#53. Reversal

[The Commander of the Battlefield has joined the battle.]

[The Undefeated Commander’s reputation precedes you, as it brings blessings to your allies and curses to your enemies. Your allies are now more agile and will feel less fatigued. They will be able to overcome any fear.]

[Your enemies are debilitated by your troops’ overwhelming faith and fanatical devotion to the Commander. Their movements have become sluggish.]

The effects of the Undefeated Commander title, which even the Deep Floor Counts coveted, made their presence known once more. Morrigan and Heimdall, who had already been slaughtering their enemies to begin with, began to wreak havoc even faster.

Still, if that had been all there was to the title, the enemy might still have had an opportunity to retreat and escape. However, Kim Jin-Woo didn’t intend to give them any chance to do so.

“Kaaargh!” Ugly screams pierced through the battlefield, and fresh blood and flesh spilled wherever Kim Jin-Woo swiftly passed by.

“Master! You liar! You said you’d let us go wild!” Morrigan whined once more. She seemed upset that Kim Jin-Woo’s participation in the battle was literally killing her fun. However, Kim Jin-Woo paid no heed to her as he continued to slash at the enemies in front of him.

***

“So, this is the true strength of the Conqueror,” Tryndall muttered under his breath.

The resentment he had felt for being excluded from the battle was now gone.The only thing on his mind now was admiration for Kim Jin-Woo and his companions. Even in the face of four hundred enemies, it only took the three of them to massacre the entirety of the enemy force.

Among them, the most overwhelming force was, without a doubt, Kim Jin-Woo. He swooped across the battlefield easily and gracefully, unlike the Crow of the Battlefield. He effortlessly struck fear and despair into the hearts of his enemies with his mere presence, unlike the Dawn Rooster.

It was almost as if he were taking a leisurely stroll in the middle of the battlefield, but all that surrounded him was death. It was then that the enemy surrendered their lives to his blade.

The king’s fame had spread far across the Underworld thanks to his excellent commanding ability. His army fought with amplification effects that multiplied their strength, and had no fear in the face of any foe. His enemies’ morale was crushed by his sheer presence, and they were unable to exert their power. Nothing but defeat awaited Kim Jin-Woo’s enemies.

However, that was all Tryndall had heard regarding his king. Among all the stories that had spread across the Underworld, none were related to Kim Jin-Woo’s actual combat skills. A couple of entities had ridiculed him behind his back, calling him a coward that only made use of his subordinates while never directly engaging in battle.

They were the ones who had surrendered their labyrinths to the Crow of the Battlefield on the 9th Floor, which had led to them subsequently questioning the king’s fighting ability.

Perhaps he’s now enjoying the luxuries he earned for himself thanks to having Ancient Heroes as his subordinates?

 Tryndall had thought to himself, even as he had a few questions of his own.

But Tryndall now knew that those rumors were simply rumors, and nothing more. The enemies’ attacks were as ferocious as ever, even as their bodies were sliced in half. And when one soldier alone wasn’t sufficient, two would merge to amplify their attacks.

But that wasn’t nearly enough to even slow down the king’s pace as he continued charging forward.

“Kaaaargh!” Screams continued to erupt across the battlefield as enemies continued to be cut to shreds.

Tryndall was mesmerized by the sight he was witnessing. Only then did he truly feel pity for his own soldiers, who had been barely holding their own against such enemies. As he continued to stare blankly at his king’s performance, the number of enemies dwindled down to a handful.

“Kieeeek!”

 The enemy also seemed to have sensed their inevitable defeat, as they roared fiercely.

But they weren’t done with the battle yet.They decided to aim for Kim Jin-Woo in a last ditch effort. All the remaining enemies grouped together and charged straight toward Kim Jin-Woo.

“How dare you!” Morrigan and Heimdall stepped forward as they attempted to stop the enemies’ charge, but stopped in their tracks. Kim Jin-Woo was already one step ahead of them.

“Ah…” A bright flash of light shone. Tryndall felt his eyes burn at the intensity of the light that seemed out of place in the dark Underworld, as he screamed subconsciously and took a couple of steps back.

By the time he regained his composure, Kim Jin-Woo was standing alone in the middle of the battlefield. The enemies that had been charging towards him, as well as all the corpses that lay across the battlefield, were gone.

***

The remaining enemies were the most powerful members of the army of four hundred. Their combined strength was greater than the rest of the army combined. Their long fingernails were sharp, as if they were made for striking the heart, and the fangs in their wide snouts could shatter bone with a single bite.

But that was all. Their combined strength was of no threat to Kim Jin-Woo, as they failed to even land a scratch on him. They became particles of dust that fell to the ground without even touching him.

“This is…” Morrigan’s face was pale as she watched Kim Jin-Woo after retreating into the distance.

Kim Jin-Woo looked back at her as he casually ordered for the battlefield to be cleaned up. However, due to the flash that had swept across the battlefield, not a single corpse remained. With not even pieces of the fallen soldiers’ armor remaining, the Void Knights and the Nagas stood around confused for a while before gathering around him.

Because it looked as if Kim Jin-Woo and his troops were about to move out to another battlefield at any moment, Tryndall hurriedly ran toward his king and cried, “Please take me with you!”

Kim Jin-Woo stared at Tryndall, who was passionately trying to retain control over his troops, before nodding indifferently and calling, “Move out!”

A portal opened once again in front of him, and the Nagas began to march forward in an orderly fashion.

