Dungeon Predator (WN)

Gluttony!

The flowing darkness devoured Maurelion's War Sword.

[Demon Sword Ubist has consumed Maurelion's War Sword.]

[It is an S-rank item.]

[Entering Gluttony mode.]

[For 25 minutes, the demon sword and your character's abilities are tripled.]

[You may use two of the consumed item's abilities.]

[Joy of Battle and Maurelion Warrior have been chosen.]

[Joy of Battle]

The longer the battle lasts, the greater your strength and speed become. Also, the power of your skills and/or magic will gradually increase. Once the battle is over, however, you will feel the long-term effects of using the skill.

[Maurelion Warrior]

HP, MP, and Stamina are doubled for 10 minutes. Combat-related side stats are increased significantly. Cooldown: 1 day.

Not only was Maurelion's War Sword an S-rank item, but it had a level requirement of 300! It also came with some amazing item effects too.

Maurelion Warrior was a buff that explosively increases one's stats!

Joy of Battle was a Berserker skill, which increases the user's power proportional to how long the battle lasted.

However, this skill came with some long-term negative effects. Once the battle was over, the user's abilities would decrease by 10% for the duration of a week. It was basically the same as the death debuff.

Anyhow, what would happen if he used Gluttony, which already provided an explosive increase in his abilities, in tandem with Joy of Battle and Maurelion Warrior? He'd become strong enough to take on most raid bosses one on one and come out on top!

'Let's go!' Kang Oh activated Joy of Battle. His eyes glowed red like a monster under the effects of Berserk.

"Huahp!" Kang Oh leapt into the air and swung Ubist.

"Hmph!" Diabol was as arrogant as ever, even though he'd sensed a change in Kang Oh. 'He's still just a bug.'

Diabol swept through everything in front of him with his trident.

Clang!

Sword and spear clashed, emitting sparks.

"Huh?" Diabol narrowed his eyes. Until now, there'd been a certain power disparity between them, but now, Kang Oh wasn't getting pushed back at all!

"Try this on for size!" Diabol forcefully swung his trident.

Bear Sole Sweep!

"You're on!" Kang Oh said. 'I won't back down!'

Kang Oh swung his blade upwards.

Abyss Claw!

A deep, jet-black aura erupted from his blade.

Boom!

They were even this time.

Kang Oh versus Diabol. Neither side backed down, unwilling to give the other so much as an inch.

However... This wounded Diabol's pride. 'To think I'd be unable to overpower a mere human!' It didn't even register to him that he'd been weakened significantly.

Grr.

He murderously stared at Kang Oh and gritted his teeth. "Playtime's over." Diabol thrust his trident.

Flash!

A powerful ray of light came straight for him, but Kang Oh didn't back down.

Slash!

He vertically swung Ubist, cleaving through the beam of light.

"How dare you!?"

Kang Oh quickly closed in, and Diabol swung downwards with his trident, as if he were swatting a fly.

Lion Claw!

His trident's prongs radiated fierce energy.

Kang Oh held Ubist in a two-handed grip and swung as hard as he could.

Clang!

Sparks flew into the air and a metallic 'clang' rang out; it was so loud that it threatened to burst his eardrums.

Kang Oh and Diabol. Neither side was willing to slow down or stop attacking.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

They fiercely attacked each other.

Eder and Sephiro acted prudently, choosing not to aid Kang Oh. After all, Kang Oh and Diabol were fighting in incredibly close quarters. Unnecessary assistance in the form of an arrow or a spell may get in Kang Oh's way.

Ultimately, there was only one thing they could do: cheer!

"Mr. Kang Oh, you can do it!"

"Beat him, Mr. Kang Oh!"

* * *

Due to Joy of Battle, Kang Oh gradually grew stronger. However, Diabol kept pace with Kang Oh, and matched Kang Oh's increasing strength.

It was like two bidders in a bidding war. When one side bids, the other side bids even higher.

'You really are a monster!'

Diabol truly amazed him. His party had saved so many prisoners, which had to have severely weakened Diabol.

And yet, he fought Kang Oh on even footing, even though he was using Gluttony, Devil Trigger, and Joy of Battle! If he hadn't weakened him as much as he had, then Diabol would have won.

However...

Diabol had been severely weakened, making what should've been an impossible fight doable.

'Wings, huh...'

Kang Oh had noticed something while fighting him. Diabol would immediately react to any attack to his wings, as if he were having an allergic reaction.

'The Mayanes are an ancient race known for their splendid wings. Perhaps these wings have some sort of larger purpose. If that's the case, then...'

He could take advantage of this!

Kang Oh acted like he was attacking Diabol's body, but suddenly switched to his wings instead.

"How dare you!?" Diabol immediately protected his wings.

At that moment...

Kang Oh's blade stopped in midair.

A feint!

He'd taken the bait. Diabol had left himself open, and his Hyper Intuition immediately pinpointed the weak spot.

Kang Oh immediately swung Ubist, aiming right at the weak point. Even Diabol wouldn't be able to dodge this attack.

Bam!

For the first time ever, red shards of light burst from Diabol's side! Kang Oh had managed to do some real damage.

Of course, one attack wouldn't kill Diabol.

"Die!" Diabol immediately counterattacked, his face completely crinkled. He stretched out his wings, rose into the air, and thrust his trident.

