Dungeon Predator (WN)

Kang Oh managed to recruit an unexpected helper.

"It's been a while."

She was a red haired beauty with glasses, and was ranked 4th among Arth's playerbase. It was Helena, otherwise known as the Witch of Annihilation and Blood Witch.

At first, Kang Oh asked Burkan and Bart for their help. However, Burkan always refused requests that'd prove to be a hassle, while Bart had prior arrangements.

The next best thing would be Helena, a mage that far surpassed Soren or Karin in skill, so he asked her if she was interested. He used Dragon's Blood as bait, knowing that no mage could resist the allure of such a valuable material.

Kang Oh managed to reel her in.

As expected, Dragon's Blood was an incredible material. After all, it'd managed to attract Helena, who was rarely seen in public, and didn't like to go out that much.

"Hello. It's been a while."

"Hello."

Two other members of the Witch's Forest came too. The Blue Knight, Plum, and the Wind Tracker, Dambi. They were both high rankers, so they'd be a huge help.

"I'll be in your care."

Their parties curtly greeted each other. They had all fought side by side during the Lich Eclipse raid, so introductions were unnecessary.

"Shall we get going?"

They passed through the Vertical Cave, and entered the question mark dungeon.

[Entering ???.]

"An unknown dungeon... How curious," Helena said.

"Yeah," Dambi said.

"Save the idle chatter for later. Please follow me as quietly as you can," Kang Oh quickly said. He led his team as carefully as he could, and looked for a Basilisk that was alone.

"How about him?"

"He'll work. I don't sense any presences nearby," Sephiro said.

"Everyone, get ready!" Kang Oh used Gluttony on an A-rank item, and also used Devil Trigger. "Attack!"

Helena extended both her hands, her staff in one of them.

"The secret of arcane magic!"

Double Casting!

This was arcane magic. It was a tremendous ability that allowed a mage to cast two chantless spells simultaneously!

A complex magic circle appeared above her, which shined down on her like moonlight.

Exploding Lightning!

Ice Drill!

Giant, sharp ice appeared from her staff, and red sparks danced along her open palm.

Boom!

These spells were cast by the game's most powerful mage. They were power incarnate!

Helena hit the Basilisk dead on. The Basilisk retaliated, opening its mouth and spewing Petrifying Poison right at Helena!

"Don't you dare!" The Blue Knight, Plum, intervened. Her sword radiated intense light.

Honorable Aura!

A snow-white, noble aura sliced through the Petrifying Gaze.

Hiss! Hiss!

The Basilisk hissed threateningly, as the situation wasn't to its liking.

"Shut up!" Kang Oh, who'd already closed in, swung Demon Sword Ubist downwards.

Tempest Tiger!

The tiger-shaped golden aura rammed into its side.

The Basilisk counterattacked immediately. Its triangular scales shot out like hail.

Scale Missile!

Kang Oh had already experienced this before, so he spun Ubist around and blocked the scales.

Clang, clang, clang!

Sephiro's harpoon-shaped Giant Killer flew through the air.

Ground Shaking Arrow!

Dambi's arrow radiated dim green light.

Mysterious Arrow!

Thwock! Thwock!

The two differently shaped arrows pierced through the Basilisk's scales and rent flesh.

Hiss!

The color of its eyes darkened.

Petrifying Gaze!

"Don't look it in the eye!" Kang Oh said urgently.

However, his warning was unnecessary. Helena, Dambi, and Plum already knew that. After all, not looking at a Basilisk's eyes was one of the basics.

Eder started with an aging curse, and then cast various other curses and bone spells. He didn't summon any undead this time.

Waryong was on standby. After all, it didn't know when Sephiro would need a Fire Dragon's Arrow.

Grr!

The Basilisk slithered towards them, leaving huge marks in the ground.

"Scatter!" Helena yelled, and cast an Acceleration spell on herself. At the same time, she cast an Earth Wall to protect herself via Double Casting.

Thud!

A giant wall rose from the ground, preventing the monster from approaching. However, the Basilisk charged right through it, breaking the wall to pieces, and spewed Petrifying Poison in a fan shape. Kang Oh, Helena, and their teammates were busy keeping themselves out of harm's way.

A Basilisk was a monster that was over level 600! Even though Helena's team was with them, it was still just as strong and intimidating as before.

Kang Oh and his teammates continued their intense battle.

"Get out of the way!"

"Poison!"

"Ugh, I looked at its eyes by mistake."

"I'll give you medicine. Come over here!"

They were all forced to use their trump cards.

Kang Oh went all out from the very beginning. Plum summoned an armored valkyrie to help them.

