Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 283

Dungeon Journal-283

# 283

Dungeon Journal

Episode 284

The atmosphere, thick with talk of the Underworld falling into his hands, instantly turned glacial.

“I clearly stated I was against that idea.”

“You’re not listening. Wouldn’t this be… difficult for both of us? And it seems to me that you’ll be in a much, much more difficult position.”

It was a clear threat, an act of intimidation. But unfortunately for him, it didn’t work on Kim Jin-woo.

Gooooooo.

As Kim Jin-woo raised his hand, a cluster of light gathered at the spire of Valhalla. Seeing the flash, crackling with the energy of lightning, the Ceiling Giant Lord immediately scowled.

“Mjolnir [Thor’s hammer] is quite a useful weapon, but it’s not like we have nothing inherited either. Think carefully.”

He admitted Mjolnir was troublesome, but he seemed confident he could block it somehow. Kim Jin-woo didn’t even twitch an eyebrow at his confident attitude.

“I have no choice.”

He ignored the Ceiling Giant Lord’s words and looked at Catherine.

“It’s not like I haven’t received any help from you, but I have no intention of removing the fragment without compensation. Originally, I was going to wait a little longer, but these guys are making it difficult.”

At those words, Catherine narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t understand what he was trusting in, remaining so calm in the face of threats from two High Lords, especially lords who had awakened before her and achieved so much.

“What should I consider when making my choice?”

She cleverly asked for a reason why she should side with him.

“Unfortunately, I don’t intend to persuade you. However, considering our past relationship, if you don’t choose here and now…”

Kim Jin-woo’s energy gradually intensified. The two lords who initially scoffed, and Catherine, who only remembered him as a newly awakened and clumsy lord, soon had their faces hardened like stone.

Everyone seemed shocked by the unimaginable power displayed by the one who had awakened most recently.

“You die.”

The murderous intent was too great to be just a threat. The Authority of Greed, which had swallowed countless times and grown like a snowball of chaos, pressed down on the entire world.

They likely didn’t know that Kim Jin-woo, whom they thought was merely the successor of the One-Eyed Lord, was actually a mutant who had absorbed the Authority of Radiance and Fairy, and was a fragment of Wandering and the Lord of Greed, though not completely.

Having absorbed the power of five lords, he was stronger and more threatening than they imagined.

However, that didn’t mean the difference in power was enough to ignore the numerical disadvantage. The Beast King and the Ceiling Giant Lord, belatedly realizing their misjudgment, gritted their teeth.

“Fool, threatening even the Wailing, whom you should have made an ally. She has more pride than you think.”

A violent energy that seemed to tear the world apart flowed from the Beast King’s body, and a heavy energy that seemed to crush the world like a mountain flowed from the Ceiling Giant Lord’s body.

As the murky energy containing chaos was gradually pushed back by the two lords’ energy, Kim Jin-woo said.

“She certainly has a lot of pride. But she’s also quick at assessing situations.”

At that one sentence, Catherine seemed to have made a decision and took a step forward.

“Ugh, if you put it that way, I can’t let you down.”

At the Wailing’s words, the two lords made faces that clearly telegraphed, “Figures.”

“I’ll believe that you have something in mind to come out this strong.”

But contrary to their expectations, she stood by Kim Jin-woo’s side.

“You’re not thinking of starting a dogfight relying on that castle, are you? If so, I’ll have to change my decision again.”

She said that, but she seemed to have already made up her mind, showing no hesitation at all.

“What are you thinking? I can’t understand why you’re leaving the easy path and trying to take the difficult one.”
The Beast King frowned, saying he never thought a meeting he considered lightly would lead to such a division, and snarled.

Well, it wasn’t unreasonable. The Underworld was a world ruled by the law of the jungle, where power was everything. It wasn’t that strange for those who had awakened first to try to assert their superiority over the High Lord who had awakened most recently.

“Think again, even now. There’s no need for us to fight like this. If we fight like this, the result will be terrible.”

It was a matter of momentum. It seemed like they really had to see blood to finish it.

“It’s 2 against 2. The losing side goes without saying, and even the winning side won’t be safe.”

The Ceiling Giant Lord hesitated, unlike his size, as if trying to de-escalate the situation even now. The answer to his persuasion came from a completely unexpected place.

“It’s not 2 against 2, it’s 2 against 3, isn’t it?”

The Beast King was about to turn his head at the sudden whisper, but he froze. Sharp, black claws that seemed capable of tearing his throat were touching his Adam’s apple, as if she had appeared out of nowhere.

“Who are you!”

The Ceiling Giant Lord, instead of the Beast King who hadn’t yet grasped the situation, stepped forward and demanded the identity of the sudden intruder.

“Me?”

A flickering shadow, as if wrapped in darkness, gradually gathered and took the form of a person.

“The fifth High Lord that you don’t know, and the Lord of True Blood.”

Angela, who finally revealed herself, answered with a curve in her eyes.

“And also a faithful slave who has devoted both body and soul to the person over there.”

The lords all seemed flustered by the intrusion of the fifth High Lord, whose existence they had never known.

“H-How? Surely the fourth was the last awakening!”
The Beast King, forgetting his own predicament, shouted, and his neck was sliced open by the claws made of darkness.

“I couldn’t help it; I awakened in a rather special place.”

