CH 236

“She’s not here!?” Kim Jin-Woo frowned as he looked at the empty quarters of the Night-Mares. He belatedly searched the area, but Ariane was nowhere to be seen. He commanded urgently, “Find the Queen of Illusions!”

The summons scattered to find the Queen of Illusions. After a while, they returned with heavy expressions, reporting that there wasn’t a single trace of Ariane to be seen. “She’s not here!”

“Fuck!” Kim Jin-Woo cursed with belated regret.

Ariane was a traitor. She had been a spy sent by Denarion, and she had already been humiliated once after she was found out. Because she was subjected to such treatment, Kim Jin-Woo had subconsciously ignored the possibility that she could have been a Warden. He had never thought that she could have hidden her true identity by wearing so many layers of masks.

No, now that he thought of it, this might have been Ariane’s plan all along. The fact that she had approached him under Denarion’s orders and that she had revealed her identity the day thousands of mobs were slaughtered all seemed absurd in hindsight. After all, it was insane to think that she, who was only a minor Noble, had pursued Denarion of Nightmares, who was her master and also a Deep Floor Count.

He had thought that even if she were to fail, he had nothing to lose, which was why he didn’t think much of it and let her be. But now that it was revealed that he had been played by her all along, he couldn’t help but feel rage.

How stupid and foolish he was… No. He tried to blame himself, but at that time, there had been absolutely no reason for him to doubt her. Who could have imagined that she was wearing another mask underneath her mask?

“I’ve found traces of the Queen of Illusions!” Rikshasha delivered her report, and Kim Jin-Woo gritted his teeth.

By the time he acted on it, however, Ariane had already left the Grand Labyrinth. “Damn it!” He slammed the floor in a rage, but it was already too late.

The Vampires who were in charge of guarding the front door looked at each other sullenly, then looked away.

Kim Jin-Woo, who was already boiling with rage, grew even angrier upon seeing their irresponsible behavior. “Urgh!”

He grabbed one of the Vampires by her neck and she let out a painful groan. The Vampire’s white face turned even paler as he roared ferociously, “What are you so proud of, huh!?”

Ssssskt.

“You bastards!?”

Was it camaraderie, or were they looking down on him? Seeing the Vampires surrounding him, sparks flew from his eyes.

“Woooorgh.”

The momentum of the furious Highlord was something the Vampires had never witnessed before. Belatedly, they realized what they had done, and they trembled in place.

“Master!”

Seeing that the Vampires could be annihilated at any moment, Angela quickly stepped in and kneeled in front of Kim Jin-Woo, saying, “Please calm down. They don’t know who the Queen of Illusions is.”

Kim Jin-Woo knew that fact too.

The reason the Queen of Illusions had been able to escape from the Grand Labyrinth so easily was because of the entangled state of the labyrinth, and it wasn’t necessarily the Vampires’ fault.

Because he had been so concerned about the Wardens’ possible actions, all of his trusted Summons had stood guard in the center of the Grand Labyrinth, while the Vampires who had just been accepted into it had been placed in charge of guarding the outskirts. Naturally, the boundaries of the Grand Labyrinth hadn’t been as protected as before.

But now that the situation had unfolded the way it did, it was probably for the better. The Vampires baring their fangs against him was beyond what Angela could control, and Kim Jin-Woo had no intention of letting the matter slide. He asked, “Are you really going to defend them?”

Angela pounded her head on her floor, tainting her beautiful forehead with her blood. She said, “I never intended to do that. I simply wanted to tell you that for now, catching that wicked bitch, Ariane, is our top priority.”

She was completely suppressed by the force of her master’s rage-induced momentum, and her usually playful demeanor was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a look of terror.

“The only reason why I empowered you was because I judged you to be trustworthy,” Kim Jin-Woo said. He had risked his life several times for Angela’s sake. That was why, despite the blunt objections spoken against her by the other Summons, Kim Jin-Woo hadn’t acted on them. It was because he had believed her, and trusted that she would be necessary to him.

“For that, I am deeply grateful.” Angela bowed her head to him again and again, as she continued to let her blood drip from her forehead.

“I’ll only tolerate this once.” Kim Jin-Woo stared down at Angela before belatedly releasing his grasp, letting go of the Vampire he held by the throat. However, he had yet to forgive them. His tolerance was only for his own; in other words, it was for Angela alone. Unfortunately, the Vampires had proven that they didn’t belong to him.

“K-Kaaaargh!”

The screams of the Vampires were soon swallowed up by the tumult of the Grand Labyrinth, and soon, the labyrinth was silent.

“Krrrgh.”

The Vampires protecting the outskirts of the Grand Labyrinth, who were fortunate enough to have escaped being swallowed by it, were slain at the hands of the very Queen they had served.

“I promise that this will never happen again,” Angela promised. Instead of responding, however, Kim Jin-Woo looked back at her as blue streaks of light flowed from his eyes.

***

Angela left the Grand Labyrinth of her own accord.

Whatever the circumstances of the incident might have been, it was up to Angela alone to make up for the mistakes of the Vampires. As a Vampire, she was able to detect the energy of nearby living beings easily, making her a more capable pursuer than anyone else.

Even if Ariane was a Warden, known for their evasiveness and ability to blend in with their surroundings, she was still a living being with blood flowing through her veins, and she wouldn’t be able to avoid Angela’s detection.

