âAh, I knew this is how itâd turn out.â
Sephiro had a bitter taste in his mouth. The ashen corpses of the Lash Guild were sprawled on the floor around him.
Kang Oh and Tashaâs rampage had caused this. The two were way too powerful, while the Lash Guild was much weaker than they acted.
Sephiro hadnât done anything. Even so, just by being here, heâd become a target of the Lash Guild.
âW-Weâre the Lash⊠Guild!â the guild member, whoâd spoken so disrespectfully before, yelled shakily.
He was the only one left, though it wouldnât be long before he too was dead.
Kang Oh tilted his head. âSo what?â
âWe wonât forgive you for this!â
âThe likes of you are going to punish me?â Kang Oh snorted.
âIf you want to kill me, then youâll need to bring someone of Dukeramâs level.â
Even if Dukeram came, and thatâs a big if, Kang Oh may still come out victorious.
âTell your guildmaster that Kang Oh killed you.â Kang Oh raised Demon Sword Ubist.
âWhat? Kang Oh? W-Wait a second⊠Are you reallyâŠâ
Kang Oh didnât give him a chance to finish. His blade had already cut through his neck.
âIs it really ok to disclose your identity?â Sephiro asked.
âTheyâll eventually figure out who I am anyway. This guy leaves a huge impression.â Kang Oh shook his symbol, the jet-black greatsword. âI might as well just tell them. Thatâll make them think whether theyâll retaliate or not.â
Kang Oh disclosing his identity was a provocation. âIf youâre confident, then come out and fight! If not, then shut up and get lost.â
âWhat if they retaliate?â
âA tiger wonât lose, no matter how many weaklings come at it.â
He didnât want to admit it, but when considering Kang Ohâs strength, the Lash Guild was truly âbelowâ him.
Sephiro couldnât say the same thing about himself; the Lash Guild definitely werenât below him.
âI canât let myself get caught in the crossfire.â
He really hoped that Kang Ohâs actions wouldnât come back to bite him. He prayed to God, who he didnât even believe in most of the time.
âLetâs go,â Kang Oh said happily.
[Entering the dungeon, Alaka Cave.]
Alaka Caveâs original owner was a player called Dick. He was quite renowned as an explorer.
But one day, Dick made a post on Arthtory. He claimed that the Lash Guild had stolen the Alaka Cave from him.
Apparently, he had been killed and threatened countless times. In the end, he sold the soul dungeon for just 1 gold.
If you won a dungeon via a Sacred Duel, then the soul dungeon gets completely reset. However, if you buy a soul dungeon from its previous owner, then their upgrades wonât be reset.
Dick loved his soul dungeon, so he had invested everything he had into it. He had expanded his dungeon and reinforced the guardians, but⊠in the end, the Lash Guild stole the soul dungeon from him.
Thus, Dick decided to get revenge. He wrote how to enter the soul dungeon, what level and how strong the guardians were, their special properties, etc.
He hoped that someone would steal the Alaka Cave from the Lash Guild.
âThis is easy.â Kang Oh grinned.
By saying âOpen sesameâ, the boulder that sealed off the entrance to the soul dungeon rolled to the side.
[You have discovered the soul dungeon, Alakaban Waterfall.]
Normally, finding this soul dungeon wouldnât be easy. After all, Kang Ohâs Hyper Intuition had gone off nine times ever since heâd set foot inside the dungeon!
It had gone off whenever he came across the stones that resembled magic pearls scattered across the dungeon.
These stones had to be touched in a certain order. However, this order differed depending on the time of day.
If Dick hadnât revealed that the order differed based on the time, then it wouldâve taken him ages to find the right order.
In any case, Dickâs information allowed Kang Ohâs party to enter the soul dungeon without much difficulty.
Exactly 101 players were waiting for Kang Oh inside. This included Lashâs guildmaster, Ogura, as well as the guildâs elite force, the Gargoyle Knight Order!
âItâs a pleasure to meet you, Numbers Kang Oh.â
Ogura stretched out his arms and welcomed him. Of course, contrary to his speech, his body and eyes werenât welcoming at all.
âIâve always wanted to meet you at least once, since youâre so famous. To my knowledge, you havenât joined a guild yet. Would you like to join the Lash Guild?â he continued.
