I didn't expect to get a quest, let alone one that aligns so perfectly with what I have in mind...

Lee Shin-Woo examined the quest details and was rendered speechless. Of course, it was true that he wanted a high-ranking administrator's authority in order to create a seal, but who would’ve thought it would be connected to the Joker's karma, and even showed up as a quest?

Moreover, the description of the quest seemed to suggest that he should already have the ability to replicate a Golem’s mana as a Joker, so Lee Shin-Woo was feeling a bit spiteful.

"Huh?” Kratia asked. “A quest?"

With mana affinity that could rival Lee Shin-Woo’s, Kratia had sensed the surge of mana that preceded any new quest.

"That's right," Lee Shin-Woo said with a nod.

Kratia pursed her lips for a moment but quickly shook her head to herself. She seemed to have wanted to ask him about the quest, but decided against it shortly after.

"Your mana seems to have increased considerably," she said instead.

"You're right. It’s all thanks to you."

"Mm... I have a feeling I'll succeed as well."

Kratia turned her mana into ice in the air and attempted to make a statue. He couldn’t really tell what she meant. She had been drawing upon the ice element and using some sort of magical catalyst.

"I believe I’ll have to put it to use in battles," Kratia said suddenly. “Let’s go fight some monsters.”

"As a party?"

"Yeah."

It wasn't part of their agreement, but...as concerning as her offer was, it didn't sound so bad. Lee Shin-Woo had just received a quest that was several times worse, and he would like a break from reality. It wasn’t a bad idea to empty his head for the moment.

"What do you think, Jin?" asked Lee Shin-Woo.

"I'd like to stretch my legs as well."

Jin agreed easily, as his brain had been crammed with complicated theories regarding mana all week long. His ability to handle mana had improved significantly as well, and he wanted to apply that knowledge to real combat.

"Shall we go then?” Lee Shin-Woo said. “Oh, I was thinking we should go to the level 2 danger zones, which would be the commercial cities."

Kratia piped up, "I think we can go straight to the level 3 danger zones."

"What's your level, anyway?"

"Six."

Lee Shin-Woo had guessed as such, but she really was at a much higher level than they were. Recalling their previous encounter, Lee Shin-Woo broke into a metaphorical cold sweat. Thank heavens I’ve blocked her magic well even though she’s much higher level than me.

"We can't do that,” Lee Shin-Woo rejected her suggestion. “We're still too weak. In any case, let's take it one step at a time."

"Mm."

Lee Shin-Woo got on Jin's back, and Kratia used her magic to float in the air. When Lee Shin-Woo asked her how long she could keep that up, she replied that she could do it all day.

"It doesn’t consume a lot of mana as long as I’m not teleporting," Kratia said.

"Mages sure are scary," Jin mumbled.

"It's not something that any mage can..."

"Let's get going!"

Jin had been pretending to listen to Kratia’s prideful pontification, but then he lurched into action and sprinted. It was truly a perfectly executed run befitting a former sprinter! The force generated threatened to overturn the ground, and the landscapes around them quickly changed.

Kratia gasped. "Oh...!" She was about to say something, but stopped in shock and hurriedly tried to catch up.

"Hey," Lee Shin-Woo chastised, softly knocking on Jin’s head as he dashed ahead of her in elation. What is he doing, teasing the girl he has a crush on like a little kid?

"Let's go south,” said Lee Shin-Woo. “There should still be a commercial city down there that our seniors haven't found yet."

Kratia hummed. "It'd be nice if there’s a dungeon there. A dungeon with growing fruit."

Lee Shin-Woo and Jin didn’t need to eat since they were undead, but that wasn't the case for the other heroes. After finishing the provisions they were given at the beginning, they would have to look for dungeons with either plants or animals, or buy supplies from the Secret Shop.

Lee Shin-Woo only went to the Secret Shop whenever he leveled up to buy some good bones... In his mind, it was more of a butcher's shop one visited every once in a while, but the other heroes considered it a place to buy food, which was more important than any other facilities.

"I like fruit too," said Jin.

"Jin, you can't start thinking like that."

"...My bad."

"It's not your fault."

The most saddening part about becoming undead wasn't the loss of sexual desire, or even the loss of their hair. It was that they couldn't eat anymore. They didn't even have the desire to eat anything, which was in itself a great shock; they would only become hopelessly depressed if they dwelled too deeply on the subject.

They had been doing alright when they were alone, but as they traveled with Kratia, a living person who needed nutrition to survive, they couldn’t help but become pointlessly conscious of their lack of basic human needs.

"I'll kill that goddess someday," Jin said.

"Yeah, that's the way to think."

Lee Shin-Woo and Jin fostered a growing resentment towards the goddess. Who the hell would look at them and call them heroes!? They were hating on her so vigorously that it started Kratia.

How long had they been running like that? If Lee Shin-Woo were still in South Korea, it would be akin to traveling from Seoul to Busan. Kratia, who had been floating in the air at a higher altitude, discovered something then.

"Undead troops."

"Good. That means we're getting closer to the city."

Undead tended to repeat what they were doing while they were still alive. Thus undead troops usually flocked to the cities to defend them, and sighting a troop would signify their proximity to a city.

"The undead are fighting amongst themselves, though," Kratia added.

"Huh!?"

Soon, Lee Shin-Woo sensed it. Countless undead were fighting against a smaller but more powerful group of undead... To be exact, he was sensing the magic of level 3 elite undead! Lee Shin-Woo suddenly realized where the magic must have come from, which seemed to be drawing him to the source.

"Is it the Pauls by any chance!?" he yelled.

Jin mumbled, "Could you please do something about that naming sense of yours…?"

"Pauls...?" Kratia was confused.

"Jin, run fast!"

"Tch... Full speed sprint!"

