CH 239

Luyang had been speaking vigorously while pointing a finger, but his expression soon stiffened. He exclaimed, “This is bullshit! These aren’t even the Deep Floors!”

He had already confirmed that the Floor his own labyrinth had come into contact with belonged to the Middle Floors and not the Deep Floors. He seemed shocked by the unexpected turn of events, but not necessarily afraid.

However, he couldn’t come to his senses upon realizing that everything he knew about the Underworld had been completely turned upside down.

The separation between Floors and the limits of each had been clear and distinct, and the difference in power between the Lesser Floors and the Deep Floors had been absolute. Beings born on the Lesser Floors could never defeat Deep Floor beings, and Deep Floor beings could never go against beings from even deeper Floors. That was the absolute law of the Underworld he had known.

But now, all that common sense was crumbling before his eyes.

Kaaaaaaargh!

The screams didn’t end. Following each scream, the beaked head of a Satyr or another body part flew past Luyang. It was as if a bloody vortex had bloomed around him, with part of the passageway being swallowed up by a bloody mist.

Luyang watched reality fall apart before his very eyes. All of this was being caused by a single being. It couldn’t be helped that he was shocked by the turn of events.

“Eeek!” he screamed.

He just couldn’t admit it. When he had first seen the master of the strange labyrinth, he had found it questionable how a relatively tiny country could have possessed a labyrinth so powerful. After all, South Korea’s Labyrinth was only twelve Floors deep. Of course, he had expected his opponent to be weaker than himself, as he had been born on the 13th Floor.

So, how could he explain what was unfolding before his eyes?

The strong and mighty Satyrs were torn to shreds as they attempted to scatter like a flock of sheep encountering a lion, running in all directions.

Even if Luyang himself were to stand in the middle of the Satyrs, it wouldn’t warrant such a reaction from them.

With each sweep of the man’s spear, a Satyr’s head flew off its body; with each thrust, at least one of the Satyrs’ hearts burst without fail.

Kyaaaaaaaargh!

Each time the man thrust his spear forward, shrieks and wailing followed. Luyang’s minions were dying en masse as the spear itself screamed abominably. He gritted his teeth at the sound that almost seemed to be mocking him.

“Stand aside!” In the end, Luyang couldn’t stand it any longer and roared wildly. His voice was harsh and murky, and it was hard to believe it was the voice of a human being. The Satyrs, who had already been scattering, fled even more hurriedly.

“How dare you all!” Upon witnessing such a sight, sparks flew in Luyang’s eyes once more. It was as if his mighty army had wounded his pride.

“...!”

Although Luyang couldn’t understand what the man was saying, he had already known from the beginning that the man was charging toward him. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to be be cutting through the Satyrs that filled the passageway completely.

“You bastard! How dare an imbecile from a tiny, weak country…!” Luyang cursed.

In reality, Ariane was the one his opponent was aiming for, but the Underworld Duke, whose arrogance permeated his very bones, thought the man was trying to end the battle by defeating him. Thus, his self-esteem was hurt, and he was angrier than ever before.

“Come forward! I’ll test your strength myself!” Luyang roared fiercely, and he took a step forward.

A man appeared in the passageway opened by the Satyrs. His entire body had been dyed red with blood in moments. Luyang was well aware of the fact that all of that blood belonged to his minions.

“You bastard…” Luyang spat. If words could kill, he would have murdered thousands with the sheer rage in his voice alone. The man, who had been looking at the Satyrs that were standing with their backs against the wall, turned to face him.

“Mm.” Blue streaks of light flashed through the man’s eyes, but beyond that, what filled his gaze wasn’t his fighting spirit. It was an unknown fervor and hunger.

The moment he realized that, Luyang’s heart turned cold. Just as he had seen his opponent as prey, his opponent likewise saw him as prey as well.

Luyang stared back at the man with an expression overflowing with arrogance. He realized that he might have to risk his life for this fight and subconsciously gulped.

“Pft. He doesn’t look like a Duke who earned his spot.” The moment he saw Luyang’s eyes turn cold when their gazes met, Kim Jin-Woo muttered to himself, disappointed. “I was hoping he’d be a bit more arrogant, but this is disappointing.”

“If that’s what you wanted, you should have held back a bit.” Angela materialized from a nearby pool of blood, speaking as she shook her head.

“There was no other way,” Kim Jin-Woo casually responded to Angela without taking his eyes off Luyang.

“What do you plan on doing next?” Angela asked. She knew better than anyone else the current situation of the labyrinth, where there was a considerable power vacuum at the moment. Thus, she cut to the chase.

“Well, what can I do when he’s already spread the red carpet for me?” Kim Jin-Woo replied. He was unusually blunt, considering the situation. Although it was he who had created the road of blood behind him, he was still carefree enough to crack a joke. He continued, “Of course, I’m not happy that someone else is pretending to be the master in my house.”

“Please be careful. He’s different from the sleazy Barons and the insidious Counts you’ve fought in the past. He’s a dignified Deep Floor Duke.” The Duke seemed to be a threat to even Angela, who had just acquired her True Blood. With not a hint of playfulness, Angela repeatedly warned him to be careful.

“Who gives a shit if he’s a Duke or whatever,” Kim Jin-Woo remarked dismissively.

Unlike Angela, he seemed to be very much at ease. Before the fighting began, he’d had many things to worry about. But afterward, he had become somewhat calm and collected instead.

He had to fight. He had to win. And he had to survive.

