Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 59

Dungeon Journal- Episode 60

#23. The Beginning of War

[The Labyrinth has been upgraded. The Labyrinth’s grade increases from 5th to 6th. Locked facilities have been newly activated.]

[With the activation of the Labyrinth, almost all beings on the 9th floor recognize and fear the existence of the Labyrinth.]

[The labyrinths in the adjacent areas will now keep an eye on Naga’s labyrinth at all times.]

[The grades of the two resonating cores, the Main Core and the Sub Core, have been adjusted. As the Main Core rises to the 6th grade, the grade of the Sub Core, which had been downgraded, has been unlocked up to the 6th grade.]

[The two cores that have reached the 6th grade have become incredibly efficient.]

[The total dungeon energy capacity, conversion efficiency, and influence are greatly increased, and the labyrinth’s area is greatly expanded.]

Ironically, Kim Jin-woo had been so busy worrying about Yoonhee’s labyrinth that he had forgotten that the upgrade of Naga’s labyrinth was imminent.

Kim Jin-woo had to keep checking the message windows that kept popping up until he got home.

[The Wyvern’s Heart (Sub Core), influenced by the Naga’s Heart (Main Core), has begun to develop differently from before.]

[You can no longer summon the Wyvern. The name Wyvern will now only exist as a story in the underground.]

[The Wyvern has evolved into a Guardian Dragon.]

[The Guardian Dragon exists only to protect Naga and their master. They do not even fear fire, Naga’s only weakness.]

A veritable flood of messages poured in, and he desperately tried to keep track of them as they appeared and disappeared quickly in his head.

[Now that Naga’s labyrinth has reached the 6th grade, the word ‘nest’ is no longer appropriate.]

[In less than a year, Naga’s Nest has become Naga’s Fortress, according to the disposition of Kim Jin-woo, the underground baron who destroyed one labyrinth and placed two labyrinths under his feet.]

[Naga’s Fortress can now accommodate even more Nagas than before. Naga’s labyrinth will become even more combat-oriented. Even the summoned creatures are specialized for the battlefield.]

“Portal.”

The portal, which cracked open the gap in space, was even bigger and more magnificent than before.

[Dungeon Owner Kim Jin-woo changes. The valiant commander (Underground Baron) Kim Jin-woo becomes ‘Commander’.]

[The Commander’s abilities are optimized for combat. The Naga forces commanded by the Commander will not be easily intimidated or daunted by any enemy.]

[The Commander’s physical abilities are enhanced. Strength, stamina, agility, dynamic visual acuity, constitution, and regeneration are improved beyond comparison.]

As soon as the last message appeared in front of him, his whole body began to overflow with power.

***

‘Master, the upgrade is complete!’

Dominique, who rarely showed any expression, was fussing with a very excited face. But Kim Jin-woo couldn’t scold her.

That’s because he was just as surprised to see the changed Naga’s labyrinth.

The owner’s room, which had been just a slightly larger stone chamber, had been completely transformed and was unrecognizable.

The somewhat crude change of the Naga throne, the backrest in the shape of dozens of dragons and snakes soaring as if writhing, and the handle holding a bead as if symbolizing the dragon’s claws, were so extravagant that the dragons and snakes engraved on the throne seemed ready to jump out at any moment.

The owner’s room, whether it was the walls, the floor, or even the ceiling, had been transformed to an extent that could not be compared to before.

“This is…….”

Kim Jin-woo, who was looking at the two cores that were emitting a light that was incomparably more brilliant than before, admired the huge table located in the middle of the owner’s room and the map placed on it.

Surprisingly, the underground areas that had been explored were marked on the map.

He carefully fiddled with a few miniatures in the shape of Nagas, and then discovered a ragged miniature nearby.

“This is like pushing me to fight.”

He laughed as if he was dumbfounded, but his eyes were shining more than ever.

***

“It’s really a money-eating monster.”

After reinforcing the upgraded labyrinth facilities and increasing the number of troops, the funds that he thought would be enough to reach the 7th grade quickly ran out.

This was because the cost had risen to an outrageous level when he reached the 6th grade.

But Kim Jin-woo’s face was not so dark when he said that. That’s because the newly upgraded Naga’s Fortress was well worth the money.

The most encouraging thing was that all of the existing summoned creatures had grown.

They, who had been pushed back every time a new summoned creature was selected, all became heroes worth a hundred men, matching the level of the labyrinth.

The Naga Rider became the Naga Dragon Knight, and the warriors led by Quantus all became True Warriors.

The same was true of the fighters. The mages all reached the advanced level, and the priests and shamans also rose one level.

Almost all the troops had grown.

“Your Majesty! Just give the order!”

Kim Jin-woo, who had been lost in thought by Quantus’s louder and stronger voice than before, came to his senses and gave the order.

