Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 297

Dungeon Journal-297

# 297

Dungeon Journal

Episode 298

Kim Jin-woo emerged from the labyrinth to find himself surrounded by a massive army. The air was thick with the stench of bizarre beasts and giants, a palpable wave that reached far into the distance.

“It wasn’t just one.”

Seeing the familiar figures of the Beast King and the Celestial Giant Lord in the distance, he knew this was a carefully laid trap from the beginning.

“Where’s Mjolnir?”

Morrigan responded instantly.

“It’s just barely out of range. It doesn’t seem like we can engage them directly right now.”

Keeping the Celestial Giant Lord alive, thinking he might be useful, had been a mistake.

The cunning giant king, who had been the target of Mjolnir’s concentrated fire in their last encounter, knew the precise range of Valhalla’s defenses with unsettling accuracy.

Because of this, they couldn’t strike first unless the enemy made a move.

“That’s strange. They have superior numbers, but not enough to overwhelm us completely. They must be aware of that too.”

Kim Jin-woo nodded at Dominic’s observation. He had tried to maintain a safe distance, but once the battle commenced, they would inevitably have to move within Mjolnir’s range.

Mjolnir was a decisive weapon, powerful enough to easily compensate for the numerical disadvantage.

He couldn’t fathom why the High Lords, fully aware of this fact, would initiate such a seemingly reckless confrontation.

Moreover, the Celestial Giant Lord had already suffered a crushing defeat at his hands. He now understood that the one-sided nature of that fight had been somewhat intentional, but there was no way the balance of power could be reversed.

“Angela, I’ll handle those two. Just maintain our current position for now.”

Kim Jin-woo instinctively sensed that these two weren’t the ultimate threat. He decided to confront the High Lords alone, instructing Angela to prepare for the worst.

“I can guess your intentions, but I’ll ask anyway. What brings you here?”

Kim Jin-woo stepped forward and shouted, causing the two High Lords to momentarily flinch and hesitate. But it was a fleeting moment. The Beast King, who had initially retreated, advanced again and retorted.

“The Wish Stone.”

As he suspected. The High Lords’ objective was the Wish Stone he had recently acquired.

“Was this your goal from the very beginning?”

“We couldn’t be certain you possessed the Wish Stone back then.”

So that’s why three High Lords had engaged and disengaged so readily. They had merely been confirming its presence.

“You didn’t even realize we allowed you to win, and you were so arrogant. It was pathetic.”

Was the Celestial Giant Lord attempting to salvage his wounded pride? Kim Jin-woo found his sneer laughable.

“Good acting. You were groveling like you had ten thousand tails, I actually believed it.”

Kim Jin-woo chuckled, his words dripping with blatant mockery. The Celestial Giant Lord scowled and cursed.

“You son of a—”

“Enough.”

The Beast King restrained the Celestial Giant Lord, who had taken an angry step forward.

“If you’re so desperate to regain your pride, I’ll grant you a chance for revenge later. Do you truly desire that?”

The Celestial Giant Lord’s face paled at the cynical remark. It seemed that, despite his words, he lacked confidence in facing Kim Jin-woo again.

“Now is not the time to worry about my pride.”

He spat out the words, but they only made him appear more pathetic.

“Then refrain from unnecessary outbursts. Provoking him serves no purpose. It won’t benefit us.”

At the Beast King’s cold admonition, the Celestial Giant Lord finally fell silent and retreated.

“I won’t mince words. Hand over the Wish Stone. If you do, we have no desire to fight you.”

The Beast King stated his purpose once more, as if the situation had been resolved.

“If you wanted it so badly, why didn’t you seek out the Wish Stone yourselves?”

“We would have, if we could. To be honest, we wished to avoid antagonizing you.”

The willingness to reconcile he had displayed during their last meeting wasn’t entirely fabricated. The Beast King seemed genuinely inclined to avoid a conflict if possible.

“The Wish Stone, huh? Fine. I’ll hand it over.”

“Master!”

The summons were horrified by Kim Jin-woo’s declaration.

“I’m glad we can negotiate. This will prevent unnecessary bloodshed.”

“But.”

Kim Jin-woo interrupted the Beast King, who was speaking with excitement, adding a single word.

“You’ll have to pay a fair price.”

“Price?”

“You didn’t believe you could acquire a treasure like the Wish Stone for free, did you?”

The Beast King’s face contorted, as if he hadn’t anticipated this. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at Kim Jin-woo.

“Name it. I’ll grant anything within reason.”

“If you offer a treasure that can replace the Wish Stone, I’ll grant your request.”

The Beast King’s face twisted further.

“There is no such thing.”

There was no object that could truly replace the Wish Stone, the only wish-granting artifact in the underground world.

“No, there is.”

Kim Jin-woo smiled brightly at the Beast King, whose face had hardened at the mockery.

“The life of a High Lord would be a fair trade.”

At his words, the atmosphere of the battlefield, which had been calming, instantly became charged with tension once more.

“It can’t be helped.”

As soon as the Beast King uttered those words, the beasts that filled the area began to howl. The giants also raised their axes, maces, and other brutal weapons, roaring in unison.

“Morrigan, instruct Baek-o [Baek-o is likely a powerful summon or guardian] to mercilessly strike down anyone approaching Valhalla and the labyrinth from this point forward.”

