The moment he realized that their final battlefield would be overflowing with mana, there was only ever one possible strategy for Lee Shin-Woo to employ.

How would he gain superiority over the level 7 elites, who could use that mana better than him? Lee Shin-Woo came to the conclusion that he would just have to change that mana into something he could control better than them.

The moment my weapons, which are infused with elemental power, blow up, they release mana of said element into the area.

He was filling the Breath of the Lightning Gods to the brim with level 6 lightning element and blowing them up; it took only about 0.2 seconds for him to draw the ambient mana and fully infuse one Breath of the Lightning God, making the whole ordeal quite effective. Because the mana concentration was 18 times the regular concentration, his enemies wouldn't be able to withstand this.

During the time that the Breath of the Lightning Gods affected the ambient mana, Lee Shin-Woo would have greater mana control than the monsters.

If he repeated this process twice, four times, an uncountable number of times, then he might be able to fuse together Lightning Shadow and Lightning Sprint again with the plentiful lightning in the environment!

In this world, only Lee Shin-Woo was able to use this extremely ephemeral and powerful ability, and even he was only able to do so in one place: the training facility. The resulting combination of skills he'd created was quite effective.

[Kihiiihk...!]

[Kureuahgagahk!]

"Heup!"

He hadn't really developed a new killer technique or prepared a trap in advance. He was merely manipulating the environment to one that was advantageous to him. With just that, Lee Shin-Woo was able to take on two level 7 elites at once. Perhaps he had come to this realization much too late.

The ability to use a high rank element alone gives you such a huge advantage.

Whenever he summoned and blew up a Breath of the Lightning God, the surrounding mana would become saturated with lightning. Thunderclouds formed and permeated the battlefield. Originally, the forest's mana had been advantageous to the monsters. They had gotten so used to it that the sudden change made the Ur Leon and Croc Erantu uneasy.

No, it was more than that. Whenever the two level 7s moved, the strange thunderclouds would damage them. Normally, they would be able to draw in the surrounding mana to recover from such grievous wounds, but the thunderclouds prevented that from happening.

[Kwang!]

[Kihik!]

In the midst of that, Lee Shin-Woo detonated four new swords and inflicted more damage upon the two level 7s. Even the black leopard Ur Leon, which had been healing any injuries it sustained, seemed to realize that it would have no mana left if it continued to do so; therefore, it adjusted its strategy and stopped healing its wounds immediately.

They realized the situation had become disadvantageous for them, and that they would have to escape this area—escape the thunderclouds. Then they would be able to heal their wounds immediately, as well as get a chance to turn things around! If not, they would buy time by allowing their comrade to be killed first.

Of course, Lee Shin-Woo couldn't just let them go.

"If you leave, I'll kill this guy."

[Keuuk!]

[Kihi...!?]

In the beginning, the two had exchanged blows with Lee Shin-Woo as a team, yet at some point, they had become wary of each other and started looking for an opportunity to exploit the other whilst fighting Lee Shin-Woo.

Of course, their nimble strikes still had enough force behind them to kill him, but in this close battle, Lee Shin-Woo evaded even quicker, attacked even stronger, and mustered all of his strength!

[Clear. Attacking the enemy with the 378th trap.]

"Hoo, Hoooo.... It's not...perfect yet."

[Sureureureu]

On the other hand, Kratia, who was responsible for hacking the magic traps and taking care of the final level 7 elite, was quite evenly matched with her opponent.

She activated her orb, gathered the ambient mana, and halted the elite's movements. Rem also assisted her by hacking into the magic traps and directing them at the level 7 elite!

[Shaaaaaah!]

[Lv7 Emperor Boa]

In terms of size, the snake was the largest of the three monsters. Unfortunately, it had Ice Resistance, and Prince, who had originally assisted Lee Shin-Woo in fighting off the two elites, had ultimately been forced into doing her utmost to stop its approach.

"Ugh, Fire Demon's forearm! Hey, is my junior okay?"

"Shin-Woo is...a lot better off than us!"

Kratia continued with her headache-inducing calculations and struggled to reply. There were some magic traps that she couldn't control even with Rem's help, so once she finished analyzing them, she would immediately disarm them. On the other hand, for the magic traps she could control, she would control in conjunction with her orb to attack the boa, which was incredibly difficult.

