This battle between the heroes and undead would determine the fate of the Empire. But there was one discrepancy, a reaper who roamed around the battlefield garbed in black armor.

It neither antagonized the heroes nor the undead. However, it moved across the battlefield more diligently than any other, killing all the scapegoats. These scapegoats were none other than the 'undead heroes'.

"Here you are, Senior."

[Ah...ahuuah...]

Once it heard his calm voice, the level 7 elite undead and former hero shook. This was the fourth senior hero who had been planted across the battlefield.

[Give me an order...]

"Who could order you, who was once a hero? If there’s a bastard like that, please tell me."

[Ah, uaaaaah...]

Lee Shin-Woo's praise flustered the nameless hero. It seemed to be undergoing a program error.

It was originally supposed to kill the heroes amidst the chaos of the Beast General's assault and the Vulture General's ambush, or at least severely injure them. However, the heroes had killed the Beast General quickly and retreated instead. Moreover, the Vulture General had failed to ambush them. What happened was quite the contrary; a pair of heroes had ambushed the Vulture General with large-scale spells, causing the general to fall to the ground.

Their plan had gone awry, and even their superior, Ethan Cruz, was disoriented; of course the undead heroes would be left dawdling around awkwardly.

[Give...me an order...!]

"Tch, as I thought, it wouldn’t work."

Clicking his tongue, Lee Shin-Woo struck the undead hero in the head, who kept idiotically repeating the same thing over and over again.

He tried to bring them over to his side, as he thought his Instigate and Acting might have an effect on them. However, their connection with Ethan Cruz remained strong, and while they still had their egos intact, Lee Shin-Woo couldn't break them free of the necromancer’s thrall.

Although Ethan Cruz could only control undead heroes, Lee Shin-Woo had to admit that his dominance over them was strong.

[Give...me an order...!]

"...Rest in peace, Senior."

[You have acquired 2 Secret Shop permits and 17,320,180 Perium.]

[You have given peace to a comrade who walked a path he could not return from. You have partially cleared the quest and acquired 1 Secret Shop permit. The maximum level of Invisible Heart has increased by 1.]

Nice. Invisible Heart's max level is now 143.

Giving up on convincing the undead hero, Lee Shin-Woo killed it and picked up the bone. Of the undead heroes that were under Ethan Cruz's control, most were 'trash'. Even though he had immediately used Bone Reinforcement on each of the acquired bones, his stats increased only a small amount, and he hadn't acquired any skill.

'In other words, Ethan Cruz didn't get the good ones.'

'You sound like the big bad, you know that?'

'Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm the Heaven Defying General. And you're the Heaven Defying General's mount.'

'I'm so happy I feel like I'm going to cry...'

Lee Shin-Woo collected the unimportant loot and joked around with Jin while searching the battlefield for the two remaining undead heroes. It was then Rem suddenly issued a warning.

[Master, Mentes Orun's mana is radiating strangely. I believe he will soon attack Lloyd H.K. Checking for a low-profile skill that would not be noticed by allies when activated.]

"Tch, just when it was getting good... Then again, I knew they'd start about now."

The Vulture General had fallen from the sky, but half of his airborne forces were still intact. The battle had become even more chaotic due to the now masterless beasts rampaging about and the Vulture General's troops rushing to rescue their general.

If the traitors were looking for an opportunity to attack the heroes, this would be their best bet. If the heroes started getting the upper hand, Ethan Cruz wouldn't have an opportunity to carry out their plan... And naturally, Lee Shin-Woo had been preparing for Mentes Orun's betrayal ever since he realized that he was fighting alongside Lloyd.

"Tsk, I guess it can't be helped. Let's finish things up quickly. Rem, give me a signal when it's time."

[Understood, Master...]

[Now.]

Once Rem gave him the signal, Lee Shin-Woo activated the trap he'd set up prior. His fine control over his mana had evidently gotten even better with the way he manipulated the mana threads he had hidden!

"Activating my trap card! Reverse Sword Rain!"

'You and your naming habit again... Wait, they're not even swords! They're not cards either!'

The name was hilarious, but the result was nothing to laugh at. While the battle was going on, Lee Shin-Woo had secretly moved eight bone spears underground—they were unremarkable level 4 weapons since he didn’t want to be discovered—and once given a target, they would burst from the ground and attack simultaneously.

These bone spears had been created with Bone Armory and set up before the battle had even begun; he then used Rule of Bone to control them!

"Keoheok!?"

