Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 218

Dungeon Journal-218

# 218

Dungeon Journal

Episode 219

The mistletoe trees, which seemed ready to tell everything, didn’t open their mouths any further. Kim Jin-woo picked up Rickshasha instead of pressing them.

There was no point in pushing them. The tight-lipped mistletoe trees never readily revealed what they knew, and this time would be no different.

For now, it was a relief that they had told him the cause of Rickshasha’s condition.

“It’s already too late, but it should still be possible to return her to where she originally belonged.”

The mistletoe trees didn’t answer. But they didn’t say his decision was wrong either. So, Kim Jin-woo guessed that his idea wasn’t far off.

“I’ll go back right away.”

There was no time. The situation was worsening even at this moment. Rickshasha had completely lost consciousness and was hovering between life and death, on the verge of breathing her last at any moment.

Kim Jin-woo silently looked at the mistletoe trees surrounding him before stepping through the portal.

“Morrigan, follow me.”

“Me too!”

Morrigan peeked through the portal, following him. Since Rickshasha wasn’t there anyway, he didn’t feel the need to leave Morrigan on the ground any longer, so he briefly told her to follow him from beyond the portal.

“Ah…….”

As soon as they entered the underground, Rickshasha groaned.

“Master.”

Fortunately, her condition didn’t seem to be worsening. Her groan was like a cough released as her blocked breathing cleared, and her complexion quickly improved just by entering the underground.

However, she wasn’t fully recovered. She only managed to say one word, ‘Master,’ and couldn’t continue speaking.

She was still breathing heavily and looked critical.

“Dominic, summon the priests.”

The priests, who had been scattered throughout the labyrinth treating the injured, gathered in the owner’s room at his command. But the healing spells of the priests he had gathered didn’t improve Rickshasha’s condition.

The only consolation was that her condition didn’t worsen any further.

“Hoo.”

Kim Jin-woo looked at the pale face of the Under Elf with complicated eyes.

Where did it all go wrong? If he had absorbed the Fairy Lord’s succession right, would this not have happened?

No.

Unlike other fragments, he couldn’t read any signs from Rickshasha. He didn’t feel the strange sense of incongruity and power that a successor should have possessed, so he himself had no connection to the Fairy Lord’s succession right from the start.

Even if he had a connection and absorbed her succession right, it wouldn’t have been a way to protect Rickshasha’s safety.

Because the fragments of the old lords he had seen so far disappeared into light the moment they passed on their power.

And that was not what Kim Jin-woo wanted. He didn’t want to lose Rickshasha, who had been with him for as long as the Nagas.

That’s why, even though he knew she had awakened as a fragment, he couldn’t decide what to do and had left her as she was until now.

A dilemma: leaving her as she was wouldn’t improve the situation, but removing the source of the problem would not guarantee Rickshasha’s life.

But as always, the answer was nearby.

“Ah.”

Kim Jin-woo, who had been thinking over and over, exclaimed as if he had gained enlightenment.

“Master?”

Dominic, who had been taking care of Rickshasha, widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden exclamation.

“Everyone, step back.”

A sinister aura was rising from Kim Jin-woo’s entire body as he said that.

The black mass, so clear it seemed tangible and visible, was different from the majesty of the One-Eyed Lord, and far from the brilliance of the Radiant Lord he had shown several times.

A sticky energy, like that felt in the breath of a beast baring its fangs. It was no different from the hunger of the starving, and like the greed of the yearning.

And that was his unique power that no one else could imitate, the manifestation of the greedy lord who devours everything.

Kim Jin-woo lowered his head.

The small, delicate face of Rickshasha filled his eyes. The face of the Under Elf, whose beauty had not faded even in her critical condition. He brought his face closer, little by little.

“As you wish…….”

Rickshasha looked at her master, breathing heavily. Even in the eyes filled with a terrible energy that even the loyal Nagas would shudder at, the Under Elf did not avoid his gaze, but rather smiled faintly.

Loyalty that transcended life and death. How could he not love that devotion and service?

“It will be over soon.”

Bearing a gentle smile that contrasted with the chilling aura, Kim Jin-woo lowered his head little by little.

Warm breaths leaked out from between the Under Elf’s pale blue lips, soon scattering as if they had never existed.

Ssssk.

Her breaths, which had been scattering meaninglessly, began to be sucked into his mouth at some point.

But Kim Jin-woo didn’t seem satisfied with just breaths. He blocked Rickshasha’s mouth altogether and began to suck in her breath directly.

“Aaaah.”

If someone who didn’t know anything saw it, they might think it was a touching kiss between lovers, but at least none of those present were looking at them with such sweet eyes.

To them, Kim Jin-woo looked like a beast tearing at the neck of its prey.

