Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 211

Dungeon Journal-212

# 212

Dungeon Journal

When I last saw Uther, he was only slightly larger than an adult male. But now, Uther was swollen to the point of nearly filling the wide passage of the Great Labyrinth.

Moreover, his slime was so glossy that it almost seemed to shine.

“My Kinggggg!”

Uther, seeing Kim Jin-woo wide-eyed and opening and closing his mouth several times in confusion, suddenly prostrated himself at his feet.

“Please forgive meeeee!”

It seemed like something had happened, but since he couldn’t figure out what it was, he quietly waited for Uther to explain the situation.

Sensing his mood, Uther stammered and confessed everything that had happened.

“Ugh.”

And when Uther’s explanation was over, Kim Jin-woo clutched his head.

It had been a while since he had accidentally discovered the leyline [a concentration of natural energy] in the underground. He didn’t have any use for the not-yet-ripe Down Jams at the moment, and he didn’t have the time to pay attention to it, so he ordered Uther to protect the leyline from the Moais.

But who knew that would be like leaving a fish store to a cat.

Incredibly, Uther had absorbed all the Down Jams from the leyline.

Since they were masses of gluttony that slowly digested their prey, he understood the process, but from his perspective, who had intended to use the Down Jams when they were all ripe, it was a frustrating situation.

It seemed that entrusting the management of the leyline to Uther in the first place was a bad move.

“So that’s why you’re so plump.”

Looking at Uther filling the passage, he spoke in a seemingly angry voice, but Uther’s excuses were not worth listening to.

“No, it’s just that the Masses of Gluttony kept getting eaten by the Moais, so I had no choice……”

The swaying mass of slime was so annoying that he made an even fiercer face.

“Sigh……”

But what could he do? It was he who entrusted the management of the leyline to Uther, so he couldn’t blame him now. In the first place, Uther had complained several times that he couldn’t last that long.

With a long sigh, he barely managed to control his rising anger and asked about the situation afterward.

He couldn’t let go of the hope that there might be some Down Jams left. But Uther shattered his expectations, saying that there were no more Down Jams left.

In the end, Kim Jin-woo, who had been racking his brains, headed to the leyline with the Frost Nagas in tow.

He judged that it would be better for him to check it himself rather than relying on Uther’s eyeless gaze.

[The Frost Nagas have won the battle.]

There were several battles along the way, but the newly organized Frost Nagas slaughtered the Moais in the Frost Battlefield they had created themselves.

They were said to be several times more ferocious and cruel than the existing Nagas, and their appearance of tearing enemies apart with not only spears and swords but also claws and teeth was truly savage.

After confirming the power of the newly organized Frost Naga unit several times along the way, he finally arrived at the place where the leyline was.

[The Parasite’s ability ‘Exploration’ is activated.]

[You have discovered a Down Jam seed.]

[The Down Jam seed, which has just begun to ripen, has almost no energy, but it is definitely a Down Jam.]

[You have discovered a Down Jam seed.]

[You have discovered a Down Jam seed.]

[You have discovered a Down Jam seed…….]

[You have discovered a Down…….]

Perhaps fortunately, as before, the entire passage flashed with green light as soon as he arrived.

But that was it. Most of the Down Jams discovered by the Parasite’s exploration ability were only seeds that had just begun to sprout.

-The leyline on the 9th floor.

-This is the underground leyline managed by the King of Gluttony, Uther, and the Masses of Gluttony. The leyline, which was once full of Down Jams that had sprouted and begun to shine, now has only seeds left. In time, the Down Jams will sprout again and contain energy, but for now, it is just a passage through which the energy of the underground flows.

-In time, Down Jams will be created again and energy will begin to accumulate. But no one knows when that will be.

Even if he tried to use them right away, they had no accumulated energy, so they were no different from stones.

“Sigh.”

Kim Jin-woo had to be satisfied with the fact that the leyline on the 9th floor had not completely disappeared.

Returning to the Great Labyrinth, he found Daedalus, explained the situation, and asked if there was a way for the Great Labyrinth to accommodate the leyline on the 9th floor.

However, Daedalus shook his head, saying that the expansion work of the Great Labyrinth had already begun, and that it would be pointless to change direction again and suffer the bleeding of reducing the scale by half.

So he had to entrust Daedalus with the additional expansion after the expansion.

“I, I’m sorry.”

“Ugh, let’s not talk about it anymore.”

Most of the usable Down Jams had already been swallowed by the Masses of Gluttony. Thinking about it any further would only make him feel worse, so he finished the matter by dispatching the Frost Naga unit to check the leyline frequently.

It was Uther who discovered and reported the leyline on the 9th floor, which he could have kept to himself, so he decided to think of it as simply giving him the price.

But that didn’t mean he was going to leave the annoying Uther alone.

