Chapter 82: El Cuero (4)

Slash!!

The sound of slicing water could be heard.

The splashing water washed away the blood on Oh Kang-Woo's body.

"Kuuuuurrgghhh."

His hands holding on to El Cuero and the chains that he wrapped around himself were under immense pressure.

The force would have probably torn him apart if he wasn't using the Authority of Invulnerability and Titanic Might.

'Just a little more.'

He could see the Mountain Giants that were chasing Cha Yeon-Joo. They were pulling El Cuero to the surface.

Boom! Boom!

"UUOONNGG!!"

As El Cuero twisted its body, one of the Mountain Giants covered in chains lost its balance and fell.

Although dozens of Mountain Giants were pulling, they were losing in terms of strength.

'El Cuero's strong, I'll give it that.'

Its strength matched—no, it surpassed its size.

It was resisting with all its might.

The Mountain Giants chasing Yeon-Joo looked back at El Cuero.

"Where do you think you're looking, damn piles of rock?!"

Yeon-Joo used a chain like a whip and hit the Mountain Giants' heads.

Echidna also attacked the Mountain Giants.

The Mountain Giants looked away from El Cuero and at the two girls.

"Brat! You, go over there!" Yeon-Joo exclaimed.

"I'm not a brat."

While pouting, Echidna moved to the side that Yeon-Joo had indicated.

The group of Mountain Giants, which was split into two, began pulling El Cuero's body to the surface again.

Rip.

The chains penetrating El Cuero were now being pulled in two directions.

The blood coming from the monster dyed the lake red.

El Cuero began flapping its fin while screaming.

Countless poisonous needles engulfed the Mountain Giants.

Crack! Crack!

They were not poisoned since they were made of stone, but the physical damage from the needles raining down on them could not be ignored.

The bodies of the Mountain Giants were destroyed, and they collapsed on the ground.

"Damn."

El Cuero's resistance was far stronger than expected.

Kang-Woo looked back. Baek Hwa-Yeon and Goo Hyun-Mo, who had both jumped away from El Cuero to dodge its electrical attack, had fallen into the lake and were swimming toward him.

'I guess I can't expect reinforcements.'

Since they couldn't fly like him, they wouldn't be able to catch up to him and El Cuero by swimming. Therefore, he'd have to solve the issue himself.

Kang-Woo frowned under the immense pressure on his body.

'I'll have to use three.'

He couldn't dismiss either the Authority of Invulnerability or Titanic Might. He'd have to use three Authorities to stop El Cuero's movements.

There was a huge difference between using two and three different Authorities simultaneously.

The amount of demonic energy required to use more than one Authority rose by a power of two—using two Authorities simultaneously required four times the demonic energy of using one, and eight times for using three simultaneously.

"Kraken's Rage."

His coat began shining with a dark blue light. The equipment's stat bonus doubled, and five extra Demonic Energy stat points were added.

Kang-Woo concentrated and activated a third Authority.

'Authority of Blades.'

As he held on to El Cuero, a black blade shot from one of his hands. The black blade penetrated the boss monster and enlarged inside it.

"UOOOO!!"

El Cuero screamed in pain. Blood spewed from its wound and covered Kang-Woo along with the splashing lake water.

'Not enough.'

It wasn't enough with just that.

El Cuero was thrashing as violently as ever. He needed another attack to make sure that it wouldn't move.

Kang-Woo shouted to Yeon-Joo, "Make thorns!"

"What?"

"Make thorns over the chains!"

"A-Are you crazy?! If I do that, you'll…!"

"Hurry!"

"…"

Yeon-Joo's expression hardened. She gulped and nodded.

Thorns started appearing over the chains as her bracelet began to shine red.

"Petrification."

It was the special effect of the Gargoyle Armor that Kang-Woo had obtained from Mun Yeong-Ho. The effect doubled physical defense for ten seconds.

Although defense had doubled, Yeon-Joo's chains were Legendary grade, so the chains pierced the physical defense and penetrated Kang-Woo.

He could feel a strong pain spreading through his body.

Even under such pain, Kang-Woo simply frowned and maintained the three Authorities. He had become used to pain, so he wasn't going to scream from just that.

After being pierced by the thorns, El Cuero began to lose strength because of the Energy Drain effect on the chains.

Boom!

El Cuero's massive body was dragged up to the surface. Kang-Woo quickly cut the chains and got away from El Cuero.

"Kang-Woo, are you okay?" asked Echidna, who ran up to him while worried.

Kang-Woo nodded.

"We don't need the giants anymore. Echidna, clear out the remaining ones."

El Cuero had insane magical resistance.

It wouldn't be efficient for Echidna to fight it. Instead, it would be far more helpful for her to clear out the Mountain Giants.

"Okay."

Echidna shot magic at the Mountain Giants.

