Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 123

Dungeon Expedition Log – Part 124

“Get out of here, now!”

But the naga scouts, exhausted as they were, refused her command.

“This place isn’t worth your blood….”

Rikshasha shoved them forward. If she suffered any more losses, she would have no honor left to show her master.

“If you’re so worried, hurry and inform our master of the situation.”

Only after receiving this direct order did the hesitant naga scouts disappear into the darkness.

“Kieek!”

Some of the naga scouts, trying to escape the battlefield, were caught by the ground wasps’ detection abilities and torn apart. However, about half of the scouts managed to leave the battlefield safely.

“Pathetic….”

She herself must have been like that in the past. Before meeting her master and regaining her pride, she too was no different from them.

But now, she was different.

Rikshasha’s body melted into the darkness. Soon, two ground wasps that were attacking the under elves around her were ripped to shreds.

“Fight!”

Amidst the scattering flesh and blood, she reappeared and roused her clan.

“Fight!”

Holding up one of the ground wasp’s legs, sharpened like a blade, which she had severed, she repeated the word without variation.

But the terrified clan only trembled and showed no signs of moving.

“How unfortunate.”

Instead of the wasp leg, the clan grabbed her other hand. Rikshasha sighed as she looked at her clan.

“Huh?”

The clan, not understanding what was happening, trembled.

Like a small bird struck by an arrow, the young under elf spat out blood, his lips pale, and collapsed onto the cold floor.

Embedded in the chest of the young under elf was the ground wasp’s leg that Rikshasha had just tried to hand over.

The under elf man, whom she had just saved, turned pale as he watched. She repeated the same word once more.

“Fight.”

Again, the under elf did not heed her urging and was pierced through the chest and died.

Looking at the corpse of her clan member with a bitter expression, she began to run across the passage. Her swift steps, a result of evolving into an under elf runner, quickly overtook the fleeing clan.

“Stop!”

Blocking the clan’s path, she shouted and slashed in all directions. One of the under elves running at the front had his arm cut and screamed.

“Fight! If you will not fight, I will end your worthless lives here and now!”

If they were a clan that had been tamed like livestock, had lost their pride, and did not even have the courage to care for the youngest of their kind, it would be better for them to disappear from the underground.

She truly believed that. So, she mercilessly cut down the bodies of the clan members who were still hesitating and approaching her.

“Kyaaaa!”

“W-What are you doing!”

The under elves screamed and shouted at her sudden actions. But no one raised their voice to argue with her or attack her.

This was the current state of the under elves. While wandering without a home, they had been completely dominated by the base survival instinct of simply staying alive, a pitiful sight for a clan.

Rikshasha had no intention of bringing such a clan to her master. What her master wanted were warriors and scouts who could contribute, not these freeloaders.

“If you do not fight, I will take your lives.”

“What is this… We just thought you had a safe place to live….”

“Peace is not begged for; if you cannot prove your worth, what difference does it make where you are?”

Rikshasha coldly retorted, wiping the blood from her curved blade and stepping forward. With each step she took, dozens of under elves hesitated and stepped back.

But that was only for a moment, as other under elves pushed from behind, trying to pass her.

And soon, they were torn to pieces and scattered into the air.

“They are only a fraction of the enemy. Fight and prove that you are worth something.”

Her words and actions were almost insane, and even her eyes seemed to burn with a fierce, blue flame.

“Ugh….”

Though they started as the same under elves, Rikshasha, who had found pride by Kim Jin-woo’s side and was reborn as an under elf runner, was too fierce and ferocious for ordinary under elves to handle.

Eventually, some of the under elves, overwhelmed by her presence, turned and ran.

***

The ground wasps were repelled. From the start, the ground wasps numbered only about 50, so they could not withstand the under elves who suddenly turned and counterattacked.

In the end, the ground wasps lost nearly half of their comrades and retreated.

“Uheooo….”

The under elves, who had collapsed on the floor, hugged their wounded bodies, groaned, and burst into tears.

Rikshasha’s expression grew even colder as she watched.

When they actually fought, it was not difficult to drive away the ground wasps. No matter how much the under elves had lived as slaves and were steeped in a sense of defeat, their innate stealth and agility did not disappear.

Although the sacrifice was not small, no matter how many of the clan had died, it was not as many as those who had died meaninglessly while fleeing.

That was why Rikshasha was even angrier. If they had fought back like this from the beginning, the clan’s sacrifice would not have been so great, and the naga scouts would not have died so futilely.

The sight of their pathetic behavior made her blood boil.

“From now on, we will fight and drive away any enemy we can handle.”

“W-We have no weapons, and there are too many injured as we are.”

An under elf man, whose arm was almost torn off, protested her words. But instead of answering, Rikshasha picked up the scattered legs of the ground wasps and handed them to the under elves.

