Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 260

Dungeon Journal – Episode 261

92. Naga Queen

As the burning intensity in his heart subsided, Kim Jin-woo swiftly assessed the situation.

The monstrous presence that had been ravenously hunting just moments before had vanished.

Regaining his senses, he turned his attention inward.

His heart, still throbbing with the lingering echoes of terrible hunger and thirst, ached with the memory.

“Wait, was I consumed?”

His mind had been overtaken by the Great Labyrinth before, but that previous experience didn’t lessen the horror of this one.

Having his will interfered with was a terrible experience.

“No, this time I was eaten alive.”

Moreover, unlike the previous instance where he had to gradually exploit weaknesses and become steeped in malice, this time it was blatant and menacing.

He had moved blindly, like a ravenous beast.

Looking inward, he belatedly noticed a message window flickering, something he hadn’t even registered until now.

[Nagaraja (Dragon King) is the noblest Naga. Inwardly, he is a powerful Dharma protector who holds the life and death of 18,230 Nagas in his hands, and outwardly, he is a guardian dragon who protects the Nagas from external enemies.]

[Originally, it would be impossible for such a Nagaraja to be contaminated by malice. But you are the Lord of Greed before you are Nagaraja. To you, who possess insatiable greed, the Dragon King with a mind like a clear mirror may not have been suitable from the start.]

[The scales of the Dragon King, which should have been the bluest, were dyed black, and the unwavering immobility collapsed, replaced by the rampaging madness of an evil dragon suffering from endless hunger and thirst.]

[He lost the majestic but defensive form of the Azure Dragon and instead gained the fierce and aggressive form of an Evil Dragon.]

[Nagaraja’s condition has been fixed as an Evil Dragon.]

It was as he had suspected. Muttering the ominous words “Evil Dragon” to himself, he felt his consciousness, which had been observing his inner self, expand outward.

“Master!”

A voice filled with sobs, a voice that had reached his soul repeatedly even when he was consumed by malice.

But the sobs of then and now were different. The sobs of now contained not despair but joy and relief.

“Dominique.”

He called the name of the devoted woman who had risked death and thrown herself in front of the Evil Dragon.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I lived after dying once again.”

“Don’t say that, Master. I really thought you couldn’t hear my voice…”

Unable to finish her sentence, the lovely Naga lady sobbed again, and he couldn’t help but hug her tightly.

“I heard you. I heard Dominique’s voice several times. It’s just that the shell was too hard, and I couldn’t break free right away.”

Dominique’s limp arms wrapped around his waist.

“Ah…”

Once again, a message window appeared before his eyes.

[The King’s Proxy who broke out of the egg was a completely different being from before.]

[The King’s Proxy, who had been dedicated and loyal only to her master, always wanted to stand by your side, and even in the moment of metamorphosis when she was isolated from the outside world and her thoughts stopped, she wished and wished.]

[Thanks to that, she grew in a different direction from other Nagas.]

[What she wanted was not evolution and growth, but only to stand by your side.]

[Her combat abilities have not increased significantly, but her special and unique abilities have been greatly enhanced.]

[Her devotion and service, her heart for her master, have now gone beyond concern and reached the point of sharing thoughts with her master. She can now communicate with you no matter how far away she is.]

[The dignity of an internal affairs officer, she can now grasp even the smallest details of the Great Labyrinth. She will not tolerate even the slightest damage to the Great Labyrinth for her master.]

[King’s Proxy, her authority has been further strengthened. As long as your dignity is not compromised, the Nagas will pay homage to the King’s Proxy.]

Kim Jin-woo, who had read the messages without missing a single detail, couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed.

Her change had taken a different path than he had anticipated. But it was only a fleeting thought, and his eyes widened at the message that followed.

[She is now the noblest Naga after you.]

[Dominique has grown from the King’s Proxy to the Naga Queen.]

[She has acquired the unique abilities of the Naga Queen.]

[Unique ability, ‘Qualification of a Companion’ has been acquired. She has gained the qualification to conceive a seed that can inherit the blood of the noblest Naga.]

[Unique ability, ‘King’s Herald’ has been acquired. She can now summon a loyal army to your side.]

[Unique ability, ‘Domestic Affairs’ has been acquired. Just by being with you, your power will be amplified beyond belief.]

***

Dominique was overjoyed at her master’s safety. But as time passed, worry began to overshadow her joy.

She worried that her master might be upset by her growth, by her having shamelessly earned the title of ‘Queen’.

Her strength seemed to drain away, and the hand that had been wrapped around her master’s waist fell limply.

“Ah…”

Her master pushed her away.

She despaired. Her master must be upset after all. It was only natural that he would be, with her, just a maid, having taken the position of queen. She blamed herself and regretted her actions.

Her excessive desire had caused this. If she could, she wanted to go back to that time and slap herself for not knowing her place.

“Dominique.”