“I will.”

“And you, lead the Einherjar [The Einherjar are the elite warriors] and eliminate any enemies that Mjolnir’s barrage fails to take down.”

“Leave it to me.”

“Nagas [Nagas are a race of beings, often serpentine in nature], stand by. This battle will be fought by the Einherjar alone.”

There were murmurs of concern about whether the Einherjar alone could withstand the massive army of two High Lords, but Kim Jin-woo remained unfazed.

“They’ve already endured a difficult trial once. Since they’ve returned, they must have some hidden abilities. The Nagas will only intervene after they reveal their hidden cards.”

It would be challenging, but with Mjolnir’s support and the defenses of the Great Labyrinth, they wouldn’t be easily pushed back.

But that was just Kim Jin-woo’s assessment.

The Beast King and the Celestial Giant Lord seemed to have no intention of engaging directly from the start.

At their gestures, the beasts and giants parted, and an endless wave of creatures surged forth from behind them.

“Dukes…”

Kim Jin-woo frowned as he saw dozens of newly appeared dukes and a vast number of creatures under their command.

Mjolnir was undoubtedly a powerful weapon, but it wasn’t omnipotent. It required time to recharge after firing several times.

He wouldn’t have been concerned if they were just giants and beasts, but since the enemies were using nobles and their armies as cannon fodder, he had to consider the potential gap in firepower.

“Don’t waste Mjolnir’s firepower. I’ll entrust the dukes and their armies to Valhalla and the Great Labyrinth’s own defenses.”

As soon as his orders were given, the enemy’s morale surged.

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

The enemies poured in relentlessly. Valhalla’s walls proved impenetrable, and the Great Labyrinth devoured every enemy that dared to approach.

Yet, the number of enemies showed no sign of diminishing. It was as if all the surviving nobles of the underground world after the restoration had converged here.

“What are they waiting for?”

Kim Jin-woo crushed a few nameless dukes who had bravely charged forward and gazed into the distance.

Despite the ineffectiveness of the forces they had deployed, the High Lords appeared relaxed and unconcerned.

If he were in their position, he would have unleashed his full force while Mjolnir was recharging, aiming for a swift victory.

Instead, they were simply throwing in their overwhelming numbers without any apparent strategy, showing no intention of moving themselves.

If time continued to pass in this manner, the dukes’ armies would become irrelevant, regardless of their numbers.

The Great Labyrinth remained insatiable, even after consuming countless enemies, and Valhalla’s walls were too formidable for the nobles to overcome.

It was a perfect defense. At the moment, he was only slightly unnerved by the sheer volume of enemies.

“Something’s amiss. There’s definitely something that can reverse the current situation and overwhelm us all at once.”

“But even if the walls were to collapse and the Great Labyrinth reached its limit, the ultimate deciding factor will be the fight between you and the High Lords. And I don’t believe they can defeat you, Master.”

Angela, who had approached him, eager to participate despite his orders to stay back, responded to his thoughts.

“Even if I don’t intervene, the gap between them and you, Master, is insurmountable.”

“But they don’t seem to have any intention of backing down either.”

That was the perplexing part. They were steadily pushing in their forces without achieving any tangible results. Their terribly inefficient behavior was giving him a headache.

“They don’t actually believe a path will open if they just blindly rush in, do they?”

Kim Jin-woo shook his head at Angela’s suggestion. Despite their pathetic display, they were powerful individuals who had risen to the rank of High Lords through the Asura Field [Asura Field is likely a brutal and competitive environment]. They couldn’t have acted so carelessly.

How long had this one-sided massacre continued? The enemies were now struggling to even approach the castle and the labyrinth due to the mountains of corpses that littered the area.

“Perhaps they’re attempting to build a castle out of corpses and climb over Valhalla?”

Angela suggested, observing the towering piles of bodies.

“Hmm?”

It was after more time had elapsed and the number of corpses around them had increased even further. Angela, who had been intently watching the battle, frowned.

“Master, death energy!”

Kim Jin-woo’s expression shifted at her warning.

The atmosphere of the battlefield, which had subtly changed, was now stickily enveloping them. At some point, the duke’s soldiers were throwing themselves into the dead zone as if compelled from behind, willingly meeting their demise.

What was truly unsettling was that none of those who were dying were screaming.

They staggered forward as if drugged, volunteering for death. It was no longer a battle.

The enemies were choosing incomprehensible suicide over a glorious death, and the death energy of those who perished was gathering in one place in an unnatural manner.

Why had he only realized it now? He should have noticed it sooner.

But he had failed to fully grasp the strangely evolving battle situation until Angela’s warning.

It wasn’t entirely unreasonable. This place, where tens of thousands of summons had already died, was essentially a gateway to the underworld.

The lives of the living were being extinguished, and a gloomy chill permeated the space, causing the energy of death to saturate the entire area. It was difficult to quickly detect the subtle flow of death energy in such an environment.

Fortunately, Angela, being a vampire with half her being rooted in death, was able to sensitively detect the shift.

“I’ve sensed this energy before.”

Kim Jin-woo, his face grim, glared at the enemy camp. His gaze wasn’t directed at the Celestial Giant Lord or the Beast King.

“Catherine!”

The woman who had materialized in the center of the enemy camp, regarding him with a sinister smile, appeared seemingly out of nowhere.