Chapter 118 – New Element (4)

[Original Core]

[A power source capable of producing Lv6 Golems]

There were a total of 277 cores lying around. Mesmerized, Lee Shin-Woo and Kratia stared at them silently.

The Original Core. They were definitely the original form of the Original Bone Core. Lee Shin-Woo had barely gotten one or two of them by destroying all of the low-rank Golems in each area, yet there were so many gathered here.

"With this..." Lee Shin-Woo said without quite realizing it. "With this many cores here, it makes sense that they'd want to come collect them."

"This many cores would interest not only Arema Steelworker, but the Emperor as well."

"That's probably why he kept a general on standby."

Said general was now dead, though. Lee Shin-Woo didn't know when the Emperor would get wind of it, but that wasn’t something to worry about now.

"You get stronger if you absorb these, right?" asked Kratia.

"No. As I absorb bones with the same power, the effectiveness drops. Now I can't really get anything out of them. So with these..."

"You're going to try creating Golems?"

Kratia was quick on the uptake. Her eyes glittered with curiosity. That was what Lee Shin-Woo was looking for; no matter how talented he was in magic, talent could not make up for everything. Since he wasn't knowledgeable in arcane theory, he knew he would need someone else's help if he really decided to make a Golem.

To be honest, he could've taken down the general by himself if he tried; the reason he had asked for Kratia help was because he knew something like this could happen once he discovered the facility Arema Steelworker was trying to hide.

"It'd be hard to make them right now,” said Lee Shin-Woo. “So let's move the equipment first."

Kratia tilted her head at him. "Let's say you can move them with your inventory, but do you have the space to store them?"

"Of course I do," Lee Shin-Woo responded with a grin.

Lee Shin-Woo ignored her inquisitive gaze and deliberated on what he should do with the Original Cores. Should I just store them as is, or change them into Bone Cores first?

"It would probably be fine to change them,” Kratia said. “Since all of the materials for making Golems will be changed through that ability of yours."

"Giving the materials a sense of unity... Hmm, you're right. It doesn't sound like a bad idea."

Kratia had made a good observation. Of course, Bone Reinforcement wouldn't always upgrade the material, but the cores were one of the few exceptions, as the quantity of magic within wouldn't change with the transformation.

Lee Shin-Woo could still use them as cores once they transformed into Bone Cores, and no loss would incur in the process; that made the ordeal worth doing. Lee Shin-Woo transformed all of the cores in one go and checked his inventory. Because his inventory had expanded significantly following his level-up, there was a lot of free space.

"Now, shall we start storing them?"

"Alright. I'll take the ones on the left."

"Then I'll go over there."

The party of three collected the cores and turned to grab the equipment as well. To be honest, there were some amongst them that shouldn't have been thoughtlessly removed from their spot, but Lee Shin-Woo and Kratia, who had a good grasp on magic, skillfully extracted the equipment and meticulously inspected them before putting them in their inventory without any trouble.

Only five minutes had passed, yet nothing valuable remained within the facility.

"The Golems will probably get mad when they come later, won’t they?"

"It's alright. They won't see the facility," Lee Shin-Woo said before ordering the Chimeras to collect the large sunlight stone. Because of its sheer size, the transformation was quite the spectacle. Once he placed it into his inventory, the facility immediately plunged into darkness, to which he could only say, “Oh, come on.”

After a pause, Lee Shin-Woo spoke up again, "You guys go first."

"Shin-Woo?"

"I need to install a bomb before I go."

"...Are you serious?"

They hadn't noticed the six Drake Horn Lances floating behind Lee Shin-Woo until then. Actually, there were three or four of them floating behind us when we first entered the facility, Jin remembered. He realized Lee Shin-Woo had already decided to blow up the facility at that time.

"You can make it so they don't know it was us?" asked Jin.

"There will be no traces left."

Lee Shin-Woo let out a short laugh and sent the rest of the party away. Then he buried the Drake Horn Lances across the room whenever one was fully charged.

Because he'd already demolished much of the equipment that protected the facility, so long as he identified the right location through calculations and installed the lances properly, he should be able to completely destroy the place.

"Nice. This is perfect."

However, while Lee Shin-Woo was finishing with the bomb installation and leaving the passageway, he felt his chest vibrate. It was the communication line previously belonging to the Kadinan's lord, which enabled him to communicate with Hansen.

Hansen was already dead, so who could it be? Lee Shin-Woo wasn’t going to ask something so boorish. It was obviously either the Emperor, or one of the Emperor's men.

Lee Shin-Woo grinned and raised the communication line. Activating the bothersome mana seal, he accepted the call. It was then he left the facility, closed the door, and turned around.

[Kadinan's lord, Nellopa. Did the Lightning Shadow General arrive?]

He could feel the discipline of a military personnel from the extremely stiff voice. As expected, it seemed the Lightning Shadow General had a supervisor even though he worked alone. Also, considering the fact that he didn't add an honorific to the general’s name, it was possible that Lee Shin-Woo was talking to someone really high up. In that case, there was a good chance that this person was one of the twelve generals as well.

Obviously, it wasn’t a good idea to reveal even a little about his identity to this undead. Lee Shin-Woo activated Acting and Disguise simultaneously in the blink of an eye.

"The Lightning Shadow General is..."

Nellopa's voice naturally came out of Lee Shin-Woo's mouth, and he heard the other whisper, 'so he was just late'. The sound of the caller’s small sigh had to be a sign of relief. He decided to break that illusion.

"The Lightning Shadow General... passed away."

[What!?]

Lee Shin-Woo reported in a voice that made it sound like he was stifling tears, turning the situation immediately. The caller raised his voice and shouted.

[Who dares!? How!? A Golem!? Was it a Golem!?]

