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Chapter 189

The stalker that had been trailing Kim Jin-Woo was none other than a Moai, down to the burned skin.

“Oh?” Kim Jin-Woo exclaimed. Because all the Moai he’d encountered thus far had only sought to avoid him as much as possible, this one’s unexpected behavior caught his curiosity.

This Moai’s appearance was just as gruesome as the others. Although Kim Jin-Woo tried to identify its original appearance, he could only make out its twisted beak and a few remaining feathers on its hideous skin, which suggested that it had originally appeared to be some sort of bird-like creature.

“You don’t seem to be afraid of me,” Kim Jin-Woo said. But not only did the Moai not run away, it only drew closer to him.

-Longing. Joy.

Perhaps this Moai had gone through a great deal in its life, as the Eyes of Truth only revealed a fragment of its emotions. Kim Jin-Woo tilted his head, trying to understand the incomprehensible swirl of emotions around the Moai. The creatures’ characteristic tenacious malice was nowhere to be found, and only a deep, unknown emotion was contained within it.

“Cooo.” The Moai let out a strange sound.

Its behavior was truly incomprehensible. Kim Jin-Woo’s curiosity was only aroused further, but he had no time to waste. Whether it was because the Black Merchants had a hand in the matter, or it was because the fallen Nobles hadn’t been able to withstand the year-long war, the 10th Floor Nobles’ down gem seeds had totally dried up.

As a result, collecting the Seals was much slower than Kim Jin-Woo had initially expected. He couldn’t waste his time on the Moai, who had no intrinsic value to him.

“You’re a lucky one. I’ll let you live,” he remarked. He looked at the Moai, which almost seemed to be bowing toward him worshipfully, and curbed his curiosity as he hurried his pace.

The Moai stayed curled up in that position for a while before slowly following Kim Jin-Woo once more.

***

By the time Kim Jin-Woo collected two more Seals, there were no more labyrinths to be found on the 10th Floor. He wasn’t sure if it was because the remaining labyrinths had already migrated out of the 10th Floor or because they had all been wiped out, but he expected no further results beyond what he had already achieved.

He sighed and turned away with disappointment.

“Mm?” He felt a strange feeling around him that he hadn’t sensed earlier, perhaps because he had drowned out the world around him while he pushed forward with his objective.

“Krrrrr.”

The clear and dark malice Kim Jin-Woo sensed obviously belonged to Moai. He frowned as he drew his sword. He wondered why these ghosts of the Underworld, who had previously treated him as invisible, had suddenly changed, but he didn’t think for long.

All he had to do was to crush the Moai. It was as simple as that. Blue streaks of light flowed from his eyes as his demeanor changed.

“Keeek!” As soon as Kim Jin-Woo gathered his spirit, a single Moai ran toward him and fell flat on its face.

“What’s with you?” Kim Jin-Woo mused.

The twisted beak and the few feathers that remained on the Moai’s body were familiar, and when Kim Jin-Woo squinted, he realized that it was the very same Moai that had tailed him the other day. Upon recognizing the Moai, he released his fighting spirit.

The rest of the Moai that had been hiding in the dark revealed themselves one by one. However, they too started to kneel, showing extreme respect toward him.

“What the…” Kim Jin-Woo exclaimed.

-Happiness. Happiness. Happiness.

A wake of joy filled the passageway, and for the first time ever, the Eyes of Truth shook Kim Jin-Woo. He was choked by the blind joy and longing that came from all directions. He quickly gathered his spirit to shake off the thoughts that were drowning him. The energy of the Highlord quickly devoured the madness of the Moai.

“Kaaaargh!”

“Keeeeeek!”

However, the Moai, who usually ran in fear, didn’t do so this time. Instead, their madness grew.

“No way…” At this point, Kim Jin-Woo felt that something was off. They almost seemed to be celebrating, just as Morrigan had behaved when she recognized him as her true Master after he ascended to the title of Highlord.

“One day, beings like me will come to you, following the scent of their old master.”

Kim Jin-Woo looked at the Moai, who trembled while running amok like fanatics. “Perhaps you’re all descendants of the Ancient Lords…” he muttered.

The crazy Moai suddenly stopped moving when Kim Jin-Woo spoke. They stared at him, eyes full of anticipation, raising their hands as if they were celebrating with a cheer.

“Indeed,” Kim Jin-Woo said. In response to that single confident word, unbelievably, pus-like tears flowed from the Moai’s cloudy eyes.

-Regret. Pain. Joy.

Their thoughts and feelings were still inconsistent and jumbled up, but Kim Jin-Woo didn’t need to think any further, as he had already realized what they were thinking deep inside.

When their labyrinth master had been corrupted and left to roam the Underworld, the Ancient Heroes had also been negatively affected. They had finally found the shadow of their old master after waiting for a very long time, but they had already been corrupted by the malice of the Underworld and had become Moai, left to wander the tunnels.

Realizing that simple fact, Kim Jin-Woo let out a long sigh of regret. “How pitiful.”

It was truly tragic to see the great Heroes, who had once run wild under the Ancient Lords’ command, turn into vicious, mindless beings.

It was possible that most of them were simply instinctively reacting to the scent of their old masters imprinted on Kim Jin-Woo’s body. In fact, no sense of reasoning could be found in their cloudy eyes.

