Kang Oh easily overpowered the bulldog and Shih Tzu. It quickly escalated into a one-sided beat down.

"Hey, you crazy..."

Whack!

Kang Oh's fist struck the bulldog's face.

Whimper!

"You demon!" the Shih Tzu yelled.

Whack!

Kang Oh kicked its jaw with his right foot.

"We'll never forgive you!"

"We're backed by the Black Dog Tribe!"

The bulldog and Shih Tzu desperately fought back.

But it didn't matter how strong they were; they weren't going to beat him.

Bam, bam, bam, bam!

Whimper, whimper, whimper!

Kang Oh continued his one-sided beat down. The two dogs, in pain and fearful that they'd be beaten to death, surrendered soon after that.

"I'm sor..."

"Kehehk, l-let me li..."

"Shut up!"

But they couldn't get through to him; he was pissed off, so he didn't stop. He still wasn't satisfied yet.

Whack!

Whimper, whimper!

For quite some time, the sound of dogs whimpering resounded throughout the grasslands.

* * *

Pat, pat.

Kang Oh dusted off his hands.

The half dead bulldog and Shih Tzu were sprawled on the floor. They were just barely alive.

"I can't believe I let them live after they tried to kill me. I'm too nice." Kang Oh felt refreshed, as if he'd just gone to the restroom. He'd unloaded all of his stress onto the two dogs. "Mm, keep going straight and go up the first mountain." Kang Oh walked across the road lightheartedly.

Sometime later...

He came across a dreary mountain. It wasn't a huge mountain, but the summit was pointy like the tip of a sword.

Caw, caw.

Crows cawed, and several dogs had taken the mountainside as their home.

'This it. The place where the Blade Beast lives.'

Kang Oh encountered a skinny wolf at the entrance to the mountain.

Aoooou!

Woof, woof, woof!

"Man, today's just the worst."

The wolf wasn't a powerful monster. However, there were more than 50 of them here.

Kang Oh relaxingly walked towards the wolves as if he were on a hike.

Woof!

The alpha wolf howled, and the rest of the wolves charged at Kang Oh.

Kang Oh drew all four of his daggers, two in either hand, and then threw them!

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Bam, bam, bam, bam!

The four daggers flew through the air and struck four of the incoming wolves.

Lightning descended upon one of them.

Boom!

The lightning struck six other wolves nearby, burning them to a crisp.

However, the rest of the wolves kept coming at him.

Swish.

Kang Oh swung Demon Sword Blood, a mysterious, ominous scarlet energy following his blade.

Slash! Thrust, cut, cut!

Whenever he swung his sword, three or four wolves fell.

Darkness Strike!

Boom!

A bat-shaped red wave exploded at the center of the pack.

Shards of light went flying everywhere, which were then absorbed into Blood. It was quite the magnificent sight.

Kang Oh relentlessly swung his sword.

Woof, woof!

The wolves' barks intensified. It's said that fearful dogs bark loudest. Kang Oh was much too powerful for them to deal with, so all they could do was bark.

But by the time he killed about half of the wolves, Blood began radiating powerful light.

Then, a system message popped up.

[Demon Sword Blood has reached level 10.]

[Demon Sword Blood has gained a new ability.]

'Nice.' Kang Oh grinned.

He planned on mostly using Blood for half a year, leveling it up as much as possible.

Demon Sword Ubist's original wielder was Valan. Which meant that Valan knew much more about it than he did.

Whereas Valan knew almost nothing about Blood.

The next time they fought, he'd use Demon Sword Blood.

'Let's finish this up and see what its new ability is.' Kang Oh swung his sword even more forcefully than before. Whenever he swung his sword, the wolves would crumple to the floor.

Bam!

Whimper!

He cut down about ten more wolves, and then the alpha ran with its tail between its legs. The other wolves, which had barely survived Kang Oh's assault, followed soon after.

Kang Oh didn't follow them.

They were only wolves. The wolves didn't give him enough experience points to warrant chasing them. Plus, he needed to see what Blood's new ability was.

"Let's see here..."

Blood's item information popped up.

[Demon Sword Blood (Lv10)]

Blood, the demon that made all beings within the Great Forest tremble in fear, is sealed within this sword.

The snow-white blade emanates scarlet energy, making the sword extremely beautiful but also ominous.

The sword has an ego of its own. It sees, hears, and feels the world through its wielder, and grows.

Untradeable.

Upon death, there is a high chance that the demon sword either drops, or you become a monster under the demon's thrall for 24 hours.

+ Evolving Weapon: Has its own level. Takes a portion of its wielder's experience points. These experience points are what the demon sword uses to grow. The higher the level, the more powerful the sword and its abilities become.

[Next Level Up: 0.01%]

+ Life Steal: Dealing damage restores your HP. The amount of health restored is based on the damage you deal and the demon sword's level.

+ Vampiristic Reinforcement: Successfully life stealing increases the sword's attack power by 2%. Life stealing again within a 15 second period causes this effect to stack (15 stacks max).

+ Blood Bomb: Usable when you reach max reinforcement stacks (15 stacks). Consumes all stacks to unleash a blood red explosion.

Rank: SS

Abilities: Attack Power 200, Physical +25, HP +400

Minimum Requirements: Clear the Trial of the Demon Sword

'Blood Bomb, huh...'

The way to use Demon Sword Blood was rather straightforward: keep attacking and stack up its passive ability! Only then would the demon sword be able to show its true power.