"Kuheuk, that's correct. Arema Steelworker..."

[We expected the four commanders to show up, but Arema Steelworker actually made a move in person? Is he starting an all-out war...!? But it's too early. How can he be so confident!? Moreover, how did he conceal his energy and move with such secrecy!?]

Right. Arema Steelworker was probably too scared to act in person, as he didn't want to be seen. That was why he had sent an outsider like Lee Shin-Woo, despite it being an important mission to collect more than 200 cores!

Knowing it wouldn't be easy for them to buy the story, Lee Shin-Woo gave them something to convince them.

"They're...on the same side of a group called Anti-Skull! Kuahk!"

[Anti-Skull!? Seagald...! Tell me in more detail! No, is there someone else there?]

"They're listening in on us! You have to close the connection... Kuaaaaaaahk!"

He forcefully broke the communication line mid-sentence. Then the six Drake Horn Lances exploded, making sure the sound was transmitted at the last moment of the call.

That would make them think the enemy was watching Nellopa, and not long into the call, the lord resisted and paid with his life, hit by one of the enemy's powerful attacks. The communication line was also destroyed in the process.

"Nice."

Lee Shin-Woo's acting skill had improved rapidly. He then walked away from the collapsed facility and laughed. Even from his own point of view, his performance was pretty good. Steelworker and Anti-Skull would now be on their mind.

"Now that I've finished everything up, let's go."

"You..."

The party had been watching him silently, but Jin demanded when he was about to leave, "Why did you drag Anti-Skull into this all of a sudden!?"

"Hmm? Their headquarters is way too hard to find, so I thought I could use the Emperor's faction to draw them out. Plus, it would make me sound more credible."

"..."

"Of course, I also want the Steelworkers to expose what they’re planning as they come out of hiding and make their move by involving Anti-Skull... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I swear I won't be mad, so tell me honestly... You're a demon, aren’t you?"

Lee Shin-Woo wanted to pass it off as a joke and laugh, but Jin’s burning goblin fire looked extremely genuine. He ended up feeling slightly hurt.

[What an amazing act!]

[As expected of Sir Paul Zero!]

While the Chi Pauls revered Lee Shin-Woo, they were likewise shocked by the act he put on. I’ve only done something anyone could do, so why are they acting like this!?

Lee Shin-Woo turned to his last hope, Kratia. As expected, Kratia didn't betray his trust and gave him a thumbs up.

"Nice explosion. I want to recreate it with magic."

"Ah, is that so?"

When he looked back, the huge explosion had caused the entire area to cave in. It seemed like the fissure would reach them soon, so they prioritized getting away first. Then he decided to part ways with the Chi Pauls.

[I'll get stronger no matter what!]

[I'll collect a lot of bones! Call me whenever you need me!]

[I'm sure that if we're with you, Sir Paul Zero, that we can kill the Emperor and Arema Steelworker. You are the only one I’ll follow from now on!]

It seemed like Lee Shin-Woo’s acting had left a huge impression on them, and they were treating Lee Shin-Woo like disciplined soldiers would their commander.

Lee Shin-Woo pondered whether he should be happy or sad about that... In any case, he had made them his subordinates, so he decided to just live with the reality.

"Godspeed, Chi Pauls! Get stronger until you can take on a general!"

The Chi Pauls grouped up and quickly sprinted off. Lee Shin-Woo waved his hand at them as they vanished into the distance. Then Kratia quietly asked Lee Shin-Woo a question.

"Shin-Woo, how many of them have you been 'catching and releasing'?"

"You won't believe me even if I told you."

"I'm confident that I'd believe you even if you said you were the hidden 13th general."

"You sure run your mouth when you’re with a hero.”

They exchanged jokes as they moved towards the Golem production facility, or in other words, the Golem train that led to Arema Steelworker's headquarters. Of course, it didn't take very long for them, and when they reached the top of the hill, what they had done suddenly came into sharp focus.

Kadinan was wiped out, and the secret facility had blown up and collapsed... There was no way anyone would be able to tell what had happened by looking at it!

"I’ll wait there?" Kratia asked.

"Yeah. It shouldn’t take long."

"Yeah."

They temporarily parted ways with Kratia. As a level 7 hero with the ability to teleport, she checked the designated location and nodded before vanishing from their view.

If need be, Lee Shin-Woo would test out the Bone Gate he had received, but she left without saying a word, so he felt a bit disappointed.

"Let's get going too."

"But Shin-Woo, if they figure out what we've done and try to kill us...!"

"Then we can just die a few times and get the hell out. Don't worry so much."

Jin was concerned about Lee Shin-Woo’s bold plan, as he was marching over to Arema Steelworker’s headquarters just to flip him off. As it turned out, though, the Golems weren't aware of what they had done.

...In fact, they greeted them with affection.

[Did you put them all to rest?]

"...Hmm. I just wanted to let you know how disappointed I am in you guys. If we made a mistake, we would've been forced to fight a general."

[As expected, they... Ahem. We just wanted to make sure that we could work well together in the future. You understand, don’t you?]

"Ha. So you realized I'm no pushover?"

[Of course. We now know you and your people are skilled enough to fight alongside us.]

Well, it doesn’t seem like you know anything... Lee Shin-Woo inwardly mocked Guillotine. Then unexpectedly, Guillotine extended a fist towards him. Is he asking for a fist bump? Without even realizing, Lee Shin-Woo reached out his fist as well, but then Guillotine opened his hand, revealing what he was holding.

"This is...!"

[This is the reward we promised. Treat it well. Since it's something we poured all of our technical skills into making.]

Lee Shin-Woo nodded reflexively and opened his own hand. Above Guillotine's palm lay...a Golem that resembled a small bird.

[Lv6 Observer Golem]

The quest was now complete.