Chapter 67 – Disguise (3)

If Lee Shin-Woo had one more permit to Goddess’s Secret Shop, he would've used it without any hesitation. Since he only had one at the moment, and there was no telling how much the wine would sell for, he couldn’t just take the risk.

"Senior Seira is a prophet,” Lee Shin-Woo clicked his tongue and muttered. “A prophet."

"You seem to be getting along with our seniors."

"If you're jealous, why don't you enter the chatroom too?"

"D-Don't wanna."

Jin always responded the same way whenever Lee Shin-Woo told him to enter the chatroom if he was so envious of his relationship with other people. Lee Shin-Woo chuckled and shook his head. He could understand how Jin felt to some degree.

Those who were less confident often were more passive when it came to maintaining relationships with other people. Needless to say, Jin’s self-esteem was almost nonexistent after becoming a Skeleton Horse.

"Let's store all the wine in our inventories,” Lee Shin-Woo suggested. “We don't need to keep any food anyway."

"It might've been a waste of space if we hadn't reached level 5."

Their inventories had doubled in size when they leveled up. Since they didn’t have to store any daily necessities, they now had more space than they needed. With all the wine barrels in the ripening room, they managed to fill at least half of their inventories.

"This one has 25 liters of wine, and this one's 47 liters... The magic is working as it should, but there was a difference between the wine at the beginning of the ripening process. Because of that, they all tasted different despite being produced in the same year and aging for the same amount of time. At the end of the day, it is an art that requires skills."

"So how many liters do we have in total?"

"1,965 liters."

"Wow."

The unbottled wine amounted to a staggering volume. If their seniors could see this, they would've fainted. A single bottle of wine found in a dungeon or a city was usually enough to make them cheer.

All the credit went to Lee Shin-Woo; he had miraculously found the dungeon and unlocked the seal like it was nothing even though the lock was actually of the highest possible rank, and could only be unlocked by those affiliated with the Kerr Century Winery. Still, Lee Shin-Woo believed it was something all of his seniors could do as well.

[Steelworker, we've found another room.]

"Oh? Wow..."

Lee Shin-Woo had expected to stay here for some time. One of the Iron Golems thus went away to look for any potential danger, and it ended up finding a storage for bottled wine.

Though they weren't stored as perfectly as the wine in the ripening room, and several had become undrinkable, Lee Shin-Woo and Jin marveled at the fact that they had recovered 30 bottles of luxurious wine.

Lee Shin-Woo’s experience since coming to the Empire had been nothing but suffering. Only now did he feel like a true hero. Wasn’t it a hero’s duty to loot empty houses?

"I wonder if there's more stuff here," Lee Shin-Woo muttered.

"Probably not. We checked all the facilities outside of the winery."

"Yeah, you're right. We checked all the fermentation facilities. But..."

The businessmen had set up such tight security on the entrance, so how would the grapes have gotten in? Lee Shin-Woo pondered about it, and his goblin fire swayed with uncertainty.

"The inventory?" Jin suggested.

"That’s not part of this world; it belongs to only the heroes."

"Assassins?"

"The businessmen raised assassins to protect the wine?"

"...Then a secret passageway?"

"Yeah."

It was highly likely that they brought the grapes in through a secret passageway, as the security at the entrance was so tight. Hypothetically speaking, if the passageway led directly to the orchard...

"The orchard might be a dungeon too,” concluded Lee Shin-Woo. “Though it shouldn't be as impenetrable as this place."

"...How do you even grow grapes underground?"

"This entire empire is underground. Why couldn't they if they had the skills?"

"Ah, that's right."

Lee Shin-Woo led Jin and the Golems on a search through the winery and succeeded in finding what he was looking for. Once he dealt with a few more hidden locks and examined the wall of a room, he broke through the wall to find a railway. It wasn’t on the scale of the one the Golems were using, but it was well-lit and clean.

"Is this real!?" Jin blurted out.

"It is."

Though there was only a single wall dividing the underground passage and the winery, the air felt quite different. There were several layers of magic applied to the winery to act as a smokescreen so that it couldn't be found, but the railroad, which was outside of the spells' range, was largely unprotected.

