Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 138

Dungeon Journal – Episode 139

# 139

Dungeon Journal

[Two seals merge into one.]

No sooner had the message appeared than the existing seal on my left hand and the one I got from Krasto melted, becoming slimy with a faint light.

Thus, the two rings finally became one and began to emit an even brighter light than before.

[Once, everyone knew the names of the great lords, the Highlords, who ruled the underground. But the usurper wanted no trace of the old rulers to remain, and now only a very few remember their brilliant glory and noble names.]

[But even the usurper could not completely erase the fragments of power that the old rulers spread throughout the underground at the moment of their demise. Instead of eliminating the fragments, the usurper used them to establish the authority of the new rulers.]

[And now, someone who remembers that name is trying to revive the power of the Highlord.]

[You are qualified. You are the only floor ruler in the history of the underground who rules the entire 9th floor, and the true king who rules the Hundred Labyrinth.]

In the days when the underground was a unified realm, the Highlords were the highest-ranking of the old lords.

Now, even the title of Highlord has disappeared, and only the counts of the deep layers use the name Lord. But for Kim Jin-woo, who held the traces of the past in his hands, the Highlord was not just a forgotten old name.

[Underground Baron, Kim Jin-woo has become a Highlord.]

[You have become a Highlord, but you are still a Highlord in name only. If you collect the scattered fragments of the old rulers, you will be able to become a true Highlord.]

[Although you are a Highlord in name only, the birth of a Highlord, who has not appeared for a long time, is something that the entire underground should celebrate. But the birth of a new Highlord will not be welcome in the usurper’s ears. Instead of celebrating the birth of the new Highlord and restoring the glory of the past, the usurper will tear the small and insignificant Highlord apart.]

[You cannot use the power of the Highlord until the moment you can proudly display the name of the Highlord.]

As expected, things didn’t work out easily. After much hardship, I found the traces of the Highlord and inherited the name, but all I got was the title, which I couldn’t even show off right now.

In addition, there was a risk that if I caught the usurper’s eye, I would be torn to pieces without leaving a trace, so for now, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.

[You must increase your strength quickly. The usurper’s surveillance is strict and meticulous, and nothing is missed. By the time the commotion in the underground subsides, the usurper will know of the existence of the new Highlord.]

[The fastest way to increase your strength is to collect the fragments of the old power. If you are lucky, you may be able to collect all the scattered fragments and completely revive the power of the mighty Highlord of the past.]

[Fragments collected so far (2/?)]

To make matters worse, the underground system even set a time limit. Although it told me how to quickly gather strength, the situation was not good at all.

If the fragments of the old power were the seals of the nobles, I would have to deal not only with the new underground forces that appeared beyond the passage, but also with the existing nobles.

It was difficult, but I had to do it. If I didn’t finish my defenses before this war was over, a danger that couldn’t be compared to the crises I had experienced so far would come.

A crisis could be called a crisis, but Kim Jin-woo did not despair. On the contrary, he just smiled at the warning window that appeared in front of him.

It was because he had known since the beginning that a great reward would come after hardship.

‘Don’t think that the current nobles and the Highlord are the same. Even the authority of the most powerful duke is nothing before the authority of the Highlord. If you can be fully recognized as a Highlord, your revenge is already as good as done.’

Ustuus, one of the fragments of thought left by the one-eyed lord, said that the power of the Highlord was different from simply becoming the master of the labyrinth and exerting limited influence.

To become a Highlord, you must be recognized by many others, and you can only enjoy that power when they recognize your authority as the true ruler.

And Kim Jin-woo already had nearly a hundred subjugated labyrinths, and knights who had sworn allegiance, even if they were forced by the system.

It was as if he had solved the biggest challenge to become a Highlord in advance.

“It starts now.”

The noble seal on his finger flickered dimly as he muttered to himself, staring at the underworld where the spider duke was crouching deep down.

Although he had obtained the qualifications of a Highlord, Kim Jin-woo’s life did not change gloriously right away, nor was he in immediate danger due to the usurper’s scrutiny.

The fragments of the old power he held in his hand were too small and insignificant to revive the power of the Highlord, and the usurper’s eyes had not yet reached the 9th floor.

He was just diligently moving to bring the Down Gem back to the underground as originally planned.

He left Angela with Mr. Baek, who could be considered the distribution network, to find the whereabouts of the Down Gem that had flowed into the ground, but he didn’t get any special information.

It was because Mr. Baek, who seemed to be contacting customers as soon as he got the Down Gem, hadn’t moved for some reason for several days.

Angela and Kim Jin-woo thought that this behavior was Mr. Baek’s intention to raise the price of the Down Gem. So they were not impatient.

In the process, Yoon-hee was going back and forth between the ground and the underground several times, gradually realizing what she had lost.

Her world was gradually expanding as she experienced the warm sunshine, clear air, bright world, and a comfortable world where no one threatened her.

