Crack-!!
The dark red spear pierced El Quero's body.
The fire that was within it exploded.
—And the Hellfire ate El Quero's life.
'I got it.'
He was sure of it.
There was no way El Quero would be able to survive that attack.
He could feel his hand tremble a bit.
It felt good.
It was the first time he'd managed to do an attack that resulted from the combination of three different Authorities.
Although he used to do things like that as if they were nothing while in Hell, being able to use it again felt good.
It felt hot and exciting.
Once again, he started to crave more strength.
'So this was the second condition for the Extreme Demonic Energy Body.'
KangWoo's eyes shone.
He wasn't sure what the Extreme Demonic Energy Body was and what transformations it would bring…
But what he knew was that it was a new strength that he had not had in Hell.
It would be weird if he weren't feeling anxious to know what it was.
'I wonder what the last condition is…'
He couldn't think of anything, but since the name was Extreme Demonic Energy Body, it was probably something related to demonic energy.
"Hmm."
KangWoo frowned.
"Huh...?"
While thinking, KangWoo felt something weird.
He frowned. Something that should have appeared wasn't appearing.
'I didn't receive the message.'
He didn't get the message that said he'd killed El Quero.
KangWoo turned his head toward where El Quero was.
"K, RRRR..."
"It... Didn't die?"
Although half of its body had been cut away, El Quero's eyes were still shining.
His weird and unique ferocious cry had transformed into a normal beast's.
Anyway, the important thing was that El Quero hadn't died yet.
'No way.'
He recalled the sensation in the tips of his fingers.
All the fighting experience he'd gained through the years had told him he'd successfully hunted it.
Gae Bolg was a technique strong enough to kill a demon of the 7th hell.
It’d received that attack upfront, so it made no sense that it had managed to survive.
"Wh-what was that technique?! Mr. KangWoo, who are you... No, that isn't important right now. Wh-what happened?"
"H-he survived after being hit with that?"
Goo HyunMo and Chae YeonJo were also confused.
The moment they saw the dark red spear pierce El Quero, they’d felt a thrill run through their bodies.
Even if El Quero was an S-rank boss monster, they never imagined that it'd be able to survive such an attack.
"KUAAGG!!"
"It… it's escaping!"
El Quero was rushing toward the lake after losing half of its body.
"Damn!"
Slash-!
Chae YeonJoo extended her hand.
The red chains surrounded El Quero.
But because her strength spec wasn't high, she was pulled by El Quero.
KangWoo quickly moved.
He grabbed the chain in the middle of Chae YeonJoo and El Quero.
"Ugh!"
KangWoo frowned.
His hand started to tear apart. He wanted to use an Authority, but he had no demonic energy left because he'd used Gae Bolg.
"Pull the chains!"
If it managed to escape to the lake, all their efforts would've been in vain.
Baek HwaYeon and Goo HyunMo came running and grabbed the chain.
"Ugh! What strength...!"
"W-was he really the same guy that was about to die?! How can it still have such strength?!"
El Quero dragged the four people to the lake.
—It seemed stronger than the first time they'd seen it.
It wasn't a strength that a water monster would normally be able to use while on land.
'We're going to lose it.'
He began feeling anxious.
Pain spread through their bodies.
Things could be different if he could use the Authority of Divine Power.
But he didn't have a way to stop its strength.
"Grab tightly!"
Chae YeonJoo surged the mana from within herself, and the chains surrounding El Quero started to shine with a red light.
“KUAAHH!!"
"Damn!"
El Quero twisted its body.
You could hear the madness in its voice tone. It was as if black energy was coming from its body that had been cut in half.
'Demonic energy.'
KangWoo frowned.
The energy coming out from El Quero was definitely demonic energy.
'What happened?'
He couldn't understand what was going on. The frantic situation didn't let him think about what was happening.
'Are we going to lose it?'
KangWoo bit his lips while looking at El Quero, who had almost reached the lake.
[KangWoo, leave it to me.]
He could hear Echidna's voice in his ears.
Her body was covered in blue light, and she returned to her dragon form.
Echidna swung her tail like a whip.
After being hit with Echidna's tail, El Quero was pushed back.
[Stay still!]
Even if she was a hatchling, Echidna was still a dragon.
After returning to her original form, she was able to stop El Quero from escaping.
Boom-!
After being pulled again to the surface, El Quero started to twist its body violently.
Blood began pouring out from its body.
[Hng! Hng!]
* * *
Boom-! Boom! Boom!
Echidna smashed El Quero with her giant tail, and its body shook after being hit by the tail.
