Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 285

Dungeon Journal-285

# 285

Dungeon Journal

Episode 286

The battle was nearing its end.

After a brutal exchange of blows, flesh against bone, the giant had finally managed to seize the Evil Dragon’s neck.

Crack.

The giant’s immense strength shattered the Evil Dragon’s scales, sending fragments raining down.

Kaaaaaaa!

The Evil Dragon screamed, desperately shaking its neck, which felt as if it would snap at any moment. It thrashed wildly, trying to throw off the giant. The surrounding underground rocks were pulverized by its unrestrained resistance, and Valhalla’s walls trembled as if they would collapse.

However, the giant had no intention of relinquishing the advantage it had barely gained, enduring the pain of its spine being torn apart by the Evil Dragon’s rampage.

“Uwaaaaaa!”

A scream filled with spite. Despite its disheveled appearance, the giant did not release its grip on the Evil Dragon’s neck.

Krrrrrr.

The Evil Dragon’s head movements weakened. Its flailing feet suddenly lost their strength and twitched helplessly.

“I am the greatest giant! The first High Lord to awaken!”

A roar of victory. The giant looked at the other lords while fiercely howling, but their expressions were strange.

The Lord of Lament was pale and muttering to himself like a madman, and the Beast King was looking at him with a dubious expression.

Most incomprehensible of all was the Lord of True Blood, who had abandoned even the pride of a great lord and willingly acted as a slave.

Even though her master’s life was hanging by a thread, the slave didn’t seem to be moving at all, and even seemed to be faintly smiling.

‘Did he have some kind of weakness?’

The giant tried to convince himself that she was happy to finally be free from her humiliating shackles thanks to him.

Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine a High Lord willingly acting as a slave.

“Hmph! You owe me one.”

The giant, who had come to his own conclusion, was about to speak when his eyes widened. He saw the Lord of True Blood smiling faintly and moving her lips.

‘How foolish…’

The Lord of True Blood twisted her lips as if to show off, whispering silently several times. The moment he realized she was mocking him, he felt a sense of unease and flinched.

Belatedly, the giant noticed that the Evil Dragon’s neck, which had been limply wrapped around his arm, was bent in a bizarre direction.

And he saw the Evil Dragon, who had been desperately screaming and struggling, looking at him nonchalantly.

“You! You have a tough life!”

He put strength back into his arm, which was wrapped around the neck, and strained. But the more he did, the more the Evil Dragon just held its head up.

The giant finally realized that the Evil Dragon was not affected by his restraints at all.

“You don’t mean to tell me, you were playing with me…”

Before he could finish speaking, the Evil Dragon’s mouth opened wide, and the giant was swallowed whole.

The lords who were watching the scene gaped. The Evil Dragon’s appearance, with nothing but a bulging belly to show for swallowing a giant several times larger than its head, was grotesque.

But whether they were surprised or not, the Evil Dragon seemed relaxed, as if it had just enjoyed a meal, despite the fierce battle it had just fought.

Burp.

The Evil Dragon seemed to burp, then spat out something covered in a disgusting liquid.

“My master has shown rare mercy. He would have swallowed you whole otherwise.”

The lords, who belatedly came to their senses, examined the Evil Dragon’s vomit, and a giant in a disheveled state was stuck in the middle of it.

Contrary to Angela’s words, Kim Jin-woo was not showing mercy. He was too greedy to throw away the opportunity to absorb the power of a mighty High Lord out of compassion.

But even so, there was a reason why he had to spit out the Giant Lord.

‘If I swallow this, something will change.’

The moment he swallowed the Giant Lord, he knew it instinctively. He had absorbed the power of countless strong people and devoured their very existence, but the power of the High Lord was different.

He had to spit out the Giant Lord, whom he had almost digested, due to an instinctive sense of crisis.

‘This is a switch. A switch that must never be pressed.’

The moment he realized that, he felt the reason that had been buried in the Evil Dragon’s malice awakening, as if he had been covered in filth.

“Hoo.”

Kim Jin-woo gathered the overflowing black energy back inside. The Evil Dragon’s body, which had been swollen to its full extent, shrank, and the black scales, which had been stained with malice, crumbled away.

And when the malice and hatred finally returned to where they had come from and were all sucked into his interior, he was able to regain his human form.

“Congratulations on your victory!”

The Nagas [snake-like mythical beings], who had appeared from somewhere, knelt down and congratulated him on his victory against the High Lord.

“Master, I’m glad you’re safe.”

Dominic, who had been preparing to intervene at any moment, was already close by and was only happy for his safety instead of offering congratulations.

