The valiant battle between Lee Shin-Woo, the twelve Pauls, as well as the King Slime—which tried to swallow them all—had continued for at least 20 minutes.

If they hadn’t been in a cramped underground sewer, the battle might've already been over, but the level 3 Poison Skeletons were somehow standing their ground against the King Slime due to it not being able to charge properly.

"Put your back into it, Paul!"

[I'm Paul Ten!]

[Gureureureureuaaah!]

"Nice, you're blocking it well, Paul Ten. I'm taking another shot!"

[Low Rank Catapult is now Lv2. The launching speed increases. Agility has increased by 1.]

While the twelve Pauls were busy holding off the King Slime's attacks, Lee Shin-Woo used the Pauls as a moving trench to protect himself; He continued to launch Grenades so long as his mana would allow it. It wasn’t the first time he had this thought, but there really was nothing more reassuring than having allies keeping the enemy at bay!

[Gureureuoooooh!]

Whenever a portion of the King Slime's body burst, it desperately collected the mana from those pieces. Although Fire Bullet would’ve been more effective with Flames of Revenge doing continuous damage, the Grenades had at least forced a significant amount of the Slime’s mana to be concentrated in its body.

Rather than killing it with a clear cut, Lee Shin-Woo needed to slowly condense its mana through either fire or explosion in order to acquire the Slime’s core!

If that didn’t seem to be happening, he would then use Flames of Revenge to kill the Slime even if it meant sacrificing the Pauls. Thankfully, he turned out to be pretty lucky.

[Ugh, it's too strong...!]

[Hold it back, comrades! Our pain will be the foundation that unlocks our future!]

[Paul Twelve...!]

In the midst of the intense battle, the Pauls seemed to be forming a deep sense of camaraderie. Lee Shin-Woo lamented not being able to eat popcorn with his skeletal body and shot another Grenade at the King Slime.

Lee Shin-Woo had been counting his chickens before they hatched, excited by the stat points the core would grant him. Unexpectedly, however, the King Slime quickly rolled out of the way and dodged the launched finger!

"What!?"

[Gureureuk...!]

Lee Shin-Woo did a double take. Only then did he realize that his persistent uses of Grenades in the past 20 minutes had torn so much flesh off the Slime that it was now small enough to maneuver in the narrow passageway.

Furthermore, a few of the Pauls had died during the battle, so there was a gap in the circle they made around the Slime; the King Slime managed to seize the opening and launch a counterattack!

[Ggureuk!]

[Keuaaaaahk!]

[P-Paul Three!]

The skeletons failed to respond to its swift movements, and Paul Three was struck by its charging attack. Without delay, the Slime spewed all its Acid Poison at Paul Three! The skeleton melted instantaneously, leaving only a single piece of tattered bone.

[Paul Threeeeeeeeeeeeee!]

"Get a hold of yourselves, you guys! Don't lose track of its movements!"

Lee Shin-Woo gritted his teeth and shot a Grenade. He was going to take advantage of the opening created by the explosion and hit the Slime again, but something truly astounding occurred. Before the Grenade could explode, the bone melted away without a trace.

Lee Shin-Woo didn’t know what conditions it had fulfilled, but the King Slime’s poison seemed to have become more potent suddenly, rivaling even that of the Acid Ghoul’s!

"That bastard..."

[Gureureureuk!]

The King Slime made a peculiar sound as if it were mocking them before its body began to vibrate, its color gaining a noticeable shade of green.

[Its poison has gotten stronger.]

[Our bodies melt away just by getting close.]

The deadly poisonous mist filled the narrow space, enveloping the Poison Skeletons and making them tremble. They had briefly forgotten how terrifying Acid Poison was after being reborn as Poison Skeletons, but now they remembered!

[Gureureureuk!]

"Tch, it’ll be troublesome if all of you die now!"

The King Slime spotted an opportunity and attempted to sweep away all of the Poison Skeletons at once by spreading its deadly poison, but before it could do so, Lee Shin-Woo charged forward and rammed into its body.

He had no qualms with sacrificing the Poison Skeletons in order to defeat the King Slime, but he refused to lose all of his skeleton shields at once!

[Gureuk!?]

