Stop, Friendly Fire!

Even if they followed his instructions, there was still a problem. They hadn't gotten through the thorn wall yet. That's why they had stopped here in the first place.

"I have an idea."

While they were talking amongst themselves, Lee Shin Woo had thought up some ways to get through the thorn wall 'with his party', but Kratia's eyes were sparkling, so he decided to hear her out first.

"I analyzed the thorn wall and found that the ore would temporarily overlap its defense and durability in the specific area whenever it is attacked, nullifying the damage.

"...Hey, wait. That's ridiculous."

Darkness signified a link. By using this power, the ores were pieced together. The secret behind the thorn wall's formidable defense lay in gathering ore which possessed similar characteristics, assimilating them together, and overlapping them together.

"Now that you mention it... This is indeed the power of darkness. I understand now. A magician's deductive ability is quite surprising."

"This is basic for a magician. Prince is still below average."

"Keuk."

Of course, Lee Shin Woo already knew all this. His peak darkness element mastery wasn't just for show. If Lee Shin Woo were alone, he could've just forced his way through the wall.

"Then why is it that level 8 or lower physical attacks can't damage the wall?"

"You need to think about it in reverse. A level 8's physical attacks can somewhat ignore the darkness element surrounding the Evil Eye ore. An attack that messes with the wall's overlapping defense will inflict damage."

"Ah... As I thought."

Lee Shin Woo understood what she meant, as he had gone through several changes when he'd reached level 8. Yeah, that's right. He hadn't felt anything unusual, as he could use several elements and had even unlocked a few innate elements as well, but level 8 was a large leap towards a higher realm.

'I hadn't realized because everything else I'd gotten was so amazing. But now that I know, it's fine. Since it'll make Wild Card, which lets me define myself, better than before.'

If he really wanted to, he could unleash a physical attack that defied physics, so Kratia's deduction was spot on. Lee Shin Woo nodded his head and Kratia continued.

"I've thought of three ways. First, we take advantage of the limitation of the thorn wall's overlapping defense; we attack in two places at once. One person attacks the same spot, and the other uses that opportunity to unleash a quick and powerful attack on the wall. As long as the overlapping darkness element doesn't react, then the second attacker should be able to damage a portion of the wall."

"A good plan."

The fact that its defensive capabilities were assimilated and overlapped meant that the wall focused all of its defense at one point at a time. It didn't just take that defense from nowhere.

In other words, if one person were to attack one place, forcing the wall to overlap its defenses in that specific area, then another person could attack and damage the wall before the concentration of defense could shift to the new area.

"Second, I use my ice. Ice is, at its core, based around death, and change. My magic freezes everything and in the process, can make everything move slower as well. Mana, as well as these ores' overlapping ability, are no exception. Therefore, if I make the wall respond slower than normal, then we should be able to get through without much difficulty. Of course, it would take an immense amount of mana to do so."

"Cool."

"I'm always cool."

Hoo. If all the heroes were like Kratia, then they would've conquered the Underground Empire already... Lee Shin Woo looked at Kratia as if deeply moved, and experienced Jin's 'rodeo'. This was quite the bold move for a woman who'd wondered whether she was qualified or not.

"Lastly... We use light. I don't think I even need to explain this."

"That's right. After listening to you, I've gotten the gist of it."

Retadane agreed as if the answer were obvious. The mace end of her flail was already accumulating a bright white light.

It was clear that she had transcended human limitations, as she could create the light element.

"Light is the power of severing. It goes without saying that it can sever things that have been connected through the darkness element. But because I cannot even begin to comprehend the concentration of darkness magic that has gathered in this wall... Even I, who can use such powerful light, am not confident that I can break through it by myself."

"That's why I told you all the options. We'll mix all three of them together."

That was the most effective method. Especially because they were pressed for time. Kratia stretched out three fingers. Seeing that, Retadane nodded her head in understanding.

"As expected. Lee Shin Woo will attack the wall first, forcing the wall to concentrate its defenses in a different location. And during that time, you'll use your ice magic. Then, I'll use my light magic to its fullest in that area... If we do that, then we should be able to get through the thorn wall."

"We'll be able to break through only a portion of it. There's a chance that it can regenerate."

"If we can get in, then getting out shouldn't be too difficult. ...I see. There was indeed a way to break through the thorn wall."

Retadane was deeply moved at the realization that they could combine their power to break through the thorn wall. Many years ago, when she was still young, she remembered seeing the chaotic form of the thorn wall and being unable to do anything but latch on to her older brother...

"...Let's begin. Lee Shin Woo, you have the toughest job. Can we leave it to you?"

"Of course."

If Lee Shin Woo were to help Retadane with his own light element, they would be able to break through the thorn wall with ease.

Lee Shin Woo didn't say anything, but the party seemed to think that he was putting in a lot of effort just to wield the Shining Bone Sword. They didn't even suspect that Lee Shin Woo could masterfully wield the Shining Bone Sword's light element and cut through the thorn wall alone.

'Forget the light element. I could use the Shining Flame to outright erase the thorn wall's karma.'