“Prepare for departure!”

“As the King wills!”

At his words, Quantus and the Nagas bowed their heads in unison.

“Dominique.”

‘Yes, Master.’

Unfortunately, Dominique, who was not affected by the upgrade, remained a Naga maid. It seems that she could not overcome the inherent limitations of being a maid.

Not only her, but also the Naga workers did not change. He looked complicated because he was sorry about that, but he soon composed himself and said.

“I’ll open the portal, so call Uther!”

‘Everything is as Master wills.’

Dominique went into the portal that appeared in the center of the plaza and brought Uther with her.

“Did you call me?”

Perhaps he had fully recovered the energy he had consumed since the last exploration, Uther was wriggling all over his body as before.

Uther, who bowed his head, belatedly discovered the changed appearance of the Naga Labyrinth and opened his mouth wide.

“This is……!”

Kim Jin-woo smiled at Uther’s expression.

“I spent some money.”

Uther looked dumbfounded because it was too light to say about the huge change. But whether Uther did that or not, Kim Jin-woo quickly composed his expression and said coldly.

“Shake the Land of the Dead! Draw out the troops and make them panic!”

Even Uther, who was usually lighthearted, bowed his head straight away at Kim Jin-woo’s majesty and answered that he knew.

“When shall we begin?”

At Uther’s question, he answered immediately as if there was nothing to think about.

“Right now!”

***

[Uther, who rules the Land of Gluttony, has declared war on Balios, the King of the Dead.]

Kim Jin-woo sat on the throne and nodded as he watched the message that appeared shortly after Uther returned.

It was unexpectedly fast to start, but it wasn’t bad. If it was a labyrinth and Nagas that had grown to this extent, there would be no rivals among the nearby labyrinths.

If there were any enemies, it would be the real powerhouses of the 9th floor who dominate the vicinity of the passage connecting the 9th and 10th floors.

***

“My Lord!”

“Speak.”

At his words, which now naturally exuded dignity, Rickshasha prostrated herself.

“The army of the dead has left the labyrinth!”

“That’s fast. It seems like they were preparing.”

Looking at the army of the dead who had departed not long after the declaration of war, it was clear that Balios had been preparing for war.

“It’s what I expected anyway, so there’s no need to make a fuss.”

However, it was obvious that Uther would be a little embarrassed, but with Uther’s abilities that he had shown so far, he would not be easily defeated even if he could not win.

Looking at him, Rickshasha hurriedly added a word.

“But among those dead!”

Kim Jin-woo frowned at her unusual voice.

“Wyvern King Anaxus was seen!”

“What?”

He blinked for a moment at the unexpected words and sharply retorted.

“The Wyvern King is dead! I personally beheaded the Wyvern King with my own hands!”

“It’s not wrong! My Lord, the Wyvern King had no head!”

If it was the Wyvern King who had departed without a head, it was an obvious story. It was clear that Balios had obtained the Wyvern King’s corpse and manufactured a chimera [a creature made of mixed parts of other animals].

And Kim Jin-woo knows better than anyone who handed over the Wyvern King’s corpse to Balios.

“Black Merchant!”

Kim Jin-woo, grinding his teeth, spat out curses as he recalled the round face of the black marketeer.

No wonder the black marketeer was being too convenient; he was plotting such a scheme behind the scenes.

“The Blood Mark that we defeated before was also in it.”

“They really sold everything off.”

The list of items that the black marketeer had purchased was included in the army of the dead.

“He was a defeated Wyvern King even when he was alive! Just because he’s dead now doesn’t change anything!”

Moreover, the labyrinth at that time and the labyrinth now have a gap as wide as the sky and the earth. There was no reason to make a fuss.

“Tell Uther. Advance as planned.”

The only problem was that Uther’s burden had increased, and Kim Jin-woo didn’t care much.

Considering his tenacious vitality, Uther would soon come back to life even if he lost the battle.

If that didn’t happen, he would make it happen; he now had that much power.

“As the Lord wills!”

***

“Damn it!”

Uther bubbled with rage all over his body at Rickshasha’s message.

“What does the King say?”

“The Lord said that nothing will change.”

In the end, that meant that he had to stop the army of the dead, including the Wyvern King and the Blood Mark.

So Uther bubbled so much that his body seemed about to boil up and disappear.

“Tell him I know! I will depart as you wish!”

It was a decision he would not have made normally, but Uther did not go back on his word.

Wyvern King Anaxus and Blood Mark were also disturbing, but his master was several times more scary than that.

When you think about it, it was because the master killed them that the Wyvern King and Blood Mark were reborn as chimeras by Balios.

Besides, looking at Balios’s actions of dispatching troops as soon as the declaration of war was issued, he would have attacked him sooner or later. It would have been difficult to deal with so quickly if he had not prepared for war.