Kang Oh said nothing. It wasnât even worth listening to.
If the 4 great guilds offered him the guildmaster seat, he wouldnât be interested, so why would he even hear them out? It was ridiculous.
âHmm. Well, take some time to think over my offer. So, why have you come to this dungeon?â
It appeared that Ogura had absolutely no idea why he was here.
âWhy else would a Dungeon Hunter be here?â Kang Oh retorted.
Then, Sephiro saw Oguraâs eyebrows wriggle. It must be because of Kang Ohâs disrespectful way of speaking, as well as him ignoring Oguraâs previous offer.
âHe must feel like Kang Ohâs looking down on him.â
Sephiro had read him like a book.
ââŠSo? Youâre going to try and steal the soul dungeon from the Lash Guild? How dare you?â Ogura said murderously, dropping all pretenses.
He reminded him of a hissing cat when its food was stolen.
Kang Oh grinned. âWhatâs so great about the Lash Guild?â
Wriggle. Ogura flinched like a stomped worm.
âYouâll regret this.â
âHuaahm.â Kang Oh yawned and picked his ear.
âYou piece of shit,â Ogura cursed. Kang Oh truly was good at pissing people off.
Kang Oh opened his arms wide. âShut up and fight already!â
He moved his hands in a beckoning gesture. âCome on already!â
âKill him!â Ogura yelled. His voice cracked.
âWeâre killing one of the Numbers!â
The Gargoyle Knight Order rushed in. Contrary to its name, it didnât consist purely of knights. It was mostly made up of knights, but there were a few mages, assassins, archers, etc. mixed in too.
Thus, the Gargoyle Knight Order launched magic, arrows, poison darts, javelins, etc. at him first.
Kang Oh grinned. âLetâs play.â
His enemies greeted him with a long-range attack, so he should reply in kind. Kang Oh threw Demon Sword Ubist.
The giant jet-black greatsword spun violently and slammed into the vanguard.
The collision resulted in a giant explosion.
The ground was upturned, and four or five members of the Lash Guild fell to the floor. Its power was far greater than they expected!
Then, the Gargoyle Knight Order flinched.
âDonât panic! There are only five of them!â Ogura scowled and yelled.
âHe bleeds just the same!â
âOverwhelm him with numbers. He canât beat us!â
âIs that really true?â Kang Oh softly shook his stretched out right hand. His demon sword followed the path of his hand.
His jet-black blade slaughtered them like an eagle swooping down on a rabbit.
Tasha and Sara got involved.
Tashaâs red dress fluttered in the wind as a blood red wave flew through the air.
âHueup, phew!â Sara inhaled, puffing her cheeks, and then let out a frigid breath.
A wide, fan-shaped cold energy that was colder than any winter wind spread out.
âWaryong.â Sephiro extended his hand at the wyvern, and Waryong spewed out dark red flames.
It only took 5 seconds for the flames to materialize into an arrow. Sephiro immediately shot the arrow. He didnât really need precision; he just needed to aim it at the area with a lot of people.
It was as if a phoenix was flapping its wings and flying towards them.
Meanwhile, Eder summoned his Skeleton Minotaur, White Horn, and his Skeleton Saber-toothed Tiger, Goni. Since he had strength to spare, he summoned a few clumps of bone too and exploded them.
Explosions were an electrifying feeling, so long as one wasnât caught in them.
His partyâs attacks did considerable damage to the Gargoyle Knight Order. However, there were still more healthy people than casualties.
Befitting a large guild, the elites moved with some finesse.
âIf we get close, then we win!â
Four knights rushed at Kang Oh. They wielded a sword, spear, axe, and mace respectively, and all aimed for a different vital area.
Kang Oh softly evaded their attacks. Then, he summoned his demon sword back.
On the way back, Demon Sword Ubist cleaved through one of the knights. The axe wielder was caught with his pants down.
Red shards of light exploded from his body, and he died right then and there.
Kang Oh stretched out his hand and caught Demon Sword Ubist. Then, heâŠ
He left a white, diagonal line in the air!
Kang Oh had definitely swung his sword lightly. However, it didnât feel that way to his opponents.
The force behind his blow was tremendous.
The three knights fell simultaneously.