***

In a single day, Kim Jin-Woo traversed three different battlefields. As with Tryndall’s labyrinth, the attackers were chased out of the other two labyrinths as well. He  hadn’t wanted to overdo his attacks, but in reality, he was forced to use more of them by the third battle.

Toward the end of the second battle, Kim Jin-Woo was exhausted from rushing into combat, and he was forced to deploy the Nagas by the third battle. After all, he had almost single-handedly won the two prior battles, with some assistance from Morrigan and Heimdall. It would have been strange if he hadn’t been feeling exhausted by the end of the day, even with all the amplification buffs.

Thus, instead of directly fighting in battle, he supported the Nagas from the back line.

“Master,” Morrigan began. Despite being someone who would even wake up from deep slumber if there were an opportunity for her to fight, she had uncharacteristically stayed behind with Kim Jin-Woo.

“How unusual of you to not be engaging in battle,” Kim Jin-Woo remarked. He had initially suspected that she too was exhausted, but seeing Heimdall wreak havoc across the battlefield, he knew that couldn’t be the case. The Crow and the Dawn Rooster were similar in terms of stamina.

“There’s something I would like to confirm with you,” Morrigan said as she stepped closer toward him. “Master.”

“What is it?” Kim Jin-Woo asked. It wasn’t the best of places for a conversation, but he went along with it. He felt that things would get troublesome if he didn’t accept her request there and then. And besides, he had a pretty good idea what she wanted to talk about.

“That light earlier on…” Morrigan began. As expected, she wanted to talk about the shining light that had flashed across the first battlefield. She had a complicated look of confusion on her face.

Kim Jin-Woo looked at her sullen face before replying nonchalantly, “I’ll tell you the details later. I think you have a good idea what it is.”

Morrigan bit her lips and said, “Please answer one thing.” She asked her question without even waiting for Kim Jin-Woo’s permission. “Is it related to the Ancient Lord?”

“It seems you already know the answer, no?” Kim Jin-Woo replied. It wasn’t a clear answer, but that was an answer in itself.

Morrigan looked at him with astonishment and asked, “But how 

did Master

 attain that power?”

“I’m just lucky,” Kim Jin-Woo said disrespectfully.

Morrigan fell silent. But it was obvious she was unconvinced, and Kim Jin-Woo knew that he would be plagued with questions until the end of time if he left it as it is, so he relented.

“Among the detachment troops the Counts gave me, one of them carried his fragment. Is that enough of an answer?” Kim Jin-Woo said.

It wasn’t the most concise of answers, but it seemed satisfactory enough for Morrigan. She nodded, seemingly having cleared up the source of her confusion. She had many more questions to ask, but she knew that Kim Jin-Woo wouldn’t elaborate any further, at least for the moment. Thus, she decided to throw herself into battle.

“She’s going to take her anger out on the wrong people,” Kim Jin-Woo muttered.

The enemy was unfortunately on the receiving end of Morrigan taking out her frustrations, as screams of horror echoed across the battlefield. Her black feathers fluttered around her as blood splattered everywhere.

***

The king’s army was indeed powerful.

The Naga Sorcerers’ spells weren’t enough to freeze the entire battlefield, but they were more than enough to aid their allies’ movement while impairing the movement of their enemies.

After being slowed down, the enemies were brutally murdered by the Dragon Knights from atop their Tiger Dragons. The Warriors and Fighters supported the Dragon Knights as they mercilessly charged forward.

The forces of the labyrinth rushed toward the retreating enemies, even though they outnumbered Kim Jin-Woo’s forces tenfold.

As expected, the Nagas won the battle.

Huff, huff.

Tryndall was left breathing deeply as if he were about to collapse, as he tried desperately to not fall behind the Nagas.

“Weak little…” Morrigan hissed as she stepped past Tryndall.

Tryndall stared angrily at Morrigan and attempted to argue back, before thinking better of it. Unlike him, the Nagas were effortlessly cleaning up the battlefield. He felt miserable due to his situation, where he was neither a commander nor even a regular soldier.

But only then did he truly understand why the 9th Floor had been at peace when the rest of the Underworld was in a constant state of war. With such a strong army on standby all the time, no enemy could easily attempt to invade the 9th Floor.

In fact, he had heard that labyrinths on the other floors were barely surviving due to the constant daily raids by waves of enemies. On the other hand, the labyrinths on the 9th Floor were now able to fend off enemy attacks with relative ease, compared to the start of the war. And he knew that the man in front of him was at the center of it all.

The man who had once started as the master of an unnamed labyrinth had overcome powerful enemies and even defeated the 10th Floor Nobles. If Kim Jin-Woo hadn’t existed on the 9th Floor, it probably would have been lost to the enemy as well.

In fact, Tryndall felt things had turned out for the better, regardless of his former fame and glory. He was glad that the man in front of him was the King of the 9th Floor, based on what he had seen with his own eyes.

Perhaps due to this realization, Tryndall knelt before Kim Jin-Woo like a possessed being, calling out, “Milord!”

***

As the battlefield cleared up and Kim Jin-Woo was preparing to return to the Fortress, he tilted his head toward Tryndall, who had suddenly fallen to his feet and begun shouting repeatedly like a maniac, “Please grant me the glory of joining Milord’s army!”

Kim Jin-Woo was puzzled. Tryndall had already fought in three battles with him throughout the day. He couldn’t figure out the reason for the sudden outburst.

“I no longer desire to remain by myself. Please allow me to be of any use to Milord!” Tyndall insisted.

As Kim Jin-Woo frowned at Tryndall’s unexplainable behavior, a message suddenly appeared in front of him.