Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 280

Dungeon Chronicles

Episode 281

The situation was utterly incomprehensible.

Both the surface and the underground were well aware that another war wouldn’t lead to either side dominating the other.

The lessons from the great wars of the past were more than sufficient.

The surface, after sacrificing countless lives in that war, finally realized that the underground was a realm humans couldn’t conquer. The underground, in turn, saw that only the nobles of the deep layers fully preserved their power amidst the surface’s total offensive, which devastated the entire upper layer and parts of the lower layer.

Having experienced such a war that only left scars, there was no reason to recklessly wage another one.

“No, what more could they possibly gain now?”

It was a war with no victor or loser, but if one were to force a distinction, the surface, having seized the Wish Stone—a treasure of the underground—could be said to have benefited.

However, even that meager victory was merely a conspiracy orchestrated by insane old rulers, so dwelling on victory now was absurd.

“It’s not a war to gain anything. We received information that the underground is preparing for war with the surface. Because of that, the surface decided to go to war to avoid the same disaster as before,” Lee Jun-young said, questioning him instead. She looked noticeably anxious about whether it was true that the underground was plotting war with the surface.

“That can’t be. The underground is barely able to take care of itself right now.”

The underground, completely transformed by two restorations, was in no condition to wage war against the surface.

The High Lords were just beginning to notice the conspiracies of the old rulers and were sharpening their blades, while the nobles were cowering in fear of the changed underground situation and the rise of the High Lords.

The situation they were in was too complicated to plot against the surface.

“That’s somewhat reassuring.”

Lee Jun-young looked relieved that people wouldn’t have to point their swords at each other.

“Where did that information come from?” he asked her.

***

“Apparently, there’s someone who defected from the underground. They learned through ‘that guy’ that the underground is preparing for war with the surface, and that the time is near.”

“Are you serious right now?”

The story that came out of Professor Baek’s mouth was an absurd, far-fetched tale.

“It’s not entirely impossible. As you know, there have been several incidents recently, haven’t there? Underground creatures that hadn’t been seen in ages crawling onto the surface, and not long ago, there was even an unusual tremor. If that’s all due to the underground preparing for war with the surface, it’s quite plausible.”

“No. That can’t be. Absolutely not.”

The creatures flowing onto the surface were just Moai corrupted by the underground’s malice who had lost their way, and the unusual tremor was just a minor change that occurred during the underground’s restoration process of reverting to the past.

“How do you know that?”

However, Kim Jin-woo’s position was too delicate to explain that series of events to Professor Baek. He was a surface dweller, but also a proud ruler and High Lord of the underground.

His position was the kind that could never be understood by people.

“Hmm.”

Professor Baek looked at him with suspicion and continued the story.

“The government is planning to put explorers and Dungeon Babies [children raised in dungeons] at the forefront. Whether they’ll move as the government intends is uncertain, but if it works out, they won’t be helplessly driven out of the underground like before. Dungeon Babies, at least, are as familiar with the underground as anyone could be.”

Professor Baek said that it would be advantageous to lure the enemy to the surface and use weapons of mass destruction if possible, but they had to choose a second-best option because of public scrutiny.

“Who is this defector anyway?” Kim Jin-woo asked, unable to bear it any longer.

“I heard it’s not just one or two. Among them, the one who contacted our government is said to be a noble from the deep layers of the underground here.”

Professor Baek lowered his voice as if telling a great story.

“Don’t be surprised, the one who revealed the underground’s conspiracy is none other than a Count from the 11th floor!”

The Count of the 11th floor was someone he had dealt with once while clearing the Maze of Mirrors. However, there was one among them that he hadn’t completely dealt with: Countess Brunest, known as the Queen of Corruption.

He gritted his teeth as he thought of that cunning woman.

“Nightmare Dinarian, apparently quite famous in the deep layers,” Professor Baek said, but the name that came out of his mouth was the name of a nightmare he hadn’t expected.

“You seem quite surprised. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard it. What could a Count of the deep layers possibly lack that he would side with the surface? But there was a reason.”

Professor Baek, seeing his surprised face, added another story with a rather satisfied expression.

“Surprisingly, that Count’s daughter defected with him, and that daughter is said to be a half-human, half-demon [a being with human and demon blood] born from a human woman.”

The moment he heard those words, Kim Jin-woo could no longer stay in his seat.

“Half of the blood flowing in his daughter’s body is human, and the woman he loved was a surface dweller, so he couldn’t ignore the surface. It seems even the monsters of the underground have paternal love. Well, even animals that can’t speak think of their young ones terribly… Hey, where are you going while I’m talking!”

