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#49. Retribution

The first to notice the strange disturbance was Marcus, who was running furiously at the front of the pack. He instinctively slowed down when he saw the sudden appearance of black feathers.

Flap!

As soon as he heard the sharp sound of wings flapping in his ear, Marcus immediately widened his stance as he stomped hard on the ground. But he immediately found himself flying through the air, his head about to touch the ceiling of the passageway.

“Kaaaargh!”

As Marcus flew, black feathers shot out all across the area. The Blood Lions continued to scream, and in an instant, three of them fell to the floor, feathers embedded all over their bodies.

“Roaaaar!” Marcus let out a mighty roar as he crashed into the ground.

The Under-Elves trembled in fear at Marcus’ rage-induced roars. In front of them, the black feathers coalesced into a whirlwind and formed into a giant black crow.

“What the hell is the Crow of the Battlefield doing here?” Marcus shouted in shock, having identified Morrigan’s identity immediately even in her crow form.

“Pfft. Why is the Crow here, I wonder.” Morrigan’s beak moved around as she leered at Marcus.

“I’m sure you’re here to scavenge some corpses. In fact, I’m just about to prepare some fresh new corpses. My favorite,” Marcus said.

“I see you’re doing well, my little minions…” Morrigan replied mockingly.

Marcus flew into a rage at Morrigan’s sarcastic mocking and charged toward her. But Morrigan disappeared from where she had been standing just moments ago with a flap of her wings, and she reappeared immediately behind the Under-Elves.

“How dare you challenge us, the Blood Lions!” Marcus was beyond angry that his subordinates’ blood had been spilled.

But Morrigan didn’t even bat an eyelid. “Dare?” She mocked Marcus as if he were some lower lifeform. “It seems you don’t know which labyrinth the Crow of the Battlefield belongs to?”

At that moment, Marcus’ face turned black as he remembered Morrigan’s affiliation.

“I heard there was a muscle-brained idiot on the 8th Floor. That must be you, huh?”

Despite Morrigan\'s mocking laughter as she cracked a joke at his expense, Marcus couldn’t easily respond. The gigantic and ferocious Blood Lion lost all sign of his initial sense of superiority as he fumbled around, eyes looking all over the passageway.

“Don’t tell me that the Undefeated Commander wants the Under-Elves for himself?” Marcus asked cautiously, belatedly realizing that Morrigan had come alone with no reinforcements at all.

“You fool. That’s not it,” Morrigan replied as she flapped her wings, landing behind the Under-Elves. “These guys here were under our Master all along,” she said as she spread her wings and wrapped them around Rikshasha, pulling the Under-Elf into her embrace. “Isn’t that right?”

Rikshasha simply nodded at Morrigan’s pretense of friendliness before asking her a question. “How is the King?”

“The Rangers returned a long time ago, so that’s why I’m already here. Master was so concerned that he urgently sent me here ahead, you Under-Elf brat.” Morrigan teased Rikshasha, but instead of being offended, the latter let out a bright smile.

“I guess you’re all alone now, then?” Marcus suddenly interrupted the two ladies, seemingly having cleared his thoughts.

“Oh my, so what are you going to do? You think we’re going to be pushovers since I came here alone?” Morrigan asked.

The Blood Lions started approaching them with bloodlust in their eyes, but Morrigan wasn’t the slightest bit fazed. No, she wasn’t just unfazed. In fact, she was totally ignoring them. She turned her back on the Blood Lions.

Then she spread her feathers in the direction of the Striped Wasps, who had been creeping up to them the entire time.

“Roaaaaaar!” The moment Morrigan turned her back, Marcus and the Blood Lions charged toward her. They seemed intent on wrapping up this matter before the Crow’s master arrived. Marcus called out, “They can’t stop both of us! They’re slower than us and have fewer numbers, so fight or flee as needed!”

