"This way is safe. We’ll be fine as long as we go this way."

"Oh? I thought this spot originally had traps..."

"The traps have been destroyed."

Once he’d sensed Arema Steelworker’s energy, Lee Shin Woo had volunteered to lead the group. Prince was the first to notice that they progressed at a much faster pace.

"Junior, what are you doing? For some reason, it’s become easier to walk and I’m not as dizzy as before."

"I was conserving my magic before, so that I wouldn’t use more than is strictly necessary, but I felt like I’d miss something important. So I’ve taken out my secret weapon."

Lee Shin Woo said, and with the hand not grasping the map... gripped his delicately made, snow-white bone sword. The faint light that it emitted relaxed his party. Retadane noticed how high the concentration of light was and said.

"It’s a light element weapon, I see."

"Yes. As you know, the light element possesses the ability to sever things. This weapon focuses that ability into defense, and it also has a maximized special active skill as well. With this ability, I can remove some of the spatial magic that is meddling with us."

"Uooooh. Nice!"

Prince was pointlessly amazed. However, the weapon didn’t actually have an ability like that! It did possess the special passive skill (Death God’s Smile) and the special active skill (Death God’s Fury), but they were more designed to kill one’s opponent.

Lee Shin Woo was using his Wild Card skill as the base and from there, used his light and shining flame elements to eliminate the effects of the spatial magic.

"Junior, where did you find such an amazing weapon?"

"I got it from the treasure box after beating the boss of a level 7 dungeon. I was really lucky."

"A level 7 dungeon...!?"

He wasn’t lying. When he had first entered the dungeon, it was certainly an elite level 7 dungeon. Although, it had become a level 8 dungeon later and the boss was a level 9 Garuda!

But it seemed like his lie was still enough to astound his party members. Especially Prince, who was the most shocked.

"Level 7! ...Level 7!?"

"Ah, please quiet down, Senior."

"Then what level is that weapon? Level 6? Level 7? Wait, it’s not..."

"Yes, it is."

"Level 8!? It’s just a weapon, but it’s a higher level than me!?"

Prince rolled on the floor, mortified. Lee Shin Woo watched on, speechless. Then, Retadane interjected.

"The fact that you obtained a level 8 weapon, a light element weapon at that... Was the dungeon boss level 8 by any chance?"

"It seemed like it’d just become level 8. However, it was indeed level 8. I had to prepare a lot beforehand to take him down. I got some help from the secret shop too. The reason I was out of contact for so long was because I was so busy clearing that dungeon..."

The boss had, in no way, ’just become a level 8’. And although it had been weakened, it was still a level 9 divine bird that had remained trapped for hundreds of years. Plus, Lee Shin Woo had pretty much only bought bones from the secret shop!

"Since you’ve taken down three of the 12 Generals, you must’ve had plenty of Perium. I’ve never bought expendable equipment from the secret shop before, but if that woman supported you fully, then..."

Retadane was dumbfounded, yet nodded her head. He was sure that, right now, she was thinking of Pleine as a wasteful woman.

The misunderstanding between the sisters was deepening, and may even lead to a feud in the future! However, Lee Shin Woo decided not to worry about trivial matters.

"But even so, if you’re not strong enough, then it would still be impossible. In other words... Lee Shin Woo, are you level 8?"

He pondered briefly, but there was a chance that he’d have to show a portion of his power in this city. If that’s the case, then it would be impossible to hide his level. Lee Shin Woo didn’t really feel the necessity in hiding it any longer either. Thus, he just honestly nodded his head and said.

"Yes."

"...I thought you’d shown us all your tricks, but to think there was even more to you. I’m surprised. You’re always showing me something unbelievable."

This time, Retadane was actually shocked. It wasn’t because she’d come to know that Lee Shin Woo was level 8. It was that she hadn’t recognized how powerful he was before now.

Normally, the ’level’ of one’s existence is shown freely, and one would need to work tirelessly to hide it. But to her, Lee Shin Woo had never shown a ’level’ that was similar to hers.

"I was level 7 then, Retadane. It was only after that I reached level 8, by going through a variety of experiences. You can trust me."

"...I thought I was the one testing you, but it seems like you were the one testing us all along."

"I wasn’t testing you. I think of you all as trustworthy comrades. Ah, that includes Senior Lloyd and Senior Erian as well."

"Comrades..."

Comrades. Retadane let that word roll off her tongue a few times and then smiled bitterly, as if she’d just eaten licorice.

Lee Shin Woo could tell that she was repulsed by the idea and merely smiled. She had been a hero for dozens of years and had gone through every kind of ordeal imaginable, so she may have felt that it was pretentious of him to say.

"Retadane, regardless of what you think..."

"Shin Woo, something’s coming."

"Huh?"

