Chapter 62 — Hedley’s Kow (1)

The place where the relic storage of murloc king, Murdudun, was sealed.

He had quite the expectation as Murdudun held the title of a king.

And a small door was created beside it.

His prediction was correct.

These types of dungeons had a gate that led to the entrance when they cleared the final floor.

Muyoung looked back.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You can get out if you pass through the small door.”

A short speech.

“On the other hand, you can earn a great reward if you enter the large door.”

He gave them a choice.

The reason why Muyoung led the two was simple.

It was highly likely for the citizens to be reorganized with those two in the center.

The old man saw high potential in the two and sent them to go with Muyoung.

The dungeon didn’t disappear just because you cleared it.

He was planning to have them finish exploring the final floor and understand the structure to have them lead others in clearing this dungeon.

Exploring the dungeon was a lot more effective in getting stronger than running around the Demon God’s Territory.

There was a less chance for any random variables and a chance to earn additional profits.

This was the cheapest way to make his citizens stronger.

‘What choice will you make?’

At the same time… he was curious.

Was it because it had only been a year since they entered the Underworld?

Irene seemed to be full of justice.

She was clueless but it was amazing to see someone with that much upright character in a place where people had already lost their conscience.

Also, she maintained her bright personality even when she was used as a slave under Heidegger. That meant it was in her nature.

This characteristic was different from a hero’s but Muyoung knew that heroes were made from the gatherings of these types of people.

Then, he could only inwardly laugh.

‘She’s different.’

He would have killed Baltan right away when he was poisoned if it was like when he just returned to the past.

Muyoung saved him and was now giving Irene a chance to choose.

It meant that he had changed slightly from how heartless he was in the past.

He wouldn’t hesitate to kill with a reason but these two were his citizens.

It meant that he could flexible for things he considered ‘his’.

Murloc’s dungeon.

It would also hurt his pride if he was to remove them in a place like this just because his baggage increased.

Of course, it would be the end if Irene entered the large door to earn a reward.

It would reveal that Muyoung was simply mistaken.

It was one of human’s natural instincts to expect a reward after experiencing hardship.

He had no plans to scold her.

“Lord, I will go through the small door.”

Without even the slightest hesitation, Irene moved towards the door.

Muyoung seemed quite content.

He proved that the image she had shown until now wasn’t a lie.

Soon, it became quiet on the top floor.

‘Then…’

One made a choice and Muyoung was the only one left.

And Muyoung approached the large door.

As they passed through the small door, the entrance of the dungeon came into her sight.

‘We really did return!’

Even though she was out of her mind due to complete exhaustion, she squeezed out the last bit of strength in her to move.

Right away, she went looked for the old man to ask him to treat Baltan.

The only one who had knowledge of medicine was him.

However, there was definitely a limit in treatment in a place where they lacked medicinal herbs and facilities.

The old man’s expression hardened and Irene had reached the peak of her impatience.

At that moment, Baltan opened his eyes.

“Baltan!”

“Irene…”

“You’re awake? Wait a moment. You are being treated right now.”

Baltan smiled weakly. Baltan knew well of his current body condition.

“Irene.”

“Save your words. You’re bleeding too much.”

“Lord… don’t blame him. He, to save me… did his best.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t lose conscience inside the dungeon. I kept watching.”

For some reason, he gained a bit more strength.

It was like when people suddenly gained energy when they were just about to die.

Using this time, Baltan continued to talk.

“?? ???? ? ??? ?? ????. ???? ???? ???? ??? ??? ?? ????? ??? ??. ?? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???. ? ?? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????.”

“My skin rotted right away when the poison touched me. If he didn’t cut it off right away, my skin and organs would have rotted and I would have died a painful death. It was the same meaning when he stopped you from using your lips. If the poison touched you, in an instant, it would have rotted your body.”

“You’re saying that he cut it off to save you…?”

Irene looked at him as if she couldn’t believe in what he was saying.

However, things shouldn’t be left misunderstood.

Baltan wanted to at least resolve her misunderstanding.