Angela inherited the power of the High Lord from the world of the Reverse Side, which doesn’t belong anywhere in the Underworld but exists everywhere within it. It was a place so far removed that even communion with the summoner who shares fate with the master was cut off, so it was no wonder that the other High Lords didn’t know of her existence.

“I never dreamed you were hiding such a trick.”

Catherine was the first to regain her composure. She laughed, cackling at the appearance of unexpected reinforcements.

“But isn’t it too reckless? If I had sided with them, it would have been 2 against 3, even if the Lord of True Blood intervened.”

“It’s worth a try.”

There was Mjolnir, called the Giant Slayer, and Gungnir [Odin’s spear] was loaded, which could only be used once, but its power was even greater. So he thought that in the worst-case scenario, even if things went wrong, he wouldn’t be defeated helplessly.

“And I believed you would choose this side.”

“Why?”

At Kim Jin-woo’s words, Catherine asked with a face full of interest.

“I thought you wouldn’t forgive her.”

At those words, the smile disappeared from her face, and a gloomy light flickered in her beautifully curved eyes.

“The name you inherited is Wailing, and your song is a disturbing one that serves sorrow and hatred.”

Among the ancient lords seen through Hólindrsfjálf [a magical artifact], there were those who had lost their true names. The usurper, who was the Lord of Benevolence, was one of them, and so was the Lord of Wailing.

His real name was ‘Guide of the Underworld,’ giving rest to the dead.

But unable to find a guide in the face of his own death, he eventually became the Lord of Wailing, singing of death with hatred and sorrow.

And that name has now been passed on to Catherine, so no one knew how deep and profound the hatred was lurking inside her, who seemed so bright and cheerful.

“Hoo.”

With a long sigh, Catherine’s expression returned to normal.

“The evidence is weak, but I won’t deny it. It’s not entirely wrong.”

Half of the weak evidence was the traditions of the old lords called by Mimir [a being known for wisdom and knowledge], and the other half was the past disasters shown by Hólindrsfjálf.

But Kim Jin-woo didn’t intend to tell her such things, so he just smiled silently.

“That’s beside the point; what are you going to do with them?”

Catherine, who quickly put on her usual cheerful face, looked at the two lords who were unable to move as if nailed down and asked.

“Well, what should I do?”

As a dangerous light flickered in his eyes, she said in surprise.

“It’s better to keep them alive if possible. If even they disappear, we might have to fight each other when night comes.”

Catherine was worried about the battle with the Night, saying she didn’t know when the other High Lords would awaken.

But she would never know. Except for the power of the Earth Dragon, all the powers of the other High Lords she was waiting for had already been absorbed by Kim Jin-woo, and they would never show themselves again.

Since she had no way of knowing that fact, she insisted that even those gathered now should gather their strength.

“It’s meaningless. Leaving an opponent who has already shown their teeth is a foolish act. Moreover, this place where we are is not the surface world full of cheap sympathy, but the Underworld.”

He spoke in a firm tone, as if he had already made a decision.

“Ugh.”

She had internalized and practiced the laws of the Underworld so much that she couldn’t stop him anymore.

“Would you believe me if I said that I would cooperate with you now and take the lead in preventing the integration of the surface and the Underworld?”
The Beast King, whose dark claws had repeatedly scratched him, belatedly grasped the situation and expressed his intention to defect.

“It’s obvious that you’re just thinking that it’s enough if you get out of this place.”

He had been careless in underestimating his opponent, but the Beast King was also a veteran warrior who had gone through thick and thin to rise to the High Lord.

“No, I won’t do such a foolish thing since the power advantage has already been revealed.”

Instead of making excuses that didn’t even make sense, he honestly admitted his disadvantage in power and proposed to accept him as his subordinate.

“What is this doing?”

The Ceiling Giant Lord, who was watching from the side, screamed in horror.

“Since the True Blood is already volunteering to be his slave, it’s not strange for a beast to get a spoon, is it?”

“You have no pride…”

“Frankly speaking, when have we ever cared about pride? You and I both know that it’s better to survive as a slave than to die a dog’s death here. And we’ve been living as diggers, as slaves, haven’t we? It’s funny to talk about pride now.”

The Beast King even joked that the wounds from Angela’s claws were so painful that he was going to die, as if he had given up everything.

“Still, I’d prefer a subordinate to a slave if possible. You wouldn’t want to have a black male slave either, would you?”

Kim Jin-woo chuckled at his brazen attitude, as if he already thought the other party would accept him.

“What an interesting guy.”

Seeing a possibility that he would be accepted on his face, the Beast King even knelt down.

“Master, what should we do?”

Even Angela, who was usually calm, looked troubled, saying she didn’t know it would turn out like this.

“Let’s put his treatment on hold for now.”

Kim Jin-woo said that and turned his head to look at the Ceiling Giant Lord, who was standing there awkwardly, unable to do anything.

They were all living like slaves before becoming High Lords anyway. The Ceiling Giant Lord also made up his mind belatedly and bent his body as if to kneel. But Kim Jin-woo was faster than that.

“Unlike the Beast King, you have a very strong heart.”

At those words, the Ceiling Giant Lord, who was about to kneel, froze with a dumbfounded face.

“So I will appreciate that spirit.”

“W-Wait a minute!”