Kang Oh's body was dyed black, yet splotches of rainbow appeared all over his body. This made Scapi think…

'He's definitely been poisoned!'

Croik's poison was absolute. Resisting or curing it was impossible, and the poison would persist until death as long as she was alive.

This was a handicap given to all poison users.

Contrary to the real world, killing the user would remove the effects of the poison. To be more specific, killing a poison user would halt the effects of their skill or spell.

'If I hold out, it's my win. Then...'

She had already won.

Scapi leapt backwards.

At that moment...

"Die!" Kang Oh rushed at her.

He quickly closed the distance. It was only natural. His physical capabilities far exceeded hers.

However, Scapi had the Croik's poison.

Hueup, haa!

She shot the rainbow poison at Kang Oh once more.

Kang Oh swung Ubist, cutting through the poison mist. However, there was no way he'd be completely safe from the poison.

[Your symptoms have worsened.]

[Thirst, slow, dizziness, limited eyesight, chills, burning pain, and numbness have worsened.]

[HP decreases even faster than before.]

[Remaining HP: 33%]

[Warning: You have been affected by fatal poison!]

He didn't feel much pain. You could only feel a certain amount of pain in-game, after all.

The numbness/tingling in his hands and feet were the real problem. He felt really thirsty too.

Kang Oh gritted his teeth and advanced. He pushed through the poison mist, and saw Scapi.

'I can't keep going like this!' he thought. At the same time, a light bulb went off in his head. 'I only have one shot at this!'

Kang Oh leaned forward and staggered; then, he fell to one knee and bowed his head.

"Ugh."

To the untrained eye, it seemed like the poison was preventing him from moving properly!

However, Scapi was a vixen.

'Hmph, that won't fool me!'

To her, Kang Oh's acting was piss poor. It didn't matter if he wasn't acting. If she kept widening the distance between them, then she'd win.

Scapi leapt back, trying to widen the distance between them even further.

'Now!'

Kang Oh suddenly stood up, and swung Akanhoff as if he were drawing it from a sheath.

Akanhoff may be a longsword, but Kang Oh was too far away for him to hit her.

Then, the world began to slow.

Transcendent Blade!

Kang Oh extended Akanhoff with transcendent speed, and then let go of the handle.

Throw Demon Sword Akanhoff!

The purpose of his poor acting was to hide what he was trying to do and get into position.

Scapi saw something flash. By the time she got a hold herself, there was a sword right in front of her!

"Kyaahk!"

Demon Sword Akanhoff pierced through her body.

Now!

Kang Oh gritted his teeth and ran as fast as he could. The dizziness and numbness he experienced caused him to lose balance along the way, but he didn't fall or stop.

He instantly closed the distance, and tightly gripped Ubist with both hands.

Mad Wind's Sword!

He'd been dual wielding lately, so it had been a long time since he'd used the greatsword by itself.

"You think that'll beat me!?" Scapi yelled bitingly, and spewed a poison mist. She also shot poison spheres at him from either hand.

Abyss Shield!

It was better than nothing. A barrier, which resembled a black swamp, formed around his body.

Warning! Warning!

He ignored the cold feeling that his Hyper Intuition sent him, and allowed himself to be consumed by the poison mist.

The poison spheres pierced through the Abyss Shield, and struck his body head-on.

'There, there, and there!'

He completely forwent defense. Guided by his Hyper Intuition, he attacked every single one of her weak points with Ubist.

Whack! Bam! Whack! Bam!

Kang Oh and Scapi's bodies simultaneously/continuously exploded with shards of light.

However, Scapi's shards of light gradually got larger and more numerous. It was due to Mad Wind's Sword.

Demon Sword Ubist steadily got faster and faster! The faster it got, the more powerful it became!

Scapi's face was filled with fear. At this rate, she would die before he did.

Gyaahk, ptoo!

Scapi spat poison at him.

If Kang Oh bent backwards or backed off, then that'd give her a chance to retreat.

However, Kang Oh's response completely baffled her.

He allowed the poison to strike his face, yet continued to swing his sword. It was as if he were saying, 'If I go down, you're coming with me.'.

