Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 230

Dungeon Journal – Episode 231

83. The Ancient Promise

“Ah…”

The voice that flowed from her plump lips was as captivating as a lover’s whisper, and her dazed blinking and rolling eyes were full of innocent charm.

Even her languid gestures were as beautiful as the deliberate nods of a sculptor’s statue.

She possessed a classic beauty, like a doll long neglected and covered in dust, or a masterpiece that would crumble at the slightest touch.

However, rather than being captivated by her fatal beauty, Kim Jin-woo felt a sense of impending crisis.

[The Avatar of the Ancient Monarch has wandered the underground for far too long. Countless eons and the terrible malice of the underground have eroded her spirit, which even the monarchs were reluctant to antagonize.]

The moment he saw the red flashing message before his eyes, he reflexively tried to pull away. Or rather, he tried to.

Squeeze.

But she wouldn’t let go.

From where did such tremendous power spring in that slender grip? She held his wrist tightly, unmoving.

“Hmm.”

Again, a meaningless hum flowed from her lips. But this time, the feeling was different. There was definitely a hint of admiration in her exclamation.

“Angela.”

Among the countless assumptions that came to mind, even as he recalled the most terrible outcome, he did not let go of the thread of hope. The authority of the rightful owner and the unique presence of a High Lord were imbued in the name Angela, which he called out with force.

But unfortunately, it seemed that what reached her was not the authority of the owner but the energy of a High Lord.

“Angela?”

A voice that sounded like a pure girl speaking shyly, or a seductive woman whispering in bed, made him feel dizzy.

[The True Blood Vampire is a fatal being who captivates everything simply by existing. Her overwhelming charm makes your mind faint.]

[Fortunately, your strong mental fortitude and willpower were sufficient to overcome the fatal temptation.]

[You have successfully resisted the temptation.]

Kim Jin-woo’s heart, which had been briefly elated by an unknown heat, cooled down.

“Angela… a lovely name.”

He had succeeded in resisting the temptation, but it was still a beautiful voice that made his consciousness blur just by listening to it. He steeled his mind, which kept trying to relax, and made a stern face.

“I remember now. There were those who looked at me with such eyes before.”

Her presence, which had been nothing special except for her overwhelming beauty, suddenly expanded. And that energy was more potent than Catherine, the Monarch of Lamentation, whom he had met before.

“Are you a High Lord?”

Kim Jin-woo frowned at the arrogant voice, like that of an absolute being.

“That was a foolish question. If you were not one of them, you would not be able to look down on me like this.”

Kim Jin-woo retorted as if to shoot back at the voice that was arrogant to the point of being outrageous.

“Why don’t you get up and talk?”

“It has been so long since I moved my body that it is not as easy as I would like. I ask for your understanding.”

The spirit, which was said to have been eroded by time and malice, seemed more intact than he had thought. She was genuinely sorry for her lax posture, and she was asking for understanding.

But that was all. The fact that she was occupying Angela’s body remained the same. His gaze could not be kind.

“That’s not what you should be apologizing for. Isn’t it too brazen to say such things while occupying someone else’s body?”

“I see. Your hostility stems from worrying about the owner of the body.”

He was almost dumbfounded by her leisurely tone, as if she had just realized it.

“But do not worry. My thoughts cannot linger for long. Once I have finished the task assigned to me, I will be gone without a trace.”

It was welcome news, but rather than being pleased, he was curious about the words ‘assigned task’.

“What is the task?”

But instead of answering his question, she said something out of the blue.

“Your energy is familiar. It was the energy of that one who upheld the half-world seen through one eye as the truth.”

She must have sensed the energy of the One-Eyed Monarch, Botan.

“But it is strange. The energy you possess is not just one.”

The Avatar of True Blood noticed at once a fact that even the Monarch of Lamentation had not noticed.

“The madman who wanted to become the sun of the underground himself.”

She also recognized the energy of the Monarch of Radiance, which he had not yet fully bloomed.

“The cruel mother who drove the weak fairies into the darkness.”

And the energy of the Fairy Monarch, which he had not fully inherited.

“All are dormant within you.”

The Avatar of True Blood did not stop speaking.

“And the bottomless abyss that devours all of that and is still not satisfied lurks within you.”

The moment he heard the word ‘bottomless abyss’, Kim Jin-woo felt a sense of oblivion as if his consciousness was about to fly away.

A feeling as if his whole body was melting like a candle heated by a flame. He had to struggle to avoid collapsing.

“Ah, now I remember why I had to endure the pain of my soul scattering for such a terribly long time.”

He strained his whole body to straighten himself, but it was only a faltering gesture. He staggered and fell on top of her.

“The prophecy exchanged for one eye, the promise made with light, the thread of fate braided with the hair of ten thousand fairies. All point to one thing.”

The faces were so close that their breaths touched, and the Avatar of True Blood smiled brightly.

“I will gladly volunteer to be the proof of that promise.”

