Stop, Friendly Fire!
chapter-18-5

Around the time Lee Shin Woo decided that there weren't any more enemies left remaining and lowered his Bifurcated Snake Spine, a message appeared before him stating that the battle was over.

[You have defeated a corps under the direct command of the 12 generals! You have acquired 3 permits to God's secret shop. All stats have increased by 10. Proficiency in all combat related skills has increased. The Intermediate Combat Sense skill has become Lv5, and Agility has increased by 10.]

[You single-handedly manipulated the corps and ultimately destroyed it. Your achievement is unbelievable. You have acquired the title, 'Corps Destroyer'. All stats have increased by 20. Whenever you fight against a force of at least 1,000, the effectiveness of all skills increases by 30%.]

Lee Shin Woo could only laugh upon seeing that his achievement had increased his stats by a total of 80. If he added in God's reward, then his stats had increased by 120! [1]

"Corps Destroyer, huh. That's my kind of title."

"You weren't really the one doing the destroying, though..."

Jin recollected the chaos and destruction Lee Shin Woo had caused and shook his head. Lee Shin Woo clicked his (nonexistent) tongue and Jin ridiculed him.

"Well, what matters is that we cleaned everything up nicely."

"That kind of result-oriented thinking is what makes kids with so many dreams feel so wronged. ...Though it was clean."

Because Lee Shin Woo had split the undead force into two and made them fight against each other, all of them had died.

[Completed task. Standing by.]

[Absorbing mana to restore damaged parts.]

The level 4 Bronze Golems had sacrificed their cores, so they had been completely annihilated, but the level 5 Iron Golems were different; they either killed the level 5 undead or began to fight seriously once the undead were afflicted with status ailments, so they were safe.

Though their armaments were heavily damaged, they would automatically be restored when they replenished their mana. Of course, it would probably take quite a bit of time, but it was much better than them being completely destroyed.

"Good work. Rest and replenish your mana."

[It's an honor.]

[Captain!]

Lee Shin Woo knocked on the Iron Golems and complimented them. At that moment, the final participants of the battle approached him. They were the Pauls.

[Captain, are you alright!?]

[Paul Zero!]

"Ah, they were here too."

The Pauls were the only factor that he hadn't taken into account. How would he have known that they'd come back at such a good time!?

Because they had intervened after chaos had reigned over the battlefield for some time, they were able to participate without any casualties. Honestly, one could call that a miracle.

"Good work all of you. I see new faces joining us."

Lee Shin Woo smiled broadly and faced them. He'd been thinking about how he'd dispose of the relatively useless level 3 bones strewn across the battlefield anyway.

[It's been a long time, Paul Zero. I'm surprised you took these guys as your subordinates, but seeing you do all this, it makes sense somewhat.]

[Captain, you're really amazing!]

"Enough with the flattery. You all, scatter and collect all the loot and bones. I have something I can do for you as well."

[Perhaps...? It's an honor, Captain!]

[We have bones we gathered from our own hunting, so please look after us!]

"Alright. I'll let you inherit the wills within those bones. Now get a move on."

Jin's goblin fire swayed, seeing Lee Shin Woo use the Pauls whenever he wished, but Lee Shin Woo completely ignored him. The Pauls moved enthusiastically, and it wasn't long before they cleaned up the battlefield of all the loot.

[Captain, we're back!]

[Here's the Perium. This is all your karma, so please don't hesitate and take it!]

"Alright. Then I'll take it. Good work all of you..."

[You have acquired 17,291,080 Perium.]

"..."

Lee Shin Woo accepted the Perium the Pauls had brought him all at once and couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't 170,000 or 1.7 million, but 17 million? He'd only received 2 million Perium from cleaning out the entire city!

What's worse, Lee Shin Woo had separated the loot from the level 5 Elder Knights that Kratia had killed with her Grand Ice Spear, yet this was how high the total was!

"It wasn't calculated wrong, was it...?"

"It doesn't seem like it?"

However, when he thought about it calmly, this seemed only natural. The undead in the city had been level 2, and the undead in the corps were level 3.

No matter how little a level 3 undead drops, they would drop at least 1,000 Perium; 10,000 of those would drop 10 million Perium. And if he added the level 4 and level 5 undead to that, it seemed only natural that he'd accumulate this much.

"Ha, haha... I think I could buy a level 7 elite bone with this much..."

"I knew you'd say something like that."

Lee Shin Woo suddenly realized how impressive it was that he'd crushed the undead corps. However, the truly impressive part was starting now.

[Captain, we'll leave the weapons over here!]

[We'll divide the bones based on level and place them over here, Captain!]

Most of the undead corps carried weapons. There were several exceptional weapons that were at least level 2. There were a few level 3 weapons that were good enough that Lee Shin Woo wanted them.

However, the bones were more exceptional than the weapons! There were too many level 3 bones, so he couldn't count them all, while there were around 400 level 4 bones, and 78 level 5 bones.

'Was there only one level 6 bone; the one from the Corps Commander that I've already absorbed...? At the beginning, I thought there would be dozens of level 6 Corps Commanders, and even some level 7 undead as well, since it's under the direct command of the 12 generals.'

Lee Shin Woo looked upon the separately divided heaps of bones and suddenly had that doubt.

Arema Steelworker, who was one of the 12 generals, was level 8, and his subordinate, Guillotine, was level 7. But Metafel's Corps Commander was only level 6, even though Metafel was one of the 12 generals? They were both generals but there's a huge difference in the strength of their forces.

"Even so, is it because they're mercenaries? Or did this corps only consist of the leftover troops... If not that either, then maybe the golems are a special case and are especially powerful."

"You're seriously saying something completely different from what you were talking about a second ago."

