Dungeon Predator

The Mahalal Palace, which the final boss, Hectos, had ruled over, contained several different passageways.

If the player used the secret passageway, then they could fight Hectos without encountering the midbosses.

With this, Hectos' crown wouldn't emit light, which meant that he could only use one of his skills.

Thus, the fight became much easier.

But if the player used this method, Hectos wouldn't drop his best item, the Sergez Crown of Destruction.

'Alishi's probably in the same boat.'

If he beat Alishi at her highest difficulty setting, then she should yield a better item.

And since he would be the first one to beat her, she would be guaranteed to drop her highest ranked item.

In other words, this was his best chance at getting her best item drop!

She may have gotten a lot stronger, but hey, high risk high reward.

"Concentrate, Darion," Kang Oh said.

"Got it," Darion replied.

'He's getting disrespectful again. Why I oughta...!'

But he held back for now. Right now, he needed to focus all his attention on Alishi.

Kyaaa!

Alishi kicked off her nest and came out.

Her four eyes gleamed like Hectos' crown.

Puhat!

Alishi spewed poison liquid from her mouth in a fan-shape.

"Dodge!" Kang Oh yelled and pushed Darion.

However, Kang Oh himself didn't move.

Huahk!

The area where Kang Oh was standing had turned into a swamp of poison, yet Kang Oh was absolutely fine.

[You have been hit by the Spider Queen's poison liquid. You take no damage due to your immunity to spider poison.]

The gemstone in the ring on his right hand gleamed. 

Because he was wearing Rash's Ring of Protection, which gave him immunity to spider poison, he was fine.

"It's my turn!"

Kang Oh gripped his greatsword with both hands and dashed towards Alishi.

The edge of his giant greatsword clamorously slid across the ground.

Darion too, wielding a gladiator's gladius, rushed Alishi as well.

Alishi straightened her body.

Her tail, which was pointed towards the sky, spewed out white skein everywhere.

There was no place they could go to avoid it.

[Spider webs have stuck to your body. Movement speed has been reduced.]

Though his movement speed had decreased, he was still able to approach Alishi with no problems.

However, Alishi began to stamp the ground with every leg but her front legs.

Kwang, kwang, kwang!

The ground trembled and whenever Alishi stamped onto the ground, shards of the earth began flying.

"Darion, protect yourself!" Kang Oh yelled and covered his own body with his demon sword.

What was the saying again 'try and avoid sudden showers'?

But like how an umbrella could not block all the rain, the shards grazed Kang Oh's skin.

[You have been hit by shrapnel. You have taken 13 damage.]

[The shrapnel has hit your ankle. You have taken 7 damage and movement speed has decreased by 1%.]

[The spider webs are hampering you. Please be careful.]

'This makes me think back to my first time fighting Hectos.'

Hectos, having entered Destruction Mode, continuously used his six skills from beginning to end.

But at the same time, Alishi wasn't at Hectos' level. Alishi couldn't continuously use her skills so blindly like Hectos could. 

Some time passed, and Alishi no longer spewed her poison or skein.

Instead, she began calling for her children.

Dee-Dee-Dee!

The oothecae within the boss room began to violently shake.

"Shut up!"

Kang Oh switched from defense to offense and used Slash. Shrapnel continued to fly, but he didn't take much damage from it.

Darion followed suit and thrust his sword at the Spider Queen's flank.

Alishi shrieked and swung her legs.

Kang Oh's demon sword and Alishi's thick legs clashed. There was a clear white mark left remaining on her front leg.

It was the wound left behind by Slash.

Kang Oh swung his sword as fast as possible.

'Explode!'

Since he'd put everything in his Sense stat, his Darkness Strike activated.

A wave of darkness in the image of a beast gnawed at the Spider Queen.

Kuah!

For the first time, Alishi screamed in pain and violently swung her front legs.

Kang Oh positioned his demon sword and defended against the incoming leg, but was pushed back.

During that time, Darion's gladius, which was encased in a red energy, pierced Alishi's body.

Critical hit!

Red shards of light, about a handful, fell from Alishi's body.

'I can't be outdone.'

Kang Oh aimed for Slash's resulting wound and slashed downwards.

Red shards dispersed into the air, as if glass had broken, and Kang Oh swung his sword downwards from up high once more.

More red shards flew into the air!

