Stop, Friendly Fire!

Lee Shin Woo and Jin boldly entered the snow-covered mountain. The snow-covered mountain's cold air was god-awful and had a huge effect on the surrounding grassy plains, so it obviously looked different from the rest of the area.

"The mountain's surroundings suddenly getting so much colder shouldn't be a natural phenomenon, this must be an issue of excessive mana concentration again...?"

"Hmm, could be..."

Lee Shin Woo tread along the seemingly infinite precipice; the cliff seemed to go on and on... With a single glance he was able to see the mountain range and felt the flow of mana being drawn and sucked in somewhere. Would there be giants, or something even more ferocious awaiting him there...

"I'm sure that the core that's causing these changes in space is in here somewhere."

"That bastard's expanding space thing is here too, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but if we want to escape that mana flow, then we'll probably have to just leave."

The moment they stepped onto the mountain path, a frigid wind blew on them. It was incredibly cold. Fortunately, Lee Shin Woo and Jin possessed Ice Resistance, so it didn't trouble them that much. But Rem was a different story.

[Sensing intermediate level 3 cold air. Consuming mana to resist.]

"Oh, I see. You were here too. Mm... Could you come over here?"

[I understand, Master.]

He brought Rem atop his wrist, stared at it, and activated a skill. It was none other than the Assimilation skill.

'I was thinking of trying to take Assimilation in another direction anyway.'

The Assimilation skill was originally the Horseback Riding skill, and as the communion ability (which was part of the Horseback Riding skill) developed to its very limit, it affected the skill itself and allowed it to evolve into an ability that transcended the original.

It wasn't a simple agreeing of both heart and mind, but rather, a sharing of mana or skills. Its range was quite wide, and he had obviously only been using it on Jin until now.

But as Intermediate Assimilation leveled up, he began to think that restricting his Assimilation use to just Jin was unnecessary. In other words, the issue wasn't who the target was, but how close he was to that target!

'And I was somewhat successful last time.'

Just a short while ago, it happened when they had come across Prince in the training facility.

Lee Shin Woo thought Rem wouldn't be able to escape Prince's notice, but he had used his Assimilation and Disguise skills on it to hide it. That instinctive activation of using those two skills was quite effective, completely hiding Rem's existence.

Still, that was nothing more than a temporary measure to erase Rem's presence, so the application was poor in several areas. But after that, Lee Shin Woo came to the realization that there was some latent potential in the Assimilation skill and decided that he'd train it some more sometime.

'If I hadn't awakened the Darkness element, then I wouldn't have been able to even try it...'

Darkness mana connected one individual with another and made all entities the same under its umbrella. If he could use darkness mana and the Assimilation skill together, then it shouldn't be impossible for him to communicate and connect with his subordinates. He might even be able to use it on several of his subordinates at the same time!

'That's just wishful thinking at this point though.'

If for no other reason than to achieve that dream someday, Lee Shin Woo had no choice but to train on Rem. Lee Shin Woo sensed the unbreakable link of darkness mana between him and Rem, focused on it, and gradually activated his Assimilation skill.

His connection with Jin was inevitably weakened by this interaction, but fortunately, the link wasn't severed.

[Mm...]

Rem emitted a sound resembling a program being loaded. Lee Shin Woo concentrated even further and tried to share his level 7 Intermediate Ice Resistance with it.

If his Assimilation succeeded, then it shouldn't be difficult to share his Ice Resistance.

If everything went according to plan, it would work! And for a split second, while he was concentrating, he felt the link between him and Rem become even firmer.

[I sense unknown energy flowing into me from you, Master. Analyzing... It is level 7 Intermediate Ice Resistance.]

"Oh!"

[10%... 20%... Assimilation rate currently at 67%...]

He'd succeeded on the first try! At this point, he was scared of his own talent. Lee Shin Woo was so excited that he focused even harder on his Assimilation skill.

Lee Shin Woo hadn't noticed this, but black mana was flickering across his body. The Darkness element was reinforcing the Assimilation skill!

[100% Assimilation successful. I have become able to resist the cold air without consuming mana.]

"Nice! As I thought, as long as they have a strong connection with me, I can use Assimilation on other people!"

"...Tch."

For some reason, Jin seemed to be a bit displeased, but unfortunately, Lee Shin Woo was preoccupied with the revelation of Assimilation's new, latent potential, so he wasn't really concerned about it. While he was at it, he decided to figure out how far he could take the Assimilation, so he was in his own little world testing out the possibilities.

How much time had he spent analyzing his Assimilation skill? Around the time that Rem was able to fly safely, regardless of how cold the winds became, his skill leveled up.

[The Intermediate Assimilation skill has become Lv9, and Agility and Magic have increased by 5. The range of Assimilation widens gradually, and you can now maintain your skills with less concentration.]

Suddenly, Lee Shin Woo instinctively made a fist. If his Assimilation skill evolved to the high rank level, then he might be able to maintain a connection with several people at the same time. If he were to add his Command skill in there as well, then he would be able to strengthen his subordinates to the limit!

"Rem, could you go scouting for me too?"

[Yes, Master. I believe I can now sense other entities' energy, even if they are not golems.]

