Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 207

Dungeon Journal- Episode 208

76. Memory of the Magic Spear

Even though it had been less than half a day since he was trapped in the ice wall, Kim Jin-woo looked utterly exhausted, as if he had been standing guard there for decades.

He looked so precarious, as if he would disappear at the slightest touch, that even his summons, including Dominic, who had been worried about him the whole time, couldn’t easily approach him and just fidgeted around.

What on earth had happened inside the ice wall?

Kim Jin-woo was completely different now than before he entered the ice wall.

The conqueror with the cool eyes scanning his surroundings was nowhere to be found, and he seemed somehow listless, aged by decades in a single day.

His slumped shoulders clearly showed the layers of accumulated fatigue, and his hand gripping the spear trembled weakly.

He looked as weary as an old man leaning on a cane, worn out by the harsh elements.

But ironically, his physical strength seemed to be greater, not less, than before, making the discrepancy indescribable.

Most peculiar of all was the spear in his hand.

It looked as if a branch had been freshly cut from a tree. The irregularly bent and twisted shaft was crude to the point of being shabby, and the three-span-long blade was as flexible as the leaves of a weeping willow [a type of tree with drooping branches].

At first glance, it didn’t seem suitable for use as a weapon at all, but the main reason he was unapproachable despite his exhaustion was that strange spear. The summons’ gazes toward him and the spear were complicated.

“Hoo.”

Kim Jin-woo took a long breath and closed his eyes. And when he opened them again, the inexplicable fatigue and emptiness were gone.

“Master!”

Only then did his summons, including Dominic, rush to him, surrounding him and offering words of concern.

“What on earth happened to you in there?”

Unlike the nagas [mythical serpent-like beings], who were purely happy about his safe return, some summons, including Heimdall, paid attention to his changed demeanor.

“I was tested.”

This much was already known from Dominic. So Heimdall asked again who dared to test someone who was a High Lord.

Kim Jin-woo looked at the spear in his hand in response to Heimdall’s question. The spear, which had been over 4 meters long, had shrunk to about 1 meter, looking like a cane.

“The Howling Magic Spear, Gungnir.”

His voice, which came out after a long time, seemed to contain complex emotions.

“It is the weapon used by the One-Eyed Monarch and the key to opening the forgotten old monarch’s Great Labyrinth.”

***

After returning the summons to their places, Kim Jin-woo met the black marketeer.

“Congratulations!”

The black marketeer congratulated him as if he had known everything from the beginning.

“Did you know what this was?”

“I didn’t know exactly what the item was. I only knew who the owner of the item was.”

The black marketeer’s attitude was nonchalant. But Kim Jin-woo couldn’t easily accept it. The Magic Spear Gungnir he had obtained was an item that should never have been put up for auction as a mere sale item.

The power of the weapon itself, as well as the secrets hidden within, had a value that could not be exchanged even for ten thousand top-grade Dawn Gems.

“If it’s an item that no one can use anyway, it’s right to return it to its owner.”

Judging by what he said, the Black Merchant hadn’t just been playing around with the Summoning Stone. However, the result must not have been very good. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have thought of putting such a precious item up for auction as a bargain item.

Well, it was understandable. The original owner of the Magic Spear was the One-Eyed Monarch. It was a weapon that only a High Lord who inherited his name could use.

Leaving aside the fragments, the Magic Spear was too proud and picky for those who had not even inherited a strand of his authority.

He himself had almost been caught up in the Magic Spear’s tantrum and died.

‘Prove your worth!’

Kim Jin-woo shuddered as he recalled the Magic Spear’s voice, which he had heard for the first and last time immediately after using the Summoning Stone.

Before he could even grasp the whole situation due to the sudden change in circumstances, Kim Jin-woo had encountered a terrible opponent.

“One-Eyed Monarch!”

The one-eyed giant he had seen in Dinariyon’s nightmare once again pounced on him. A terrible offensive followed, and he had to struggle to survive. At that moment, it didn’t matter whether he was in a world of illusion or what. He simply fought against the terrible murderous intent.

He forgot the passage of time and even forgot his own existence. And when he regained consciousness, he was holding a crude wooden spear in his hand.

“Still, it seems like you got a pretty good item in there.”

Kim Jin-woo, who had been lost in thought, was awakened from his reverie by the black marketeer’s voice.

“A good item?”

He laughed at the black marketeer’s words.

Was it just good? The Magic Spear Gungnir was the ultimate weapon that never missed a target once it had aimed. It was also a weapon that suited him perfectly, with his ability to discern weaknesses.

But the value of the Magic Spear was not in the power of the weapon itself. The world of illusion, the test of worthiness, was the real value of Gungnir.

The One-Eyed Monarch he had met was clearly an illusion. But even though it was an illusion, the One-Eyed Monarch’s murderous intent was real. The Magic Spear had recreated the memories of its master.

And he was able to learn how a real monarch fought by fighting against the One-Eyed Monarch’s illusion.

