Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 178

Dungeon Journal – Episode 179

# 179

Dungeon Journal

Episode 179

Kim Jin-woo had recognized Park Sung-jin as the master of the labyrinth from the start. It was the power of the High Lord, the absolute authority of the master of a deeper, greater labyrinth.

There were questions, but it didn’t matter how the opponent had acquired the labyrinth.

“The victor takes all from the vanquished. That’s the law of the underground.”

All that mattered now was crushing the enemy who had started the fight.

“Portal.”

With his quiet murmur, a portal opened. A portal several times larger and deeper than Park Sung-jin’s appeared in the air with a crack.

“What is this…”

Park Sung-jin’s astonished murmur was quickly silenced.

Kieeeeeek!

Park Sung-jin’s summoned creature, a giant centipede, tried to drown out the noise. But only for a moment, as its desperate scream ended when Heimdall, who had crossed the portal, crushed the centipede’s head.

The centipede’s scream was merely a signal flare announcing the tragedy. Hero-class summons, including Balzac and Quantus, who had crossed the portal, began to massacre the centipede summons in a gruesome manner.

“Leave the boss and devour everything else!”

“As the King wills!”

The hero-class summons of the Great Labyrinth shouted loudly as they crossed the portal. Park Sung-jin stared at the scene with a blank face.

“Kkeuaaaak!”

Dungeon Babies screamed in pain. They couldn’t avoid the blades that suddenly sprang from the darkness, their flesh torn and bones severed.

From among the shadows of the fallen Dungeon Babies, Under Elves emerged.

“You should have listened to the warning. If you had, we might have spared you.”

All around was filled with screams. From the giant centipede’s grating screech to the Dungeon Babies’ death throes. The whole world was nothing but screams and death.

And all those screams and deaths belonged solely to the Association’s forces.

The Association’s ambushers were strong, but the Under Elves who faced them were the Dungeon Babies’ natural enemies. Rikshasha’s Under Elves’ blades were stealthy and deadly, and completely different from the giant creatures they had faced until now.

Nevertheless, they soon reorganized their ranks and began to fight on equal terms.

“They’re just fast, nothing special!”

“Damn it! If only we had brought the bunkers!”

“You don’t die from losing an arm! Just ignore it and push through! If we just push them out, we win!”

Indeed, they were putting up a good fight, as expected of combat specialists who had experience in the underground.

“Morrigan.”

“My King.”

“Are you just going to watch?”

The Under Elves were doing well so far, but the potential of the Dungeon Babies could not be ignored. He didn’t want to suffer any damage by dawdling.

Morrigan looked displeased at Kim Jin-woo’s urging.

Seeing her hesitate even at the maddening battle, it seemed she really didn’t like having to follow Rikshasha’s orders for a while.

But even if her dissatisfaction was great, Morrigan’s loyalty was not so shallow as to refuse the King’s command.

Flap!

“Ack!”

The sound of the black omen’s wings, calling death, echoed everywhere, and the Dungeon Babies’ firmly held ranks collapsed in an instant.

The battle, which had been equal for a moment, tilted again with Morrigan’s joining.

Watching the Under Elves retreat back into the shadows, Kim Jin-woo turned his eyes away from the battle.

Tudder.

Park Sung-jin, who met his eyes, was trembling as if he had malaria.

“Tsk.”

If he had started a fight with only the abilities of a Dungeon Baby, not as the master of the labyrinth, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state before even starting.

Dungeon Babies never give up, even when overwhelmed by their opponents.

But unfortunately, Park Sung-jin was a Dungeon Baby and the master of an underground labyrinth. And Kim Jin-woo was the ruler of a Great Labyrinth so powerful that he couldn’t even dare to meet his eyes.

He trembled constantly from the presence unique to the High Lord emanating from his whole body.

Park Sung-jin couldn’t move a single step from that spot until all of the Association’s forces and the centipedes he had ambitiously summoned were killed.

“Clean up the surroundings! There must be no survivors!”

