Chapter 25 part1
<Chapter 25. Hansen Von Dorthe - 1>
Once Lee Shin Woo had seen Nellopa's movements, he was able to understand the magic pattern immediately. He formed the connection extremely quickly and naturally. The communication line didn't show faces and only transmitted one's voice, so it was quite simple.
[Mm... Is that you, Nellopa?]
"Yes, General."
He was communicating with one of the 12 generals, the Lightning General. He realized that the communication line would enable him to communicate with only the Lightning General after going through Count Nellopa's memories.
But that was actually quite fortunate. Count Nellopa knew quite a bit about the Lightning General, as he worked under him, and that was the primary reason Lee Shin Woo took the risk of summoning one of the 12 generals.
[You already gave me your regular report. An invader? So the golems finally... did they show up?]
The Lightning General, Hansen Von Dorthe, replied, and Lee Shin Woo spoke in an urgent tone. He wasn't lying; the situation was quite urgent. Since the Treasure Eater was running wild, in an attempt to swallow him whole!
"It's not the golems. But a considerably powerful monster appeared...!"
[The Emperor's order was clear: execute the golems, who are rebelling against the Empire.]
"But the city will fall! If that happens, we won't be able to uphold the imperial command, General!"
[...]
If the city responsible for protecting the Sanctuary fell, then they would obviously be leaving the Sanctuary unattended. It was such obvious reasoning, so why did he have to think it over so seriously? Lee Shin Woo wondered whether all the 12 generals were idiots.
[Hoo... Fools. To think you'd be put into this kind of situation from a mere monster... It can't be helped. I'll go myself.]
"It's an honor, General!"
[Keep as many soldiers alive as possible. If you're right, then me going is pointless if all your forces, which are meant to protect the Sanctuary, are destroyed.]
"Indeed!"
He'd planned on sacrificing his troops to ensure his safety, but Lee Shin Woo didn't tell him that and cut the line. He hadn't given the general any particular information on the monster, but it seemed like the general didn't care.
Well, he was one of the 12 generals. The 12 generals had nothing to fear in the Empire, aside from the Emperor!
'Good. A resounding success.'
However, if the general had been told, he wouldn't have been able respond as calmly as he did. That his opponent, the Treasure Eater, was a high rank level 7 elite, capable of unleashing powerful lightning, as well as possessing Lightning Resistance!
'The Lightning General, Hansen Von Dorthe, is level 7 and is one of the weaker generals. But because he's a swordsman who wields a powerful and quick blade clad in lightning, as well as utilizing a powerful element, he's about as powerful as a level 8 in a one on one fight. Thus, the Emperor uses him as an hitman (a contracted killer). Plus, he's one of the generals who's independent and works alone without commanding troops.'
Even Lee Shin Woo wouldn't be privy to this detailed information had his Bone Reinforcement been a lower level, or had he not gained two bones from Nellopa rather than one, or if Nellopa wasn't someone connected with the Lightning General.
However, all the conditions had been met, so he'd acquired plenty of information on Hansen Von Dorthe, and had succeeded in calling him over. He wouldn't come over with bothersome high rank undead, and his match up against the Treasure Eater was the worst; the Lightning General won't be able to win easily. If Lee Shin Woo succeeded in pitting them against each other... he would be able to take down both the Treasure Eater, and one of the 12 generals.
No. He put all this effort into calling him; he had to take him down.
'I'm confident I took the best course of action, but... I may die a few times.'
To think he actually managed to call one of the 12 generals over here. He thought about how shocked Jin would be if he heard about this, and chuckled. With that in mind, the Treasure Eater shot out lightning once more.
[Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!]
"Yeah, yeah. I heard you. Jin, get over here quick! I'm dying over here!"
"I'm on my way!"
Unfortunately, Lee Shin Woo's agility wasn't high enough for him to dodge when fighting against a level 7 monster using its full strength. He attempted to stifle its approach by either using Bone Fortress's, or spewing Acid Poison, but if he made even one mistake in this intense battle, he'd lose his head!
"Heup!"
Then, the Treasure Eater struck the floor with its giant tail, shooting lightning spears; at that moment, Lee Shin Woo knew that he couldn't block the attack. He leapt into the air while the lightning spears struck his body.
The Treasure Eater began shooting him with large-scale attacks and its body temporarily stiffened. The fact that only its rotten eyeballs were moving and tracking his movements was truly goosebump inducing.
"Get on!"
"Ok!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaahk!"
Right when the Treasure Eater could move again, Jin skillfully jumped, approached Lee Shin Woo, and called for him. Lee Shin Woo grabbed onto Jin's back and did a half-turn, safely landing on Jin's back! Immediately after, the three landed at a location quite far from Treasure Eater.
[You have joined up with your partner. Rebellion's effect are fully shared with your partner!]
"Nice. This is perfect."
"That was really close, you know!?"
"Ueehk..."
Jin had easily avoided the Treasure Eater's impressive lightning attack while advancing forward; he then jumped, catching Lee Shin Woo in the air and even landed perfectly... Kratia was reminded once more that Jin wasn't normal. Her motion sickness was the price she had to pay for underestimating him.
"Run slowly... Ugh."
"Just let it out while we're running. You'll feel a bit better that way."
"If you vomit on my back, then I'm dropping both of you!"
Jin yelled in astonishment as Lee Shin Woo patted Kratia's back. Jin decided to ask about their current predicament.
"How long do you think we can keep avoiding it for without fighting it directly?"
"Rebellion increased your stats, so... probably as long as we want?"
