Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 289

Dungeon Chronicle – Episode 290

# 290

Dungeon Chronicle

Episode 290

Catherine, who looked ready to charge out of the labyrinth and confront the monsters, suddenly turned around.

“What do you mean the Lord of Depravity might not be the master of the Sentinels?”

“I was wondering what brought you here amidst all this chaos, but you came to ask about that,” she replied. Her tone was nonchalant, as if she’d been expecting this question, despite its weight.

“It’s a bit late to ask, but since you’re already here, can you wait a little longer? It’s better to deal with those guys out there first. Unlike your Valhalla, my labyrinth isn’t exactly sturdy.”

Indeed, as she pointed out, her summons, who were putting up a good fight, were losing ground.

“Help me out a bit. You shouldn’t leave the labyrinth empty for too long, either, right?”

Kim Jin-woo, having already agreed to help, nodded without hesitation.

“I’ll start. Help out when you see an opening.”

With that, Catherine turned her back to the labyrinth and brought her hands together near her chest.

“Oh, you who are pierced by swords and burned in flames.”

Her low voice gradually turned into a melody.

“Warriors who expected eternal rest after a fierce life!”

Soon, it became a chilling song that echoed across the battlefield.

[The Lord of Lament has exerted her power.]

[The surrounding death energy is amplified to an abnormal degree.]

[An inseparable truth, like life and death, light and shadow, is split and divided, completely isolated.]

[The Lord of Lament completely controls the battlefield. Nothing can leave the battlefield without her permission. Not even the spirits of fallen warriors.]

“The comfort of earth to cover your bodies and the glory of names to be left behind were all lies and deceptions. All is futile and worthless.”

Kkyaaaaaaaa!

A gruesome scream seeped from the depths of darkness, swallowing the screams, roars, and cries that filled the battlefield.

“I deny all that hypocrisy and gather the bitterness of your final moments to grant you the only value!”

[The fallen summons rise from the dead. They are an army qualitatively different from the lions commanded by Valishus, the King of the Dead, and are closer to death itself.]

[Incorporeal spirits and the dead returned bare their teeth at the enemy.]

A corpse with a split head slowly rose, and a summon with severed limbs leaped up, twitching. Even the corpses of fallen giants and wyverns rose unsteadily, staring blankly into the air.

“The end of the unfinished battle—only victory is the last favor you can enjoy.”

Suffocating death energy gathered and formed a large shape, and finally, a mighty army of the dead descended.

[Warriors who deny even death and return, a powerful army of soldiers filled only with hatred for the living, has been created.]

[The Legion of Lament joins the battlefield.]

“Plunder even the breath of life you have lost and the pain of life that was taken from you!”

Her power was lament, the song of spirits wailing before death.

The Legion of Lament was truly terrifying. Even when dead, they did not die, and when their rattling bodies were destroyed, they became pale spirits, biting at the flesh and drinking the blood of the enemy.

Even the corpses of enemies who had died and fallen were resurrected to become soldiers of the legion, making all victory and defeat meaningless from the start.

“What exactly am I supposed to help with?”

Kim Jin-woo, who was looking for an opportunity to join the battle, muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

In a hell where death begets death and then begets even greater death, there was no place for the living to intervene.

If there was a hell on earth, this is what it would look like. He shuddered at the gruesome sight and simply waited for the battle to end.

“The name ‘Lament’ really suits her.”

Unlike him, who grew stronger by overthrowing every noble he met and absorbing their very existence, the Lord of Lament completely took the nobles as her subordinates.

But the way she used those she gathered was truly cruel. They were sacrifices of death to summon the Legion of Lament, vessels filled with hatred. They were, from the start, death row inmates destined to die.

And the moment he realized that, he understood. He understood why the nobles wanted the power of the High Lords so much, and why they feared and shunned it so much.

High Lords are monsters that feed on the lives of nobles. The closer they get to their past glory, the less room the nobles will have, and in the end, they will not even be able to find a place to lie down in the underground.

The nobles’ situation was truly pitiful.

Well, it’s their own fault.

Since everything they had achieved was taken by tearing apart and plundering the bodies of the old lords, there was no reason to pity them now.

As he watched the Legion of Lament and pondered this and that, the battle came to an end.

The three-eyed giant, who had charged until the very end with bloodshot eyes, was torn to shreds by the rattling jaws of the dead, unable to leave even his body behind.

“Did it take longer than I thought?”

The person who created the battlefield overflowing with blood and flesh, the hellscape, spoke nonchalantly as if she were late for a dinner appointment.

But Kim Jin-woo had not walked a flowery path either, so he could not criticize her attitude.

“I’ll ask again. What did you mean by saying that the Lord of Depravity might not be the master of the Sentinels?”

He did not care about the deaths of thousands upon thousands and immediately brought up his business.

“It seems that one of those one-eyed members of the Calamity Gods, who has a bad relationship with you, is looking for you.”

“Calamity Gods?”

“The ancient monsters that the old lords had to fight endlessly.”

Thinking that the name suited their ugly appearance quite well, Kim Jin-woo waited for Catherine’s answer.