Hundreds of Striped Wasps beat their wings, and an annoying humming noise enveloped the passageway, interspersed with the roars of Blood Lions. Meanwhile, Rikshasha stood in the middle, looking at both sides before grabbing her scimitar and rushing forward.

“That bitch is their leader! I want her dead!” Marcus exclaimed. He had been eyeing Rikshasha from the beginning. And the fact that a mere Under-Elf had been acting all tough and mighty, as if she were the commander of her unit, got on his nerves.

At Marcus’ order, several Blood Lions leaped forward and rushed directly toward Rikshasha. The Under-Elves standing in between them were caught off-guard by their ferocious charge, and without even having a chance to think of fight or flight, they were trampled to death.

Rikshasha grinded her teeth at the helplessness of her pathetic clan, who despite being cornered, were unable to even put up a decent fight. Her blade appeared from the shadows as it sliced through the Blood Lions with ease. But despite having lost their limbs, the Blood Lions continued to rush toward Rikshasha, ignoring their pain and revealing their fangs and claws.

Although the Blood Lions moved fiercely, they were no match for the speed of the Under-Elf Runner. Rikshasha easily evaded their attacks as she continued to run circles around them while slashing away.

However, her struggle was to no avail without the help of her clan. Marcus appeared behind her out of nowhere and grabbed her by the hair. “You are indeed their leader,” he said. “Once I deal with you, the Under-Elves will be back to their pathetic, useless selves…”

Marcus’ laughter was suddenly cut short, as he took in a deep breath and pulled his hand back. A black blade sliced through the space where Rikshasha’s head had been just moments ago.

Swish!

Thick red blood ran down his nose. He silently looked back and forth between his hands, noticing that the bundle of hair he had been holding onto had been cut off. The moment Rikshasha had been caught, the Under-Elf cut her hair off without hesitation and counterattacked.

But her swift attack only further aggravated the Blood Lion. Having allowed a measly Under-Elf to get the upper hand and attack him, Marcus’s blood boiled as he charged toward her.

Rikshsha frowned. She was definitely faster in terms of speed, but this seasoned Blood Lion was backing her into a corner. As the passageway was narrow, she quickly found her back facing the cold walls, and she had nowhere else to run.

She could see Morrigan fighting the Wasps in the distance. But based on the cold look in Morrigan’s eyes, she seemed unwilling to help any further. Clearly, Morrigan had the means to help them, but despite that, not once did she pay attention to the Under-Elves.

A glimpse of contempt flashed through Morrigan’s red eyes when she occasionally turned to look at the Under-Elves. The moment she saw those eyes, Rikshasha was convinced. The Crow of the Battlefield had the strength to help everyone there. But despite that, she was clearly uninterested in doing so.

It was almost as if Morrigan was testing the Under-Elves to prove their worth, and that today wasn’t the day they would die, the same way she herself had been treating her clanmates all along.

Even if all the Under-Elves were to be annihilated here, it was clear that Morrigan wouldn’t give a damn.

Rikshasha didn’t feel any resentment. After all, she felt the same way. Even at that very moment, many of her kin were lying on the floor, their hands pressed together as they prayed for their lives in front of the Blood Lions, who mercilessly killed them off. In her eyes, their pathetic lives weren’t worth saving.

“Don’t get too caught up in it! Spare a few and we’ll make our retreat!” Marcus spoke as if the battle were already over. Accordingly, the rest of the Blood Lions seemed ready to wrap things up.

At that moment, Rikshasha burst out laughing. She was laughing so widely that one could see her bright white teeth.

Marcus’ expression hardened. “Fucking hell. A mere, puny Under-Elf dares to play the role of a leader…” Apparently, he knew something about the curse the Under-Elves were under. Otherwise, there was no way such hatred and fear could have been intertwined in the way he looked at Rikshasha.

Rikshasha continued to laugh as she collapsed onto the floor.

“There’s no point in you begging for your life n—” Marcus began.

