Only after Kim Jin-Woo returned safely did the waiting troops return to their posts. The Dragon Knights, Warriors, and Fighters, who were exhausted from three consecutive battles, also returned to their original positions.
âPhew.â As Kim Jin-Woo sat down on his throne, feeling exhausted, Dominique rushed over and started to massage his arms and legs. Although Dominique was firmly established as the Kingâs Advisor, she was still his chambermaid and didnât hesitate to fulfill all the trivial tasks required of her. His overworked muscles were eased little by little with the movement of her gentle hands.
âMmâŠâ As the massage continued, Kim Jin-Woo could feel his tense body relax and started to feel himself dozing off.
However, although he had been enjoying leaving his body in the care of Dominique, he frowned when he noticed Morrigan standing in a corner of the room for some reason. He asked, âIs my answer still unsatisfactory?â
âI only received bits and pieces of your answer,â Morrigan replied.
âThere was a fragment of the Ancient Lord among the detachment troopâs soldiers. What more explanation do you need?â Kim Jin-Woo said nonchalantly, but Morrigan wasnât ready to give up so easily.
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âThatâs enough, Dominique. Thanks,â Kim Jin-Woo said, gesturing to Dominique to stop.
Dominique quietly retreated, leaving the ferocious Crow with a word of caution. âDonât disturb the kingâs rest for too long.â
But Morrigan paid no attention to Dominique as she looked Kim Jin-Woo dead in the eye and asked, âHow exactly did Master acquire the powers of the Ancient Lord?â
Despite Kim Jin-Woo having explained himself over and over again, the conversation went nowhere. Eventually, he answered without a care, âI picked them up.â
Morrigan responded furiously to the rude reply, âA Fragment of the Ancient Lord isnât some kind of down gem; how does that make sense!?â
âIt may not make sense, but it is true that I just so happened to acquire this power,â Kim Jin-Woo said, getting up from his throne.
Morrigan was about to continue asking more questions, obviously still unconvinced, but fell silent when Kim Jin-Woo barked a single word, âEnough!â
Morriganâs repeated questions felt like an interrogation, offending Kim Jin-Woo. He continued, âYouâre acting as if youâre my master.â Seeing the anger on his face, Morrigan bit her lips.
But Kim Jin-Woo wasnât about to let this matter go so easily. He began, âDonât be mistaken, Morrigan.â His presence grew stronger. Blue streaks of light flowed from the corners of his eyes, as if he were facing an enemy. He finished, âIâm your Master, not your friend.â
Kim Jin-Wooâs aura had grown so incredibly strong over the past year that even the infamous Crow of the Battlefield shuddered in fear. In the past, she would have turned her nose up at his threats. But now, her master had grown into a monster that not even she could handle anymore.
Having gone undefeated even in the midst of numerous battles and near-death crises, the Undefeated Commander had grown into a powerful being that not even the Deep Floor Counts would dare treat lightly.
âKnow your place. If you cross the line againâŠâ Kim Jin-Woo trailed off.
The feathers on Morriganâs body stiffened and she bit her teeth at his overwhelming presence. But they quickly grew weak and drooped as she lost all her strength. In just one year, their positions had reversed.
Only after seeing Morriganâs trembling body did Kim Jin-Woo finally relieve his anger. He commanded with a satisfied expression, âLeave. Stay put until I look for you again.â
âAs the King willsâŠâ Morrigan said and retreated.
Kim Jin-Woo sat back on his throne. In just one year, he had been able to tame the untamable. The way he had been able to tame Balzark, Quantus, and even Ortehaga was by developing himself and overpowering them in the end.
But despite that, he still felt weak. He was still unable to find the Heart of the Sea Dragon, which was essential to upgrade his Fortress to the next level. His subordinatesâ labyrinths were sufficient to protect the main labyrinth from enemy invasions, but it wasnât enough to invade and take over the Deep Floors.
In addition, there was a problem with the supply of down gems as of late, and they were essential to growing his power. He needed a solution.
There were still many issues that had yet to be resolved. The Underworld war was still ongoing with no end in sight, and there would also come a day when he would have to fight with the Deep Floor Counts.
However, if there was one advantage he had over the other masters of the Underworld, it was the fact that he was a Terran.
He also had a Terran as his subordinate. Of course, that subordinate had never left the Underworld before, but the fact remained that she was still essentially different from the beings of the Underworld.
***
âYouâre here.â Yoon-Hee saw Kim Jin-Woo enter the master room where she had been staying and greeted him.
âHow have you been?â Kim Jin-Woo asked. Due to the busy events on the 9th Floor, it had been a while since he last visited the Party Hall.
âWell, nothing much, as you might have guessed,â Yoon-Hee answered, but her expression indicated otherwise.
âIs the situation bad?â Kim Jin-Woo asked.
âI donât think we can hold out on the 7th Floor any longer,â Yoon-Hee answered.
âYouâve held on longer than I thought,â Kim Jin-Woo remarked. Yoon-Hee shrugged without saying a single word.
Even in the midst of all the chaos in the Underworld, the Party Hall had never suffered a crisis. All the summons the Party Hall had that specialized in the areas of stealth and delusion had allowed it to escape all conflicts.
Thanks to those summons, the Party Hall had been able to grow its strength while other labyrinths were busy simply trying to survive. The Party Hall had taken advantage of all the chaos by raiding weakened labyrinths and collecting their loot.
