Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 134

#134

Dungeon Journal

Episode 135

Written by Northwood

#53. Reversal

[The commander of the battlefield has joined the battle.]

[The commander’s reputation, forged by an undefeated winning streak, bolsters allies and terrifies enemies. Allies move with increased agility, tireless and fearless.]

[Enemies, intimidated by the almost fanatical zeal of the allies, find their movements sluggish, fueled by blind faith in the commander.]

The battlefield commander – a title coveted even by the Counts of the Depths – once again proved its worth.

Morigan and Heimdall, who had already been cutting down enemies with abandon, now fought with even greater ferocity. Had it only been them, the remaining enemies might have found a gap to escape.

However, Kim Jin-woo gave them no such chance.

Kkeueeeek!

An ugly scream, as hideous as the creature that uttered it, marked Kim Jin-woo’s passage. Blood splattered and flesh flew.

“Master! You liar! You said you’d leave it all to us!”

Morigan complained, clearly worried about her share of the spoils. Kim Jin-woo ignored her, continuing to cut down the enemies before him.

***

“This… this is the true power of the Conqueror.”

Trindal finally managed to choke out the words. The resentment he’d felt at being excluded from the initial battle had vanished completely, replaced by awe at Kim Jin-woo and his party’s performance.

Facing four hundred enemies, the three were putting on a massacre-like display. Kim Jin-woo’s presence was the most overwhelming.

He wasn’t frantically dashing across the battlefield like a crow, nor was he aggressively driving back the enemy like a rooster. He simply strolled through the enemy ranks as if taking a leisurely walk.

Yet, all around him, enemies screamed and died. It was as if they were willingly offering themselves to his blade.

The King’s reputation throughout the underground was built on his exceptional command ability. An army fighting under him gained several times its normal strength and knew no fear. The enemy, crushed by this reputation, was unable to fight effectively, ensuring victory in any battle he joined.

But Trindal had only heard that much of the King’s reputation.

Nowhere in the stories circulating in the underground was there any mention of his personal combat ability.

Some, prone to gossip, ridiculed him for controlling the 9th floor while hiding behind his subordinates. They claimed most of the labyrinths on the 9th floor had been attacked by the Battlefield Crow and forced to surrender.

Such people occasionally questioned the King’s actual strength.

Perhaps he was simply enjoying his current luxury thanks to having a hero from the ancient underground as his subordinate. Trindal had harbored similar doubts.

But those were just rumors. Even though the enemies were collapsing, their attacks remained bizarre and vicious.

When individual strength failed, they joined forces, and when that wasn’t enough, they combined their bodies to launch all sorts of grotesque attacks.

Yet, none could stop the King’s advance, not even for a moment.

“Kuaaaak!”

Watching the enemies scream and be torn apart, Trindal was stunned, feeling pathetic about his own subordinates’ hard-fought struggle. He blankly watched the King’s performance as the seemingly endless number of enemies dwindled to a handful. Only the enemy commander, who hadn’t fled, remained, and the battle was virtually over.

“Kieeeek!”

The enemies, sensing defeat, roared in desperation, but they hadn’t completely given up. They seemed to have chosen to target Kim Jin-woo as their last hope.

The remaining enemies gathered and rushed towards Kim Jin-woo in a frenzy.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Morigan and Heimdall tried to intercept them but were waved back. Kim Jin-woo stepped forward to meet the charge.

“Ah…….”

A blinding flash of light erupted. Trindal felt a searing pain, as if his eyes were burning from the intense light that seemed so out of place in the underground. He screamed involuntarily and stumbled backward.

When he regained his senses, Kim Jin-woo stood alone on the battlefield. The enemies who had charged him, and the corpses that had littered the passage, were gone.

***

The remaining enemies were the strongest of the group, the key figures who commanded the force of four hundred. Their combined attack was more threatening than the siege warfare waged by the entire army.

The long, protruding nails were sharp enough to pierce a heart, and the fangs in their wide-open mouths seemed capable of shattering bones instantly.

But that was all they had. Their combined attack, though threatening, posed no danger to him. They became dust, scattered in the underground, without even touching his body.

“This is…….”

Morigan, who had retreated far away, stared at Kim Jin-woo with a pale face.

He nonchalantly ordered her to clean up the battlefield, but the flash had left nothing behind, not even corpses. The battlefield, devoid of even fragments of armor from the Knights of the Void, was spotless. The Nagas [snake-like humanoids] wandered around, gathering near him.

They looked ready to move to another battlefield immediately, prompting Trindal to rush forward.

“Please, take me with you!”

Kim Jin-woo stared blankly at Trindal, who was clinging to him with fervent enthusiasm, and nodded indifferently.

“Move out!”

Once again, a portal opened before him, and the Nagas began to move into formation.

***

Kim Jin-woo traveled between three battlefields in a single day. Following Trindal’s labyrinth, he repelled invaders on the other side in quick succession.

Under normal circumstances, he would have avoided overexerting the Nagas, but since they had only truly engaged in the third battle, they showed no signs of fatigue or decreased combat power.