“You’re late,” Rikshasha said.

Marcus suddenly fell silent as he finally understood why the Under-Elf had suddenly reacted the way she did. But his realization came far too late, as he groaned at the sudden pain in the nape of his neck. At the same time, he felt his body flutter as he felt a choking pain in his breathing.

“Kaaaargh!”

In the distance, the cries of his subordinates could be heard. Blood splattered everywhere, and four of the Blood Lions that had been guarding him just moments ago fell to the floor, their bodies ripped in half.

It was only then that Marcus realized that someone had grabbed him by his mane and tossed him aside as his men were slaughtered.

“Time’s up, asshole!” At that moment, a spine-chillingly cold voice penetrated Marcus’ ear.

***

Kim Jin-Woo looked at the giant lion-man lying on the floor, who was staring at him with a dazed look on his face.

“Time’s up, asshole!” As soon as the words left Kim Jin-Woo’s mouth, the rear line of the Blood Lions grew noisy; loud, sharp roars could be heard one after another. Flames and explosions followed, and the Blood Lions screamed as they scurried away. Between them, a group of lizards with flames hanging from the tips of their jaws ran wildly toward him.

[The battle has begun.]

[The Commander’s unique ability, ‘Domination of the Battlefield’, has been activated.]

[The Naga Dragon Knights consider it a supreme honor to fight alongside their valiant Commander.]

[Your allies’ combat ability has increased. They will obey you to your last word.]

[Your allies’ formation becomes stronger and more resilient.]

[Your allies’ combat ability has been amplified by the effect ‘Domination of the Battlefield’.]

[The conqueror\'s unique ability has been activated. One unit is unaffected by the inter-floor penalty.]

[The Dragon Knights are freed from the inter-floor penalty and have regained their original abilities.]

Kim Jin-Woo shook his head as he brushed off the messages that appeared in front of him, before turning his attention to Rikshasha. Despite having been through a lot of hardship, and her face being badly damaged, her eyes shone like stars.

“You’ve suffered enough,” he said.

“I have troubled Milord. Please punish this lowly servant.” Rikshasha requested punishment instead of greeting him back, as usual.

But Kim Jin-Woo smirked, as he was used to her attitude by now. “So these are the clanmates you were talking about?”

“Yes, Milord.” Rikshasha’s voice lacked confidence.

It was to be expected. After all, she had proclaimed loudly that she would gather and return with her clan before leaving the labyrinth, but in the end, she’d had to be rescued by her master.

Thus, it was beyond understandable that she couldn’t bear to even lift her head and show her face, when the clan members she had spoken proudly of were all lying on the floor and miserably begging for their lives.

“I was hoping they would be half of what you were at the very least, but I guess I was expecting too much.”

Rikshasha trembled when she noticed that Kim Jin-Woo’s gaze toward her people contained nothing but disappointment, and she felt as though she had committed a dire sin. She said, “The years have taken away their pride and fighting spirit.”

“Well, you weren’t that different from them at first, too.” Kim Jin-Woo grinned and relaxed as he recalled his first encounter with Rikshasha. She had come a long way after consuming that single low-grade down gem.

“But you’ve never once run away from your foes, and that makes you different from the rest of them. I’ll judge their worth at the end of this battle.” Kim Jin-Woo’s expression turned cold as he made a decisive declaration.

“As Master wills.” Rikshasha bowed, having all but given up on her clanmates.

“However!” Kim Jin-Woo almost let out a low growl as he looked at Rikshasha. His gaze was directed at her beautiful hair, which had been cut in an unsightly fashion.

“There’s something I have to deal with first.” With that, Kim Jin-Woo turned around.

“Mm…”

Marcus, who had until that point been observing his men fall one by one to the Naga Dragon Knights, suddenly sensed Kim Jin-Woo’s presence and stepped backward in shock.

Streaks of blue light were flowing from the corners of Kim Jin-Woo’s eyes.