Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 87

Dungeon Journal – Episode 88

The naga mage’s explanation didn’t end there. He revealed that once, while exploring the abandoned labyrinth, he’d obtained fragments of the labyrinth core. Since then, he hadn’t had the opportunity to collect more fragments, so he left the ones he had in the lab and forgotten about them.

But those core fragments were the key ingredient for enhancing a complete core.

“Hmm.”

“Master, what are you pondering so deeply?”

Lost in thought, Kim Jin-woo looked up at Angela’s voice.

Angela, who had been incredibly busy lately trying to fill Dominic’s void, was looking at him with a somewhat tired face.

“The naga mages discovered something unexpected.”

After explaining the general situation, Angela looked dumbfounded.

“This is a major incident.”

She, too, couldn’t believe that three precious labyrinth cores had disappeared, and her gaze towards the naga mages wasn’t favorable.

“Let’s think positively for now. After all, the existing cores weren’t all that useful anyway.”

“That’s true, but…”

She trailed off, then, after a moment of contemplation, offered an unexpected suggestion.

“The first priority is to check how the synthesized core has changed.”

“That’s right. We need to find a use for it.”

“Then, how about this? If we find a suitable place and reactivate a labyrinth, wouldn’t we be able to see its effects?”

At Angela’s words, Kim Jin-woo stroked his bristly chin and pondered.

“The earls in the deeper levels have several satellite labyrinths guarding the main labyrinth. Usually, their subordinate nobles take on that role, but they also forcibly create labyrinths in gaps to block paths.”

This was the first time Kim Jin-woo had heard this. So, he looked at her with interest and asked for an explanation.

“It’s a kind of defense line that greets enemies before they reach the main labyrinth. Besides, it also prevents enemy spies from easily scouting the labyrinth in peacetime.”

It seemed that her time with Anatolius the Iron-Blooded had been a valuable experience, as everything she said was useful.

“Hoo, not a bad suggestion.”

“I’ve heard that most nobles defend their main labyrinth in that way. It buys time to gather troops even in the event of war, and it’s advantageous in many ways, so I think it would be good for Master to fortify the surroundings in that way as well.”

There was no reason to hesitate when he had a good idea.

“Tell Ricksha to find a suitable place near the fortress. Let’s start by experimentally installing about three cores first.”

After that, everything went smoothly. Since he had already grasped most of the terrain on the 9th floor, it was easy to pick out places that he thought were important.

“Hmm…”

Of course, there were some places that were ambiguous for creating a labyrinth, but he had the naga workers expand the nearby passages.

As a result, one labyrinth was installed to the north, where the passage to the 8th floor was located, and two more labyrinths were installed to the south, where the passage to the 10th floor was located.

[The deactivated labyrinth core has been activated.]

[It will take time for the core to fully settle.]

[The birth of a new labyrinth will take 720 hours.]

It took longer than expected, but there were no major problems.

After all, the war was over, and the fortress core, which could be said to be the main one, was about to complete its upgrade.

So, Kim Jin-woo placed some troops to guard the depths of the fortress and concluded the work on creating satellite labyrinths by observing the progress.

“Ugh. I hope it doesn’t turn out completely unusable.”

He sighed, recalling the message that synthesis doesn’t always produce good results.

***

The naga fortress wasn’t the only one working hard to strengthen its forces with the spoils of the past war.

The allied labyrinths under his command, who had reaped the sweet rewards of victory, the Queen of Dreamscapes, who had newly pledged fealty, and the King of Wanderers were all busy utilizing the cores they had obtained as rewards for their contributions in their own ways.

Among them, Uther seemed to have decided to follow the naga fortress, boldly adding the newly acquired core to the existing core. He seemed to firmly believe that the power of the naga fortress came from the two cores.

However, Uther had to go through trial and error in the process, because the potential of each labyrinth core varied greatly.

And unfortunately, he had to bitterly realize that the core governing the Labyrinth of Gluttony and the core he had newly acquired were not of very good quality.

“Even if I had steadily developed it with one core, I would have reached a limit someday.”

“That’s true, but…”

Each labyrinth core had a limit to the grade it could reach. Uther, who had experienced it firsthand, was completely dejected. It seemed that he wanted his labyrinth to develop like the naga fortress.

“Still, even now, there won’t be a labyrinth that can beat us on the 9th floor. Two cores—other masters can’t even dare to try. And there’s no chance to get another core in the first place.”

Although he had confirmed the limit, it was true that the efficiency had increased tremendously due to the cooperation of the existing core and the new core, so Uther could barely smile.

“I wonder how the other masters used it.”

Uther was constantly going in and out of the naga fortress, so he had some corners to imitate, but he was curious about how the other labyrinth masters, including Ariane, would use the newly acquired labyrinth core.

Unlike Uther, they would have used the core in the traditional underground way, without being influenced by Kim Jin-woo himself.

As soon as he had the thought, he opened a portal and headed to the labyrinth ruled by Ariane, the Queen of Dreamscapes.

“My Lord!”

