Chapter 20 Part7 (1/2)
<chapter 20.=”” forest=”” of=”” the=”” dryads=”” -=”” 7=””>
”Why...”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo muttered in despair. Two more days had pa.s.sed since he'd acquired the Spirit's Spring Key Fragment from the Dryad.
”Why isn't my resistance leveling up...!? I'm almost there!”
”I suppose not everyone can get a high rank skill.”
Jin replied, uninterested. He was evading the golem's fists and feet from up close, and it was for no other reason but to be exposed to a higher concentration of Acid Poison. He went through all this painstaking effort to train his resistance.
[Gguaaaaaaaaaaah!]
”s.h.i.+n Woo, accept reality. That guy's at his limit too.”
”...”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo raised his head at Jin's words and examined the golem. At the beginning, the golem was so ma.s.sive that it seemed to reach up into the heavens, but now, it had shrunk to a mere 5 meters. It was only natural, as he'd cut so many of its branches.
”It seems like it can't even replenish its mana that well anymore. The concentration of its Acid Poison seems to be lessening, and its attacks are gradually getting weaker.”
”...d.a.m.n it. It must be at its limits if you can sense it too.”
As they fought against the golem, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo and Jin's dramatic growth that came about due to the intense situation. Their skills made the battle feel much easier than it should've been, but they had to face the facts. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo bitterly agreed and tightly gripped his axe.
”It's time to let it go, right?”
”Yeah. We have to let it go. We can finish it now...”
[Gguhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]
The golem wailed with superb timing. What was the golem trying to convey? Was it a wail of misery? It was the boss of the Melting Forest, an area which even level 8 heroes were afraid of, yet it had been used to lower level heroes.
If not, then was it weeping, as it was regretting asking such a wicked skeleton to fulfill its request? Honestly, he didn't really care.
”Hoo... Alright. Let's widen the distance a bit. Let's go with the big gun.”
”Ok.”
They'd scuffled with the golem for about 5 days now, and Lee s.h.i.+n Woo didn't just swing his axe and talk in the chatting channel during that time. No way. He'd figured out the golem's characteristics, as well as its skill pattern, which used mana. Therefore, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had run a few simulations on how to kill it the best way.
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had spoken to Jin several times, and created a move that would kill the Tree Golem. But in order to execute that move, they would need to widen the distance; it seemed as though the golem misunderstood their intent.
[T-They're leaving!]
As soon as Lee s.h.i.+n Woo and Jin widened the distance, the golem yelled as if to cheer. They didn't even spew their Acid Poison and just saw them off. However, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo left them a present, as if responding to them.
That present was the three Melting Double Bone Axes that remained in the air for the past 5 days. Surprisingly, the three axes contained the maximum amount of magic they could hold within them. If he combined the three, they would easily surpa.s.s Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's maximum magic!
'The fact that Rule of Bone and Bone Armory grew might just be the best thing I got from this battle.'
As he fought the Tree Golems, he hadn't just gained mere skill level ups; he'd learned ways in which he could better use these skills.
Just a little while ago, he hadn't thought of separately infusing mana into equipment he'd summoned and controlled through Bone Armory. He would either s.h.i.+ft his mana to the weapons to increase their power, or simply use the skill.
'But because of Rule of Bone, I've figured out a way to maintain the mana I've imbued the faraway weapons with.'
Normally, there's a limit to how much mana he can store in his body at one time. That was Mana Bone's limit. That limit has steadily increased with his level ups, his skill level, as well as his magic stat. But ultimately, he had a level 5's mana capacity.
”s.h.i.+n Woo, right about here, right?”
”Yeah. My weapon's are on standby too!”
[Gguaaaaaaaah!]
But as soon as he was able to store his mana into the equipment summoned through Bone Armory, as well as maintain that mana, he was essentially able to increase his maximum mana capacity.
By s.h.i.+fting his mana to his equipment, his body's own mana supply would be empty. However, as he replenished his mana, the mana contained within his equipment wouldn't diminish. Ultimately, if he were to replenish his mana, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo could control more mana than before: his own supply, as well as what was contained within his equipment!
He infused his mana into his axes in the moments he could spare whilst fighting the golem. Thus, his three axes were filled to the brim with mana (Lee s.h.i.+n Woo decided to call this 'fully charged').
”We're far enough, right?”
”Yep. I'm changing my weapon to the Drake Horn Lance... then let's get started! Twin Horn Charge!”
”You got it!”
He switched to the Drake Horn Lance and took a charging stance. The moment Lee s.h.i.+n Woo gave the signal, Jin kicked off the floor and began sprinting at an explosive speed!
[Kuwaaaaaaaah!]
The golem was scuffling with the axes that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had left behind, and once it realized that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was approaching once more, it screamed and attempted to spew its Acid Poison again. But with just that much, it wouldn't be able to even slow them down by 0.001 seconds.
”One!”
With his command, one of the axes in the air exploded spectacularly!
He didn't have high expectations for its acid damage, but the force of the explosion, as well as the shrapnel were enough to confuse the golem.
”Two!”
[Gguaaaaaaahk!]
Following that, the second axe exploded! Its outstretched branches were broken apart, and due to the force of the explosion, the golem, or to be more specific, the Corrupted Dryads which controlled it, screamed awfully.
Because it was weakened from the battle of attrition over the last 5 days, it sustained considerable damage from the fully charged Melting Bone Double Axes.
”s.h.i.+n Woo! We're about to crash into him!”
”We need to get a little closer...!”
The first two explosions were nothing more than a guidance system for the last axe to explode as smoothly as possible.