Records of Dungeon Travel

Chapter 299

It was the dense feeling of death, and the birth of the unholy. The corpses that filled the battlefield coalesced and formed into one huge monster.

[A horrific abomination summoned by the Wailing Lord has appeared on the battlefield.]

[This terrifying monster, which has devoured the corpses of the Dead and evoked the wrath of the wraiths, is the very essence of the power of the Wailing Lord.]

[The Dead, who were robbed of the right to rest that the living enjoy, have come to hate the living endlessly. The deep hatred of tens of thousands of Dead is the driving force behind the raging monster.]

[This embodiment of the dense energy of death petrifies the body of the living and freezes their souls.]

The bloated body of the Abomination, made of flesh and blood, wriggled as it continued to grow in size.

[Fortunately, the Einherjar guarding Valhǫll are similar to the Dead. They are not very affected by the Abomination’s presence.]

[The Nagas were able to overcome the Abomination’s emanating energy of death due to their blind trust in their master. They will not be paralyzed by the overwhelming presence of the monster.]

Neither the Einherjar who were rushing to and fro across the walls of Valhǫll, nor the Nagas who were on standby and waiting to reinforce the frontlines at any time, were affected by the air of death emanating from the Abomination. But that didn’t mean they could feel at ease.

The presence of the monster summoned by the Wailing Lord was formidable, as expected of what could be called the essence of her power.

Gaaaaaaawr.

Thousands of pairs of teeth sprouted from the Abomination’s body and cried out in eerie unison. Its head soared as high as the walls of Valhǫll, seemingly ready to crash into the walls at any moment, and its drooping arms threatened to sweep away the Einherjar that were flowing out through the walls.

“Focus Mjöllnir’s attacks on that monster!” Kim Jin-Woo shouted fiercely.

It didn’t matter why the Wailing Lord, who had so far shown a favorable attitude toward him, was now on the enemy side. The only thing that mattered on the battlefield was who lived and who died, and Catherine had never been his ally.

That was why he ordered the strike without any hesitation, and Morrigan and the White Raven faithfully carried out his order.

Dozens of lightning bolts hit the gigantic monster. For a brief moment, its body split apart as it burned all over, but those superficial wounds were restored by absorbing thousands of corpses in the blink of an eye.

It was only then that Kim Jin-Woo realized why the opposing Highlords had made so many meaningless sacrifices. The corpses on the battlefield had been the foundation for creating the Abomination.

“Even I can’t kill that,” Angela remarked. It seemed that even she, who wasn’t usually surprised by anything, had been worn out by the monster that seemed to show no signs of weakness. Her face pale, she warned him, “I can’t even identify a single drop of vitality in that monster, so none of my powers will work against it.”

It wasn’t much different for Kim Jin-Woo. From his point of view, the core of the monster was death itself, and even for the power of Greed, which would normally eat anything in its way, death wasn’t something it could consume.

Kim Jin-Woo had met an opponent that not even the power of Greed could work against. But he didn’t even bat an eyelid. He had found out that his enemies had put in a great deal of effort to counter him, but that was it.

If he couldn’t eat them, all he had to do was destroy them.

Having made up his mind, Kim Jin-Woo was about to move toward the Abomination when a message popped up.

[The Wailing Lord has summoned new Abominations.]

[Although they are smaller than the original Abomination, the new, smaller Abominations can be more tricky to deal with.]

[Three new Abominations have been summoned.]

“Now that’s too much.” At that point, even Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t help but frown.

The original Abomination rushed toward the walls of Valhǫll, while the rest charged toward Kim Jin-Woo.

“What a rotten stench.” Frowning at the smell of rotting corpses, Kim Jin-Woo calmly stopped the Abominations.

Swish.

In an instant, their bodies were slashed and severed. But the monsters didn’t care one bit about their bodies being damaged. After all, they were spoiled for choice by the number of corpses available at their disposal. As expected, their bodies were quickly restored.

“Sigh.” Kim Jin-Woo’s expression hardened. Although he had come out on top of their first clash, the Abominations’ bodies were more durable than he had thought. At this rate, it was sure to be a long battle.

Just as he thought, the battle didn’t end easily. To make matters worse, some Dukes took their own lives, and the Abominations absorbed their bodies. From then on, it became a tedious battle of attrition.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Giant Lord and the Beastfolk King made their moves. The Heavenly Giant Lord rushed at him with an intensity incomparable to their past encounter, as if to prove that he had only been defeated because he had deliberately hidden his power.

But there was another opponent who was much more difficult to deal with than the Heavenly Giant Lord: The Beastfolk King. He had transformed into a giant wolf, and was incredibly agile and ferocious. Anywhere his teeth grazed, Kim Jin-Woo’s flesh tore apart, and anywhere his claws scraped, a gaping wound remained. A sense of crisis weighed down on Kim Jin-Woo, who knew his body would be torn to pieces the moment he let down his guard.

“You pretended to be so mighty and strong, but look at you now!” The Heavenly Giant Lord blocked a blow from Kim Jin-Woo by using an Abomination as his shield, roaring in laughter.

“Keep rambling. I’m thinking whether I should eat you alive right now.” The situation was urgent, but Kim Jin-Woo still had some room to throw back words of his own.

Even though he was being attacked by the Highlords as well as the Abominations, Kim Jin-Woo showed no signs of slowing down, which started to get on the Heavenly Giant Lord’s nerves.