Of course, her new world was only half a world that existed only with Kim Jin-woo.

He would not allow her to open the portal no matter what, and she was only allowed to use the portal he had connected to enter and exit the ground.

Naturally, Yoon-hee was anxious.

Like all dungeon babies who set foot on the ground for the first time, she wanted to know and feel the world above ground even a little more.

But Kim Jin-woo still did not allow her free outings.

“That’s it for today, go back.”

Yoon-hee, who had recently been able to wander around the front yard of the safe house, was startled by the sudden order to return as she blankly stared at the clear sky.

“Already?”

“That’s enough to adapt to the bright world. From now on, you will only come to the ground when the whereabouts of the Down Gem are revealed.”

Yoon-hee seemed to have a lot to say, and she moved her lips several times, but she didn’t open her mouth in the end. She looked at him with eyes full of resentment and regret, and then crossed the portal without a word.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Continuing to visit the ground without any special results was a waste of time for Kim Jin-woo.

He was so busy with things to do right away that he felt pathetic for putting so much effort into taming just one subordinate.

But Yoon-hee was no ordinary subordinate.

She was a justification and opportunity to participate in the succession war of the 11th floor count, and also a human who was half-free from the underground system.

If he didn’t tame her properly now, he didn’t know when she would have other thoughts.

The past her, who was once a slave and was auctioned off at the auction house and whose mind was not even intact, and the current her had different priorities and different abilities.

So he endured the boredom and put effort into her.

He had to continue this boring and wasteful work until she complained.

While going back and forth between the ground and the underground, there were two major and minor battles on the 9th floor.

Instead of knocking on the well-defended 9th floor, the enemies stubbornly struggled to cross the threshold of the 9th floor to find other ways.

“Isn’t something strange? If I were them, I would rather attack the easy 10th or 8th floor. I even deliberately opened the way for that, but the enemies are still aiming for the 9th floor. If the other floors were not in chaos, I would have thought there was something special on the 9th floor.”

He even tried to open passages to the 8th and 10th floors to divert the enemies’ offensive to other floors, but it didn’t work. The enemies only attacked the 9th floor underground blindly.

“Maybe they have some kind of agreement among themselves.”

“That makes sense. Looking at this infighting, they couldn’t have avoided conflicts among themselves. Did they think that they wouldn’t be able to get this side’s Down Gem if they kept fighting among themselves as they had been doing?”

It was a weak reasoning, but the information about the enemies was so lacking that there were only limited conclusions that could be drawn. As Kim Jin-woo was talking, he suddenly realized that they had missed something.

“Wait. If they can cross over to this side, it’s natural that we can cross over to that side. But why haven’t we ever thought about crossing over to that side?”

He said that with a dumbfounded face, but in fact, he and the others knew the reason. In the meantime, the enemies’ offensive was so fierce that they couldn’t dare to covet their territory, and now that the front line was fixed, they were not interested in their underground, where the Down Gem was obviously exhausted.

“Because there’s nothing to gain.”

Dominic lightly dismissed his words, saying that there was no merit in launching an offensive from this side, with the vicious enemies swarming beyond the passage.

“How do you know that? We haven’t even seen what’s beyond yet?”

In the end, Kim Jin-woo organized an expedition to scout beyond the passage to solve the question. And of course, User was included in the suicide squad.

“You can just send the Gluttony Mass, why me?”

Kim Jin-woo snorted at User’s gesture of bubbling all over his body, expressing his rejection.

“The Gluttony Mass is too small and weak. There are too many variables to settle down.”

“Even so, there’s no reason for me to go over…”

User made a crying face, thinking that it would be difficult to persuade him with his firm attitude. He ignored User and said.

“If it’s too dangerous, just take a look at what’s over there and come back right away. But don’t just skim through it and come back. You’ll have a companion.”

User looked happy, thinking that he was really just going to pretend to do it, but soon became sullen.

“Rikshasha.”

“Your Majesty.”

Rikshasha, an Under Elf Runner who has been leading the Under Elf patrol for the past year and has made countless achievements, stepped forward at his words.

“You too. Never overdo it, and if you don’t think it’s right, come back right away. I’ll even allow you to return immediately in the worst-case scenario.”

Words that were subtly different from what he said to User, because this blindly fanatical Under Elf was bound to overdo it to complete the mission no matter what.

“I will do my best.”

Even now, she was glaring with a sense of duty, with no intention of returning early.

“Never overdo it. If you don’t think there’s any result, you can look for other ways.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Hoping that her blind loyalty and sense of duty would be sufficiently rewarded, Kim Jin-woo sent the expedition.

The expedition, which left with worry and anticipation, returned in less than two days.

But the number of returning expeditions was less than half of the fifty that had started.

The only ones who could be said to be survivors were six Under Elves who were good at stealth, Rikshasha, and User.

“Your Majesty!”

User, who had lost two-thirds of his slime in just two days, knelt before him, bubbling all over his body.