[You have acquired two Secret Shop permits and 1,375,717,480 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.]

"Hm?"

Lee Shin-Woo widened his eyes at the messages popping up following his execution of Ethan Cruz.

Due to Lee Shin-Woo's intervention—mostly thanks to the high concentration of light magic doing its part—Ethan Cruz had died before he could properly turn into an undead. Although Lee Shin-Woo had hoped for all of Ethan Cruz's Perium to remain intact, the amount he acquired was still staggering.

"1.4 billion Perium...?"

"Shin-Woo, you just became filthy rich."

"I would've hit the jackpot if Lucky Strike had activated... No, never mind that. Is this real?"

If he could, he would've rubbed his eyes and checked again, but unfortunately, he didn't have eyes that he could rub. In any case, he realized the veracity of the message once he opened his inventory. There it was, all the Perium he had accumulated so far.

"Are all level 8s this filthy rich...?"

"Ethan Cruz might've been an exception,” Jin speculated. “Maybe there’s some penalty preventing him from visiting the Secret Shop."

Lee Shin-Woo nodded in agreement. It was quite likely. Pleine didn't like Ethan Cruz, and it would be strange if someone acting unlike a hero was to be rewarded by the goddess.

It all made sense; Ethan Cruz had been denied access to the Secret Shop, and as a result, had amassed an incredible amount of Perium.

Moreover... He might've been researching the potential behind Perium like me.

It didn't really matter what the truth was. The man was dead; that was the end of it. What was important was that Lee Shin-Woo had gained 1.4 billion Perium.

"And with the amount I’ve gained from the battle, I have more than 2 billion Perium now."

"Haha, it seems like yesterday that you got anxious over 1 million Perium..."

Jin and Lee Shin-Woo lamented the transience of life and muttered weakly. Their musings were interrupted when Ethan Cruz's magical device deactivated, and the barrier finally dissipated. The magical device, which had been buried deep underground, seemed to only be good for a single use; it broke apart once its task was complete.

[Master, please command me.]

[Paul Zero, I await your orders.]

"Ah, you haven't gotten to do much yet. Alright, go after the remaining undead to your heart's content. But..."

The heroes would most likely treat all the undead as their enemies. It wouldn’t matter even if his troops attacked only those serving the twelve generals. The heroes were most likely going to attack his forces anyway with no other thoughts. And the chance of Retadane doing so was 100%.

"Go in the opposite direction from the heroes. Be wary of them, and make sure you retreat immediately if I tell you to."

[Understood.]

[Those fools. They make it difficult to even help them.]

"The heroes are dumb. There’s no changing that. Well then. All forces, attack!"

[Uoooooooooooh!]

Once Lee Shin-Woo gave the order, the Paul Zero Corps advanced! If one were to see Lee Shin-Woo commanding his troops, they would probably get lightheaded... Fortunately, the heroes were overwhelmed by the Titans’ overpowering pressure, and they weren't in a good enough position to be looking elsewhere.

"Are those the troops led by the Heaven Defying General...?"

"Why did Ethan Cruz's buff disappear? Wait, what the hell is going on?"

"Lloyd, Lloyd! Run away with me! We can't beat them!"

"I-I can't... We finally started pushing them back."

"Stop looking elsewhere and focus on the battle."

All the heroes scattered across the battlefield reacted to the sudden emergence of the corps. Three of them had died, and the five survivors were Seira Von Retadane, Lloyd H.K., Erian Rupate, Prince Altania, and Kratia Melloi.

[Paul Zero has commanded us! Annihilate all undead who oppose him!]

[What a bunch of clowns, these stray dogs who have lost their master!]

[Kill them all! Let's pay these insects back for betraying us!]

[Kuhaaaaaaah!]

But aside from Kratia, none of the other heroes could get back into the battle. They had been fighting the undead, and then the Titans showed up to trample all over the skeletons, and the Golems burned the fallen undead with their magic. All that was so overwhelming that they were left dumbfounded.

"They're really...killing the other undead."

"Why?"

"We cannot ascertain their true intentions. It doesn't change that they're our enemy… But I think it'd be best if we stay our hand and dispose of them later."

"Hoo..."

Lee Shin-Woo nodded as the Paul Zero Corps entered the battlefield and picked up the bones of Ethan Cruz and Yasunori Akira. It was unfortunate that both of them had only dropped one bone each, but there was no helping it. He activated Bone Reinforcement immediately.

[Consuming Lv7 Yasunori Akira's tibia to reinforce your tibia. Agility has increased by 15, and Endurance by 10. Mana Acceleration is now Lv4, and Magic has increased by 10.]

[Consuming Lv8 Ethan Cruz's rib bone to reinforce your rib bone. Magic has increased by 100. High Rank Mana Bone is now Lv4, and Magic has increased by 20. High Rank Darkness is now Lv4, and Magic has increased by 40.]

"Ugh."

Even without Yasunori Akira’s bone, the 100 points granted by Ethan Cruz’s bone alone would push his magic beyond 4,000, a height he couldn’t have imagined before. As expected of a level 8 bone.

Moreover, it even leveled up his high rank skills, which further increased his magic. Lee Shin-Woo smiled as mana overflowed from his body.

"See, this is why I can't stop doing this."

"Seriously, stop talking. Everything you say scares me now..."

Of course, his skills hadn't been the only thing to grow. Yasunori Akira and Ethan Cruz's memories had merged, and were now flooding his mind.