âIt doesnât matter if heâs one of the Numbers. Weâll still win!â
Several members of the Gargoyle Knight Order rushed in like a colony of ants trying to collect food. Kang Oh just kept swinging Ubist.
It was a fight between a colony of ants and an anteater. Kang Oh instantly defeated the âantsâ.
But it wasnât just Predator Kang Oh that was victorious.
âOhohoho.â Tasha laughed sharply, and continued to slay the humans. âDie, you trash!â
Phew. Sephiro breathed out and shot another arrow. Meanwhile, Waryong continued to set his enemies ablaze.
Sara and Eder fought half-heartedly. Of course, White Horn and Goni had no idea what the word âhalf-heartedlyâ meant.
âThis is⊠ridiculous.â
The Gargoyle Knight Order could see their impending defeat, and fell to their knees in despair. Even their guildmasterâs face had stiffened.
He knew they were strong, but this was ridiculous. Ogura was referring to Kang Ohâs party, of course. But he still had a trump card waiting in the wings.
âWakaiser!â Ogura yelled.
A fully armored wyvern swooped down from above the waterfall. It was much larger than Waryong or a normal wyvern, but it was still smaller than the Wyvern King, Draka.
This was Alakaban Waterfallâs final guardian, Wakaiser!
Wakaiser let out a threatening roar.
âGood boy.â Ogura clenched his fists.
âShut up!â Kang Oh leapt into the air and threw his sword.
The greatsword flew at the wyvern with frightening speed and struck its face.
It was as if its chest had been punctured. A refreshing âbamâ rang out, and the giant wyvern collapsed onto the floor.
Oguraâs body shivered in fear. Kang Ohâs power was downright terrifying.
Then, his expression completely shifted.
âHeâs empty-handed!â
Perhaps⊠this was his chance!
Ogura quickly yelled, âAttack Kang Oh. Heâs empty-handed!â
The remaining members of the Gargoyle Knight Order gritted their teeth and rushed at Kang Oh.
However, a woman wearing fur clothes softly walked over to him. Then, the woman transformed into a sword. Sara had returned to her sword form, Demon Sword Sarahoff.
It dominated the cold, and was just as good a demon sword as Ubist!
Kang Oh grinned. They had taken the bait.
His blade showed them no mercy. He cleaved through each and every one of them. It was a complete one-sided slaughter.
Meanwhile, Tasha, Eder, and Sephiro beat on Wakaiser, who still hadnât recovered from Kang Ohâs Weapon Bombardment.
Ogura had completely given up. âWe lost.â
His elite force had lost to only five people!
The Gargoyle Knight Order was completely obliterated. Wakaiser had also been defeated, its body sprawled on the floor and its tongue hanging outside its mouth.
The only one left standing was Ogura.
âHey.â Kang Oh poked Oguraâs cheek with the tip of Sarahoff.
âHuh? Did you just âwhatâ me?â Kang Oh scowled. His eyes were downright murderous.
âExcuse me, what did you say?â Ogura knew when to back down. He quickly adjusted his speech.
âEither sell the soul dungeon to me, or fight me. If you pick option 2, then youâll die. Youâll lose levels and proficiency for sure, and you may even drop some equipment. Either way, I get the soul dungeon. I just need to crush you in a Sacred Duel.â
Ogura quickly weighed his options.
He would lose the soul dungeon either way, so he might as well just sell it to him. That way, he would at least come out of this alive.
âIâll pick option 1.â
âThen how much will you give me⊠Hehe, this is worth quite a lot.â Ogura rubbed his hands together and laughed.
âYou bought it for 1 gold too, didnât you?â
They had threatened a good player like Dick into handing over the soul dungeon.
The words âIsnât 1 gold pushing it?â hung in his throat. After all, heâd done the same thing to Dick.
âYou can pick option 2 if you want. I donât care either way. Your equipment looks quite nice.â
Kang Ohâs eyes lit up with greed.
Ogura instinctively hid his weapon behind his back. It was an SS-rank sword and his greatest treasure. What if this were to drop? He didnât even want to think about it.
âYour belt and your shoes are SS-rank too. You really are the head of a large guild. Your equipment is quite nice.â
âIâll sell it for 1 gold.â
âWhy not choose option 2?â
With this, Kang Oh obtained another soul dungeon.