Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

The ancient legacy that not even the Usurper could find, going back many years, was reactivated again.

[The core that dominates the Red Castle—the Blood Source—resonates.]

[The engraving has begun.]

It was a completely unintended piece of good fortune. Kim Jin-Woo had been anticipating that he would fall into the Ursus’ trap and suffer a defeat, but he had never expected such luck to be waiting for him instead.

Kim Jin-Woo slowly attuned the core with his spirit while controlling the power of Greed that was squirming inside of him.

“Ah…”

But his beating heart quickly stopped. He groaned at the terrifying sense of loss, as if his whole body had been drained of all energy.

[The engraving has failed.]

[You are not worthy.]

[The only worthy rulers who can rule the Red Castle are those who have inherited the True Blood. Unfortunately, while you do have a True Blood Vampire under your control, you do not directly possess the True Blood.]

Just when Kim Jin-Woo thought that things were going well, a problem struck. He frowned with a pale, weary face as his massive energy reserves were drained away like a receding tide.

“Ah…”

If he wanted to, he could have devoured the energy contained in the legacy of the Vampire Lord. It would have been an easy task for him. With a delectable feast laid out in front of him, just by releasing his power of Greed, he could have easily gotten what he wanted.

“Urgh.”

However, Kim Jin-Woo resisted the urge to do so. The existence of the Red Castle located in the Back Floor was too attractive for him to simply extract its energy and destroy it.

The fortress, which no one could set foot in without the Lord’s permission, was priceless in itself. It would be a truly foolish act to take such a treasure and discard it.

[Engraving is not possible. The Blood Source has rejected you.]

Kim Jin-Woo tried to reactivate the engraving again, just in case, but the Blood Source maintained its high standards.

He deliberated over his choices. He wanted to devour the appetizing meal laid out before him. Its taste, aroma, and flavor, everything about it—he didn’t want to miss any of them. But things weren’t going well for him. The core rejected him again and again, and to make matters worse, the system message started to warn him.

[You who have reached the Back Floor are neither in nor out of the battlefield. However, if you continue to stay in the realm of the Back Floor, you will be completely separated from the battlefield.]

[If you are separated from the battlefield, your ‘Undefeated’ title will be lost.]

[29 minutes and 48 seconds left until the title is forfeited.]

“The fuck,” Kim Jin-Woo cursed. There was an unexpected time limit. He hastily asked Angela, “Is there any way to enter this realm again?”

“Um, I think it’ll be difficult. We just coincidentally happened to enter in the midst of a crisis, so I don’t exactly know how we got here,” Angela replied.

Kim Jin-Woo asked just in case, and his guess was correct. It was by sheer luck that he had been able to escape having his life come to an end at the terrible explosion. He muttered, “Seems like it'll be difficult to come back again next time.”

If he failed to obtain any ancient relics here today, he could never know if he’d get the opportunity to do so again in the future. He pondered over and over again, but he couldn’t come to a conclusion.

[You must return to the battlefield quickly. Failure to do so will result in dishonor and tarnishing of your record, and you may be recorded as someone who ‘retreated’.]

[18 minutes and 22 seconds left until the title is forfeited.]

Watching the timer decrease, Kim Jin-Woo fell into even deeper thought.

***

The Ursus’ labyrinth, which had been swept away by the horrific explosion, was in utter ruins. However, not even the fierce flames and shocks from the explosion could end the war.

“Goaaaaaaaar!”

From the ruins where the flames had yet to be extinguished, the wounded Taurus continued to fight the High Ursus despite their bruised bodies. Their horns were broken and their bodies were seared from the flames, but they refused to back down.

Unfortunately, the situation was overwhelmingly stacked against the Taurus for them to overcome with combat alone. Although they had avoided being completely annihilated, the Taurus’ army had lost half of its strength in that single explosion.

The damage done to the Taurus Ogres who had ventured bravely into the depths of the labyrinth was severe, and it was too much for them to overcome the wrath of the Ursus, who had been lying in wait for this moment to get their revenge.

To make matters worse, even the Duke himself had been forced to unexpectedly consume most of his power. It was a grueling decision, but there was no other way. If he hadn’t acted, the Taurus would have all been swept away by the explosion and faced their doom.

“Those bastards! We’ve lost a large number of our troops to the explosion!” the captain of the bodyguards, whose horn had completely melted away, cried out.

He repeatedly insisted that they still had the upper hand, and the situation wasn’t any better for the other side, who had already lost over ten thousand High Ursus. It was as expected of the courageous Taurus Ogres, who were the most valiant warriors in his army.

The Duke supported the captain’s remarks. “We are not backing down. We will finish off those white bears here, today!”

“Wooooooooooooo!”

Inspired by their master’s desire for conquest, the Taurus roared in unison.

“Mm.”

With a single sentence, the Duke had managed to restore the morale of his troops, which had waned significantly after falling into the Ursus’ trap. However, even as he watched on, the Duke still appeared uneasy.

The Undefeated Commander was nowhere to be seen, and the Duke wasn’t certain if he had been swept away by the explosion. It was because of the amplification buff effects from his title that his army had been able to fight on equal footing on their enemy’s home ground.

But now, the Undefeated Commander had disappeared completely without a trace, and the enemy’s amplification buffs, which he had not felt the effects of until now, was starting to weigh heavily on his troops. For the time being, they were still able to hold their own, but as time went on, the enemies would slowly recover their strength while their own troops would grow weary.

