Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 186

Dungeon Expedition Log – Part 187

# 187

The 10th underground floor was a complete living hell. The landscape was littered with destroyed labyrinths and the torn corpses of summoned creatures. It was clear that the Moai had already taken over the 10th floor.

Indeed, there was no burrow without Moai, and no place untouched by battle.

Amidst this chaos, Kim Jin-woo strolled as leisurely as if he were out for a walk.

The Moai acted as if he were invisible, and when they occasionally met his gaze, they were terrified, desperately trying to distance themselves.

“Tsk.”

The sight of the already grotesque Moai panicking in fear was far from pleasant. He frowned and pushed through the throng of Moai.

“Could it be, am I too late?”

Everywhere he looked, all he saw were the remains of destroyed labyrinths; there wasn’t a single intact one in sight.

He was beginning to worry that the 10th floor might already be doomed.

But his concerns were unfounded. After wandering the 10th floor for nearly a week, he finally found a labyrinth.

The gate was torn off as if forcibly ripped, and the passageway was shattered—a scene of utter devastation, typical of the 10th floor’s labyrinths.

At first glance, it looked like the ruins left behind by the Moai, but he could clearly sense it.

The labyrinth before him was definitely alive.

“Hmm.”

Kim Jin-woo frowned, rather than rejoice at the faintly felt life force of the labyrinth.

With this level of vitality, it should have been discovered by the Moai long ago, not just him.

Yet, there was no sign of any living creature near the labyrinth.

The eerie silence surrounding the labyrinth felt unnatural. The unsettling sense of incongruity made him stop in his tracks.

The instinct of a warrior who had crossed the line between life and death countless times stopped him.

Come to think of it, he could see the wreckage of the labyrinth, but not the bodies of those who had destroyed it. The moment he realized this, he was certain.

There was a dangerous trap laid here that even the blindly driven Moai avoided. Otherwise, there was no way the Moai would ignore such an enticing labyrinth.

[The Parasitic Horse senses danger.]

[At first glance, the scene seems harmless, but beyond that serene darkness lurks a terrifying danger.]

The Parasitic Horse belatedly warned of the danger. It was only about ten steps away. The silent passage flashed bright red.

Kim Jin-woo quietly took a step back at the dazzling red light that made him dizzy just looking at it.

[A terrifying monster that devours even existence itself, the Antlion’s hunting ground, has been discovered. This large and greedy monster is a formidable opponent that even the high-ranking nobles of the deep layers are reluctant to face.]

[It is unknown why this giant monster, which is occasionally found on the 12th floor, is here. But what is clear is that the Antlion is by no means a trivial monster that a mere Baron can handle.]

It seemed that a monster wandering in search of food had unfortunately settled near the labyrinth.

Thanks to this, the labyrinth had survived the Moai, but at this moment, the monster was an obstacle hindering his progress.

Lost in thought for a moment, Kim Jin-woo disappeared from his spot. When he returned, he had a half-fainted Moai in his grasp.

“Kieeeek.”

The Moai, caught nearby, seemed to know what was beyond that darkness, and suddenly thrashed and panicked.

Kim Jin-woo stared at the Moai with indifferent eyes before throwing it into the darkness.

“Keok!”

The Moai, thrown unceremoniously to the ground, struggled to regain its senses before realizing the situation and panicking.

The Moai desperately tried to escape the Antlion’s hunting ground, flailing its already broken legs grotesquely.

Swish!

Kim Jin-woo, who had been watching the Moai silently, narrowed his eyes at the sudden sound of sand sweeping.

A thin crack appeared on the floor along the narrow passage. The seemingly solid floor was collapsing along the crack.

The gap widened. And at some point, the entire long passage became a huge fissure, and the screaming Moai was swallowed into the endless darkness.

The moment the Moai fell with a scream, he saw sharp protrusions emerging from the crack.

The irregularly protruding spikes tore the Moai’s flesh to shreds as if they were teeth, and then swallowed it whole.

Kim Jin-woo, who had watched all of this, realized.

The Antlion *was* the underground itself. The entire long passage was the giant monster’s maw and hunting ground.

The moment anyone stepped on that soft ground, they would be plunged into the Antlion’s throat.

Most people would have been so horrified by the sight of the monster that they would have turned back. In fact, many Moai did not even approach this tempting labyrinth.

But unfortunately for the labyrinth, he was no ordinary person. He was the conqueror of the 9th floor, the commander of the inheritance, and a High Lord.

And he knew a beast far more terrifying than the Antlion.

He had seen the Great Labyrinth’s gluttony several times, a terrifying monster that had devoured thousands of rioters and a mass of evil that had even tried to devour its master. The Antlion’s feeding scene was nothing to him.

