CH 184

Ariane had thought that she could avert her crisis by mixing lies with truth, but she would soon find out she was very, very wrong.

“Argh!” Stars flashed before her eyes from a single blow of Kim Jin-Woo’s fist, and her stomach turned inside out with a single kick. A pain that throbbed right through her insides, down to the bones, resonated through her body, and she screamed as mucus and tears rolled out of her orifices.

“P-Please…” She couldn’t even comprehend what she was begging for, but her head was only filled with fear at that moment.

Her physical pain was one thing to be afraid of, but something even more terrifying than that was the fact that the Undefeated Commander said nothing all throughout. He acted as if he were violence itself personified, and there was not an ounce of mercy in his blows.

Ariane couldn’t understand what he wanted, and thus, she found no escape from the pain. She desperately shook her head in fear and pain, but all she could muster was a plea for her life. “S-Save…”

The hellish experience carried on for a long time, until she couldn’t even figure out where she was being beaten. She was pushed past the point of passing out before the violence finally ended.

“Please let me live…” Ariane pleaded. Her alluring figure was gone, and she was no longer the ruler of her hundred Nightmares. The sight of her desperately begging for her life as she forfeited all sense of reputation and image was so terrifying that even onlookers shuddered at what they were witnessing.

“P-Please… let me leave.” She clung desperately onto the hem of Kim Jin-Woo’s robe while weeping, afraid that the terrible beating would start again. “I’ll do anything you ask me to, so please… stop…” At that moment, any thoughts of the Lord of Nightmares had long left her mind.

For the first time, the Undefeated Commander spoke. “You’ll do anything I ask…?”

“Yes! Yes! Anything you ask me to! So please…” Just the fact that she wasn’t being beaten to a pulp at that moment was a huge moment of relief for Ariane, and she desperately appealed to him. She thought that at the very least, she wouldn’t be beaten up while the conversation was going on.

“Anything you ask…” Ariane couldn’t even look into Kim Jin-Woo’s eyes until that moment, for fear of being killed. But finally, she gathered the courage to lift her head. However, when she saw the face of the Undefeated Commander, she froze.

An abyss.

That was all she saw in his deep black eyes. And beyond the deep darkness of his eyes, there was nothing.

He showed absolutely no curiosity about what Ariane might say next, nor did he show any regrets about punishing the spy. There was a look of indifference in his eyes, as if he were looking at an inanimate object.

The moment Ariane saw those eyes, she realized her fate had been sealed. “Ah…” Her hands, that had been clutching onto his hem, grew weak and fell to the ground.

“There’s nothing you can offer me,” the Conqueror said to Ariane as she bowed her haid.

***

Ariane had been as cunning as ever. All she had in her head was how to overcome the situation. Thus, she had opted to use her body to survive instead of talking her way out of it.

The results had been better than she’d expected. While she was being beaten to a pulp, she had swallowed whatever information she had and buried it deep within her.

It was a vain delusion. Kim Jin-Woo had had no intention of even giving her a chance to trade her information for her life in the first place. Even without having her open her mouth, he already knew everything. The Eyes of Truth had completely read her like an open book. Thus, he saw no need to ask any questions.

With just his fists and feet doing the work, he was able to obtain pure information with all the lies filtered out. The more violent he got, the more useful information he was able to extract out of her mind.

After a while, Ariane had desperately tried to use her smarts to gain some kind of recognition of her worth, as if she were trying to make a deal with him. But she could never have imagined that her own efforts had become the very snare that was now around her neck.

“Put her away,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

At the end of her despair, despite having put everything on the table, Ariane was dragged away by the Nagas without any resistance, in spite of the fact that she had been begging for her life since the beginning.

Kim Jin-Woo watched her helpless figure being dragged out without even batting an eyelid, and muttered to himself, “They’re all the same.”

Just from looking at the state of the Grand Labyrinth, anyone could see how powerful the Highlord’s powers were. But it was starting to get on Kim Jin-Woo’s nerves that the Deep Floor Counts coveted it to this extent.

But just then, he had more pressing matters at hand.

“Rikshasha,” he began.

“Your orders, my King,” Rikshasha answered.

Despite witnessing all the violence unfold in front of her eyes, Rikshasha was as stoic as ever. Since she didn’t even care about her own clanmates over the glory of her Master, there was no way she would be shaken by seeing the traitorous Queen of Illusions being subjected to such violence.

“Come closer,” Kim Jin-Woo continued.

Rikshasha drew closer to Kim Jin-Woo without any hesitation.

“Closer,” Kim Jin-Woo repeated.

But at that point, even Rikshasha couldn’t help but start to get nervous. Even as she stood right in front of him, she flinched at his command.

“You’re making this difficult.”

Kim Jin-Woo, who had been silently observing Rikshasha’s approach, suddenly clicked his tongue and stepped forward. In an instant, he abruptly stretched out his hand, reaching out right in front of her.

“M-My King!” Rikshasha stuttered in embarrassment as Kim Jin-Woo suddenly stroked her ear. He gently caressed her earlobe with an air of indifference, regardless of what she was saying. “I… Uh…”

A smile hung on the corners of Kim Jin-Woo’s lips as he looked at Rikshasha’s reddened face; she was unable to speak out of sheer embarrassment. But his smile seemed rather cold compared to his actions. Eventually, he remarked, “Found it.”

“What do you…” Rikshasha began.

Kim Jin-Woo didn’t reply. He squinted, looking at the long ears typical of the Under-Elves, before suddenly twisting her ear as if he were pinching it.