Kim Jin-woo hadn’t intended to summon the labyrinth’s forces unless absolutely necessary, but it was difficult not to reveal his true power while dealing with nearly a hundred Dungeon Babies and centipedes of unknown origin.

Winning was a given, but he had to avoid his power being exposed and reported while the battle dragged on.

Unlike the underground, this place had a versatile tool called a cell phone, and there was a possibility that the battle footage could be exposed.

“Kkeueueu.”

He heard someone’s groan in his ear. An Under Elf, who had been searching for survivors with bloodshot eyes, quickly tracked down the location and swiftly confirmed the kill.

The scene of a Dungeon Baby, who could be called a surface dweller, being killed by an underground being was not a pleasant sight, but he didn’t turn away.

Kim Jin-woo was not so naive as to show unnecessary kindness to an enemy who was trying to kill him from the start.

If they were good Dungeon Babies who had been used by the Association, he would have reconsidered, but Park Sung-jin had admitted to the suspicion of his stepfather’s disappearance in front of them and opened the portal without hesitation.

That meant that they were not just lingering around the Association, but were deeply involved in the Association’s misdeeds.

“It’s ridiculous to look for excuses now.”

Kim Jin-woo shook his head, staring straight at the eyes of the corpse that had not yet closed.

This is not a battle between good and evil. It’s just a fight between beasts, to eat or be eaten.

Even the slightest discomfort that had lingered in his eyes disappeared, and a cold reason took its place.

He searched the vicinity thoroughly, but no spies appeared. It seemed Song Jong-cheol firmly trusted Park Sung-jin’s abilities.

“Erase the traces, and if it’s even slightly ambiguous, overturn the land to cover it up.”

A skilled explorer would be able to figure out what had happened here later. So he ordered them to erase the traces thoroughly.

Most of the summons had already returned through the portal, and all that remained were Under Elves who looked no different from humans.

Even if someone were to discover traces that had been artificially erased, it would be difficult to think that there had been a battle between labyrinths.

The Under Elves meticulously erased the traces of the battle, as expected of those skilled in tracking and exploration.

By the time they had finished their work, even Kim Jin-woo, who was quite perceptive, found it difficult to find any proper traces.

But erasing the traces didn’t mean that everything was over.

The portal, which wouldn’t disappear for 24 hours once opened, was a problem, and so were the Association’s searchers, who would start looking for the whereabouts of the missing forces.

“You.”

Park Sung-jin, who was still lying on the floor and couldn’t even lift his head even though the battle had been over for a long time, trembled at Kim Jin-woo’s call.

“What happens if you don’t go back?”

“We, we are supposed to send additional personnel if there is no report in the meantime.”

Park Sung-jin, completely subjugated by the authority of the High Lord, obeyed his words like the most humble slave.

“Has it been about an hour? They must have felt something was wrong by now.”

Since they had dispatched this much force, waiting an hour was a long time. It was clear that additional personnel dispatched by the Association were coming this way by now.

“What to do about this.”

If the Association’s people were to arrive here, the reason for even calling out the summons of the Great Labyrinth would be meaningless.

In that case, it would be a wiser decision to face the enemies alone, even if it meant exposing his true abilities.

But the portal was already open, and the enemies were coming here. Since real battles don’t always go according to plan, he decided to modify the plan just a little.

“Contact them.”

Kim Jin-woo calmly ordered Park Sung-jin, whose mind was almost completely suppressed.

“Yes?”

“Call and say the operation was successful and you’re taking the target after capturing them.”

Park Sung-jin, unable to grasp the meaning of these words, rolled his eyes.

“If you say you’re on your way back, the guys who were coming will stop, right?”

It was a shallow trick that would be exposed as time passed, but it was enough to buy time.

And he was confident that he could use that time to make the Association not even pay attention to this nameless mountain range.

At his words, Park Sung-jin hesitantly got up and rummaged through his pockets.

“Is that all I have to say?”

“Why? What else do you want to say?”

Park Sung-jin was startled by the trivial rebuke and pretended to make a phone call, clutching his cell phone.

