Tempest Tiger pounced on the shrinking Steel Gubara.

Boom!

Upon reading the system message, Kang Oh clenched his fist; it informed him that he’d completed the spontaneous quest and that Tempest Tiger had leveled up.

'Finally!'

Tempest Tiger had finally reached intermediate rank! How much stronger had it become?

However, its 1 minute cooldown prevented him from testing it out immediately.

'Let's finish this battle first.'

Kang Oh had no intention of just standing idly by for 1 minute. He rushed towards the Gubara he'd been fighting against.

No matter how tough the Gubara's shell was, there was no way it'd be able to withstand a Tempest Tiger head-on.

Tremble.

The Steel Gubara shook from the tremendous impact. That wasn’t all; it had left itself exposed as well!

Kang Oh seized the opportunity.

"Haahp!"

Kang Oh jet-black blade cleaved its abdomen, which wasn't protected by its shell.

Stab!

The edge of his blade pushed into its flesh.

Then, he dragged the sword through its body.

Slash!

Jiik!

Which resulted in a lengthy wound on its side.

In response, the Gubara turned its head and retaliated with a head-butt.

Kang Oh easily dodged and counterattacked. The Gubara shrank away, using its shell to repel his attack.

'Fine then...'

Kang Oh repeatedly attacked the shell's attachment points.

Bam.

Once he pushed it back, Kang Oh rushed in and attacked like a raging storm.

The Gubara threw itself at him, unwilling to give him a painless death.

However...!

'Finally.'

1 minute had gone by in a flash; Tempest Tiger was ready now.

Kang Oh assumed an iaido stance and swung his sword horizontally.

Swish!

The aura's golden light shined brighter than before. The tiger, whose stripes had become darker, roared and pounced onto the Gubara. Of course, the aura itself had become larger too.

This was intermediate rank Tempest Tiger!

But the aura wasn't the only thing that had become stronger.

Boom!

Whoosh!

A small whirlwind followed, sweeping through the Gubara.

"Hoh."

Kang Oh's eyes gleamed.

Normally, the aura would be followed by whips of wind. However, the intermediate Tempest Tiger changed those wind whips into a whirlwind. Obviously, the wind had become much stronger too!

The whirlwind soon dissipated, revealing the Steel Gubara outstretched on the floor.

Kang Oh turned around and rushed at the Gubara that Eder was fighting against.

The two of them surrounded it, front and back, and barraged it with attacks. It wasn't able to last long and died soon after.

Sephiro finished off the final Gubara with an arrow.

With this, the battle had ended.

"Alright, alright! Eder, pick up the junk items. Mr. Sephiro, please go and retrieve your arrows. We've only just started; you're not thinking of resting already, are you? Get a move on!"

Kang Oh clapped, drawing Eder and Sephiro's attention.

Both Eder and Sephiro pouted, but followed his orders regardless.

He wasn't wrong; they had just started.

"And for me..."

Kang Oh opened his skill window and looked over Tempest Tiger's updated information.

[Tempest Tiger]

Unleashes a powerful, tiger-shaped aura. A small, raging whirlwind will blow upon the area of impact.

The higher the rank, the wider the range and more destructive the aura becomes. It also increases the range and intensity of the whirlwind as well.

Classification: Active/Skill

MP Use: 600

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Rank: Intermediate

Proficiency: 0.02%

'The MP cost increased, and the explanation changed a little bit too.'

Tempest Tiger's original MP cost was 500, but rising to the intermediate rank had increased its MP cost to 600.

Also, 'raging winds' had changed to a 'raging whirlwind'.

'Unfortunately, the cooldown hasn't changed. At least Kunta's Ring lowers the cooldown to 1 minute.'

He looked at his other skills after going through Tempest Tiger’s updated information.

'Basic Evasion and Fleet Footwork will reach the intermediate rank soon.'

Basic Evasion and Fleet Footwork were above 97% proficiency.

He'd have a total of six intermediate skills when these two leveled up.

Demonic Swordsmanship, Slash, Darkness Strike, Tempest Tiger, Basic Evasion, and Fleet Footwork!

'It was worth putting all of my stat points into Sense. Kunta's Ring is doing its job too.'

Kang Oh grinned.

Most players would only have about one to three intermediate skills or spells at around level 200.

Even the best rankers had only around four to five at most.

Even the combat Numbers, whose levels were much higher than his and had played for a much longer stretch of time than him, had only around six to eight intermediate rank skills.

After all, proficiency was the most difficult 'stat' to increase.

Kang Oh hadn't hit level 200 yet, but possessed four intermediate rank skills, which would soon increase to six.

In terms of skill proficiency, Kang Oh far outstripped any other player.

Then...

Sephiro and Eder approached him.

"I'm done collecting my arrows."

"Here."

Eder passed him the junk items.

Kang Oh collected the items and said, "Let's move!"

They'd just defeated three of them, so they had 197 Steel Gubaras left.

There was no time to rest!

* * *

The Steel Gubaras were by no stretch of the imagination easy to defeat.