Sephiro and Dambi had already used Buster Shot and Arrow Hell.

Helena used Overload. This spell tripled the power of her spells, but it sextupled her MP usage in exchange!

Even a mage of her caliber couldn't maintain Double Casting and Overload simultaneously. The MP consumption was too severe, and she'd quickly run out of mana. Despite that, she was forced to keep using Overload.

Dambi and Sephiro were riddled with wounds. They also had a little bit of Petrifying Poison on them. However, Eder's medicine kept the petrification from progressing.

This applied to Kang Oh as well. He was in his Jet-Black Demon form, so it didn't show, but he definitely wasn't in good shape.

"Keep at it for just a little longer! Just a little bit more and it'll die!" Kang Oh yelled, hoping to raise his team's morale.

The Basilisk wasn't in good shape either. Due to their attacks and Scale Missile, most of its scales were gone. Its skin was riddled with arrows, sword wounds, and signs of frostbite.

Both the hunters and the prey were covered in wounds!

"Keep your guard up until the end! Concentrate!" Plum's pleasant voice rang out.

But all of a sudden, the ground shook. It was as if there had been an earthquake.

"What's going on!?"

"What is this?"

Boom!

The ground cracked open, and another Basilisk popped out! It was the cause of the earthquake!

"Damn it!"

"Another one came!"

It was chaos. After all, another level 600 Basilisk had appeared.

"Myself and Ms. Helena will take down the weakened Basilisk. Everyone else, please take care of the new one!" Kang Oh yelled.

"Roger!"

Sephiro and Dambi shot arrows at the new Basilisk while moving to its sides. Plum charged straight at it, while Eder surrounded it with a bone fence.

"Ms. Helena, let's go!" Kang Oh swung Ubist downwards.

Everlasting Darkness!

A jet-black pillar surged from his blade, which completely devoured the Basilisk.

Helena used Double Casting and cast two spells at once.

Torrent!

Chain Lightning!

The blue lightning traveled alongside the stream of water, spreading everywhere until it hit the Basilisk! However, Helena tightly bit her lip. Because she'd used Double Casting while Overload was active, she didn't have much MP left.

'I hope we can kill it before I run out of MP!' she prayed, and continued to cast spell after spell with every ounce of MP she had left.

Bam, bam, bam!

Gluttony wouldn't last much longer either.

'We have to take it down before Gluttony ends!'

Whack! Whack! Whack!

Kang Oh landed hit after hit.

The Basilisk desperately struggled.

Hiss!

It shot its scales at them, and swung its body and tail at both the walls and the ground. The Basilisk spat its Petrifying Poison too, which fell over Kang Oh and Helena's heads like a net.

It was do or die for all three of them. It was a rush to the finish. Would they die first, or would it die first!?

"Die, you stupid snake!" Kang Oh violently thrust his sword.

Abyss Claw!

Hiss! Hiss!

The Basilisk swung its tail.

Bam!

The jet-black aura scratched the Basilisk. At the same time, Kang Oh was flung away by the Basilisk's tail.

"Please!" Helena used up all the MP she could spare.

Firestorm!

A giant, flaming whirlwind devoured the Basilisk's body.

Roar! Hiss!

The Basilisk's entire body was burning! It writhed in pain, and charged at Helena.

This was its last hurrah. However, Helena was out of gas too. She didn't even have enough MP to cast a barrier.

It was right in front of her, with its mouth wide open, but the only thing she could do was close her eyes and await death!

However, Kang Oh suddenly appeared, and forcefully swung his sword at its neck.

Whoosh!

The jet-black blade cleaved through its weakened scales and flesh, and went deep into its body.

"Huaaaahp!" Kang Oh swung his blade all the way through.

Spurt!

Red shards of light exploded from the Basilisk's neck, which was cut 1/3 of the way through.

The burning Basilisk froze, and its head fell to the floor.

Thud!

[You have defeated a Basilisk.]

[There is a huge level disparity between you and the Basilisk.]

[You have received a large amount of bonus experience points.]

[You have leveled up.]

"We got it!" Kang Oh cheered, and raised both his hands into the air. It was like he was a boxing champion who'd just put on the champion belt!

"We did it!" Helena opened her eyes and beamed. She usually remained rather emotionless, yet she raised her staff into the air and jumped around.

However, their happiness was cut short.

"I'm going over there!"

"Be careful!"

There was still another Basilisk to be killed. Plum, Dambi, Sephiro, and Eder were arduously fighting against it.

"Can you fight?" Kang Oh asked.

"I need to recover my MP, so not right now."

"Mm."

Kang Oh only had 3 minutes left on Gluttony.

"Ugh!"

