Stop, Friendly Fire!

[You are facing a higher leveled foe! The Rebellion skill activates, and all stats are increased by 16%. Due to the existence of a partner, who you can share everything with, all stats are increased by an additional 11%, and all these effects are shared with your partner!]

"They’ve all left, right?"

"Yeah, they’re gone."

"Good. Then, shall we begin?"

"...Why are you putting your hand on my back?"

The sand, which formed the desert, was devoured by the hot wind and disappeared. Lee Shin Woo couldn’t defy gravity and began to fall, but even then, he remained calm. Jin remained calm as well, thinking ’Shin Woo will do something about it’, but... Lee Shin Woo placed his hand on Jin’s back, causing Jin to flinch.

"I guess I have no choice."

"Hey, what are you doing all of a sudden... Heugyak!"

It was only for a brief moment, but Jin was flustered and confused. However, he was soon able to get a hold of himself, as images and messages flowed into his head through the Assimilation skill. Calmly thinking about it, he was the strange one, as he was thinking about something so preposterous while they were falling down. No, the images flowing through his head were just as preposterous.

"I told you, I won’t sprout wings!"

"The image is good enough. The design’s perfect. I’m going."

"I’ve already tried it before. I told you, I can’t do it!"

To be honest, Jin had once thought that he could sprout wings. Why? In the past, when Lee Shin Woo had used Bone Reinforcement on him with winged monsters’ bones, Jin was lucky enough to learn the ’Fly’ skill.

Of course, he was really flustered back then, and tried his best to hide the truth from Lee Shin Woo. He then tried practicing it by himself later, but... He failed.

"No, you can do it. Focus on sharing our consciousness. I was going to attempt this after I’d become more accustomed to the Disguise skill but..."

"There’s no way it’d work with just your Disguise skill... Huh?"

Jin couldn’t create wings, even if he used his ’Steel Heart’ ability. The Fly skill would only allow an individual to fly if they had the means to do so; it wasn’t a skill that created weighty, steel wings that would enable him to fly.

If that’s the case, then why did he even receive the Fly skill? If an individual isn’t capable of using a skill, then they wouldn’t learn it, but why... Jin questioned and completely gave up on their dream (it was really more Lee Shin Woo’s dream) of flying. He was a little disappointed that he wasn’t able to make Lee Shin Woo’s dream come true, but that was a secret.

[Guooooooh!]

"Hey, that guy’s locked onto us. Hurry up."

"Mmmm...!"

However, Lee Shin Woo’s images were much clearer than his own attempts. He would focus Steel Heart on his body and create a new, exterior armor...

"Like the design?"

"Yeah. Disguise!"

"S-Steel Heart!"

When the level 9 Disguise skill was used on himself, it was absolute. However, when it was used on other people, it was quite strict, especially for things that didn’t originally exist... one could say that creating wings out of thin air was pretty much impossible.

Of course, Jin possessed the Steel Heart skill, which coated his body in a steel-like substance using mana. Because of that, it wasn’t difficult for him to attach wings to his body. But this would result in the same outcome as when he had tried it by himself. This time though, Lee Shin Woo had designed the wings, all of the details... And the power system as well.

And through the simultaneous activation of Lee Shin Woo’s Disguise and Jin’s Steel Heart skills, the image became a reality!

"Jeez, this... is really embarrassing!"

With the slightest of movements, Jin could easily control the tough, huge steel wings, while also having firm abdominal armor to support them.

These wings should allow him to ’slide down a slope’, but it obviously didn’t end there. The wings, the abdominal armor, and the leg armor were perforated with dozens of fine holes, and pipes were routed throughout the armor, acting as its power supply.

"Jin, all you need to do is let it out!"

"Keuk... Magic Breath!"

Through the combination of the Disguise and Steel Heart skills, Jin looked outwardly like a steel Pegasus. While they plummeted to the ground, Jin was somehow able to use his Magic Breath.

Due to their near perfect Assimilation, Jin was able to store Lee Shin Woo’s High Rank Wind with his Magic Breath!

"I did it!"

