Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 90

# 91

Dungeon Journal

#38. The Heron and the Clam

“I’m Xylos from the 11th floor, here to check on the Naga King… Kkeueak!”

The small, stocky man, kicked by Morrigan once again mid-sentence, screamed.

“Speak clearly.”

Having suffered quite a bit before coming here, the man froze at her words, not even thinking of tending to his bleeding head.

“Under orders from the 11th floor to watch over the Naga King……”

“Again!”

Morrigan raised her hand again, and the man who introduced himself as Xylos belatedly explained himself in detail.

“I was watching the Naga Fortress under the orders of Count Parthenon of the 11th floor.”

Parthenon, the Lord of Despair, was the one who instigated the nobles of the 10th floor over Morrigan’s matter, even starting a war.

And recently, he even proposed peace through a black marketeer, on the condition of sending Morrigan back.

“Why would Count Parthenon send a spy all the way to the distant 9th floor?”

In truth, Parthenon’s thoughts were obvious.

He didn’t want to give up his grudge against Morrigan, and he even proposed peace with his own concessions, but the baron of the 9th floor didn’t even respond, so he must have been curious about the situation.

“I only received orders, I don’t know the exact details… Hik!”

Morrigan, displeased with something again, raised her foot but reluctantly backed down at his resistance.

“Then tell me what you know. What exactly were you ordered to do?”

“Just to keep watch… I didn’t hear anything else specific.”

Kim Jin-woo was quietly looking at Xylos’s grotesquely torn ears when Morrigan nonchalantly said beside him.

“He’s one of those called a ‘Big-Eared Spy.’ His personal abilities are nothing special, but he’s skilled at eavesdropping and hiding. I cut off his ears just in case.”

Truly, a decisive move from the Raven of the Battlefield. Or perhaps, she overreacted because he was Parthenon’s subordinate related to her.

“And they’re also a type that lies like they breathe. Look at him now, rolling his eyes.”

With that, Morrigan roughly beat up Xylos. This time, Kim Jin-woo didn’t stop her.

He also vaguely sensed that the spy, Xylos, hadn’t revealed everything.

“Kkeueak!”

Eventually, after a long beating, Xylos screamed that he would die and finally confessed the truth.

“To, to assess the fortress’s strengths and weaknesses… Hik! To compare the number and power of the forces!”

Xylos, who confessed only after losing all his teeth, eventually fainted from the brutal beating.

“I thought it was strange. The Parthenon of Despair isn’t one to give up so easily.”

“In the end, that invitation he sent was also a trap. To use the summoning stone of an ancient hero as bait, I must say he put in some effort.”

If he had fallen for Parthenon’s persuasion and used the invitation, it would have been a disaster. Looking at how things were turning out, it seemed Parthenon had no intention of reconciliation from the start.

“What are you going to do?”

Morrigan was quite brazen, even though it was something that happened because of her. The way she asked without any hesitation was as if she were watching a fire from across the river.

“They won’t be able to push up directly from the 11th floor anyway. Anatolius the Iron-Blooded is watching with sharp eyes, and even the elite of the deep floors wouldn’t be safe if they came up two floors.”

“At best, he’ll just instigate the nobles of the 10th floor like before.”

Of course, it was questionable whether the nobles who had tasted the heat once would fall for Parthenon’s instigation again, but there was still a possibility of war breaking out again.

“As you already know, the moment you didn’t send me back, you crossed the point of no return with Parthenon. Besides, Master thoroughly humiliated him in the last war, so he might be grinding his teeth at you more than me now.”

Morrigan was now beyond watching the fire from across the river, she seemed to be enjoying it. He glared at her, annoyed by that, and she feigned ignorance, making her look even more hateful.

“You’re quite talkative. When you think about it, isn’t it all because of meeting you, you troublesome baggage?”

“Well, didn’t Master also benefit in his own way? And I still haven’t regained my full strength.”

Kim Jin-woo shook his head and sighed, but he didn’t refute her words.

He couldn’t deny that she, stronger than most dungeon lords, was undoubtedly the strongest force in the Naga Fortress.

“He’s showing his teeth this much; it’s unsettling to just sit still.”

Since his relationship with Parthenon was already beyond repair, Kim Jin-woo looked like he was facing what was coming.

“I need to meet Anatolius.”

***

Somehow, Angela easily contacted Anatolius. And as soon as the news was delivered, Anatolius came to the 9th floor.

“Impudent. For a mere baron of the 9th floor to order me around.”

Anatolius, who had rushed over, wore a displeased expression. Kim Jin-woo nonchalantly said to Anatolius.

“I suffered quite a bit because you didn’t properly keep Parthenon in check.”

“Wasn’t the price already paid enough? Or do you still think it’s not enough?”

“No. It’s just strange. For a guy like Parthenon to try to eliminate Morrigan even by killing his own subordinate……”

He didn’t think it was strange at the time, but as time passed and he thought about it, there were one or two strange things.

Parthenon started a war even while cutting off his own limbs [making sacrifices that hurt himself].

In the end, it failed, but even if it had succeeded, there would have been nothing left. The nobles of the 10th floor were already too rotten to keep by his side. It wasn’t worth abandoning a healthy 11th-floor subordinate to take such a card [make such a risky move].