At that moment, Jin pushed his already great speed further and rushed forward in a straight line, breaking everything in his way to reach his destination, be it tree, rock, or an entire forest!

The training allowed him to fully utilize his stats for a brief instant, and Lee Shin-Woo had been secretly calling his ability to run like lightning.

[Those are...!]

[Ah, Captain!]

[Captain's come to save us!]

[Keep your heads high, everyone! Paul Zero is here!]

Even in the midst of battle, the undead were quick to notice Lee Shin-Woo and Jin, who were quickly approaching. There were twenty-two Pauls that Lee Shin-Woo had personally named there, and they were fighting fiercely against a group of 300 undead, ones that were at least level 2 or 3 at that!

There were even some level 4 undead mixed in; Lee Shin-Woo was surprised that the Pauls had been holding up so well without suffering any casualties.

[Paul Zero!]

[Paul Zero...!? Are you perhaps on the same side of these crazy traitors!?]

Lee Shin-Woo didn't know how the fight had started, but he decided to help the Pauls. He conjured a Melting Double Bone Axe and threw it, yelling, "Love…always comes back! [1]"

[How foolish of you to throw your weapon away! Oh!?]

"I said that it would come back, didn't I?"

The level 4 Skeleton Knight at the forefront easily parried the axe, but after being flung into the air, the axe flew back towards the knight as if time had been rewinded, knocking its weapon out of its grasp.

[You bastard! I don't know what cowardly magic you’re using, but...]

The Skeleton Knight panicked and bent down to pick up its weapon, but at that moment, the axe blew up magnificently and shot acid everywhere!

- Kwaaaaang!

Caught completely off guard, the knight didn’t even get the chance to resist with mana before it was unceremoniously flung away by the explosion and completely destroyed.

Lee Shin-Woo watched in satisfaction as the following acid mist melted away the undead battalion. Firmly, he commanded, "Retreat for now, Pauls!"

[Understood, Captain!]

[During the time we were apart, our Captain's abilities have improved even further!]

The Pauls were awe-struck by how commanding Lee Shin-Woo seemed. After the level 4 Skeleton Knight was taken down, they retreated from the battlefield, right in time for Kratia to arrive and stare at Lee Shin-Woo in disbelief.

"You can command the undead? What exactly are you...?"

"Call me Paul Zero right now. Also, there are good undead in this world too, you know. I'll explain later, so help take down those undead for now."

"Paul Zero...? Good undead...?"

[How can this be? She's alive!]

[Ooooh, so it was possible to break free of the curse!]

"!?!?"

Lee Shin-Woo's words were like a riddle, and Kratia tilted her head in confusion; the Pauls cheered when they saw her.

They’re happy to see me? Shouldn’t they be burning with hatred toward the living?

"What is happening...?"

Shocked by the Pauls’ reaction to her, Kratia started to question if her understanding of the undead until now had been wrong. However, she then turned around to face the battalion of undead, and all of them yelled in hatred as soon as they discovered her.

[A living person!]

[A being with blood and flesh!]

[Damn her! She’s definitely responsible for turning us into undead!]

[Let's make her just like us; we'll rip out her hair, tear off her flesh, and suck her blood dry!]

Truly gruesome and brutal lines were hurled at her, which ironically put her at ease. Once she had recovered from her shock, she cast her magic upon the hostile undead.

"Ice Arrow Shower!"

[It's magic!]

[Summon our mages!]

[But they are guarding the walls!]

[Gguaaaaahk!]

The large scale spell from a level 6 mage was tremendous! Several hundreds of ice arrows took shape in the air and descended upon the battlefront like a dense, intense rain. Even level 3 skeletons had to retreat, and the level 2 weaklings were immediately destroyed by the arrows.

Normally, I would buy time with ice arrows and follow that up with a more powerful spell, but...

However, she didn't have the time to spare. Why? Well, Lee Shin-Woo would take all the undead down if she wasted any time to go for a stronger attack. That was what Kratia thought, and exactly what ended up happening. Jin had gallantly charged in with Lee Shin-Woo swinging his giant axe, breaking the hostile skeletons into pieces!

"We could've become good friends. Sorry, Pauls!"

[Gguaaaaahk!]

[N-Now I'll finally be able to rest in...]

The weak skeleton hero who had once relied on acting to defeat a Skeleton Soldier no longer existed. Lee Shin-Woo would be fine even if he was thrown into a pit filled with level 3 skeletons.

The long distance explosive attack enabled by Rule of Bone wasn't the only thing powerful about him. He had accumulated a great reserve of knowledge regarding magic, and developed a solid foundation for close quarters combat where such magic could be applied. Lee Shin-Woo's axe was now covered in lightning, albeit weak, and the skeletons in the area were either brutally burned or crushed.

The rare weapon technique, Bursting Thunder, was finally showing its true potential!

But I'm not there yet. When I'm finally able to produce lightning all on my own with my mana, maybe I'll then have some idea about how I should mimic a golem's mana...!

He had come here to clear his mind, yet his thoughts kept circling back to the damn Golems even as he fought. Lee Shin-Woo scoffed while rotating his arms and swinging his axe.

[Ugh!?]

A Skeleton Knight attacked from behind, and Lee Shin-Woo's axe clashed with its sword; he shattered the sword without much difficulty. He had been able to react so swiftly because of his exceptional mana sense.

[How is this possible? My sword has been tampered with my loyalty to the Emperor...!]

"Well, you just aren’t loyal enough then," Lee Shin-Woo said nonchalantly and cut off the knight's head with Power Slash. Past the dead knight's crumbling body, he saw the leftover bones littering the battlefield.

The battle was over in the blink of an eye. It was a complete victory.

1. T/N: Apparently, it's a famous quote from the Korean drama "Stairway to Heaven".