"What do we do if there are monsters or people after the wine?"

"Take a look around," Lee Shin-Woo said.

"Alright... Huh?"

Jin looked back and gaped in shock. The winery they had just left had disappeared, and the railway seemed to extend indefinitely. Jin shuddered at the bizarre sight.

"This railroad probably goes through other facilities,” Lee Shin-Woo said with perfect composure. “They went so far as to create a smokescreen to hide the winery. It’s concealed flawlessly rather than defended with impenetrable security measures."

"And you saw through that?” Jin asked incredulously. “Seriously, what the hell did you do before all this?"

"I told you, I was just a normal salaryman. Come on, let's go. You lot, get smaller and follow close behind me."

[Understand.]

[Reducing body size.]

The Golems shrunk themselves down as per Lee Shin-Woo’s order. They had already gotten smaller before entering the dungeon, but now they were shorter than two meters tall—it was effectively a small-size mode!

Sacrificing bulk and weight to reduce the size of their tough bodies, the destructive power that came with their weight would be reduced, but at the same time, they would become much faster, which was better when they needed to move quickly like right now.

Of course, this wasn't part of the existing commands in the Limited Order Bone Core, but Lee Shin-Woo could unlock it with the authority of a senior administrator.

"There are a lot of forked roads," Jin commented.

"This way."

They went to great lengths to conceal the winery, so it wasn't surprising that there was an absurd amount of forked roads; however, Lee Shin-Woo never hesitated in choosing a path. Jin followed his direction obediently, but he couldn’t help but get curious.

"How are you making a decision so quickly?"

"There are traces left by humans and vehicles,” Lee Shin-Woo said. “Well, there are traces of mana being used to erase those tracks, to be exact."

"..."

Magic was used to erase their tracks, but the mana ended up being picked up to track their movement. It was as if the businessmen from decades ago were playing in the palm of Lee Shin-Woo’s hand.

Compared to identifying the traces left by Anti-Skull, this is nothing.

For the next ten minutes, they followed Lee Shin-Woo’s perfect navigation and ran along the railroad. Suddenly, he reached out toward the sky and summoned Lightning Tooth.

The sword spun before shooting forward, piercing through the darkness for a few silent seconds until sparks spluttered in the air.

[Gguahk!]

[You have defeated a Lv3 Root Eater.]

Vision improved along with one’s agility, so Jin was able to see what had happened clearly. There was a large and hideous insect stuck to the ceiling several kilometers in front of them; the insect made an unpleasant sound as it approached them, but the Lightning Tooth cut through it, and it fell to the ground.

However, that was only the beginning. After cleaving through the monster, the sword swiftly changed direction and found its next target without losing any momentum. The insects that came crawling towards them fell one by one; Lee Shin-Woo defeated the Root Eaters with perfect control.

[Kihik!]

[Shaah!]

The swarm of insects chirped menacingly as they rushed toward Lee Shin-Woo and Jin. The underground passage had been dead silent before; there wasn’t even the sound of rock rolling on the ground. Now, however, an overwhelming cacophony of screams rang all around them. Lee Shin-Woo remained focused on the battlefront, while Jin wondered whether he should start running or not. In the end, he started galloping without fully committing to it.

"Jin, stop!"

"Okay!"

They were met with the final forked road, which branched off into three paths. While there was nothing coming from the middle path, which would lead to his target, monsters were pouring out from the left and right paths like they had been waiting for the two of them.

Lee Shin-Woo was repulsed by the sight of these insects, which he'd never seen on Earth and were bigger than humans. They were all level 3 or level 4 monsters. He also spotted some elites in the mix.

[Kiheeeeeehk!]

[Kik, Kihiiik!]

Lee Shin-Woo had never absorbed their bones before, so he couldn’t interpret their screams, but they seemed uneasy, which might have something to do with Lee Shin-Woo and Jin being skeletons. There was nothing for them to feed on and thus nothing to gain from this conflict.

The moment those picky eaters gathered to the middle passageway, Lee Shin-Woo sent the Lightning Tooth to the heart of their group. It pierced through a few gigantic insects and burrowed deep into the ground; the intense sparks discharged from the sword paralyzed all the bugs in the area.