“After I was hurt, we headed for the final floor without a single rest. He knew that a door that led to the entrance would appear when he finished the boss. If it wasn’t the case, there was no reason for him to risk getting in danger and rush recklessly.”

He continued to talk as he swallowed down his saliva.

“Even if that wasn’t the case, we need to believe in him. If it wasn’t for him, we would have all died. You should know yourself as you have also faced Heidegger’s tyranny. So… you shouldn’t think ill of him. Since we didn’t actually provide him with any help.”

“I, I understand. I understand so just calm down. Your wound opened.”

“Promise in front of me. That you won’t blame him. That you will trust and follow him.”

“I never blamed him from the start! I just thought he was a heartless man. However, I won’t even think of him that way. From now on, our Lord is my sky. The Sun and the ocean! Okay? Baltan, please…”

“I wanted to hear those words.”

Baltan smiled as he lied back down.

There were a lot of people who were saved by Irene’s personality. Baltan was also one of those people.

However, he couldn’t let her make the worst decision.

He was on the edge of his life but he needed to make things right even if it meant pushing himself.

‘Please, look after us.’

Baltan prayed.

As he entered the storage room, these words appeared.

First to enter. Whatever it was, the first normally received the most rewards.

Right away, Muyoung looked around.

A smoky scent. Different types of items were squeezed in different places without being organized.

‘It’s very different from the storage room of the fire tars.’

At least, that place was well organized. However, this place… it resembled a garbage dump.

Muyoung slowly looked around and held each and every item.

‘They’re all too old.’

There wasn’t anything that wasn’t rusted.

They had this appearance as it had been thousands of years since the storage was created.

And because no one had taken care of them.

However, not everything was like that.

There were a few items that kept its original shape after a long time.

‘This was here.’

Among the equipment, less than 10 that were in good condition, and one caught his attention.

Muyoung held a skull-shaped necklace in his hand.

Name: Skull Accessory

Rank: A

Classification: Equipable Type

Durability: 1,988

Effect: It was an accessory used by the Lunatic Lich. As of now, there is only one skull but you can increase the number of skulls to at most five. To increase the number, you can extract the head of your opponent and use this necklace to automatically minimize it into a skull that will be added to the necklace.

*Your stats increase by the number of heads you extort.

*Currently, one head is equipped.

*Head of Jukchiho (Strength, Agility +4)

Since it had been so old, its durability was sheet but the effects were good.

That meant that he could make a skull-shaped accessory using the heads of the people he killed.

Depending on the characteristics of the added head, stats and other things would increase.

‘The reason why Heidegger in the past was chased by every large group.’

So that was it.

This skull necklace was one of the equipment the past Heidegger wore.

When the Great Calamity started and when Heidegger started to become more active, he searched for ‘heads’ to add to his necklace.

And he collected the heads of the strong members of the Nine Guilds and the Five Great Clans.

Due to the grotesque stories, he was even named ‘Head Hunter’.

‘He got it here.’

He calmly acknowledged it and placed the necklace around his neck.

The durability was sheet but it wasn’t like there wasn’t a way to repair it.

‘Either way, I need to find the Three Pickaxe Sack Alliance after I catch Hedley’s Kow.’

It would be time to create an equipment with all the materials he had after he obtained Hedley’s Kow, in the shape of a phoenix.

To do this, he thought of the ‘Three Pickaxe Sack Alliance’.

The Alliance created by the dwarves!

As dwarves were beings often used by others here and there, they lived in hiding in a very deep place.

Muyoung already knew of a way to get to that place.

There was no one who could catch up to a dwarf when it came to creating things like weapons and armors.

With a phoenix, he could create an equipment that was at least an A++ rank.

Even broken equipment could be repaired then.

Muyoung continued to move and search for the next reward.

And stopped in front of a small pot.

‘It seems to be in good condition.’

It didn’t make sense for most items to be rusted while this pot was in good condition.

He could have just passed it but as it didn’t have even the slightest chip, it grabbed his attention.

And on top of that…

‘The spirits are reacting.’

The spirits of Asura path were reacting to the pot.