It was a huge crisis. And that wasn’t the only problem he was facing. The biggest problem was that he couldn’t figure out what had happened to the power of the eastern labyrinth he had entered into an alliance with.

He wasn’t particularly concerned about the alliance itself. Rather, he had secretly hoped that his allies would suffer more damage than his own forces. In a way, his own allies were more dangerous than the enemy, because the balance of power had completely shifted.

If possible, it would have been great if his allies had suffered a similar level of damage, but that seemed highly unlikely. Unless the Ursus were truly crazy, they wouldn’t have considered blowing up their own stronghold completely, which meant that the scope of the explosion and its damage was limited to the vicinity of the entrance to the labyrinth, where most of the Taurus were. In the end, that meant only the Taurus had borne the brunt of the destruction.

“But I cannot back down like this,” the Duke muttered. The situation wasn’t favorable, but the Taurus King had no intention of backing down.

Ferocious beasts like him were never known for letting go of wounded prey. It was just that unfortunately, this time, he and the Taurus were the wounded prey. Unless they defeated the Ursus and took away their Labyrinth Core, there was no tomorrow for the Taurus. He was determined to see this through.

However, the situation was getting more and more unfavorable, despite the strength of his will. The exhausted Taurus were starting to show their limits, while the Ursus continued to recover due to their amplification buffs from the labyrinth as time went on.

The power gap between the two armies continued to widen, as if something were driving a wedge between them. And finally, the culprit behind everything revealed himself.

“How pathetic you look right now, Taurus King.” A giant white bear wandered onto the battlefield, speaking in a mocking tone.

The Taurus King refused to be talked down to and retorted, “Tough talk coming from someone who lost his precious High Ursus.”

“It was through their sacrifice that I am able to spill the blood of my nemesis on the altar; thus, the death of ten thousand High Ursus have not been in vain.” Contrary to his laid-back tone, the Ursus King continued to approach the Taurus King with thudding footfalls. His handpicked white bear guards trampled the worn-out Taurus as they paved the way for their master. The king of the white bears had no intention of giving the Taurus Duke any time to recover.

“Oh, old nemesis. Today will be your last.” The Ursus King pushed his guards to the side and stepped forward. Unlike his initial appearance on the battlefield, he suddenly charged forward swiftly, and the Taurus that were caught between the two kings were swept away helplessly, leaving their king exposed.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaar!”

A thunderbolt appeared between the Duke’s two horns. Thunderbolts so powerful and destructive that they had been able to push away the terrifying explosion appeared out of the condensed energy before shooting forward toward his enemy.

But the Ursus King refused to back down. A white light gathered between his tough jaws before shooting straight out toward the Taurus King.

Thunderbolts and a wave of freezing cold—two pure energies that would naturally never exist in the depths of the Underworld—flew toward each other.

“Run! We’re going to get caught up in it!”

The Taurus scattered all over the place in anticipation of the collision of the two powerful energy blasts. At that moment, the white bears that stood in front of them were the least of their worries.

The enemy too had no way of avoiding the Dukes’ energy blasts.

“Mm…”

In anticipation of the explosion that was sure to follow, the troops from both sides lay flat on the ground, concentrating all their strength in their bodies as they held out. However, as time passed, their surroundings remained silent.

“Huh?”

Instead of the explosion they had expected, what they heard was the dumbfounded voice of a mysterious figure.

***

Bound by the time limit, Kim Jin-Woo was forced to leave the Back Floor and return to reality. The first thing that caught his eyes was the fierce howl of lightning and the bitter wave of cold that struck him.

“Huh?”

Without even understanding the situation, he quickly released his power. The mighty energy of the Highlord that he had been suppressing quickly spread out in all directions, and the power of Greed that had been slowly revealing itself greedily opened its mouth widely.

The two-pronged waves of energy, which had been raging toward him wildly, were quickly engulfed by the power of Greed and disappeared without a trace.

“Phew.” Kim Jin-Woo sighed with satisfaction as he felt his energy that had been consumed by the Back Floor being restored in an instant.

But quickly, he noticed two Dukes who were looking at him with puzzled expressions. They seemed to be stunned by the fact that their powerful energy blasts had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

“Having a bit too much fun, aren’t you?” Seeing the ruins of the labyrinth covered with blood, Kim Jin-Woo shook his head.

“H-how did you!?” The giant Ursus who had been hidden behind the white wave of energy belatedly noticed Kim Jin-Woo’s appearance on the battlefield. It was a giant white bear who was so huge that he could literally look down on the already large High Ursus. It was plain to see that he was the leader of their forces.

“So you’re the leader of the white bears,” Kim Jin-Woo remarked. He continued, “Indeed, it’s foolish to trust anyone in the Underworld. That explosion didn’t seem like it was only targeting the Taurus, huh?”

Seeing the panicky giant white bear with his big yellow eyes, contrary to what Mimir had told him, there was no godlike figure present.

“Anyway, this is a relief. I was wondering what to do if we weren’t able to communicate, just like the envoy you sent over. Because there’s something I really wanted to tell you.”

Kim Jin-Woo grinned, looking extremely pleased.

“Nice to meet you, you son of a bitch.”