One way or another, the battle had gone on for 20 minutes, and Lee Shin Woo cleanly decided against using his Avenger skill against the Treasure Eaters.
While the Pauls were fighting against the Treasure Eaters, he used his Beginner Stealth and tried to covertly escape the battlefield, but it was impossible to escape their sight, especially when their goal was his Bone of Thunder Lasting.
âStill, I canât use my weapon as bait to run away. Ultimately, I have to clean up all of them here before I can proceedâŚâ
Lee Shin Woo sighed and raised his head. He saw four Treasure Eaters that only watched him and followed him. There was no point to a beautiful girl chasing after him right now, let alone a caterpillarâŚ
âHow exactly am I supposed to take care of all of these?â
Truthfully, as the Paulsâ bones fluttered in the wind, they were busy acting violently, and somehow managed to take down two of the Treasure Eaters. It wasnât hard to land a fatal blow if their swords boasted a high attack power.
The problem was that he didnât have the opportunity to collect their bodies as the other Treasure Eaters ran amuck, eating their comradeâs body and treasure whole. Even though they were the same species, their avarice didnât lessen one bit. Moreover, it seems as though they became stronger when they ate their comradesâ bodies, so it was truly nuts.
[Kuwoooooooooh!]
[The Treasure Eater used the Shriek of the Dead, but it was nullified by the Invisible Heart.]
[Beginner Shriek of the Dead has become Lv5.]
Due to the Lv3 Treasure Eaterâs Shriek of the Dead, Lee Shin Wooâs own Shriek of the Dead grew. He realized for the first time today that even if he didnât use the skill personally, it would increase his proficiency, as long as he was exposed to the skill.
[Ugh⌠Traitors of⌠the EmpireâŚ!]
[Iâll get my revenge for⌠General Seagald hereâŚ!]
But whenever the Treasure Eaters shrieked, more than half of the skeletons he had gathered fought amongst each other; the fact that the numbers dwindled genuinely made his bones hurt. No, now that he thought about it, they knew about General Seagald! Exactly how popular could he have been!?
âYou idiots, get a hold of yourselves! Youâre comrades!â
[Over there, too⌠An enemyâŚ!]
[Heâs holding⌠a nice swordâŚ!]
[Execute him⌠and reportâŚ!]
âAh, shit.â
He wondered why his genuine scream hadnât caused the skeletons to get a hold of themselves. Rather, he had been targeted by the skeletons who were out of their minds due to the Shriek of the Dead. This is why they say kids are ruining comics these days!
âSseupâŚâ
It wasnât the time to leisurely take on skeletons right now. Though they had killed two Treasure Eaters, there were four remaining, and there was even a level 3 Treasure Eater amongst them.
Fine, since itâs come to this, itâs time to counterattack! Lee Shin Woo got atop the roof of a building that had been destroyed by the Treasure Eatersâ rampage and shrieked.
âKuaaaaaaaaah!â
[You used the Shriek of the Dead! The enemies in the entire area have momentarily fallen into a frenzied state!]
[The Lv3 Treasure Eater has resisted the Shriek of the Dead.]
At that moment, the atmosphere of the entire area felt like it had calmed down the few skeletons that had been attacking him, as well as the huge caterpillar shaped monsters crazily crawling towards him⌠The Treasure Eaters even stopped as if they had been stunned.
ââŚHmm?â
At that moment, Lee Shin Woo thought that it was impossible, but that impossibility had taken hold of those people, no those monsters. The Treasure Eaters started to fight amongst themselves!
If they werenât cognizant that they were allies anymore; the prey they were most hungry for were obviously members of their own species.
[Gguaaaaahk, Ggueeeeeeeeeehk!]
The Lv3 Treasure Eater, the only one to resist the Shriek of the Dead, tried to pull them apart and got between them, but it had the opposite effect. Like how the skeletons had tried to attack Lee Shin Woo, the Treasure Eaters also started to attack the Lv3 Treasure Eater without fear.
âWow, this is huge.â
[Kiek!]
While the Treasure Eaters were tied up in fighting amongst themselves, Lee Shin Woo cleaned up the skeletons running amuck.
The Treasure Eaters were level 2 and possessed the Shriek of the Dead themselves, so he didnât think it would work, but that was also his bias. As expected, before he used it himself, he couldnât know how it would turn out. He had gotten another good experience this way.
