<Chapter 28. Kratia's Quest - 4>

In a place where he couldn't see her, Prince Altania quickly changed her clothes, came out, (it seems like heroes carry around a few sets of their equipment in case of an emergency) and spoke while glaring at Lee Shin Woo.

"Forget what you saw."

"Of course, I didn't see anything."

"Don't ever tell anyone."

"I understand."

"If you do, I'll kill you for real! I'll stake my mana on it!"

"I already told you that I wouldn't."

Lee Shin Woo said he'd do as she asked, and threw her a disarming smile. Prince blushed and tugged on the lower end of her clothes. If Jin were here, he would've probably been astonished at the way Lee Shin Woo handled her and would've unnecessarily kicked him.

That's right. Prince, who had gone into the training facility alone and had returned in defeat, had her robes torn to shreds, so her true identity was revealed to both Lee Shin Woo and Kratia. Of course, they both knew prior that she was a woman, but Prince had no way of knowing that.

"Damn it, I guess there's no helping since I've been caught... Hoo."

Prince said, and at the same time, took off her necklace. At that moment, her hair, which hadn't even been short before, lengthened to her waist, her adam's apple sunk in, the shape of her eyes softened a bit, and her overall vibe became feminine. He had somewhat expected this when she was disguised as a man, but she was incredibly beautiful.

Her body, which hadn't really had any curves before was now... Unfortunately, her body barely changed. Around that time, Prince had noticed Lee Shin Woo's gaze, raised her eyebrows, and glared at him.

"What? What is it?"

Her true voice was obviously that of a young girl. Lee Shin Woo just shrugged his shoulders at her fierce reaction. He couldn't tell her the real reason, so he had no choice but to relay some other facts that he'd figured out about her.

"It just seems like your magic has increased significantly, Senior. Do you normally use your magic to maintain your disguise?"

"...It's complicated."

"I suppose it must be."

If one made a mistake in the Empire, then they would die. Even so, she tied down her mana for it, which meant that she was also willing to take the associated risks with doing so.

"In any case, it's a relief that you're willing to help us."

"Kuu."

Lee Shin Woo decided not to say anymore. Humans possessed beliefs they wanted to realize, no matter how naive or foolish. So long as she didn't drag him into that stupidity, then it was fine.

"Shin Woo, are you ready?"

"I'm good."

"How about you?"

"Don't look down on me. Since I've returned to my original form, I won't lose to..."

"Then let's go in."

"Ugh...!"

Kratia used her orb to absorb as much of the ambient mana as possible, freeze it, and enclosed her body with it. It was at the level of one of the 12 generals!

As if she were competing, Prince concentrated mana into her staff, but it was weaker than Kratia's.

"Damn it, why is this newbie a level 7..."

"You'll become level 7 soon, Senior. If that happens, you won't lose to her."

"Yeah, as I thought, you're really not bad, Lee Shin Woo!"

"...Shin Woo, you're acting like a nanny."

They finished with their preparations and took a deep breath. After that, they immediately entered the training facility. Coincidentally, the moment Lee Shin Woo entered the facility, he could understand how Prince felt.

[Welcome to the nineteenth training exercise.]

There was another world inside.

"Hey, this is..."

"The true nature of subspace magic hasn't been discovered yet. The best a human being could achieve at the time was to imitate the mystery applied to a dungeon and use it. However, the Royal Magician Leader, Feotane Von Seldin, brashly tied several dungeons together and treated it like a single subspace..."

Kratia calmly explained that, as a result of neglecting the facility for dozens of years and allowing it to develop on its own, the inside of this tiny training facility ended up becoming the size of a small scale city.

It was exactly as she said. He couldn't find any traces of the original training facility, and half of it was made up of jungles and caverns; it looked like a wilderness that had been increased in size by several times. Above all, there were hidden magic traps everywhere, and...

[Gureureureukuaaaaaaah!]

[Kiuoooooh!]

There was such an overwhelming amount of monsters that the ground beneath them was barely visible. Plus, like Kratia had said, they were all level 6 wild animal type monsters!

[The training exercise will begin soon. You must stop the activation of the 297 magic traps in time, and you must annihilate the 666 monsters. A few of the magic traps activate as soon as the training exercise begins, so please figure out where they are beforehand.]

"Hey, no matter how I look at it, this isn't 666 monsters!"

"We can't get into the next facility until we pass this training exercise. So we have no choice but to break the entire facility!"

"Hey, they're coming. They're coming right now!"

[Beginning training exercise.]

[Kuwaaaaaaaaah!]

Once the faint guide voice vanished, the monsters were released from their confined area. At the same time, a variety of different magic traps activated!

However, Kratia, as if waiting for that very moment, released the frost that had been around her. Everything around her was frozen, whether it be the ground, the air, or anything between! In this dreamlike landscape where time seemed to stop... Kratia yelled.

"Go, Shin Woo! Hurry!"

"Lightning Sprint!"

He wanted to use this sprint skill with Jin, but he had no choice. Lee Shin Woo kicked off the ground and activated the high rank sprint skill, Lightning Sprint.

At that moment, the rushing mana that flowed through his bones turned into golden lightning and enveloped his body. It was like being covered in animal skin made of lightning. Plus.

[You are fighting against an irrational amount of monsters, as well as countless magic traps. The Rebellion skill has become Lv4, all stats have increased by 5, and the effect has increased!]

[Through the Rebellion skill, all stats have increased by 16%. Because Kratia Melloi is here, who you have made a deep contractual relationship with, all stats increase by a further 11%. Half of the effect is applied to your comrades as well!]

