CH 298

Kim Jin-Woo stepped out of his labyrinth, only to be greeted by a large army that surrounded it. The stench of various strange-looking beasts and giants filled the air from afar.

“So, it wasn’t just one,” he muttered. The moment he saw the familiar faces of the Beastfolk King and the Heavenly Giant Lord in the distance, he knew they had planned this from the beginning. He asked, “What about Mjöllnir?”

Morrigan answered his question immediately. “They’re barely out of range. I don't think we can do anything about them right now."

Kim Jin-Woo began second-guessing his decision to keep the Heavenly Giant Lord alive, thinking that he might have further use.

The king of the cunning giants, who had been heavily bombarded by Mjöllnir in the last battle, had skillfully learned the exact range of Valhǫll's defenses. Thanks to that, unless the enemy made their move first, there was nothing Kim Jin-Woo could do from his end.

“Strange. There are a lot of them, but it’s not as if there are enough that we can’t overcome them. They should be aware of that as well,” Dominique remarked.

Kim Jin-Woo nodded. As long as they maintained a reasonable distance between the two armies, the enemy would have no choice but to come within Mjöllnir's range once the battle began.

Mjöllnir was a decisive battle weapon that had the potential to easily make up for the difference in numbers. Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t figure out why the Highlords were starting such a reckless fight when there was no way they wouldn’t be aware of that fact.

Hadn’t the Heavenly Giant Lord already suffered an overwhelming defeat by him once? Certainly, Kim Jin-Woo now knew that the one-sided fight had been intended to some extent, but even so, it was impossible that the gap in power between the two parties could be easily overcome now.

Kim Jin-Woo intuitively realized that it wasn’t going to end with just the two of them. Thus, he decided to face the Highlords alone and instructed Angela to be prepared. “Angela, I’ll take care of the two of them, so hold your position.”

He then stepped forward and shouted, “Your intentions are as obvious as they come, but still, let me ask you anyway. Why are you here?”

The two Highlords flinched in response. However, even after retreating a step back, the Beastfolk King quickly stepped forward again and shouted in response, “The Wish Stone!”

It was exactly as expected. What the Highlords wanted was the very Wish Stone Kim Jin-Woo had just obtained. He asked, “Were you aiming for this from the beginning?”

“At the time, I wasn’t sure whether you possessed the Wish Stone,” the Heavenly Giant Lord replied.

No wonder three Highlords had shown themselves back then and retreated so easily. It had merely been a process of confirmation for them.

“You didn’t even know I lost on purpose, and yet you made such a big fuss about it. How pathetic can you be?” the Heavenly Giant Lord remarked with a snort.

Was he trying to restore his self-esteem? The Heavenly Giant Lord’s excuse sounded laughable.

“Your acting skills were pretty good. The way you were crawling all over the floor like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs was so convincing, I thought it was completely real,” Kim Jin-Woo retorted. His every word was filled with outright mockery and belittlement.

The Heavenly Giant Lord frowned and cursed in return. “You son of a bitch…”

“Enough.” The Beastfolk King stopped the Heavenly Giant Lord, who had stepped forward in rage. He remarked cynically “If you still want to restore your self-esteem, I’ll give you a chance to do so afterward. Is that what you really want?”

The Heavenly Giant Lord’s face turned pale. Contrary to his words, it appeared he wasn’t confident enough to engage in a decisive battle with Kim Jin-Woo anytime soon.

“Now isn’t the time to think about my pride, anyway.” The giant tried to have the last word, but the more he spoke, the more pathetic he appeared.

“Then stop acting like a fool. There’s nothing for us to gain by provoking him needlessly,” the Beastfolk King said calmly. In the end, the Heavenly Giant Lord shut his mouth and backed away. Once the Beastfolk King had taken control of the situation, he went back to the main point of the visit. “I’ll keep this short. Hand over the Wish Stone to us. If you do that, we have no intention of fighting you.”

“If that’s what you wanted, you should have been looking for the Wish Stone from the beginning,” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

“If I could have done that, I would have done so. To be honest, we never wanted to be hostile to you,” the Beastfolk King said. As if the intent he had displayed in their last meeting hadn’t been a lie, he suggested that he wanted to avoid any battles if he could.

“Wish Stone, huh. Fine. I’ll hand it over to you,” Kim Jin-Woo said.

“Master!” his summons exclaimed, panicking.

“I’m glad our words could get through to you. With this, we can avoid any unnecessary bloodshed—” the Beastfolk King began excitedly.

“But.” Kim Jin-Woo cut off the Beastfolk King with a word. He continued, “You’ll have to pay an appropriate price.”

“The price?”

“A treasure like the Wish Stone isn’t something that can be given away for free.”

“Tell me. As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll hear you out.”

“As long as you provide me with a treasure worthy of the Wish Stone, I’ll fulfill all your requests.”

The Beastfolk King’s face contorted as he asked, “How can something like that exist?”

Only one such crystal existed in the Underworld, and there was absolutely no substitute for it.

“No, there is.” Kim Jin-Woo grinned widely as he saw the Beastfolk King’s expression turn cold, as if he had just realized he was being ridiculed. Kim Jin-Woo continued, “Something of similar value… Say, a Highlord’s life?”

The atmosphere of the battlefield that had previously calmed down turned fierce once again.

“Looks like there’s no other way,” the Beastfolk King said. As soon as he finished speaking, the beasts that filled the area began to howl. The giants also raised their axes, maces, and other vicious weapons with a roar.

“Morrigan, relay this to the White Raven. From now on, strike mercilessly at those who dare approach Valhǫll and the Grand Labyrinth,” Kim Jin-Woo commanded.

“As you will,” Morrigan replied.