Because its body had shrunk, its weight had also lessened; the King Slime was powerless against Lee Shin-Woo's charging attack and ended up flung away.

More importantly, even after getting in contact with the Acid Poison potent enough to melt rocks in seconds, Lee Shin-Woo was completely unscathed.

[You have been affected by the King Slime's strengthened Acid Poison. Low Rank Acid Resistance has successfully resisted 90% of the damage.]

[Low Rank Acid Resistance is now Lv8.]

"Good...As long as I don't get stuck inside its body, I can endure it."

He had been quite worried since his finger bone had melted completely after entering the Slime’s body, but it seemed his main body was able to endure its Acid Poison through a combination of Harden and Acid Resistance. Whatever harm the poison had managed to inflict could be healed with Regeneration instantly.

[Gureureureureuk!]

The King Slime seemed to have realized that Lee Shin-Woo wasn't an opponent it could overcome simply by thoughtlessly spewing its poison around, and it began to slowly retreat.

Lee Shin-Woo had been attacking the Slime from the rear with flames and bone bullets rather than launching a frontal assault; the fact that he actually possessed the toughest body here shocked the King Slime. It wasn’t the only one that felt this way.

[H-How is he still alive even after getting hit by the poison...!]

[W-We can't win. The experiment was a failure. In the end, we were cursed; the slime will melt us all and leave us buried in the darkness...!]

"Just sit in the back and watch."

The Pauls shook like leaves in the wind and retreated. Seeing that, Lee Shin-Woo decided to stop using them as shields.

They had lost all their fighting will, and even if they were to step forward once more, he didn't know how much longer they'd last against the King Slime. And...

The fact that the second phase has begun means the King Slime's health and magic are slowly reaching their limit. Given that I’m able to resist its poison, it's definitely worth a try to defeat it myself.

Of course, it still possessed a combination of strength and speed befitting a level 4 elite monster, but with the buff granted by Avenger, Lee Shin-Woo believed he could defeat the Slime.

He gripped Bone of Thunder Lasting tightly with both hands and activated Combat Sprint, taking the initiative by charging at it first. The King Slime noticed and quickly started bouncing.

[Gureureuk!]

"Hah...!"

Its reflex was absurdly fast. If he hadn’t made full use of his temporarily heightened visual acuity, he would have lost track of it. The instant Lee Shin-Woo caught the trajectory of its movement, he made a vertical slash downwards!

"Ha!"

With magic hardening his body, his sword fell with a force that could cleave the earth and hit the King Slime as it charged right at him. Rather than being pushed back, Lee Shin-Woo tapped into his reserved strength and pushed harder with his sword!

[Gooooooooooooh!]

The King Slime lost their duel of strength and bounced away, colliding with the opposite wall. The already precarious structure collapsed at the impact, shattering the drain pipes and undermining the foundation of the sewer. Dirt splattered everywhere, but even amid the chaos, Lee Shin-Woo's eyes remained fixed on the King Slime.

Does it also have Harden as well? There aren't any scratches on its body...

His sword was plenty sharp. The bastard was just unusually tough! Since its body had lessened in size, its physical strength was now low enough that Lee Shin-Woo could push it back, but conversely, its magic had become frightfully condensed, and in turn, its body had become much tougher.

[Gooooooooooh!]

"Hmph!"

Seemingly bolstered by the fact that Lee Shin-Woo had failed to harm it, the King Slime bounced and propelled itself at him again.

It’ll be the end of me if I allow it to push me back! Lee Shin-Woo gritted his teeth and clashed with the King Slime. With the resolve to take it down, he infused every strike with Power Slash!

[A-As I thought, we can't win.]

[If he can't kill it with that tremendous power... Ah, ahhhh. The poison, the poison mist is rising!]

It didn’t work out for him since the Pauls had been undermining his spirit with their chorus of pessimism. Well, to be perfectly honest, he simply wasn’t strong enough to overpower the King Slime at the moment. If he could just buy himself some time, he would be able to make a decisive strike, but the problem was...

...I can't keep attacking and defending until its mana runs out.

It wouldn’t take long for the sewer to be completely destroyed. The pouring dirt would soon make it difficult to even move. That would be the worst environment to fight in.

To finish it before then... It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be his only choice. With his mind made up, he activated his skill.