The Basilisk tackled Plum to the ground. Shards of light burst from her body.

"We have to save Ms. Plum. She's in danger!" Eder yelled urgently.

The quick-footed Sephiro went over to help her, while Dambi shot arrows at it to keep its attention away from them.

Bam!

The Basilisk slammed its tail onto the ground. It was just after Sephiro had grabbed Plum and thrown both of them out of the way.

'We can't go on like this.' Kang Oh made his decision.

"Everyone, retreat!"

Contrary to his wishes, the Basilisk charged at him now.

"I'll buy you some time. Everyone retreat and get out of the dungeon!" Kang Oh yelled once more.

"Let's retreat!" Eder yelled.

"Retreat!"

Kang Oh's teammates scattered, and began running to the entrance. Meanwhile, Kang Oh was able to somewhat hold his own against the Basilisk.

It was such a relief that Gluttony would last just a little bit longer. Because of it, Kang Oh was able to buy his teammates enough time to retreat.

[Gluttony has ended.]

[All abilities return to normal.]

"See you later."

As soon as Gluttony ended, Kang Oh sank into the darkness.

Abyss Transfer!

Hiss!

The Basilisk attempted to devour him. However, Kang Oh had already disappeared.

Sometime later...

Kang Oh and Helena's team gathered outside of the dungeon. Fortunately, everyone was safe.

"Hoo, good work everyone. Let's end it here for today," Kang Oh said.

Going any further would be suicide.

Kang Oh couldn't use Gluttony anymore, and Helena couldn't use Double Casting. They had to wait until they were back up.

Sephiro, Dambi, and Plum had used their trump cards, so those were still on cooldown too. Plus, Eder barely had enough medicine left.

In other words, they couldn't fight at their best! Fighting the Basilisks when they weren't at full strength was an act of lunacy. After all, they could barely beat one when they were at their best.

So they would end things here!

"Good job."

"Good work."

"Are we coming here tomorrow too? You said you needed to kill twenty of them. We killed one today, so you have nineteen left," Helena said.

"I have some personal matters to attend to, so we'll take a break tomorrow," Kang Oh said. He had a shoot tomorrow for First Hunter. He needed to get his 300 million won ($300,000 USD)!

"Understood."

"Goodbye everyone." Kang Oh waved his hand. That was his farewell.

"Ok."

"Take care!"

"See you later!"

They all ripped their return scrolls. By the time the silver powder disappeared, no one was left in the vertical cave.

* * *

GBS's waiting room.

Jae Woo reclined in his chair and relaxingly waited for the shoot to start.

Knock, knock.

The door opened and in came Jin Cheol, carrying the helmet Jae Woo always wore under his arm.

"Have you been well, Mr. Jae Woo?"

"Of course."

"Here." Jin Cheol passed him the helmet.

"Thank you."

"I saw the footage you sold to TGN. We should've bought that from you." Jin Cheol looked disappointed.

Jae Woo's Despia footage was played on TGN day after day. Obviously, the reaction to it was amazing.

After all, it was Despia, one of Arth's most dangerous locations! It was so dangerous that it was called the Land that Bordered Hell! Plus, the footage was taken by one of the Numbers, Kang Oh!

A lot of people wanted to go to Despia, and that desire manifested itself in high viewership ratings.

"People liked First Hunter too," Kang Oh said.

A short while ago, First Hunter aired its first episode.

It was a show about Kang Oh and three of Arth's best players fighting monsters that were 'unbeatable'! It inevitably drew people's interest.

His Despia footage and First Hunter should've increased his fame, but there was no way it could go any higher at this point. Jae Woo was already a superstar.

If he walks through a large city with Demon Sword Ubist and his Draka set, then he'd be swarmed by players.

"That's why it's so disappointing. What would've happened if we showed both your Despia footage and you defeating Galmoss at the same time?"

They would've broken viewership ratings on both shows. Thus, Jin Cheol couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"I sold the footage to the highest bidder."

As they agreed upon, Kang Oh was getting a portion of TGN's ad revenue. When he saw the numbers, he realized he'd made the correct choice. He was making quite a bit. Hurray for TGN! Hurray for Shin Hye Rim!

"Yes, I know."

The one that got away is always the biggest fish.

"Anyhow, if you have any good footage, then please contact me first."

"Understood."

Kang Oh still had his footage of killing the Mayanes. It was footage with the Divine Dragon, Gainus in it. However...

'Now's not the time.'

He planned on killing all of the Mayanes and getting footage of the God of Creation's revival first. Then, he'd sell all of the footage for the highest price ever.

How much would it all come to?

'I can't wait.' Jae Woo lips curled upwards.