He learned how the ‘Eye of Truth,’ which he had only used to distinguish between friend and foe, could be used, and how to handle the High Lord’s robust body. The framework of being a Dungeon Baby, which had unconsciously defined his limits, was shattered, and his thinking expanded.

Although he did not inherit the memories, he completely inherited the One-Eyed Monarch’s combat experience.

Moreover, what he gained was not only related to combat. His gaze toward the black marketeer was now even deeper.

“I am grateful for your kindness. If it weren’t for you, I would have had to go a long way around.”

He was certain that he would have obtained the Magic Spear anyway. That attitude came with a subtly different sense of pressure than before, and the black marketeer unknowingly bent over even further.

“I am just grateful that you recognize it.”

“But!”

Suddenly, Kim Jin-woo’s momentum changed.

“The crime of deceiving me is also not light, so I will consider your merit as non-existent.”

Was he talking about the conversation he hadn’t finished at the auction house? His face was utterly resolute. The black marketeer, who had briefly looked wronged by the fierce momentum, quickly took a step back with a flinching face.

“And I refuse to have any more conversations with shells.”

“What do you mean…?”

The black marketeer pretended not to know, trying to gloss over it.

“Are you going to pretend you don’t know until the end?”

Kim Jin-woo’s momentum slowly began to become violent.

“If you are talking about the previous promise, I came here to keep that promise.”

The black marketeer, who was sweating profusely, still maintained the same attitude, which finally provoked his anger.

“Are you still trying to deceive me?”

If it had been the usual Kim Jin-woo, he would not have driven him so unilaterally, considering his relationship with the Black Merchant. He was clearly crossing the line now.

But the black marketeer’s attitude was strange.

“H, how dare I…?”

The black marketeer, who would have usually avoided the situation with various words, now kept his mouth shut and couldn’t straighten his bent back, as if he had committed a truly unforgivable sin.

And Kim Jin-woo looked at such a black marketeer as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Then why don’t you reveal your name to me?”

“What would you do with the name of a humble merchant…?”

Thud.

As if emerging like a phantom, he grabbed the black marketeer by the collar.

“Do you think I don’t know? Or do you hope I don’t know?”

Blue light flashed in Kim Jin-woo’s eyes.

“Keeper of the Eternal Vault.”

The moment the words ‘Keeper of the Eternal Vault’ came out, the black marketeer’s limbs, which had been struggling pathetically, stopped moving.

“Mimir.”

Kim Jin-woo snarled fiercely, facing the black marketeer’s wide-eyed gaze.

“The Summoning Stone you gave me contained not only the Magic Spear.”

He said each word clearly, facing him as if he would devour him.

“The Magic Spear’s wish after losing its master in the final battle. Gungnir hoped that the result of the twilight would be morning, not night.”

When he finally defeated Botan, the Magic Spear gave one more test.

No. It was closer to the Magic Spear’s wish rather than a test.

The Magic Spear threw him into the battlefield where the One-Eyed Monarch had been defeated by numerous betrayers.

Then he forced him to win. Even though it was a meaningless thing done in a world of illusion, the Magic Spear was more than eager.

He didn’t know whether it was the Magic Spear’s last courtesy to send off its former master, or whether it was the new master’s desire to survive in the worst situation it remembered.

In the final test, he had to become the One-Eyed Monarch himself, the High Lord Botan. The battle in which even the mighty monarch had fallen was not easy.

But as the Magic Spear’s wish grew stronger, so did his power, and finally, unlike Botan, he was able to win.

Even if it wasn’t a victory won with his own power, he was still a victor. All of the loser’s possessions were the victor’s spoils, and there were countless treasures scattered on the battlefield.

The victorious warriors, including Morrighan [a figure from Irish mythology] and other hero-level summons, shouted cheers of victory, and the One-Eyed Monarch stood tall at the highest point of the battlefield.

Perhaps that was the most natural scene of victory that the Magic Spear remembered. But there was a heterogeneous being that intervened in the midst of it.

A being that stood out among the strong and high-ranking beings, an imp carrying a large backpack jumped into the hell where faded blood formed the sea and lifeless bodies formed the mountains.

‘Mimir.’

He himself in the illusory world, Botan, called him Mimir, the Keeper of the Eternal Vault.

A short body with a large head, eyes constantly turning to protect the treasure, the small imp was Mimir.

And Mimir was someone he knew well. The black marketeer, who was coughing with his collar grabbed, looked exactly like the imp he had seen then.

“Speak. Are you my vault keeper, or the Black Merchant’s black marketeer?”

Kim Jin-woo did not force him. But the fierce momentum contained within made it all too clear what would happen the moment the black marketeer denied his identity and insisted on the facade.

There were many things he wanted to know, such as why the One-Eyed Monarch’s vault keeper was now acting as a merchant, and what the true nature of the Black Merchant organization was, but he would not hesitate the moment the black marketeer shook his head.

“I am…”

The black marketeer’s voice, grabbed by the collar, was suffocating, but it was not difficult to understand the meaning.

“The Monarch’s vault keeper.”