However, expending all of those stacks would allow him to unleash a single powerful attack.

'It's good.'

What he liked most was the fact that it didn't cost any MP, and that it didn't have a cooldown time.

It was the perfect skill to use in tandem with Tempest Tiger, which cost 2,000 MP to use.

Plus, Darkness Strike fully stacked Demon Sword Blood, so he'd be able to use Blood Bomb right after.

'Vampiristic Reinforcement's duration time and stacks have increased too.'

Originally, Vampiristic Reinforcement only had 10 max stacks, but now, it had increased to 15. Its duration time had also gone up from 10 seconds to 15 seconds too.

Assuming that Darkness Strike didn't activate, it would take longer to fully stack his sword, but it would be that much more powerful too.

'Nice, nice.'

Kang Oh really wanted to try out his new ability. 'I have just the guy.'

Why else had he come to this dreary mountain!? To kill the Blade Beast.

* * *

He finally encountered the Blade Beast.

It was a monster that stood upright, and was roughly 2 meters tall.

The Blade Beast's face resembled a hyena's; it had a mohawk on top of its head, and its tusks protruded out of his mouth like a warthog.

It was clear why it was called a Blade Beast.

Like the main character from the movie, Edward Scissorhands, its hands were replaced by scissor-like hands.

Of course, the Blade Beast's scissor hands were much sharper and more intimidating than the movie protagonist's.

However, the Blade Beast wasn't alone. It, like the wolves, traveled in a pack.

There were twenty Blade Beasts surrounding him.

'This'll be fun.' Kang Oh grinned.

They would be perfect target dummies for Blood's new ability.

Keoheong!

Kang Oh used Baramut's Roar. His body swelled with a tiger's power! The crows, shocked by his clamorous cry, flew into the air.

Gyaahk!

Clang, clang, clang.

Unwilling to lose, the Blade Beasts roared and began threateningly grating their blades together.

"C'mon!" Kang Oh yelled.

Did they understand what he had said?

The circle around Kang Oh began closing in on him.

Swish!

A Blade Beast rushed at Kang Oh, leapt into the air, and then swung its brutal scissor hands.

They were so sharp that a simple touch would cut right through him.

However, its speed wasn't anything to write home about. Kang Oh relaxingly dodged its attack and aimed for its weak point.

Stab.

Shards of light burst out, which were promptly absorbed by Blood. A single red star appeared on the snow-white blade.

'That's one.'

Kuah!

This time, scissor hands came at him from behind. Due to his Hyper Intuition, however, Kang Oh's back wasn't a blind spot.

He dodged its strike by moving to the side, and then cleaved through the Blade Beast.

'Two.'

Two more Blade Beasts came at him simultaneously from either side.

Kang Oh slightly retreated, allowing him to avoid both attacks simultaneously. Then, he swung upwards, followed by a downwards strike, and then finished with a thrust.

'That makes five.'

Now there were five stars on his snow-white blade.

He slowly stacked up his blade in this way until finally...

'That's fifteen!'

Max stacks!

His heart pounded. "Let's go!"

Blood Bomb!

Boom!

Blood red energy exploded outwards from Kang Oh.

The closest Blade Beasts were caught by the exploding blood red energy, inflicting a huge amount of damage.

'An omnidirectional attack!' Blood Bomb scorched anyone within a 1 meter radius of the user. 'This is amazing.'

It was extremely powerful too. Though it was weaker than Tempest Tiger, it was still stronger than Abyss Claw or Blood Aura.

Grr.

Wobble, wobble.

The Blade Beasts outside of Blood Bomb's radius were hesitant.

"You're not coming? Then I'll come to you." Kang Oh grinned, and rushed at the closest Blade Beast.

Kyaahk!

A Blade Beast desperately swung its scissor hands, alternating between left and right.

'Slow.' It didn't matter how powerful an attack was if it didn't hit. Kang Oh easily avoided its attack and repeatedly left mark after mark on its body. However, his final attack was amplified by Darkness Strike.

Boom!

Darkness Strike would instantly max out his sword's stacks.

Kang Oh rushed into a group of several Blade Beasts.

And then... Blood Bomb!

Boom!

In an instant, five or six Blade Beasts were flung into the air.

'It's good. Really good.'

Blood Bomb. It was aptly named, as it would unleash an extremely powerful explosion.

Kang Oh would continuously unleash Blood Bomb after Blood Bomb after that. Whenever he reached max stacks, he'd use it.

In the end, all twenty of the Blade Beasts had been annihilated. The battlefield was complete chaos. It was as if the area had been bombarded.

Kang Oh satisfyingly picked up the junk items that they'd left behind. He also picked up the Black Beast's Fang, which was the item he needed to become a mercenary.

* * *

Kang Oh returned to Kasten and immediately sought out the Mercenary Association.

The bearman, who resembled Chewbacca, was still at his post.

"Here." Kang Oh passed him the Blade Beast's Fang.

"What's your name?"

"Kang Oh."

"Wait just a minute."

The brown furred anthromorph took the fang and disappeared.

How long had he waited?

The bearman reappeared, and gave Kang Oh the fang back.

"This is a mercenary's badge. Keep it safe."

Kang Oh nodded his head and retrieved the fang.

Brown letters were written on the fang.

Bronze Mercenary, Kang Oh.

'This is just the beginning.' Kang Oh's eyes gleamed.

His quest to become stronger in the western region… This truly was just the beginning.