Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 151

Dungeon Chronicle – Episode 152

58. The Great Labyrinth

Kim Jin-woo smirked, gripping Morrigan’s neck as she gasped for air.

“Let’s call it a day.”

With those words, he released her. She collapsed to the floor, coughing and sputtering, her throat sore from being choked.

An intense battle, almost like a real war, had continued for a full week. At first, she suffered humiliating defeats, but that was only temporary. The power dormant within him slowly emerged, and the balance of power gradually shifted until, at some point, Morrigan couldn’t handle him anymore.

It was no surprise.

From the start, the power he possessed was incomparably stronger than Morrigan’s awakening.

The Commander of the Ascendants, the Conqueror. Each of his titles was formidable, and his physical abilities, enhanced upon becoming a High Lord, were so great that he could look down on the Black Harbinger.

Nevertheless, the reason he struggled so much in the beginning was, as Morrigan said, due to a lack of experience fighting truly strong opponents.

The brutal training, where bones were broken and flesh torn, compensated for his weaknesses. As a result, after a week, he had become incomparably stronger than before.

Even more astonishing was the fact that his abilities were still evolving.

However, the abilities that could be drawn out through Morrigan had reached their limit. He could no longer enhance his power through training with her.

And she knew how to develop his abilities beyond what she could handle.

“Find the fragments. There must be other fragments scattered somewhere in the Underworld.”

Morrigan, having barely stopped coughing, looked up at him with a flushed face.

After the 9th floor was engulfed in a haze of light, only he and she were left alive. Naturally, many conversations took place, and he no longer guarded against her as much as before.

At least, he was certain that as long as he possessed the aura of the One-Eyed Monarch, she would never betray him.

“They, too, will be crouching, avoiding the eyes of Usuthuth [a powerful, lurking entity], just like me. Finding them won’t be easy.”

Finding those who were hiding and not revealing their presence would not be easy. They couldn’t rely on luck like the previous fragments, which they had found through a combination of chance and fortune.

“It’s not necessary for you to find them. By now, some of them might be sensing your awakening and coming here.”

***

“Please, get some sleep.”

On the day they finished all the training, Morrigan came to his bedroom as always, attending to him like a maid.

Her touch was clumsy, but her sincerity was felt nonetheless.

“Hmm…”

But today, for some reason, she wasn’t leaving his bedroom.

“Is there something you want to say?”

“Tomorrow, this dreary, colorless world will finally end.”

Morrigan brought up something out of the blue instead of answering.

“When the Fortress awakens again, those who disappeared will return. The masters of the labyrinth, the nagas [serpentine humanoids] of the Fortress, and…”

She looked at him with strangely moist eyes.

“Dominique, too.”

It was an awkward atmosphere. Although she had become noticeably gentler recently, the Black Harbinger, who reigned as the god of death on the battlefield, was her true self.

He couldn’t get used to this side of her, so he simply stared at her instead of answering.

“Are you feeling regretful?”

He asked, thinking that Morrigan might be capable of it now, but she didn’t answer this time either.

“You’ll be busy starting tomorrow, right?”

“Probably. I don’t know how the 9th floor will change, but this incident will definitely attract the attention of those who dislike the existence of the High Lords.”

He had to struggle to avoid the eyes of Usuthuth, and he also had to resolve the downjam depletion caused by the Moais [large, stone statues]. Just dealing with that would keep him busy for a while.

“That’s unlike you. I thought it was in your nature to say what you want to say?”

He spoke bluntly, feeling like she was just skirting around the issue.

“Master.”

Then, Morrigan suddenly leaned in close. Her lips, so close that their breaths mingled, trembled.

“Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore……” [I hope the memory of our friendship will last forever]

The words that flowed from her red lips, barely audible, were of a kind he had never heard before. So, he frowned and asked her what it meant.

But instead of answering, she gave a somewhat lonely smile and moved away from him.

“Please, have pleasant dreams…”

Morrigan left as if nothing had happened, leaving her greetings behind.

Left alone, Kim Jin-woo mumbled her words several times, feeling a lingering sense of something left unsaid, but he soon gave up trying to imitate the intonation and pronunciation, which he couldn’t quite grasp, and went to sleep.

***

The corpse, with its heart extracted and slumped over, was gruesome, but Dinariyon merely frowned as he looked at it.

“Tsk, they sacrificed another innocent nightmare.”

Contrary to his words, there was not a hint of pity in his cold eyes.

“Clean it up.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the nightmares who had been prostrating themselves began to clean up the corpse.

“Strange, strange.”

Dinariyon, looking at the bloodstains with clear eyes, turned his head and spoke. There was no one left in the owner’s room, but he muttered as if he were talking to someone.

“This has never happened before; I can’t reach his dreams at all.”

“Could it be that he’s not sleeping?”

