[Huaah. Uoooooh!]
When Chi Paul absorbed Arema Steelworker"s body, the change was incredibly dramatic. He screamed, as though he were a Saiyan witnessing his friend"s death and turning Super Saiyan, and resulted in a dramatically changed Chi Paul!
[Kuguoooooh!]
[Kihi. Kihiiiiit! Power. This power...! Is for taking my revenge!]
[Aah. It"s delicious. So delicious! The bodies of those traitors. They taste sweet. So sweet!]
Beside him, the other Chi Pauls had absorbed the remaining Four Heavenly Commanders" original bodies, or the other golems" knight bodies. Each and every one of the Chi Pauls were transforming into a frightening and strange new appearance.
They"d hidden the fact that they were Chimeras so well until now, but they suddenly had transformed into such a fearsome state, as if they were cats gnawing at and spitting out a gra.s.shopper.
[It"s... It"s not over yet. We need more to complete our evolution...!]
"Right. What you need is over there."
Their master, Lee Shin Woo, knew exactly what they needed to complete their evolution! They required Arema Steelworker, who had forgotten all about his battle with Dana and rushed over, along with the rest of the Four Heavenly Commanders, and the golems.
[How dare you... How dare you give my body to those lowly beasts!]
[I can"t forgive you. I can"t permit this...! I"ll rip you to pieces!]
Yeah. Just eating their bodies wouldn"t complete their revenge. Only by eating their golem bodies, which held their very souls, could they take one step further as Avengers!
[Lord Paul Zero! At this very moment, we are so glad that we pledged our loyalty to you...! We will prove our loyalty to you now!]
[Kuoooooooh!]
[Revenge! It"s time for our long-awaited revenge!]
[Unleash your rage onto the arrogant and narrow-minded surface dwellers!]
[We"ll crush you, exactly like what you did to us!]
All the Chimeras had overcome their limits and were emitting their increased mana; they then faced the golems and rushed towards them. Although Chi Paul should"ve been a level 7 still, the pressure he emitted was no less than a level 8"s. No, the main Chi Paul wasn"t the only one; the other Chi Pauls were the same!
Lee Shin Woo soon realized that his Chi Pauls were under the effect of his Rebellion skill. It was quite advantageous to him.
"Help them, Dana. With their help, you should be able to take down those golems with ease, as they"re tired from battle after battle."
"It"s quite persuasive hearing it from the very man that exhausted the golems to that extent."
"They"re the knights that were sacrificed in the surface dwellers" plan...! Of course I"ll help. The surface dwellers must pay for their sins!"
Fortunately, Dana wasn"t swayed by their hideous appearance and had immediately figured out the truth. The more he talked with her, the less he could stand Seira Von Retandane...!
Lee Shin Woo was moved and wiped the resulting tears. He then left the battle to her and turned around. He wanted to watch the Chimeras take their revenge, but as he"d said several times, he didn"t have the time to do so!
"Shin Woo. This is really killing me...!"
"Don"t worry. Arema"s attack caused my head to spin, giving me an idea."
"Are you planning on changes its vector?"
"Yeah."
It seemed like Kratia had the same idea. Lee Shin Woo nodded his head and placed his hand onto the cannon once more.
It felt as though the ma.s.sive acc.u.mulated energy would blow at any time, and the ice element mana holding it would melt away. As he thought, stopping it now would be impossible.
"But changing its direction might be possible. Since it"s a cannon."
"I was thinking about that too."
Kratia hadn"t only been focusing on keeping the ma.s.sive energy in check. She had been trying to push the energy into a different direction, in order to reduce the damage it inflicted.
However, doing so wasn"t so simple. It was difficult enough that Dana, who had been controlling the cannon before, had failed, so how hard must it have been for her!? But Lee Shin Woo hadn"t suggested it without having anything in mind.
"Ta-da! So here"s where this guy comes in."
It was the bone bracelet that he"d equipped to his wrist. It was the artifact that the Archmage had left behind, the Proof of Death.
It would also serve as proof that Lee Shin Woo could beat the Archmage, as it had absorbed a portion of the Archmage"s soul, but aside from that, the artifact itself was quite impressive...
[Proof of Death (+4)]
[Lv8]
[Durability: 1,327/2,500]
[Element: Darkness Lv8]
[Options: Magic +500; The creator can a.s.sume absolute control over similar artifacts and the effectiveness of every artifact in their control is increased.]
[Special active skill: Rush of Death - This artifact messes with the energy of any artifact that it resonates with. It will cause a huge explosion that deals three times the corresponding artifact"s maximum mana.]
"This is completely..."
"Yep. It"s what allowed him to control Dana. I"m telling you, that Lich is really thorough!"
"If you had... something like this... then use it earlier!"
Kratia was p.i.s.sed and kept hitting Lee Shin Woo"s chest. She wasn"t being charming; she was really trying to hurt him, but her anger made sense, considering how much she"d been doing up to now.
But Lee Shin Woo felt like it was unfair. Right after he beat the Lich, Seira"s heart had been pierced by her older brother. He"d managed to save her life by turning her into a Banshee, but then he had to fight against Seagald. And now, the cannon was about to blow. He"d revived the princess to help deal with it, but then Arema had decided to attack him one last time! Lee Shin Woo didn"t even have any time to look over his loot!