“Bullshit. If you swallow us up, you won’t escape unscathed either,” the giant said. He wasn’t wrong, either. That was one of the reasons why Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t bring forth the power of the Nagaraja.

The monster inside Kim Jin-Woo that was still crying for its release would immediately reveal its true nature as soon as it devoured the Highlords, and would even take over his own body. That was the last thing he wanted; thus, he had no choice but to deal with the Highlords by relying on his own strength alone.

Forced into a situation where he was unable to rely on his greatest source of strength, the power of Greed, Kim Jin-Woo found that the Heavenly Giant Lord and the Beastfolk King weren’t easy opponents.

The Heavenly Giant Lord enlarged his fist and struck down on Kim Jin-Woo like a heavy mace. At the same time, the Beastfolk King charged toward him with his jaws wide, while the Abominations rushed forward.

Kim Jin-Woo wanted to avoid them, but he was surrounded by his enemies, and the strength of the Heavenly Giant Lord was too much of a burden to block. He chose to chip away at his opponents’ combined strength by crushing one of the Abominations.

“How pathetic you look right now,” the Heavenly Giant Lord lamented as he watched Kim Jin-Woo’s back being torn apart by the fangs of the Beastfolk King.

“Don’t provoke him needlessly. There’s nothing for us to gain from it,” the Beastfolk King remarked.

The Heavenly Giant Lord quickly fell silent and his expression turned serious. Apparently, the Beastfolk King was concerned that should Kim Jin-Woo be forced into a corner, he might use the power of Greed. The giant replied, “What timely advice. He’s seriously considering the option right now.”

If the power of Greed were used, the battle would end in only one way. Kim Jin-Woo, who had been dealing with all the powerful enemies that he had encountered thus far in that manner, realized his senses had gotten dull. The loss of his most powerful weapon made him further understand and realize that truth.

However, he didn’t feel despair. The burning pain he felt from the wounds all over his body, as well as the pressure emanating from the Highlords and the Abominations, were making him feel more alive.

Yes. This is the way the Underworld should be.

Kim Jin-Woo smiled rather pleasantly, sensing the tension he hadn’t felt in such a long time. The Heavenly Giant Lord felt sick to his stomach as he watched Kim Jin-Woo react that way, and charged at him once more.

<Master, let me help.>

<No, observe the situation a bit longer. I’m sure this isn’t the end of their plan. Remain on standby.>

Angela requested to assist Kim Jin-Woo in battle, perhaps unable to bear seeing her master in pain any longer. However, Kim Jin-Woo flatly refused. He knew this couldn’t be the end of what the three Highlords had prepared for him.

The Abomination was truly a formidable and powerful enemy. The combined joint attacks of the Highlords wasn’t easy to deal with either. But Kim Jin-Woo still felt some leeway, and that was what made him feel anxious.

Catherine was a cautious and cunning woman who had deceived him thoroughly. There was no way she would have revealed her true colors unless she felt a level of certainty in her plans. Thus, he wanted to keep Angela on standby, just in case.

<Protect the Wish Stone. You can continue observing the situation from where you are.>

“But there’s something I’m curious about.” Kim Jin-Woo gave his instructions to Angela in his mind, while verbally asking the Heavenly Giant Lord, “If you so desperately needed the Wish Stone, wouldn’t it have been better if you guys had headed out and looked for it yourself? Truth is, I wasn’t very interested in it in the first place.”

Perhaps tired of Kim Jin-Woo’s constant remarks even in the midst of their fierce battle, neither the Beastfolk King nor the Heavenly Giant Lord, who had begun slowly backing away, responded.

Instead, the low voice of a woman replied, “If only you had continued to think that way. How unfortunate.”

The Wailing Lord, who had stayed behind after sending forth the Abominations, finally appeared.

“Catherine,” Kim Jin-Woo greeted her.

“Why did you change your mind? You were in a position to prevent the unification of the Underworld and the surface,” Catherine said, with an expression that implied she felt the situation was truly unfortunate.

Kim Jin-Woo replied, “Because I didn’t want anyone else to use the key.”

As soon as Catherine appeared, the Abominations that had retreated slowly turned and approached Valhǫll. Beyond them, Kim Jin-Woo could see that the giants and various beasts that had been lounging around were beginning to move as well.

“That’s it?” Catherine asked.

Even as Kim Jin-Woo listened to Catherine, he hadn’t stopped observing the battlefield. Little by little, he had started to notice the strength of his army dwindling.

It was difficult for even Valhǫll to withstand the continuous attacks by the Abominations and the armies of the Highlords, no matter how powerful it may be. Even Mjöllnir was taking longer to recharge itself due to its excessive overuse, and now, the Einherjar were beginning to flow from the castle and face the evil head on.

The only comfort Kim Jin-Woo had found was that the enemies had stopped approaching the Grand Labyrinth from a certain point on.

“That’s the reason why you’re holding onto that treasure?” Catherine asked again with a casual expression, seemingly aware of how the situation was unfolding on the battlefield. The other Highlords seemed to be feeling leisurely ever since Catherine had joined the battle.

“I’m the one who’s curious.” As he watched them, Kim Jin-Woo asked his own question. “Why do you need the Wish Stone? Is the unification of the Underworld and the surface something you guys really want?”

Catherine smirked at his question before breaking into laughter.