Their defense was high and they had a ton of HP too.

Still, they weren't as difficult to defeat as the Red Beard Bandits on Helm Mountain.

They were just level 180 monsters that had high defense, and that rolled around in order to attack.

Thus, Kang Oh's party pushed through the abandoned mine, defeating every Gubara they came across with little difficulty.

They'd finally reached the end of the mine.

Kang Oh’s party encountered a monster in the vast space.

[You have discovered the Great King Gubara, Admon.]

[It is a named monster.]

It was four times as large as a normal Steel Gubara!

Admon’s black shell was covered in spikes.

"It's a named monster," Sephiro said.

"Its spiked shell must make its attacks stronger than normal Steel Gubaras’," Kang Oh said.

"It'll likely use a special ability that the other Steel Gubaras don't have," Eder said.

"I think it's around level 200. Looks like it has the same attachment points in between the segments of its shell. We should aim for those. Eder, draw its attention. Mr. Sephiro and I will deal the damage," Kang Oh ordered.

"Understood."

"Go!"

"Ooh!"

Eder rushed forward.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Like always, he bashed on his shield with his mace, emitting a noisy 'clang'. He was basically saying, 'Focus on me!'.

Kuooh.

The Great King Gubara, Admon, turned its head towards him. Its four eyes were covered in a black membrane, and said membrane shined.

Admon crawled over to Eder with its many legs. Then, it raised its head and let it fall.

Whoosh.

It was akin to a giant rock falling from a cliff.

Eder quickly retreated.

He felt like he and his shield would be flattened if he’d tried to block it.

Bam!

Admon's head struck the ground. The floor shook, and pieces of the ground flew everywhere.

It raised its head, leaving behind a giant crater.

Such power!

But Eder wasn't intimidated in the least.

"Come here, you idiot!"

He stomped on the ground.

The glowing Star of David beneath his feet transformed into black lines that rippled outward.

He'd cast the Ruined Ramparts curse, which would reduce an enemy's defense if they were in range! Eder followed that up with a Rusty Sword curse as well, in order to reduce its attack power.

Did it realize that its attack power and defense had been decreased? Admon tried ramming Eder with its entire body.

"Eek!"

Eder quickly threw his body out of the way.

He had dodged its attack by a hair's breadth. Admon went right past him, the spiked shell just barely grazing him.

"Mr. Kang Oh, Mr. Sephiro!"

Eder rolled onto the floor and stood up. Then, he shouted for Kang Oh and Eder to 'hurry up and attack'.

"I'm going."

Kang Oh rushed to Admon's flank, but Sephiro had gotten an attack in before him.

Spinning Arrow!

Screech!

His arrow spun like a drill, attempting to pierce through the shell, but was unable to do so and fell to the floor.

'As expected. Looks like piercing its armor isn't realistic.'

The Great King Gubara, Admon's shell was even tougher than the Steel Gubaras'.

Even a player of Sephiro's caliber couldn't hope to pierce through its shell. So long as he didn't repeatedly strike the same area, that is.

'If that's the case, then... I just need to aim for an area not protected by its shell, that's all.'

Sephiro shot two arrows one after the other.

Homing Arrow!

Like living beings, the homing arrows flew towards two areas not protected by its shell: its legs and its eyes.

One of the arrows struck its leg, causing it to burst with shards of light.

Admon avoided the other arrow by ducking its head, causing the arrow to strike its shell instead.

"Ok."

Sephiro kept aiming for its legs, as they would be exposed when attacking Eder.

Kang Oh, however, aimed for the areas in between its shell.

"Haahp!"

Kang Oh swung downwards.

Slash!

The white line had definitely made contact.

Spurt!

Shards of light, white not red, burst from the wound.

'This is the Steel Gubaras' weak point, but it doesn't look like that applies to this guy!'

As expected of a named monster!

Then, Admon shook its body from left to right, as if displeased by Kang Oh's attack.

The incoming spikes were akin to an entire wall coming at him!

Kang Oh jumped off of it and retreated.

Kuwak!

Admon swept through the area as if it were sweeping the floor with a broom.

At that moment...

Kang Oh drew and threw a dagger as quick as lightning.

He briefly saw Admon's abdomen, and his Hyper Intuition was quick to inform him that that was its weak spot.

The dagger flew within a second, embedding itself in Admon's abdomen.

Red shards of light spilled from the wound, and the dagger discharged sparks.

Unfortunately, Admon wasn't shocked. It attacked Eder just like before, undeterred by the dagger.

Kang Oh rushed towards its side once more, and attacked an attachment point once more.

It wasn't a weak spot, but he could still deal damage there. It was a hundred times better than attacking the tough shell.

Kang Oh continuously struck the space between the shell, while Sephiro aimed for its legs. Eder swung both his mace and shield threateningly, causing it to focus entirely on him.

Little by little, Admon's HP began to dwindle. Then, Admon pulled out its trump card.

"It's coming!"

It began to spin.

Then...!

It began rolling towards them, acting like a blender's spinning blades.