Lightning and acid; they each have their advantages.

Lee Shin-Woo sent his will to the Lightning Tooth; without giving the bugs a chance to recover and move, the Lightning Tooth exploded fiercely!

[Critical Hit!]

[Rule of Bone is now Lv5. All stats have increased by 3.]

The lightning cloud engulfed the tunnel, triggering a few collapses and an awful cacophony of screams; fortunately, the ceiling remained intact. With so many bugs screaming at the same time, it sounded like dozens of blackboards being scratched at once.

"Charge! Leave only the right side open!"

[Following your command!]

[Assault mode!]

Lee Shin-Woo commanded the Golems to charge as he summoned the Drake Horn Lance and gripped it. Aiming at the surviving insects that were running from the explosion, he charged with a force that was sure to rip them to shreds!

"How are you doing with your mana?"

"I'm fine!"

Dark blue sparks crackled all over the weighty, cone-shaped lance, covering it in a blanket of fierce lightning. Lee Shin-Woo couldn’t yet change the lance’s property, but he could now wield lightning with ease, and applying it to his weapon was as easy as flipping his hand!

Imbued with lightning, the lance synergized with Bursting Thunder even better and unleashed greater destructive power. This was what it meant to wield the power of an element with one's own effort.

[Preparing for collision. Switching to thorn gloves.]

[Destroying all enemies...]

[Forward!]

As soon as Lee Shin-Woo finished his preparations for an attack, the three Golems simultaneously dashed forward. Regardless of what lay before them, they pushed through and lived up to their name as level 5 Golems; they were tougher and more powerful than other level 5 monsters, and none of the bugs could get through them.

[Kihiiiiiik!]

[Shaaahhk!]

The insects forced into a frantic escape failed to get through the Golems; they ended up funneled to the right side, the only opening the Golems didn’t cover. However, Lee Shin-Woo was already there to intercept them. He had used the Golems like an impregnable fortress to guide the bugs where he wanted them.

[Kushaaaaaaaaaahk!]

[Ggureureu, Ggureureureu!]

"Haaaa!"

The group of bugs proved to be no challenge at all compared to the Iron Golem Lee Shin-Woo had destroyed with a single blow. Holding the crackling Drake Horn Lance with both hands, he thrusted forward while Jin sped up further. They were like a streak of lightning shooting along the earth—Ground Lightning!

[Critical Hit!]

The crackling lightning discharged from the weapon prevented the bugs from moving freely, and the following lance brutally tore through their bodies. The blue sparks spluttering from the blade of the lance made them look like a falling star!

The pair followed the Golems further into the passageway. All around them were screams and sparks, and a strong nutty smell overwhelmed them. Lee Shin-Woo had never been more relieved that he could now stomach such a brutal scene.[1]

[All enemies in the area destroyed.]

[Releasing thorn gloves.]

The Golems announced the end of the battle mechanically before coming to a halt. Lee Shin-Woo and Jin soon followed suit. Lee Shin-Woo had anticipated more enemies to come, but when he turned around, all he saw were dead bugs.

"Why did you throw your weapon at the beginning if you were just going to charge through them?"

"I wanted to provoke all the bugs on the ceiling,” Lee Shin-Woo answered. “There's no reason to do the same thing twice, right?" But then he clicked his tongue and amended, "Well, I guess we do have to do the same thing twice. Golems, collect all of the bones and Perium."

[Understand.]

[Following command.]

"You..."

Jin's goblin fire narrowed when he saw Lee Shin-Woo treating the Golems like slaves. Meanwhile, Lee Shin-Woo muttered something even more outrageous.

"Should I bring along a few Golems even though they're a bit slow...?"

There were insects hidden within the remaining passageway, but Lee Shin-Woo and the Golems thoroughly trampled them without difficulty. Lee Shin-Woo could confidently say that they were doing a better job than any pest exterminators could ever hope to do. Eventually, they arrived at their destination—a vineyard.

1. E/N: Even though he doesn’t have a stomach.