Lee Shin-Woo boldly discarded the useless elements and extracted only the important memories—anything regarding the reason Yasunori Akira had chosen to ally himself with Ethan Cruz, and why Ethan Cruz had decided to betray his fellow heroes was pointless to him, and he cast them aside. He had no interest in the stories of dead men.

"Oh, this is it."

That left only one thing he had any use of—Ethan Cruz's memory of his contract with the Archmage, Feotane Von Seldin, as well as other information he could glean from that exchange... Information regarding heroes that had died in the past.

"I'd expected this somewhat. That bastard of an Archmage is using undead heroes..."

"Ugh, that's the worst possible information," Jin grumbled.

Because of his quest, Lee Shin-Woo could locate all of the undead heroes with his minimap, but for some reason, he couldn't see the level 5 danger zone. It was likely that the Archmage, or perhaps the Emperor himself, had done something.

"Relax,” said Lee Shin-Woo. “He doesn't have someone as capable as Ethan Cruz working for him anymore."

"I really won't be able to take it if these guys keep popping up... Well, I guess I didn't really do anything though."

"Jin, you're always a lot of help, so don't talk yourself down."

Lee Shin-Woo comforted Jin and collected the rest of the loot. Yasunori Akira's weapon wasn't very valuable—it was a traditional Japanese sword with a blade curved on only one side—whereas the bracelet-like artifact Ethan Cruz had used to attack him piqued his interest.

It was pitch black as if it had been made of darkness. Due to its simplistic design, one might think it was a cheap trinket, but it was definitely a rare item with the periodically surging black energy it radiated.

[You have acquired the Lv7 Everlasting Night.]

"Ah, crap."

Lee Shin-Woo was bewitched by the enchanting, darkness-emitting bracelet. He realized his mistake when he came in contact with it; he had forgotten that anything he touched would turn into bone! Fortunately, a message popped up then, telling him Bone Reinforcement wasn't at a high enough level to convert it. The bracelet was left as it was.

Lee Shin-Woo was relieved that the item hadn't changed, but also frustrated that his Bone Reinforcement wasn't at a high enough level. He told himself it was all for the best and checked the artifact's info.

[Everlasting Night]

[Lv7]

[Durability: 850/850 (Self-Repair)]

[Magic Attack Power: 2,200 - 2,500]

[Element: Darkness Lv7]

[Options: Magic + 150, Calculation Assistance (High), High Speed Casting (High), Accumulation (MAX)]

[Special passive skills: Night's Blessing - If darkness mana is infused into this artifact, its power is amplified, and the property of the mana in range would be converted into darkness as well. The success rate of darkness magic would significantly increase. However, you cannot use any other element aside from darkness, and simply carrying around the artifact makes you weak to light.]

"It feels like the ultimate darkness device..."

"Seriously, how did you win this fight?"

"It says that he would be really weak to light."

"But your Light Resistance is at its max."

"Yeah, you're right. The penalty is meaningless to me."

"..."

After laughing at the speechless Jin, Lee Shin-Woo equipped the bracelet on his right arm—concealed under his armor—without hesitation. Since it hadn't transformed into bone, Rule of Bone wouldn’t work on it, and it couldn't be stored in the Bone Armory. However, the item was capable of self-repair on its own.

"Nice. Let's have a silent prayer for Senior Ethan, who gave me such a nice gift on his way out. Now we’ll go kill the Vulture General."

"You demon. You really are a demon..."

Lee Shin-Woo gripped the Lightning God's Fury and charged towards the battlefield with Jin.

He had initially thought of appearing as the Heaven Defying General—or Paul Zero—to sweep up the battlefield and reveal himself to the heroes, but with his subordinates around, he eventually decided against the plan; there was no need for him to reveal his undead side to the heroes.

Retadane's in worse shape than I thought. Rather than provoking her by showing up as an undead, I think it'd be better to form a bridge between us.

That 'bridge' would be Lee Shin-Woo himself. He would reveal to his seniors, who were repulsed by the undead, that he'd been saved by the Heaven Defying General and his troops. Then he would suggest they form an alliance with the general.

Thus, the Paul Zero Corps' participation in this battle was incredibly important.

[Paul Zero is with us!]

[Uooooooooh!]

A few of the dumb Titans yelled the name 'Paul Zero' and took sideways glances at Lee Shin-Woo, but he ignored them for now. He'd told them that he could disguise himself as a human; he wouldn’t have done so if he had known they'd act like this...

"Ah, Lee Shin-Woo!"

"You’re safe. Everyone has been worried about you since you disappeared..."

"Senior, we should take care of the Vulture General first! Let's talk later!"

"A-Alright!"

Lee Shin-Woo safely rejoined the other heroes and turned to the Vulture General, who, despite falling from the sky and losing his mount, had been putting up a brave fight as his bald head shone brightly.

[Keuk, you crazy bitch!]

"Huooooooooh!"

And the one pushing him back was Retadane. The old woman flung her flail around with her eyes wide open. He could hear her gasping, which told him how much she had overworked herself. She really didn't have an off-switch. Lee Shin-Woo raised his sword high despite his exasperation.

"Retadane, I'm here to help!"

Five minutes passed.

Retadane's flail crushed the Vulture General's shiny bald head, and thus, the heroes had safely killed another member of the twelve generals.