As if she had sensed the appearance of the portal in advance, Ariane, the Queen of Dreamscapes, rushed over and prostrated herself at his feet.

“I don’t like excessive courtesy. Be comfortable.”

Kim Jin-woo, who had raised Ariane, glanced around her residence. The Labyrinth of Dreamscapes, filled with strange purple smoke, was somehow dreamlike.

Even the owner’s room, where the core was located, was filled with thick smoke, blurring everything and making it feel unreal.

“What brings you to my labyrinth? If you had called, I would have gone to you myself.”

Her words were smooth, but she seemed uncomfortable with Kim Jin-woo visiting her owner’s room, which was like her inner sanctum [a private or sacred place].

After all, if he wanted, he could destroy the core and eliminate her from this spot, so it was understandable that she was uncomfortable.

Kim Jin-woo, who had found the core through the hazy smoke, asked casually.

“Where is the newly acquired core?”

“Um…”

The Queen of Dreamscapes seemed worried that he had distributed the cores fairly in front of her, but now he was revealing his ulterior motives.

Seeing her avoiding the answer with an uncomfortable expression, Kim Jin-woo let out a burst of laughter.

“I’m offended. I can get that labyrinth core anytime I want. Do I look so desperate that I would covet my subordinate’s things?”

He said it with a smile, but there was something spine-chilling in it. Ariane, who belatedly realized her mistake, immediately prostrated herself and apologized.

“I didn’t want to make a pledge of fealty. You came to me first and made the offer.”

Ariane, the Queen of Dreamscapes, was a cunning woman. Her purple eyes were full of the craftiness to do anything if necessary.

So, Kim Jin-woo suppressed her when he had the chance. If he didn’t, he knew that she would cause him trouble someday.

“If you want, I will withdraw the pledge of fealty. But you will have to return all the rewards you have gained from being by my side.”

He didn’t know if it was possible to withdraw the pledge of fealty, but he spoke strongly. But she seemed to have misunderstood his words.

“I never meant that! Please forgive me!”

Kim Jin-woo frowned at her, who was trembling more than necessary with a pale face, when a message window appeared in front of him.

[Would you like to terminate the contract of fealty with Ariane, the Queen of Dreamscapes?]

[Being abandoned by the master is a terrible disgrace.]

[If the contract is terminated, the Land of Dreamscapes and its ruler will suffer a considerable blow.]

[The price of taking loyalty lightly is not light. There will be no one to dedicate themselves to a disgraceful master.]

[Mercenaries will stop visiting the tavern.]

[Nightmares will question the master’s leadership.]

[You will also suffer some damage, but it is not serious. Only your reputation will decline somewhat.]

This was another unexpected restriction, and Kim Jin-woo’s eyes widened.

According to the message, it was understandable that she was trembling like that. He would only suffer a slight decline in reputation, but the damage she would suffer was not trivial.

“Hmm…”

Kim Jin-woo smiled without the Queen of Dreamscapes knowing, as he had found another way to restrain those bound by the pledge of fealty.

***

Although there were some problems in the middle, Kim Jin-woo was able to find out without much difficulty how the other vassals were using the newly acquired labyrinth core.

They used it by extracting only some of the labyrinth’s power through a refining process and injecting it into their own labyrinth.

In the process, most of the core’s vitality disappeared, but it was said to be an unavoidable choice to improve the quality of the core.

In the end, the cores that had their power extracted in this way were sold to the Black Merchant at a relatively low price.

“The Black Merchant is involved everywhere.”

He sighed and turned his head at the sound of footsteps calling for him. Angela was running towards him with a hurried face from afar.

“What is it now!”

He snapped irritably, as something bad always seemed to happen when his subordinates came running like this.

Angela, who had been running from afar, stopped hesitantly, startled by his fierce tone, and reported.

“It’s not that, but…”

“But what?”

“Dominic…”

As soon as the name Dominic came out, Kim Jin-woo immediately kicked off the floor.

“Lead the way!”

***

It was more like a giant cocoon than a husk.

He narrowed his eyes to find Dominic, who was hidden behind an opaque silver curtain, but all he could see was the shimmering curtain.

“It seems like the transformation is about to end.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I think she would want Master to watch that moment.”

Fortunately, Angela hadn’t brought bad news.

The energy of Dominic, felt beyond the cocoon, was stronger than ever.

“Do nagas change like this?”

“Well, I’m not a naga, so I don’t know, but it’s definitely not a common sight.”

As Angela said, Dominic, surrounded by the silver curtain, was a spectacle in itself.

“Ah, it looks like it’s about to end.”

“It didn’t take as long as I thought.”

When she left, she talked as if she would be gone for a month or two, but not much time had passed.

“She’s probably trying to finish quickly because she’s worried about Master.”

Angela’s words were full of jokes, but Kim Jin-woo thought that Dominic might do that.

That steadfast and devoted maid preferred serving her master to her own personal gain.

“Is that so.”

As he said that, the silver curtain instantly lost its light and began to become dry and crumbly. And at some point, the surface of the dried cocoon cracked with a snap.