Kill them all!â
âShow them the power of the Empire Guild!â
Their leaders, Moby Dick and Taker, yelled.
âTheyâre strong. Be careful!â
The Moby Dick and Iron Horse Squads were filled with the Empire Guildâs elites, the #1 guild in all of Arth.
Even though the six mercenary groups had bunched together, they were getting overpowered right from the start.
âWe have to work for our pay!â
âUse hit and run tactics!â
The mercenary groupsâ leaders yelled, and did their damndest to hold out.
âDie!â Moby Dick rushed at Thalesban, the leader of the Salt Mercenaries.
Moby Dick was a high ranker that was over level 400! His weapon of choice was a mace and a shield.
Moby Dickâs mace came flying at Thalesbanâs head, so he quickly raised his shield.
His power was so great that Thalesban fell to the floor, his shield dented.
Then, Moby Dickâs mace unleashed mighty energy.
A giant, golden whale struck Thalesban.
Sand flew everywhere, accompanied by a giant âboomâ. It was as if a bomb had just gone off.
âHahaha!â Moby Dick smiled and attempted to finish off the greatly weakened Thalesban.
Was it his pride as a mercenary leader? Thalesban just barely raised his shield and blocked Moby Dickâs finishing blow.
However, he couldnât withstand anymore than that.
âJust die already.â Moby Dick swung his mace, crushing Thalesbanâs head.
That was the end of Thalesban.
Moby Dick spun his mace around, and then searched for a new opponent.
Taker had already killed one of the mercenary groupsâ leaders. The Moby Dick and Iron Horse Squads were slaughtering the mercenaries.
It was completely one-sided!
âHahaha!â Moby Dick rushed forward. He was ecstatic.
âWho would dare get in my way!?â
He heard a sudden âclangâ.
Moby Dick widened his eyes. Someone had blocked his mace.
âNot bad.â He smiled at the man whoâd blocked his blow.
It was a man wearing leather armor and a wolf-shaped mask, wielding a purple sword.
âTry blocking this too!â
Moby Dickâs mace began radiating golden light.
The man swung his sword horizontally.
His blade unleashed golden energy.
A golden, roaring tiger aura rushed forward!
The two mighty auras clashed and then exploded, resulting in a sand cloud.
Then, a purple blade flew through the sand cloud.
âUheot.â Moby Dick raised his shield and blocked the manâs sword.
A clear, metallic âclangâ rang out. However, something completely unexpected happened right after.
It sounded like his shield had just cracked.
âWhat?â Moby Dick couldnât understand what had happened. Why had his metal shield cracked?
The manâs purple blade came flying through the air once more.
Moby Dick raised his shield.
The purple blade had left behind a clear, cross-shaped mark.
Realizing that this wasnât normal, Moby Dick quickly backed off. However, the owner of the purple sword quickly approached him.
He swung his sword once more.
Moby Dick couldnât hope to dodge the attack. Thus, he raised his shield again.
Pieces of his shield fell to the ground.
âHaahp!â Moby Dick swung his mace.
His mace radiated silver energy, which coalesced into the shape of a giant hammer, and slammed down on his enemy.
The owner of the purple blade backed off.
âAre you alright, Captain?â
Members of his squad surrounded him.
They were all elite members of the Empire Guild. They too had realized that Moby Dickâs opponent was on another level, so they had quickly come to help him.
âTch.â The man clicked his tongue from behind his mask.
âHow unfortunate. I couldâve finished him off.â
There was no way someone with that level of skill was nameless!
The man said nothing. Instead, he pulled out a jet-black sword.
âThat sword isâŠ!â Moby Dickâs eyes widened. He knew who that jet-black greatsword belonged to.
âYouâre Kang Oh!â Moby Dick yelled.
They looked shocked. Why was Predator Kang Oh here?
Kang Oh pulled out a BB-rank mass-produced sword from his inventory and used Gluttony.
All of his abilities were increased twofold.
His body was blackened, as if heâd been covered in squid ink. A beast mask covered his face and a jet-black tail swished behind him. In his right hand lay Demon Sword Akanhoff, and in his left, Demon Sword Ubist!
Because Akanhoff wasnât inhabited by a demon yet, Devil Trigger had transformed him into the Jet-Black Demon, not the Dual Demon.
âItâs whale hunting time!â Kang Oh rushed at them with blistering speed.
âHoly shit! Why is he so strong!?â
Kang Oh killed the members of the Moby Dick Squad again and again. There were already a ton of them thatâd died by his hand.
He was so strong that people would take one look at him and think, âAs expected of one of the Numbers.â.
His purple blade, Demon Sword Akanhoff, was the most dangerous part about him. Anything it touched would break, whether it be a weapon or armor.
That wasnât all. It amplified his damage by a factor of 1.5 to 3 times!
Just a few attacks would be enough to kill the members of the Moby Dick Squad.
Ultimately, Moby Dick sacrificed his subordinates in order to buy time, and called Taker for aid.
If he wanted to beat that crazy beast, then he needed Takerâs help. It was impossible to beat him alone.
Only after heâd killed several members of the Moby Dick Squad did Taker arrive.
âThat guy over there.â Moby Dick pointed at Kang Oh.
âNice. Letâs kill him.â
âDonât underestimate him. Heâs a monster,â Moby Dick warned.
âWeâll see. Letâs go.â
Taker and Moby Dick. They led two of the Empire Guildâs eight squads.
âFor the Empire Guild!â
The Moby Dick and Iron Horse Squad followed behind them.