Chapter 40: Demon Kang Oh (1)
Caraco's crystal released lightning, forming a giant orb of lightning in the sky.
It thrust its golden spear into the orb. Then, the spear began to absorb the lightning orb.
Creak!
The spear turned into lightning.
Now, rather than golden, the spear was a mix between blue and snow-white. The spear emitted sparks, zigzagging across the length of the spear.
It lunged with its lightning spear.
Its target: Kang Oh's heart!
Rather than avoid it, Kang Oh gritted his teeth and swung his sword.
Clang!
Once his sword and its spear clashed, intense sparks popped out.
Kang Oh took damage and was pushed back.
Once the distance between them had widened, Kang Oh turned around and headed for the cave.
"Where do you think you're going!?" Caraco roared angrily.
It pursued Kang Oh feverishly with its four legs.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
"Die!"
Caraco, whilst running, raised its spear and threw it at Kang Oh.
A javelin throw!
The lightning spear flew with incredible speed. As it flew, it spewed lightning everywhere.
"Haahk, hak."
Kang Oh ran like crazy. His stamina was drained.
"Mr. Kang Oh, behind you!"
"It threw its spear!"
Eder and Sephiro yelled to warn him of the danger.
Kang Oh looked back.
A giant powerful lightning bolt was coming right at him.
"Shit."
He has all sorts of tricks.
Kang Oh kicked off the floor and threw his body. Whilst in the air, he guarded his body with his magic sword.
The spear embedded itself where he had been moments prior.
Boom!
A 'boom' resounded about as if there had just been an explosion, and indeed, the ground was decimated around the impact site.
As if that wasn't enough, the lightning extended it all directions, striking Kang Oh's sword.
"Ugh!"
Since he was in the air, whenever the lightning struck his blade, he was hit by a significant amount of force and pressure.
His body was flung away swiftly like a kicked soccer ball.
Kang Oh was also forced to make an emergency landing!
He rolled onto the floor.
A message appeared, telling him that his HP had gone down, which only served to make him even dizzier.
Fortunately, he had made it to the cave.
Eder and Sephiro rushed over to him.
"Mr. Kang Oh!" Eder shouted.
Sephiro immediately used First Aid on him.
Kang Oh stood up.
"Let's go inside."
They didn't have any time to rest.
Caraco stared at Kang Oh's party and removed his spear from the ground.
Kang Oh's party went inside the cave.
"We have to damage one more wing."
As a result of their constant focus on its wings, they'd made it so that two of them were useless.
If they disabled just one more of them, then they could prevent it from flying.
"Ok."
"Understood."
Eder and Sephiro prepared for battle once more. Kang Oh tightly gripped his blade with both hands.
Caraco approached the cave.
"This cave will be your grave!"
It charged towards Kang Oh like a runaway engine.
"Birdbrain!"
Kang Oh rushed forward.
Kang Oh and Caraco.
The two entities clashed!
Of course, Kang Oh was at a disadvantage.
Caraco was a raid boss!
It swung its lightning spear with devastating force and fired a lightning cannon from its forehead as well.
Even so, Kang Oh held strong.
He didn't fall due to his Hyper Intuition and his outstanding combat abilities.
'Sephiro, hurry up!'
If Caraco lost its ability to fly, then Kang Oh would unleash everything he had left.
He'd use both Gluttony and Devil Trigger!
But if he was about to land a killing blow and it then flew into the air, things would get troublesome.
Thus, their main priority was to disable its ability to fly.
Sephiro stayed true to his mission. He persistently aimed for one of Caraco's wings.
Spinning Arrow, Double Shot, Piercing Arrow, Shadow Arrow, Homing Arrow!
He was as quick and precise as a machine and continued to use every skill in his arsenal.
Eder did his best too, using all sorts of curses.
But then...
Caraco, who had been pushing Kang Oh back, suddenly turned its head and shot a lightning cannon.
It wasn't aiming for Kang Oh, but for Sephiro!
"Not on my watch!"
Kang Oh threw his body and thrust his sword. His magic sword absorbed the lightning cannon.
However, that was what Caraco had intended all along.
Caraco lunged at the now defenseless Kang Oh.
Kang Oh was midair. There was no way he could dodge its attack.
'Damn it. Just survive one hit!'
Caraco's lightning spear pierced through his body. Or almost did, at least.
[The Baramut armor set's special ability, Wind Shield has activated.]
[The attack has been nullified.]
The Baramut armor set shined, creating a vortex of wind that nullified Caraco's attack.
When its user was about to be struck by a fatal attack, the set would create a wind shield that would nullify the attack.
'I forgot about this! Thanks, Baramut.'
Now that's what he called a close call!
After danger comes opportunity.
Sephiro ceaseless attacks had thoroughly injured Caraco's third wing.
Now that it only had one uninjured wing, Cacaro would no longer be able to fly. One wing alone was not powerful enough to let it become airborne.
"Uaahk! How dare you!" Caraco wailed.
Its eyes glowed with a scarlet hue.
The lightning released by its crystal engulfed the raid boss.
[The flightless Caraco has turned Berserk.]
[The flightless Caraco has entered Lightning Hunter mode. Caraco's body becomes lightning.]
Berserk, a state which would explosively increase one's abilities! Plus, it had entered Lightning Hunter mode, which would turn its entire body into lightning!
The combination of these two made the raid boss, Caraco, a walking catastrophe.
But Kang Oh refused to yield.
"You think you're the only one who can transform!?"
It was time to use everything he had.
Kang Oh took off the necklace with four different shining gems.
It was the A-rank item, Alishi's Necklace.
"Eat it, Ubist!"
Darkness spewed from the magic sword, and devoured the necklace.
[Magic sword Ubist has consumed Alishi's Necklace.]
