Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 249

Dungeon Journal-249

# 249

Dungeon Journal

Episode 250

The Taruses were the first to move.

“Kkeu-woooooo.”

The Taruses, bellowing loudly and stomping their feet, began to charge all at once.

Their disorderly charge, without any apparent reconnaissance, was incredibly reckless.

However, the Ursus’s momentum against them was not to be underestimated.

Unlike the Taruses, they advanced in formation, taking measured steps. The sight of thousands of white bears marching in unison was a stark contrast to the Taruses’ frenzied charge, projecting a solid discipline that was just as impressive.

“Kuo-ooooooo.”

The white bears roared, amplifying their momentum, and in that moment, the vanguard of the Taruses, having closed the distance, collided with the vanguard of the Ursus.

“Kreaaaaak!”

Screams and roars, along with the gruesome sound of tearing flesh that the fierce howls couldn’t conceal, erupted from every direction.

“This is really something…”

Angela looked dumbfounded at the spectacle of thousands versus thousands, duke-level dungeon monsters clashing against each other.

“It’s barbaric.”

She offered her honest impression of the violent battle, a scene too raw for sugarcoating.

“Isn’t this just a ‘you die, I die’ situation?”

As she observed, the war between the Taruses and the Ursus resembled a pure clash of brute strength, devoid of strategy or trickery.

She had anticipated a more sophisticated battle, and seemed somewhat disappointed.

“At this rate, the command skills of the earls seem better.”

Anatolius of the Iron Blood, known for his swift maneuvers, was a master of surprise attacks and breaking through enemy lines. Parthenon of Despair excelled at exploiting the opponent’s weaknesses and manipulating them into self-destruction.

Dinarian of Nightmare and Bruntest of Corruption were equally adept at schemes and strategies.

Before returning to the Naga’s dungeon, Angela, under Anatolius’s protection, had witnessed such battles of the earls on several occasions.

She had therefore expected the dukes’ battles to unfold in a similar vein to those of the earls.

But it wasn’t the case. The battle between the Taruses and the Ursus seemed to exclude everything except their raw power.

It was literally the most primitive form of combat, where strength met strength, leaving no room for schemes or tricks.

“Then, in your opinion, do you think Anatolius, or the other earls, could defeat them?”

Angela was momentarily taken aback by Kim Jin-woo’s sudden question.

“If it’s a similar force…”

“Such assumptions are meaningless. After all, the earls could never obtain such summons, even if they were to die and be reborn.”

His voice was cold.

“They’re not barbaric. They’re just efficient.”

He was a tunneler.

On days when a diligently dug tunnel unfortunately connected to another dungeon’s passage, a brutal battle inevitably erupted, forcing him to hide in a narrow pit, watching rough and fierce monsters biting and tearing each other apart.

“How did Daedalus’s vaunted traps fare against the satyrs? Also, what effect did the surprise attacks of you and your retinue have on them?”

Angela couldn’t answer this time either, because his words rang true.

The traps confidently created by a dungeon designer who had reached the rank of artisan only managed to delay Luyang’s soldiers for a short time, and the vampires’ surprise attacks under the cover of night proved ineffective against the violent monsters.

“Isn’t strategy all about minimizing losses and overwhelming the opponent?”

Irreplaceable strength, solid bodies, sharp teeth and claws—their natural weapons were more threatening than any clever scheme. And they seemed to know very well what their greatest weapon was.

“Hmm…”

Angela pictured the white bears and bulls in her mind, and soon had to admit that no matter how many retainers she commanded, she couldn’t stop them.

“But!”

The moment she realized that fact, she felt a surge of anger. She had spent her entire life being labeled a counterfeit. A vampire with not a single drop of true blood was nothing more than a rare ornamental item in the underground, forcing her to put herself up for auction and sell herself to Down Gem in order to find a master.

She pretended indifference, but harbored a deep-seated inferiority complex. That’s why she had risked everything to obtain true blood, even if it meant performing a ritual with a higher probability of failure than success.

