Records of Dungeon Travel

#108. The Completed Revenge

It started off as a small question, and that question quickly turned into remorse. That remorse turned into anger and hatred again, before completely overwhelming the Hell Spiders.

Krrrrg, krrrg.

Their thick cuticles, normally able to fend off various monsters’ attacks using strong claws and sharp fangs, melted like salt soaked in water upon contact with the black and ominous energy. Likewise, the venom and webs they excreted were quickly dissolved.

With that, the power of Greed devoured tens of thousands of Hell Spiders, big and small.

“Tell me.”

The Hell Spiders disappeared without a trace, and the Spider Duke was left all alone as the last one standing. He lifted his head upon hearing Kim Jin-Woo’s sadistic voice.

“How do you feel right now?”

The Spider Duke didn’t answer. But Kim Jin-Woo continued smiling. He even seemed to enjoy the stuffy silence.

“Is this still not enough?”

Perhaps not truly hoping for an answer, Kim Jin-Woo freed the greedy monster inside him once more without waiting for the Spider Duke’s response. This time, the power of Greed headed toward the Hell Spiders’ nest.

Crunch, crunch.

The terrible monster devoured the spiderlings in the nest before beginning to gnaw at the labyrinth.

Goaaaaaaaaaaar.

The hard outer wall quickly crumbled and collapsed. The crumbling stones of the wall disintegrated into nothingness.

The labyrinth of the mighty Duke, who had once dominated the Deep Floors, was broken and destroyed in an instant. Soon, it was nothing but a disgraceful pile of stones. The faint pulse of the Labyrinth Core that could be felt inside the wreckage was the only indication that the labyrinth was still alive.

However, that was nothing but a mere smoldering ember in the face of Kim Jin-Woo, who could extinguish it whenever he wanted to. In reality, the Spider Duke had virtually lost everything he had.

“Do you feel satisfied?”

The Spider Duke spoke for the first time. However, the sentence he had uttered was something completely unexpected. His voice, which Kim Jin-Woo had expected to be drenched in grief and helplessness, was unexpectedly calm and steady. It sounded as emotionless as the day Kim Jin-Woo and the other tunnel diggers had beene freed from their lives as slaves.

“The Overseers who inflicted pain on you, and the warriors who trampled and killed your acquaintances, have all been slain by you and none remain.”

There was not an ounce of regret for the deaths of tens of thousands of his clan members in his voice.

“Now, all that is left is me, and in truth, your revenge is as good as complete.”

Kim Jin-Woo looked at the Spider Duke with a stiff expression. He couldn’t tell what the Spider Duke was thinking behind that ugly face of his, but at the very least, he could tell that the Duke had no intention of submitting to him despite having been faced with such terrible violence.

“Are you satisfied now?” the Spider Duke continued, before going further to say that revenge was nothing but futile. “The weak will be eaten. Everything of the weak belongs to the strong. Back then, you were weak and I was strong. And now, you are simply stronger than I am. I cannot understand why you are placing such great importance on the natural order of things.”

“Are you trying to say you’ve done nothing wrong, and so I should let you live?” Kim Jin-Woo replied.

“Would you spare me even if I did?” the Spider Duke asked.

It was a question that wasn’t even worth answering. If they hadn’t met again, things might have been different. However, now that they had met like this, Kim Jin-Woo didn’t have even the slightest thought of letting the Spider Duke live. Thus, he didn’t answer.

“Then take what you want.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of a change in the Spider Duke’s attitude; he was shameless to the point of even looking dignified.

“I am the ruler of the Hell Spiders and the Lord of Absolute Venom who ruled over the Deep Floors. I may be weak, but I will not live as a wretched loser.”

After saying that, the Spider Duke didn’t speak any further. It was as if he were making an open declaration that he would rather face a proud death than live a life of bondage.

But he was unaware.

“You’re mistaken.”

The Spider Duke couldn’t have imagined how cruel Kim Jin-Woo, who had once lived as a slave in his labyrinth, could be as he had grown into a truly terrifying monster.

“It’s not you who will decide whether you die.”

Up until that point, the Spider Duke had still been unaware of the situation.

“As you said, everything of the weak belongs to the strong. Even how they die.”

By the time Kim Jin-Woo had finished speaking, he was already right in front of the Spider Duke’s face.

“And I never permitted you to die an honorable death.”

Even before he had finished speaking, Kim Jin-Woo’s fists flew toward the Spider Duke.

Crack.

The Spider Duke’s hard cuticle cracked with an unpleasant noise, and all sorts of bodily fluids splashed out. He was subdued in an instant.

All of the appendages supporting his giant body were torn off and rolled along the floor, and the black and red stripes on his body all cracked apart, covered in his own blood. Most of his arrogantly gleaming eyeballs had also been plucked out, leaving behind only a single pair of eyes.

Kheeeee.

His powerful jaw had been torn off in an instant, and the only thing that flowed through what was left of his jaw was a moan of pain.

“Are you still the Lord of Absolute Venom?”

Kim Jin-Woo plucked out one of the two remaining eyeballs as he spoke.

“Kheeeeek!”

“Or are you a loser who’s rolling around pathetically on the floor?”

The Spider Duke couldn’t answer. He could only wriggle across the floor like a dying, insignificant insect.