“I’ll come back to hear the rest of the story!”

Leaving those words behind, he immediately left the appraisal office and headed for the safe house.

“Yoon-hee! Where is Yoon-hee?”

Lee Jun-young, who had been waiting for him to return, answered, startled by his urgent tone, “Ah, she’s probably in the party hall.”

Before she could finish speaking, he immediately went to the party hall.

“This is messed up…”

The party hall, which he had visited after a long time, was nothing more than a shell. Only the illusions created by the shadow mages remained; the core and the maze were nowhere to be found.

Kim Jin-woo looked at the empty illusion of the party hall with a hollow expression. At this point, he didn’t even feel angry.

“I’ve been had.”

It was Aria, the Queen of Dreams, who had annihilated Nightmare Dinarian and taken his power. And she was also the guardian of the underground before she was the queen of the incubi [demons who seduce humans in their sleep].

Only her testimony proved the only end of the nightmare.

Now, he was foolish to have believed her words, which were more false than true.

“But why Yoon-hee…”

Was even Yoon-hee’s desire to escape from her father a lie? He didn’t know. Right now, everything was full of ambiguous things, with no way of knowing what was true and what was false.

However, one thing was certain: this movement of the surface was also a part of the delusions that the High Lords of the past had failed to achieve.

Otherwise, there would have been no reason for the nobles to rush to defect to the surface at this timing and ignite the fuse of war.

“Master…”

Lee Jun-young, not knowing the details but noticing that something was going wrong, approached hesitantly.

“It’s become a headache. It seems we can’t avoid war after all.”

The surface, with the wounds of the last war not yet fully healed, was unlikely to make the right decision in the face of the approaching war. No, even before that, there was a possibility that they themselves wanted war.

Downjam [a valuable resource] was the only value the surface thought the underground had, and since even that Downjam had become difficult to obtain recently, they might be starting to think about cutting open the goose that lays the golden eggs.

“Then what should we do?”

Lee Jun-young’s voice was trembling slightly. After all, depending on his answer, she might have to stain her hands with the blood of her own kind, so how could she not be worried?

“I’m thinking of closing the surface dungeons and moving the cores to the underground.”

It wasn’t a clear answer to the question, but his unwavering decision to take care of the dungeons even in this situation made Lee Jun-young even more uneasy.

She opened and closed her mouth several times as she looked at him, but she didn’t have the courage to ask what it meant, and soon dropped her head.

***

“Oh, that is!”

The mistletoe trees, now having found their true form as mistletoe trees, exclaimed as they saw the small branch that Kim Jin-woo held out.

“I happened to obtain it, but I can’t figure out its purpose. It’s called a spear, but what could you possibly pierce with this?”

A shabby spear that he had grabbed as if he had been possessed the moment he first saw it. He looked pleased when the mistletoe trees seemed to know its identity.

“Among the treasures of the world, there is no such thing as accidentally choosing its owner. Especially if it is a spear made from the branch of the youngest mistletoe tree.”

“Why is that?”

“That young branch is the only thing that the mystery of the underground has not embraced.”

“Explain it in an easy-to-understand way.”

Mistletoe trees were wise, but they never gave clear answers. As wise as they were, they enjoyed Zen questions and answers to a maddening degree, and preferred that the other party find the answer through conversation. But he had no intention of playing along with them.

“Umm.”

The mistletoe tree, which was just about to excitedly wag its parched mouth, let out a groan at his command.

“That spear is the only weapon that is free from the laws of the underground. Therefore, it is the only weapon that those who possess mysteries must fear.”

“Your answer doesn’t make sense. In that case, shouldn’t weapons made on the surface also be feared?”

“It’s different. The surface has its own laws. Sharp blades splitting flesh and hard lumps of metal breaking bones are laws that are also valid in the underground. If you have a body that can overcome that sharpness and strength, there is not much to fear. It is only natural that a stronger force suppresses a weaker force.”

The mistletoe tree explained slowly but diligently.

“But that spear is different. Born in the underground but not even embraced by the mysteries of the underground, the warm and sunny surface doesn’t even know of its existence. It is truly something that doesn’t belong anywhere.”

He frowned at the mistletoe tree’s still perplexing words.

“Was my statement difficult? I remember telling you to explain in an easy-to-understand way what this spear is used for.”

Kim Jin-woo, who was not in a good mood due to the series of events, raised his voice sharply, and a smoldering, violent aura rose up.

Startled by the force, the mistletoe tree, which had been acting dignified, hurriedly replied.

“The power of mortality (必滅) [inevitable destruction], the power that the tender branch possesses.”