And although it wasn’t perfect, she had succeeded in obtaining true blood.

It was a life-threatening attempt, a gamble of a lifetime. As a reward for her success, she had transcended the limitations of being a counterfeit vampire.

A truly tearful effort. But as if to mock her efforts, they seemed to be saying that there was an insurmountable limit to her species.

“Right now, they’re both facing enemies that are impossible to distinguish in terms of superiority. In a situation like this, wouldn’t it be better to use their heads a little?”

Her stubborn voice sounded almost like a complaint. He smiled faintly instead of answering. It was a smile so refreshing that it seemed out of place on a battlefield where blood splattered and screams echoed.

“Why? Are you upset? Are you angry at those who were born strong and even despise their own fate?”

Angela nodded with a resentful expression.

“Then watch. Watch with your own eyes what price their arrogance will pay.”

Kim Jin-woo gently stroked her hair.

“If you do, you will see.”

His voice was gentle but not at all warm, and it carried a strong conviction.

“You will see how a stray dog raised in a smelly tunnel bites the king of the mountains.”

***

Only white fur stained red remained where the Taruses had pushed in, and only broken bull horns remained where the Ursus had charged out.

A battle so close that visibility was limited to inches. But as time wore on, the white bear pack was being pushed back by the bulls.

“It seems they only sent out the runts.”

Giving up all the small victories and focusing solely on the biggest one. That was Kim Jin-woo’s proposed winning strategy, and the Ursus had accepted it.

In the end, the white bears fighting here must be the slightly inferior members of the Ursus clan.

There was no reason to deploy valuable elites for a battle they were destined to lose, so it wasn’t that strange.

“Kkeu-eo-eo-eo-eo.”

The Taruses, oblivious to these circumstances, were even more emboldened with victory within their grasp. The front line immediately collapsed, and fierce bulls rampaged in its wake.

“They’re asking you to deploy the promised reinforcements quickly.”

Where would an imp girl, who had lived as a petty thief and was taken in by the Black Merchant and raised under his protection, have experienced such a terrible battlefield? She looked like she was about to faint as she watched the Tarus messenger, who was holding out a horn covered in grotesque flesh and blood.

But even in the midst of all that, the imp girl didn’t forget her role and managed to translate the Tarus’s words.

“Already?”

Kim Jin-woo hesitated, uncharacteristically. His demeanor suggested he was intimidated by the gruesome battlefield, and the Tarus messenger inadvertently cast a contemptuous glance his way.

“They say that they can achieve victory on their own anyway, but they should confirm the loyalty of the alliance.”

The imp girl, seeing him falter in the messenger’s presence, spoke in an even more subdued voice.

“Kkeueung.”

Kim Jin-woo pretended to be troubled.

“They say that allies are not easy to obtain.”

Perhaps because the excitement of the battlefield hadn’t yet subsided, the Tarus messenger was quite overbearing, unlike before.

Perhaps he was wondering if the victory against the satyrs was merely the result of several overlapping strokes of luck.

And that situation was precisely what Kim Jin-woo intended.

“I have no choice. Tell them I will dispatch troops.”

He reluctantly granted the Tarus messenger’s request, hesitating until the very end.

“A, are you okay?”

The imp girl spoke with a rare worried expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Ah…”

The imp girl was flustered by his nonchalant answer. It was because Kim Jin-woo, who had been cowering in fear just moments ago, now wore such a cold expression.

“Prepare for battle!”

At his command, the ancient hero-grade summons [powerful beings summoned from other dimensions or planes] who had been waiting in advance lit up with excitement. Unintimidated by the gruesome battlefield, the summons snarled fiercely and raised their fighting spirit.

They looked ready to jump into the thick of the battle without hesitation as soon as he gave the order.

But the order he gave was far from their expectations.

“There’s no need to fight hard.”

Morrigan looked dumbfounded at his unexpected words.

“Pardon?”

