Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 104

Dungeon Journal – Episode 105

# 105

Dungeon Journal

[An ancient hero has been summoned through the Summoning Stone.]

[Heimdall, the guardian who protected the passage between the underground and the surface, has awakened.]

The shimmering light faded, revealing Heimdall, a massive bird whose pristine white feathers stood out starkly against the darkness of the underground.

His feet, planted firmly on the ground, looked strong and sturdy, and his claws were exceedingly sharp. The red crest atop his head trembled whenever Heimdall breathed.

“Heimdall is the guardian who watched over the boundary between the world above and the world below,” Morrigan said, observing him.

“Is he any good?”

“Heimdall’s eyes can see far into the distance, but he never looks behind him. Because of that, he didn’t even know his master’s palace was burning down, foolishly doing his duty until the very end.”

A look of contempt crossed her face as she said that.

“That Parthenon bastard, daring to compare me to Heimdall.”

She ground her teeth at Parthenon, who had offered Heimdall as a condition for exchanging her.

“But you know,” Kim Jin-woo muttered, sounding weary.

“Guardian or not, that’s all well and good, but why does he look like that?”

His face was filled with worry, wondering if something had gone wrong due to the superior naga mages’ experiments. But Morrigan shook her head.

“Heimdall is a guardian who heralds war, a dawn rooster, after all.”

***

With his red crest, drooping jowls, and a body too bulky to fly, Heimdall was every bit the spitting image of a rooster.

It was almost absurd. Even though she shared the form of a bird, Morrigan possessed charisma.

But Heimdall, burying his head in his chest and dozing off, was nothing more and nothing less than a chicken, no matter how generously you looked at it.

If it weren’t for his massive size of three meters, you could easily believe he was just an ordinary chicken you’d find at any poultry farm.

“He is said to have the loudest voice in the underground, and once he wakes up and crows, his cry will spread throughout the entire underground. But unfortunately, he has never been able to crow to his heart’s content.”

“So that’s why he’s a chicken?”

Morrigan’s explanation was strangely convincing. She chuckled at that bizarre feeling.

“He may be foolish, but he’s not weak. Heimdall is a guardian of war and a fighting rooster, a gamecock [a rooster bred and trained for cockfighting].”

Indeed, just looking at those tough and sturdy claws, it seemed like he could tear apart any ordinary creature in an instant. But that didn’t change the fact that a chicken was still a chicken.

“But why isn’t he waking up?”

Moreover, watching him constantly nod off, Kim Jin-woo’s illusions about ancient heroes kept shattering, and his face contorted involuntarily.

“Heimdall has been guarding the boundary for countless ages; I’ve heard that the idle guardian spends most of his day sleeping.”

“He hasn’t even been imprinted yet?”

It wasn’t that he expected Heimdall to wake up and rush to fight like Morrigan, but he should at least choose a master since he had awakened from the Summoning Stone. But Heimdall, dozing off, showed no signs of waking up at all.

“I’ll wake him up.”

With those words, Morrigan quickly ran over and smacked Heimdall on the head. Heimdall, who had been sleeping soundly even with her approaching right next to him, was knocked flat by the impact.

“Cluck?”

Even his scream was exactly like that of a chicken.

“This is your new master. Show your respect.”

Heimdall, blinking his eyes at Morrigan’s murderous voice as she transformed back into the Raven of the Battlefield, abruptly stood up.

‘What must I protect?’

The voice that came from the rooster’s mouth was unexpectedly grand and dignified.

‘I am the watcher and the herald of war. Do you possess the value that I must protect?’

[The ancient hero Heimdall is testing your qualifications.]

[Heimdall is stubbornly determined to complete any task he undertakes, no matter what. Depending on your answer, the proud guardian will assess your worth.]

His attitude, so serious despite his ridiculous appearance, only made Kim Jin-woo chuckle.

Heimdall’s eyes twitched, and his crest bristled sharply.

‘You have not yet answered.’

Heimdall seemed to be offended by his attitude. But he didn’t stop laughing; instead, he wore an outright sneer.

“Well, I don’t think you can protect my value. What makes you think a half-baked guardian who couldn’t even protect his own master can protect anyone now?”

‘How dare you!’

“How dare I?”

Kim Jin-woo’s face, devoid of any laughter, was cold.

“Morrigan was the same; all you ancient heroes are arrogant and ill-mannered. I don’t like it one bit.”

‘I have protected the underground for countless ages as a guardian…’

“And you did nothing. You just watched. And now you’re going to test someone?”

Perhaps he had been accumulating a lot of stress. After all, just recently, there was the Black Merchant who had weighed him [assessed his worth]. And now that Heimdall was testing his qualifications again, he couldn’t help but feel displeased.

‘My mission is to prevent the boundary between the surface and the underground from collapsing…’

“The boundary between the surface and the underground has already collapsed; what are you talking about now?”

Not only had it collapsed, but a war had also broken out. And even now, humans from the surface are constantly going in and out of the underground.

‘I cannot believe it.’

“Whether you believe it or not is your business. But you asked me what kind of mission I can give you, right?”

‘Hmm.’

Heimdall, who had been momentarily stunned by Kim Jin-woo’s relentless barrage of words, nodded after a long pause.

