<Chapter 36. What Remains of the Battle - 1>

Ethan Cruz had to prepare two things in order to lure and then kill Lee Shin Woo.

First, he needed to make the battle progress a certain way. Make it so that Retadane and the other heroes wouldn't be able to easily escape the battlefield. This part wasn't very difficult. Since all he needed to do was wait for the right moment.

Second, he had to create the right environment. He would have to go through a lot of trouble to hide what he was doing from the other heroes. Ethan Cruz had formed a sort of visual barrier that would block out any outsiders from seeing them and simultaneously weaken God's authority within, disabling the chatting channel and the private chat functions.

This was all done in advance so that no matter how much he screamed, no one would be able to hear him. With the secret activation of a magical device, as well as his own magic, the space was restricted from outsiders, forming a complete barrier.

Unfortunately, that applied to him as well.

"How did you summon so many undead..."

"I told you, I have no idea what you're talking about. Why do you keep asking me?"

Lee Shin Woo said calmly, acting innocent, but Ethan Cruz broke into a cold sweat. He'd never been this uneasy before, even when he'd met with one of the 12 generals face-to-face!

"How can you, a human, control so many undead!"

"Ha. You're one to talk."

[Annihilation of airborne troops, complete. Awaiting next order.]

[We have annihilated both of the level 7 undead heroes. Paul Zero, we await your next order!]

Their presences were so faint, as if they would vanish into thin air, but their bodies possessed unimaginable power: the golems. Followed by many level 7 elites rapidly appearing behind them.

There were several different types of undead (e.g. the Giants and a wolf), but they were all ridiculously strong. Furthermore, they had pledged their loyalty to Lee Shin Woo alone. Seeing that, Ethan Cruz gritted his teeth.

"If the other heroes knew about this..."

"They wouldn't. You were the one who made it like that."

Lee Shin Woo ridiculed him coldly. That's right. Because Ethan Cruz had activated the magical device, this entire area was shrouded in a barrier. Ethan Cruz finally considered a possibility that he hadn't even considered before.

"Did you want this to happen...? You knew that I had prepared a barrier and deliberately let me activate it!"

"I'm the type of guy who prepares a lot of ways to kill someone."

Of course, Lee Shin Woo didn't want it to go this way, but it was just wishful thinking. If he was the type of person to risk it all on a single chance, then Lee Shin Woo wouldn't have been able to survive in the Empire.

"With these troops... you could've attacked me without going through the hassle of coming up with a plan."

"You're misunderstanding something here."

Lee Shin Woo glanced at the airborne troops and shrugged his shoulders. Through the Giants' and golems' stone-throwing, the airborne troops had crashed onto the ground.

Yasunori Akira tried attacking him, but Bisher Moon and Shino Rendu simultaneously blocked him. Both of them were stronger than Yasunori Akira, and he wasn't able to fight against them for long. Lee Shin Woo could foresee his death the moment Yasunori Akira decided to attack him and step away from Ethan Cruz's protection.

"The reason I stepped foot onto this stage wasn't to kill you. It was to protect my other seniors. Ah, and to get the rewards for killing the 12 generals. I was able to kill two of them because of you. Thanks a lot."

"...Ha, hahaha."

Who had been manipulating whom, hmm? Ethan Cruz was completely confused.

He'd lost. Completely. Not only had he lost the eight undead heroes, but his spies were either exposed or killed, so his body was all he had left. He had lost everything in just a day.

"You hid those sharp fangs of yours... quite well thus far."

"Would you believe me if I said that wasn't all I was hiding?"

"Keuk, kuhaha!"

Ethan Cruz couldn't help but laugh at Lee Shin Woo's teasing. Perhaps he wasn't joking around. Lee Shin Woo was monstrous enough for him to think that way, and he smiled bitterly and muttered.

However, there was one thing he had left. One weapon he could still use. It was himself.

"You completely defeated me. I acknowledge my loss. I didn't know how strong you were, nor did I know about your hidden forces, so it's only natural that I was beaten so badly. ...But if I get you, then my loss today means absolutely nothing."

"You're probably right."

"Yeah. Let me tell you what your biggest mistake was. That you don't know what it means to be level 8!"

Ethan Cruz infused mana into his wrist bracelet. Then, jet-black mana rose up like a mist and surrounded him. The high concentration of darkness steadily dyed the once pure and bright land. This was a level 8's authority.

[Keuk...]

[Ethan Cruz, how can he have such immense power...!?]

The undead watched on and instinctively shook, as darkness mana was the root of their existence. Although they knew that Ethan Cruz was a danger to their master, they couldn't easily advance. His level and power were far too great! Even the level 7 elites stiffened before this darkness, which threatened to cover everything, including their very existence.

"None of your undead can use their full strength in here. High Rank Darkness... You probably have no idea what I went through to be able to use this."

Lee Shin Woo could use it too, but decided not to say anything. He couldn't tell him that he could use High Rank Darkness as soon as God had awakened his latent potential.

"A level 8 possesses power that surpasses the limitations of mankind. You must've prepared a lot, but in the end, if you can't overcome me with your own power, then you won't be able to kill me. That goes for your subordinates as well. ...Die."