Another critical hit!

Kyakya!

Alishi's screams were accompanied by an unusual sound coming from her body, which only continued to increase.

Bii!

A shaking ootheca ripped apart, dripping with a glutinous fluid.

10 Shade Spiders awoke from the ootheca. As soon as they were born, they squirmed as if hungry!

"Darion, take care of the spiders!"

Once Darion headed over to the spiders, Kang Oh focused on Alishi's attack.

With his Hyper Intuition, Kang Oh dodged Alishi's leg attacks.

The enraged Alishi's chest swelled.

Ready, aim, fire!

Kwah!

She spewed poison in a fan-shape once more!

"You idiot!"

Kang Oh threw himself into the poison wave.

[Your are immune to spider poison.]

Alishi couldn't move while spewing her poison, so Kang Oh aimed for her head.

Slash!

Simultaneously, Darkness Strike activated as well!

Kwang!

Kang Oh cleaved Alishi's head with his demon sword. Following the huge collision, Alishi's body began to falter.

[Hitting Alishi in the head has caused her to enter a confused state for 3 seconds.]

Alishi was defenseless for 3 seconds. That time was priceless for someone with Hyper Intuition.

First, he cut the joint connecting her body to her front leg. 1 second.

Second, he pierced the center of her body. 1 second.

Finally, he wacked her on the head again with his sword. 1 second.

Critical hit, critical hit, critical hit!

Kyak!

Alishi, having regained consciousness, violently positioned her leg like a spear and thrusted.

It was the fastest speed he'd seen from her yet.

However, having foreseen the danger through his Hyper Intuition, Kang Oh quickly rolled onto the floor.

Kyaoh!

The enraged Alishi raised her tail to the sky.

'Is she gonna use her spider webs again?'

However, it wasn't spider webs this time.

Alishi's ghost pattern began to shine.

'This is...'

The pattern began to squirm. It looked somewhat like a beautiful woman, but also an old witch.

An optical illusion!

Alishi's pattern continued the optical illusion and as the red light shot out like a laser, Kang Oh was struck by dizziness.

[Alishi has cast an optical illusion. If you look upon the pattern, then you will be confused for 1 minute.]

Kang Oh immediately turned his head.

He saw Darion staring right at Alishi.

And there were spiders swarming him from all around!

"Darion!" Kang Oh yelled, but it was of no use.

'You idiot!'

He was level 36, yet he managed to get caught in a level 30 boss's special ability!

"Hahp!"

Kang Oh rushed over to Darion and slaughtered all the spiders.

Alishi, still maintaining the optical illusion, aimed for Kang Oh's back.

His Hyper Intuition warned him. He felt a chill at the center of his body! He hastily rolled onto the floor, but he was a bit too late.

"Keuk."

[You have taken 150 damage. Your HP has dropped below half.]

[Remaining HP: 120]

He had been struck while completely defenseless, so the damage he'd taken was huge.

Kang Oh turned his body and closed his eyes so that he wouldn't be affected by Alishi's optical illusion.

Dee-!

He could hear Alishi summon her allies, as well as the spiders squirming in hunger.

At the same time, Alishi's front leg flew towards him.

'Not a chance!'

Even without his sight, Kang Oh could take care of himself.

With his Hyper Intuition, he blocked Alishi's attack and began his counterattack.

"Hahp!"

He couldn't see, but he could feel the impact; he knew he'd inflicted a critical hit.

And he could also feel the incoming presence of spiders coming for him from every which direction.

Dadadadada!

Kang Oh stood in front of Darion and repelled anything that came his way, like a giant and thick wall.

[You have been hit by a piece of shrapnel. You have taken 5 damage.]

He had no way of avoiding the shrapnel, but the shards of earth themselves didn't do much damage.

Ultimately, the spiders quickly fell to his demon sword, and by now, Alishi's optical illusion had faded.

[Alishi is no longer casting her optical illusion.]

Alishi's special skill, which lasted for a minute, had finally come to an end.

Kang Oh opened his eyes. He could see Alishi's four gleaming eyes.

"Huh?"

Darion also awoke.

"Get ahold of yourself! Attack Alishi!" Kang Oh yelled.

Kang Oh really wanted to smack him, but taking out Alishi was his priority.

Darion grabbed his gladius, dodged Alishi's leg, and thrust his sword.