[It is an A-rank piece of equipment.]
[Entering Gluttony mode.]
[The magic sword and character's abilities triple for 5 minutes.]
If the magic sword consumed a BB-rank item, then his abilities would double.
However, an A-rank item would triple his stats!
Moreover, the higher ranked the item was, the longer the duration time was.
Kuooh!
Kang Oh emitted jet-black energy.
Power overflowed from every part of his body.
But that wasn't all.
Darkness began to spread from the hand gripping the blade to the rest of his body.
He was instantaneously covered in darkness.
Devil Trigger!
His body was dyed in a black darker than any shadow.
The darkness formed a mask over his face that resembled a beast with eyes that shone with a red hue.
It also formed a jet-black tail that shone with starlight. The darkness over his shoulder rose like a heat haze.
Once the shadow took the form of Ubist, it stood behind Kang Oh.
Kuaaaaaahk!
Kang Oh roared.
No, perhaps it was Ubist that roared instead.
Kayaahk!
Not to be outdone, Caraco roared as well, its entire body releasing lightning.
At that moment, the Demon Kang Oh and the Lightning Caraco stared at each other.
Was that the signal?
The two entities dashed towards each other.
Kang Oh straightened his jet-black tail like a comet and charged!
While Caraco zigzagged towards him like a lightning bolt that cut the divided the world!
Darkness and lightning clashed!
* * *
Clang!
Clang!
The walls cracked and the ground was uprooted. The shaking of the cave caused the stalagmites to fall.
The two entities clashes caused the cave to tremble.
"This is crazy!"
Sephiro was shocked by Kang Oh's strength.
'He's low-leveled too...'
Kang Oh was still only level 98. He wasn't even level 100 yet. That's why Sephiro shuddered.
A strength that overcame levels!
"Numbers..." he muttered unbeknownst to him.
Numbers.
Arth's AI ranked its rankers based on factors such as level, strength, achievements, influence, fame, money, etc.
Ranks 1 through 9 were called Numbers.
In other words, Numbers were Arth's most powerful players!
Kang Oh's clash with Caraco made him think of the Numbers.
That just meant how crazy Kang Oh was.
"Is it really ok for us to just sit here and do nothing?" Eder asked Sephiro in his ghost state.
"The battle's too intense. I think it'd be best if we just sat this one out," Sephiro said.
It wasn't because he was worried that they'd be hurt if they intervened. Right now, they had to watch this fight.
"I understand."
Thus, Sephiro and Eder quietly watched the great struggle before their very eyes.
* * *
[You may now use the power of the King of Magical Beasts and the Abyss Predator, Ubist as your own.]
[You may take full control over the darkness. Now, the darkness around you will move as you see fit.]
[You may now use Abyss Prison, Abyss Aura, Abyss Shield, and Abyss Transfer.]
[You now have complete resistance against the darkness element.]
[If you are in the dark or even shade, HP, MP, and Stamina replenish quickly.]
[In you dwells a beast's strength and ferocity.]
[You now possess the full power of predation. Devour your foe!]
[Ubist lies in your shadow.]
[Ubist moves as he wills.]
Kang Oh quickly read the messages and dashed towards the Lightning Hunter Caraco.
Caraco too, charged towards Kang Oh.
Clash!
Kang Oh swung his magic sword. The darkness struck Caraco like a whip.
Caraco was lightning itself.
It zigzagged around and avoided his attack.
'If you're made of lightning, then I'll cut lightning itself!'
His magic sword possessed the ability to cut that which couldn't normally be cut, whether it be ghosts or elements.
It should be effective against Caraco!
Kang Oh swung downwards.
Kyaoh!
This time, Caraco didn't avoid his strike and counterattacked.
It shot out nine red lightning bolts from its spear.
Kang Oh steered the darkness.
He guided the darkness surrounding him to gather around his sword.
Abyss Shield!
His shield, like a swamp, absorbed the lightning without a sound or trace.
Meanwhile, the shadow Ubist swung its front paw at Caraco.
It wasn't a normal attack.
Abyss Claw!
It scratched Caraco with its gleaming silver claws.
Kyaa!
Caraco cried out and shot lightning at the shadow Ubist.
The shadow Ubist could control its own shadow, making it larger or smaller whenever it wished.
Ubist minimized its shadow and evaded the lightning.
Clang!
Crack!
The lightning missed its target, merely hitting the innocent land.
Kang Oh leaped high into the air, aiming for the Caraco's weak spot; his Hyper Intuition had indicated that it was its crystal.
However, Caraco was strong.
It was both Berserk and in its Lightning Hunter mode.
In an instant it had thrust its spear four times.
It felt like he was getting stabbed by four spears simultaneously.
Moreover, all of them were aiming for his vital spots, each with a massive amount of destructive force!
'Let's retreat for now.'
The darkness engulfed him.
Abyss Transfer!
Kang Oh instantly got behind Caraco. He now had a clear view of Caraco's back.
'Here's my chance!'
Kang Oh swung horizontally.
He etched a black and white line into the air.
The combination of black and white! It was the result of his Darkness Aura and Slash.
Swish!
His blade cut through its back.
"Kuahk!"
Caraco screamed at the sudden pain.
"I'll rip you apart!"
The enraged Caraco launched lightning in every direction.
Normally, he would either take cover or hide behind his magic sword, but it was different now.
Kang Oh boldly pressed forward.
He was at his peak focus right now.
Whenever his Hyper Intuition would send him a warning, he would quickly evade it and move forward in between the lightning.
Of course, the lightning would still graze him or the sparks would damage him, but he could endure it.
Ultimately, he pierced through the lightning and saw Cacaro.
"Take this!"
Tempest Tiger!
He unleashed a golden aura from his blade.