“That’s what I said. There’s no need to make a fuss at someone else’s party.”

To make matters worse, he made a ridiculous request.

“Be as careful as possible. It wouldn’t be bad to show a struggling appearance if you can. I will allow you to retreat temporarily for this battle only. However, only as long as you do not completely leave the battlefield.”

Since he held the title of Commander of Total Victory, he couldn’t afford to completely withdraw. If he did, the powerful title effect that put him in this position would disappear.

But other than that, it didn’t matter what he did on the battlefield.

After all, the Ursus’s defeat was already foreseen. The Taruses would secure the promised victory on their own. He and his subordinates only had to pretend to fight and reap the benefits of victory as a side effect.

“What is that…”

“That’s what I said. From now on, you and I will enter the battlefield and pretend to fight.”

***

“Kkeueung.”

Morrigan was completely drained. She had been through countless battlefields, but this was the first time she had felt so unmotivated.

That’s because her master had given her a ridiculous order.

Even as she looked at the white bear with its neck exposed, she couldn’t readily strike. Her body was stiffened by her master’s repeated instructions not to display more strength than necessary.

“Kwa-oh!”

The angry white bear roared fiercely, unaware that it had just stepped into the gateway to the afterlife. Morrigan stared at the sight with dry eyes and slowly stepped back.

“Kkeu-eo-eo-eo!”

In the meantime, a Tarus, who had approached unnoticed, pushed her aside as she moved aimlessly and leaped fiercely forward.

“This bastard…”

The moment she lost her balance, she was furious and spread her wings as if she was about to lash out, but then she sighed and folded them back.

“What is this all about.”

The battlefield is a sacred place. The brilliant moment when life and death hang in the balance is a sacred time that defies description. Her master was desecrating such a battlefield.

There is no battlefield where one can fight aimlessly. And there is no battlefield so insignificant that one can look down on it so arrogantly.

Nevertheless, she had no choice but to follow her master’s intentions.

“I’m going crazy.”

She could see her master rampaging in the distance. Even though he had ordered them to fight half-heartedly, he himself was putting on quite a spectacular show.

But that was only for a moment, and soon her master yielded the vanguard to the Taruses and retreated to catch his breath.

His feigned weakness, displayed by a master who could face all the white bears gathered in this place if he truly desired, even if it took time, was rather absurd to her.

“What on earth is he up to.”

She gave up trying to decipher her master’s intentions.

Her sly and cunning master was plotting something again. She considered herself quite capable in strategy and tactics, but she couldn’t fathom her master’s thoughts.

After all, her cleverness in deploying troops and exploiting weaknesses was different in kind from her master’s slyness, and the results were also different.

He was more greedy and persistent than she was, who only wanted victory at best.

And he always wanted a lot and got a lot. As such, he must have something else he wanted in this war.

“Hmm.”

She, who had fallen behind the battle line while lost in thought, made a dissatisfied face again.

“Still, it would be okay to rampage a little.”

Morrigan, the black omen who looked down on even the nobles of the average depths, spread her wings.

***

“Tsk, what a temper.”

From the beginning, Kim Jin-woo didn’t expect the proud ancient hero-grade summons to passively engage in battle.

He simply wanted to convey that this battle held little significance for them.

As expected, Morrigan and Heimdall, along with the other ancient hero-grade summons, showed subtle signs of unleashing their inherent power. Soon after, black feathers flew and the roar of the dawn rooster erupted from various locations.

As expected of the warriors favored by the mighty former lord, they displayed overwhelming power even against the summons of the duke-level dungeon.

Although they didn’t openly exert their full power because they were watching him, that alone was enough to achieve considerable results in a short time.

“Well, this wouldn’t be bad either.” He wanted them to underestimate the Great Dungeon and lower their guard. But it wouldn’t hurt for the Taruses to witness the strength of a quite useful ally and be encouraged to drive the Ursus even harder. The more intoxicated they become with victory, the easier it will be to get what he wants.