'You stubborn bastard!'

What's worse, he shouldn't even be able to see properly, yet his jet-black greatsword kept striking at her vitals.

Due to his experience with Ubist's trial and his Hyper Intuition, Kang Oh could fight without sight.

"You crazy bastard!" Scapi cursed, completely sick of Kang Oh's dogged persistence.

However, Kang Oh didn't even hear her. He was completely focused on killing her.

"Die, die, die!" Scapi, realizing that there was no other way around it, unleashed all of her stored up poison. That was the best she could do.

Unfortunately, her stored up poison acted as her HP bar in this form. Using her poison was like consuming her very own life force.

"No!"

Ultimately, Scapi died first. She couldn't accept her loss till the very end.

Kang Oh read the system message, informing him that the effects of Croik's poison had disappeared, stabbed Ubist into the ground, and then leaned against it.

"Hoo." Kang Oh sighed in relief.

Taboo, Brutal Blade, and Shion were well within his expectations.

They, weakened as they were from fighting the Great Forest's monsters, were easy to defeat.

However, Scapi far exceeded his expectations. To think she'd used the Croik's poison! Where did she even manage to buy that?

Even though he knew how much her bounty was, he had no choice but to kill her.

At that moment...

A figure appeared from Kang Oh's shadow.

It was the Killing Ghost Squad's vice-captain, Yaksha.

He'd been watching Kang Oh and Scapi's duel, and had waited patiently for his opportunity. However, he wasn't strong enough to get directly involved.

Thus, he had been watching until now. Now was the time to strike, as Kang Oh was completely wide open!

'I should be able to finish him off!' he thought, and used Shadow Transfer. That's how he'd appeared behind Kang Oh.

"Tch!" Kang Oh's back felt cold, so he turned around. However, he had reacted a little too late.

"Die!" Yaksha quickly swung his sword downwards.

But...

Whizz!

Thwock!

Sephiro's arrow hit him dead on. It was as if he too had been waiting for this moment.

Honestly, Sephiro had been watching Kang Oh and Scapi's fight too.

Once the battle ended, he saw how Yaksha had disappeared, and had aimed his bow at Kang Oh. It was clear where Yaksha would show up after all.

"Tch!" Yaksha gritted his teeth. He briefly staggered from the arrow, but he wasn't so weak that he'd fall from a single arrow!

He swung his sword all the way.

However, Sephiro had bought Kang Oh plenty of time.

He dodged Yaksha's sword by a hair's breadth, and...

Swish!

Cleaved through Yaksha's body too.

Sephiro did the rest.

Sun Piercing Arrow!

A violently spinning arrow pierced Yaksha's head.

Headshot!

The tremendous impact caused him to fall. In no time at all, Waryong flew over and climbed on top of Yaksha's body.

Gyaa!

Waryong opened its mouth wide, bit his head, and began chewing.

"Don't kill him!" Kang Oh quickly yelled.

The Killing Ghost Squad's vice-captain would be worth a ton.

Gyaa?

Waryong looked up at Kang Oh with its round eyes. 'Why?'

"I'm going to knock him unconscious, so sit tight."

Waryong seemingly understood him, as it flew into the air once more.

Kang Oh struck Yaksha's head with the flat side of his blade.

Smack!

Controlling one's strength was paramount. After all, it was so easy to kill someone rather than incapacitate them.

A short while later...

"Are you alright?" Sephiro approached him.

"Yes. Please tie up Taboo and Brutal Blade. It's him and him. They'll soon regain control of their characters," Kang Oh pointed at the two of them and said urgently.

"Mm, understood." Sephiro pulled out some rope from his inventory. Then, he quickly tied the two of them up so that they couldn't escape.

"Ugh." Taboo, who was the first to be knocked unconscious, shook. He had finally regained control of his character.

However, he was already completely tied up.

Brutal Blade was quiet, as if he were already dead. He still hadn't awoken yet.

Kang Oh stored his demon swords and drank an HP potion to somewhat restore his HP. Then, he approached them.

