Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 35

Dungeon Journal – Episode 36

# 36

Dungeon Journal

Episode 36

Owner Kim Jin-woo’s abilities, beyond just being a Dungeon Baby, were remarkable. He moved across the battlefield with incredible speed, outpacing even the most formidable Dungeon Babies, and cutting down the Kyoryongs as if he were an extension of his own body.

[The amplification effect disappears when crossing the gate.]

Kim Jin-woo, caught up in his frenzy, nearly crossed the gate and hastily retreated.

Barely stopping himself from stepping outside the amplification range, he assessed the situation.

Thanks to the amplification effect, he had managed to drive the Kyoryongs back out of the gate, pushing them a considerable distance.

Keeping his eyes on the Kyoryongs, Kim Jin-woo kicked aside a bothersome Kyoryong corpse and shook the red and white blood and gore from his blade.

‘Master, the Kyoryong vanguard is frightened and retreating!’

Dominique exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement.

“Did we win?”

Ortega asked, her voice weary, echoing Dominique’s question.

“No. It’s just the vanguard. The main force hasn’t even arrived yet.”

Kim Jin-woo, stating that the real battle hadn’t even begun, reorganized the Nagas.

It seemed that not only the Owner’s abilities were amplified within the labyrinth, as most of the Nagas appeared to have regained their strength. Even Quantus, who had suffered severe injuries, looked completely healed thanks to the amplified healing spells of the Naga priests.

“Hmm, what’s that sound?”

Kim Jin-woo tilted his head, confused by the Kyoryongs’ unusually far retreat, and widened his eyes at Ortega’s voice.

Kuooh!

Come to think of it, a strange noise had been audible for some time.

“Wait, the ground is shaking.”

Ortega said, pressing her ear close to the floor.

“Something’s wrong.”

A sense of foreboding washed over him. Kim Jin-woo watched Ortega anxiously, his brow furrowed, when suddenly the ground began to tremble.

The tremor was so strong that even the frail Dominique staggered. Ortega jumped up and shouted.

“Something’s coming!”

“What?”

Kim Jin-woo reflexively looked at the Kyoryongs. Their formation, as if waiting for something, looked ominous as they prepared to charge.

“No! It’s not them!”

Suddenly rising to her feet, Ortega shouted wildly, pointing towards the labyrinth wall.

“It’s this way!”

“That side is……”

Just then, the wall inside the gate cracked.

Bang!

With an explosion and a cloud of dust, one side of the labyrinth wall completely collapsed.

[The labyrinth wall has been attacked. The labyrinth’s durability has been greatly reduced due to the tremendous impact. The labyrinth’s durability has decreased.]

[The impact has completely destroyed the labyrinth wall, creating a new passage.]

Amidst the already chaotic situation, Kim Jin-woo struggled to understand what was happening as the messages appeared. A violent roar echoed from beyond the passage forcibly created by the collapsing wall.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Kim Jin-woo cursed as he saw a pair of huge, gleaming eyes beyond the passage.

A Kyoryong several times larger than any creature he had seen before was gaping its jaws beyond the newly opened passage.

“Did it force its way in?”

At Ortega’s shout, Kim Jin-woo quickly moved the Nagas back.

For some reason, the giant Kyoryong that had suddenly appeared didn’t seem to be planning to attack immediately. And Kim Jin-woo soon understood why.

“Fall back! It’s collapsing!”

[The labyrinth wall has been attacked. The labyrinth’s durability has been greatly reduced due to the tremendous impact. The labyrinth’s durability has decreased.]

[The labyrinth wall has been attacked. The labyrinth’s durability has been greatly reduced due to the tremendous impact. The labyrinth’s durability has decreased.]

The Kyoryong that had suddenly appeared was shaking its massive body wildly, further destroying the passage.

Without even having time to check the rapidly decreasing durability of the labyrinth, Kim Jin-woo had to quickly reorganize the Nagas.

Boo! Boo! Boo!

The sound of short horn blasts echoed, and the Kyoryong vanguard that had been preparing to charge in the distance began their attack again.

And in response, new Kyoryongs emerged, crossing over the body of the giant Kyoryong that had broken through the wall.

