The battle had finally come to an end.

After a bloody fight where flesh and bones had been ripped apart, the giant finally succeeded in grabbing hold of the Evil Dragon by the neck.

Craaaack.

Under the giant’s mighty power, the Evil Dragon’s scales shattered and splintered, scattering everywhere on the floor.

“Kaaaaaaaargh!”

The Evil Dragon screamed. He shook desperately, attempting to flee in any direction to shake off the giant and free his neck from his opponent’s grip. The Evil Dragon shook his body in relentless resistance, shattering the rocks around him and even shaking the walls of Valhǫll to the brink of collapse.

However, the giant had no intention of letting victory slip from his grasp after barely managing to capture the Evil Dragon. Despite the violent attempt by the Evil Dragon to break free, the giant continued to endure the pain.

“Uaaaargh!”

The Evil Dragon let out a scream of pure malice. But the giant continued to tighten his forearm’s grip around the Evil Dragon’s neck, despite his body being in tatters.

“Krrrrrrrrrgh…”

The strength in the Evil Dragon’s neck started to weaken. Not long after, his feet that had been kicking around violently in all directions soon stopped moving.

“I am the mighty giant! The very first Highlord to awaken!” The giant howled fiercely in a declaration of victory and looked at the other Lords.

However, they had odd expressions on their faces. The Wailing Lord was pale and talking to herself like a madwoman, while the Beastfolk King was looking at him, trembling as he did so.

But the most incomprehensible being of them all was the True Blood Lord, who had abandoned every last ounce of pride and declared herself to be the Fourth Highlord’s slave. Her master was on the verge of death, and yet, the slave seemed unwilling to move, and strangely, was even smiling.

‘Was her master holding her captive by exploiting a deadly weakness only he knew of?’ The giant managed to convince himself. He was lost in his own thoughts, happy that he had finally freed her from such humiliating bondage, all thanks to him. He thought there was no way a Highlord like her would serve as a slave to someone else.

“Huh! Looks like you’re now in debt to me!” Having come to his own arbitrary conclusions, the giant ran his mouth, his eyes open wide. He had seen the True Blood Lord smile gently and lick her lips.

“Stupid fool…” The True Blood Lord’s lips twisted as she whispered silently to herself over and over again, however.

The moment the Heavenly Giant Lord realized that she was actually taunting him instead, he felt a disturbing sense of discomfort and screamed. He belatedly discovered that the neck of the Evil Dragon, which had been limply wrapped around his forearm, had twisted strangely.

He saw the Evil Dragon, who had been struggling desperately just moments before, now looking at him casually.

“You bastard! You’re a tough son of a bitch, aren’t you!” he yelled. Once again, he put all his strength into his forearm to squeeze the Evil Dragon’s neck. But no matter how much he did, the Evil Dragon’s head remained upright.

It was only then that the giant realized that the Evil Dragon was completely unaffected by his attempt to squeeze the life out of his enemy.

“No way… Were you… just playing aro—” the giant began.

But before he could finish his sentence, the Evil Dragon’s jaws opened. And with that, the giant was swallowed whole by the Evil Dragon.

The Lords’ jaws dropped as they watched the scene unfold before their eyes. The sight of the Evil Dragon, with his bulging belly from devouring the giant several times larger than himself, was truly grotesque beyond words.

Regardless of what they felt, however, the Evil Dragon simply looked relaxed and at ease, as if his struggles just moments ago hadn’t happened at all and he was now simply digesting an enjoyable meal.

Buuuurp.

The Evil Dragon seemed as if he would burp, before suddenly spitting out something covered in an unpleasant-colored fluid.

“Wow, Master, you’re actually showing some recognition to your opponent today. Normally, you would have devoured them completely by now,” Angela remarked.

The Lords belatedly came to their senses, looking at what the Evil Dragon had vomited out, and saw the disheveled giant within the mass of fluid.

Contrary to what Angela said, it wasn’t that Kim Jin-Woo was showing recognition. He was too greedy to forgo the opportunity to absorb a Highlord’s power to show any form of sympathy.

However, the reason he had spat out the Heavenly Giant Lord was because he’d had no choice but to do so.

If Kim Jin-Woo had completely swallowed him, something would have changed. The moment he swallowed the Heavenly Giant Lord, he had naturally come to that realization by himself. He had absorbed the powers of many powerful men and even devoured their very existence before the Heavenly Giant Lord, but indeed, the power of a Highlord was different.

In an instinctive sense of crisis, he had been forced to spit out the Heavenly Giant Lord, whom he had been extremely close to digesting.

The giant was a switch. A switch that should never be pressed. The moment Kim Jin-Woo realized that fact, the hidden reason covered in filth and buried deep within the Evil Dragon’s malice awakened.

“Whoa.”

Kim Jin-Woo captured the black energy that had spread out and absorbed it all. The body of the Evil Dragon that had swelled up to its fullest just a few minutes ago shrank, and the form of the black dragon corrupted with malice crumbled.

When all the malice and hateful energy finally returned to where it had originated from and was fully absorbed into Kim Jin-Woo, he was able to regain his human form.

“Congratulations on your victory!”

The Nagas appeared out of nowhere, kneeling in front of their king and congratulating him on his victory over the Highlord.

“Master, I’m glad you’re safe.” Among the Nagas, who were standing by to intervene if necessary, only Dominique stepped forward to express her relief rather than to convey her congratulations.

