A Necromancer. A mage who raises the dead and controls their bodies. And because the Empire was teeming with undead, one could call an individual who could control them a necromancer as well.

Lee Shin-Woo had his suspicions early on; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was a necromancer as well, but his method of control was different. Rather than using magic, he used a variety of innate skills to control them.

"But...it doesn't feel like he found those undead heroes through luck," said Lee Shin-Woo.

"...Are you saying that he deliberately killed heroes so that he could make them his subordinates?" asked Jin.

"Maybe."

He didn’t know what other reason Ethan Cruz had to direct him to a certain area. The man wanted to help him level up quickly? Probably. Since he wouldn’t want weak undead to serve him.

"Then can you really call him a hero?"

"At the very least, the goddess considers him a hero,” said Lee Shin-Woo. “For now."

"...Disgusting. It makes what you've done thus far look cute."

"Why are you getting me involved?"

They remained on guard and maintained the barrier until they could hide thoroughly from Ethan Cruz and his group of undead heroes. When they were about an hour away with Jin's running speed, they let go of the barrier.

They had noticed their opponents’ advance beforehand and completely avoided them, but... Lee Shin-Woo couldn't hide his bitterness.

As I thought, I'm still too weak.

No matter how many skeletons had become his subordinates, or the fact that he could now manufacture Golems, he still had to go this far just to avoid one person. Even if he took into account what made Ethan Cruz special, it was still quite frustrating.

...But this'll be the last time. It won't be long before I come for you.

Lee Shin-Woo had discovered Ethan, while Ethan still knew nothing about Lee Shin-Woo. This would become the deciding factor in their upcoming fight. Lee Shin-Woo was sure of it.

In the near future, Ethan Cruz would stand upon his stage. When that happened, he would pay him back for treating him like a chess piece!

"It seems like their destination is... Ah, it's where you died."

[...Me?]

They had been so busy maintaining the barrier until now, and Shino Rendu, who was on standby beside them, replied in a voice filled with bile. Until his death, he had respected and looked up to Ethan Cruz, so Lee Shin-Woo could understand how he must feel.

"Yeah. It seems like he figured out where you died and went there… Hmm, that means someone’s following his orders and scouting around for him."

If he got the chance, he would catch and extract information from the scout. Lee Shin-Woo nodded to himself, while Shino Rendu was still struggling to come to terms with the revelation, his large hands wrapping around his head.

[Why would a hero not care about following the goddess’s command...?]

"It must be more entertaining that way for him. He's a strange one. It looks like he'd be able to easily defeat one or two generals."

The undead Ethan Cruz brought along with him were at least level 6. There were a few level 7s mixed in as well, and Ethan Cruz's own magic was quite extraordinary. In that case, he should be able to defeat generals at Hansen’s level… Why hadn’t he been doing that?

"Moreover, why does he only use undead heroes? Ah, does his necromancy only work on other heroes?"

"It's likely. While the darkness element builds a link between the living and the dead, I've heard that a link cannot be established if two individuals had been enemies. Heroes shared similar karma. It makes sense that his darkness element would only work on his fellow heroes."

Kratia explained at length like she’d always done when it came to magic. Lee Shin-Woo acknowledged her with a nod. That would explain why Ethan Cruz hadn’t gone after the twelve generals as well.

He would continuously wander the Empire, waiting for other heroes to die so that he could make them his subordinates. There was no need for him to hurry and attempt to kill the twelve generals. Rather, they were a precious fighting force that would kill heroes for him.

[...Are you saying that they're the reason I died and became an undead?]

"Yeah. In any case, he's still a hero no matter what anyone says, and he's fighting the Emperor. He’ll do that when he thinks his army is ready. If you look at it that way... You could say he's an outstanding hero."

[Ha. Everything else about him disgusts me.]

The goblin fire within Shino Rendu's eye sockets blazed intensely. He was a special species of undead that fed off feelings of vengeance. Lee Shin-Woo was sure that Shino Rendu would become stronger the next time they met because of their conversation about Ethan Cruz.

If Lee Shin-Woo were in Ethan Cruz' shoes, he might've done the same thing as him, so he was in no place to judge the man. If there was a more effective way to get stronger, it only made sense to take that path. But then Shino Rendu added something surprising.

[It's such a relief that I became your subordinate rather than his.]

"What?"

[Paul Zero, you accept us as we are. You didn't command us; you gave us the will to go where we want to go ourselves.]

"...Huh?"

What the hell is he talking about? Lee Shin-Woo had only said what he had said to them in order to better control them… While Lee Shin-Woo was taken aback, Kratia piped up from beside him.

"You can tell by looking at the quality of Shin... Paul Zero's mana."

"Mm?"

She was talking about Lee Shin-Woo's darkness element. Indeed, Lee Shin-Woo was capable of forming contracts with regular undead, undead heroes, Golems...and even humans like Kratia through the darkness element, which was definitely different from Ethan Cruz.

The unorthodox nature of his element was obvious after comparing him to another darkness user.

"It’s probably affected by your karma as well. The way magic of a similar element is used depends on the individual."

"...Yeah, you may be right."

The Joker’s karma seemed to be outside the norm in many ways. Ultimately, what made his subordinates follow him wasn’t his considerations for others, but his karma.