Flames of Revenge.

The black flames bloomed into life on his index finger. Seeing that hateful fire, the King Slime spewed the deadly poison that had been condensed in its body all at once in all directions, filling the space with poison.

"Good, you're definitely responding to it."

[Gureuk...!]

The deadly mist and his black flames collided and crackled; his fire surged and smoked as it burned through the poison. If this went on, both he and the Slime would simply run out of magic sooner or later, so Lee Shin-Woo raised his index finger to shoulder height and readied the shot.

I don't know how many times it'll self-destruct from the flames until it leaves behind its core, but... there’s no other way.

However, before he could make the shot, one of the vacantly watching Pauls suddenly muttered.

[...I remember.]

"Hmm?"

That stopped Lee Shin-Woo from using Catapult. It was truly a relief that the King Slime had been paralyzed with fright facing the unwaning flames.

Lee Shin-Woo didn’t know how aware the skeleton was of the situation, but Paul kept muttering.

[I... Before I was appointed a knight, I applied for this experiment.]

Lee Shin-Woo furrowed his brows. Did they seriously just remember their past? How? It wasn’t alone. The other Pauls started muttering as well. It was as if they had agreed to do this together beforehand.

[I was just a soldier, but I became a Centurion due to my impressive performance. The one who brought me there was none other than General Seagald...]

[I... I respected the Emperor. Because of that, I couldn't forgive him for his mistake, even more than the others.]

[How could I forget? The way I had lived, the way I must live from now on... All of it has remained within me all along.]

In no time, the thick mist of deadly poison filling the passageway vanished. The King Slime continued to create Acid Poison in response to Flames of Revenge, but the Poison Skeletons readily absorbed all of it.

[The experiment... Was it not a failure?]

[It failed. It was truly a horrific failure. However, we’ve gained something from the failure.]

[How miserable. Still, we do need this strength right now.]

There was nowhere to run; they couldn't escape from the Acid Poison, and the skeletons had no other choice but to accept it. The moment they gave up on everything, they instinctively absorbed the Acid Poison as if it were theirs from the beginning. The skeletons were starting to become stronger.

The vestige left from the failed experiment had made it possible; their past karma was finally connected to the present.

[How did I forget the way to use mana?]

[It feels like someone had locked me in the darkness and stripped away my reason.]

[I can't remember my name at all, but... it's fine. We’ve reconciled with both our past and present!]

[We don't need to think deeply about what's within us anymore. We just need to walk the path we've been taught now!]

They sounded much more assured, and Lee Shin-Woo could sense them getting stronger for some reason. They seemed to have leveled up, Lee Shin-Woo thought. That was when he felt a great concentration of surging mana. The resulting light was so brilliant that it was almost blinding.

Lee Shin-Woo didn't have eyes in the ordinary sense, so instead of being blinded by the light, he was able to properly behold the Poison Skeletons' transformation.

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul]

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul Two]

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul Four]

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul Seven]

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul Nine]

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul Ten]

[Lv3 Acid Skeleton - Paul Twelve]

"..."

Never had he imagined that he would witness undead beings being reborn as named monsters, and with names he'd given them at that!

Stunned, Lee Shin-Woo gaped as the Pauls marched up to his side with more vigor than before.

[Apologies for showing you something so unsightly, Captain.]

[We'll fight alongside you.]

[Give us the command. I’ll follow your exemplary chivalry, Captain.]

When the hell did I become your captain, and what the hell do you mean by chivalry? That was what Lee Shin-Woo wanted to say, but he pushed all those thoughts aside. Even though the Empire was lifelessly cold, and its rulers incorrigibly arrogant, he acted as though their version of the Empire was the only warm place in this world.

"You've finally gotten a hold of yourselves. Hold the enemy back for a little while. You can do that much, can't you?"

[Yes, sir!]

[Of course!]

The seven level 3 elites attacked the King Slime simultaneously. The King Slime attempted to kill them with its poison and charging attacks, but they were no longer the weak skeletons they had once been. While the Slime was kept busy by the skeletons, Lee Shin-Woo shot at it with a volley of Fire Bullets. The Slime didn’t even have the opportunity to self-destruct before it died from the flames.

It was truly a brutal victory.