[Kyoryong King Anaxetus’s main force has joined the battle. The labyrinth has suffered severe damage from the sudden attack, and the Nagas are in chaos.]

[Thanks to the Dungeon Owner’s influence, the Nagas quickly recovered from the confusion.]

[The Nagas are awaiting the Owner’s new orders.]

“Gatekeepers, to the front! Quantus, form a battle line with the warriors!”

The enemies began to swarm into the forcedly created open space in the labyrinth. Kim Jin-woo glanced back at the passage behind him, not far from the Owner’s Room, and gritted his teeth.

“Ortega! No more retreat is allowed!”

“Who said anything about running away!”

This time, Ortega seemed to genuinely feel the crisis, as she fiercely shouted, spewing sulfurous flames between her teeth.

If this place was breached, it would directly connect to the labyrinth’s core. There was nowhere left to retreat.

“Don’t fall back!”

Kim Jin-woo shouted fiercely, readjusting his sword.

At that moment, the Kyoryong vanguard and the main force charged simultaneously.

***

“This is bad……”

The situation was dire. The Nagas, who had lost the advantage of fighting in a narrow passage, were struggling against the onslaught of over a hundred Kyoryongs.

Even at this moment, the giant Kyoryong was wreaking havoc, forcibly expanding the labyrinth’s passage, causing the number of Kyoryongs participating in the battle to continue to increase.

‘Master! We can’t hold out for long like this! We’re already suffering casualties!’

The situation was so urgent that even the Naga workers who had joined the battle were being slaughtered. And it wasn’t just the Naga workers.

Two of the five Naga warriors had already been torn to shreds by the Kyoryongs.

“You goddamn bastards!”

Kim Jin-woo, looking at the floor covered in the Nagas’ blue blood, swung his sword violently.

Kiek!

The Kyoryong, its weak point under its chin pierced, couldn’t even scream properly before collapsing. He had already taken down nearly thirty Kyoryongs, but the situation hadn’t improved at all.

‘At this rate!’

Dominique trembled in despair.

“No! We can hold on!”

While cutting down the Kyoryongs with all his might, Kim Jin-woo frequently checked the upgrade time.

[Approximately 00:30:06 seconds remaining until the current upgrade is complete.]

Thirty minutes! With less than thirty minutes left, he could summon even more powerful Nagas if he just held out.

“Just half an hour! Just hold on for half an hour!”

Kim Jin-woo shouted desperately, but the situation remained bleak. Eventually, Kim Jin-woo, biting his lip, issued a retreat order.

“Don’t go in front of the passage!”

The passage forcibly expanded by the giant Kyoryong was already about half the size of the labyrinth.

Fortunately, for some reason, the Kyoryong was gradually collapsing the passage from the outer edges of the labyrinth, but it didn’t head straight for the Owner’s Room.

If the giant Kyoryong had targeted the labyrinth’s core from the beginning, the Nagas’ labyrinth would have collapsed long ago.

Kim Jin-woo and the Nagas could no longer retreat, as they had been pushed back so far that the Owner’s Room was now visible when they looked back.

One more Naga warrior was sacrificed in the hasty retreat. The remaining forces were Ortega, Quantus, two Naga warriors, a mage, a priest, and an archer.

A desperate crisis, an absolute disadvantage in numbers.

Kim Jin-woo, looking at the hideous scales of the Kyoryongs filling the open space, looked at the Nagas.

Quantus, who had achieved remarkable growth even during the battle, was now engaged in an equal fight against an enemy hero, and Ortega was desperately pushing back the Kyoryongs, as if trying to make up for her initial mistake.

The remaining Nagas were also performing beyond their abilities.

“Damn it.”

But it was all in vain. Although they were maintaining the front line by relying on the narrow passage again, their forces were too weak.

In the end, Kim Jin-woo had to wade through the Kyoryongs until he tasted blood in his mouth. His fatigue increased so rapidly that his vision blurred, but he was able to endure thanks to the labyrinth’s amplification effect.

“Quantus! You must never let them break through!”

“This Quantus! I will give my life to obey!”

Quantus shouted spiritedly, despite being covered in wounds.

The hero-level Kyoryongs had long since retreated to the rear.

Thinking that weakening Quantus and Ortega was the priority, the hero-level Kyoryongs cleverly and persistently sent their subordinates to harass them.