A seductive voice suddenly echoed from the air. It was a sudden reply, but Dinariyon was not surprised.

“No, even if he’s not sleeping, I should have been able to connect with Ariane.”

Dinariyon frowned at the incomprehensible situation.

“I heard that Ariane was severely injured by Bartholomew a while ago. She may have a grand title of Queen of Dreams, but she is from the lowly succubus clan. Her energy may be damaged, preventing her from answering the king’s call.”

“Even so, I can’t sense her presence at all.”

The Queen of Dreams was the master of the labyrinth who was among the first of the 9th floor’s allied forces to swear fealty to Kim Jin-woo during the 10th floor noble coalition’s invasion.

But Dinariyon was talking about her as if she were his own limb.

“Tsk, frustrating. The war is prolonged because of the cunning counts, and the intelligence has become terrible.”

Dinariyon shamelessly rattled on, even though he himself had been standing by and watching the chaos in the Underworld to hide his power.

“What if…”

“Darius, I hate the word ‘what if.’ You should already know that?”

Dinariyon’s ability was the Reincarnation of Nightmares, dealing with the unconscious and uncertain. Nevertheless, he hated uncertainty to a terrible degree.

That’s why, while the Iron-Blooded Anatolius was repeatedly pushing and pulling with the King of Nagas with a deal that wouldn’t work, he sent the Queen of Dreams, who was quite useful, and the Invincible Mercenary to monitor the 9th floor.

“I’ll take the punishment after the story is over. Please give me a chance.”

Knowing his nature well, the woman called Darius began her story with the premise of ‘what if.’

“What if he came into contact with a fragment?”

“That can’t be. He quietly overlooked it even when I mixed a fragment into the insignificant task force. He is more cautious and cunning than we think. There’s no way he would risk being noticed by Usuthuth.”

The fragment of the ancient monarch that had been artificially hidden in the task force was a fragment of an old monarch that Dinariyon had painstakingly obtained. The fragment of the old monarch, who used the ridiculous name of ‘Lord of Radiance,’ which was out of place in the Underworld, was too small and insignificant, but it was enough to confirm his thoughts.

The power of the old monarch was not allowed to the current beings of the Underworld.

Whether it was the work of Usuthuth, who was crouching on the deep 14th floor, or the residual thoughts of the ancient monarchs who had not forgotten their grudges, he could not know, but it was certain that the masters of the labyrinth, including the nobles, could not handle that power.

And it was the King of Nagas who swallowed that power. Although he must have gained power, the King of Nagas never used that power even once during the fierce battle that took place on the 11th floor.

Perhaps it was because he was conscious of the gazes of the other counts.

“Still, I should check it out.”

Dinariyon, who had been lost in thought, spat out a cold word.

“Summon Yunhee. If your idea is correct, there must have been a change in her.”

Yunhee was also one of the many seeds of the Underworld that Dinariyon had sown in order to obtain the power of the ancients.

He kept her closest and watched her, but the blood of the Underworld noble, which was only half mixed, refused to touch the fragment of the old monarch.

So, in the end, she became useless and was thrown away, but he never thought that she would be used in this way.

“We must move before Anatolius and Parthenon notice. It would be good for you to go yourself.”

“As the king wills.”

“Be careful not to be noticed by the Black Merchants. They are crouching now, but they are people whose thoughts cannot be known. They may be more dangerous than the beings on the lower floors.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

The seductive voice that had been echoing in the air soon disappeared. Left alone, Dinariyon was lost in thought, staring into the darkness as he thought of the King of Nagas, who must be somewhere on the 9th floor.

“King of Nagas.”

He murmured as if Kim Jin-woo was in front of him.

“I hope that the path you take is not different from mine.”

Dinariyon’s eyes, saying so, were somehow terribly heavy.

***

It wasn’t just Dinariyon who noticed the changes on the 9th floor. Anatolius and Parthenon, who noticed that contact with the spies they had planted on the 9th floor had been cut off, moved quickly.

They sent subordinates with tight lips to scout the 9th floor. No, they tried to. If it weren’t for the tightly closed passage to the 9th floor, they would have certainly achieved their goal.

But the closed passage refused them, and they had no way to get to the 9th floor.

The same was true for those who went to the 8th floor through the portal and then headed to the 9th floor. They had to turn back immediately after seeing the blocked passage.

Although they each thought differently and wanted different things, the two counts took the same action. They used all their skills to prevent the changes on the 9th floor from spreading to the lower floors.

Whatever the purpose, thanks to that, Kim Jin-woo was able to avoid the situation on the 9th floor from immediately reaching the ears of those who did not welcome the existence of the High Lords.

And thanks to the three counts of the 11th floor buying him time, he was able to safely manage the 9th floor.

[All changes have been completed.]

[There is only one labyrinth in the Underworld that is suitable for the High Lord’s status.]

[The Great Labyrinth has been created.]