Of course, the Duke, who was as powerful as he was arrogant, hadn’t been rolling around that way from the beginning. However, it wasn’t easy for him to endure the pain of having his legs torn off and his body cracked all over. Ultimately, from the moment his spinneret had been torn off savagely, the spider could no longer maintain his image as a Duke.

Despite feeling that he was being overly ruthless, even by his standards, Kim Jin-Woo didn’t hesitate. When he thought of the other tunnel diggers who had been murdered so brutally that he had been unable to even leave their corpses’ side, Kim Jin-Woo couldn’t help but feel justified in his actions.

The other tunnel diggers had desperately risked their lives to save him when they could have saved themselves, which was why he had always put his own life on the line in order to improve himself. That was why he had grown into the perfect match for the greedy and ruthless Night.

Kim Jin-Woo reached out toward a piece of the Spider Duke’s cuticle that had broken and ripped it off.

“If you don’t intend to beg for your life…”

The Spider Duke screamed once more, having felt the terrible pain of being dismembered alive.

“Then beg to be killed.”

Kim Jin-Woo had a terrifyingly sadistic smile on his face. He didn’t look as if he cared at all about all the blood and fluids that had splattered across his body.

“That’s the only death I can grant you.”

The Duke’s dignity had long since been stripped away. The Spider Duke had to beg him to be killed, as Kim Jin-Woo said. However, there was no way he was going to grant that request right away, even if the Spider Duke did so.

Only after dismembering the Duke and leaving only his head behind did Kim Jin-Woo finally grant permission for the Spider Duke to be freed from his pain.

“You asked if I was satisfied, didn’t you?”

Kim Jin-Woo trampled on the Spider Duke’s dismembered head and crushed it. As his foot pressed down on the wretched head, his shoulders began to shake.

Was he feeling regret and a feeling of emptiness? Or was he finally weeping over finally achieving his sweet revenge?

That couldn’t be the case. After all, he had changed too much to feel that way.

“Of course I’m satisfied.”

Kim Jin-Woo was smiling brightly.

The entire time while Kim Jin-Woo had been dismembering the Spider Duke, Dominique and the other Nagas had continued to watch without so much as blinking. None had looked away despite the terrifying sight of the spider’s appendages being ripped off one by one and his body being cracked apart bit by bit.

It was an incredibly rare sight to see someone drenched in their enemy’s blood, feeling full from consuming their flesh. However, the Nagas knew exactly what that disgusting spider had done to their master; thus, they couldn’t help but feel satisfied at what they had witnessed.

“Congratulations, Master.”

“Congratulations on getting your revenge!”

When their master showed up covered in a bloody mess of fresh blood and disgusting bodily fluids, the Nagas congratulated him without any hesitation.

“This is just the beginning.” Kim Jin-Woo reminded them that the real culprit still remained, and that their congratulations had to be withheld. And with that, he resumed the expedition.

More labyrinths were destroyed and their Cores absorbed. Kim Jin-Woo and his summons devoured every clan they encountered. That was how he led his expedition.

It was a move that made Kim Jin-Woo truly worthy of the title ‘Tyrant’. The entire Underworld trembled in fear. But thankfully, the Tyrant was headed straight toward the Underworld Tree.

The labyrinth masters in his path were able to avoid their own extinction by extracting their Labyrinth Cores and fleeing far away. Some of them unfortunately encountered Reapers or other labyrinth masters during their escape, but most were able to survive.

“Maybe we’ve been causing too much of a ruckus,” Dominique remarked. Every labyrinth they had recently encountered had been abandoned, so it wasn’t difficult to guess what had happened.

“If this goes on, it seems that it won’t be easy to encounter an active labyrinth again in the near future.” Dominique and the Nagas, who had just awakened their appetite, expressed their disappointment.

“Still, it’s fortunate that the advance has accelerated. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the labyrinth for too long.” Perhaps it was because she was now carrying a child, but Dominique had gotten increasingly worried over time, hoping that the long expedition would end soon.

“It’s not long now. I can feel the energy of the Underworld Tree.” Kim Jin-Woo consoled Dominique and urged the Nagas forward.

After a long walk across an empty plain, the expedition finally arrived at the Underworld Tree’s location.

“Stop here for now. If you approach it any further, you’ll get swept up by it.” It was still quite a distance off to say that they had reached their destination, but Kim Jin-Woo stopped the Nagas as he looked at the Underworld Tree.

The Underworld Tree was still as overwhelming as the last time he had seen it. Even he, the heir to the one and only true Lord, who had managed to realize his own existence and gain full control over his powers, couldn’t easily bring himself to push forward.

“That’s the Underworld Tree…”

Dominique and the Nagas looked at the distant Underworld Tree with expressions full of complex emotions. Its overwhelming existence deserved to be worshiped. But at the same time, the Mysteries of the Underworld were their greatest enemy, and the Underworld Tree was the main entity that governed the Mysteries of the Underworld.

“What are you going to do, Master? It seems nigh-impossible to even approach it,” Angela, who usually never lost her sense of self-confidence, asked with a look of dread.

“I have the Wish Stone, so it’ll work out somehow,” Kim Jin-Woo replied. The only problem was that the sleeping Night inside him desired to eat the Wish Stone so desperately.

However, Kim Jin-Woo wasn’t too worried. He continued, “Wait here. With such a commotion, the Usurper certainly knows we’re coming. My first priority is to resolve the problem with her.”

‘Speak of the Devil’, was it? As soon as he finished speaking, a fluttering white hem appeared in the distance.