There were sharp stingers at the ends of the tentacles.

Once he saw the twenty tentacles heading for him, Grano quickly retrieved a maple leaf-shaped jewel from his subspace.

"Deep-rooted Shield!" Grano yelled.

The jewel radiated a gentle light.

A shield, resembling a wall, formed in front of him.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The monster's tentacles pummeled the wall while the Kurimas and Tardens pressed themselves against the shield.

Grano used that opportunity to escape. His goal for now was to join up with Kang Oh again.

Crack!

The shield cracked and eventually broke apart completely. At the same time, the jewel Grano was carrying broke as well.

It was a one-time use magical device that created a shield.

Kya!

Ruaru!

The Gurekturon looking monster and the Kurimas were in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, the Tardens began spewing their acid towards Grano’s back.

"Behind you!" Kang Oh yelled.

Grano turned around, crossed his arms, and quickly cast a spell.

The spell created a swirling vortex of water in front of him.

As soon as the acid touched the water shield, a potent acid smoke rose.

In exchange, Grano was safely able to join up with Kang Oh.

Kang Oh immediately stood in front of him and Eder stood beside him.

"Eder, keep the boss busy," Kang Oh said.

"Alright," Eder replied instantly.

"Mr. Grano, we're taking out the Kurimas and Tardens first."

Kang Oh planned on killing the minions first.

"Understood."

"Let's go!"

"Uoh!"

Battle had begun.

* * *

[You have discovered the Seed of Calamity, Gureko.]

[You are the first to discover it.]

As the boss monster approached, he received a system message.

The Seed of Calamity, Gureko.

It looked just like Gurekturon and was more than 5 meters tall.

Although it was tiny compared to Gurekturon, it still looked huge to Kang Oh's party.

Kang Oh and Eder moved simultaneously.

Eder went straight for Gureko whilst Kang Oh rushed towards a Kurima.

"Haht!"

Eder swung his mace towards Gureko as it attacked with its tail tentacles.

Eder halted his attack and raised his shield.

Clang!

Clang!

Gureko pummeled Eder's shield with its tentacles and also stabbed him with its stingers.

An orange skull attached to his shield started to shine.

The shield's special ability, which was to cast one of four curses on its attacker, had activated.

The orange skull cast a Fire Brand curse, which conferred a burning state to its target.

Flames emerged from the shield and clung to Gureko.

However, Gureko possessed high curse resistance befitting of a boss monster.

Fizzle.

The flames immediately went out, signaling that Gureko had resisted the Fire Brand curse.

"How about this!?"

Eder cast his Cursed Ground's Domain next.

He stomped on the ground.

Thud!

Beneath his feet, the Star of David transformed into black lines and spread everywhere.

He'd cast the Ruined Ramparts curse.

Thud!

Eder stamped on the ground once more and cast his other curse, Rusty Sword's Domain.

Because of how powerful the Cursed Ground's Domain was, Gureko wasn't able to completely resist its effects.

However, Gureko's attack and defense weren't cut in half; rather, its attack and defense only marginally decreased.

It was still worth it nonetheless!

"Come on!"

Eder provoked it, striking his shield with his mace.

The shrill metallic sound drew the attention of all the monsters.

Gureko launched its tentacles at him once more.

Eder deflected and blocked them with his mace and shield, and then counterattacked.

Meanwhile, the Kurimas and Tardens moved to surround Eder.

"Where do you think you're going!?"

Of course, Kang Oh wouldn't let them be. Kang Oh swung his sword at the nearest Kurima.

A black wave surged from his demon sword.

Darkness Strike!

The black wave manifested in the shape of a wild beast and ravaged the octopus-shaped monsters.

Boom!

The huge impact left it in a confused state.

Kang Oh swung his sword horizontally.

Slash!

Several shards of red light spilled from the Kurima's body.

Eder's Ruined Ramparts curse had lowered its defense, thereby allowing Kang Oh to inflict a critical amount of damage in a single blow.

He thrust his sword to finish it off as a different Kurima lashed at Kang Oh's side with its tongue.

He halted his assault and turned his body.

Once the tongue grazed his side, Kang Oh swung downwards, followed up by an upward strike.

Rutaru!

The Kurima began to self-destruct. It swelled like a balloon and turned red like a well-cooked octopus.

Now it was Grano's turn.

He extended his hand towards the self-destructing Kurima and cast a spell.

Kureureu!

Water encapsulated the Kurima.

Grano finished casting the Water Prison and the Kurima exploded within.

One down.

Kang Oh attacked the Kurima that had taken substantial damage from a Slash.

It thrust its tongue like a spear as a last act of defiance.

Kang Oh, who'd predicted where it was attacking with his Hyper Intuition, was able to dodge its blow by slightly tilting his head.

Then, he thrust his sword, transferring the force of his acceleration into it.

Bang!

The Kurima turned ashen.

Kang Oh chose his next target immediately.

He attacked the nearby Kurimas and Tardens, forcing them to concentrate on him and him alone.

Two Kurimas and one Tardens attacked Kang Oh.

Kang Oh either avoided or deflected their attacks whilst leading them into Grano's barrage of magic spheres.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Even in the midst of a barrage of magic spheres, the Tardens and Kurimas stubbornly focused on Kang Oh.

However, it was a piece of cake for Kang Oh.

He'd fought against the Kurimas and Tardens plenty of times by now and was completely familiar with their attack and defence patterns.

However, there was an unexpected variable here.

Gureko!

Eder was desperately holding Gureko back, but it was tough, befitting its status as a boss monster.

It attacked Eder with ten of its tentacles whilst using six of its other ones to attack Kang Oh.

The stingers at the ends of its tentacles shined.

Kang Oh rolled onto the floor to dodge the incoming tentacles.