But the usefulness of their strategy had come to an end. With more than half of the 7th Floor taken over by the enemy, it had become a battlefield so harsh that the Party Hall could no longer survive on its own.
âThe deceptive magic of the Shadow Magicians is no longer effective. I sacrificed a few of my summons to divert the enemyâs attention, but thereâs no guarantee that itâll work again next time.â Yoon-Hee truthfully admitted the shortcomings of her abilities.
Despite her having rejected multiple proposals in the past to relocate her labyrinth, seeing Yoon-Hee speak of her current situation, Kim Jin-Woo knew that she was now in a tough spot.
âOn top of that, the enemy consumed every single down gem they came across, and now the down gem seeds have dried up. Weâre holding on using the loot from the other labyrinths, but it wonât last long,â Yoon-Hee continued.
The situation wasnât any different on other floors. The upkeep of the labyrinths was a difficult task on more than just the 7th Floor. Even the supply of down gems on the 9th Floor, which had managed to fend off the enemyâs invasion relatively well, was sparse. The fact that Yoon-Hee was bringing up her difficulties, despite most likely knowing the situation on the 9th Floor, meant that the situation on the 7th Floor was at its lowest point.
âWhen are you planning to relocate your labyrinth?â Kim Jin-Woo asked.
âIâm planning to do it within the month. Thereâs a labyrinth Iâm working on right now, so Iâll have to move as soon as Iâm done with that.â Yoon-Hee didnât have to explain what that âworkâ was for Kim Jin-Woo to know that it was probably a plan to attack another weakened labyrinth.
âBring forward your schedule. Iâll lend you my troops,â Kim Jin-Woo said.
Yoon-Hee narrowed her eyes. âIs there something you need me to help with?â
âItâs not something bad for you,â Kim Jin-Woo said.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that her labyrinth was situated far from the Fortress, or the fact that she was a dungeon baby that had been able to escape from the Underworld system, but Yoon-Hee was highly independent from Kim Jin-Woo, unlike his other subordinate labyrinths.
Thus, he needed a little explanation to convince her. He said, âItâs not that I donât have enough space for the Party Hall, but even the 9th Floor is facing issues with the supply of down gems. No, in some ways, the situation might be even worse there. There isnât much conflict going on there, so unless we happen to accidentally discover down gems, thereâs no other way of finding them.â
Under the rule of the powerful Conqueror, who forbade any sort of internal conflicts, the entirety of the 9th Floor was slowly drying up. It was different from the situation on the other floors, where labyrinths fought with one another for down gems. Kim Jin-Woo forbade his allies from engaging in conflict with one another under any circumstances.
âSo? Are you planning to head to other floors in search of down gems? In the midst of this chaos?â Yoon-Hee asked skeptically. Down gems were being rapidly depleted by invaders from the Other Underworld, and it was difficult to secure down gems anywhere in the Underworld.
âNo, invading other floors will simply lead to more losses of my troops, and we probably wonât be able to secure enough down gems to even cover those losses,â Kim Jin-Woo replied. There was no way he would proceed with a plan that would definitely result in a net loss for him should he be unlucky enough to engage with the enemy.
âAre you aiming for the Deep Floors?â Yoon-Hee asked.
âDo you think the situation there will be any different?â Kim Jin-Woo asked in return.
The Deep Floor Counts themselves were also struggling. They were sure to have lost a considerable supply of their down gems to the invaders as well.
âThen where exactly are you going to get more down gems? If down gems rained from the sky, then sureâŠâ Yoon-Hee suddenly trailed off as her eyes widened. âNo wayâŠâ
She finally realized why Kim Jin-Woo had looked for her specifically, out of all his subordinates. But the reason seemed so ridiculous that she shook her head as she talked to herself, as if to reject any possibility of it being true.
âThereâs no way, right? Of all the times to do that... If we do that now, itâll surely start a war,â Yoon-Hee said.
As expected, she knew that the creatures and beasts of the Underworld had been forced out due to the shortage of down gems, and had crossed over onto the surface. Thus, she must also have known that the humans on the surface were keeping a close eye on the Underworld.
âYour guess is correct. What Iâm aiming for isnât the Underworld.â Kim Jin-Woo chuckled and smiled, as if to congratulate the fact that Yoon-Heeâs guess was correct. âIâm thinking of finding out the whereabouts of the down gems that have been taken by the surface.â
âBut if anything goes wrongâŠ!â Yoon-Hee protested.
âWhat do you mean by âwrongâ?â The Underworld was different from the surface. Thus, Kim Jin-Woo casually asked about Yoon-Heeâs concerns.
An Underworld being heading to the surface to retrieve down gems would be easier said than done. An Underworld being was tied to their floor of residency, and would be unable to exercise their power on the surface. And in the worst case scenario, it would only give the surface an excuse to invade the Underworld again.
Because of how easily another war between the surface and the Underworld could be triggered again, Yoon-Hee thought it was absolutely unnecessary to risk provoking the surface, especially when the Underworld was in a state of chaos.
âIf by any chance my identity is discovered while looking for the down gemsâŠâ she trailed off.
âSo how do you think you could be discovered?â Kim Jin-Woo replied nonchalantly.
âWell, I might be caught in the middle of takingâŠâ Yoon-Hee seemed to have gathered a lot of information on the surface while Kim Jin-Woo wasnât around, as she continued to make excuses one after another. But there was one factor she was overlooking.
âBut both you and I look perfectly like humans on the outside, donât we?â Kim Jin-Woo asked.