There was a possibility that he might play a trick, but Kim Jin-woo didn’t bother to threaten or warn him.

It was enough to just stand in front of him and look at Park Sung-jin’s face indifferently.

“Jong-cheol hyung [older brother/friend], it’s Sung-jin. The mission was successful, and I’m going back after catching Kim… Jin-woo. Ah, the guys? They, they got a little hurt, but the damage isn’t too bad. Ah, I’m a little hurt too. Well, I wouldn’t expect everyone to be perfectly fine after catching Level 12… Anyway, I’m on my way, so let’s talk when I get there.”

His somewhat trembling voice was awkward, but he carried out Kim Jin-woo’s instructions quite well.

“He, he told me to come back right away.”

“Did I buy about an hour more?”

Kim Jin-woo checked his watch and grinned.

“Then let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

Park Sung-jin hesitated and asked, thinking that he couldn’t possibly be saying that they were really going to the Association.

“Where else? To where my father is.”

At his words, Park Sung-jin only hesitated and didn’t seem to want to move.

“Guide me.”

Park Sung-jin didn’t move this time either. Kim Jin-woo, who didn’t have much time, began to frown, and Park Sung-jin hesitated before turning towards the portal.

“You bastard, don’t tell me…”

Blue light began to surge in Kim Jin-woo’s eyes again.

“I, I’m sorry! I was looking for the most secret place, so…”

In his own way, he was right. But it was not something he should have said in front of him. He would be angry even if he had been kept in a special hotel room, but he had been imprisoned in an underground labyrinth, of all places.

Kim Jin-woo, who knew better than anyone how harsh the underground labyrinth was for humans, finally exploded.

***

“Something’s wrong, it’s past the time they should have arrived…”

“It seems it’s taking them longer to come because they’re not in good condition.”

“That’s nonsense! Are they walking? What’s the point of leaving the car!”

Song Jong-cheol became increasingly anxious as Park Sung-jin and his subordinates still hadn’t arrived, even though they said they would return immediately.

Park Sung-jin was the owner of a labyrinth that was highly classified even within the Association. He thought that things couldn’t have gone wrong since he had gone, but Song Jong-cheol couldn’t shake off an ominous feeling.

Perhaps because of that, he was annoyed by every word of his subordinate who was hovering beside him.

“Why are you here! I told you to go and take care of the injured!”

“The guys have already gone out…”

“Guys? You think you’re high enough in the ranks to order the guys around already!”

The subordinate who had been caught in an undeserved disaster slipped away as if running away, and another subordinate entered the office almost at the same time.

“What is it now!”

“Sung-jin hyung has returned!”

Song Jong-cheol’s face immediately brightened at the report he had been waiting for.

“Really? Did he come with all the guys?”

“No, he left the guys behind to come quickly and came alone first.”

He let out a sigh of relief, as if he had finally shaken off the ominous feeling.

“He brought Kim Jin-woo with him, of course, right?”

“Yes, he made him look like he was about to die? His whole body was covered in blood, and he was limping and barely walking, looking like he would die if left alone.”

“It seems he resisted a lot. Is Sung-jin okay?”

“Sung-jin hyung was also beaten up a lot, his face and whole body were completely smashed…”

“Instead of this, I should go down and see for myself.”

The existence of the intruder who had kept him up all night was not important at this moment. He had finally put a leash on the Level 12 Dungeon Baby.

Song Jong-cheol, who was excited and about to go down the stairs, suddenly stopped.

“Wait, Kim Jin-woo is walking on his own two feet?”

“Yes, he looked very painful, but he was walking on his own two feet…”

“But Sung-jin brought that guy alone?”

Only then did the man who was reporting notice something strange in Song Jong-cheol’s expression and made a stiff face.

“Even if his limbs are torn off, he’s the kind of guy who would bite the enemy with his teeth, that’s a deep-level Dungeon Baby. But Sung-jin brought Kim Jin-woo, who is walking on his own two feet even though he’s covered in blood, alone? What kind of bullshit is that!”

Before he could finish his words, a scream erupted from the doorway.