[Shaaaaaaaahk!]

"Geuut...!]

Because the orb's frost attacks were almost meaningless against the boa, she had switched over to defense a long time ago. On the other hand, Prince's fire magic was incredibly effective against the boa and was even able to stop its advance while occasionally damaging it. It made Kratia feel like she could just stay in the back.

Kratia seized that opportunity and attacked the boa with the traps, be it skewers, poison arrows, giant boulders, gravity, or many others, thus accumulating more and more wounds!

[Shah, Shaaaaaht!]

It was truly spectacular to see hundreds of magic traps being commanded by a trainee, who was the original target of the traps, to aim and attack the monster simultaneously.

"Just a little bit more, and we can take it down!"

"It’s in the middle of preparing a large-scale technique…” Kratia warned. “Stop it in any way possible!"

"Don't ask for the impossible...!"

As if to confirm Kratia's words, the Emperor Boa spewed out a huge amount of poison mist from its body, attacking everything at once.

The ridiculous concentration of poison even contaminated raw mana, nullifying all the magic traps in the area. It had simultaneously eliminated Kratia's avenue of attack while attempting to poison them!

"Tch... Fire Demon!"

However, poison was weak to fire. Because she had been fighting for so long, Prince had become a bit more used to the high concentration of mana, which enabled her to immediately gather clean mana into her body. She then used her teacher's ultimate move: summoning a fire demon!

[Kureuk... Kyaha! Kureureureureureureureuk!]

[Guooooooh!]

A giant circular gate formed in the sky, and from that gate, a demon's head popped out. Its emergence burnt the trees to a crisp, and it seemed to look around for a moment before spotting the Emperor Boa's poison mist. It grinned and breathed fire at it.

The deep purple mist evaporated instantaneously, and the Emperor Boa's body was enveloped in flame!

"If you could do that, why didn't you use it earlier!?"

"This is my first time using it, and I was barely able to do it. Barely!"

Kratia griped with wide-eyes, and Prince responded angrily.

Honestly, Prince had learned the technique but never even thought of using it before. If it wasn't for this unique environment, she would only be able to cast the spell after she'd become a high rank level 7 and gathered various materials for ten days. Even then it would be a difficult task.

[Kihik! Kihiiiiiiik!]

"Anyhow, this is our chance! Give it everything you got!"

"I know...!"

Knowing they had to finish it, Kratia absorbed the orb into her body, which had been condensing mana. Rem plopped off her shoulder and used the still-functional magic traps to attack the boa.

Prince had a splitting headache from casting a spell she wasn't ready for yet, and her body burned. She gritted her teeth and endured, ordering the fire demon to push on so that the boa couldn't move!

[Kureureuraaaaaaaaaaa!]

[Kihiiiiiii!]

"Heup...!"

The Emperor Boa was immobilized by the fire demon's hellfire for the moment, but they didn't know how much longer the demon would last. If they wanted to end the fight, now was the time!

Kratia focused her power into a singular object, forming a gigantic spear in the air. She gripped it tightly with one hand, pulled it back, and then the spear began to shake and rotate.

The faster the rotation, the more intense the cold. If the Emperor Boa wasn't bothered by the cold, she just needed to drop the temperature to the point that it would be affected!

"Wrath...of the Winter Queen!"

Kratia focused all of her mana into her fist, and the rotating ice spear in the air absorbed it. At that moment, the ice spear shot out like lightning, passing the fire demon and destroying both the boa's head and tail!

[Kihik, kihiiii...!]

The Emperor Boa couldn't maintain its weight and gruesomely fell to the ground. It had been burnt by flame, and now ice coated its body, making its corpse look really unsightly. Fortunately, it didn't last for very long before it disappeared... It had only left a few pieces of loot on the ground.

"It's over, Rem!"

[Checking for any remaining magic traps! Marking magic traps...!]

"...Ha!"

Them taking down the Emperor Boa was the signal for Lee Shin-Woo to counterattack.

The moment the Emperor Boa, which was the strongest of the three and had survived in the facility for decades, perished, the Ur Leon and Croc Erantu felt an unbearable unease, and their bodies went stiff. There had been a balance between the three as they kept each other in check. The moment that that balance was broken, Lee Shin-Woo shot out like lightning and thrust his sword into the Croc Erantu's head once more.