Yaksha, who was completely bound from head to toe with Darkness Chain, was resting on Kang Oh's shoulder. He looked like a black cocoon.

Thud.

Kang Oh dropped Yaksha to the ground, and then grinned at the bound Taboo and Brutal Blade.

"Hehe."

All he saw when he looked at them was gold coins.

"You son of a bitch! Let me go! I'll kill you!" Taboo yelled.

"Shut up!" Sephiro smacked his head and gagged him.

"Please keep a close eye on them. I'm going to go and pick up the items that were left behind," Kang Oh said.

"Alright." Sephiro nodded his head. "Ah, by the way." Sephiro quickly grabbed Kang Oh, who'd turned around. "What's my share?"

"Don't we split the loot 70-30?" Kang Oh said, looking at him as if that were completely obvious by now.

"That's different. This is their bounties we're talking about."

"Same difference."

"It's different. Plus, if not for me, you would've died at the end there. Isn't that right?"

"Nope," Kang Oh said decisively.

"I filmed it all. Shall we watch it together?"

"60-40!"

"You have a deal!" Sephiro smiled in satisfaction. 'Ah, I've won the lottery!'

Kang Oh roamed the battlefield, and picked up all the items that the criminals left behind.

As expected of a criminal organization. Every single one of them had dropped an item. There were quite a lot of items that'd sell for a hefty price.

Red Moon had given him a ton of fame, experience, proficiency, gold, and items. To him, it was a generous organization that always gave to him, never taking.

"Let's return to Altein now," Kang Oh said after collecting all the items.

"Alright." Sephiro nodded his head.

They'd originally come here to hunt the ancient Tuslam. But now, their main priority was to bring the Red Moon's executives to the Security Bureau.

Kang Oh and Sephiro returned to Altein with Taboo, Brutal Blade, and Yaksha in tow.

* * *

Kang Oh and Sephiro left the Security Bureau, which was reminiscent of a giant prison.

"Please take care!" The worker came out of the building, and bowed at a 90 degree angle.

It was only natural. Kang Oh and Sephiro had captured two criminals, Taboo and Brutal Blade, which were only one level lower than the Worst Criminal, Red!

Plus, Kang Oh had captured the Mad Jester, Clown before, who was on the same level as the aforementioned two.

"They won't be able to breathe the outside air ever again," the worker said.

He was referring to Brutal Blade, Taboo, and Yaksha. They had gotten a life sentence.

"Hehe. Alright then, take care." Kang Oh couldn't close his mouth.

Brutal Blade and Taboo were worth 50,000 and 40,000 gold respectively! Because Brutal Blade was responsible for assassinations, his bounty was a little higher. Yaksha was worth 10,000 gold, which was much less than he'd expected.

In total, they had made 100,000 gold! Of that, Sephiro got 40,000 gold and Kang Oh got the remaining 60,000.

1 gold was worth 3,000 won ($3 USD), so 60,000 gold was worth 180 million won ($180,000 USD)!

He'd hit the jackpot!

"Hehehe." Sephiro couldn't stop smiling either. After all, his portion was huge too.

Gyaa!

Waryong stretched out its wings and waddled around. It was probably thinking something along the lines of 'My master's happy so I'm happy too.'.

"Mr. Kang Oh." Sephiro looked at him warmly.

"Yes, Mr. Sephiro?" Kang Oh replied enthusiastically.

"Let's keep working together forever!"

"Sure."

Kang Oh and Sephiro clasped each other's hands. It was a relationship formed out of money!

"I'll leave the items with Mr. Man Bok. Please take your share of the profits later," Kang Oh said.

"Understood."

"Let's hunt the Tuslam tomorrow."

He wanted to go to the Great Forest immediately. However, he'd already used Gluttony, so it didn't feel right to go there now.

"That sounds best."

"See you tomorrow."

"Yes."

The two parted ways, and Kang Oh headed for the Saul Graveyard. Then, he continuously killed the high-rank undead again and again.

If he wanted to complete Valan's quest, then he couldn't waste a single day. Even if he'd just had a brutal battle with Red Moon.