He tore off Uther’s slime, which had become so obese that he couldn’t even support his own body, and scattered it in all directions.

Uther’s body, which used to be barely enough to monitor the main passages of the 9th floor, did not seem to shrink no matter how much he tore it off.

“Why, is it a waste?”

Uther, who was trying to collect the oozing slime and make his body as small as possible, was startled by his words and bubbled.

“Oh, no, how could that be.”

But unlike his words, his gaze at the fallen slime was full of regret, and he clearly looked heartbroken.

Seeing Uther’s tearful face, Kim Jin-woo felt a little relieved and grinned.

Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t all bad that Uther had absorbed the leyline’s energy.

Information was the most important thing for him at this moment, as he was considering a full-scale war with the Deep Layers.

On a roll, he measured Uther’s strength.

And when the test was over, he was a little surprised. Uther had not only grown in size but also become quite strong in his own right.

“Oh, what strength would a guy like me have? I’m just barely hanging on because everyone’s looking out for me.”

But just because he had become stronger didn’t mean that Uther was no longer Uther, so he was still cowardly, sly, and reluctant to engage in direct combat.

Kim Jin-woo also had no intention of putting Uther on the front lines of battle.

There were many warriors to replace the King of Gluttony, but it was difficult to find someone who could consistently gather information like the Masses of Gluttony.

From that day on, he set up a place in the depths of the Great Labyrinth and had Uther monitor the situation in the Deep Layers. And in less than a day, Uther frantically sought him out.

“Take a look at this.”

The Masses of Gluttony, which had taken their places throughout the Deep Layers, were showing the territories of the Counts.

“If you look closely here, don’t you feel like it’s a bit similar to this place?”

Even if Uther hadn’t said anything, Kim Jin-woo could tell. He already knew what the slight sense of incongruity in the Counts’ territories was.

Whether Mimir had moved quickly and sold the Great Labyrinth’s replicas to the 11th floor Counts, fake Great Labyrinths were being created in each of the Counts’ territories.

“Hmm?”

But something was strange. The shape and energy of the labyrinths, which were expanding their boundaries at will, were exactly like the Great Labyrinth, but there was a sense of incongruity.

So he couldn’t take his eyes off the fake Great Labyrinths that had just begun to expand.

“Ah!”

Kim Jin-woo’s eyes flashed as he watched the Great Labyrinth for a long time.

“Do you know what that is?”

Uther asked with curious eyes, but instead of answering, he got up from his seat.

“I have to go to the Deep Layers.”

“Suddenly what……”

Uther tilted his head in confusion at the sudden action, but he called Dominique, left a few instructions, and immediately left the Great Labyrinth.

***

Kim Jin-woo, who had secretly headed to the 11th floor Deep Layers, was finally able to see the Great Labyrinth’s replica from afar.

“Hmm?”

After directly confirming the Great Labyrinth’s replica, he made a face that was more suspicious than relieved.

“Could it be……”

Since it was a secret move, he had to avoid being discovered by the Counts at all costs, but there was something that bothered him.

He couldn’t possibly leave without checking the Great Labyrinth’s replica up close.

He carefully looked around and slowly crossed the boundary of the Count’s territory and approached the fake Great Labyrinth.

The fake Great Labyrinth was constantly expanding its boundaries even at this moment. But the direction of expansion was not towards the outside of the territory but towards the inside.

He watched for a long time, but the Great Labyrinth did not grow even 1 centimeter towards the outside of the territory, and continued to encroach on the inside of the territory.

He laughed. He tried to hold it back, but the laughter finally broke through his teeth.

In this situation where he didn’t know when or to whom his secret mission would be exposed, he didn’t care at all.

After that, Kim Jin-woo went around the Counts’ territories in turn and checked all the newly created replicas of the Great Labyrinth.

“Mimir.”

After finally checking the fake Great Labyrinth created in Parthenon’s territory, he muttered while staring into the darkness beyond.

“Was this what you intended from the beginning, or was this something you didn’t even know?”

The fiercely flashing eyes were like those of a beast that had found its prey.

The Great Labyrinth’s replicas purchased by the Counts were all in a state where they had not been imprinted with an owner.

He couldn’t know whether that was what Mimir intended, or whether it was because he was ignorant of the veiled Great Labyrinth.

However, one thing was certain: only one person in the underground was qualified to be the owner of even the replicas of the Great Labyrinth.

High Lord. Only a true monarch who inherited the old authority was qualified to be the owner of the Great Labyrinth, and there were no High Lords among the Counts of the Deep Layers.

And Kim Jin-woo, he was already a true High Lord who had one Great Labyrinth under his control, the Lord of Greed.

To his eyes, the fake Great Labyrinths that were slowly encroaching on the territories were nothing more than delicious prey.