Chapter 162

#62. The True Name of the Grand Labyrinth

The dizzying feeling Kim Jin-Woo felt when he crossed the portal was too strange to  be incongruous. As his mind grew hazy, it almost felt as though he had stepped into a dreamlike world, where the line between dream and reality blurred into absurdity, and he let out a painful groan.

But he suddenly realized that this terrifying feeling was oddly familiar. He murmured, “Nightmare…”

It was the same sense of discomfort he had felt after his forced encounter with Denarion. But ever since he had met Denarion, he had never fallen asleep, yet alone gotten a nightmare.

Nevertheless, the lingering emotions that remained were surprisingly similar to those of Denarion’s nightmares.

“Damn it…” Kim Jin-Woo cursed. He wasn’t stupid. Thus, he was able to discern the reason for the bizarre occurrence that was happening to him.

The Grand Labyrinth. This monster that was unique to the Underworld had somehow influenced him.

And now that he had returned to the surface, he instinctively knew that the hidden bond between him and the Grand Labyrinth had weakened, and thus, he was able to wake up from his nightmare.

“My god.”

His whole body trembled, as goosebumps appeared all over his body and his skin shriveled up. A chill ran down his spine, and he felt as lightheaded as if he were standing on the edge of a cliff.

It seemed apparent that not only were the thousands of mobs and Moai not enough for the monster, but it was now even trying to devour the spirit of its master.

The Grand Labyrinth was a monster more dangerous than he had imagined. This huge, insidious monster was Greed personified.

[Highlord Kim Jin-Woo has realized the True Name of the Grand Labyrinth.]

[Your decisions have been aligned with violence rather than peace, and domination rather than harmony. You are a ferocious warrior and a greedy ruler. You are the fear that burns everything in your path, and the greed that devours everything.]

[The Grand Labyrinth was born under your influence. This one-of-a-kind Grand Labyrinth that will never exist again in the Underworld is a devourer of all things.]

[The True Name of the Grand Labyrinth is ‘Greed’.]

As Kim Jin-Woo read the delayed messages, his suspicions were confirmed.

[Your power, awakened by your ascension to Highlord, is incomplete. Nevertheless, the Grand Labyrinth of Greed that you’ve created is powerful enough to be compared to the Grand Labyrinths of the Ten Ancient Lords.]

[Unless you act quickly to resolve this imbalance of power, your mind will be devoured by the greedy Grand Labyrinth.]

[Collect fragments of the Ancient Lords, or the ancient Power Fragments. Those are the only ways you will be able to bring this greedy monster to its knees.]

It seemed Kim Jin-Woo was in possession of a monster he couldn’t handle on his own. After taking a deep breath, he was finally able to clear his head.

Although he had almost been devoured by the out-of-control monster, not everything was bad news. At the very least, he’d gained a clue as to how to control his Grand Labyrinth.

And the moment he cleared his head, the path he knew he had to take was decided: Find beings like Ustus to absorb the fragments of the Ancient Lords, and find the Nobles’ Seals to absorb the ancient Power Fragments. Build up his strength and bring the disobedient monster to its knees.

Only then would the Grand Labyrinth be unable to cross him ever again. Kim Jin-Woo was truly angry at the atrocity of the monster that couldn’t even recognize its own master.

“How is the King here…” came a voice.

Kim Jin-Woo was lost in thought, but he stopped dead in his tracks as someone suddenly appeared. But upon realizing their identity, he lowered his guard. He exclaimed, “Yoon-Hee?”

Yoon-Hee, whose fate was supposedly unknown based on the reports of the Under-Elves, stood in front of him, dressed in an ill-fitting T-shirt that barely covered her body.

***

“When I lost contact with the King, the situation was at its worst,” Yoon-Hee said in a monotone, explaining what had happened. “The Moai got close to the Party Hall, and the Shadow Summons and I didn’t have enough strength to stop them.”

That was due to Kim Jin-Woo being cut off from the rest of the world for almost a fortnight due to the Grand Labrinth. It would definitely have been unreasonable for Yoon-Hee to hold out for more than a month, since the Party Hall was already comparatively lacking in power.

“But of all the places, why did you come to the surface?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

The surface wasn’t a place that Yoon-Hee was particularly familiar with. It might have been a place that had brought about a strange sense of longing and nostalgia for her, but there was literally nothing she could do on the surface. It wasn’t the best of choice when it came to choosing a shelter. After all, she was nothing more than a dungeon baby in name only on the surface.

But it seemed she had a reason to flee the Underworld. She confided in Kim Jin-Woo in an unusually honest manner. “Denarion’s messenger came to visit me.”

“Denarion?” Kim Jin-Woo asked. Now that he knew that the Queen of Illusions had been Denarion’s spy, he couldn’t believe Yoon-Hee entirely at first. However, he pretended to continue listening, feigning ignorance of that fact. And at the very least, based on what the Eyes of Truth was telling him, she wasn’t lying.

“It seemed as if he wanted me to return to his side,” Yoon-Hee continued.

“Ah…” Kim Jin-Woo’s doubts deepened. Even if Yoon-Hee had been pushed out of the succession race and auctioned off by the Black Merchant, she had no reason not to go, especially if her own father was calling her back. The 11th Floor Count’s labyrinth was a much more familiar and safer place for her than the surface.

“I didn’t want to go back,” Yoon-Hee said.

“Why?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

Yoon-Hee replied with a stiff expression, “Because I knew what he wanted.”