"If not, then perhaps the Corps Commander might've been powerful for a level 6..."

That was probably it. Lee Shin Woo had reinforced the Drake Horn Lance significantly through Rule of Bone, assimilated with Jin, and used Shadow Sprint; through all of that, he drew out his maximum power, charged, and lunged at the Ghoul Wizard. Even though the ambush was perfect in so many ways, the Ghoul Wizard was able to cancel out his attack.

That was proof of the considerable stat differential between them. If Lee Shin Woo hadn't launched the Drake Horn Lance immediately through Rule of Bone, he probably would've died right there. When he thought back, it was dizzying moment.

"If I had been able to use Avenger, the fight would've been a lot easier."

"But we got him, didn't we?"

"It wasn't perfect, though. I thought this before, but the stat differential was too severe."

Because he'd advanced in various ways from this battle, he came close to a total of 2,000 stats, but 2,000 stats was still very low for a level 5. He felt as though increasing his stats by just 10 counted as growth, but if he were up against an opponent with stats higher than his by 2,000, 3,000 or even more...

When he thought about the fact that he needed 3,200 stats at least to reach level 6, it wouldn't be surprising for his enemy to possess stats doubling or even tripling his own. Moreover, there's a disparity between the effectiveness of their status as well!

"Besides, we even ambushed him, a magician who possesses a frail body, without giving him the opportunity to cast any magic, yet it wasn't perfect. I had too much faith in Rule of Bone and Bursting Thunder. I should really try harder from now on..."

"Yeah, let's play it safe from now on. Please."

"But all we need to do is not fight them face-to-face, so don't worry so much."

"That just makes me worry more."

Lee Shin Woo listened to Jin, grinned, and raised his head. The Pauls, who stood side by side in a line, gazed at him with bright eyes. He was already well aware of what they wanted.

"Then, shall we begin? Step forward, those who wish to inherit the wills of the Empire's soldiers and knights!"

[We heard from Paul 47... I would like to inherit their wills and dreams as well!]

"Good. You seem determined. Then we'll start with you, Paul 39."

[Yes!]

Honestly, the level 3 bones didn't really have any value to Lee Shin Woo or Jin. However, it was different for the Pauls. The level 3 bones would reinforce the Pauls, and even the level 4 Pauls could increase their stats by absorbing several level 3 bones.

Lee Shin Woo intended to turn all forty three of the Pauls here into level 4s, so he decided to focus Bone Reinforcement on the Pauls who hadn't reached level 4 yet.

[Ahhhhhh! So that's how it was! I'm being filled with their wills, their strength, and their memories! It's overflowing!]

[Thank you, Paul Zero... No, Captain!]

His Bone Reinforcement was at a level where he could continuously reinforce the other Pauls with dozens of bones in only 1 second. Light radiated in various places, and Lee Shin Woo managed to awaken the Pauls!

[I'll follow you, Captain!]

[I'm the last one, Captain!]

"Ah, so you were doing that again."

Around that time, Kratia had finished her meditation and came down from the wall. All she'd done in the battle was manifest and throw a Grand Ice Spear, but it had a huge effect on the battlefield, so she received a lot of rewards from her achievement following the battle.

She was busy with her magic, so it had taken quite a bit of time for her to get down and accept all of her rewards.

"Kratia, just stay put and watch. Ah, and that's your share of the loot. I'll buy the level 5 knight bones. You'll sell them cheap, right?"

"Then that'll clear my debt of gratitude to you, as you let me stay with you longer."

"Ok."

Lee Shin Woo smoothly finished the deal with Kratia and went back to reinforcing.

The level 3 Pauls, who originally had high specs and were close to level 4, were quickly reborn as level 4 Doom Factors. On the other hand, the Pauls who had relatively low specs in comparison were indiscriminately reinforced until they couldn't take the barrage of Bone Reinforcement and leveled up. Obviously, Lee Shin Woo got something out of it too.

[The Bone Reinforcement skill has become Lv7. When you use Bone Reinforcement on someone else, the effect is increased and you can now absorb a large portion of it as well.]

Was it because of the Pauls' strong will to inherit their fellow comrades wills? It only took three hours before he was finished reinforcing them. He had used all of the level 3 bones, as well as the bones they had brought with them from hunting, and had managed to transform all of the forty three Pauls into level 4 elites!

However, that wasn't the end of his Bone Reinforcement. After he separated the items that seemed special or increased stats, he suddenly reinforced the remaining bone weapons with each other to create an even more powerful weapon!

[Bone Reinforcement has failed!]

[Failed.]

[Succeeded.]

[Failed.]

[Failed.]

[Failed.]

[Succeeded. The Lv2 Bone Thorn Spear has evolved into the Lv3 Black Canine Tooth Spear!]

"Nice. I've never seen this shape and material before. Plus, it increases stats too. Pass."

"You're really persistent, you know that...?"

That's how he used all the weapons he'd collected from the battlefield, and ultimately, he created 50 level 3 weapons. There had originally been about 20 guys wielding level 3 weapons, so he had 70 level 3 weapons in total. To top it off, he had the level 4 weapon, the Bifurcated Snake Spine!

"Then are you going to fuse those together now too to create an even better weapon?"

"I'm not crazy. Why would I do something so wasteful?"

"Then are you going to give them to the Pauls...?"

"That's what I'll do if I have any left remaining."

Before, Lee Shin Woo liked absorbing bones more than bone equipment to strengthen himself. However, after he acquired the Weapon Trickster's bone, and learned the Bone Armory skill, that thought changed a bit.

He thought he needed to make use of all the weapons that he could. Because of that, this was his decision.

"Now let's fill up the storehouse (Bone Armory)."

[1] E/N: 130, he forgot the Agility increase apparently.