But nevertheless, they obediently worshiped him, suppressing their instincts and erasing their malice. Kim Jin-Woo bit his lips, left speechless at the magnificent yet miserable sight.

After a long time, the Moai started to be tormented by the malice that invaded their minds once more, and Kim Jin-Woo started to walk away. The hundreds of Moai then started to follow him. None of them uttered a single sound as they silently followed him, like God’s people chasing after the Promised Land.

***

The master of the Grand Labyrinth finally returned after nearly two months had passed. The countless summons felt his return and waited for him at the border of the Grand Labyrinth.

“Oh, oh! Master has returned!”

Their master, followed by a gigantic horde of Moai, looked even more majestic than before. His sheer presence alone made everyone bow at his arrival, and the absolute energy radiating from him commanded devotion.

However, in the face of such dignity, the summons didn’t react with worship or praise.

“What the…”

“T-Th-That!”

They were left dumbfounded as they saw hundreds of Moai quietly following their King, as if the Moai were following their own master.

“Master…” Even the normally-calm Dominique blinked as she waited for her master to explain the unfathomable situation.

And her Lord, as always, responded briefly without any explanation. “I picked them up along the way.”

***

Having returned to the Grand Labyrinth, Kim Jin-Woo quickly looked for Valicius.

“My King.” Valicius, having been deep into research on a Moai’s corpse, immediately bowed to show his respect upon his master’s arrival.

“Ah, don’t worry about me and continue what you were doing,” Kim Jin-Woo replied. In response, Valicius got up and went back to work.

Cough.

Ever since Valicius had taken over a Naga Sorcerer’s body, his behavior had ended up exactly like theirs. When Kim Jin-Woo told him not to worry, Valicius truly took it to heart and ignored him. Slightly taken aback, Kim Jin-Woo let out a small cough and asked, “How’s the work on restoring the Moai’s original form going?”

Valicius began to blabber on as if he had been waiting for that moment. And of course, his hands continued to work busily on the Moai’s corpse.

“The body of a Moai is like a cracked plate, so if you want to completely restore it, a corpse in this condition won’t be possible. Either way, I managed to revert a corpse in its final stage and restore it somewhat to its original state, so it’s progressing slowly. Now, would you like to see it?”

Valicius lifted a corpse up with effort. It seemed to be fairly decent-looking compared to the rest of the corpses in his workshop.

“This guy is almost at the restoration stage, but as you can see, it’s not perfect yet. To fully restore this guy, all I have to do is to put a down gem where the heart is supposed to be, activate it, and…” As soon as Valicius finished speaking, the corpse collapsed and became a hideous Moai. He continued, “…This happens.”

Kim Jin-Woo looked at the proud Valicius and asked, “Will you be able to find a solution?”

“I can, but it’s difficult right now. Samples are scarce, and the most important thing is to experiment with a live one, not a corpse,” Valicius replied.

“If you need a live Moai, I’ll take care of it.”

“I can find a live Moai by myself just by stepping out of the labyrinth. The problem is how to bring it inside.”

What is he talking about now? Kim Jin-Woo wondered. He looked at Valicius, requesting with his gaze alone for further elaboration.

Valicius started to complain. “For some reason, any live Moai that’s brought into the labyrinth just dies, and I can’t perform any experiments on it. And it’s not as if I can go outside of the labyrinth to do my experiments there. Thanks to that, I’m looking for alternative methods, but because I’m not getting any results right now, I feel frustrated.”

It seemed the Grand Labyrinth had recognized the Moai solely as food. Valicius said that he had tried all sorts of methods to bring them in, but it was impossible to bring a live subject inside.

“Hmm.” In fact, Kim Jin-Woo had been concerned with that fact as well, and thus he had been unable to bring the Moai he’d gathered from the 10th Floor into the Grand Labyrinth. He was very much aware that the Grand Labyrinth had been hungrily targeting the Moai, even if the others weren’t aware.

“We need to find a way,” he remarked.

“But why are you so interested in my research?” Valicius asked. It must have felt strange for his Master to take such an interest in his research, when Kim Jin-Woo had disliked the Naga Sorcerers so much in the past.

Kim Jin-Woo responded to his question with a sincere question of his own. “Do you consume down gems like this every time you perform your experiments?”

“Until the experiment is successfully completed, there’s nothing else I can do,” Valicius replied brazenly. Seeing that, Kim Jin-Woo smiled bitterly.

Behind Valicius’ figure, a Naga Sorcerer passed by, working with a synthesized core. Although their souls were different, Valicius behaved just like the rest of the Naga Sorcerers. Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t know for certain if it was due to the fact that Valicius was now residing in a Naga Sorcerer’s body and had been influenced, or if Valicius had been like this all along.

But this time, Kim Jin-Woo truly needed the madman’s research. Hundreds of Moai had been collected from the 10th Floor, and although they were now corrupted and damaged, they were once Ancient Heroes that had roamed the Underworld. If they could be restored to their original form, the loss of the Nagas wouldn’t be as great a tragedy.

“I’ll assign Dominique to aid in your research, so try to come up with a solution together. With her help, I’m sure you’ll find a way,” Kim Jin-Woo informed Valicius.

He then returned to the master room. In his hand, he had eight Seals that he hadn’t been able to absorb due to his rushed schedule. “Now, shall I dig in?”