"You... you're a good guy."
Lee Shin Woo smiled bitterly at Jin's refreshing reply. It still didn't change the fact that Jin was level 5, no matter how close he was to level 6, while their opponent was an elite level 7 monster; to think he'd still be able to say something so confidently.
No matter how high Jin's agility was, or how much his stats were increased through the Rebellion skill, the effectiveness of their stats shouldn't be able to match a level 7's!
'Now that I think about it, there's more to Jin than just his agility.'
Lee Shin Woo suddenly realized. There was more to Jin than just his high agility. Jin possessed several skills that allowed him to use that agility to its very limits, or even beyond its limits. According to him, each of Jin's reflex related skills immediately increased his speed. Moreover, Steel Heart further increased his mobility, so it made sense that he was still confident.
"So why did you tell the undead to back off, Shin Woo? You could've sacrificed them to weaken it a bit."
"I sent them back to the city. Since it'd be better to fight within the city if we want to take advantage of our numbers."
And in the process, he stayed behind to keep the Treasure Eater busy, further cementing their loyalty to him. If the undead could still shed tears, then his troops would've been sobbing during their retreat.
"And I'm going to group up with them soon."
"So what about those guys? You should be able to control them, right?"
Originally, the Golem Chimeras had been their objective, but now, no one cared about the thousands of Golem Chimeras. Kratia didn't doubt that Lee Shin Woo would be able to control them and use them to inflict damage upon the Treasure Eater. And if that happened...!
"If I can consolidate all our forces into one single force, we may be able to take down a level 7 elite. Since I'm level 7 now too!"
"You really are level 7, huh?"
Lee Shin Woo thought there might be some truth to Lloyd's statement regarding Kratia in the chatting channel, but he hadn't expected her to actually have reached level 7!
That meant that she was at the level of a high rank level 6 when they first met. However... he was surprised and knew that she was talented, but it wasn't something that would change their situation very much.
"Mm... It's not like your plan would've changed if you knew that I was level 7 beforehand."
"Plan? What plan? Isn't your plan over with now?"
Jin, who had been busy concentrating on evading the Treasure Eater, stuck his nose into their conversation. Lee Shin Woo genuinely laughed and replied.
"You probably wouldn't know, but there's one part left of Operation - Bro, why are you there?. I prepared something in case an unexpected, powerful enemy appeared: Plan D...!"
"Plan D...!?"
Of course, he was lying his ass off, but Jin was completely fooled and replied in astonishment. Before he explained Plan D, he asked Kratia.
"Kratia, something unexpected happened. You could get hurt, so you can leave if you want; I don't mind. You helped us attack the testing facility, so I can reward you too."
"Hmm...? I told you, I'm level 7. Didn't you hear me?"
Was he intending on taking her, a level 7, out of his plan!? Her expression was no longer of disappointment; instead, she poked Lee Shin Woo's back with a face marred with confusion. But because his back was entirely composed of bone, her finger just ended up hurting.
"I heard you."
"What kind of plan takes out a level 7? There's no way I'd run away unless one of the 12 generals was..."
As expected, she realized midway what his plan was with her impressive intellect.
"You're going to bring one of the 12 generals into this!?"
"One of the 12 generals!? Why would a general come here!?"
Jin, who had been listening, was startled and yelled! However, Lee Shin Woo smirked and nodded his head.
"Yep. I called a general. I know about him through Nellopa."
"Are you insane!?"
"What are you going to do!?"
Kratia and Jin were shocked and demanded a clear answer out of Lee Shin Woo, who treated this like he were inviting a close friend over. Jin especially, as he pledged that they would live or die together.
However, Lee Shin Woo remained calm as ever. He was actually really nervous, but he was well aware that if he showed his unease, he would just further exasperate his teammates' own anxiousness.
"Listen carefully. The Lightning General, Hansen Von Dorthe, is coming, and he's one of the generals who works alone."
"Ah, I heard that there were generals that acted independently, but he's still a general! He's on another level, even to another level 7!"
To become level 7, one needed to attain 6,400 total stats, and Kratia had barely made it past that to become a level 7 magician. However, that didn't mean that every level 7 was the same!
Those who'd reached 6,400 stats were level 7, but one needed 12,800 stats to reach level 8; and those who were really close to that threshold... like those with 12,799 stats, were still considered level 7. A general would be closer to level 8 than 7!
"Seriously, just listen. He specializes in one on one fights, so the Emperor uses him as his personal hitman. And he's best at using lightning."
"Lightning...?"
His explanation caused Kratia to furrow her brow. For a while now she'd been vacantly thinking 'a level 7 elite really is different from the norm' after seeing the level 7 Treasure Eater continuously discharge lightning.
"Then, you're going to make it fight against the general and then...?"
"Even a general shouldn't be able to take it down so easily when it has such a powerful lightning resistance. Of course, it'll be tough for the Treasure Eater to take the general down too, but if it gets into a melee fight, then the Lightning General loses his advantage."
"Well, that's true, but..."
Lee Shin Woo was conjuring up some plans that would depend on the situation in case the general was much stronger than he expected. Since he held all the cards.
"So what are you going to do, Kratia? You want in or not?"
His final card was Invisible Heart. Even if he did his best and prepared a myriad of strategies, he wasn't confident that he could take down a big shot like a general without dying in the process.
But if Kratia nodded her head... he could replace Invisible Heart with Kratia. With her, it would be a perfect hand: a royal straight flush. He was sure of that.
"I'm..."
The great level 7 magician anguished over his offer.
Ultimately, she made up her mind.