Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 67

Dungeon Journal- Episode 68

# 68

Dungeon Journal

#27. Boreas of the North Wind

The figures Horace sent were peculiar. Shrouded in black mist, they didn’t fully reveal their forms, resembling animated smoke.

“The Baron is waiting for you.”

“Oh, I’m truly sorry to keep the Baron waiting.”

Despite their faint forms, their voices were clear and strong.

The coalesced black smoke—whether it was two, three, or perhaps even ten—turned and led the way.

Thud, thud.

Kim Jin-woo tilted his head, watching the procession follow the black smoke deeper into the labyrinth.

Even with the trust built through past transactions, the Black Merchant was still just an outsider. Horace’s willingness to allow them into the labyrinth’s depths without any clearance was puzzling.

Moreover, the labyrinth’s passages, adorned with carvings and decorations, were grand but didn’t seem suitable for defense with their wide corridors.

Unlike the usual ninth-floor labyrinths, which were often riddled with traps at the entrance, there wasn’t a single trap to be seen.

“Hmm…”

Kim Jin-woo unconsciously groaned, then pulled his hood deeper after noticing the Dark Merchant glancing back and signaling caution.

Despite his doubts, the black smoke led the Dark Merchant and Kim Jin-woo all the way to the owner’s room, located at the labyrinth’s core.

As soon as they entered the lavishly decorated owner’s room, a booming voice greeted them.

“Oh, you’ve arrived!”

Like smoke rising from a burnt-out fire, Baron Horace appeared eerie and grotesque, like soot left after a blaze. He seemed more like an afterimage than a solid being.

Black smoke enveloped most of the owner’s room; its ominous energy, constantly dispersing and reforming, *was* Horace himself.

“Have you been well, Baron?”

“Well? Of course! Who would dare to touch the chaotic Horace!”

Baron Horace’s response to the Dark Merchant’s greeting was arrogant.

The poorly guarded labyrinth contradicted his words, prompting a sneer from Kim Jin-woo, who quietly observed the Dark Merchant’s actions.

The Dark Merchant was skillfully flattering Baron Horace, laying it on thick.

“I’ve brought the items you requested earlier.”

“Ooh!”

Regardless of Kim Jin-woo’s thoughts, the transaction proceeded smoothly. Some of the workers brought a large wooden crate from the middle of the procession and placed it right below the throne.

“Hmm.”

The edges of the smoke forming Baron Horace’s body flickered slightly, and the locks on the wooden crate snapped open.

“You’ve obtained everything without fail. Truly, you are the Black Merchant. Excellent. Very good.”

Baron Horace exclaimed with delight, admiring the items revealed inside the crate.

However, these items were all extravagant luxuries, utterly irrelevant to life in the underground.

Gold sculptures and decorations inlaid with meticulously crafted Down Gems were all flashy but utterly useless.

Yet, Baron Horace shook his smoky body wildly, clearly pleased.

Kim Jin-woo was dumbfounded by Horace’s constant exclamations of admiration.

Bandits were roaming the front yard of his labyrinth, yet he was delighted by such luxuries. Perhaps Balzac’s words were true.

Once that thought crossed his mind, many things belatedly caught Kim Jin-woo’s attention.

[Lavishly Decorated Labyrinth Core (Grade 8).]

The labyrinth’s core, extravagantly adorned and surrounded by precious artifacts, even gilded with gold, was only Grade 8.

Of course, considering his own labyrinth was only Grade 6, it was still a high grade, but it was excessively low for a being who had reigned as a noble in the depths for so long.

“Thank you for always using our Black Merchant services.”

“Yes, depart safely.”

The transaction concluded swiftly, without any need for negotiation.

The Dark Merchant and the mercenaries left the labyrinth, this time without even a guide or guard, unlike their entrance.

The Dark Merchant seemed accustomed to this, skillfully finding his way to the labyrinth’s exit.

There were no complex mazes or traps. A few strands of black smoke guarded the gate, but even they seemed listless.

“What are your impressions of seeing another noble’s territory for the first time?”

As soon as they exited the labyrinth’s boundaries, the Dark Merchant asked.

“It’s hard to believe this is the deep underground.”

“It’s a bit relaxed, isn’t it?”

Kim Jin-woo scoffed at the word ‘bit.’ Even abandoned labyrinths at the entrance to the underground weren’t this defenseless. It was practically an open house.

If all the labyrinths in the underground were like this, humanity would have conquered it entirely instead of signing treaties. Horace’s labyrinth was *that* lax.

“This place is quite central even within the depths, so it’s like this. The labyrinths near the passages connecting the 9th and 10th floors are a bit more heavily guarded.”

“‘A bit’ won’t cut it.”

Kim Jin-woo grimaced, and the Dark Merchant replied quietly.

“To be honest, not only Baron Horace but most of the 10th-floor labyrinths are in similar situations.”

He could understand why Balzac called the 10th-floor nobles trash who had forgotten their duties. Seeing the contempt on Kim Jin-woo’s face, the Dark Merchant spoke as if defending Horace.

“They aren’t plagued by surface dwellers’ attacks, nor is there significant infighting. I’ve heard that there used to be more frequent and intense wars than on any other floor, but the 10th-floor nobles, blocked from promotion due to the formidable power of the 11th-floor Counts, have long lost their ambition.”