Lee Shin Woo decided to humor them and stepped forward, gripping the sword with both hands. He didn't even need to gather his mana. With but a thought, the world's mana would come to his aid. Plus, there was already a significant amount of mana within the sword itself.

"I'm ready. Tell me when you're all ready."

"I'm ready as well."

"Not yet. Just a little while longer... Done."

Lee Shin Woo nodded his head and silently thrust his sword. His sword pierced through the wall with ease, as if he were slicing through butter. Since the light element was attached to every one of his attacks, the wall was unable to activate its defensive ability at the moment of impact.

But right after, he could feel its incredible toughness. While Lee Shin Woo's attack possessed transcendent strength, the thorn wall's own defense was transcendent as well.

"Hoo. It's better than I expected."

Darkness's ability of assimilation. They had developed this ability into an overlapping ability. He could see the wall gathering all of the Evil Eye ores’ strength into one place so that it could crush the sword.

'What a tremendous flow. The energy being overlapped into this space could even hurt the Garuda. Even if they're rotten, they're still the Empire, huh...!'

Lee Shin Woo saw as the darkness that comprised the wall move around and smiled automatically. There was so much he learned from seeing that. He'd reached the peak of the darkness element, but it didn't mean he'd mastered every facet of using it. Overlap. What a good idea.

"Now!"

"I'm going! Huaaaaahp!"

While Lee Shin Woo was experiencing the thorn wall's ability first hand and analyzing it, Kratia had burst a portion of the wall with her ice magic.

She cast a small blizzard with her violently rotating orb and temporarily halted the wall's overlapping function. Then, Retadane's flail exploded with light. She let out a battle cry and a portion of the wall collapsed!

"Shin Woo, you can stop now! We have to go in now!"

"Lee Shin Woo, will you really be ok!?"

"I have someone working with me. On the contrary, I'm more worried about you."

"That nonchalant expression... Very good. Leave the inside to us!"

"Shin Woo, you have to tell me everything later."

"Good luck, Junior! If you die, I'll kill you!"

Lee Shin Woo watched as his party, aside from him and Jin rushed through the opening, and then withdrew his sword. The area he pulled the sword out of seemed to emit an unbecoming scream and caused an uproar in the entire area.

At the same time, darkness thorns were formed in the damaged area, which attempted to punish the intruder, but the moment they touched his body, the thorns completely fell apart.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"It almost seems harder hiding that ability than using it."

"Still... it's like I've stopped being human."

"You stopped being human a while ago."

Once the party was gone, Jin spoke. Lee Shin Woo just grinned and replied. And he picked up the remains of the thorn wall.

Its name was indeed 'Evil Eye'. Each piece was only a level 6 piece of ore, so he couldn't believe that altogether it formed such a tremendous artifact.

"So the more pieces that are gathered, the more powerful it gets. But instead of overlapping the properties in emergencies only, why not overlap matter itself?"

"What a crazy idea! What happened to the conservation of mass!?"

"When I first came here, he [1] died, along with my body."

Lee Shin Woo tried to apply the technique he'd just learned with his own darkness magic, applying it to the thorn wall's debris.

He thought it'd be really tough to do, but he was able to condense the debris into the size of a bean with ease, perhaps because he, who'd mastered the darkness element, had seen the ability first hand and understood its fundamental principles.

"Aha. So this is the real way of using this ore. You don't overlap the magic together, you overlap the matter itself together instead. You're not supposed to make this stupid wall with it."

"..."

Of course, in the process of overlapping matter, it became heavier as well, but it was still lighter than combining the weight of all the debris. The conservation truly was dead.

What was so special about this ability? Well, if he were to gather all the Evil Eye in one place, then he would be able to create the world's heaviest and most durable artifact with the highest magic concentration.

"Does the Undead Emperor know this too? I'm excited."

"So are you going to break this whole thing down...?"

"Are you crazy? This thing will become the last bastion that stops the others from entering. I'll do it after it's done its job."

He wondered what he would have to do if the hole wasn't mended, but it had completely regenerated, though he didn't know where the additional material had come from. He tapped on the once collapsed area and found that it was as tough as ever.

"Good. Then we're all good to go."

Lee Shin Woo placed the level 6 (+7) Evil Eye bean into his chest, grinned and turned around. The Chi Pauls had already lined up in front of him. Including the original Chi Paul, there were five level 7 elites. They feared nothing.

[You called for us, so we came. What shall we do?]

"What do you mean? We do what we do best."

Lee Shin Woo checked the location of all the forces one last time. He'd already memorized where all the traps were, as well as where the monsters and spirits were.

"Our goal is to confuse our enemies, cause them to lose their way, cause them to fight against each other, and lose sight of their goals and themselves... Basically, just make a mess of things. Today, we're killing four of the 12 Generals!"

[Understood!]

Chi Paul yelled vigorously. The others needed no explanation. When Lee Shin Woo had completely mastered the darkness element, he had become able to directly transmit his thoughts to his subordinates.

His subordinates went everywhere. It was time to raise the curtains for the Heaven Defying General's performance.

[1] T/N: Refers to the conservation of mass as a 'he'.