“Ouch!” Rikshasha let out a sudden cry as she looked back at her master blankly.

“Denarion, that bastard. He’s using such shallow tactics now,” Kim Jin-Woo said coldly as he pressed his thumb and index finger into a pincer. “It’s a parasite.”

“What?” Rikshasha exclaimed, stupefied.

Kim Jin-Woo replied, “It’s a spy sent by Denarion.”

[You have discovered a parasite sent by Denarion.]

[Denarion’s spy is so small and secretive that you wouldn’t have been able to find it if not for the Queen of Illusion’s unaware confession. Despite its insignificant appearance, this parasite is quite the spy.]

Squish.

Kim Jin-Woo tossed the squashed parasite aside with a twist of his fingers. He belatedly noticed Rikshasha’s expression and his eyes widened. “Why do you have such a look on your face?”

Rikshasha’s face was bright red, but she quickly understood the situation and took a step back. “I-It’s nothing!” she shouted, embarrassed.

Kim Jin-Woo frowned. Rikshasha, belatedly aware of her own folly, opened and closed her mouth several times before hanging her head low.

“Oh, and Rikshasha,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

“Yes?” The Under-Elf answered with a calm voice, despite her flushed look.

“There’s someone who wants you.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Deep Floor Count, Denarion of Nightmares, desires you,” Kim Jin-Woo began. Rikshasha frowned as she quietly backed away, waiting for further explanation.

“He wants the power of the Fairy Lord that your clan once served,” Kim Jin-Woo continued.

“Ah…” At the mention of the Fairy Lord, Rikshasha raised her head.

“You’re the only Under-Elf in the Underworld that didn’t bow down to defeatism.”

“You’re planning on handing me over to the Lord of Nightmares, aren’t you?” Rikshasha couldn’t hide her trembling heart, as her face reflected her unfathomable sadness and resignation toward the possibility. “This humble servant no longer remembers how the former Lord was.”

In her mind, her master had already agreed on a deal with the Deep Floor Count, and as such, it was just a matter of yet another Under-Elf slave being handed from one master to another.

“But if the King wills, I’ll head where I’m commanded. If you give me the order, I’ll change my place of residence immediately.”

Kim Jin-Woo quietly looked at her before asking a question. “Do you wish to relocate to the Deep Floors?”

In response, Rikshasha’s expression showed resentment for the first time ever. “Master is the one who provided this lowly servant a new chance at life when I wandered the Underworld like a beast, and Master is the only one I’ll be loyal to until the end of this lowly life. Even if you hand over this worthless slave over to somebody else, it will be as per Master’s will,  but please don’t hand over my loyalty to Master.”

The sight of Rikshasha brimming with tears with resentment from the admittedly unfair treatment was so dramatic that Kim Jin-Woo belatedly burst into laughter.

“That’s too much for a joke!” Rikshasha, who had seemed ready to charge into the depths of hell at Kim Jin-Woo’s command, collapsed onto the floor as her legs grew weak. Only now had she recognized the playfulness in her master’s voice.

“Ahhh…” The resentment and sadness that had filled her eyes disappeared in an instant. Her long, deep sigh expressed how astonished she truly was.

“I don’t intend to hand you over.” Having said that, Kim Jin-Woo looked in the direction where Ariane had been dragged away toward and spoke. “But I am intrigued by the power of the Fairy Lord that he spoke of.”

However, he didn’t elaborate any further on what was on his mind.

***

Living beings were bound to sleep, and the Lord of Nightmares was able to approach his victims through their dreams. It was as if there were nowhere in the Underworld for one to hide from his eyes.

“Even if you’re not used to it for a while, stay put on the surface,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

He was a being that wasn’t confined solely to the Underworld. Thus, he decided to hide Rikshasha in the surface labyrinth. In that place, not even the Lord of Nightmares could reach out to her, no matter how hard he might try.

“But it won’t take that long,” he added.

In response, Rikshasha bowed and disappeared into the darkness.

“Morrigan,” Kim Jin-Woo called. Morrigan appeared in the same spot Rikshasha had vanished from. Kim Jin-Woo commanded, “Keep watch on Yoon-Hee. I still can’t completely trust her.”

Yoon-Hee had barely sworn her allegiance only after she reached the surface, but Kim Jin-Woo still couldn’t fully trust her. He felt that Denarion might end up making use of Yoon-Hee if things didn’t go his way. Thus, he ordered the Death Crow, who could defeat most labyrinth masters single-handedly on any given day, to thoroughly monitor Yoon-Hee.

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it just be better to send her off somewhere far away…” Morrigan tilted her head, unable to understand why Rikshasha and Yoon-Hee had to be kept in close proximity.

“No, there’s no need to go to that extent,” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

Morrigan objected, “Denarion is a sneaky bastard. Even that vicious Parthenon would have much preferred to face the Iron-Blooded Giant than the Lord of Nightmares. If he pulls all the tricks up his sleeves, we might find ourselves in a tough spot.”

Despite the repeated concerns, Kim Jin-Woo still seemed unwilling to part with Yoon-Hee.

“Do you have a plan in mind?” Morrigan asked about his intentions, remembering how sneaky and cunning her own master was as well.

“Denarion did promise me Parthenon’s Seal. But…” The corners of Kim Jin-Woo’s lips rose. A greedy smile formed on his face, showing his white teeth. “Two is always better than one, isn’t it?”

Morrigan then remembered what she had forgotten. Her master’s greed exceeded his cunning.