Her master’s gaze turned to her. For the first time, she avoided his eyes and lowered her head.

“I, I’m sorry. I just…”

Even apologizing felt like overstepping her bounds. But she desperately apologized to her master to avoid being abandoned.

She apologized repeatedly, sobbing that she was sorry and that she didn’t know her place.

“Ah.”

While apologizing absentmindedly, she realized that her master’s touch on her shoulder was softer than she had expected, and she raised her head.

She saw her master’s face smiling gently.

Dugun, dugun [heartbeat sound].

As his face drew closer, she unknowingly made an expectant face and pursed her lips.

Hoping that the sound of her wildly beating heart wouldn’t reach her master, she tried to keep from making a dazed expression.

Their breaths were close enough to mingle, but unfortunately, the warmth soon moved away. Disappointed, she glanced up at her master’s face, only to find it stiffened.

“Master?”

Her master didn’t look back at her. He was staring at something far away.

“Mas…”

“Shh! Be quiet!”

Dominique closed her mouth at the suddenly heavy atmosphere.

***

The air had changed. The unique silence of the labyrinth that had lost its master was still present, but Kim Jin-woo felt that the silence now was different than before.

And he knew the reason why.

“The labyrinth has disappeared.”

If a deactivated labyrinth falls into a slumber to await a new master, a destroyed labyrinth completely loses its vitality and becomes silent.

And now, Bulabes’ labyrinth was clearly in the latter state.

“Have you ever seen such a bastard?”

Kim Jin-woo gritted his teeth. He could easily guess who the sly bastard who had stolen the core while he was dealing with the two dukes was.

The ruler of the eastern labyrinth, the third duke that Alitos had brought in, had made his move.

“Master. This is…”

“It seems like the wrong guy opened the gift box.”

Kim Jin-woo’s face turned cold. He had put in a lot of effort to start the fire and let it simmer, but the wrong person had opened the lid of the rice cooker [idiom for ruining a carefully planned situation].

It would be strange if he, who was so greedy, wasn’t angry.

As expected, he caught a glimpse of a distant aura with a fierce expression and prepared to run.

“Master!”

Dominique called out to him.

“There’s no time, Dominique.”

When he said that with a sharp expression, the loyal Naga Queen said with a flushed face.

Hiding her face with both hands, she glanced up and down between her fingers.

“Master, your clothes…”

He wondered what she was talking about and looked at his appearance, then froze.

He had become a giant evil dragon and rampaged through the labyrinth, but he had regained his original form. However, the armor and clothes that had been torn to shreds because they couldn’t withstand the huge body of the evil dragon hadn’t returned to their original state.

In other words, he was stark naked from head to toe.

“Damn it…”

It was an urgent situation whether or not the core of the duke-level labyrinth would be stolen, but he couldn’t run around naked.

He nervously searched around and stripped the clothes off a dead vampire. The clothes were torn to pieces by sharp teeth and claws, but he was barely able to cover his private parts.

“Let’s go now.”

Kim Jin-woo wondered why his voice, which had been determined, sounded so awkward today, and he went forward, exuding more coldness than necessary.

***

There was a small commotion, but it wasn’t difficult to chase after the impudent duke who had stolen the core.

The power of greed was always hungry and never missed its prey. He could track the duke simply by following that gluttonous appetite.

“Hmm?”

But as he ran for a while, he suddenly noticed something strange.

Unless that side had obtained the position of duke for free, they couldn’t have failed to notice the commotion that had occurred on this side.

The unidentified enemy who had swallowed the two dukes. If they weren’t fools, they would have run away with their tails between their legs [idiom for fleeing in fear].

But at some point, the duke’s energy was no longer moving forward. Moreover, the signs of life that flickered from time to time, as if they were fighting somewhere, were just noisy.

“Ah…”

Kim Jin-woo recognized the situation with the alien yet familiar energy he felt in between.

“Angela.”

The true blood vampire he had left in the reverse side must have finally taken action.

And as if to confirm that his guess was correct, the ominous energy of death exploded from far away.

***

“It’s terrible.”

The corpse, from which life had been sucked out and whose original form couldn’t even be recognized, was a miserable sight. If the place where the power of greed had passed was a ruin without even a trace, the place where the true blood vampire had swept through was literally death itself.

“Is this Angela’s power?”

“Ah, the events of the reverse side have not been conveyed.”

Dominique had rushed here because her wish and devotion had materialized and formed a special connection.

She knew well how dire her master’s situation was, and she wanted to help him through her newly acquired unique abilities.

She had been able to help her master, who had unintentionally become an evil dragon, but she didn’t know about the events that had taken place in the reverse side, which was completely cut off from the earth.

Kim Jin-woo shook his head as he watched Dominique purely admire the carnage caused by the true blood vampire.

“This is not the power of true blood.”

He told her everything that had happened on the reverse side.