'Ah, I knew this is how it'd turn out.'

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 Tasha's rampage had caused this. The two were way too powerful, while the Lash Guild was much weaker than they acted.

Sephiro hadn't done anything. Even so, just by being here, he'd become a target of the Lash Guild.

"W-We're the Lash... Guild!" the guild member, who'd spoken so disrespectfully before, yelled shakily.

He was the only one left, though it wouldn't be long before he too was dead.

Kang Oh tilted his head. "So what?"

"We won't forgive you for this!"

"The likes of you are going to punish me?" Kang Oh snorted.

"What?"

'The likes of you?'

"If you want to kill me, then you'll need to bring someone of Dukeram's level."

Even if Dukeram came, and that's a big if, Kang Oh may still come out victorious.

"Crazy bastard."

"Tell your guildmaster that Kang Oh killed you." Kang Oh raised Demon Sword Ubist.

"What? Kang Oh? W-Wait a second... Are you really..."

Kang Oh didn't give him a chance to finish. His blade had already cut through his neck.

"Is it really ok to disclose your identity?" Sephiro asked.

"They'll eventually figure out who I am anyway. This guy leaves a huge impression." Kang Oh shook his symbol, the jet-black greatsword. "I might as well just tell them. That'll make them think whether they'll retaliate or not."

Kang Oh disclosing his identity was a provocation. 'If you're confident, then come out and fight! If not, then shut up and get lost.'

"What if they retaliate?"

"A tiger won't lose, no matter how many weaklings come at it."

"Indeed."

He didn't want to admit it, but when considering Kang Oh's strength, the Lash Guild was truly 'below' him.

However...

Sephiro couldn't say the same thing about himself; the Lash Guild definitely weren't below him.

'I can't let myself get caught in the crossfire.'

He really hoped that Kang Oh's actions wouldn't come back to bite him. He prayed to God, who he didn't even believe in most of the time.

"Let's go," Kang Oh said happily.

[Entering the dungeon, Alaka Cave.]

* * *

Alaka Cave's 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 won't 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.

And so...

'This is easy.' Kang Oh grinned.

Rumble!

By saying 'Open sesame', 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 wouldn't be easy. After all, Kang Oh's Hyper Intuition had gone off nine times ever since he'd 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 hadn't revealed that the order differed based on the time, then it would've taken him ages to find the right order.

In any case, Dick's information allowed Kang Oh's party to enter the soul dungeon without much difficulty.

However...!

Exactly 101 players were waiting for Kang Oh inside. This included Lash's guildmaster, Ogura, as well as the guild's elite force, the Gargoyle Knight Order!

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Numbers Kang Oh."

Ogura stretched out his arms and welcomed him. Of course, contrary to his speech, his body and eyes weren't welcoming at all.

"I've always wanted to meet you at least once, since you're so famous. To my knowledge, you haven't joined a guild yet. Would you like to join the Lash Guild?" he continued.

Kang Oh said nothing. It wasn't even worth listening to.

If the 4 great guilds offered him the guildmaster seat, he wouldn't be interested, so why would he even hear them out? It was ridiculous.

"Hmm. Well, take some time to think over my offer. So, why have you come to this dungeon?"

It appeared that Ogura had absolutely no idea why he was here.

"Why else would a Dungeon Hunter be here?" Kang Oh retorted.

Then, Sephiro saw Ogura's eyebrows wriggle. It must be because of Kang Oh's disrespectful way of speaking, as well as him ignoring Ogura's previous offer.

'He must feel like Kang Oh's looking down on him.'

Sephiro had read him like a book.

"...So? You're going to try and steal the soul dungeon from the Lash Guild? How dare you?" Ogura said murderously, dropping all pretenses.

He reminded him of a hissing cat when its food was stolen.

Kang Oh grinned. "What's so great about the Lash Guild?"

Wriggle. Ogura flinched like a stomped worm.

"You'll regret this."

"Huaahm." Kang Oh yawned and picked his ear.

"You piece of shit," Ogura cursed. Kang Oh truly was good at pissing people off.

Kang Oh opened his arms wide. "Shut up and fight already!"

He moved his hands in a beckoning gesture. 'Come on already!'

No more talk.

"Kill him!" Ogura yelled. His voice cracked.

"Uhaahk!"

"We're killing one of the Numbers!"

"Die!"

The Gargoyle Knight Order rushed in. Contrary to its name, it didn't 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. 'Let's play.'

His enemies greeted him with a long-range attack, so he should reply in kind. Kang Oh threw Demon Sword Ubist.

