Chapter 51

For their first true fight, Jinwoo raises his shadow soldiers, dark shapes rising against the snow with blue eyes burning through the mist. The Ice Bears charge in, fast and agile despite their bulk, and his shadow mages answer with fireballs that sear the beasts' thick hides. As the brawl drags on, Jinwoo's mana steadily bleeds away with every attack his troops throw. Then a far larger creature arrives: the Ice Bear Alpha, thicker-furred and fiercer, which rips through his shadows with brutal ease until his entire army is gone and the system flags his mana at zero. He gives one order, leaving the matter to Igris alone.

Igris advances in armor, sidesteps the Alpha's lunge, and opens a deep gash along its flank, then keeps carving until the beast staggers and collapses from blood loss. With a final swing he takes its head, which thuds down before Jinwoo, and the system reports Jinwoo has reached Level 51. Raising a hand, Jinwoo brings back the slain bears together with their Alpha as shadows, their eyes now glowing violet, folding them into his ranks. Outside, Baek Yoonho checks his watch to find three hours gone, a span few ever survive. Hwang Dongsoo, certain Jinwoo is already dead and ready to fly home, seizes Ahn Sangmin by the throat after Ahn defends Jinwoo. Yoonho grips Dongsoo's wrist, their auras collide, and the two stand a breath away from open combat.

Jinwoo's shadow soldiers and mages battle the Ice Bears until the Ice Bear Alpha wipes out his army and drains his mana to zero. Igris fights the Alpha alone and decapitates it. Jinwoo reaches Level 51 and raises the slain bears and their Alpha as new shadows. Outside the gate, three hours have passed. Dongsoo grabs Ahn Sangmin, and Baek Yoonho intervenes, bringing the two to the edge of a fight.

This chapter belongs to the Red Gate Arc and maps to anime Episode 13. It showcases Jinwoo's shadow extraction reaching the Alpha tier and Igris's prowess as a standout commander. The brewing confrontation between Baek Yoonho and Hwang Dongsoo outside the gate raises the external tension while Jinwoo grows stronger within.