“And you, lead the Einherjar and deal with the enemies that slip through Mjöllnir’s strikes.”

“Leave it to me.”

“Put all the Nagas on standby. This battle will be fought with just the Einherjar.”

There were some rumblings of concern as to whether the Einherjar alone would be able to deal with the armies of two Highlords, but Kim Jin-Woo didn’t care.

“They’ve already been beaten once. But they’ve returned once more, which means they’ve definitely prepared better this time around. We’ll be sending the Nagas out only after they’ve revealed their hidden cards,” he said.

It was going to be difficult, but as long as they had Mjöllnir's assistance and the defensive capabilities of the Grand Labyrinth, they wouldn’t be a pushover.

However, those were just Kim Jin-Woo’s thoughts.

The Beastfolk King and the Heavenly Giant Lord had apparently had no intention of personally attacking from the beginning. The beasts and giants split apart as they beckoned, and an endless wave of creatures rushed in from behind them.

“The Dukes…” Kim Jin-Woo muttered, frowning when he saw dozens of Dukes revealing themselves, as well as their respective armies.

Mjöllnir was certainly a formidable weapon, but it wasn’t without its flaws. After a few strikes, it had to be recharged.

The giants and beasts aside, the enemies were using the Nobles and their respective armies as cannon fodder; thus, Kim Jin-Woo had to worry about what would happen in the downtime of his firepower.

“Don’t waste Mjöllnir’s firepower. I’ll leave the Dukes and their troops to the defensive capabilities of Valhǫll and the Grand Labyrinth,” he instructed.

Just as he finished giving his orders, the atmosphere of the enemy camp rose fiercely.

“Ready for battle!” Kim Jin-Woo called out.

Enemies rushed in endlessly. The walls of Valhǫll didn’t allow them to take a single step inside, while the Grand Labyrinth continuously devoured the invading enemies. However, their numbers didn’t decrease at all. It was as if every single Underworld Noble who had survived the Restoration had gathered.

“What are they waiting for?” Kim Jin-Woo wondered to himself as crushed a few unknown Dukes who rushed toward him courageously, before looking off into the distance.

Despite the fact that the troops they had sent weren’t accomplishing anything at all, the Highlords seemed to be rather laid-back. If Kim Jin-Woo had been in charge of this attack, he would have attacked during Mjöllnir’s downtime, while it was recharging.

But the other two Highlords were only continuing to send their overwhelming number of troops, while showing no signs of moving at all. If the situation continued, no matter how large the Dukes’ armies were, in the end, it would all be for naught.

The Grand Labyrinth was still starving even after consuming countless enemies, while the walls of Valhǫll were too strong for the Nobles to overcome. It was the perfect defense, and by then, Kim Jin-Woo was simply getting sick and tired of the sight of the endless waves of enemies rushing in.

“There’s something more to this. There must be something they’ve planned, aiming to reverse the current situation in an instant,” he mused.

“But even if the walls fall and the Grand Labyrinth’s satiety reaches its limit, in the end, what will matter is the battle between Highlords. And I don’t think they can beat you, Master.” Despite having been ordered to wait from afar, Angela seemed to be itching for a fight, as she approached him quietly and replied to him. “Even if I don’t step forward, they can’t bridge the gap between themselves and Master.”

“But it also doesn’t seem as if they have any intention of backing down either,” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

That was the strangest point. The enemy troops continued to flow despite not achieving anything. Their terribly inefficient strategy was starting to give Kim Jin-Woo a headache.

“There’s no way they’re hoping that this tactic will eventually cause an opening, are they?” Angela asked.

Kim Jin-Woo shook his head in response. Although the enemy might seem incompetent, they were still formidable beings who had ascended to the rank of Highlord. There was no way such beings would be so thoughtless.

The one-sided massacre continued for a long time. Due to the sheer number of corpses that had accumulated in the area, the enemy forces were starting to have a hard time even approaching the castle and the labyrinth.

There were so many corpses that Angela made an absurd suggestion. “Are they trying to build their own castle out of corpses and use that to climb the walls of Valhǫll?”

“Mm?” Kim Jin-Woo exclaimed.

Time continued to pass, and the number of bodies continued to pile up. Angela had been silently observing the situation unfold, and she suddenly exclaimed, “Master! The atmosphere!”

Kim Jin-Woo’s expression changed. The air of the battlefield had changed all of a sudden, thickly enveloping the area in all directions. Simultaneously, the Dukes’ troops started to fall forward as if they had been pushed from behind before dying abruptly.

What was strange was that none of those who had  died let out as much as a single scream. They simply moaned as if they were drugged before ending their own lives. What was unfolding couldn’t even be called a battle anymore.

The enemies were choosing an incomprehensible form of suicide, rather than facing a warrior’s death. Subsequently, the energies of those who had died in such a manner began to coalesce unnaturally.

Why had Kim Jin-Woo only noticed it now? It was something he should have noticed right away. However, he had failed to fully grasp the strange situation surrounding the war until Angela gave him her warning.

It wasn’t completely incomprehensible. The area where more than tens of thousands of summons had been killed had literally become a gateway to the Underworld. The life forces of the living had been extinguished and a damp chill filled the place; soon, the whole world was filled with an air of death.

Noticing such an atmosphere forming so quickly was unusual. Fortunately, Angela was a Vampire who had half-experienced death before, and thus was sensitive to such energies.

“This energy, I’ve seen it before.” Kim Jin-Woo glared in the direction of the enemy forces, his expression hardening. His gaze was directed toward neither the Heavenly Giant Lord nor the Beastfolk King. He exclaimed, “Catherine!”

The woman had appeared in the middle of the enemy camp before he even knew it, and she looked at him and smiled sinisterly.

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