The Mountain Giants were already exhausted from pulling El Cuero all the way to shore.

They began to collapse from her magic.

"Yeon-Joo! Stop running away and join the fight!"

"I'm not running away because I want to!"

Yeon-Joo, who had been attracting the Mountain Giants' attention, had returned. Kang-Woo turned his head to El Cuero.

"I guess it won't die just from coming up to land."

"Obviously. Although it looks like a giant stingray, it isn't a real fish."

El Cuero was a monster. On top of that, it was a boss monster that appeared in an S-rank Gate. It wasn't going to die just because it wasn't in the water.

"Huff, huff! Swimming all the way here was no joke!"

"The strategy actually worked."

Hyun-Mo and Hwa-Yeon had also arrived.

Kang-Woo raised his right arm from which a black blade shot out.

"Then let's end this."

El Cuero was on the surface, so it was the perfect opportunity to hunt it.

Wind gathered around Hwa-Yeon's longsword.

Hyun-Mo gripped his two short swords in a reverse grip.

"I'll go first."

"It'll be different from when you were in the water, you radioactive stingray."

"UOONNGG!!"

"I can't concentrate because of its damn cry!"

It seemed that Hyun-Mo had a lot of things to say about El Cuero's cry, but he knew that it wasn't time to joke around. He lowered his stance and ran toward El Cuero.

Whish!

"Gasp!"

El Cuero swung its long tail like a whip. Although it moved like a whip, considering it was the tail of a thirty-meter-large monster, it was over two meters thick.

Hyun-Mo hurriedly ducked.

The tail brushed past his head.

"Get back!"

Hwa-Yeon raised her sword up high from a place El Cuero's tail couldn't reach.

Wind gathered around the white longsword's edge. She swung the sword down, and the wind was shot following the trajectory of the sword.

Slash!

"UOONNGG!!"

The wind cut off the tip of its tail, blood spewing out of it and splashing around the surroundings.

El Cuero's attention focused entirely on Hwa-Yeon.

Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo took that opportunity to charge in.

Slash!!

"I'll block its tail for you! You just charge forward!" Yeon-Joo exclaimed.

"I'll trust you."

Kang-Woo nodded.

If he canceled the Authority of Invulnerability, he could dish out an even more powerful attack.

Kang-Woo didn't immediately charge in despite what he had said to Yeon-Joo. Instead, he scanned El Cuero with deeply sunken eyes.

'It's gotten weaker.'

Unlike fish, it didn't immediately suffocate after coming up to the surface, but because it was an aquatic monster, it was noticeably weaker on the surface compared to in the water.

Not only that, but it had also been severely wounded.

It wouldn't have been weird if El Cuero had died from its wounds while they were dragging it to the surface.

'In that case…'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone.

The only thing that was left was to finish it off.

He lightly closed his eyes. He could sense the mass of demonic energy gathered within his heart.

The Ten Thousand Demon Core…

The mass of demonic energy he'd gathered for the past ten millennia…

It was bigger and thicker than anything else.

'A sea…'

A sea made of demonic energy.

It was both endless and bottomless.

Not even Kang-Woo, who had created it, knew its exact limits.

He hadn't been able to determine what was inside the deep sea and what was going on inside, even when he had been able to use it to its full potential.

He raised his head and looked around. He saw three doors embracing the sea.

'I don't need that much.'

He turned his head from the doors.

He extended his hands toward the sea, cupped his hands, and scooped up a handful of demonic energy. It was a negligible amount compared to the sea of demonic energy, but for the moment, it was more than enough.

"Bident."

He used the Authority of Dark Spears and the Authority of Hellfire.

A spear covered in black flames appeared. Kang-Woo grabbed the spear, lowered his body, and aimed the spear at the monster.

He could feel powerful energy being transmitted to his hand, but he felt that it wasn't enough. It looked too small and weak compared to the vast sea.

He became greedy.

Once the fire of greed was lit, it set ablaze at terrifying speed.

'One more.'

Authority of Spallation. A destructive Authority that destroyed armor and tore apart skin was added to Bident.

The two prongs of the spear twisted around like snakes.

Heavy exhaustion and an enervation as though his soul had left his body flooded Kang-Woo. The price of simultaneously using three Authorities was by no means small. He felt as if he was about to pass out at any moment.

The tips of Kang-Woo's mouth went up.

"Gáe Bulg."

After his quiet chant, the dark red spear was completed.

Kang-Woo stomped on the ground while gripping the spear.

Ring.

[You have managed to perfectly merge three Authorities.]

[The second condition of Ultimate Demonic Body has been fulfilled.]

Message windows appeared, but Kang-Woo paid them no mind; he couldn't afford to.

He gripped the spear even tighter.

El Cuero's giant tail swung toward him, but it bounded off a shield made from red chains.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The dark red spear pierced El Cuero.