54 Chapter 53 (1/2)

'Oops!'

A thought flashed by in Jin-Woo's head.

'I shouldn't be wasting time like this.'

He had witnessed the power of his new skill. He could now turn the defeated monsters into his soldiers.

If that was the case, then wasn't there a monster nearby that he just had to turn into his lackey right away?

Jin-Woo climbed up the pile of armours that once used to be the giant Iron Golem and stood on top. By being so high up, he could take in the entirety of the boss room.

'...'

Jin-Woo searched around as his glare became sharper.

Found it!

Confirming the direction, Jin-Woo immediately ran over there. Perhaps he was feeling really psyched, he arrived there in the blink of an eye even though he didn't use the Dash skill.

Gulp.

Jin-Woo looked the 'corpse' of the monster that he was planning to extract the shadow from, and swallowed dry saliva.

The creature remained in the exact same spot where he had killed it.

'…..Igrit the Crimson.'

The sight of the red-armoured headless knight half-buried in the thick, sturdy wall told how desperate his situation was back then.

Jin-Woo stood before Igrit.

It might have been a fearsome enemy that threatened to kill him only a few hours ago, but now, it was probably the best ingredient he could find. Fortunately enough, he saw the black smoke slowly oozing out from Igrit, just like how it was with other fallen knights.

[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]

Jin-Woo's expression brightened.

'Nice.'

He already knew the drill. Jin-Woo took a short but deep breath and spoke out the command phrase.

”Rise up.”

He spoke the activation phrase for the skill, Shadow Extraction. However, the skill didn't activate.

'.....??'

Jin-Woo tilted his head this way and that way, and was about to say the command phrase again. But then, following a 'tti-ring', several warning messages popped up.

[You have exceeded the number of shadows that can be extracted.]

[If you wish to perform Shadow Extraction, you must return a portion, or all, of your soldiers back to the world of nothingness via 'Extraction Cancellation'.]

[Once returned to nothingness, the shadow soldiers can't be summoned back.]

'Oh, yeah. There was something like that, wasn't there?'

At the end of the skill's explanation, there was something he should've taken note of.

[Number of shadows that can be extracted: 30/30]

The maximum number of extractions he could perform was 30. Which meant the number of his soldiers was currently 30….

Jin-Woo looked behind him.

The shadow soldiers had followed him even before he had noticed it and they were standing in attention.

'When did they?'

Perhaps fitting their title of 'shadow soldiers', they seemed to move around without making a single sound.

Whatever the case might have been, if he wanted to extract Igrit's shadow, he had to get rid of one of these guys, just as the System had alluded to.

'But….'

It had only been a short while, yet when he thought about them being his soldiers, he kind of didn't want to dismiss any one of them.

Did he get attached to them already?

With a rueful, unwilling expression, Jin-Woo slowly scanned each and every one of his shadow soldiers. As his eyes swept past the soldiers, their names and levels appeared before his view.

[Shadow Infantryman Lv. 1]

Regular grade

[Shadow Infantryman Lv. 1]

Regular grade

Everyone possessed the same name and level.

'Oh well, their origins were exactly the same, so…'

But then, he discovered three somewhat different-coloured soldiers right at the back of the infantrymen.

'Are those….?'

Unlike the regular infantrymen, these guys were wearing robes.

[Shadow Magic Soldier Lv. 1]

Elite grade

”Oh.”

He quickly figured out what they were.

The three mages that were controlling the Iron Golem must've been revived as undeads as well when he gave out his 'Rise up' command just now.

'So, 27 infantrymen and three mages, eh?'

This was why being 'rare' was a good thing. He excluded the low-numbered mages and selected the closest infantryman from him to cancel the extraction.

….And he was really sorry about this.

”Extraction Cancellation.”

Phush….

The soldier turned into black smoke and scattered in the air. Not even a trace remained of it.

'.....'

Jin-Woo gazed at the spot of the disappeared soldier for a little while with an apologetic expression, before shifting his attention back to Igrit.

His preparation was complete.

He even had to sacrifice one of his wonderful soldiers just so he could turn Igrit into a shadow. So, he simply had to see some results here.

Time to act while the sun still shone.

Jin-Woo tried the extraction right away.

”Rise up.”

When he did that, the shadow cast beneath Igrit began to wiggle as if it came to life. It was the same reaction as when he extracted the shadows from the knights just now.

'Okay, good!'

Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly. He had a good feeling about this.

[Shadow Extraction has commenced.]

[Attempting to extract….]

What would Igrit look like after its extraction? Jin-Woo's hands became slick with the sweat of anticipation.

Unfortunately…

Ting!

A mechanical beep akin to a metal plate breaking in half rang inside his head.

[Shadow Extraction has failed.]

”What?!'

[Two more attempts remaining.]

”Whew-woo….”

Hearing that he still had more chances remaining, Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh of relief.

'Hang on, now that I think about it….'

The skill's explanation definitely said that the odds of extraction failure would rise up depending on the target's Stat values.

But having experienced it personally, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded. It felt like he got slapped in the back of his head, this taste of his first failure.

Not only that, there was a restriction on the number of attempts he could try, too.

'So, I have two more attempts remaining….'

If he failed in both attempts, then did that mean Igrit's shadow would disappear into that 'nothingness', just as the sacrificed infantryman did?

Imagining the worst possible scenario, he felt dizzy for a second. Jin-Woo quickly shook his head to clear his mind.

'Let's stop thinking negatively about this.'

Indeed, only positive thoughts…

Didn't someone say that if you believed earnestly enough, the universe would find a way to help you out?

While stewing inside anxiety and anticipation, Jin-Woo attempted the extraction for the second time.

”Rise up.”

Too bad, his expectation was shot down grandly once more.

Ting!

[Shadow Extraction has failed.]

[One more attempt remaining]

'…..'

This guy gave him so much trouble while it was still alive, and even in death, it was managing to give him some serious headaches.

And here he was, hoping against hope.