There was no place for complicated matters to manifest in the Underworld, where the law of survival was very much clear-cut.

“Besides, he has something I need, so I can’t leave him alone, can I?” Kim Jin-Woo added. His gaze slowly turned to Ariane, who was still hiding in Luyang’s shadow.

“And he also has to pay the price for trespassing,” he concluded. Even before he finished speaking, the presence emanating from his body exploded outward.

Luyang was standing in the middle of the battlefield, and on top of that, he was a Duke—a title given only to those who could be called the absolute rulers of the Underworld. Nevertheless, his enemy seemed even more relaxed.

The man was flirting with a woman who had popped out of nowhere, and even looked back at him and laughed.

It was an infuriating moment for Luyang, but he calmed himself down and raised his fighting spirit instead of becoming angry. He knew that his opponent was at least on his level. No, that was a thing of the past. His opponent’s presence had grown to an extent that it couldn’t be compared to when they had first met.

The fact that he was standing in his opponent’s stronghold weighed him down terribly at that moment. It was to the point that he resented himself for having entered the labyrinth too excitedly and carelessly, thinking it was a Lesser Floor labyrinth.

However, Luyang was confident in his own strength and positioning. He was the leader of the Satyr warriors who were known to be vicious even on the Deep Floors, and he was a Duke—the apex of the Underworld Nobles. He had no intention of sitting around with his tail tucked like a frightened dog.

Luyang glared at the man who was charging toward him and screamed, “Come!”

The joints of his lower body twisted grotesquely, and his somewhat flat face started to protrude forward. The muscles of his torso trembled and bulged, and long talons protruded from the tips of his drooping knuckles. His bones twisted and his skin transformed. Luyang had suddenly taken on the form of a Satyr.

He couldn’t let his guard down. He had no desire to conserve his power until the very end like some third-rate villain. He drew out all his power right from the beginning.

“Kaaargh!”

With a roar that transcended what a human being could possibly produce, Luyang charged wildly toward the man.

***

Living in the Underworld, especially taking responsibility for a labyrinth and becoming a true ruler, meant ultimately transcending oneself as a species and assimilating with them. Kim Jin-Woo felt as if he were facing that vague truth in front of his eyes.

The way Luyang was charging wildly toward him with the appearance of a Satyr seemed to be the manifestation of an ideal Underworld being.

His heart, which had been burning fiercely in the face of battle, turned cold. However, despite that, his muscles were still hot with energy, and he steadily prepared to crush his enemy.

Kaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

The Mystical Spear screamed. Even while he was immersed in his own thoughts, the Mystical Spear was clamoring for him to move and charge toward the enemy.

Kim Jin-Woo quickly brushed off the complicated thoughts in his mind, and thrust the Mystical Spear forward.

“Kargh!”

Luyang struck the blade of the spear with his sharp, curved beak. It was the moment when Gungnir—the Mystical Spear that was said to be able to penetrate anything—was blocked by an enemy for the first time.

Kim Jin-Woo was neither disappointed nor taken aback. After all, it would have been ridiculous for a being like a Duke to die by a single strike of a spear.

Crack.

After deflecting Gungnir, Luyang pushed his head forward and slammed his beak down. It was a crude and inelegant attack for a Duke, but it was a quick and powerful blow regardless.

If Kim Jin-Woo hadn’t reacted in time, his head would have been pierced through by the tip of the sharp beak. He pulled back his spear and struck Luyang’s beak with it.

Kim Jin-Woo’s strong arms pushed the spear forward against the beak. With that relentless strength, he held his own with relative ease, before kicking Luyang in the chest with all his might and backing off.

What followed were a dozen spear thrusts, but Luyang also quickly shook away those attacks with feverish retaliatory strikes from his talons.

Thud.

It was a constant trade of equal offense and defense, and the gap between the two started to widen. But soon, the exchange of blows between the two superhumans became even more savage and primeval.

***

As she watched the battle between her master and the Duke from afar, Angela’s jaw dropped.

With a Highlord and a Duke engaged in combat, she had expected a fight that transcended the mortal realm, but what she was witnessing was the pit fight to end all pit fights.

The two headbutted each other, scratched away with their talons and struck with their weapons at random, and it was just too crude and savage considering the circumstances.

Crash!

But it was by no means a simple fight. One of the hard walls of the Grand Labyrinth collapsed as the spear grazed the Duke’s body and struck him, and the ground sank into several-meter pits due to the Duke’s light stomping.

“Isn’t this too much of a pit fight? What are all your powers for!?” Angela finally exploded, unable to contain her frustration any longer.

Had they heard her words? Suddenly, the battle changed. It was Luyang who had initiated the change first. The Duke, who had turned into a giant Satyr, created black smoke from the tip of his talons.

Woooosh!

The black energy started to split at the end, and materialized into dozens of whips in an instant.

“Master!” The whip struck in all directions, and the seemingly unavoidable attacks made Angela scream without her even realizing it in an attempt to warn her master. Unlike the Duke who had turned into a monster, her master was still in the form of a human being, and she was afraid that his mortal skin wouldn’t hold against such a vicious attack.

But her worries were all for naught. Her master, who had been looking at the black whips flying from all directions, decimated them in an instant effortlessly.

“Ah!”

No, it was the other way around. They weren’t decimated; instead, they were absorbed. Even the black smog of energy, with its ends split into whips, had been sucked toward her master’s fingertips.

Unbelievably, her master was devouring the enemy’s own attack.