When Lloyd was focused on the fallen Vulture General, Mentes Orun attacked him, making him drop his weapon. Just when Mentus Orun was about to land a killing blow, however, eight bone spears shot out from underground to pierce through his body, stopping him mid-strike.

"Senior Mentes...?"

Caught completely off guard, Lloyd stared at Mentes Orun, dumbstruck. It was shocking enough that a senior he trusted so much had attacked him, but then his senior had pretty much become a skewered eel in the blink of an eye! It was too much for him to process.

"What...is this...?"

"Lloyd, you bastard. You didn't trust me...! How could you do this to me!?"

"I trusted you. You're the one who betrayed me! Why did you do it? No, how did you turn out like this...?"

"How despicable... You act so innocently, yet... Guwek!"

The skewered eel... No, Mentes Orun stared at the wholly stunned Lloyd and spat out curses and blood mixed with pieces of his inner organs. Due to the bone spear that had pierced through him from above, his head was bleeding like a fountain.

It was truly absurd. He had waited for Lloyd H.K. to make a critical mistake and attacked at the perfect moment. What went wrong!?

Ah, is that it...? When I was sure that my job was finished, all the tension in my body was released...

The predator had been idle and ended up becoming the prey instead. Mentes Orun recalled what had happened and grew despondent. Of course, it didn't matter if he was careless; the result would be the same either way. Moreover, there was no point in wondering about 'what ifs' after the fact.

"Lloyd... Lloyddd...!"

"Senior, why did you... Huh?"

While he was panicking, Lloyd H.K. soon realized something strange about his senior. Mentes Orun seemed fine despite his injuries.

"Senior, how are you still... It can't be."

No matter how tough a hero's body was, they couldn't survive having their heart and brain pierced through as well as all of their blood drained. And yet Mentes Orun continued to curse at Lloyd even after getting pierced by eight bone spears.

Was that even possible? Did he have some sort of authority that allowed him to survive such grievous injuries?

"Guaaaah... Lloyddddddddd!"

"Keuk!?'

He obviously didn't. With the goddess’s power, there might come a day when a skill like that existed, but Mentes Orun didn't have such a skill.

Mentes Orun was just getting transformed into an undead by the excessively deep concentration of death energy permeating the battlefield; the transformation happened so naturally that he wasn't even aware of his death. No, his transformation was already complete.

[Kill you... I'll kill you...!]

"...Ah."

Fortunately, Lloyd realized this fact early on. However, that only made him feel even greater despair. Why was the goddess so cruel to him? Not only had he been betrayed by a senior he trusted in, he had to face the senior after it had become an undead!

"Keuheuk... This is...another test."

A tear of blood streaked down Lloyd's cheek. He grabbed the sword he had lost and stood back up, pointing the blade at Mentes as he ripped the spears free.

There stood a man who had decided to accept all fear and shoulder all the karma of the world.

"Senior, I'm sorry. I'm so...sorry."

[Lloydddddd!]

He didn't know why Mentes had attacked him, or who had killed Mentes in the first place. If his senior was in pain from becoming an undead, however, he would have to give him peace...

Kwang!

[Kuhek!]

"...Huh?"

Lloyd hadn’t even swung his sword. Just when he was about to monologue his thoughts, the eight spears blew up simultaneously.

They were only level 4 bone spears, but since Lee Shin-Woo had concentrated the mana stored inside to its limit and detonated them all at once with a specific target, the explosive power was tremendous. At the very least, it was enough to kill a newly born level 7 undead hero, whose body was already collapsing after getting pierced by the spears.

"..."

Once the dust cleared, nothing remained. Lloyd stared into the empty space with an unreadable expression. He found nothing that would explain the situation.

[You have acquired 2 Secret Shop permits and 31,842,970 Perium.]

[You have given peace to a comrade who walked a path he could not return from. You have partially cleared the quest, and have acquired 1 Secret Shop permit. The maximum level of Invisible Heart has increased by 1.]

Lloyd was still standing frozen with a stupefied expression, while Lee Shin-Woo sighed with satisfaction at the message that appeared before him. After that, Lee Shin-Woo collected Mentes Orun's bone with Rule of Bone.

"Man, I can't believe I can complete the quest by killing a senior this way."

"You're more evil than Ethan Cruz."

"I just saved Lloyd. I also waited for Senior Mentes to become an undead, and only detonated the spears when Lloyd was going to do something pretentious."

"That's what I'm talking about. That's what's evil!"

This bastard was definitely getting back at Lloyd for the spar! How could he be so immature!? Before Jin could criticize Lee Shin-Woo more, though, Rem came in with another report.

[Master, I believe Ethan Cruz is attempting to retreat.]