Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 310

Dungeon Journal-310

# 310

Dungeon Journal

Chapter 311

His head throbbed. It wasn’t just the battle they were fighting; the inability to decipher the Usurper’s scheme troubled him even more.

“Shall we deploy the Nagas?”

He shook his head at Dominique’s suggestion. Deploying the Nagas would certainly solidify their victory.

However, unlike the Einherjar, whom he had unexpectedly acquired, the Nagas were a strategic asset he couldn’t recklessly expend. He had no intention of throwing them into the fray.

“No, they still have reserves. Deploying the Nagas should be reserved until they reveal their true strength.”

Besides, the Usurper hadn’t fully committed her forces to the battlefield yet.

Rather than rashly deploying their main force, it was wiser to keep them in reserve, prepared for unforeseen circumstances.

“But we can’t just stand by and watch the Beast King rampage like this.”

Fortunately, the Nagas weren’t the only force at his disposal.

“Angela.”

At his summons, Angela, who had been waiting nearby, approached immediately.

“Tell the Calamities that, in addition to the Sky Giant Lord promised as a reward, there’s another prey here.”

He finally decided to unleash the Calamities, whom he had been holding back. Since the Usurper was already aware of their existence, having used them once before, it was more advantageous to deploy them and quickly end the battle rather than waste more time.

Shortly after Angela disappeared, the red giant’s booming voice echoed, accompanied by the Calamities’ characteristic thunderous footsteps.

“[I hope this time you will honor your promise.]”

“I’ve set the table, so eat what’s in front of you first, and then we’ll talk.”

He nonchalantly responded to the red giant, his eyes following the Beast King.

“Damn bastards! How did he brainwash them to follow him around like dogs!”

The Beast King, seeing the already faltering battle situation worsen with the sudden intrusion of the Calamities, cursed in frustration.

“Okay, that side is roughly taken care of.”

Kim Jin-woo ignored the Beast King’s curses and watched the Usurper’s movements in the distance.

She showed no change in expression, as if she had anticipated the Calamities’ intrusion from the beginning, and her army showed no signs of advancing.

“What are you waiting for?”

Her composure made it seem as if she was waiting for something, and he frowned.

The Beast King rampaged desperately, but he couldn’t reverse the tide of the battle. Countless beasts fell to the Calamities’ insatiable hunger, and the Einherjar’s charge inflicted enormous damage.

“Hmm.”

However, for some reason, the battle dragged on because the Beast King, who should have retreated long ago, persisted until the bitter end.

Even the Beast King, who was majestically holding back dozens of Calamities, couldn’t stop the front line from collapsing, and the battlefield had already shifted far away.

And then, an anomaly occurred.

At first, it seemed as if the forest was swaying in the wind. But soon, that small commotion escalated into a significant change. The densely packed trees stretched their branches and roots toward the Calamities.

Surprisingly, those who had been raging wildly retreated, screaming, avoiding those seemingly insignificant branches and roots.

“[The Subterranean Water is blocking our way again!]”

Even though the Subterranean Water [an underground body of water with unique properties] remained the same, the red giant burst into anger at it. Although he had casually dismissed it before, the forest surrounding the Subterranean Water seemed to be an extension of it.

“[Why do you reject us so much! Isn’t the Abyss also part of the Subterranean world!]”

Looking at that resentful roar, it seemed that he had failed to achieve his goal in the past due to the Subterranean Water’s obstruction. The giant, whose face was already red, expressed his anger with his whole being.

“[In this case, we can’t stand it any longer.]”

But that anger was redirected in an unexpected way. The red giant and the Calamities, avoiding the extending branches and roots, rushed towards Kim Jin-woo.

“[Give us the High Lord’s body that you promised! Then we will cross the cursed territory of the Subterranean Water and annihilate your enemies!]”

Kim Jin-woo scoffed.

“You need to prove your worth to get an advance payment. What have you accomplished? Are you going to claim that you’ve done what my army has done?”

Thanks to the Calamities’ efforts, he was able to push up the front line, but he could have achieved the same result with just the Einherjar. They had only sped things up, so from his perspective, there was no reason to pay them.

“Don’t whine like a child. If you want something, prove your worth and earn it.”

He told them to go and cut off the Beast King’s head if they wanted the High Lord’s body that much.

“I swear on everything I have that I will definitely pay the price this time. But before that, you must show me reasonable results.”

The red giant, trembling with humiliation, looked back and forth between the forest shaking its branches in the distance and Kim Jin-woo. He seemed to be weighing which one would be easier to deal with.