Already in a daze, with words he couldn’t understand.

“I will testify with the reddest blood.”

“What the hell are you talking about…”

He snapped. But all that leaked out was a slurred voice as if he were drunk, and soon even that was swallowed back down past his chin.

“The prophecy will be fulfilled.”

Listening to the Avatar’s voice piercing his ears at the last moment, he finally lost consciousness.

***

“Master?”

When Kim Jin-woo regained consciousness, what he saw before him was Angela’s face full of worry.

“Angela?”

“Master!”

With tears welling up in her eyes, she hugged him tightly.

“Ah…”

As his hazy consciousness returned, he realized that he was barely holding himself up with his hands on the bed. He had somehow managed to endure without collapsing.

“Is she…?”

It was a truncated sentence, but Angela answered without hesitation.

“She has fallen asleep again.”

Fortunately, Angela seemed to remember everything. She explained to him without missing a moment when his consciousness had been half gone.

“She said she would return when you have accomplished everything.”

Even though there was another personality within her body, a transcendent being who could take over her body at any time, she did not seem very worried. When he asked her why, she said,

“I have obtained True Blood, but the Blood Contract remains. You are still my master, and that is a fact that will not change in the future.”

What was this all about? He frowned. Wasn’t the biggest reason she wanted to obtain True Blood in the first place to gain a complete self that didn’t parasitize or rely on others?

“I don’t know how to stand on my own in the first place.”

Was she already tamed? Angela said that she did not want to escape the Blood Contract in the slightest.

“And this is a ritual that I barely succeeded in; if I had been more greedy, the ritual would have failed.”

It was only after a long time that she gave a reason that he could understand.

“So please rest assured. Even if she wakes up again, as long as she is dwelling in my body,”

Angela said in a purring voice, like a cat climbing onto its owner’s lap to be praised.

“She will not be able to defy you after all.”

***

Angela had not lost the memory of the moment when she was dominated by the True Blood’s thoughts, but that did not mean that she could glimpse beyond the Avatar’s memories.

Only a single strand of intense will contained in the thoughts remained vividly.

“Proof of the promise… what is that promise?”

“I don’t know. Except for the fact that you are related to that promise…”

He had no idea what he had to do with the promise that the monarchs had made in the distant past when he did not even exist.

But through this, he realized that the sense of incongruity he had felt so far was not just a delusion.

The steps he had taken since becoming the King of Nagas, the luck that had existed behind them without him knowing, was by no means a coincidence.

If the dice thrown with fate at stake in a gambling game were actually manipulated so that the highest number would inevitably come out without him knowing, should the gambler feel self-reproach for his cheating, or should he rejoice in the reward of victory?

Kim Jin-woo was the latter.

However, the difference between the sly gambler and him was that he had no intention of foolishly enjoying only the fruits of victory.

He knew better than anyone that if he foolishly ate only what was fed to him, he would eventually be slaughtered like a fattened pig.

“The Usurper has begun to move.”

With a coincidental timing, things happened as if he did not want him to approach the essence.

“It’s not that he has started to move openly right away, but it seems that he is going to move the Dukes first to clean up the underground.”

Mimir informed him of the situation with an unusually tense face.

“We must prepare now too.”

“We?”

“It’s not just me whose name is on the Usurper’s kill list.”

From the day the Avatar of True Blood first appeared, the stopped wheel of promise began to roll again.

***

The Ant Queen was now a completely different being. The monster, which had only had an appetite, was finally able to think and judge, and finally became a terrible disaster.

And the first to be struck by the disaster was the Labyrinth of the Satyrs.

Crunch, crunch.

The Duke’s forces, which belonged to the most powerful class even in the deep layers [of the dungeon], were helplessly defeated by the monster.

In the process, countless satyrs were reduced to delicious and nutritious prey, and the number of satyrs swallowed by the Ant Queen alone reached thousands.

When the situation reached that point, the arrogant Duke could not help but pay attention to this terrible monster. The Duke led a force of 500, all of whom were made up of heroes, and attacked the Ant Queen.

The Ant Queen, who had become incredibly powerful while coming here, resisted fiercely and stubbornly continued to eat. But the Duke of the deep layers was too strong for the newly awakened monster to handle.

The Duke’s anger, who had lost thousands of subordinates, was so terrible that the Ant Queen had to give up a third of her painstakingly grown body.

Kkeueooo.

Avoiding the Duke’s murderous intent, the monster wailed and ran through the underground. As a result, the passage on the 9th floor of the underground, which had been horribly damaged after the earthquake, became even more chaotic and the pursuit followed, but the monster didn’t care.

The Ant Queen was merely following a vague memory from the days when she only had an appetite.

The place where she felt the energy of the only being she could trust, who had provided her with countless prey and attempted to communicate with her for the first time. The Ant Queen headed for the Great Labyrinth, following Kim Jin-woo’s energy.