Chapter 86 – Forest of the Dryads (7)

"Why..."

Lee Shin-Woo muttered in despair. Two more days had passed since he'd acquired the Spirits' Spring Key Fragment from the Dryad.

"Why isn't my resistance leveling up...!? I'm almost there!"

"I suppose not everyone can get a high rank skill."

Jin sounded wholly uninterested. He was evading the Tree Golem’s swinging fists and feet from up close, all for exposing themselves to a higher concentration of Acid Poison. They had been putting in the painstaking effort to train their resistance.

[Gguaaaaaaaaaaah!]

"Shin-Woo, accept reality. That thing is at its limit too."

"..."

Lee Shin-Woo looked up at the Tree Golem. It had been so massive that it seemed to be touching the sky, but now, it had shrunk to a mere 5 meters tall from all the branches Lee Shin-Woo had cut down.

"It seems like it can't even replenish its mana that well anymore. The concentration of its Acid Poison seems to be lessening, and its attacks are getting weaker."

"...Damn it. It must really be at its limits if you can sense it too."

The intense battle had brought about a dramatic growth in Lee Shin-Woo and Jin. Their combined skills had made the battle seem easier than it should’ve been, but facts were facts. Lee Shin-Woo reluctantly agreed with Jin’s assessment and tightened his grip around his axe.

"It's time to let it go, right?"

"Yeah. We have to let it go. We can finish it now..."

[Gguhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]

At that moment, the Tree Golem cried out. What was it trying to say? Was it a wail of misery? It was the boss of the Melting Forest, an area even level 8 heroes were afraid of, yet it had been used as nothing but fodder for training by lower level heroes.

Or maybe it’s crying. Maybe it’s regretting its decision to ask a wicked skeleton to fulfill its request. Lee Shin-Woo didn’t know for sure, and honestly he didn’t care.

"Hoo... Alright. Let's widen the distance a bit and go with the big gun."

"Okay."

They'd scuffled with the Tree Golem for about five days now, and Lee Shin-Woo hadn’t only been swinging his axe and talking to his seniors in the chatroom. No, he’d actually figured out the Tree Golem’s traits and skill pattern, as well as how it used mana. In his head, Lee Shin-Woo had already simulated how he should best kill it.

Lee Shin-Woo had discussed with Jin several times and created a move that would take out the Tree Golem. But in order to execute that move, they would need to widen their distance; the Tree Golem misunderstood their intent.

[T-They're leaving!]

As soon as Lee Shin-Woo and Jin put more distance between them and the enemy, the Tree Golem cheered. It saw them off without even using its Acid Poison. However, Lee Shin-Woo had left it a present.

That present was the three Melting Double Bone Axes that had remained in the air for the past five days. Compressed within the axes was the maximum amount of mana they could hold. When combined, the amount of mana would easily surpass the total reserve Lee Shin-Woo had in him!

The fact that Rule of Bone and Bone Armory have grown might just be the best thing I’ve got from this battle.

During the long battle, Lee Shin-Woo had not only leveled up his skills, but also learned better ways to utilize them.

Before, he hadn’t thought of the possibility of infusing mana into equipment he’d summoned through Bone Armory after the fact. He would either shift his mana to the weapons to increase their power, or simply use the skill.

But thanks to Rule of Bone, I can now maintain the mana infused into the weapons I’m controlling remotely.

There was a limit to the amount of mana he could store in his body, which would depend on Mana Bone. The amount had steadily increased as he and Mana Bone leveled up, and as his magic stat improved. Ultimately, his mana capacity was that of a level 5.

"Shin-Woo, right about here, right?"

"Yeah. My weapons are on standby too!"

[Gguaaaaaaaah!]

Now that he could put mana into the equipment he had summoned with Bone Armory and maintained the mana, he was essentially able to increase his maximum mana capacity.

Shifting his mana to his equipment would empty his body’s reserve, but when he replenished his mana, the mana contained within his equipment wouldn't diminish. In doing so, Lee Shin-Woo gained access to more mana than before, including his body’s reserve as well as what was stored in his equipment!

While fighting the Tree Golem, he had been adding mana into his axes in the moments he could spare some. His three axes were thus filled to the brim with mana, which Lee Shin-Woo decided to describe as ‘fully-charged’.

"We're far enough, right?" Jin asked.

"Yep. I'm changing my weapon to the Drake Horn Lance... Let's get started! Twin Horn Charge!"

"You got it!"

Lee Shin-Woo switched to the Drake Horn Lance and took a charging stance. The moment he gave the signal, Jin lurched into an explosive sprint!

[Kuwaaaaaaaah!]

The Tree Golem was scuffling with the axes Lee Shin-Woo had left behind, and once it realized that Lee Shin-Woo was approaching once more, it screamed and attempted to attack with its Acid Poison again. However, with what little acid it could gather, it was unable to even slow them down by 0.001 seconds.

"One!"

Lee Shin-Woo shouted his command, and one of the flying axes exploded spectacularly!

He didn’t put that much hope into its acid damage, but the force of the explosion itself and the resulting shrapnels were enough to disorient the Tree Golem.

"Two!"

[Gguaaaaaaahk!]

The second axe exploded! The tree’s outstretched branches were broken apart, and under the force of the explosion, the Tree Golem, or to be more specific, the Corrupted Dryads which controlled it, screamed awfully.

Because it had been weakened from the attrition over the last five days, it sustained considerable damage from the fully-charged Melting Bone Double Axes.

"Shin-Woo! We're about to crash into it!"

"We need to get a little closer...!"