In a way, it was no different from being looked down upon, and Uther had a rare face full of fighting spirit.

“Damn it, but the Wyvern King is a bit too much.”

But only for a moment, Uther frowned as usual.

***

At that time, Kim Jin-woo was welcoming an unexpected visitor.

“You have the nerve to show your face.”

The visitor with the round face was the black marketeer of the Black Merchant. The black marketeer pretended to be startled by his fierce momentum, but he didn’t seem so sincere.

“Oh my, what did I do? I did everything you asked me to do, but if you do this now, I’ll be sad.”

“Is this war instigated by you, no, by the Black Merchant?”

Kim Jin-woo cut off the black marketeer’s words at once and said coldly.

It was obvious where Balios, the King of the Dead, who succeeded in manufacturing chimeras with the corpses of Wyvern King Anaxus and Blood Mark, was trying to point the spearhead.

He turned his army around because of Uther’s declaration of war, but the most threatening place in the vicinity is Naga’s labyrinth.

Perhaps if it wasn’t for Uther, Balios would have invaded Naga’s labyrinth without a sound.

If Balios had not obtained the cards of Wyvern King and Blood Mark, would he have decided to go to war? Thinking about it that way, it was certain that the Black Merchant was the culprit of all this.

“Didn’t the baron want the war?”

The black marketeer continued to babble with a sly face.

“We just gave you a little help.”

“Is giving the enemy a sharpened sword and spear what you call help? Your short tongue is as disgusting as your short body.”

The black marketeer stepped back a little at the sight of Kim Jin-woo’s eyes flashing as if he would cut off his tongue right away.

Perhaps it was really scary this time; the black marketeer was subtly hiding behind the body of the giant creature mercenary he had brought as an escort.

“Please listen to me first.”

“Speak. But you’ll have to explain it properly. The trust you’ve built up is about to collapse.”

Trust was just the material help contained in the items that went back and forth, but Kim Jin-woo pressured the black marketeer like that.

“Balios, the King of the Dead, is a truly cunning man.”

He suddenly starts talking about Balios after giving him a chance to explain. Kim Jin-woo frowned and told him to get straight to the point.

“Okay. To get to the point, Balios would not have left his land if he had not obtained the corpses of Blood Mark and Anaxus.”

That’s true in its own way. Balios, whom Kim Jin-woo had glimpsed, seemed to prefer schemes and tricks rather than war.

“The graveyard, the land of the dead, is a natural fortress. No matter how prominent the baron and the Naga’s bravery are on the 9th floor, they would not have been able to win easily. If anyone died in that land, they would be incorporated into the army of the dead. It would have been a tedious war of attrition.”

“So the Black Merchant’s contribution is that he made Balios arrogant and jump out?”

“I don’t think of it as a contribution, but it is true that it had some influence. When you think about it, Wyvern King and Blood Mark are all losers who died at the hands of the baron, right?”

Kim Jin-woo’s eyes flashed at the Black Merchant’s words.

“I don’t like it. They do whatever they want.”

He slowly tilted his head and took a step forward.

The black marketeer hid his body even further behind the creature mercenary, but even the creature was frightened by Kim Jin-woo’s momentum and stepped back, making him look even more ridiculous.

“I’m telling you.”

Kim Jin-woo, who was close to the black marketeer, bent down and matched his eye level. His eyes, which had already begun to emit a blue light, were so ferocious that he seemed ready to bite the black marketeer’s neck at any moment.

This time, the black marketeer couldn’t manage his expression and was sweating profusely.

“I hate those who plot behind the scenes. So I’m about to get very angry now. So you, no, you’d better tell me what the being behind you wants and what you’re plotting behind the scenes.”

His gaze, which was growling like that, was somehow directed beyond the black marketeer.

“Stop. The baron should not oppress a humble merchant too much.”

And a magnificent voice that intervenes in response to that. As if waiting for it, Kim Jin-woo raised his body and straightened his back.

“You’ve finally come forward.”

“It seems like you knew.”

A being with a huge body that doesn’t shrink even among the giant creatures, a person who has pulled the hood all the way over his head, steps forward and says.

“I have a very cute friend. I can’t not know because that friend keeps warning me.”

A red message window appeared in front of Kim Jin-woo’s eyes as he said that.

[The Parasite is afraid of something.]

[The Parasite, feeling a crisis due to the overwhelming presence that cannot be resisted, constantly spews out secretions for survival. The Parasite’s secretions allow the host’s body to temporarily exert power beyond its limits.]

[Muscles exert power beyond their limits. You do not feel pain due to secretions with drug-like ingredients.]

A strong person that the Parasite is afraid of, and if there is a being among those strong people who wants to meet him, there is something that comes to mind.

“Nice to meet you, Anatolius of Iron Blood.”