“The mission I will give you…”

A twisted smile appeared on Kim Jin-woo’s face.

“Is to be a guard dog, you bastard!”

‘Such a lowly…’

“What makes you think you can talk about lowly or not when you couldn’t even protect your own king?”

‘Are you trying to disgrace my pride?’

Kim Jin-woo shook his head, watching Heimdall, who had bared his claws and puffed up his crest as if he were about to fight at any moment.

“I’ll say it again; you ancient heroes are all arrogant. I should be thanked for taking you out of the Summoning Stone to spend the rest of your life, but you’re too arrogant and ill-mannered. And I know a way to fix that behavior.”

With those words, he turned to Morrigan.

“Morrigan, don’t interfere.”

At his words, she sighed and shook her head.

***

[The battle has ended.]

[Kim Jin-woo, the commander of the naga fortress and the underground viscount, has won against Heimdall.]

[As befitting a guardian who once carried out the momentous task of protecting the boundary between the surface and the underground, Heimdall was powerful. But he was no match for the Commander of Victory.]

[Heimdall seems displeased with the various amplification effects surrounding you, but the proud guardian chose to keep his promise rather than make excuses.]

[You have succeeded in passing the ancient hero Heimdall’s test, albeit through a somewhat crude method.]

Heimdall, with all the feathers on his body plucked and covered in blood, buried his bloodied beak in the ground.

[Heimdall, the dawn rooster who heralds war, has sworn allegiance.]

[Will you accept Heimdall?]

The amplification effects of the Dungeon Owner and the various amplification effects enjoyed by the Commander of Victory were almost fraudulent.

Kim Jin-woo, somewhat sorry for having gone too far as he became intoxicated with his own power, which had become incomparably stronger than before, grumbled for no reason.

“You guys only come to your senses when you get beaten.”

Even at those words, Heimdall remained with his head bowed, waiting for his disposal.

That appearance was somewhat more docile than Morrigan, so his gaze involuntarily turned to her.

That gaze felt as if he was telling her to behave from now on, so she pretended not to notice and looked away.

“I accept. From now on, you are a sentry guarding the fortress.”

[Heimdall, the dawn rooster who heralds war (Ancient Hero), has joined the naga fortress.]

[Heimdall, who once served the ancient one-eyed lord, is a natural guardian who can see and hear farther than anyone else. At times, he is blindly stubborn and narrow-minded, never even turning his head, but as long as Heimdall is guarding, no one will be able to sneak into the fortress.]

[Heimdall’s greatest ability is his sense of reading the signs of war. He will be the first to alert his master to the signs of war.]

[Heimdall’s energy is severely depleted. Unlike Morrigan, Heimdall, who had never awakened even once, had exhausted a significant portion of his power within the Summoning Stone. Furthermore, he cannot exert even half of his original power due to someone recklessly drawing out the power of the Summoning Stone. It will take a long time to recover.]

[You share some of Heimdall’s abilities.]

No wonder he was subdued so easily; it seemed that Heimdall was in a situation where he couldn’t even exert half of his true power.

There had been a leakage of power over many years, and on top of that, he had been tormented by the naga mages at the very end, so it was understandable.

“Tsk. I can’t use him right away.”

Kim Jin-woo, glaring in the direction of the laboratory from afar, sighed.

***

“What?”

Kim Jin-woo, who was passing by the laboratory, took the gem that the naga mage handed him and made a puzzled face.

“You want me to check it out?”

The leakage of Heimdall’s power was more due to the passage of time than the fault of the naga mages. He had also been negligent in his management, so he had essentially vented all his anger.

However, he didn’t relax his stern expression, even to show these troublemaking mages who might cause another accident who was boss.

“What the heck is this…”

[Summoning Stone of the Superior Naga Mage.]

[As a result of repeated experiments with Heimdall’s Summoning Stone, the superior naga mages have gained significant access to the mysteries of the Summoning Stone. The Summoning Stone created based on the knowledge gained in that way, although not of high grade, can hold ordinary summons.]

Kim Jin-woo, after checking the message that appeared before his eyes, stared at the superior naga mage with a dumbfounded expression.

“You guys are really crazy about research.”

As he uttered those ambiguous words that were neither admiration nor groans, another message appeared before his eyes.

[Inside the Summoning Stone is a superior naga mage who has gone mad with research and volunteered as a test subject.]

***

Kaaah!

The superior naga mage, who had jumped out of the Summoning Stone, looked around in a daze for a moment before letting out a cheer.

Licking his long, protruding tongue and constantly making wind noises, he seemed so happy that the experiment had succeeded.

“Crazy, crazy. Completely. At least they used to be obedient.”

Kim Jin-woo sighed as he watched the superior naga mage excitedly making a fuss with his colleagues.

“All summons have stronger egos as their grade increases. A superior mage would have some personal desires and ambitions.”

Dominique, who was beside him, explained, and he pressed his temples as if his head was throbbing.

“But the desire to be helpful to the master is the greatest in them, so don’t worry too much. As they grow a little more, the balance will be right anyway, so time will solve everything.”

“Tsk. It’s like having unruly six-year-olds; I feel like I have kids who don’t listen.”

Dominique tilted her head at Kim Jin-woo’s analogy and asked again.

“Come to think of it, why don’t you create an heir, Master?”