Kim Jin-woo, who had rampaged almost crazily in the second battle, was so exhausted by the third that he couldn’t directly participate.

After all, he had single-handedly handled two of the three battles, with only the support of Heimdall and Morigan.

Even with all sorts of amplification effects, it would have been strange if he hadn’t grown tired.

So, instead of jumping into the fray, he retreated and supported the Nagas from behind.

“Master.”

Morigan, who would normally leap into battle even if awakened from sleep, remained in the rear for some reason and called to him.

“It’s unusual for you to refuse to fight.”

He wondered if her stamina was low, but seeing Heimdall rampaging on the battlefield, that didn’t seem to be the case. After all, the crow and the rooster were nearly equal in strength.

“There’s something I want to confirm.”

With that, Morigan approached and stood by his side.

“Master.”

“Do you have something to say?”

It wasn’t the best time or place for a chat, but Kim Jin-woo calmly acknowledged her. He knew that if he didn’t address the doubts clouding her face, it would lead to trouble.

And Kim Jin-woo knew exactly what she was curious about.

“That light from earlier…….”

As expected, Morigan brought up the flash that had erupted at the end of the first battle. Her usually confident expression was tinged with confusion.

He stared at her silently and replied nonchalantly.

“I’ll explain the details later. But you’ve already guessed, haven’t you?”

Morigan bit her lip at Kim Jin-woo’s words.

“Just answer one thing.”

Without waiting for permission, she blurted out her question.

“That power… is it related to the ancient monarch?”

“I think you already know the answer.”

It wasn’t a direct confirmation, but the answer was implied. Morigan looked at him, shocked, and asked:

“But how did Master obtain that power?”

“I was lucky.”

A terribly insincere answer. Morigan pursed her lips, looking unconvinced. Knowing that he would be plagued with questions if he left her alone, Kim Jin-woo finally relented.

“The splinter [fragment of power] was in the special forces that the Counts passed on. Is that an answer?”

It was a curt explanation, cutting off any further discussion, but it was enough to satisfy Morigan. She nodded, her confusion somewhat dispelled.

She clearly had more questions, but instead of pressing him, knowing he wouldn’t elaborate, she chose to return to the battlefield.

“She’s venting her anger on innocent people.”

The enemies who had the misfortune of facing her, now in a foul mood, screamed. Feathers fluttered and blood splattered around her.

***

The King’s army was indeed strong.

The magicians’ spells weren’t powerful enough to freeze the battlefield solid, but they were sufficient to aid the allies’ movements and hinder the enemies.

The enemies, slowed and hampered, were brutally cut down by the knights riding fierce dragons.

The warriors and fighters provided support from behind. Even so, the King’s dragon knights were unstoppable.

The labyrinth’s forces, who had stepped out to meet the overwhelming force that outnumbered them more than ten to one, were in a disorganized retreat.

Naturally, the battle was a complete victory for the Nagas.

“Heok, heok.”

Trindal, who had pushed himself to the limit in the continuous battles to keep up with the Nagas, struggled against the overwhelming fatigue that threatened to make him collapse.

“You’re so weak…….”

The Battlefield Crow clicked her tongue as she passed him.

Trindal started to retort with a resentful expression, but quickly closed his mouth. He saw the Nagas, equally exhausted from the battle, cleaning up the battlefield as if nothing had happened, unlike him.

He felt miserable, realizing his condition was worse than that of an ordinary soldier, let alone a commander.

But on the other hand, he could understand why the 9th floor was so peaceful during this time of chaos in the underground.

With such a strong army always on standby, enemies couldn’t easily covet it.

In fact, he had heard that labyrinths on other floors were struggling to defend themselves against the continuous attacks and waves of enemies.

Compared to that, how were the labyrinths on the 9th floor faring? Although the initial damage had been significant, they were now managing to defend against the enemy’s attacks in their own way.

The fact that no labyrinths had been destroyed in the last two months alone demonstrated the effectiveness of the 9th floor’s defenses.

All of that was thanks to the man standing before him.

Starting as the owner of an unnamed labyrinth, overcoming powerful enemies, and even defeating the nobles of the 10th floor, he was a self-made man. If he hadn’t united the 9th floor, it would have been swept away by the enemy’s attacks long ago.

No, whatever his previous reputation or achievements, it didn’t matter. Even just the battle he had witnessed with his own eyes today was enough for him to be the King of the 9th floor.

That was why Trindal knelt before him, as if possessed.

“My King!”

***

Kim Jin-woo, who was preparing to return to the fortress after the battlefield was cleared, tilted his head, looking at Trindal, who had suddenly knelt before him and shouted as if spitting out blood.

“Grant me the honor of joining the King’s army!”

He looked even more puzzled at the following shout. If it was about being with his army, Trindal had already fought three battles today alone.

He couldn’t understand why he was suddenly acting like this.

“I don’t even wish to stand by your side! Please, let me lie down at your feet and become a stepping stone.”

A message window popped up in front of him, and he frowned at the incomprehensible behavior.