The Rebellion skill leveled up at a great time. Plus, the effectiveness increased even further. In an instant, his stats had increased by 27%, which would increase the power of his skills as well, effectively amplifying Lee Shin Woo's strength. Furthermore, Kratia, as well as Prince, who was temporarily on his team, received half of those effects as well!

"It feels like my magic has been increased all of a sudden..."

"I'm going!"

It was as if the two Breath of the Lightning Gods he was wielding were reacting to his Lightning Sprint, as lightning covered his body and emitted sparks. He charged at the group of monsters attacking his party. It was pretty much his first time using the skill against monsters, but he looked really natural.

"It's a trap!"

"Not a problem!"

The moment he charged, the magical traps that Kratia hadn't been able to stop activated. They came from the ground, tried to weigh him down from above, attacked from midair, attempted to transport him to another space, aimed to poison him, or would put him to sleep, but all of them futilely bounced off the lightning that enclosed his body and disappeared.

That was the power of an element that had reached the high rank level.

'Nice, it's really good!'

Lee Shin Woo, who realized that the traps couldn't hurt him, rushed towards the group of monsters without hesitation. His two blades, which seemed like the maw of a beast, violently and nimbly ripped apart the monsters from the front.

[Ku-Kuhat!?]

[Hishiiiiii!]

At the moment of impact, he killed seven monsters in a single strike, and when they left only bone and vanished, the other monsters flinched. However, Lee Shin Woo didn't stop. He was maintaining his Lightning Sprint, and that allowed him to quickly push forward.

It felt like he had become Jin. He could move incomparably fast compared to normal, and his response time was likewise incomparable. Lee Shin Woo pierced through the heads of the monsters that dared to strike from above, and would rip through the sides and shoot lightning at the monsters that attempted to bypass him and strike at his allies!

[Kihik!]

[Kyaaaah!]

The monsters would be shocked and paralyzed just by being near him. The time they were paralyzed was extremely short, but as of now, it was more than enough time for Lee Shin Woo to decapitate them. The Breath of the Lightning Gods that he was wielding spewed lightning, and whenever they cried out, the monsters' bodies would explode.

"Huaaaaaaah!"

[Kugaaaahk!]

There was even a pleasant surprise; though there was the mana consumption that came from maintaining Lightning Sprint... Lee Shin Woo hadn't thought of training his intermediate Mana Bone with it.

The facility had become twisted after dozens of years of neglect, and mana had accumulated more and more within this space, so his bones crazily drew in the ambient mana and covered any mana consumption he had. Rather, he had so much mana that it felt like it would overflow, and he used that overflowing mana to increase the size of his lightning. Mana Bone and Lightning Sprint had formed an equilibrium.

'I see. Perhaps...'

Within a second, Lee Shin Woo sprinted, swung his sword dozens of times, killed several hundreds of monsters, and then realized something.

He'd caught a glimpse of it when his party had gone through the level 6 dungeon, but fighting against level 6 monsters and overpowering them so easily, he couldn't help but realize.

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

[Kuhaaah!]

He was strong.

Really strong.

[Gueehk!]

[Critical Hit!]

Because almost all of the monsters he'd fought so far had been a higher level than him, he had either avoided them, caused them to destroy each other, made traps, attacked together with allies, or tricked them, so he had thought he wouldn't be able to judge his abilities, but that was a huge misunderstanding.

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

Rule of Bone, Bursting Thunder, the Lightning Element, Combat Sense, Mana Bone, Bone Armory, Lightning Sprint, and Rebellion. These abilities he'd desperately gathered in order to get stronger, as well as the experiences and the memories of higher leveled enemies mixed together and were making him stronger.

In the beginning, he had done this in order to beat higher leveled enemies. It was strange for him not to overpower enemies that were at the same level. Regardless of whether they numbered in the hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands!

In this world, one powerful individual could trample several weaklings. Now, level 6 monsters were nothing more than weakling that he could trample over.

"L-Lightning? Keuk, Fire Demon's Grip!"

It had been 2 seconds since he'd started the battle, and within that time, Lee Shin Woo had killed hundreds of monsters. Around that time, Prince began participating in the battle. Large scale destruction was a magician's specialty! She had done as Kratia had asked, swallowed down her pride, and prepared a large scale magic attack before she had entered the facility.

[Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaahk!]

[Guoooooooooooh!]

Flame magic was so powerful that people often remarked that no other element could match it in terms of pure destructive capability. That destructive power, as well as fire's tendency to draw in its surrounding to increase its durability, were all closely connected to destruction and death.

The effect of her spell that she called 'Fire Demon's Grip' was impressive, and just as she'd wanted, the jungle was completely burnt and hundreds of monsters were killed in an instant. The flames didn't die out, as the destructive flames spread in every direction, and tormented the surrounding monsters.

"Hut, how is it..."

She was tired after casting such a spell and Prince turned around to the other two and was momentarily speechless. During the small time while she was casting her spell, hundreds of monsters were cut apart by Lee Shin Woo while he sprinted around, but...

"Clear, clear, clear..."

She thought that Kratia wouldn't have any energy left after casting such a large scale ice spell at the beginning, but Kratia was aiming her orb with one hand to stop all the monsters that came towards them. Kratia used her other hand to create a magic circle to find all the magic traps and disarm them one by one. They were going through the training that the Royal Magic Leader had wanted!

"Hey, you said that was impossible before..."

"Shin Woo's helping me out a lot, so I can do it now. I'm going to break through them all at once. You help too. Clear."

It was then that Prince completely accepted it. Kratia wasn't just a higher level or had more magic than her, she was also superior in knowledge and understanding, both of which were essential for a magician!