After a brief pause, she continued her story. “The moment I lost contact with the King, I knew it. What he needed wasn’t Yoon-Hee, the successful labyrinth master, but merely a vessel to contain the power of the Ancient Lord.” She warily looked Kim Jin-Woo in the eye and said, “You’re not surprised one bit.”

“I’ve been blindsided a fair bit; this is nothing new at this point,” Kim Jin-Woo said. In fact, he truly wasn’t surprised at all, despite knowing about all of Yoon-Hee’s issues with the Highlord.

He continued, “And Ariane confessed who she was. She knew about the Highlord, too. In this case, if I were still surprised by what you had to say, then maybe I would have deserved to die.” When he had gotten the confession out of Ariane, this too was something he had anticipated.

“Don’t you resent me?” Yoon-Hee asked.

“Resentment? The Underworld is a dog-eat-dog world; there’s no place for such childish emotions,” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

Kim Jin-Woo might have been a bit too blunt with his words, but it wasn’t surprising, considering that he had been influenced by the Grand Labyrinth of Greed, and the amount of anger he had experienced in that short amount of time. Perhaps he had no more emotions left to expend.

He continued, “But that doesn’t mean this makes sense. If you knew about the Highlord, you should know how powerful I am.”

“But it just makes your powers equally dangerous,” Yoon-Hee remarked.

Kim Jin-Woo had a feeling that Yoon-Hee knew more about the power of the Highlord, as well as the Grand Labyrinth, than he did.

Yoon-Hee continued, “My brothers and sisters have already been sacrificed to recreate the power of the Ancient Lords. It doesn’t seem as if he’s made any kind of progress on that front.”

But what Yoon-Hee considered dangerous seemed different from Kim Jin-Woo’s expectations. She seemed more concerned about what would happen should the implantation of those powers fail.

“His power is related to nightmares, and as long as he’s alive, none can escape his powers. Everyone has to sleep at some point. That’s why I escaped to the surface, where his powers won’t be able to reach.” Yoon-Hee shrugged as she finished speaking.

Kim Jin-Woo looked at hier with his Eyes of Truth, and there was not a hint of a lie within her. She had truly escaped to the surface to run away from Denarion. However, he said, “I still have my doubts.”

“What do you mean?” Yoon-Hee asked.

“I’ve never told you about the location of my house, and I never granted you permission to link a portal to it,” Kim Jin-Woo replied. He had made use of her sense of nostalgia and longing for the surface to tame her. Naturally, he wasn’t going to be sloppy enough to let her return to the surface with her own abilities.

“I received help,” Yoon-Hee said.

“Help?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

Yoon-Hee answered with a tired look. “You’re a bad man. I thought you’d have thought of her by now.” Perhaps because she’d been released from the Vassal’s Pledge, she was treating him rather casually. She continued, “I received help from the vampire.”

“Angela!” Kim Jin-Woo belatedly remembered the existence of the vampire who only had eyes for him, and called out for Angela.

“Ever since losing contact with you, she realized that the path to the 9th Floor was blocked and came to find me. And I fled with her to the surface,” Yoon-Hee explained.

Angela was different from the others. While others had entered into a life of forced servitude via the Vassal’s Pledge, she had willingly chosen to serve Kim Jin-Woo through her blood covenant. And the blood contract was an absolute contract that was incomparable to the Vassal’s Pledge. This contract, which made the master’s blood the vassal’s source of life, had only one drawback.

“She’s on the verge of dying right now,” Yoon-Hee said.

If Angela was unable to drink her master’s blood, her energy would decline and she would eventually die.

“Where is Angela?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

Yoon-Hee shrugged and turned around to guide him. She seemed to have gotten rather familiar with the layout of the house, as she casually walked around as if she were residing in her own home. But Kim Jin-Woo wasn’t bothered by her behavior. He was only concerned about the condition of Angela, who was getting closer to dying by the minute.

“Please enter,” Yoon-Hee said.

Following Yoon-Hee’s guidance, Kim Jin-Woo arrived at the room he usually used as his bedroom. He let out a near-inaudible gasp before he even knew it.

“M-Master?” came a murmur.

On his solitary bed covered with white sheets lay Angela. Her complexion was as pale as the sheets themselves. She would have normally clung all over Kim Jin-Woo by now, but this time, she was barely able to respond to his voice as she struggled to even open her eyes. In less than a month, the beautiful and proud vampire had been starved down to her bones, almost resembling a corpse.

“Master!” Angela called out in a hollow voice that triggered a chain of dry coughs. “I… I found the down gems’ whereabouts. Even while Master was away, I did as Master ordered.” Even though she had lost her source of vitality and was on her deathbed, she proudly talked about her deeds, as if she were waiting for her Master’s compliments.

Kim Jin-Woo swiftly approached Angela and gently stroked her long blonde hair that was now brittle and dying, saying, “You did well, Angela. Good job.”

“Hehe,” Angela giggled.

Seeing Angela grin like an idiot at him, Kim Jin-Woo sharply raised his nails and slit his wrists.

“Ah.”

Angela wasn’t even able to turn her head due to her lack of strength, and yet, she mustered all her strength to not miss even a single drop of the precious essence of life. Even though her parched and chapped lips were torn apart, she ignored the pain, as she craved his blood.

And although she had lost her vitality and her body resembled a mummy, slowly, she was able to gradually regain her strength.