After that, it was a series of hardships for the under elves.

Rikshasha thoroughly assessed the enemy’s strength, determined when to fight and when to flee, and those who did not fight were killed by her hand.

The number of under elves who survived was now only about 500—half as many as when they first fled to escape the pursuit.

But Rikshasha did not care. Rather, she was pleased to see the clan’s eyes becoming more venomous as time passed.

Even though their fierce and hostile gaze was directed at her, she was truly happy that the clan had become a little more useful.

She thought that these people would be of some help to her master.

How long had they fought and fled from their pursuers? The masters of the 8th floor labyrinth seemed to have no intention of leaving the under elves alone.

Looking at the hundreds of under elves, they gleamed with greedy eyes and rushed at them in groups several times their size without hesitation.

Sometimes they fought and drove them away, and sometimes they had to flee because they were too weak. But as they repeated battles and escapes, the under elves became more skilled warriors.

Although it was at the cost of the clan’s blood, they were gradually transforming from livestock into slaves, and then into warriors.

And when the number of under elves who survived barely exceeded 300, they finally reached the edge of the 8th floor.

But there was someone waiting for the under elves who had run so far.

“Well, I didn’t believe it when I heard the news, but it’s true.”

A giant man blocked their path, his head was that of a lion, and what surrounded his neck was also a lion’s mane.

But his body was that of a muscular giant; he was the Blood Lion Marcus, known as the strongest on the 8th floor.

“The underground has been so chaotic lately that I haven’t been able to hunt for a while. Under elves would make good prey.”

Marcus grinned, revealing his large fangs. Behind Marcus, about 100 blood lions with the same appearance as him were roaring fiercely.

“Make way. We have a destination, so we will pass quietly.”

When Rikshasha stepped forward and said that, Marcus widened his eyes and burst into laughter.

“What is a lowly under elf saying right now?”

The atmosphere became even more grim with Marcus’s words, which contained a cold killing intent at the end of his laughter.

The clan’s venom, which had barely been planted in the recent battles, was blown away by his fierce and powerful presence.

“Yes, that’s how livestock should lower their eyes.”

Marcus smiled contentedly as he looked at the terrified under elves. Marcus acted as if he had already captured all 300 under elves.

Rikshasha was angry at his arrogance. But what made her even angrier was that the clan seemed ready to obey Marcus’s words.

“If you do not fight, you will die by my hand….”

In the end, Rikshasha blocked the clan’s rear and drew her curved blade. The curved blade, which had drunk more of the clan’s blood than the enemy’s, had become completely demonic.

The under elves mechanically raised the legs, teeth, and horns of the creatures they held in their hands at the sound of the demonic blade wailing.

“Hoo, is an under elf trying to be a king?”

Marcus glared at Rikshasha and growled. Curiosity arose in Marcus’s large eyes, which had been looking down on her until just now.

“I have only one king.”

Rikshasha said that and quickly looked around.

Unfortunately, there was no way out. After all, this was the only passage to the 9th floor.

If she had the余裕 [leisure/ability], she would have notified the fortress through the party hall on the 7th floor, but she had taken the wrong path while running to shake off the pursuers.

It was too late to turn back now, as there were too many who were drooling over her clan.

“Listen, everyone!”

Rikshasha said to the clan, lowering her curved blade.

“Since the pursuers are too close to turn back anyway, you do not need to fight and win, but aim to reach the 9th floor!”

The entire 9th floor was her master’s territory, so they would surely be able to survive once they passed Marcus’s army.

When she explained that, a little light returned to the under elves’ dead eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re plotting, but none of you will make it to the 9th floor. But don’t worry. I won’t kill you all. Under elves have many uses.”

Like a cat thinking of a mouse, Marcus was talking nonsense. But he had the right to say that.

In the current situation, he was the perfect predator, and the under elves were merely prey.

Moreover, to make matters worse, the sound of the striped ground wasps’ wings, which they thought they had completely shaken off, began to be heard.

“I haven’t even had a taste yet, and flies are already starting to swarm the table.”

Marcus frowned and turned around and said.

“Capture only the young and healthy ones, and kill all the wounded and old ones.”

As soon as the order was given, the hundred blood lions lined up behind Marcus rushed towards the under elves without hesitation.

And the sound of the ground wasps’ wings, which had been heard from behind, approached quickly, and finally, the appearance of the hideous swarm of wasps was revealed.

It was a foregone conclusion that Rikshasha and the under elves would be completely crushed between the powerful enemies. But suddenly, the rear of Marcus and the blood lions began to stir.

But the blood lions, not noticing such signs, roared ferociously and ran.

Flap!

In an instant, just as the vanguard of the under elf group was about to be trampled by the blood lions, black feathers began to scatter in the middle of the battlefield along with the sound of flapping wings.