Weapon Bombardment!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The giant jet-black greatsword spun violently and slammed into the vanguard.

Boom!

The collision resulted in a giant explosion.

"Uhahk!"

"Keok."

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.

"Don't panic! There are only five of them!" Ogura scowled and yelled.

"He's right!"

"He bleeds just the same!"

"Overwhelm him with numbers. He can't beat us!"

'Is that really true?' Kang Oh softly shook his stretched out right hand. His demon sword followed the path of his hand.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

His jet-black blade slaughtered them like an eagle swooping down on a rabbit.

At the same time...!

Tasha and Sara got involved.

Fresh Blood Wave!

Tasha's red dress fluttered in the wind as a blood red wave flew through the air.

"Hueup, phew!" Sara inhaled, puffing her cheeks, and then let out a frigid breath.

Yuki-Onna's Breath!

A wide, fan-shaped cold energy that was colder than any winter wind spread out.

"Waryong." Sephiro extended his hand at the wyvern, and Waryong spewed out dark red flames.

Roar!

It only took 5 seconds for the flames to materialize into an arrow. Sephiro immediately shot the arrow. He didn't really need precision; he just needed to aim it at the area with a lot of people.

Fire Dragon's Arrow!

Roar!

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.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions were an electrifying feeling, so long as one wasn't caught in them.

His party's 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.

"Attack!"

"If we get close, then we win!"

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.

Bam!

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, he...

Slash!

He left a white, diagonal line in the air!

Kang Oh had definitely swung his sword lightly. However, it didn't feel that way to his opponents.

The force behind his blow was tremendous.

Bam!

The three knights fell simultaneously.

"You bastard!"

"It doesn't matter if he's one of the Numbers. We'll still win!"

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 'ants'.

But it wasn't just Predator Kang Oh that was victorious.

"Ohohoho." Tasha laughed sharply, and continued to slay the humans. 'Die, you trash!'

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 'half-heartedly' meant.

"Aaah."

"This is... ridiculous."

The Gargoyle Knight Order could see their impending defeat, and fell to their knees in despair. Even their guildmaster's face had stiffened.

He knew they were strong, but this was ridiculous. Ogura was referring to Kang Oh's party, of course. But he still had a trump card waiting in the wings.

"Wakaiser!" Ogura yelled.

Whoosh.

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 Waterfall's final guardian, Wakaiser!

Kyahaahk!

Wakaiser let out a threatening roar.

'Good boy.' Ogura clenched his fists.

At that moment...

"Shut up!" Kang Oh leapt into the air and threw his sword.

Weapon Bombardment!

The greatsword flew at the wyvern with frightening speed and struck its face.

Bam!

Kieek.

It was as if its chest had been punctured. A refreshing 'bam' rang out, and the giant wyvern collapsed onto the floor.

Shiver.

Ogura's body shivered in fear. Kang Oh's power was downright terrifying.

Then, his expression completely shifted.

'He's empty-handed!'

Perhaps... this was his chance!

Ogura quickly yelled, "Attack Kang Oh. He's empty-handed!"

The remaining members of the Gargoyle Knight Order gritted their teeth and rushed at Kang Oh.

Please!

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.

Mad Wind's Sword!

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 hadn't recovered from Kang Oh's Weapon Bombardment.

"Aah."

Ogura had completely given up. 'We lost.'

His elite force had lost to only five people!

Sometime later...

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.

"Hey." Kang Oh poked Ogura's cheek with the tip of Sarahoff.

"Uheok."

"Choose."

"What?"

"Huh? Did you just 'what' me?" Kang Oh scowled. His eyes were downright murderous.

"Excuse me, what did you say?" Ogura knew when to back down. He quickly adjusted his speech.

"Either sell the soul dungeon to me, or fight me. If you pick option 2, then you'll die. You'll 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."

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.

"I'll pick option 1."

"A wise decision."

"Then how much will you give me... Hehe, this is worth quite a lot." Ogura rubbed his hands together and laughed.

"1 gold."

"Excuse me?"

"You bought it for 1 gold too, didn't you?"

They had threatened a good player like Dick into handing over the soul dungeon.

"B-But still..."

The words 'Isn't 1 gold pushing it?' hung in his throat. After all, he'd done the same thing to Dick.

"You can pick option 2 if you want. I don't care either way. Your equipment looks quite nice."

Kang Oh's 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 didn't even want to think about it.

"Your belt and your shoes are SS-rank too. You really are the head of a large guild. Your equipment is quite nice."

"I'll sell it for 1 gold."

"Why not choose option 2?"

"No!"

With this, Kang Oh obtained another soul dungeon.