A lump of darkness flew towards him. 'As expected', Lee Shin Woo thought, and nodded his head. It was incredibly powerful, even when compared to a fellow level 8, like Retadane.

Even when he took into account that one was a frontline fighter and the other a backline magician, the difference was huge. 'Perhaps that bracelet strengthened darkness magic,' Lee Shin Woo thought and extended his staff.

[Absorbing level 4 high rank darkness magic. Because of how powerful the magic is, strengthening and reversal will take some time.]

The serpent opened its eyes.

"What!?"

Ethan Cruz's darkness magic was powerful enough to instantly kill a level 7 hero. This high rank magic, which was intended to kill Lee Shin Woo, had been absorbed into Lee Shin Woo's staff.

Because of how powerful Ethan Cruz's magic was, the staff was creaking. However, Lee Shin Woo's Darkness Resistance: MAX activated, allowing his staff to absorb all the darkness magic. While the staff was able to absorb magic and reverse it, it wasn't invincible; it couldn't absorb any and all magic without any repercussions. The Bone Winged Serpent required the user to possess high resistances.

"H-How...?"

"Who told you that I could only nullify curses?"

"...!"

Lee Shin Woo "innocently" asked. Ethan Cruz couldn't even muster up a retort. Since no one had ever said something like that to him before.

However, that was what was happening right now! Although he'd figured out that Lee Shin Woo wasn't afraid of the curse and was planning on using that curse to attack him, he'd come to the natural conclusion that he specialized in curses alone...

"Could it be..."

Ethan Cruz's lips shook at that train of thought. He wanted to cancel his spell immediately, but to cancel his spell, he would have to endure the resulting magic explosion with his own body. If he were to cancel his spell, one which he'd focused all of his magic into, then he'd blow up without being able to kill Lee Shin Woo.

"Were you... manipulating me?"

"Good answer. I'll give you a passing mark."

Lee Shin Woo had been wary of Ethan Cruz from the very beginning. His darkness magic hadn't been a cause for alarm; he was actually worried about him using his immense magic in a different way. He knew that he was strong enough to hurt him, even if he didn't convert his magic into darkness.

"Ha, haha..."

Therefore, he'd manipulated Ethan Cruz. So that he wouldn't hesitate and use his darkness magic, pouring all of his magic into it.

That's why he'd discussed countermeasures for 'curses', rather than for 'darkness' with Yasunori Akira. He'd made him think that Lee Shin Woo was entirely focused on curses. He'd also made it look like he was afraid of darkness magic. The reason he'd brought his undead here was for him to use his darkness magic without hesitation as well.

Ethan Cruz was afraid. He wasn't afraid of Lee Shin Woo's magic, strength, or forces. He was afraid of his intelligence.

"Lee Shin Woo, how far ahead did you plan...?"

"I wonder. Probably around one or two steps worth?"

He had cast his spell, and that spell had been absorbed by the serpent. The serpent's wings began to flutter. Ethan Cruz could feel his immense magic being converted into something unimaginable. It was the power he'd been most wary of.

Ethan Cruz knew that the moment that power was turned onto him, he'd be dead.

"Are you... really human?"

"Of course I am, Senior."

Lee Shin Woo smiled sweetly and replied. He lied till the very end. After all, he was a Joker. Unfortunately, Ethan Cruz didn't realize that he was lying. Ethan Cruz was devoured by the light shot and soon, was unable to think of anything.

"Spatial magic!?"

[Paul Zero!]

But the moment he suspected that he'd killed Ethan Cruz, spatial magic activated with him as its target. Lee Shin Woo realized that it was the Archmage's doing.

He obviously couldn't just sit by and let him activate the spell! Lee Shin Woo immediately expelled all of his magic in all directions. If he had fought against Ethan Cruz, then he wouldn't have this much strength left, but because he'd used his own strength against him, he was almost at 100%!

"Nice. I blocked it!"

"You blocked it!?"

That's right. Lee Shin Woo had succeeded in stopping the activation of the Archmage's spatial magic! He had dispersed the Archmage's mana with his own, and had nullified the source of the spell.

Lee Shin Woo had done what would be difficult for any other hero to do so nonchalantly. If he hadn't experienced the Archmage's mana firsthand, or had gone to the Giants' domain, then he wouldn't have been able to do it!

"To think you would be able to nullify spatial magic... I'm speechless."

"Ah. I desperately stopped it because I thought the Archmage was coming, but I guess it was the opposite. I think he was trying to bring Ethan Cruz to him."

[Kak, Guha...]

Lee Shin Woo looked at Ethan Cruz, who was turning into an undead, and muttered as if he'd realized something. As he thought, Ethan Cruz had been connected with the Archmage.

In exchange, he probably had to pledge his allegiance to the Archmage after death, or something like that. There was likely some kind of spatial magic that was applied to him, which would activate once he died. Or maybe he had some kind of magical device. There was a high chance that this barrier was the result of a magical device that the Archmage had given him.

[Do we kill him?]

"Ah, it'll be a pain in the ass when he wakes up, so make sure he can't move, and then kill him as soon as he becomes an undead."

[Understood!]

The Paul Zero Corps looked at their master, who had killed the level 8 hero responsible for the darkness magic, and replied enthusiastically.

Thirty seconds later, Ethan Cruz died for the second time.