“Don’t think too deeply about it. It’s as it sounds. The master of the Sentinels is not Depravity.”

“That’s me, the One-Eyed Lord?”

She nodded coolly, making his previous worries seem pointless.

“That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me that fact right away?”

He did not understand her attitude of not telling him even though she knew the fact, nor did he understand the Sentinels who seemed to be moving under someone’s orders.

“I need to correct my answer again. To be precise, the master of the Sentinels is you, but also not you. They only follow the ‘One-Eyed Lord’.”

As she said that, she waved her hand around, and the death energy that filled the battlefield swayed with her gesture before being sucked in with a whoosh.

“Hmm. As expected, the death of the Calamity Gods isn’t very nutritious. Well, it’s foolish to expect anything from just a shell.”

Catherine smacked her lips and continued, looking at him waiting for her answer.

“I don’t know exactly what instructions the Sentinels have and how they are moving now. However, I do know that they followed the One-Eyed Lord in the past, and they still do.”

That is why you are the master of the Sentinels and yet not the master, and she said that it was not a problem to worry about now.

“More than that…”

With that, she worried about the reappearance of the Calamity Gods.

“The fact that the Calamity Gods have revealed themselves is no different from the night awakening. No, even if it’s not night, more powerful Calamity Gods will come as time passes. Terrible enemies that even the old lords could not completely defeat are coming.”

She warned him that he should prepare for the coming disaster.

In the end, the meeting with Catherine had to be satisfied with learning about the Legion of Lament and the reality of the Calamity Gods.

“She’s hiding something.”

However, Kim Jin-woo felt that Catherine was intentionally avoiding mentioning anything related to the Sentinels.

Otherwise, there was no way she would have taken their identities, which had been threatening the High Lords until just recently, so lightly.

“But I haven’t told her everything either.”

He also did not tell Catherine that the Wish Stone had been found. There was no need to tell someone he could not trust about an important clue that would determine the future of the underground.

“Should we press Baek-oh one more time?”

“It’s meaningless. He didn’t seem to remember it in the first place, and even if that wasn’t the case, there’s no way to figure it out if he’s determined to deceive me.”

He had the Eye of Truth, which he had gained by inheriting the power of the One-Eyed Lord, but its usefulness, depending on the situation, had already been proven to be useless when he was backstabbed while interrogating Ariane.

What the Eye of Truth sees is the truth that was thought of at the time. If the opponent deliberately concentrates their thoughts and excludes thoughts, there is a flaw that makes them deceived by the limited truth and unable to judge the greater lie.

“In the end, the Lord of Lament also wants something else.”

All those related to the old lords were insidious, with so many hidden agendas. The same was true of the Lord of Lament, who had shown him goodwill.

But fortunately, he had another card. He did not have to worry about ruining the relationship, and he did not have to worry about her rampaging now. Another High Lord was in his hands.

“Hasn’t the Sky Giant Lord woken up yet?”

“It seems that it will take a little more time because he was left in the middle of the battlefield during the last wyvern attack.”

Although he was unconscious now, it was worth trying to talk to the Sky Giant Lord as soon as he woke up. And the conversation that would take place then would not be gentle, but rather a cruel one close to interrogation.

“Even if he doesn’t know what the Lord of Lament is thinking, he will at least know the relationship between the Sentinels and the One-Eyed Lord.”

Kim Jin-woo’s eyes flashed as he recalled the rapidly changing underground and the Sentinels who were moving actively as if they had just received orders.

There was another attack. Mimir, who said he would return, was nowhere to be found, and Bruntest, who said he would bring the Wish Stone, was also missing.

Kim Jin-woo realized that he could not just sit and wait in the labyrinth. As soon as the Eternal Warehouse was completely transferred, he decided to head straight to the depths.

In the meantime, the Sky Giant Lord, who had lost consciousness, woke up.

“Ugh.”

As if recalling the last moment that had been cut off by terrible memories, his huge body trembled despite its size.

“What the hell are you?”

Even in the midst of all this, he could not hide his doubts, and his pale face was full of fear and distrust.

“As you have seen, I am the king of the Nagas, the fourth High Lord who inherited the power of the One-Eyed Lord, and also a Fragment of Wandering.”

“Ugh, I didn’t believe your words from the beginning.”

Even as his chin trembled, the Sky Giant Lord did not stop talking.

“Are you going to make excuses and shift responsibility now? The root cause of all this is nothing but distrust?”

“I wasn’t sure at first. But now I know. Only I, who went into and came out of your stomach, can know your true identity!”

“That stomach isn’t *that* stomach.”

Just because he was swallowed and spat out once does not mean he has seen all of his inner workings. The Sky Giant Lord only saw the inside of the Gluttony’s stomach.

But without paying attention to his sarcasm, the Sky Giant Lord continued to talk.

“You are not a Fragment of Wandering.”

“What?”

“Wandering was the first to be killed by Night!”

Kim Jin-woo’s eyes widened at the Sky Giant Lord’s words, wondering what this was all about.

“There’s no way that Wandering would have left behind a fragment!”