However, it would look bad if he were to correct Shino Rendu's misunderstanding by explaining his wickedness, so he just kept his mouth shut… Didn’t he have the same thought only some time ago?

"Let’s get back to work. We'll return to our base once we've completely cleared the mine."

[Understood.]

The Golems immediately returned to mining. It should take at most another day for them to completely empty the mine. With so many raw materials, he would be able to create Golems with the cores he had and still have a lot of materials left over.

"Then I have to go to Pleine to sell my wine."

" I wonder how many cores you can make with the money you get from selling the wine," said Kratia, oblivious to how much the Kerr Century Winery’s wine had increased in value.

With a grin, Lee Shin-Woo replied, "I should be able to make a lot."

He then led his party to the dungeon they had found two days ago and cleared it.

[Level 6 dungeon - You have acquired a permit to enter the Eagle's Cliff. All stats are increased by 20 within the dungeon. The dungeon's information will be added to your minimap. All actions will be buffed within the dungeon.]

Surprisingly, it was a level 6 dungeon with large, flying monsters. However, they were able to safely clear the dungeon with Jin’s speed, who had again turned his hooves into springs, and with Lee Shin-Woo fiercely swinging his whip around.

Kratia also played a critical role, of course. She had cast a large-scale debuff on their enemies to slow all of their movements down.

[Executing Bone Reinforcement on Jin Taylor by consuming the Lv6 Shadow Cliff Eagle's wing bone. A considerable amount of the effect is shared. Agility has increased by 2, and Magic by 1.]

[Kyuruuuuuuuuuuuu! Kihiooooooh! - King of Eagle's Cliff]

"How is it? Does it feel like you'll grow wings?" Lee Shin-Woo asked.

"Nope."

"Tch. As I thought, it had to be a level 7 elite for that..."

"Nope!"

Level 6s ranged from a total stats of 3,200 and 6,400. In a level 6 dungeon, the dungeon boss might be much greater in terms of stats than the ordinary monsters, yet most of the time they did not exceed the realm of level 6. It made sense that Bone Reinforcement's effects would be getting weaker!

Facing Lee Shin-Woo’s disappointment that Jin hadn’t grown a pair of wings, Jin responded with a frosty glare. It seemed only Kratia was allocated a reward she actually wanted.

"Let's go back. I think the Golems have finished mining."

"How much did your stats go up, Shin-Woo?"

"If I include the stat gains from my ice element and intermediate elements, my stats have increased by 50."

"...You really are a cheater."

Lee Shin-Woo thought that they might encounter troops under a general's command or another hero on the way back to their hideout, but fortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, he heard the heroes in the chatroom talk about something that piqued his attention.

[Lloyd H.K.: It feels like the high-ranking undead are on the move more.]

[Prince Altania: Tch, why now? Lloyd, do we need to group up?]

[Lloyd H.K.: I'm fine. I'm with Erian right now. I'm actually worried about you.]

[Mentes Orun: Those bastards periodically make a huge fuss, so don't be so worried. The Emperor probably ordered the twelve generals to go on a large-scale patrol.]

[Ye Jin-Jin: Ugh, level 2 danger zones should be fine, right...? Mr. Shin-Woo, are you ok?]

[Lee Shin-Woo: No problem as of yet.]

Lee Shin-Woo replied as he sweated profusely. They didn’t seem to have noticed his unease, and went on with their conversation.

[Ethan Cruz: Even so, their movements are a bit excessive... Would I be overreacting if I say they seem to be mobilizing for war?]

[Mentes Orun: War...? Who's fighting who?]

[Ethan Cruz: I wonder. I don't know that much. However, you know that there are several groups moving independently aside from us.]

[Lloyd H.K.: The twelve generals' agents are already too much for us, but you're saying that there are other groups out there...?]

[Prince Altania: Ha! Lloyd, wait a bit. I'll go to you after I get to level 7.]

[Lloyd H.K.: Yeah, yeah. You're really reliable. I trust you.]

[Seira Von Retadane: ...Everyone, please keep yourselves hidden and do not do anything that’ll attract attention. It isn't the right time yet.]

[Prince Altania: You be careful too, Seira. Though I have no idea where you are!]

[Seira Von Retadane: Please call me Retadane.]

Lee Shin-Woo couldn't take it anymore and exited the chatroom. His mouth was itching with all the questions he would like to ask Seira, and there were many things on his mind right now.

It was all too clear to Lee Shin-Woo that he was the cause of this 'war' Ethan Cruz was talking about. Had he made the Emperor uneasy with the misinformation he fed him!?

"For the time being,” Lee Shin-Woo declared. “We should stay away from the Golems’ main base."

"I really like your way of causing trouble for others and then getting out of the situation by yourself," Jin muttered.

It seemed like his attempt to mislead the Emperor and the Golems about the secret facility they were both after was in full swing, which led to chaos across the Empire. Lee Shin-Woo had been in the dark only because he had been concentrating on making wine and Golems!

"On the bright side, they can't just ignore Anti-Skull anymore!"

"How can you be so evil..."

Lee Shin-Woo led his party, including his recently acquired Silver Golems, safely back to his base without anyone being the wiser.

Whether or not the Empire's undead found the Golems or Anti-Skull and brought about more chaos, Lee Shin-Woo wouldn't get himself involved.