[NewâŚbieâŚ?]
âDie⌠Youâve recovered, Paul? You dumbass, I was worried about you!â
[Thanks⌠JoiningâŚ]
The moment he was about to shatter the Skeleton Warriorâs head with his Bursting Thunder skill, it had recovered from the effects of the Shriek of the Dead. Upon seeing that, Lee Shin Woo quickly withdrew his sword and patted its shoulder. Even while being dazed at Lee Shin Wooâs words of concern, it followed behind him.
âThose who have recovered, come over to this side! We canât do anything by ourselves, but if weâre with our comrades, we can do anything!â
[I feel strength⌠from the newbieâs voiceâŚ!]
[Over here, this wayâŚ!]
[Kugegegegek!]
He coaxed the unscathed skeletons nearby and finished cleaning up the rest of the afflicted skeletons.
Within the mayhem, all of the level 1 skeletons had already died, but the level 2 skeletons were fairly intact, and as a result, he gathered 15 Skeleton Warriors.
âThose wicked beings that are destroying the empire, letâs take them down together! Letâs pool our strength into one!â
[Defeat⌠togetherâŚ!]
[Energy⌠is rising!]
[Acting skill has become Lv3.]
The Skeleton Warriors, compared to the Skeleton Soldiers or Archers, were relatively solid. That was especially true regarding their fighting spirit, which had been ignited from Lee Shin Wooâs speech.
But their idea of a system of command was still a mess, and just by him speaking a bit bravely, it felt a little bit like they had, at some point, recognized him as their superior. Though it was the best thing that could happen to him.
[Kuook⌠Kuheeeeeeeeeek!]
Meanwhile, at around the same time that Lee Shin Woo had rallied the Skeleton Warriors, the Treasure Eaters were suddenly finishing up their bloody battle. In the most awful way at that.
[Kueeeeeeeeeek!]
Above the wreckage of the now ruined building, the sole remaining Lv3 Treasure Eater cried out as the winner. After being half torn apart and eaten, the corpses of the other abandoned Treasure Eaters truly looked pitiful. But Lee Shin Woo wasnât very surprised, as he knew about halfway through that this is how it would turn out.
âI can get all the treasure if I take care of that one guy anyway. And it got a lot of injuries from fighting tooâŚâ
[Report to⌠superiorsâŚ!]
âYeah, yeah, I got it. But we gotta take down that guy first, right?â
Although they didnât even have any superiors to report to, the Skeleton Warriors kept talking about superiors, so Lee Shin Woo adequately appeased them, and raised his sword high. It was a sort of provocation towards the Treasure Eater.
Despite the thick dust filling the environment, due to the chaos that had occurred everywhere, his raised Bone of Thunder Lasting radiated light. Despite it changing into bone, the blade still gleamed with light, a truly mysterious sight.
[Kuhaaaaaaaaaa!]
[The Lv3 Treasure Eater used Shriek of the Dead, but it failed due to lack of mana!]
âNice timing. Letâs go, guys!â
[I got it!]
[Protecting the EmpireâŚ! Thatâs the will of⌠General SeagaldâŚ!]
So, what the hell did General Seagald do!? No wait, I heard that asshole plotted treason!
[Kuaaaaaaaaaaah!]
As soon as the Treasure Eater failed its Shriek of the Dead, it seemed to become extremely uneasy, as it faced the charging Skeleton Warriors and cried out a manaless shriek for a while. Then, it charged forward.
Its force came close to that of a speeding locomotive!
The Skeleton Warriors tried to charge at the Treasure Eater and foolishly attempted it head-onâŚ
âDodge what attacks you can! Weâll survive and protect the Empire!â
[Oh, OooohâŚ!]
[Iâll follow⌠your words!]
He used his Sprint and leaped high into the air. The words Lee Shin Woo had blurted out seemed to stir a feeling within each Skeleton Warrior, as they changed their minds and engaged in evasive maneuvers.
Of course, there were some who couldnât keep up with the Treasure Eaterâs speed, so they were struck in the front, but luckily those guys didnât die in one hit, endured, and lodged their bone swords into the Treasure Eaterâs flesh. âEven when itâs rotten, itâs still a herring'[1]; itâs worth surviving for this long!