“Tie him up where Mjolnir [Thor’s hammer in Norse mythology] can be seen and keep a close watch on him.”

Kim Jin-woo decided on the Giant Lord’s treatment and immediately spoke to the other lords.

“I hope your cooperation is not a lie.”

The Beast King and Catherine’s faces were stiff as they nodded, as the madness and malice that remained in their eyes remained intact, even though the Evil Dragon’s condition had completely disappeared.

***

Leaving the unconscious Giant Lord behind, Catherine and the Beast King returned to their labyrinths.

Perhaps the lords who had escaped their predicament might have changed their minds, but they couldn’t keep them there forever, so they had no choice but to send them back for now.

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

Dominic expressed his concern, but Kim Jin-woo didn’t seem too worried.

“The difference in power is clear. Besides, we even have the Lord of True Blood on our side, so they won’t be able to think of anything rash.”

“But!”

“Besides, their power was different from what I expected, to the point where it was hard to see them as proper High Lords. If they betray me, I’ll just deal with them then.”

Clearly, the Giant Lord’s power was immense. The Evil Dragon’s body, which had crushed even the Dukes, was almost torn apart for a moment, so the power of the High Lord was indeed great.

But that was it.

He certainly had great power, but Kim Jin-woo didn’t feel the same powerful force as his own Authority of Greed from the Giant Lord.

Whether it was because he was overwhelmed before he could fully unleash his true power, or because their compatibility was bad, it was clear that he didn’t live up to the true power of the High Lord that he had expected.

“And right now, I don’t have the leeway to worry about them.”

Kim Jin-woo’s expression turned heavy.

‘Who the hell are you?’

A sharp question pierced his heart.

***

“You said you had something to say?”

Before leaving, Catherine, who had requested a private meeting, didn’t open her mouth easily.

“You called me here and you’re not talking.”

Kim Jin-woo’s voice was full of edge, as it was right after the battle, and after a battle that had something fishy about it. Catherine, who had raised her head sharply at the fierce look, belatedly opened her mouth.

“You, you shouldn’t use that power again.”

“What do you mean?”

Her words were in line with his concerns, so he relaxed his expression and waited for her to speak again.

Catherine spoke with an anxious look that she had never shown him before.

“The power you have, it’s definitely not the power of a High Lord.”

“Of course not. This is the power of the Naga King, not the Authority of a High Lord.”

“No, it’s different. The Nagas are powerful, but to be honest, they’re just one of the many summons that exist on the 9th floor. The Nagas were able to conquer the 9th floor because you were the king, not because of their power. There’s no way that the Naga King would be given such tremendous power that even a High Lord would be crushed.”

She pointed out the sense of incongruity that he himself had to feel.

“Maybe they’re such powerful summons now because you’re their master.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

He asked Catherine without resolving the question he had hidden inside.

“You said you were a fragment of the Wandering Lord, right?”

“You’re good at digging into my sore spots.”

Catherine pretended not to hear his blunt words.

“You need to figure out what the power you have is first.”

She continued without even waiting for an answer.

“Maybe the old lords left behind not only their powerful Authority and legacy.”

He didn’t answer.

“And maybe one of them was passed on to you.”

***

The Lord of Lament’s words were as ominous as her Authority, and contained a stifling echo.

So Kim Jin-woo couldn’t take her words lightly. It was because he himself had something to point out.

“I need to go to the deepest part of the abyss.”

The One-Eyed Lord told Baek-Oh that there was something he needed most in the deepest part of the underground.

He didn’t know if it was predicting the current situation, but it was certain that the One-Eyed Lord had seen something important through the Throne of Truth.

“It might be a trap. Master still doesn’t know exactly what kind of being the Lord of Depravity is.”

Dominic, who had been eavesdropping on his thoughts, tried to stop him.

“But the Lord of Depravity won’t know me exactly either.”

If what the Lord of Depravity wanted was the resurrection of the old lords, and the unification of the underground and the surface, then there would be no greedy monster who had swallowed the Authority of countless old lords in that plan.

And that was the only possibility for him to overthrow the Lord of Depravity, who had been preparing a grand plan on the board called the underground for a long time.

“What if even that was what the Lord of Depravity had expected?”

Dominic insisted on stopping him, saying that even that might have been planned by the old lords, but he couldn’t change his mind.

“Even if that’s true, I won’t be played by that plan.”

He gripped the shabby wooden spear, the mistletoe tree, tightly.

But as a result, he couldn’t leave the labyrinth. Mimir visited him suddenly.

“I’ve located the Wish Stone.”

This little imp had come with unexpected news, even though it hadn’t been long since they had parted ways.