Maybe it was just his imagination, but it felt like he spoke more positively to Rem. 'I'm probably just misunderstanding,' he thought, yet he felt great.

[Please maintain the connection.]

"Alright. Then, I'll leave it to you."

Rem fluttered its wings and flew. The deeper into the mountain range they went, the colder the winds became. Now, it felt like they were continuously being attacked by an intermediate level 4 ice magic, but because Lee Shin Woo completely shared his Ice Resistance with Rem, Rem didn't have any problems. Instead...

"Mm... It feels like I'm doubling my resistance training."

"Could you not say scary stuff like that?"

"Now that I think about it, it's the same when I activate skills through you. Maybe I've discovered an amazing combo technique!"

To think that the skills he used on others through Assimilation were trained as well. He'd hit the jackpot!

Lee Shin Woo momentarily imagined bringing the more than 1,000 Pauls to this mountain range and training his Ice Resistance by sharing it with them all, but he soon discarded that idea. Not only was he unable to maintain his connection with hundreds of people yet, he didn't want to give Naruto a bad name.

"So how is it? Can you share what you see too?"

"Yeah. As I thought, it was the right move to use Assimilation on Rem."

"...Tch."

Sharing what Rem saw was quite an unusual experience. He was walking on the ground with his body, yet his eyes were looking down from the sky. This was exactly what would trigger motion sickness, but this would help train his senses too.

[I believe I can go up even further to check.]

'Alright. I'm counting on you.'

If Lee Shin Woo's assumption was correct, then they had already entered into the Giants' domain. It wouldn't be strange for them to meet completely different entities at any time.

With Rem's eyes, Lee Shin Woo collected information on the ground and its geographical features. He picked out the pertinent information and relayed it to Jin, which was the most optimum route for information sharing. Lee Shin Woo felt like he'd become a navigating device. But while doing so, something strange came into Rem's sight all of a sudden.

[Master, are you seeing this?]

"Yeah, I see it..."

They saw a Giant on the snowy plains, which was reachable by going up one more hill.

It was undead of course, but that wasn't the issue here. The real issue was the other entities fighting against that undead. Rem took it upon itself to focus its gaze.

"What is this? Is it the Imperial Army by any chance...?"

"What are you talking about...?"

Lee Shin Woo focused even further. He hadn't seen wrong. The Imperial Army was fighting against an undead giant, and they were all at least level 3 elites. Obviously, the undead giant couldn't win against them and was helplessly being pushed back.

But then, from another direction, knights leading more elite troops attacked it together. They were obviously all undead, but he felt a strange sense of deja vu as he looked upon the highly disciplined force. It felt like he'd seen this force somewhere before...

'Ah.'

He suddenly figured it out. There were some knights mixed in that he'd seen before. From someone else's memories... They were knights he'd seen in the memories of Metafel's troops!

'But why did they come here? Moreover, why are they attacking the Giants?'

The gears in Lee Shin Woo's head began to turn quickly. He was sure that it wasn't easy to access this snow-covered mountain.

Metafel gained the title of '12 generals' because of his ability to gather all the mercenaries in the Empire under his command. Not only was it not possible for him to have such knowledge in mana, he didn't even have a reason to lead his troops here.

'In other words, it might be an imperial command. He was probably helped by someone who could read the flow of mana and find the right path...'

At this point, it was hard to infer anything else. What was the best way to figure this out? Lee Shin Woo pondered for a long time. He didn't have to think very hard. He just needed to kill those guys and check their memories!

'Plus, if I want to achieve my original goal, then... I'll have to try rescuing that Giant!'

Normally, with its level and its size, the Giant should've been able to overpower the Imperial Army, but because of the level 4 and 5 knights swarming it from all sides, it was forced on the defensive.

If it was level 6, then it would've been able to easily take care of them, regardless of how many came, but it seemed like the Giant was only a high rank level 5. Even if things didn't go as he wanted, there was no chance it would come back to bite him!

"At this rate, that poor guy will die. Hurry, we got to save James!"

"You're doing it again, giving people names without thinking..."

"Let's hurry!"

Despite Jin knowing that Lee Shin Woo had formulated a new plan, he did as he was told and rushed towards the Giant.

While running, Lee Shin Woo changed his armor into a sharp scalemail, and behind it, he wore his robe made of bone powder, which changed its form to look like a cape. Henceforth, this would be Paul Zero's default appearance!

"You all, stop!"

[Keuk!?]

Lee Shin Woo rose atop the hill and yelled with a booming voice. The attacking undead force was shocked and turned to look at him. He had no intention of hiding his strength, so their response seemed only natural.

"How dare you attack a Giant... I won't forgive you!"

[Do you... know about us...?]

The giant took notice of Lee Shin Woo as well, though one eye was completely gone while the other was halfway rotten, and he looked like he was a zombie. Lee Shin Woo was somewhat excited about how they were all focused on him, and said excitedly.

"I am the wielder of the Titan's Pride, Paul Zero! All of you, get away from my brother!"

'Paul Zero - The Legend of the Giants' begins now!

...Though of course, it's all a lie!