Of course, this wasn’t enough to kill it, but Lee Shin-Woo was no regular fighter.

"Taste the breath of the lightning god!"

[Kuhak, Kuguhaaaaaaahk!]

After sticking the Breath of the Lightning God into the croc's head, he reached out and placed his hand onto the perforated area; he then repeatedly summoned Breath of the Lightning Gods and shot them at the same spot. It was an unbelievable continuous attack that was only possible in this training facility overflowing with mana!

At least a dozen blades were burrowed into the croc's head, making its mind dim. The black leopard took that opportunity to strike. But as it pounced, Lee Shin-Woo blew up all the swords without hesitation!

[You faced two higher leveled foes and have succeeded in defeating one! All stats have increased by 3. High Rank Lightning is now Lv4, and Magic has increased by 20!]

He simultaneously blew up all the weapons in a single area, and the resulting lightning energy was so powerful that the Croc couldn't even utter a word before vanishing into thin air. The lightning energy, which had burst out from the Croc's body, remained chaotic!

[Kaha!]

The Ur Leon was sure that it would lose if it tarried, so it charged in immediately. It took advantage of the inevitable gap in Lee Shin-Woo’s defenses that resulted from using a heavy-hitting technique, so Lee Shin-Woo couldn't evade!

However, the Ur Leon would soon realize that its efforts were pointless. While It had seen through Lee Shin-Woo with its senses as a level 7 and had attacked with a speed that Lee Shin-Woo couldn't match...

[Kuhu?]

A golden crack appeared on its body at that moment. It started from the top of its head and went all the way down to its eight legs... It looked like a beautiful tattoo; any spectator of the battle would’ve stared at it in awe.

[Kihi...]

The Ur Leon didn't realize what had happened and tried to retreat, but at that moment, the black leopard's ears, eye sockets, jaw, torso, arms, fingers, and legs were all broken up, and it collapsed to the ground in a heap of body parts.

It was a futile and cruel death.

[You have faced two higher leveled foes simultaneously and succeeded in defeating them. All stats have increased by 5! Proficiency in all combat-related skills has increased significantly!]

"...Hoo."

Lee Shin-Woo appeared beyond the falling body of Ur Leon and let out a deep breath. Fortunately, he was able to use the technique one more time at the end of the battle.

Of course, he hadn't been able to acquire it as a skill yet, but compared to a few days ago, he was confident that he'd gotten a step further. Why? Because...

"!? W-What was that just now!? What!?"

"What do you mean? It's just high-speed movement."

Because he could tap into Jin’s strength.

"It seems like a technique that works by temporarily changing both the interior and exterior of the user into lightning. In other words, our bodies and minds become one."

"One in body and mind..." Jin muttered.

For some reason, Jin didn’t feel happy about that even though he had wanted to hear those words from Lee Shin-Woo for the longest time. It was unbearable to think that he was but a component when Lee Shin-Woo used the technique.

[You have acquired 2,948,550 Perium.]

[You have acquired 3,674,490 Perium.]

[You have acquired the Lv7 Ur Leon's big toenail.]

[You have acquired the Lv7 Croc Erantu's molar tooth.]

[You have acquired the Lv7 Ur Leon's outer shell.]

However, Lee Shin-Woo collected the loot and turned around, regardless of whether or not Jin understood how he felt. Fortunately, he had gotten two bones from the Ur Leon, and his mood brightened instantly.

"Kratia, are there any traps left?"

"If we just disable the ones that are in our control, then..."

Upset that he didn’t have a chance to help Lee Shin-Woo, Kratia reported on the situation with a bitter smile. Suddenly, a huge crack appeared inside the training facility.

[Hoh, hoh... As expected, how entertaining.]

The voice they heard was probably something that Lee Shi-Woo would never forget.

[I was wondering who it was, but...it turns out to be a couple cute heroes.]

"...Huu."

"Oh... Shin-Woo."

"What did I tell you, little lady?"

Kratia called out to Lee Shin-Woo, and Prince, unable to face the high-level opponent, fainted. Jin was overwhelmed and couldn't move, and Lee Shin-Woo just sighed.

[Lv8 Archmage Feotane Von Seldin]

He was an enemy they couldn't even hope to beat... One of the key members of the twelve generals had come to the training facility.