Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 271

Dungeon Chronicle – Episode 272

# 271

Dungeon Chronicle

Episode 272

‘What is this supposed to mean?’ Kim Jin-woo frowned, feeling as though his head was a tangled mess.

“What do you mean, I might know?”

A sense of foreboding crept up, constricting his heart. But he forced himself to maintain his composure and pressed Mimir.

The imp, who had been terrified, now eyed him cautiously, as if suspecting that he was feigning ignorance despite knowing something.

After further prodding, a heavy voice finally spoke.

“It seems you already have an idea of who it is. Do you need confirmation?”

It was an absurd statement, but it was enough. Mimir even confirmed it.

“When referring to the Overlord, that person called you Little Jin-woo.”

The confusion in his mind cleared instantly. Yet, Kim Jin-woo couldn’t be happy in the slightest.

Once again, Sohee was mentioned in a completely unexpected place. The vague sense of unease took on a definite form, tightening like a noose around his neck.

The blue light in his eyes dimmed, turning a murky color.

“Where could she be going?”

While he was lost in thought, Mimir, who had been cautiously backing away, reached into his pocket. In that instant, darkness coalesced into the form of a woman.

“What are you talking about…?”

Mimir was startled by Angela’s sudden appearance, but he feigned composure.

“You’d better not move that hand. Unless you want to see that cute little hand become my accessory.”

His tone was gentle, as if dealing with a child, but his eyes were anything but.

“Good, that’s right. Stay like that. Don’t make a sound, don’t move a finger.”

Mimir was caught between a rock and a hard place, his face a picture of misery.

Whether Mimir was terrified by Angela’s threat or not, Kim Jin-woo was lost in his own thoughts.

“From now on, don’t trust anyone. Don’t trust anyone but me. No, don’t even trust me. You only trust yourself. Understand?”

The firm voice, as clear as if it were yesterday, seemed to whisper in his ear repeatedly.

He had to admit it now. Sohee, whom he had trusted and followed more than anyone else, was by no means an ordinary girl.

Even in his most miserable days, she had shown a bright smile. Looking back now, there were many suspicious things about her.

The girl was too composed and calm in everything she did to be considered a mere child. She never made a fuss in any situation, and even when she was driven out of the labyrinth by the dukes, she didn’t lose her smile.

That’s why he could trust her even more. He thought that if he followed her, a world as bright as her smile would be waiting for him.

“Jin-woo! You have to survive!”

She was left among the fierce cassowaries [large, flightless birds native to Australia and New Guinea], and he alone survived. As she had told him, he didn’t trust anyone he met in the underground world, and he wandered through it like a beast, with the sole goal of surviving.

And finally, he was able to reach the sunny surface.

“Hmm.”

As Kim Jin-woo traced his journey back to the surface, he frowned at a sense of unease.

The flow of memories, which had been flowing naturally, suddenly felt unnatural.

It was a strange feeling, like trying to complete a picture with a mismatched puzzle piece. With that odd sense of unease, he went back and forth between his past and present memories, revisiting the nightmare.

And at some point, he was able to realize the nature of that unsettling feeling.

When he slept in a cramped place like a chicken coop, when he listened to the stories of the surface from the adults and nurtured his longing, when he was caught up in perilous battles and they were sacrificed, Sohee’s figure was nowhere to be seen in those memories.

Nevertheless, he had blindly clung to his connection with her, always thinking that they had been together.

“Just when did she start being with me?”

He looked dazed, as if he had been hit over the head, at the question that belatedly came to mind.

***

The cunning imp was imprisoned. He claimed that he had only come on an errand for someone, but who knew what was hidden in his dark heart? No doubt he was hiding other schemes as well.

“You can’t do this to me! How much have I worked for the Overlord!”

Kim Jin-woo responded indifferently to Mimir’s appeal of injustice.

“I’m not trying to do anything to you right now. I just want you to be in a place where you can answer my questions when I need you to. So, stay there and cool your head for a while.”

“Ask me now! I’ll tell you anything!”

“Not yet, not yet. It’s not time yet.”

The fragmented and mixed pieces of memory made him all the more cautious. He needed time to think right now.

“Perhaps that person named Sohee…”

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Kim Jin-woo’s expression, cutting off Dominic’s cautious voice, was more expressionless than ever.

“I can’t be sure of anything yet. It’s not too late to make any judgments when Catherine, the Overlord of Lament, returns.”

The Overlord of Lament, who had disappeared in pursuit of Sohee’s trail, would find the answer to this uncomfortable question.

“So, don’t ask or inquire any further for now.”

He ignored Dominic’s gaze, which must have been uncomfortable as she had seen his inner thoughts through the connection of their minds.

“Everything is as the master wishes.”

She also didn’t try to find the answer by force. As he said, now that the truth was so close, everything would be revealed soon, whether she liked it or not. She didn’t want to stir up her master’s heart by stepping forward.

“First, there’s the legacy of the One-Eyed Overlord.”