At the end of his desperate training, Jin had become capable of discharging Magic Breath from anywhere on his body. The Magic Breath flowed out of his toes first, and then traveled along the pipes and spurted wind out of all the holes connected to them. They began to float. He wasn’t sure if they could truly fly yet, but they could at least float!

But the wind was too chaotic, so they were immediately overturned within the air.

"Ugyak!"

"Control it! Keep your balance... That guy’s opening its mouth!"

[Kii, Kihiiii... Kyaaaaaaah!]

Although the Desert Ghost had sucked up all the sand, it wouldn’t allow any bugs to buzz around in the air.

It marked its target and opened its mouth. The rotating sand, heat, and wind mixed together and changed into something unknown, like lava. Since it wasn’t all elemental power and had some substance to it, Lee Shin Woo knew couldn’t handle it with just his Absorption skill!

’We have to dodge...!’

His body became tense at the thought of avoiding it, but Jin recklessly discharged the wind element through his Magic Breath (in other words, Wind Breath). But releasing wind like this wouldn’t do any good. They wouldn’t be able to maneuver properly; at best, they would be able to hover.

Jin was a sprinter in the past, so he had excellent motor skills. Even so, it would be impossible for him to control something he’d never had in the past. But then...

"...Ah!"

His Flying skill activated.

[The Low Rank Fly skill has become Lv10 and evolves to the intermediate level! Agility has increased by 75. You now have an unclear understanding of the fundamentals of flying. You can fly with any means at your disposal. The higher your agility, the quicker and more safely you can fly.]

When he had first acquired the Fly skill, it was low rank level 8. Of course, the level was meaningless, as he couldn’t even fly back then, but it had went up by two levels all of a sudden and reached the intermediate level.

At that moment, Jin instinctively understood how to move the wings Lee Shin Woo had designed for him. The wings fluttered, and the finely controlled wind was sprayed out.

[Gugyaaaaah!]

"Nice work, Jin!"

"Just wait until after the battle!"

All of Jin’s superlative speed was concentrated entirely into his flight; at that moment, they, who had been flying round and round, disappeared instantly and reappeared in the opposite direction. Rather than flight, it was more like teleportation!

The clump of lava passed where they had just been and flew far away; it hit the dungeon’s wall and melted it. If it continuously spewed out lava, then it would be able to melt the entire dungeon.

[Guoooooooh!]

"Hoo. Do you think you can do it, Shin Woo? Fighting while running on the ground and flying in the air are completely different."

"Ha, of course they are."

Just a short while ago he’d been so unconfident, but now... Jin, who’d gotten a feel for flying, ignored the hot wind, as well as the rotating sand storm within it, and circled around the Desert Ghost with ease. On the contrary, it worried Lee Shin Woo.

However, Lee Shin Woo was already connected to Jin. If Jin could do it, then Lee Shin Woo could too. In conclusion, with enough spatial awareness (front to back, left and right, and top to bottom), all one needed to do was control their body!

"Alright, then... I’m going!"

Once Jin stepped in the air, they charged at the Desert Ghost with explosive acceleration!

The Desert Ghost attempted to eviscerate them by making use of the hot air around it; it divided the air into dozens of wind blades and rushed towards them, but Jin avoided them with ease and continued to charge forward. Even the sandstorm, which had fused with the wind, was of no use. Its wind couldn’t even catch Jin’s shadow!

Although they were penetrating through a level 8 elite’s defenses (the sandstorm and hot air), they were still unscathed. But in order to attack it, Lee Shin Woo would have to go face-to-face with the shield of hot wind that covered its body.

He got a signal from Jin, inwardly nodded his head, and gripped his greatsword. Now!

[Kyahaaaaah!]

"Heup!"

Lee Shin Woo forcefully swung his greatsword, his blade emitting a brilliant red light. From an outsider’s point of view, it may look like a toothpick against a natural disaster, but at the moment of impact, the natural disaster was the one that folded. A portion of the Desert Ghost’s typhoon, which consisted of the sand, the wind, and the heat, was destroyed.