But before Lee Shin Woo could tell her anything, Kratia curtly warned him. Spirits. He didn’t know what allowed them to move freely without being affected by the spatial magic, but all of the corrupted spirits in the city were coming for them.

[Lv5 Corrupted Sylph]

[Lv5 Corrupted Salamander]

The large force was mostly composed of Sylphs and Salamanders. The fire and wind spirits mixed together, becoming a black storm that came rushing towards them; the sight of which was truly frightening.

Spirits were composed of pure elemental mana. This was their greatest feature, and the more spirits there were, the more their power would increase (exponentially)!

"There’re tens of thousands of them at least!"

"We’ll intercept them. Focus on your magic!"

Retadane and Kratia were already poised to intercept them. However, the firestorm was so large that they were akin to a speck of dust. They didn’t know what to do to push them back.

Unfortunately, the spirits were unaffected by the spatial magic and didn’t set off the traps either. On the contrary, they received mana from them and their attacks became even greater than before.

"Fire Demon! Tch, you should’ve attacked the other trespassers instead!"

Prince summoned the Fire Demon much faster than before, perhaps due to her special training with Kratia, and complained. Then... the coming firestorm that had been coming straight for them began to go astray.

"Huh?"

"What the hell is that?"

They found it strange, yet they didn’t let their guard down. However, the firestorm went more and more astray. As more time passed, the firestorm completely missed them and ran off into a completely different direction.

Then, the firestorm descended. Someone was fighting off the firestorm and gathering their mana. The Corrupted Sylphs and Salamanders were truly attacking another invader!

"Senior..."

"Prince Altania..."

Lee Shin Woo stared blankly at Prince, and the other party members soon followed. Kratia quietly said.

"Prince, when did you learn Word Magic?"

"Hehe..."

She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but since it’d gone favorably for them, she decided to bluff. Prince swept her hanging silver hair with one hand and with a haughty expression, declared!

"Those spirits definitely changed directions after I spoke up!"

"There’s no way you know Word Magic, but I’m glad the situation was resolved well. We must continue with caution. Lee Shin Woo, please continue to lead us."

"Ok. Let’s take the shortest route."

"Then why did you even praise me in the first place!? Hey! Are you really going to embarrass me like this!?"

But the events continued to repeat. While Lee Shin Woo nullified the spatial magic and they went full speed ahead towards the center of the city, they sprung a few unavoidable traps (traps that would randomly draw nearby spirits and traps that summoned monsters out of nowhere). Despite that, the traps had all avoided their party.

"W-What’s going on?"

"Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Perhaps they’re afraid of the light element?"

"It’s possible if my weapon’s hidden ability activated, but... this is too much. Perhaps another group of trespassers are provoking them that much more. Regardless... we have no choice but to take advantage of this opportunity and go deeper into the city."

The party had stubbornly advanced, and the spirits and monsters had taken notice of this! Because they headed for the other invaders, there was a huge commotion within the city. The spirits and monsters slowed the other group’s advance, while allowing Lee Shin Woo’s group to advance even quicker. They couldn’t ask for any better.

’Is it you?’

’Of course it is. I did it the moment I sensed the other trespassers.’

Lee Shin Woo shamelessly answered Jin’s question and moved his legs. He was obviously using the Wild Card skill right now. And the element he was using? Dark Shadow!

He knew all about the surrounding area, as well as his enemies from afar. With the shadow that loomed over the city, he connected the two together, causing the spirits and monsters to go over to them. This level of twisting cause and effect was child’s play! He could achieve such a result by just manipulating cause and effect, so it was indeed suited to be a Joker’s innate element.

[The Beginner Dark Shadow element has become Lv7 and Magic has increased by 20.]

’Oh, it leveled up again.’

When he’d first entered the city and used Dark Shadow, the innate element had leveled up, but one more hour of distorting cause and effect had caused it to level up again!

Lee Shin Woo was looking forward to getting Dark Shadow to the intermediate level. His intermediate dark flame was quite powerful as well, but he could only imagine how powerful his innate element would end up being if he were to level it up to the intermediate level!

’You were already dangerous before, but now that you’ve gotten an innate element, you’re controlling the situation, even though it doesn’t look like you’re actually doing anything.’

’That’s the very definition of a Joker.’

In the midst of his naive comrades counting their blessings and traversing through the city, Lee Shin Woo and Jin spoke to each other and he smiled wickedly. His poker face should’ve been perfect, but Kratia, who had been watching him, looked sullen.

"Shin Woo, you’ve started hiding a lot more from me."

"Really? I think I’m always being honest."

"When we’re alone, prepare yourself."

"Kratia, don’t threaten my Junior."

The party bickered, yet continued through the city smoothly. It took another hour before they had arrived before the city walls that divided the inner and outer parts of the city.