“Tie him up and hold him where Mjöllnir can be seen, and keep an eye on him.” Kim Jin-Woo ordered, instructing them on how to deal with the defeated Heavenly Giant Lord, before turning to the other Lords. He said, “I hope your desire to cooperate wasn’t a lie.”

The Evil Dragon’s appearance had already come and gone, but the madness and malice lingered in his eyes.

***

Leaving the unconscious Heavenly Giant Lord locked up, Catherine and the Beastfolk King returned to their respective labyrinths.

There was a possibility that they might change their minds once they were set free, but Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t find any reason to hold them back, and thus had no choice but to send them back.

“Will it really be okay?” Dominique expressed her concern, but Kim Jin-Woo wasn’t bothered at all.

“The gap in power is clear. Besides, we even have the True Blood Lord with us, so I’m certain they won’t dare to go back on their word,” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

“But!” Dominique protested.

“Besides, their level of strength is different from what I expected, so it’s hard to even consider them proper Highlords. If they betray me, all I have to do is get rid of them,” Kim Jin-Woo added.

Without a doubt, the Heavenly Giant Lord was powerful. Even when he had been in the form of the Evil Dragon, which had easily dealt with the Dukes in the past, he had almost been ripped to pieces by the sheer brute strength of the giant. Indeed, the power of a Highlord was amazing.

But that was all there was to it. The Heavenly Giant Lord certainly possessed formidable strength, but his powers didn’t feel as mighty as the power of Greed Kim Jin-Woo possessed.

He couldn’t tell if it was because the giant had been overwhelmed before he could draw out his full powers, or whether it was an unevenly matched battle, but regardless, it hadn’t met his expectations of what a true Highlord’s power could be.

“And besides, I have no time to waste on them.” Kim Jin-Woo’s expression darkened heavily.

“You… What the hell are you?”

That sharp question continued to weigh heavily on his mind.

***

“You have something to tell me?” Kim Jin-Woo asked.

Before her departure, Catherine requested a private audience with Kim Jin-Woo, but found herself unable to form words.

“You requested an audience, but now you’re not speaking,” Kim Jin-Woo continued. His irritable tone indicated that something was still bothering him.

Catherine raised her head in response and belatedly spoke. “You… You’d best not use that power again.”

“What do you mean?” Kim Jin-Woo asked. Catherine’s warning seemed to coincide with his own concerns. Thus, he relaxed and waited for her to continue talking.

Catherine paused momentarily before speaking once more with a disturbed expression that Kim Jin-Woo had never seen before. “That power you possess… It’s definitely not the power of a Highlord.”

“But of course. This isn’t the power of a Highlord, but the power of the Naga King,” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

“No, it’s different. Sure, the Nagas are certainly strong, but if we’re being honest, it’s still only the power of mere 9th Floor summons. The Nagas were able to conquer the 9th Floor not because of their powers, but because you were their king. There’s no way the Naga King would possess a strength so mighty that it could even overshadow the power of a Highlord.” Catherine precisely pointed out the strange sense of alienation Kim Jin-Woo had been feeling. She continued, “Perhaps the reason why your summons became this powerful was because you were their master.”

“What are you trying to say?” Realizing that Catherine was reluctant to bring up the main point that was on her mind, Kim Jin-Woo eventually addressed it directly.

“You said you were the fragment of the Wandering Lord himself, didn’t you?” Catherine asked.

“You’re good at hitting where it hurts,” Kim Jin-Woo remarked bluntly.

Catherine pretended to ignore his response and said, “You need to first figure out by yourself what kinds of powers you actually possess right now.” She continued to speak without waiting for him to respond. “It’s possible that what the Ancient Lords left behind wasn’t just their mighty powers or their legacies.”

Kim Jin-Woo didn’t answer, but Catherine continued, “And one of them may have passed on to you.”

***

The words left behind by the Wailing Lord felt as sinister as her powers, and conveyed a strange sensation. Thus, Kim Jin-Woo decided not to take her warning lightly. There was something that was bothering him, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“I have to go to the Deep Floors,” he said.

The One-Eyed Lord had once told the White Raven that what Kim Jin-Woo would need would be in the deepest depths of the Underworld. Kim Jin-Woo wasn’t certain if the One-Eyed Lord had foreseen his present circumstances, but he was certain that the One-Eyed Lord had definitely seen something important through the Throne of Truth.

“It might be a trap. You still don’t know what kind of being the Immoral Lord is.” Dominique continued to express her concerns, asking him to reconsider.

“But likewise, the Immoral Lord doesn’t know exactly who I am,” Kim Jin-Woo countered.

If what the Immoral Lord wanted was the return of the Ancient Lords and the unification of the Underworld and the surface, a greedy monster that had devoured the powers of many of the Ancient Lords couldn’t possibly have been part of her equation.

That was the only variable Kim Jin-Woo could depend on to overthrow the Immoral Lord, who had been preparing this grand plan for the Underworld for a very long time.

“But what if even that’s also part of the Immoral Lord’s equation?” Dominique bluntly tried to discourage him.

However, Kim Jin-Woo’s mind was made up. He replied, “Even if that’s true, I don’t intend to dance to their tune.” His grip on the spear made of the Frost Treant’s branch tightened.

However, ultimately, he was unable to leave his labyrinth. Mimir had suddenly visited him.

“I’ve identified the location of the Wish Stone.”

It had only been a short time since Mimir had left in search of the Wish Stone, but the little imp had returned with unexpected news.