The first two explosions were nothing more than a guidance system for the last axe to explode as smoothly as possible.

Lee Shin-Woo had thoroughly analyzed the Tree Golem's weakness, the center of its chest; that was where the Dryads' wills resided, as well as the control center of the Tree Golem’s mana! The Dryads had flocked to the heart of the forest, and facing the threat Lee Shin-Woo and Jin posed, they had created the Tree Golem and burrowed deep into its chest.

That was the Tree Golem's sole weakness.

"Alright, now!"

The Tree Golem always protected its chest, but in its moment of panic due to the two consecutive explosions, it exposed its weakness to the sky. That was exactly what Lee Shin-Woo was waiting for.

[Critical Hit!]

The third axe shot through the tree and bone pieces before precisely burrowing into its chest and exploded!

[Gguaaaaaaaaaah!]

The Dryads' scream was the most shocking and hair-raising scream he'd heard yet. Despite all that, the Tree Golem remained standing. The bark covering the Tree Golem’s chest was the toughest to protect its weak spot.

The impact had broken the bark, while its core was still intact. However, it was now completely exposed.

"Jin!"

"Heuaat!"

Lee Shin-Woo and Jin seized the opening created by the three continuous explosions. With all the speed he had built up while charging up to the tree, Jin soared into the air! He wouldn’t even dream of doing so before, but it was now possible thanks to Steel Heart.

"Hah!"

Meanwhile, Lee Shin-Woo had been aiming his lance at the Tree Golem's heart ever since Jin started running without the slightest tremor. With the outer bark removed, the black inner flesh was exposed, as well as the Corrupted Dryads within.

Rising...

The Drake Horn Lance's red energy mixed with the Bursting Thunder’s dark blue sparks to form a violet light. Lee Shin-Woo would like to apply Twin Horn Charge to the tip of the lance as well, but he hadn't trained the skill enough to do that yet. However, this should be enough.

Thunder!

It was such an embarrassing name that Lee Shin-Woo inwardly muttered it rather than shouting it and thrusted his lance forward. The violet sparks rushing towards the tip of the lance were truly magnificent.

[Kuoooooooooh!]

The Tree Golem made a last-moment attempt to dodge the attack by twisting its body, but... Lee Shin-Woo had already let go of the lance, and with its explosive speed, the lance burrowed deep within the Tree Golem’s heart before it could even react!

[Critical Hit!]

Lee Shin-Woo planned to detonate the lance if that didn't work, but unfortunately, he didn't need to do so.

As soon as the electricity discharged from the lance, the Tree Golem let out a reverberating scream and stopped altogether.

"...Is it over?" Jin muttered.

Lee Shin-Woo scolded, "It's a pain to take care of, so don't try to revive it.”

Immediately after, the Tree Golem dispersed into mana particles and completely disappeared. At the same time, Lee Shin-Woo, who was free falling with Jin, got a message informing him of their victory.

[You fought against a high-leveled foe, and after tirelessly enduring for several days, achieved the feat of finding its weakness and exploiting it to defeat the enemy. All stats have increased by 3! Proficiency in Bursting Thunder has increased!]

[You have acquired the Adventurer's karma token. Agility and Endurance have increased by 5. The karma token is absorbed by the Joker’s karma.]

"Oh."

It'd been quite a long time since he'd acquired a new karma! It seemed like enduring for several days against a high-leveled elite monster were points in his favor. Maybe he might have gotten something even better if he had endured even longer!

Jin would become sheet-pale if I told him, Lee Shin-Woo thought as they landed. The Perium and loot from the Corrupted Tree Golem fell from the sky as well.

[You have acquired 395,070 Perium.]

[You have acquired a Lv5 Dryad's Bow. Through Bone Reinforcement, it has transformed into the Lv4 Unchanging Bone Bow (+5).]

[You have acquired a Spirit Stone containing the corrupted power of the Dryads.]

[You have acquired an Unmelting Bone Root.]

"Heh, ooh..."

Lee Shin-Woo had been having a lot of success with Bone Reinforcement lately. He was thrilled when the level 5 weapon degraded to level 4. When he thought back to his past experience, though, he knew the transformation wouldn’t always change the weapon for the better.

On the other hand, the Spirit Stone containing the Dryads' power was radiating a murky, rusty color—perhaps due to its corrupted nature. The mass of mana was something even Bone Reinforcement couldn't do anything about. He didn't really know what to do with it, and decided to put it into his inventory for now.

"And..."

Last was the Unmelting Bone Root. It looked better geared towards Acid than the other Melting Bone Roots he'd gotten from the Acid Great Trees. He had been disappointed that absorbing the Melting Bone Roots improved his Acid rather than his Acid Resistance, but this…

"Nice. Bone Reinforcement!"

Lee Shin-Woo had a strong feeling about the newly acquired root and used Bone Reinforcement without delay. Contrary to its name, the Unmelting Bone Root possessed a powerful mana and Acid element, which was transferred in its entirety to Lee Shin-Woo!

[Executing Bone Reinforcement with the Unmelting Bone Root. Endurance and Magic have increased by 10. Absorbing a portion of the Corrupted Tree Golem's experiences and memories.]

The high physical strength of the trees that made up this forest and their powerful mana... As well as...

[Intermediate Acid Resistance has reached Lv10 and evolved into a high rank skill! Magic has increased by 20. You take almost no damage from acid.]

[You have achieved the feat of acquiring a high rank skill! All stats have increased by 10!]

He didn't even really need to check his messages. He could sense a definite change, albeit a small one. Lee Shin-Woo smiled in his skeletal way. He had achieved his primary objective of coming to this forest.