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

The stingers stabbed the ground behind him in succession. The two remaining tentacles continued to follow him.

'Two tentacles? Nothing to worry about.'

Kang Oh counterattacked.

He swung his sword, etching a white line into the air.

Slash!

His jet-black demon sword slashed down on one of the lengthy tentacles.

Shards of light spilled out of the tentacle but because its tentacles weren't its weak spot, they weren't red shards.

However, as evidence of his blow, the tentacle was in tatters.

Kang Oh's eyes gleamed.

'I can cut through these. But first comes the minions!'

Kang Oh stopped attacking the tentacle and retreated. The other tentacles soon came after him and struck the ground, grazing him as he dodged them.

His target was the Kurimas and Tardens.

"Come here!"

Kang Oh leaped and swung downwards at the octopus-like Kurimas.

Thud.

Once the Kurima fell, Gureko's tentacles came for Kang Oh's back.

He felt a chill behind him!

Kang Oh turned his body like a spinning top, dodging the tentacles, and stubbornly continued to attack the Kurima.

Swish, swish!

The tentacles were threatening and got on his nerves, but Kang Oh was nonetheless able to take out the Kurima.

Meanwhile, Grano was able to defeat one of the Tardens with his magic spheres.

Of course, it hadn't been easy with four tentacles focusing on him.

Still, Grano hadn't lost his focus.

He conjured up a water shield with one hand, blocking the tentacles, and held his orb in the other, firing off a barrage of magic spheres.

Thus, Kang Oh and Grano gradually cut down the number of Kurimas and Tardens.

Of course, Eder was doing the best he could to fulfill his mission.

"You're a lot uglier than me!"

Eder knocked away a tentacle with his shield and swung his mace, deflecting another tentacle.

However, it wasn't easy to defend against ten tentacles.

There were traces of Gureko's stinger attacks on his blood red armor, which had substantially depleted his HP.

Still, Eder didn't give up.

Like a machine that deflects tentacles, Eder quickly and skillfully deflected the tentacles with his mace and shield.

As a result, one of the tentacles fell. The tentacle squirmed on the ground like a severed lizard tail!

Once the stinger area was severed, the remaining portion of the tentacle returned to Gureko’s body.

It was similar to how a snail would retreat within its shell if its antenna were touched.

"Eder, we're almost done," Kang Oh yelled.

Now there was only one Kurima and Tarden left.

"You can take your time," Eder replied whilst crazily moving his hands and feet to avoid the tentacles.

"Alright. We'll take care of them ASAP."

Of course, even if Eder said to take his time, that wasn't Kang Oh's style.

"Die!"

Kang Oh deflected the tentacles and rushed the Kurima.

His demon sword pierced its head. Almost simultaneously, Grano had finished off the Tardens with his magic spheres.

They were done with the minions!

Now, all that was left was Gureko.

That is if Gureko didn't expel more enemies out of its mouth.

Kuruara!

Gureko shrieked and Kang Oh saw the lump on its back shrink.

'The second phase!'

Kang Oh looked at Gureko and realized that this was the second part of the battle.

"Gureko will unleash some kind of new attack. Everyone, stay alert!" Kang Oh yelled.

"Ok," Eder and Grano simultaneously replied.

The once cowering Gureko's lump began to stretch, releasing an extremely potent acid from the holes in the lump.

It was like a fountain!

* * *

"Damn it!" Kang Oh cursed.

It was complete and utter chaos.

Gureko attacked with its tentacles like before, but now there was also the acid that was spewed everywhere to contend with.

How should he say this? Gureko attacked unrelentingly as if he were a mentally ill patient making a fuss.

Fortunately, Gureko's main body didn't move at all.

Kang Oh's party protected themselves first. After all, they needed to avoid the acid shower.

Grano retreated from a distance.

When he blocked Gureko's acid with a water shield, the acid, much like the Tardens', began to smoke.

Eder protected himself with his shield, and Kang Oh dodged the acid whilst knocking the tentacles back.

Of course, Kang Oh was in no hurry to protect himself.

Kang Oh was watching Gureko closely.

'There are two solutions to this... Attack the lump or take care of the tentacles.'

Kang Oh had killed several monsters in his Warlord days.

His experience was telling him that attacking the lump was the right decision.

However, there wasn't anyone here that could effectively pierce through the barrage of tentacles and acid to attack the lump.

'Tch, maybe I should've brought Sephiro along.'

If Sephiro were here, then he'd be able to concentrate fire on the lump from afar.

However, Sephiro wasn't here right now.

His ranged support, Grano, couldn't use the water magic he specialized in to attack it.

He could probably attack it with a magical sphere, but for that to work, he'd have to get in range of its crazy barrage of attacks.

Therefore, Grano could be harmed for attempting such a maneuver.

In the end, Kang Oh opted for option two.

"Take care of the tentacles!" Kang Oh yelled.

He took a step to the side, avoiding the tentacle, and chopped at the same tentacle.

Thump!

The tentacle was severed.

Because he'd already attacked it several times, the tentacle was in a critical condition and fell apart with a single blow.

Once the stinger portion was severed, the remaining tentacle was absorbed back into its tail region.

"I'm already doing that!" Eder yelled.

He'd already been hitting the tentacles with his mace.

But with the indiscriminate shower of acid, Eder's HP was gradually diminishing.

Grano approached stealthily and launched a magic sphere.

However, it wasn't easy to hit the raging tentacles that came from every direction while dealing with the acid shower.

There was no way he could dodge everything.

Ultimately, Grano's robes were burned through by the acid and he was covered in minor wounds.

Yet, they say that when you knock, eventually someone will open the door, right?

Grano was able to hit the tentacle and with the combined efforts of Kang Oh and Eder, they were able to slowly cut down the tentacles one or two at a time.