Chapter 83 – Forest of the Dryads (4)

[Intermediate Acid Resistance is now Lv8. Magic has increased by 5. You no longer fear acid.]

[Intermediate Acid is now Lv8. Magic has increased by 5. You are now confident that you can melt all metal and bones.]

[Intermediate Bursting Thunder is now Lv6. Strength and Magic have increased by 5. You should be able to cleave through lightning that descends from the sky.]

[Intermediate Mana Bone is now Lv6. Magic has increased by 20.]

[Rule of Bone is now Lv7. You have become more adept at reinforcing and handling bone with nothing but your will.]

A month and a half had passed since Lee Shin-Woo came to the forest of the Dryads. While he had originally come to train Acid Resistance, he ended up also training Regeneration, Bursting Thunder, defense zone, Assimilation, Mana Bone, Rule of Bone, and Bone Armory. Then finally, Kratia contacted him.

"So...it only happens the first time?"

[Yeah. You get a title like that for the first stat that reaches 1,000.]

Kratia's voice was so frosty even through the private chat that Lee Shin-Woo could imagine her expression. Lee Shin-Woo really liked the calm and controlled manner with which she spoke, especially because he knew what could break her composure.

[It's kind of like how level 5 determines what path you're going to take. You end up specialized in one specific stat, which would then develop further. My specialized stat is naturally magic since I’m a mage, but I’ve heard of others who specialize in a different stat.]

Lee Shin-Woo wasn't a mage, so the information made him a little uneasy.

"It only happens the first time... I don’t feel too good about it."

[Considering your combat abilities alone, you might think you should prioritize your other stats, but when you really think about it, all of those abilities are connected to magic. The outcome makes total sense to me.]

"Tch, that's true."

[And your bones are magic anyway. This will be good for you.]

She was right. Lee Shin-Woo decided to accept it. Then Kratia changed the topic suddenly, her voice getting a little sharper.

[So, did you find anything good in the secret place that you kept from me?]

"Haha, what are you talking about? There are no secrets between us."

[...You seem to have gotten a lot out of it.]

Lee Shin-Woo laughed merrily as he imagined Kratia trembling with emotions in response, but Jin jostled him all of a sudden.

"Left!"

"I know. Don’t worry. I see everything."

[Ggiaaaaaaaaahk!]

Obviously, Lee Shin-Woo was in the midst of battle. He hadn't stopped fighting even once in the last 45 days.

While he had infinite stamina as a skeleton to sustain him through the endless fights, the mental toll it took on him was unimaginable; nevertheless, he endured, which ended up being one of the main factors that accelerated his growth. The same was true of Jin.

[But it's fine. I found something interesting as well.]

Lee Shin-Woo hadn’t ended his conversation with Kratia. Perversely, he wondered if chatting with someone while fighting would help him train his concentration, and he listened carefully to what she had to say.

"Oh? And what's that?"

[It's a secret...is what I'd like to say, but I'll tell you. Unlike you, I'm an adult.]

"Yeah, yeah. You're so mature."

Lee Shin-Woo shattered the clump of branches spinning like drill with his axe, while the flying axes flew toward the tree itself to topple it. Meanwhile, the other Acid Great Trees all over the forest were also getting ambushed by other axes in the air. Lee Shin-Woo had initially summoned a couple additional axes to train his defense zone, and at some point, the number of flying axes increased to four. In other words, Lee Shin-Woo was now completely naked… He was a nude skeleton.[1]

[I've found traces of one of the twelve generals too.]

"Really? If it's that easy to figure out, our other seniors must know about it already."

[Probably.]

They hadn't yet realized that they were the greatest of the heroes that had come to this Underground Empire.

[I killed some former royal mages, and luckily managed to combine their mana into a single magical formula. One of the artifacts in their possession responded to the formula and gave me some information.]

The information contained within wasn't very important. If the Empire still existed, it would've been considered a third class secret; it was a report on the planned expansion of the training facility for mages who defended the capital. What drew her attention was the person who drafted the report.

[Head of the royal mages, Feotane. He mentioned being one of the twelve generals himself, so he must be one.]

"Head of the royal mages..."

Lee Shin-Woo nodded to himself. It made sense that not all of the twelve generals fought with a sword or a spear on the frontlines while commanding their troops. It was a fantasy world, after all. Of course there would be a mage general.

"You only had the name? Nothing else?"

[I learned a bit about their communication system and codes. All that's left is to inspect the training facility described in this report. I'm going over there right now.]

"Alright. Don't die."

[It's connected to a mage, so I might ask for your help soon.]

"I'm not a mage..."

[Hoo... Relax. You may not consider yourself a mage, but someone else does.]

"That sounds familiar."

By the time Lee Shin-Woo finished his conversation with Kratia and looked up, the area had been completely cleared of trees. Lee Shin-Woo sighed after retrieving the Melting Bone Double Axes, which were violently spinning in the air.

"Us juniors are trying so hard. Would it kill our seniors to at least deal with one of the twelve generals?"

Jin snorted. "You're probably hoping that they’d sell the bone to the Secret Shop."

"Exactly. The effect of a level 7 bone is tremendous, so what would a level 8 bone be like?"

"I don't think any of the twelve generals are going down until we hit level 8..."

