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 Ubist's satiation has increased by 0.0003%.]

The magic eater, Demon Sword Ubist, kept him safe from Diak's attack, but the rest of his teammates weren't so lucky. 

"Ugh," someone cried out.

"Eder!" Kang Oh rushed over to him. Eder's face had lost all color, and his body was completely burnt as if he'd been in a fire. He had taken a direct hit from the sudden light bombardment. 

"Get a hold of yourself!" Kang Oh pulled off a health potion from his belt and poured the contents into Eder's mouth. He also gave him a fire resistance potion, since they healed burns. 

However, Eder was so badly hurt that a health potion wouldn't be enough to get him back on his feet.

At that moment...

Whizz!

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. 

Bam!

Huge shards of light flew through the air. Sephiro fell to the floor and rolled a few times. 

Gyaa!

'How dare you hurt daddy!' Waryong spewed flames. Soon enough, however, it met the same fate as Sephiro.

'I have to get in there!' Kang Oh rushed at Diak. While he ran over, Ubist's darkness wrapped around his body.

Devil Trigger!

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!

"Die!"

Abyss Claw!

A three-lined aura flew at Diak like the swipe of a giant beast. 

Diak opened its mouth.

Waaahk!

Shivering Roar!

It unleashed a shrill cry and a shockwave. The shockwave and aura clashed head-on.

Boom!

Diak pushed through the explosion and rushed at Kang Oh. It was so fast that Kang Oh reacted a bit too slowly.

Tyrant's Claw!

Bam!

A claw mark appeared on his blackened chest. Obviously, shards of light came out too. Unlike Sephiro, however, he didn't 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.

Swish!

His attack worked this time, leaving behind a crooked mark on Diak's neck. 

"C'mon!" Kang Oh yelled.

While Kang Oh engaged Diak, Sephiro stood up and checked on Waryong's condition. Fortunately, it was still alive. However, it wouldn't be able to fight anymore.

"Emergency Escape!" 

This skill placed a pet inside one's inventory.

Sephiro looked around, and saw a robe underneath a downed tree. Then, he rushed over and removed the tree. 

"Ugh."

Soren had been underneath it. Sephiro gave her a potion and used the support skill, First Aid, on her.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes..." Soren replied arduously.

'Tch, if only I'd known sooner.' Sephiro was disappointed in himself. If he'd have known about Diak's Light Bombardment, then he would've prepared for it.  

'Ah, what about Darion?' 

Sephiro looked around once more, but he didn't see Darion anywhere.

'Is he dead?'

However, he was worried over nothing.

"Phew!" Darion popped out of a deep crater. Of course, he wasn't in good condition. However, he wasn't on the brink like Soren or Eder.

"You bastard!" Darion looked at his burnt skin, and furiously rushed at Diak.

But... a short while later.

"Kuhahk!"

Diak had overpowered him, causing him to roll onto the floor. 

"Hey, don't get in my way! Go over there and recover! No, take Soren with you and go someplace safe. Mr. Sephiro!" Kang Oh yelled.

"Yes!" Sephiro replied.

"Eder's not in good shape. Take him with you and retreat from the battlefield."

Eder and Darion were NPCs. Which meant they only had one life. Thus, they couldn't afford to keep them here any longer.

"Then you'll have to fight Diak by yourself," Sephiro said.

"I'll do whatever it takes to stay alive. So take the injured and go! If you don't, then they'll all die when it uses its next AoE attack!"

"Understood!" Darion stood up and yelled. Then, he carried Soren and began running away.

Kya!

'Where do you think you're going!?', Diak seemingly said, as it attempted to pursue Darion. However, Kang Oh realized what it was planning and stopped it in its tracks. 

"Hurry!" Kang Oh yelled.

He was right. If his teammates stayed here, then they'd be killed by Diak's next Light Bombardment.

"I'll be back soon!" Sephiro picked up Eder and ran as fast as he could. 

* * *

First Hunter

's production crew were watching Kang Oh's party fight against Diak in real time.

"You did enough!"

"No, you can keep going!"

The staff members were in disagreement.

Some of them cheered Kang Oh on, saying he could keep going, while others said that he'd done enough! There was a reason they were in disagreement; it was the white board at the corner of the room.

[Pass / Fail]

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 Oh's skills, and it made a lot of sense. After all, look at what he'd shown them thus far.

Jin Cheol had bet on Kang Oh winning too. 

"It's because money's on the line," 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.

"What did you say?" Yoon Mi stared at him from the side. 

"I think he's going to win," Jin Cheol said.

"Are you watching the same thing I am?" Yoon Mi pointed at the screen.

Kang Oh's team had left him to fend for himself. At the moment, he was arduously fighting Diak one-on-one. 

"Kang Oh hasn't used his trump card yet."

"It doesn't look like Diak's in its final phase yet either." 

Which meant that Diak still had a trick up its sleeve.

"Didn't you bet that Kang Oh would win?"

"What about it?"

"So why does it feel like you want him to lose?"

"Diak's stronger than I expected. I just think it'd be hard for him to pull out a win."

"Is that so? I think it's just about right. It has to be that strong for us to reward him with that much money."

Diak's greatest weapon was its speed. Obviously, the key to beating it was doing something about its speed. However, its special ability, 'Self-Heal', 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 that'd make you think it was a raid boss. At the same time, it was skilled in combat, and its attack patterns weren't predictable. It was definitely worth calling unbeatable.

However, it would be even harder to beat if it weren't such a proud beast; if it made use of the shadows and struck from behind, then it'd be even harder to combat.

Anyhow, it didn't 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 Diak's claw.

Bam!

It cut into Kang Oh's right forearm.

[You have taken damage.]

[HP -4%.]

[Remaining HP: 45%]

Whoosh!

He belatedly swung his sword, but it retreated in the blink of an eye. After that, Kang Oh's body gradually accrued injury after injury.

Of course, he got some hits in too via his Hyper Intuition, but most of the time, he'd just be on the receiving end of a one-sided beat down. The difference in speed was too massive. At the same time, he couldn't just spam Transcendent Blade, as it had a hefty cost to using it.

'I can't keep going like this.'

He had no hope of defeating it one-on-one without Gluttony. Kang Oh pulled out an item that he'd prepared just for Diak.

Speed Stealer's Metal Gloves!

It was an AA-rank item with a level 250 equip requirement and one item effect. 

[Speed Steal]

If you inflict a critical hit, then you will steal a small amount of your opponent's speed. The faster your opponent, the more speed you will steal. This effect is capped at half of your opponent's speed. 

It was the best effect to use against such a speedy opponent, wouldn't you say? 

Why was he using this just now? He didn't have enough information on Diak before.

What if he used Gluttony and Diak used its incredible speed to run away? Like the Shadow Leopards he'd 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 wasn't able to kill it?

That's why he'd been saving Gluttony until now. However, it'd all go to waste if he kept saving it. He'd die if he didn't 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.

Full Moon Strike!

Diak's paw grazed the back of his head. Kang Oh didn't counterattack, and used a move to buy time instead.

Abyss Transfer!

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. 

Ptoo!

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 Stealer's Metal Gloves.]

[It is an AA-rank item.]

[Entering Gluttony mode.]

[For 20 minutes, the demon sword and your character's abilities are tripled.]

[You may use the consumed item's ability, Speed Steal.]

Kuhaa!

It screamed and swiped with its claw.

Tyrant's Claw!

Kang Oh belatedly swung his sword.

Transcendent Blade!

It wasn't just any Transcendent Blade; all of his abilities had been increased threefold!

Bam!

He left a long scar on Diak's 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! 

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