"At first, I thought this bracelet just supplemented one"s mana or life force, since the Lich was able to last so long against me."
But the Archmage had just been efficiently draining energy from the cannon with the bracelet. By equipping this bracelet, the Archmage could exhibit unrivaled power with artifacts that he"d created.
"Here"s where it gets important."
"Yeah, this is where it starts."
Lee Shin Woo and Kratia agreed to a temporary ceasefire. Once they exchanged eye contact, Kratia ceased her Stasis Magic. Lee Shin Woo immediately imbued a generous amount of his darkness mana into the Proof of Death, and turned the cannon around.
"The bracelet"s special active skill is most likely to blame for the energy going out of control. I may not be able to cancel a skill that"s been activated already, but I should be able to adjust the result of that skill...!"
Although he couldn"t stop the cannon from firing, he could turn the cannon in the direction he wanted!
Was it because he"d reached peak mastery in the darkness element? If not, was it because of his innate ability to distort cause-and-effect as a Joker? He"d done it so easily that his struggles thus far felt funny. The cannon screeched as he adjusted the height of the cannon, as well as its direction!
"Alright. If I turn it this way, it"ll face the capital, right?"
"But Shin Woo, there"s a fundamental problem with that."
"You"re talking about the undead curse, right?"
"They may not become as strong as the forces in the palace, but they"ll become at least 1.5x as strong."
No matter where he shot this, the energy would result in a catastrophe. If he shot it straight, then he might be able to pierce right through the barrier and deliver the undead curse to the surface. It had that much power.
"It"s so powerful that it may create a dungeon. You can"t just shoot it as is... Though it"s much better than us dying."
"...This is where it all starts. Kratia, watch. You may be able to wield this power in the near future."
"That"s that unknown power that you used to change the Spirit General..."
That"s right. Lee Shin Woo began to use his innate element, Dark Shadow.
It might be impossible. He might fail, like how he failed to save Seira"s life as a human.
But he might succeed too. On his second try he managed to turn Dana into a new species didn"t he? So, he would never know without trying.
"Moreover, I have this bracelet... the artifact"s controller."
What would the Lich think when he realized that he"d lost the Proof of Death? He may think that another person wouldn"t be able to use the artifact that he"d created as they pleased. Since he had so much pride, as he had created the item and was able to wield it so well.
"However..."
Lee Shin Woo was the master of darkness. If the artifact was created by the darkness element, then Lee Shin Woo would be able to wield it better than any other. At least, he should. Even if that weren"t true, he would make it so. He would fool them.
The world, mana, the artifact itself, and the cannon. He"d fool them all.
[The Beginner Dark Shadow element has become Lv10 and evolved into the intermediate level! You can cause more fundamental reversals of cause-and-effect! Magic has increased by 100!]
Was it a coincidence? At that moment, the Dark Shadow element evolved into the intermediate level. It"d only reached level 9 just a short while ago, when he"d turned Dana into an Immortal!
If it had reached the intermediate level earlier, then he might"ve been able to save Seira. However, it was precisely because she"d turned into a Banshee that the Dark Shadow element had leveled up this much. In any case, the new Dark Shadow gave him a ton of confidence. At the same time, he realized how to more efficiently use the Dark Shadow element.
"I"m going to start by making small changes in cause-and-effect. Until it causes a huge domino effect and everything breaks down."
Although this bracelet was originally the Archmage"s, it had become Lee Shin Woo"s item now. That would be the start. He would channel his Dark Shadow through the artifact and control this ridiculously huge cannon... No, he would take ownership of it!
"It didn"t work before, but now I should be able to...!"
Lee Shin Woo placed his bracelet-equipped hand onto the gun barrel and concentrated. He would fool the world, the cannon, and reverse cause-and-effect!
Darkness formed, as if were being squeezed out of his fingertips. The area he touched was only the beginning; the darkness spread throughout the gun barrel, as if they were branches of a tree, and immediately covered it. Thus, it wouldn"t matter how rowdy the ma.s.sive energy within was.
His authority had made the cannon his!
[Through the Bone Reinforcement skill, the Lv9 Heaven Rending Cannon has changed.]
It had begun to change. The cannon itself was made of an unknown metal, and it became distorted, beginning to emit a bizarre sound. Its shape became more mysterious and frightening than before.
Though it was duller than before, it was more dark and damp, as well as more deadly than before. It was also smaller, but it looked longer. It felt like it had changed from a cannon to a sniper rifle.
[You have acquired the Lv9 Heaven Defying Flag Bearer (+5).]
[The form and the energy it contains is unstable, so there is a chance it could get damaged.]
One of the giant sources of darkness that existed in the Empire had fallen into Lee Shin Woo"s hands. The undead curse struggled within, as it if would blow any minute now, but it was beginning to change due to the effects of Dark Shadow. The speed of conversion was incredibly fast.
"T-This is..."
"Unbelievable...!"
What happens when you reverse a curse? It becomes a blessing.
What happens when you reverse death? It becomes life.
The energy, that had been waiting to blow, had finally been converted into...
[Firing.]
"Eat this, you d.a.m.n Lich Emperor! It"s the blessing of life that you wanted so badly!"
It fired a blinding beam of light mana straight at the capital!