Kya!

As always, Alishi continued to spew her poison and spider webs, shrapnel flew into the air, and she summoned more of her allies, but it was a pattern he was familiar with now.

He pushed her back with his demon sword while Darion helped.

The Spider Queen gradually went on the defensive.

His demon sword had cut one of her legs. Now, Alishi only had six legs remaining.

'Hoo. I can finally see the end.'

If that dumbass Darion hadn't fallen for her optical illusion, then he could've beaten her even more easily.

However, that was only his opinion. Alishi had no intention of losing so easily.

Kyaahk!

Alishi's body emitted a red aura.

[The Spider Queen, Alishi's HP has fallen below 10%.]

[The Spider Queen, Alishi is now berserk. She has become much stronger.]

The now berserk Alishi aimed at Darion with her front leg.

"Keuk!"

Darion quickly raised his sword and blocked the attack, but he was knocked out and was slammed into the wall.

What devastating strength!

The impact had knocked him out. If he sustained another attack, then it'd become really dangerous.

"Hey, praying mantis!"

Kang Oh provoked Alishi so that she wouldn't go near Darion.

Kya!

Alishi rushed towards Kang Oh. She simply swung her legs to attack him, but she was disgustingly fast.

He'd seen how Darion had been knocked out, despite blocking Alishi's blow, so he dodged rather than blocked.

Kwang!

Whenever her front legs stamped onto the ground, it left a huge hole, as if the ground had been struck by a meteorite.

Kwang, kwang, kwang!

Alishi continued her devastating assault. Kang Oh was barely managing to dodge her attacks.

"Phew, phew."

'I guess I'll have to use my last resort!'

He'd come this far; there's no way he could lose here.

"Darion, buy some time. Don't get hit, just avoid her," Kang Oh said to the now conscious Darion.

Darion gritted his teeth and dashed towards Alishi.

Kang Oh pushed off the floor and escaped Alishi's range.

And took off Rash's ring and placed it on the demon sword.

The darkness radiating from the demon sword became sharp teeth and devoured the ring.

He'd activated Gluttony, which temporarily increased his abilities exponentially for a fixed amount of time, at the cost of a BB-rank item or higher!

[The Demon Sword, Ubist, has consumed the BB-rank Rash's Ring of Protection.]

[Entering Gluttony mode.]

[For one minute, the demon sword and the character's abilities double.]

A jet-black aura rose from Kang Oh's entire body. The darkness became a cloak and fluttered behind him.

His body overflowed with power. All his abilities had been doubled! His demon sword's astounding attack power had doubled too.

'Though it's kind of disappointing that it only lasts for a minute.'

The duration of Gluttony depended on the item. Since Rash's Ring of Protection only required the user to be at level 15, Gluttony only lasted for 1 minute.

"Are you ready yet, sir?" Darion said hastily. 

He really was barely holding on.

Kwang!

A giant pit was formed in the ground and Darion was being pushed back.

'This guy. He's in a pinch, so he's being respectful.'

"I'm going!"

Kang Oh approached Alishi.

The quickly flying front leg still held a clear wound.

Kang Oh, having all his abilities doubled, swung his sword twice as fast as before.

Swish.

He cut a horizontal line atop the vertically cut wound. 

Paahk!

Kyaoh!

Alishi screams were accompanied by her front leg being dismembered. 

Kang Oh leapt up and forcefully swung his sword again.

A black wave followed the trajectory of his blade. Like a pack of wolves that were approaching their prey!

Kwang!

The huge impact rocked Alishi.

It was a Darkness Strike whilst in the Gluttony state!

Moreover, he'd hit a vital area, the head!

Shards of light spilled out like fireworks.

Alishi fell to the floor like a marionette that had its strings cut.

[You are the first to defeat the Spider Queen, Alishi.]

[You have acquired the title, Spider Queen Killer.]

[Your fame has increased.]

[All combat-related side stats have increased.]

[You defeated her at the highest difficulty.]

[Alishi will drop an even better item.]

[You defeated the enemy whilst in Gluttony mode.]

[Stats have been stolen.]

[Physical +3]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Finally, tidings of victory!

Before him, he could see Alishi's giant corpse, the items she'd left behind, as well as her nest, where she'd kept all the riches she'd gathered. 

Now it was time for him to see what sweet rewards awaited him.