Valhalla, which had been temporarily pushed to the back burner because Mimir’s information was too shocking, was brought up again.

“I will take Valhalla for now.”

“It’s too dangerous!”

Mimir said.

The castle of the One-Eyed Overlord can only be owned when an Overlord who failed to fulfill his dream embraces despair in his heart.

“The greatest strength of all the achievements that Master has made is the ability of Succession. If what that imp says is true, then to take Valhalla, Master would have to give up his greatest power.”

Dominic strongly opposed it as never before. She was concerned about the power vacuum that would result from losing the name of Succession.

But Kim Jin-woo shook his head firmly at her words.

“It wasn’t because I had the name of Succession that I was able to crawl up to this position.”

A strong light returned to his gaze, which had been somewhat clouded by facing the ghosts of the past.

“It was because I won and finally survived that the name of Succession was given to me.”

***

The gates of Valhalla, which rose as if nailed to the ground, were not going anywhere. As if they had been there from the beginning, they would wait forever for a qualified person to come.

It was the succession of complete authority that had been passed down since ancient times, and it was an absolute promise only for the Highlord.

But to others, it seemed like a treasure fallen on the road.

After all, Mimir, who had been holed up in the Vault of Eternity, felt the energy and came looking for it despite the powerful disaster of the Second Restoration. There was no way that others wouldn’t feel the energy.

“What? Anatolius disappeared?”

Kim Jin-woo frowned at the report from the nagas [serpentine humanoids] guarding the labyrinth. The Iron-Blooded Giant had disappeared while he was taking care of other matters.

He was with most of the nobles who had not fully integrated into the Great Labyrinth.

“We have organized a pursuit team, but they are formidable, so it seems that some damage is unavoidable.”

Quantus was already worried about the damage to the nagas, his face stiff.

“Leave them alone.”

But Kim Jin-woo’s reaction was completely different from what was expected.

“There is no need to form a pursuit team, and there is no need to follow their trail.”

Quantus, who didn’t understand and asked for reconsideration, had no time to spare for self-reproach for the lax security and the former count’s misdeeds. But on the other hand, Kim Jin-woo’s face was calm and even relaxed.

“I’ll take care of it myself, so you focus on securing the passage and preparing for the invasion, as you have been doing.”

“As the King wills!”

The steadfast naga guard captain, though not entirely convinced, simply bowed his head at his words and did not argue further.

“You seem to know where they disappeared to.”

He replied nonchalantly to Angela’s words.

“Even Mimir, who is not on the same floor, felt the energy and came looking for it. Anatolius wouldn’t just stand by and watch a treasure right in front of him.”

Besides, Anatolius was the type to flip out at the power of the old Overlords. He could easily guess where the Iron-Blooded Giant and the other nobles had gone.

“Shall we go then?”

He strode over and took Angela’s hand, and she opened the door to the other world as if she had been waiting for him.

Kim Jin-woo and Angela, who had disappeared in that way, reappeared in front of the gate to Valhalla.

“Master was right. Although you may not have expected this.”

The piece of iron lying alone in front of the huge gate was the iron mask that Anatolius always wore.

“Excessive greed has brought disaster.”

There was no need to find Anatolius’s whereabouts.

Although only one mask was left behind, it was obvious what had happened to the Iron-Blooded Giant, who had been obsessed with the power of the Highlord.

“What a pity. Even if he had lost his seal, Anatolius the Iron-Blooded was quite a useful horse.”

It was too cynical for a comment on the end of a powerful noble who had once burned with ambition for the dominion of the deep.

But what could he do? The power of the Highlord was so ruthless to those who were not the master. He could only feel sorry and regretful.

“But are you going to be okay? Even if he’s not what he used to be, Anatolius wasn’t just another scrub that’s all over the underground world. He became like this in a short time.”

She was a frivolous and seductive vampire, but her heart was always sincere towards her master. So Kim Jin-woo showed a rare gentle face.

“It’s a legacy that was given to me in the first place. Gungnir [Odin’s spear in Norse mythology] is with me, and his name has been passed down to me. Even if he’s a picky guy, he’ll cut me some slack.”

Angela hugged him tightly at his uncharacteristic joke.

“Be careful. I’m only a half-Highlord, so I don’t know how difficult a proper succession is. But even I suffered the pain of having my soul torn apart when I inherited the Red Castle.”

He gently stroked her hair, as if he knew what she wanted to say without her saying it.

“Then I’ll be back.”

He had already talked to Dominic. As the Naga Queen, she would lead the Great Labyrinth well in his absence.

Thanks to this, he was able to challenge the test of the eccentric One-Eyed Overlord with peace of mind.

“Please…”

He stood in front of the gate of Valhalla, watching the vampire who had gathered her hands as if she was praying, which was out of character for her.

[Would you like to open the gates of Valhalla, the fortress where the Einheri [fallen warriors chosen by Odin], the dead of the battlefield who failed to achieve their purpose, resided?]

Instead of answering, he inserted Gungnir into the groove of the gate.