However, that wasn’t the end. It had lost its balance, and Lee Shin Woo absorbed the typhoon’s energy into his greatsword. Then, the greatsword released wind blades at the Desert Ghost’s face!

[Gyaaaah!?]

Even while flustered, the Desert Ghost quickly fused the wind and heat near its face and formed a shield to protect itself. Jin followed up on Lee Shin Woo’s wind blades by picking up the pace. The greatsword, which emanated a red light, let out a crackle and was covered in golden lightning.

"Suck out all of its heat!"

[I can’t suck out all of it. However... I can do something about that shield!]

The wind blades crashed into the monster’s shield and disappeared; they blew up right in front of its face, so the monster briefly closed its eyes and stiffened. At that moment, Lee Shin Woo’s greatsword sliced through the shield like paper and burrowed into its shell!

"Thunder Strike!"

Lee Shin Woo unleashed Bursting Thunder’s true power, causing its forehead to explode. It didn’t matter that his opponent was a level 8 elite. His Rebellion skill had increased his stats by almost 30% and adding the speed of Jin’s flight, as well as Zenon’s ability (which nullified the Desert Ghost’s fire shield), Lee Shin Woo managed to land a single powerful strike with Bursting Thunder.

Plus.

"Thorn Shadow!"

[Kyahaaaaaaahk!]

[Critical Hit!]

Shadow greatswords sprouted from the greatsword’s edge and flailed around inside its head. The serious injury caused the surrounding wind to momentarily stop, and the previously uplifted sand to fall.

It screamed, and Lee Shin Woo knew he had to take it down quickly; if not, then its scream could attract other monsters over. First, Lee Shin Woo quickly pulled out his greatsword. Jin ’jet blasted’ it and quickly retreated. Immediately after, the lava around it began to boil over.

[Kyahaaaaaaaahk!]

"That’s no ’Desert’ Ghost. It’s more of a Lava Ghost."

"Enough with the jokes. Just focus on killing it!"

The Desert Ghost was pissed, as it had sustained a grievous injury on its face. It began launching its lava haphazardly. It didn’t think it could catch Jin, so it hoped that if it shot lava plumes in every which way, then one of them would hit him!

But against Jin, that was the worst possible choice. He didn’t look for a pattern; he instead saw through the attacks with his frightening reflexes and senses in order to avoid them.

[Kushaaaaaaaah!]

[Kyahaaaaahk!]

Then, Lee Shin Woo suddenly felt ominous. The fallen sand had disturbed the monsters underground; these infuriated monsters had begun to mobilize!

[Lv8 Solar Scarab]

The Solar Scarabs were encased in shells and their wings rattled unpleasantly as they flew over. From a purely external view, they looked like stag beetles, but each one of them were more than 3 meters tall and they were obviously level 8.

Lee Shin Woo and Jin were instantly surrounded by dozens of level 8 monsters. This was an uncommon experience both underground and on the surface. If hell existed, then this was probably what it was referring to.

"Hey, what are you going to do about this?"

Jin spoke as though they could run away easily (due to his newly gained wings), but Lee Shin Woo couldn’t contain his smile.

"If we play our cards right, you may be able to reach level 8 too."

"I was stupid to ask."

Why did he even ask, when he already knew how Lee Shin Woo would respond!? Jin sighed and felt more at ease for some reason. It felt like all those suffocating feelings he had been feeling on the surface were disappearing. He and Lee Shin Woo were the only two people here. They would combine their strength and get out of this hardship by themselves.

They were both comrades who trusted each other 100%. This sense of unity could only be felt now. Everything culminated into his relaxed sense of calm. Jin knew he was distorted, as he felt relief in that. But it didn’t matter.

’It’s a disease.’

Jin grinned and unfolded his steel wings. Even if a Pegasus were to appear, Jin was confident he could match it in flight.

[The Intermediate Fly skill has become Lv3. Agility has increased by 60.]

"Alright, let’s go!"

Once he fluttered his wings, the two became one, and they eventually became a streak of light.

The level 8 dungeon was nothing more than a date spot to Jin now.