It was a reason of sorts. But it didn’t feel compelling to Kim Jin-woo, who had lived more fiercely than anyone else. It sounded like an excuse.

They visited two more territories after that, but the situations weren’t much different from Horace’s labyrinth.

Ballatus of the Ant Hell, Zanax of the Dark Flames.

Despite their grand names, both labyrinths were merely flashy and lacked substance.

Ballatus’s labyrinth, the Ant Hell, was so flat and unremarkable that the nickname seemed inappropriate. It was just a labyrinth decorated with frivolous extravagance.

The labyrinth ruled by Zanax of the Dark Flames was also a bizarre place, glittering with all sorts of luxurious jewels and decorations, which didn’t suit the term ‘dark flames’ at all.

Both labyrinths were adorned with decorations as if competing to see who could be more extravagant, and the creatures guarding the entrances all seemed unmotivated.

“At this rate, it’s like children squandering their parents’ wealth.”

Some of the 10th-floor nobles were even selling their labyrinths’ facilities and summons to participate in this bizarre competition, making the situation on the 10th floor increasingly shocking.

On the other hand, he understood why Anatolius had sought help from the 9th floor instead of the 10th, which was right above him.

If what he had seen was representative of the 10th-floor nobles, there was no one who could fulfill Anatolius’s expectations.

“Now, we will go to the labyrinth of Boreas of the North Wind.”

“Suit yourself.”

Kim Jin-woo had already heard about him from Balzac, but the actual situation on the 10th floor was so shocking that he replied with a nonchalant expression. Seeing this, the Dark Merchant became serious.

“Boreas’s labyrinth is one of the few heavily guarded labyrinths I mentioned earlier.”

“I hope it’s a proper labyrinth this time.”

He needed to see at least one proper place among the lower nobles’ labyrinths to feel relieved.

Aside from Anatolius’s labyrinth, which was incomparable, he had yet to see a noble’s true power.

“Boreas of the North Wind is a truly terrifying person. You will suffer a setback if you think of him as one of the mild nobles you’ve seen so far.”

“Is he that much?”

“Even the bandits who don’t recognize the nobles’ authority don’t dare to approach Boreas’s labyrinth.”

Kim Jin-woo remained indifferent, even as the Dark Merchant spoke with a confident yet uneasy expression. The labyrinths of Horace and the other nobles had been so shocking that he no longer had any expectations.

But this time, the Dark Merchant’s words seemed to be true.

[The Parasite’s senses have detected something.]

[A battle is taking place not far away.]

[Some of the forces engaged in the battle have detected the procession and are approaching.]

Even without the Parasite’s ability, Kim Jin-woo sensed something was amiss. The stench of blood, sharp in his nostrils, made his expression harden.

“Stop!”

The Dark Merchant, also catching the acrid smell, halted the group and prepared for the worst.

The escorting mercenaries formed a line and drew their weapons in unison, and the scent of blood, which had been distant, rapidly approached.

“What? Was it you?”

A group appeared like a gust of wind. The aura of the man at the forefront was astonishingly sharp.

Despite standing still, the man roughly swept back his long hair, which was swaying in the wind. He was tall and slender.

Compared to the muscular giants behind him, he had a delicate physique, but his presence was absolute.

It was unclear whether it was due to the numerous bodily fluids and blood covering him, or the scars that now only left traces all over his body.

“We greet Boreas of the North Wind!”

Unlike before, the Dark Merchant quickly bowed his short body, his demeanor more servile than respectful.

“Aren’t you here earlier than scheduled?”

“I apologize. I intended to inform you in advance, but I was afraid of the gangs and hurried along the road, so it seems the timing was off.”

“Nonsense. If you were afraid of weak bandits, the Black Merchant should have closed up shop. Don’t you think?”

Boreas, the man who had been wielding curved swords in both hands to shake off the blood, laughed fiercely.

“Even a mindless creature is a great disaster for a mere merchant.”

“You speak insincerely. The mercenaries you brought alone are enough to easily overwhelm one of the pathetic 10th-floor nobles’ labyrinths, yet you dare to insult me?”

“No, sir! How would I dare!”

The Dark Merchant’s behavior was different from his usual exaggerations. Boreas’s murderous intent was no joke.

Even Kim Jin-woo, relatively far back in the formation, felt a chillingly dense murderous aura. Boreas’s threat was not just empty words.

Seeing the Dark Merchant trembling and hastily bowing his head over a trivial matter, Kim Jin-woo felt the back of his neck stiffen.

“You should remember what happened to the predecessor who misspoke in front of me. I trust you will be careful in the future, so I will say no more.”

A being who was arrogant and violent from birth, the first true noble he had met on the 10th floor was more brutal and savage than Kim Jin-woo had imagined.

“I apologize. I will be careful.”

“Good. I don’t want to go through the trouble of changing *담당자* [contact person/representative] again, so let’s try to see each other for a long time.”

Boreas, who had withdrawn his fierce aura, now laughed casually and swaggered. Even that appearance seemed threatening, perhaps because his first impression had been so intense.

“But you know.”

Boreas, who had been raising his chin and speaking, suddenly pointed behind the Dark Merchant and tilted his head.

“Why is that guy’s head so stiff?”

Boreas’s bloodthirsty red eyes were directed at Kim Jin-woo.