After Angela left the Grand Labyrinth, Kim Jin-Woo secretly called forth the newly summoned ‘Frost’ races.

Ariane’s actions had proven that the Eyes of Truth were unable to detect the Wardens. It was impossible to rule out the possibility that there was a Warden among the others. Thus, he ordered the members of the various Frost races to watch over the rest of the races in the Grand Labyrinth. These Frost races, born loyal to the Grand Labyrinth rather than their King, would be sure to perform their roles perfectly.

However, as soon as Kim Jin-Woo dealt with the issue of the Wardens, another incident occurred. As if the past periods of peace were all a lie, yet more incidents unfolded one after another. It was as if the frozen flow of time in the Underworld had begun to move once more.

“Satyrs are continuing to appear in the vicinity. A few of our Rangers have confirmed that their numbers are by no means small, but it’s presumed from their organized movement that they’re a reconnaissance team, with a large unit behind them,” Rikshasha reported.

“Damn it, just when Angela’s away,” Kim Jin-Woo cursed.

As things became more urgent and unpredictable, the situation went more and more awry. Thanks to Angela, who had left to atone for her subordinates’ mistakes, the Vampires were unable to do anything.

Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t trust the Vampires anymore, now that their Queen was far away from them. Without the orders coming explicitly from their Queen, they would just passively assume their existing duties.

He had to buy some time. As such, he grabbed Gungnir and left the Grand Labyrinth.

Indeed, it was as Rikshasha’s report had said. Kim Jin-Woo encountered the Satyrs wandering around the nearby area shortly after leaving the Grand Labyrinth.

[You have won the battle.]

Wiping the blood off his spear, Kim Jin-Woo looked around him. The battle was easier than he had expected. Without the inferiority of his allies holding him back, he could let loose, fighting freely on the battlefield. Given this opportunity, he sought out every Satyr unit he could see and eliminated them swiftly.

However, the advancing speed of his enemies didn’t decrease at all. The strong force approaching the Grand Labyrinth could be felt even at that moment. He felt something was strange about that, as he sensed that their direction was changing by the moment, and wasn’t necessarily heading precisely toward the Grand Labyrinth.

Rather than aiming for the Grand Labyrinth itself, it was almost as if his enemies were lost looking for something else instead.

Kim Jin-Woo quickly realized why they were going around in circles on the 9th Floor, muttering, “The damned Ant Ghost.”

He had released the Ant Ghost near the Labyrinth of the Satyrs to shake off Luyang, and the Ant Ghost must have been devouring the Satyrs at random, which was all according to his plans. Otherwise, they couldn’t have possibly pursued the Ant Ghost from their own labyrinth all the way to the Grand Labyrinth.

Kim Jin-Woo was certain that the Satyrs were desperately tracking down the Ant Ghost, which they had yet to kill with their own hands.

“Is it still not sorted out by now?” Kim Jin-Woo muttered bitterly to himself and shook his head.

There was no way Angela would have missed the enemy. It was more reassuring to think that the Satyrs had followed the Ant Ghost’s trail. Although Rikshasha and the Under-Elves had tried to hide those traces as much as possible, it was virtually impossible to completely hide the path of the giant monster.

Gathering his thoughts as he continued to eliminate the Satyr scouts, he quickly returned to the Grand Labyrinth before dragging out the Ant Ghost and saying, “Run freely.”

The excited Ant Ghost ran wildly ahead, making a mess of the passageway. After a while, the enemy’s advance speed decreased noticeably. They must have noticed the sudden appearance of the Ant Ghost’s trails heading in all directions, which must have thrown them off track.

After a while, Kim Jin-Woo hid the Ant Ghost in a suitable location and sneakily approached the enemy’s main unit.

“Mm.” Kim Jin-Woo muttered to himself subconsciously when he saw the Satyrs. He’d had a rough idea of the size of the enemy force, but seeing it with his own eyes, it was still larger than he had expected.

Despite the passageway being incomparably larger than the old Underworld’s passages, the number of Satyrs in the procession was large enough to fill its entire width, and the end of the procession couldn’t even be seen.

Every corner Kim Jin-Woo looked at was filled with Satyrs. It was as if the entire 9th Floor itself had been completely overrun by Satyrs.

What would happen if all of them invaded the Grand Labyrinth? Would the Grand Labyrinth even be able to stop them all? Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t be certain.

The Grand Labyrinth had a history of devouring thousands of mobs at once, but it was uncertain how deep its appetite was.

Kim Jin-Woo could tell from just one look alone that the quality of the Satyr army was unlike that of the mob from before, and they might be too much for even the Grand Labyrinth to consume them all.

It would be perfect if the Grand Labyrinth could consume them all, but he wasn’t able to go all in on a sheer test of luck.

“Mm?” While he was deep in thought about the Satyrs with his eyes closed, Kim Jin-Woo suddenly frowned as a familiar aura intervened.

“Ariane?” The Satyr force was too big for him to measure by sight alone, but it wasn’t difficult to find out the identity of the familiar energy. Ariane was close to the energy signature that was possibly that of a Duke, most likely belonging to Luyang. For a moment, an ominous hunch ran through his mind.

As always, his hunch was right.