Honestly, Lee Shin-Woo thought the same. Their seniors may be heroes, but they were also humans with only one life. Thus, it was unlikely that they would go after the generals... He sighed again and said, "Let's just do what we can."

"Are we finally doing it?"

"Yeah. My Acid Resistance seemed to have stopped going up once it hit intermediate level 8, so we gotta do it now."

All that was behind them was a vast plain. For the past one and a half months, which felt both short and long, they had started from the outskirts of the forest and completely cleared out all the other areas, save for the heart of the forest the Dryads had run off to.

When killed, the trees would turn into mana and vanish, leaving only their loot behind, which was typical of this world; there were no traces left indicating that this had once been a forest. Someone walking past the area would never know the place had been densely populated with trees.

"It's time to open the box of chocolates.[2]"

"That's from Forrest Gump! You really were from my world, weren't you?"

How is it that he never reacted when I referenced anime, but immediately recognizes it when I quote a movie? I should avoid movie references from now on. However, Lee Shin-Woo kept up the ambiguity even now and said, "Maybe. The name of the book I read was different though."

"A book...?"

As expected, he was able to fool Jin with a simple lie! Lee Shin-Woo acted like he hadn’t noticed the puzzled look on Jin’s face and activated Bone Armory, equipping himself with a full set of helmet, upper body armor, and lower body armor. He then unsummoned one of his axes while maintaining the other three, as well as the one he was holding.

"...Are you really good with this?"

"Yeah. By reducing the number to three, my control's gotten a lot better."

"You're such a scary bastard..."

Lee Shin-Woo had started training Rule of Bone in order to perfect his defense zone, and had become even more powerful than before as a result.

Awareness and control. Those were the keys to mastering the skill. He could control his equipment to attack his enemies through Rule of Bone even in the midst of an intense battle. If there was only one target for him to attack, he could control multiple pieces of equipment as one and make the task twice as easy.

"I’ve leveled up my resistance as much as I could, but I don't know how high of a level the enemy is. You have to concentrate on our connection as much as possible."

"You're the one who let all the Dryads go," Jin pointed out.

"Haha, that's all in the past."

The final Dryad had fled a few minutes ago, but Jin couldn't retort.

"There shouldn't be any more Dryads left in this forest."

"Yeah. If we exclude that area, that is."

The deeper Lee Shin-Woo followed the Dryads into the forest, the drearier and more frightening the atmosphere became. The heart of the forest was almost black in its darkness, which contrasted starkly with the other parts.

It was as if the essence of the forest had been concentrated, reminiscent of the Slime leaving behind only its core after being burnt to a crisp.

"If the other areas are level 2 danger zones,” Jin mumbled. “That seems like a level 3 or 4 danger zone..."

"We're level 5, so it's okay. It's not as scary as it looks."

"Can you stop trying to calm me down like I'm a kid..."

They moved carefully. With every step, they became more in sync, and their assimilation rate rose ever higher.

Their respective Acid Resistances combined and became one, increasing their effectiveness. They shared their stats, senses, and the advantageous parts of their skills. They were changed in their unity.

It had been two months since they acquired Assimilation. Being undead meant they didn’t need sleep, and they had been maintaining the skill in most situations. It made sense that they would be completely in sync now.

[Don't come...]

"Ah, what a typical starting line for a boss fight...!"

[You'll get hurt...]

"Doesn't it sound like their voices are overlapping?" Jin asked.

"As I thought, they seem to have been fused together."

Lee Shin-Woo had let not one, not ten, but more than a hundred level 5 Dryads go. How monstrous would they become if they were to combine all their strength into one body?!

"Shin-Woo, the outer trees are..."

"I see them."

The trees had been attacking with their branches or their roots, but never moved of their own accord. Now, though, they were uprooting themselves and going deeper into the forest!

"No, they're not moving on their own," Lee Shin-Woo corrected himself the next moment. He could see the Dryads controlling and moving the trees with their mana.

Lee Shin-Woo shuddered, realizing that the Dryads were responding most splendidly to his decision to let them go.

"Most people would collapse, crying out that they’re screwed..."

"Jin, I told you they were level 5 before, right?"

Jin didn't want to keep moving forward, but he had no choice; he moved forward with a tearful expression and replied with a soft ‘yeah’. Lee Shin-Woo smiled inwardly in satisfaction.

"That was a lie."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Jin screamed as if in response to the revelation. The trees all around them uprooted themselves and marched towards the center of the forest. After that, a huge being came into existence… No, it had simply been exposed after the trees moved.

[Lv6 Corrupted Tree Golem (Elite)]

[You have encountered a fused monster. This gatekeeper was created through the accumulation of countless Corrupted Dryads' wills, as well as the mana from the remaining withered trees! The Empire's curse will weaken if you destroy it!]

While they had prepared for the coming boss fight, it would turn out to be a large-scale, unorthodox battle.

1. E/N: In case you forgot (like I did), Bone Armory only allows him to summon 5 pieces of armor or weapons at the moment (4 flying axes and the Melting Bone Double Axe).

2. T/N: I believe this quote is loosely referring to the "life was like a box of chocolates" quote from Forrest Gump, which means they don't know what's coming next.