âBursting Thunder!â
Due to these guysâ efforts, the Treasure Eaterâs charge had been halted; Lee Shin Woo aimed for that timing and attacked. Since it had risen to its utmost, he aimed for its head and plummeted down; he pierced with his sword, striking down with force akin to lightning.
[Critical Hit!]
[Gguweeeeeek!]
Though Bursting Thunder was nothing more than a passive skill, the moment he clashed against an enemy with a melee weapon, following the harmonization between his bodyâs movements and his mana, an explosive force would occur, to the point that it could rightly be called a mystery. If it had been at the intermediate level, this battle would already be over.
And even if the skill was only low rank right now, after going through the dungeon, he had somewhat familiarized his body with the technique, so his sword strike was enough to exert a force akin to lightning against the Treasure Eater.
âHere, take one more!â
[Kuwaaaaahk!]
He could also interpret simple words now. It was saying that it hurt terrifyingly.
Lee Shin Woo radiated light and dodged the Treasure Eater spewing rotten blood. He used his Sprint to jump again and safely landed on the ground. He saw some Skeleton Warriors who hadnât been able to dodge its rampage and get crushed.
âDodge, even if you have to roll on the floor! And stab your swords into that guy!â
[Ugh⌠as a warrior, as a soldierâŚ! Iâll face it!]
[Avoid itâŚ! You have to avoid its attacks so that you can protect the EmpireâŚ!]
[Weâre the Empireâs proud warriorsâŚ!]
The true intent behind his words was âitâs hard for me to beat this guy alone, so you guys canât die on me already!â, but the Skeleton Warriors took it as encouragement.
Now, regardless of what he said, the Skeleton Warriorâs fighting spirit was increasing. He thought briefly, âIs this what it feels like to be a religious leader of a pseudo-religion?â. If the God who made him into a skeleton was to see this scene, her blood pressure would rise and would feel unsteady.
âIn any case, I have to finish it before it recovers its mana. Weâve come more than halfway, more than halfwayâŚ!â
He checked the Treasure Eaterâs condition, as well as the Skeleton Warriorsâ condition, and intensely calculated how he should move next.
If it seems like it was distracted by the Skeleton Warriors, he would provoke it by swinging his sword within its sight; and if it seemed like a lot of Skeleton Warriors would remain while the Treasure Eater was gradually accumulating damage, he would cold-heartedly lead them to their deaths. This situational decision making was an ability that he always had.
[Kuek, KuheeeeekâŚ!]
How long did that gruesome battle go on? Through one of the Skeleton Warriorâs brilliant sacrifice, Lee Shin Woo blocked the Treasure Eaterâs attack and forcefully struck with his sword. The moment he cleaved its rotten belly, the Treasure Eater coughed intensely and spewed out a blood clot.
âNow, guys! Gang up on him!â
[Keuhaaaaahp!]
[For the honor⌠of the Empire!]
While it was dying, they had to rush it! Lee Shin Woo bobbed his hand, sending the signal, and the Skeleton Warriors simultaneously charged at the Treasure Eater. The Treasure Eater had become a mess and one by one, the Skeleton Warriorsâ swords lodged deep into its flesh.
[Kuhek, KueeeeekâŚ!]
The Treasure Eater spat out another clot of blood and was in pain. It was undoubtedly in a fatal state! Lee Shin Woo raised his sword and forcibly yelled. Now it was time to harvest the fruit of this long and distressing battle! The siege destruction formation (or ganging up) had paid off!
âWeâre all the way there! Charge, I said charge! Stab more forcefully!â
[Killing it!]
[If Iâm with you⌠I can go anywhere!]
The Skeleton Warriors charged behind Lee Shin Woo while saying words that felt somewhat burdensome to him. However, talking about the conclusion first, this became Lee Shin Wooâs greatest miscalculation in this battle.
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[Kik⌠Kigihiiiiiiiiiiii!]
The Treasure Eater spewed out a blood clot, raised its rotten eyes, and gazed at them. Immediately after, from within the blood clots, flamesâŚ
âOh, hey wait a secâŚâ
The blood clots exploded in a grand fashion and covered the entire area!
[1] T/N: Itâs a saying that means something thatâs originally good wonât wear out/change and/or someoneâs nature/integrity wonât change. Basically, heâs saying that they still have their skill, even after theyâve degraded into skeletons.