"Krrrr."
The aggressive screams started to fade.
Its eyes started to become blurry…
Ting-
[You've eliminated the S-rank boss monster, 'El Quero.']
[You've achieved 1st place in contribution.]
[You've gained bonus experience for the finishing blow.]
[Your experience is increasing exponentially.]
[Your level is capped. The experience will be accumulated.]
Blue message windows appeared in front of KangWoo.
El Quero had finally died.
'I still have the level restriction.'
While leaving the disappointed feelings behind, KangWoo turned to Baek KangHyun.
There was something more important than leveling up at the moment.
"What happened here?"
"I'm not sure..."
Chae YeonJoo shook her head.
They couldn't understand how El Quero could move again after that attack.
It was the first time she'd seen a monster that could move after being cut in half.
"Is it a characteristic of El Quero?" Chae YeonJoo asked while tilting her head. Among monsters, a few had characteristics that couldn't be understood with logic.
El Quero was a monster that no one had killed before, so there was a chance that this was something unique to it.
"No. That's probably not the reason."
KangWoo shook his head without hesitating.
"Why?"
"Because I received the bonus for the finishing blow."
If El Quero hadn't died after being hit with the Gae Bolg, he probably wouldn't have received the bonus for the finishing blow.
El Quero had died after being hit with Echidna's tail.
"Then..."
"We'll have to check it out."
KangWoo looked at El Quero's corpse.
After walking to its corpse, he looked at the place from where he’d sensed demonic energy.
—It was the place where El Quero's brain was.
"This..."
He grabbed something, and KangWoo took a closer look at what he had just grabbed.
—It was a black gem that was the size of two fingers. Inside it, there was demonic energy.
'What's this?'
It was his first time seeing it.
It was as if he was seeing the demonic energy equivalent of the mana stone.
The main difference it had with mana stones was that it felt artificial.
'Too clean.'
Unlike the surface of mana stones, the surface of the black gem was too clean and perfect.
It didn't seem like something that was made naturally.
'Is this why El Quero suddenly started to act strangely?'
He felt that was probably the reason.
"What's that?"
"I'm not sure."
KangWoo looked at the black gem while frowning.
He used the Authority of Observation on it but couldn't find any helpful information.
He looked at El Quero's corpse closely once again. After checking where he’d found the black gem KangWoo became sure of something.
'This wasn't something that was originally inside the monster.'
—It was something that someone had planted intentionally.
KangWoo's eyes shone.
His head started to spin faster.
He could guess who had put the gem inside El Quero's head.
"I think that I know."
"What?"
"I'm not 100% sure, but I feel like this is the doing of the Demon Cult."
"The Demon Cult?"
Chae YeonJoo's eyes shone sharply.
Suddenly, a strong killing intent came from her body.
"What does that mean...?"
"Someone planted this black gem inside El Quero's head. There's demonic energy inside it. The only people who could create something like this are the members of the Demon Cult."
Unlike mana, you couldn't naturally obtain demonic energy.
There wasn't anyone on Earth besides KangWoo and the members of the Demon Cult who could create something like that.
"Hmm..."
KangWoo looked at the black gem with great interest.
The demonic energy inside it entered his body through his fingers.
—He had used the Authority of Predation on the gem.
Ting-
[You've absorbed a demonic energy stone.]
[Your demonic energy has increased by 3.]
Along with a few messages, he could feel his demonic energy increasing.
KangWoo's eyes widened.
'My stats increased by three?'
His demonic energy without the bonus of the 'Black Pearl Coat' was at 83.
For the past three days, he'd killed almost a hundred giant ogres, yet his stat hadn't increased even a bit.
—That was how difficult it was to increase the demonic energy stat.
But his demonic energy stat had just increased by three.
'This...'
A smile appeared on KangWoo's face.
The desire to become stronger that had awakened inside him after creating the Gae Bolg…
It was as if his throat was burning because of thirst and he'd just drunk cold water.
He wasn't sure why the Demon Cult had placed such a thing inside El Quero.
He didn't know what they were trying to do by putting a demonic energy stone inside a monster…
But there was something he was sure about…
'Sweet.'
The demonic energy inside the 'demonic energy stone' that the Demon Cult had created was strong enough to increase his demonic energy stat that had stagnated.
Since he couldn't increase his level, items that could increase his stats were very valuable.
'I hope they don't have only one of these.'
KangWoo smacked his lips.
The unknown group of crazy people that were part of the Demon Cult felt to him like a restaurant that only served delicious items.
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