Chapter 42 Part5 (2/2)
Seeing that, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo smiled thinly and led the group into the dungeon. Due to the clash between the t.i.tan and the Garuda, they were pretty much descending a rock face, but most of the people here were stronger than level 6. No matter how steep the slope, they could follow him with ease.
”By the way, if you find any loot, please pick it up for me.”
”Understood!”
”How can this be? Aren't these the bones of level 8 monsters...? To think that there are so many of their bones laying around.”
”But why are there only bones as loot?”
Even if they were the ones that killed the monsters, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had claimed owners.h.i.+p over the loot. His karma would change the monster's loot to bone, but bones already had a high drop rate, so they weren't really suspicious.
With the paladins' help and his discreet use of Rule of Bone, he was able to collect the bones that had been left behind.
'Nice. Level 8 dungeons are on another level. It'll be close, but if I give him the Garuda's Wing Bone, then Jin should reach level 8 as well.'
'...Wait a sec. The Garuda's Wing Bone? You're going to give that thing to me? Hey, don't! What the h.e.l.l are you thinking!?'
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had been so focused on his fights with the Dark Flame Ghosts and the Garuda that he hadn't noticed, but during those b.l.o.o.d.y battles, the level 8 Solar Scarabs had been climbing up from the bottom of the dungeon and died in droves.
He didn't think that there would be that many of them, but... He didn't know why insect-type monsters were so fearsome. Though they couldn't be compared to c.o.c.kroaches, in which finding one meant that there were a hundred more of them, but the Solar Scarabs had been breeding for hundreds of years at the bottom of the dungeon. Thus, there was a surprising amount of Solar Scarabs that had been in the dungeon...!
”What if we had to kill all of these ourselves?”
”In a sense, it might've been a tougher battle than the one we had with the divine bird.”
Once they arrived at the bottom of the dungeon and followed the path, they occasionally found some shaking Solar Scarabs that weren't dead. Since there was really no point in killing them, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo allowed Jin or the members of the Sun G.o.d religion to kill them for karma.
They were just finis.h.i.+ng them off, so they wouldn't get much karma from it. Even so, they were still killing level 8 monsters, so either their stats or their skills would grow.
”There's nothing we can use these bones for, but they dropped quite a bit of Perium. So much that you could buy a city with it.”
”Haha. I suppose the Lawrence shop won't need our support anymore.”
”By the way, why did you accept Lawrence's help? With your power, you should've been able to attain whatever you wish, regardless of his monetary support.”
”It's the opposite. I'm helping Lawrence out. Since he's my friend.”
”...Ahem.”
”A friend, huh.”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo replied, but for some reason, some of the female paladins and priests turned their heads away and blushed. From their reactions, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo could tell what the 'friends.h.i.+p novel' that was being sold in the capital was all about and felt strange. A gay romance between himself and himself? That's impossible!
”We've arrived.”
”This place is... Ahem.”
How much longer did they go on like that? Soon, the group arrived at the hole that the Garuda had escaped from. The barrier had been broken into pieces, and they could see the black energy leaking from within. The expressions of any priest that neared the energy darkened immediately, but when Lee s.h.i.+n Woo extended his hand, they were ok again.
”W-What did you just do...!?”
”I burned it away with a clean flame. But be careful. If you approach it without me, then you'll become undead soon.”
”Undead!?”
”That firebird was undead as well. Because of this energy.”
”Even that bird, which possessed a G.o.d's power, was affected by this energy...?”
”Yes.”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo pondered briefly. Should we talk about the barrier that had originally imprisoned the Garuda? No, that would be a huge mistake. He shouldn't reveal any more information than is strictly necessary.
When the Emperor gets word of his actions here, he'll become wary of him anyway, so there was no reason to reveal more information and make him an even larger threat!
”I don't know why the firebird was here for so long. But I do know that if it hadn't been weakened and degenerated by this energy, then I wouldn't have been able to beat it.”
”An energy that leaks from underground... We've experienced this in a few of the other dungeons. We can't hold onto the notion that they're turning into the undead naturally anymore. This is critical.”
”The G.o.d of Life will not tolerate this foul energy. If you've found this kind of energy elsewhere, then I cannot overlook this. We'll have to mobilize all of our members and respond!”
They adopted grave expressions and chattered about just by watching the darkness energy leaking out. Even the Evileye General was in a cold sweat.
”Why did the Emperor turn a blind eye to this until it'd become this bad?”
”The golem network that the Empire is so proud of couldn't even pick up such clear signs that this was happening?”
”...I trust that you're not going to say that the Emperor left it here on purpose.”
”The monsters aren't the issue here. If this energy reaches the capital, then...!”
The Evileye General cowered at the interrogation. It would've been nice if they had managed to kill Lee s.h.i.+n Woo before all this was revealed, but Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had seen through her plan! Lee s.h.i.+n Woo clapped his hands and calmed everyone down.
”Now, let's collect some of the energy. We also need to form a barrier to stop the energy from leaking; a temporary one works too. It's no time to be going around abandoned dungeons and playing hero anymore.”
All eyes were on Lee s.h.i.+n Woo. The Evileye General looked like she was about to cry.
”This is a holy war. A holy war between us and those trying to turn us into the undead!”
Thus, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had become commander of the surface's undead resistance force in place of the incompetent G.o.d.
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