The Emperor seemed pissed; it was only natural. After all, all of the Vampires heâd dispatched had been killed, including the level 8 Steel Armor General. Even Lee Shin Woo hadnât thought that the level 8 general would be killed so easily!
Once heâd finished cleaning up, he led his Pauls in a quick retreat. Seagald had accepted his subordinatesâ summons at each base, and the Vampires were unable to withstand his assault and died.
[I apologize, Your Majesty. If I hadnât divided our forces, thenâŚ!]
There was some good news though. Through his and the Vampiresâ attacks on their bases, Anti-Skullâs forces had been cut down by a good 1/3. However, that wouldnât be enough to cause the Emperorâs anger to abate.
[Raise your head, Arema. That wonât solve anything! We have to kill him!]
[But Your MajestyâŚ!]
Lee Shin Woo trailed off. The Emperor should already know. That entrusting the Metal God General alone with eliminating Seagald, who could suddenly appear and disappear anytime he wanted and had even killed a level 8 Vampire, was too much to ask for.
[Iâve completely destroyed all of his forces on the surface, so he wonât be able to return. He wonât be able to fool the golem network anymore either. âŚSo Arema, I need to trouble you for just a little while longer.]
[âŚOf course. I am ready to give my life for you, Your Majesty.]
[No, Iâm sorry for giving you such a difficult task. But my friend, I wonât let you die in vain. Iâll send you as many reinforcements as I can.]
Ultimately, the cowardly Emperor chose the second best plan instead of the very best.
The Emperor was under the assumption that âAremaâ had no choice but to obey him, as he held his strings (his physical body), but to the current Arema⌠or Lee Shin Woo, it was the best possible outcome!
[Iâll send all the forces I have available. So remember, you have to stop him. Donât let those filthy undead covet the surface. Understand?]
[âŚUnderstood! I promise to do as you ask!]
The line went dead. Lee Shin Woo briefly pondered and soon extended his hand towards the communication device. Then, the device made a âcrunchingâ noise, turned to bone, and was absorbed by Lee Shin Woo.
[Magic has increased by 10.]
[Through your mastery of the Darkness Element, you were able to trace this darkness back to its source. The coordinates have been added to the Heaven Doorâs Key.]
From here on out, he wouldnât communicate with the Emperor anymore. He was probably sending all of his forces underground, aside from a small handful that he needed to protect himself. Since he was sending such a large force, there was no need to contact him anymore.
âI had no choice but to use my own darkness to dispose of the communication device; otherwise, he wouldâve known that it was tampered with. AndâŚâ
âWould it really work out?â Lee Shin Woo had thought, but he had achieved his secondary objective: trace the darkness back to its source and figure out where the Emperor was hiding.
When would the Emperor figure this out? âŚHe would probably never figure it out. By that time, heâd have a sword slicing through his throat.
âNow, letâs make a dummy and put it over hereâŚâ
Darkness radiated from his fingertips and formed into a solid shape. This dummy device was created so that the Emperor wouldnât realize that the original communication device was damaged, and would act as a receiver that only âreceivedâ his signals.
âThanks, Arema Steelworker. You really did a lot for me.â
Lee Shin Woo put away the device, returned to his original form, and muttered in satisfaction. Then, he left the room and locked it. He saw Kratia right in front of him. It mightâve been just him, but she seemed pretty impatient.
âLetâs hurry up and improve the Titan.â
âI have to go once the surface sends reinforcements. Can we really do it before then?â
âWe have to. Seagaldâs dangerous, the capital even more so. The more unknowns there are, the more you have to prepare, Shin Woo.â
âYouâre right, butâŚâ
Honestly, Lee Shin Wooâs side was a force to be reckoned with. He had five level 8s, which included himself, Jin, Chi Paul, Seira, and Dana, along with several level 7 Giants, which had exceptionally high physical stats; he couldnât even count how many he had with both hands.
Ye Jin Jin (she had recently hit level 7) wore a level 9 artifact and was accompanied by the level 8 spirit, Zenon, so she was probably more powerful than most level 8s as well.
âEven though both sides have a level 9 boss, I think I can take them on with these forces.â
Despite that, Lee Shin Woo was still busy setting up the board. Why else would he be doing this? Because something unexpected could pop up out of nowhere.
After all, Lee Shin Woo himself was an unknown that hadnât existed just two years ago. The Underground Empire had changed this much with his sudden appearance, so it would be foolish to assume that his enemies were exactly the same. Seagald was a clear example of this.
âWhereâs Seagald going?â
âHeâs going around the bases and collecting all the surviving troops. Heâs almost done⌠When heâs finished, heâll probably go straight to the capital.â
âAs I thought.â
Lee Shin Woo thought as much. When Seagald had come for Bayran, he thought that the battle was coming to an end. The Emperor probably thought the same; several of the 12 Generals had been killed and the capital had sustained a blast of light from the cannon.
âShin Woo.â
Kratia stared right at Lee Shin Woo, who was organizing his thoughts. He felt like he knew what she was going to say.
âIâm going too.â
âYou canât.â
âJinâs going.â
âSheâs level 8⌠No, I just canât go without her.â
ââŚâ
If Jin were here, she wouldâve smiled in delight, despite knowing that that wasnât what he meant.
Of course, Jin wasnât the one in front of him, but Kratia. She was puffing up her cheeks. Kratia was being quite expressive for such a cold magician.
âBut Seiraâs going too.â
âShe keeps insisting that she sees her older brotherâs death. And sheâs level 8 too.â
Originally, he hadnât intended on bringing Seira along, but due to her insistence, as well as seeing her authority as a Banshee in the previous battle, he caved. Her abilities were really compatible with his own. He would be able to maximize his abilities as a Joker with her around.