“Well, if you’re confident, that wouldn’t be a bad choice either.”

Kim Jin-woo smiled at the blatant assessment. But unlike his smiling face, his aura soared endlessly, temporarily overshadowing the presence of the Subterranean Water.

“But the responsibility for that choice rests entirely with you.”

In the end, the red giant, unable to overcome that pressure, turned around and returned to where he had come from. He seemed to have judged that dealing with the forest on the outskirts of the Subterranean Water was preferable to dealing with the monster in front of him.

“[Damn Subterranean! Neither this guy nor that guy leaves us alone!]”

“If you were going to live as you pleased in the first place, you shouldn’t have crawled out of where you originally lived.”

Depending on how you looked at it, the Calamities could be said to share the same origins as the Nagas. But there was a clear difference in Kim Jin-woo’s attitude towards them.

In his view, they were merely subjects for transactions, with no possibility of becoming subordinates.

“[Kuaaaaa!]”

“They are strangers who are not welcomed by anyone.”

Dominique pitied the Calamities with a rare expression of sympathy, perhaps recalling their own similar past. But she didn’t bother to step forward and offer them assistance.

“If they were like the Nagas, I might have thought differently. But they are the ones who will betray me first when the Night awakens. My heart isn’t wide enough to embrace those who cannot forget their old master.”

Those were Kim Jin-woo’s true feelings. He wanted to prepare for the future as things had unfolded, and he pressured the Calamities for that very reason.

He had planned from the beginning to have the Calamities, who would undoubtedly be a force when the Night awakened, fight against the Usurper.

Perhaps they had guessed his intentions. But despite that, the reason they were so desperate was probably because of the tremendous potential of the High Lord’s power.

The Calamities were defeated. In the end, they could not overcome the forest that borrowed the power of the Subterranean Water.

In the face of that overwhelming divinity that purified all things negative and ominous, their bodies collapsed and disintegrated, eventually disappearing without a trace.

But the Calamities were not completely destroyed. They were pitiful spirits who were not even allowed to die, and they would be resurrected somewhere in the Abyss. Of course, those who were resurrected would be slightly weaker than before.

“Bringing in the Calamities was not a good idea.”

The battlefield was temporarily calm after the Calamities retreated.

The Lord of Depravity spoke to him.

“Thanks to you, the Subterranean Water seems to be taking an interest in our affairs.”

Kim Jin-woo, who had been listening casually, raised his head with a hardened expression.

“You, don’t tell me…….”

Only after seeing the Usurper’s brightly smiling face did he realize her intentions.

She had anticipated him using the Calamities and was waiting for him to summon them near the Subterranean Water.

As she expected, he summoned the Calamities to reduce the sacrifices of the consuming battle. And in return, he had drawn the attention of the Subterranean Water.

“That’s right. I needed the attention of the Subterranean Water. But I was too insignificant, and I couldn’t attract its attention on my own.”

The straight Subterranean Water gradually bent its form. A dizzying sight as if the whole world was collapsing, with branches and leaves as huge as its main body flowing down over his head as if they would engulf him.

“But you are different.”

The Usurper’s whispering voice sank lower.

“You are the successor to the guardian appointed by the Subterranean Water, and the incarnation of the Subterranean Serpent that it was so wary of.”

Kim Jin-woo felt the immense divinity enveloping him.

“Where else in this Subterranean world would there be an existence as interesting as you, who receives both love and hate at the same time?”

A sacred energy that seemed out of place in the gloomy Subterranean world gently settled all around.

“But my little Jin-woo, never forget.”

And at that moment, a change occurred in his body.

“All of this is for you. You may not understand, but you will soon know. So please, follow my words now.”

“Keugh.”

Before he could say anything, a groan escaped his lips. Suddenly, a burning pain on the back of his hand overwhelmed him. Even he, who had witnessed all sorts of hardships in the Subterranean world, felt his head spin and tinnitus ring in his ears due to the intense pain.

“Never let go of the mistletoe branch in your hand. That is the last chance to drive out the monster inside you.”

If it was just that, he wouldn’t have followed her words. But her next words were etched in his ears even in that distant haze.

“The Night has swallowed Wandering, and Wandering has the ability to move its body. The reason why the Night was able to take over your body was also thanks to that ability.”

“W-what are you suddenly trying to say?”

“But if it’s that kind of Night, it might be possible to leave your body on its own.”

“What?”

Kim Jin-woo’s mind raced at the Usurper’s unexpected words.