“Kaaack! You lizard bastards!”

Ortega, enraged, pushed back the Kyoryongs for a moment, then arched her back and puffed out her cheeks.

Hwaaa!

Flames poured out from the end of her dragon-like snout in an instant. The Kyoryongs screamed and retreated from the sulfurous breath.

At that moment, Kim Jin-woo’s eyes flashed as he shouted.

“Magic!”

At the short shout, the Naga mage, who had been gathering power, cast a spell. The Naga mage’s spell, which had been strengthened upon reaching the intermediate level and was receiving the labyrinth’s amplification effect, was on a different level than before.

Ice quickly spread across the floor, freezing the Kyoryongs’ legs in place.

“Quantus! Ortega!”

Quantus and Ortega charged at the frozen Kyoryongs.

Clang!

The Kyoryongs’ incredibly tough legs shattered along with the ice.

Led by Kim Jin-woo, Quantus and Ortega swept through the Kyoryongs, smashing and cutting off the legs of the frozen Kyoryongs.

“Stop! Fall back!”

Kim Jin-woo, stopping the Naga warriors and gatekeepers who were about to rush out, encouraged by their performance, called back Quantus and Ortega as well.

“Stop! The spell has disappeared!”

They seemed to be excited by the long-awaited offensive, as they had been harassed by the Kyoryongs without being able to move until now.

Ortega and Quantus hurriedly retreated after belatedly seeing the Kyoryongs’ legs melting.

The Nagas formed a battle line again. The Kyoryongs belatedly charged towards the Nagas, who had erected a wall of shields like a giant fortress.

But even though the magic had disappeared, the legs exposed to the cold were still not intact, and their movements were sluggish.

‘Maybe…….’

Kim Jin-woo, seeing the noticeably reduced number of Kyoryongs, squeezed out his last strength.

But at that moment, the sound of a horn suddenly came from afar.

Booooooo! Boo!

At the sound of the long and short horn blasts, the Kyoryongs suddenly raised their necks and their morale soared.

Kuaaaa!

It wasn’t just their morale that had changed. The Kyoryongs’ attacks became even fiercer. They charged recklessly, as if possessed by something, without even caring for their own bodies. Even the Kyoryongs whose legs were torn or cut off crawled on the floor with both hands, rattling their jaws as they charged.

“Hold on! Hold on!”

With only 15 minutes left until the labyrinth’s upgrade, Kim Jin-woo shouted, urging the Nagas on.

Booooooo!

The sound of the horn blast continued for a long time again. But the thumping footsteps that followed were ominous.

The moment Kim Jin-woo discovered a huge shadow beyond the Kyoryongs charging like madmen, a bright red flashing message appeared before his eyes.

[Kyoryong King Anaxetus has joined the battle. The abilities of all Kyoryongs are enhanced, and the morale of allies is reduced.]

[Thanks to Dungeon Owner Kim Jin-woo’s powerful charisma, the Nagas quickly regained their composure.]

It was a case of adding insult to injury. Kim Jin-woo groaned at the sudden appearance of the Kyoryong King.

“Anaxetus……”

[Approximately 00:13:33 seconds remaining until the current upgrade is complete.]

With about 13 minutes remaining until the labyrinth’s upgrade was complete, Kyoryong King Anaxetus, the culprit of all the events, finally appeared. And a blue light emanated from Kim Jin-woo’s eyes as he discovered the Kyoryong King.

“Quantus!”

“I will hold on!”

As he shouted sharply, Quantus roared as if he had read his mind.

“Ortega! I’m counting on you!”

Ortega, who had been waiting for it, grabbed Kim Jin-woo with both hands and threw him powerfully over the Kyoryongs.

The Kyoryong King, riding on the back of a giant Kyoryong adorned with mismatched, flashy decorations and red, yellow, and blue reins, waved his arm spiritedly as he saw the shadow rushing towards him.

Kim Jin-woo twisted his body in mid-air at the grotesque gesture of the arm with numerous spike-like protrusions and shouted.

“Anaxetus!”

Kyoryong King Anaxetus, belatedly properly identifying his opponent, widened his eyes in surprise more than necessary.

“Why a human?”