To be exact, they were reacting to the thing that was inside the pot.

Muyoung placed his hand inside.

And took out an ink-black marble.

‘This is?’

No descriptions popped up. Not even when he used the ‘Eye of the Sky’ skill.

So Muyoung released the spirits.

And all the spirits started to attack the marble.

Crack! Cra-crack!

Finally, the marble cracked and a blue light shined out from within.

“Murdudun?”

Muyoung frowned.

A familiar illusion formed inside the blue light.

It was none other than the murloc king, Murdudun, who existed in ancient literature.

Muyoung raised his right hand. The spirits stopped their attack.

-Ohoh, do you know me?

“Murloc king, why were you trapped inside a pot?”

-Was I trapped in there? I don’t know. I was talking with Dantalian …

“ Dantalian? Are you talking about the 71st seat?”

-Yeah, that fellow. He said he would tell me the origin of my birth so I decided listen out of curiosity. To me, the king of the ocean, time is such a dull thing.

How long was he talking about?

Muyoung couldn’t help but be doubtful.

Didn’t the Underworld open 100 years ago?

-Huh? Where did my body go?

“You died. A long time ago.”

-What? No-now that I think about it, I don’t seem to have any physical senses.

Murdudun was shocked after examining his body.

-You’re not joking, right?

“If you can’t believe me, I’ll show you.”

Muyoung went out of the storage.

He then showed Murdudun the murlocs as he descended the dungeon.

Perhaps it was due to the spirit of Murdudun but the murlocs did not attack Muyoung.

And after checking the condition of all the murlocs, Murdudun slammed the ground in regret.

-Those things aren’t murlocs! Why have they all become dimwits!

“As expected, they are different from the past. The murlocs degraded after you died.”

-Kahhhhh! Dantalian, you bastard! You tricked me!

Murdudun, who realized this fact all too late, trembled in anger.

-Ahhhhhh! I will grind your body and feed it to the fishes!

He died without knowing he died.

Although it was partly due to the simplemindedness of Murdudun, Demon God Dantalian’s abilities were incredible as well.

‘You can’t listen to his secrets.’

If you listened to Dantalian’s secrets, your physical body would be restrained.

It seemed like Murdudun didn’t know that.

“What are you going to do? If you decide to go back now, I won’t stop you. However, if you follow me, I will help you get revenge on Dantalian.”

-It doesn’t seem right to call it following. However, Damn. I have no choice!

He was furious at the fact that Dantalian tricked him.

After thinking for a long time, Murdudun spoke.

-Okay. If I can kill Dantalian, I can do anything!

Soon after, Murdudun subdued the murlocs around him and went inside Muyoung’s body.

The growth of murlocs.

‘They will be good rivals.’

The citizens and the murlocs would compete with each other to survive.

It seemed like it wouldn’t be bad if they both grew and gained a form of rivalry.

Soon after, Murdudun came out of Muyoung’s body.

Unlike the other spirits, Murdudun was quite free.

-Asura Path? What is this place? It’s filled with crazy fellows. If my instincts are correct, it seems like you should conquer this place first… However, the number of spirits I can handle is too small!

“I’ll increase that number soon.”

-It looks like something will happen when you conquer it. It will definitely strengthen my spirit and become a great help for you as well. Kuhaha! It’s been a long time since I’ve stepped on this kind of battlefield!

Murdudun was excited.

It seemed like he was slightly affected by the madness of Asura Path.

Murdudun reentered his body and Muyoung exited the dungeon.

* * *

After he left the dungeon, Muyoung stayed a few days in his territory.

Baltan was still in critical condition but Irene’s gaze or actions towards Muyoung had changed.

He didn’t really pay attention to it but you could call it a change.

However, he couldn’t stay here for too long.

Even if this was his territory, he had things to do.

‘Little Wish.’

Muyoung took out the cloud-shaped object.

The item that allowed three small wishes.

It was time for him to find the Hedley’s Kow.

Note:] For those that read Dungeon Defense, Korean commenters were commenting about how ‘Dantalian’s back at it again!’