Flash!

Kang Oh avoided the beam and quickly backed off.

Boom!

The ray of light scorched the ground.

Then...

"Now!" Sephiro yelled, and he shot an arrow at Diabol. This was their chance to attack, now that he and Kang Oh had distanced themselves from each other.

"Seize him!" Eder cast a spell. White bone grew around Diabol's wings.

Diabol forcefully flapped his wings. He ascended into the air, broke through the bones, and avoided the arrows too.

"Stay out of this, trash!" Diabol said warningly, and then swung his trident from left to right and vice-versa.

Swish, slash!

A half-moon shaped energy blast came for their heads, as if a guillotine was coming to behead them.

"Ugh."

"Tch."

Eder and Sephiro quickly got out of the way.

Bam, bam, bam!

The energy blast struck the ground, leaving a horizontal scar in the ground.

"Hmph." Diabol flew towards Kang Oh at top speed.

Crescent Moon Sweep!

Kang Oh rolled on the floor.

Swish!

The energy blast flew over his head. Kang Oh immediately stood up and stretched out his hand.

Darkness Chain!

The black chain wrapped around Diabol's foot.

"What?"

Diabol immediately tried to get it off, but Kang Oh had already pulled on it.

Swoosh!

Diabol was being pulled in. He violently flapped his wings, but he couldn't get away.

'I'm using Gluttony, you know!'

He was making good use of his tripled strength.

"Uhaahp!" Kang Oh threw the chain at the floor, and Diabol slammed into the ground.

Bam!

Diabol hit the ground hard.

"Ugh!" Diabol briefly cried out. Then, his eyes lit up with anger. "You dare!?"

Kang Oh was looking down on Diabol, who lay prostrated on the ground. Moreover, his wings, which were beauty incarnate, had been stained with dirt! How humiliating it must be!

"Kuha!" Diabol roared like a wounded beast and rushed at Kang Oh.

Kang Oh smirked. Darkness Chain was still wrapped around Diabol's foot!

He forcefully pulled the chain, swung it, and slammed Diabol into the ground once more.

"I have a present for you." Kang Oh threw a Fire Bomb at him.

Roar!

The fiercely burning flames burnt Diabol's wings black. Diabol flipped his lid.

"Kuhaa, I'll rip you to shreds!"

His body began to radiate powerful golden energy.

A short while later...

Kang Oh bore witness to Diabol's enlarged form!

* * *

Originally, he and Diabol had been around the same height. But now, Diabol was more than 10 meters tall.

His appearance hadn't changed much from before, but his wings had disappeared. His trident had grown alongside him as well, matching his larger physique.

This was Diabol's final form. Of course, it wasn't complete.

If Kang Oh's party hadn't rescued so many people, then Diabol would be over 30 meters tall. His stats, HP, MP, strength, speed, etc. would be amplified in proportion to the height increase.

But there was nothing Diabol could do about it now. He was happy that he'd at least gotten this tall, and decided to do whatever it took to kill the humans in front of him.

Plus...

'I have to be careful. They may have a way to bypass my immortality.' Diabol had finally become wary of them.

"Die!" Diabol thrust his spear downwards, as if he were stabbing a meatball with a fork.

Whoosh!

Though he'd become much larger, his speed was still the same. Thus, the attack was just as threatening as ever.

Kang Oh leapt into the air.

Boom!

The trident swept through his previous location.

'His speed's the same, but his power is two to three times higher.' Kang Oh looked at the size of the crater, and realized that Diabol was indeed stronger than before.

Of course, becoming bigger had its downsides.

"He's a huge target now." Sephiro pulled out an arrow. But it wasn't just any arrow; it was a Giant Killer.

The Giant Killer's arrowhead was barbed, so unlike an ordinary arrow, it was difficult to aim. Thus, it was only used against extremely large opponents. Diabol had done him a favor; by increasing his size to such an extent, he'd given Sephiro the chance to use this arrow against him.

However...!

All of a sudden, two white-winged gryphons came out of Diabol's back and began attacking Eder and Sephiro. Diabol had transformed his left and right wings into these creatures. Their names were Harp and Larp!

They could shoot destructive beams of light from their mouths, were skilled flyers, and their talons were like peerless weapons created by a master craftsman.

Ultimately, it became a 3 on 3 fight.

Eder versus Harp!

Sephiro versus Larp!

Kang Oh versus Diabol!

* * *

Kang Oh and Diabol's fight was obviously the most important of these three battles. The main priority of the other four was to keep the other side from interfering.

Of course, it'd be great if they could kill their enemy and then help out their companions, but... That was easier said than done!

Eder was a level 400 Lich, and Sephiro was a ranker and Giant Hunter. They weren't weak by any stretch of the imagination.

But the white winged gryphons were extremely powerful. They were completely different from the prison beasts, which Diabol hadn't put much care into; the difference was like heaven and earth.

He had given his wings life. After much deliberation and hard work, he had turned his wings into the ultimate creation! Thus, Harp and Larp were born.

In the end, their battle was both flashy and intense, but neither side could easily overcome the other.

The same could be said about Kang Oh's battle too; it too was hard fought.

Diabol unleashed a series of destructive attacks, while Kang Oh took these attacks head-on! The forest and earth shook from the repeated clashes between these two mighty beings.