Moreover, the subordinate he sacrificed was a noble with a title, so the price was too high to pay for avenging a grudge against Morrigan.

“So?”

Anatolius the Iron-Blooded asked back with a blank expression. Anyone else would have been tired of that iron face, but Kim Jin-woo instead glared at that face with shining eyes.

“Is that what you did?”

Anatolius stared at him for a long time at his words, which cut off all the context, before finally raising the corner of his lips.

He neither denied nor affirmed, but it was as good as hearing an answer.

“You’re certainly living up to your name.”

He didn’t know if it was the price for selling his name carelessly, or if it was a way to cut off the limbs of his rivals and push the hesitant Nagas forward.

“Surely you didn’t call me here to talk about that?”

“Of course not. I thought you seemed quite angry that I did things without saying anything, so I thought I’d tell you in advance this time.”

Anatolius’s eyes lit up at Kim Jin-woo’s words, which seemed to have some ulterior motive.

“I’m thinking of shaking Parthenon.”

“How?”

Kim Jin-woo replied with a nonchalant face to Anatolius’s question.

“That’s none of your business, and perhaps Parthenon will be so angry that he’ll leave the dungeon to kill me.”

“I can’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

“You’ll know soon enough, whether you like it or not.”

Anatolius looked displeased, not liking that Kim Jin-woo had the upper hand in the conversation. He smiled at the Iron-Blooded Knight.

“Just seize the opportunity if it comes.”

***

Immediately after Anatolius left, Kim Jin-woo went to the underground. And he returned not long after.

He returned with a backpack, and no one in the Naga Fortress knew what it was.

“What is that?”

Kim Jin-woo laughed playfully at Morrigan’s question.

“It’s a gift.”

***

Not long after Anatolius’s visit, the black marketeer came again. Unlike usual, the black marketeer, who had come with only mercenaries and no workers, shouted as soon as he saw him.

“What on earth have you done!”

Kim Jin-woo was unfazed by the black marketeer’s outburst.

“What did I do?”

The black marketeer, seeing his innocent face, sighed and patted his chest with his short arms.

“That invitation I gave you back then.”

“Ah, that invitation?”

He was so blatantly pretending not to know what he was talking about.

“I received the invitation, but the host was only thinking of robbing the guest. So I was too scared to go.”

Kim Jin-woo said, gesturing as he continued.

“But if I ignored him, I didn’t know what the bad-tempered host would do. So I sent a gift instead of going.”

The black marketeer sighed at those words.

“Do you know what happened to the 11th floor now?”

Kim Jin-woo was confident despite the black marketeer’s displeased gaze. He even urged the black marketeer to speak quickly, pretending to be dying of curiosity.

“Lord Parthenon has publicly declared in the underground that he will kill the baron.”

The black marketeer warned, looking at Kim Jin-woo, who was strangely full of composure.

“Looks like he didn’t like the gift?”

“How could he like it! Thanks to that unidentified ‘gift’ that the baron sent, one-fifth of the dungeon collapsed. Because of that, Lord Parthenon is furious and has dispatched his subordinates.”

It was no wonder Parthenon was raging. He sent an invitation to lure the arrogant baron of the 9th floor, but instead of the guy coming, a random bomb came over.

Part of the dungeon was completely blown away because of it, so it would be strange if he wasn’t angry.

Kim Jin-woo chuckled, saying it was worth the effort of going all the way to the surface and paying a high price to get the bomb.

“Aren’t you worried? A whole elite force from the 11th floor’s count has rushed out to catch the baron?”

The black marketeer lowered his voice as much as possible, but he didn’t seem worried at all.

“Why would I be worried? That force won’t even be able to come to the 9th floor anyway.”

Did he think Kim Jin-woo had done it without thinking? The black marketeer looked like he was wondering what he was talking about.

“What do you mean?”

He continued to chuckle as he looked at the black marketeer.

“The Anatolius I saw wasn’t a cripple who couldn’t eat what he was given [take advantage of an opportunity].”

The black marketeer was puzzled because he couldn’t understand what he was saying, and he still said with a smiling face.

“Wait and see. You’ll know in a few days.”

The black marketeer, who left without resolving his questions, visited the Naga Fortress again a few days later.

“Did you two agree on this in advance?”

“Agree on what?”

“Lord Anatolius’s Iron-Blooded Knights have completely crushed Lord Parthenon’s Dispair [Despair] Priests who left the dungeon.”

If Anatolius had the Iron-Blooded Knights, Parthenon had the ‘Dispair Priests.’ These powerful priests, who preached death and despair wherever they went, were Parthenon’s strongest force.

“So what’s Parthenon doing?”

Kim Jin-woo asked with a satisfied face at the black marketeer’s words.

“The damage is quite severe because it was a blow suffered before the dungeon could even be restored, and Lord Anatolius was determined to attack. Perhaps this time, unlike last time, a real war might break out.”

“A real war?”

This was something he hadn’t expected either. He just thought the matter would be resolved at the level of a local war like last time, but the black marketeer’s face was more serious than ever.

“Yes. The matter has escalated because another count has intervened.”

“Another count?”

“Dinariom of Nightmare, that person has intervened in this war.”