“Still, it’s annoying.”

However, that didn’t mean there was a way to break through the Antlion’s hunting ground and reach the labyrinth. The seemingly solid but soft floor of the passage was the monster’s maw and lips.

Without wings, it seemed impossible to pass through this giant trap.

Should he go somewhere else?

A moment of hesitation, but it was only for a moment. He shook his head vigorously. He had wasted a whole week to find this place.

Turning back now would be a waste of precious time.

After much deliberation, he decided to forcibly break through the hell created by the Antlion.

And to find a way, the Moai’s suffering began.

***

“Kyaaaaaaaak!”

With a grating scream, another Moai was plunged into the monster’s maw. Kim Jin-woo followed the disappearing Moai with his eyes, gauging the distance.

“It’s quite big.”

The Great Labyrinth also had a gatekeeper. The giant water dragon guarding the center was the gatekeeper of the Great Labyrinth. But even that water dragon was not as large as the Antlion.

The entire passage, nearly 200 meters long, was the monster’s body and hunting ground.

“Kkeueueueu.”

Lost in thought, he raised his head at the Moai’s groans. He saw dozens of Moai with broken limbs writhing on the floor. The Moai were all terrified, but he indifferently looked at them before shifting his gaze.

“I roughly know the size.”

The area from the floor he was standing on to the labyrinth was all the Antlion’s body.

“Kehk Kehk.”

The Moai’s faces were filled with premature anticipation, as if asking if their usefulness was not yet over.

He looked at them and grinned.

“Now that I know the size, I need to know the depth, right?”

The Moai began to scream again.

He spent a long time using them as bait to figure out the monster’s habits, and Kim Jin-woo frowned.

The compatibility was not good. He would have brought any ordinary monster to its knees in an instant, but the Antlion was so large that it was not easy to inflict any significant damage.

No matter how hard he swung his sword, it would only be a small scratch from the perspective of the giant monster.

He had also considered ignoring the monster and passing by climbing the walls or ceiling, but the passage seen through the Parasitic Horse was glowing red not only on the floor but also on the walls and ceiling. Even with wings, it would not be easy to pass through here.

“Hoo.”

After being lost in thought for a long time, Kim Jin-woo finally seemed to have finished his deliberation and muttered while staring into the darkness.

“If you’re so hungry that you’ve come up to the 10th floor in search of prey, I’ll fill your belly.”

With that, he disappeared for a moment and reappeared with an uncountable horde of Moai in tow.

The Moai were being driven into the monster’s hunting ground, terrified as if they were being chased by something, not knowing where they were going.

Gooooooo.

The Moai, cornered, fell into the Antlion’s maw like sheep driven off a cliff by wolves.

Crunch, crunch.

With a chilling sound, the Moai were torn apart alive and became the monster’s meal.

Phew-woo-woo-woo.

The Antlion, which had been chewing on the Moai for a long time, seemed to be in a good mood after filling its belly with an unexpected feast, and cried out with a strange sound.

“There’s still a lot left, you bastard.”

Kim Jin-woo continued to pour the Moai into the Antlion’s mouth as if pouring cereal into a bowl.

They tried to resist, but unable to overcome his aura, which openly revealed the presence of the High Lord, they continued to back away and rolled into the monster’s stomach.

Thanks to this, the monster had more than enough to fill its massive stomach and had to continue eating.

“More!”

The prey continued to pour in. At this point, the monster was starting to feel pain, groaning in agony instead of satisfaction.

But Kim Jin-woo did not stop. He continued to drive the Moai.

Finally, the monster seemed to have a problem and began to spit out the Moai it had swallowed. In a short time, the Moai, who had been torn to pieces, were spat out onto the passage.

Pooo-woo-woo-woo!

The monster, not satisfied with vomiting the food, kept its mouth shut and continued to scream as if the air was escaping. Perhaps the monster was not simply suffering from indigestion, but its internal organs were damaged by the Moai it had swallowed without chewing.

Either way, it was a situation that Kim Jin-woo had nothing to lose. He looked indifferently at the hell he had created and began to move.

There were no more Moai to drive, but he was still flaunting the presence of the High Lord, so even the screaming Antlion held its breath and closed its mouth as he passed.

“Wait for me.”

Kim Jin-woo, who had finally reached the end of the passage, turned around and said.

“I still have business with you.”

There was a reason why he was putting in more effort than necessary to get past one monster.

Not only was it a seal, but a monster that swallowed hundreds of Moai was a good fit for the greedy Great Labyrinth.

A possessiveness that was almost fanatical flashed in his eyes before disappearing.