***

Kim Jin-woo, who had absorbed the origins of the barons he had captured as prisoners sometime ago, thought that with the power of greed, he could absorb the fragment of the Fairy Lord crouching in Rickshasha’s body.

However, the problem was whether the greedy power could selectively absorb only the energy of the fragment.

He didn’t want Rickshasha to scatter into a handful of ashes as the absorbed barons had done. So, he had to struggle to suppress the power that was recklessly reaching out to her origin.

[Under Elf Runner, Rickshasha has inherited the power of the fragment through repeated growth and awakening. But the fragment of power was not a blessing to everyone. Her soul was too small and weak to hold the power for long, and as a result, her life was in danger. It seemed that there was no way for her to survive.]

[But the power of greed devoured even the destiny given to her, and she was finally able to escape from being a disposable vessel.]

The mind, which had been fading with a sense of fulfillment more intense than ever before, became clear as if it had been splashed with cold water the moment the message appeared.

[Originally, the power of greed would have devoured not only the power of the fragment but also the source of life, but you succeeded in absorbing only the fragment of power after much effort.]

He had finally succeeded in his gamble. But the payout was not that great compared to the risk he and she had taken.

[You have absorbed the fragment of the Fairy Lord, but unfortunately, you have failed to inherit the succession right. The fragment she possessed was only a seed, and it was not suitable for germination in your arms. You have only absorbed the promised fragment of power, literally.]

Was it because he forcibly absorbed a fragment that was not connected to him? All that the fragment Rickshasha possessed conveyed was pure energy that did not include any power.

But he was not disappointed. He was not so shameless as to want anything else after winning an uncertain gamble.

It was a great achievement that the fullness of his power, which had barely reached 17 percent even after absorbing several barons, had suddenly reached 99 percent.

“Hmm…….”

Kim Jin-woo, who belatedly felt a slight movement wriggling in his arms, suddenly came to his senses. He first checked Rickshasha’s condition.

Rickshasha’s face, which had shown no blood at all, now had a complexion that was so rosy that it looked flushed.

Ah.

For a moment, Kim Jin-woo, worried that there might be something wrong again due to the excessive complexion, was a step late in grasping the situation.

Her pupils were shaking under her sunken eyelids, and the breath leaking out from between her awkwardly parted lips somehow smelled sweet.

Only then did Kim Jin-woo, who realized that he was still kissing Rickshasha’s lips, slowly take his lips away.

“Ah…….”

Rickshasha, who let out an ambiguous sound that was neither a groan nor an exclamation, trembled in surprise. But she quietly let out a flushed breath without opening her closed eyes to the end.

Kim Jin-woo chuckled at the sight, which was both funny and lovely.

“Master!”

He would have teased Rickshasha a little if it hadn’t been for Dominic’s sudden intrusion.

Realizing belatedly that there were many eyes watching them, he took a step back from Rickshasha.

He did not feel embarrassed at all, even though he had kissed Rickshasha in front of so many people.

He thought of his kiss with Rickshasha as close to a treatment. No, even if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have been embarrassed. Everything in the Great Labyrinth belonged to him from the beginning. There was no reason to feel embarrassed now.

“She will be fine now. However, she will need stability for the time being, so Dominic will take care of her directly.”

At his words, Dominic nodded with an ambiguous face that was neither entirely happy nor sad.

He was neither so clueless nor so stupid as not to know what emotions were lingering in her eyes.

He wanted to hug the loyal and lovely Naga so that she wouldn’t feel hurt, but instead of hugging her, he just called her name in a low voice.

“Dominic.”

The emotion contained in his voice was by no means light.

Infinite affection beyond trust was full in his voice. It was a consideration that didn’t seem like a consideration, but just that alone brought a bright light back to Dominic’s face, which had been drooping.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Leave it to me!”

Kim Jin-woo, who was looking at Dominic, who was hitting her chest several times, put on a serious face again.

Rickshasha had recovered, but the underground, where the first restoration had taken place, was still full of unknowns, and the Great Labyrinth’s power reinforcement through the Sea Dragon’s Heart had not yet been completed. The situation had not improved at all.

Fortunately, he already knew where to reinforce his power besides the Sea Dragon’s Heart.

After clearing up the situation in the owner’s room, he headed to the newly expanded Naga mages’ laboratory.

“Kiat!”

The Naga mages, who discovered him, rushed to him as if they had been waiting, chattering and fussing.

They looked like children who were anxious not to show off their newly acquired toys.

Kim Jin-woo did not frown at the Naga mages’ fuss, which he would have found annoying in normal times. That was because there was a welcome person mixed among the Naga mages surrounding him.

“Valishus?”

“Wo, Your Majesty.”

Valishus, who had a jewel embedded in the center of his forehead, replied in a clumsy voice.