âI can help too.â
âYeah, you would help. But the problemâs that youâll be in danger.â
âBut youâre the one in the most danger.â
âIâll be fine; even if Iâm killed, I wonât die. Donât you worry, I can get out of any situation.â
He didnât lie unnecessarily. In the end, Kratia sighed at Lee Shin Wooâs boasting and said.
ââŚShin Woo, youâre a precious sample, so youâre not allowed to die.â
âIâm glad that youâre concerned about me, but could you do something about that titleâŚâ
He smiled bitterly and softly patted her shoulder. In order to take her mind off of it, he needed toâŚ
âLetâs improve the Titan. Iâm trusting you. Since Iâm taking time out of my practice time with Jin, we have to get somewhere with it.â
âLeave it to me. Iâll do it no matter what.â
From that moment on, the two focused on nothing else but fusing the Titan Core and the Demon Heart together. No, it wouldnât be a wrongful assumption to say that they were trying to use the Demon Heart to fundamentally strengthen the Titan Core.
The Titan was a weapon that amplified Lee Shin Wooâs abilities, and in order to turn it into a shield that could protect him, he overlapped all of his abilities and melted them into the darkness. But, in order to transform it into an absolute weapon that turned lies into truthâŚ!
ââŚAh.â
âShin Woo?â
âIt might work if we limit its potential.â
The Titan was currently infused with the Dark Flame element; divided, that made the fire and darkness elements. And the Demon Heartâs overlapping ability definitely originated from the darkness element.
When he first planned out the Titanâs improvements, he thought he could use the Demon Heart as a medium to fuse all his elements together, but that was impossible from the very beginning. Lee Shin Woo himself didnât wield that many elements together at one time.
âBut what would happen if I used darkness as the foundation and then combined all my flames with it? Wonât that work?â
âIn other words, youâre going to add your Shining Flame too? But thatâs the light element. The reinforcement will become unstable unless you can grasp the fusion element between light and darkness. The reason why elements canât be overlapped is because conflicting elements canât mix very well.â
âMmâŚâ
Lee Shin Woo thought long and hard. It was clear that imparting his flames into the Titan during the creation stage was impossible. Instead, focusing entirely on the fire aspect and maximizing that would increase the Titanâs strength much moreâŚ
Then, Kratia spoke, as if sheâd come up with an idea.
ââŚShin Woo, howâs this?â
âWhat is it?â
Kratia was struck with inspiration. She drew a large X through their current blueprint and drew the Titan Core and the Demon Heartâs mana circuits such that even Lee Shin Woo was able to understand it. Then, she began explaining.
âChanging the Demon Heartâs properties during the planning phase is impossible. Then what about making two different types of circuits?â
âAs expected.â
Depending on the way the Demon Heart was used, the Titanâs functionality would change. If thatâs the case, then Lee Shin Woo didnât need to think about it. Kratia saw him nod his head, and she herself nodded and said.
âFirst, make a simple circuit that goes straight from the Demon Heart to the Titan Core. If you activate this line, then the Demon Heartâs defensive capabilities should transfer to the Titan. Letâs call this Normal Mode.â
No matter how he looked at it, she really was a genius. He honestly didnât really understand what she was talking about, so he felt like he had become like Jin and just nodded his head. Kratia then created an even more complicated magic formula atop the plan and said.
âIf Normal Mode is when the Titan is connected with the Demon Heart, thus reinforcing it, then the next mode is a bit different. You instead connect with the Demon Heart and then that connects with the Titan Core. Letâs call this Showdown Mode. Weâre going to make these two lines and make it so that you can switch between them.â
While the former idea, where the Titan gains the Demon Heartâs defensive and magical abilities, was a simple concept (this improvement was always possible), the latter idea was so complex that it could only be derived from Kratiaâs genius. Since this method would first involve Lee Shin Woo passing his power through the Demon Heart, thus reinforcing it, and then he would activate the Titan Core after.
âIn other words, this mode will allow me to directly control the Demon Heart. Youâre making it so that I can control the Demon Heart myself and preserve its overlapping ability⌠And that power will spread throughout the Titan.â
âYep. Then you just need to use the Demon Heartâs overlapping ability to overlap your Dark Flame and Shining Flame. Then, you apply it to the Titan. Because itâs a lot more stressful on you, the Titanâs safety and durability will decrease, but this is the only way.â
âSorry to say, but itâs too chuuni. âŚAnd ultimately âoverlapping the Dark Flame and Shining Flameâ falls to me. Well, I was the one who suggested it, so itâs only right that I take on the burden!â
It was quite sudden, but fusing together two conflicting powers was totally like combining items! âŚWouldnât it be possible?
âBut thereâs also something else Iâve thought of. If you can use the overlapping power properly, then this should be possible too.â
But Kratia didnât stop there. Maybe sheâd already thought of the theory and application. She drew the structure of the core, as well as the inside of the Titan itself, causing Lee Shin Woo to sport a doubtful expression.
âHey, this isâŚ?â
âIn conclusion, controlling the Dark Flame and Shining Flame so that they can be overlapped by the Demon Heart. Thereâs a way to control them. I donât know what lays beyond that, butâŚâ
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Lee Shin Woo looked at the completed interior design of the Titan and shuddered.
With this, he could definitelyâŚ
âThat⌠might be possible.â
That night, they finished upgrading the Titan.
The very next day, the troops from the surface arrived in the Underground Empire.