Chapter 206: Dokkebi King
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 206: Dokkebi King
The history of this land can be broadly divided into three eras.
The first was the Age of Myth.
Like unripe fruit, everything on the surface lacked proper form, its colors a tender green.
It was a world where transcendent beings walked the earth, served by primitive tribes.
The Labyrinth existed even in this era, and for some reason, it unleashed a catastrophic eruption, devouring the gods.
The surviving gods fled to the Ethereal Galaxy, where they have been fighting the Labyrinth ever since.
After an immensely long time, the second era arrived.
The Age of the Nine Kings.
This era dawned after a chaotic history of warring factions vying for control of the continent, a cycle of devouring and being devoured.
As if they were a strange sculpture, each king a counterweight to the others, maintaining a miraculous balance, the Nine Kings created an era of peace.
One of those kings…
was a man who would later endure thirty thousand years in the Labyrinth under the name of the Spider Doctor, observing the rise and fall of the surface world and the dawning of the new age of labyrinth adventures.
‘The Dokkebi King, Healer Eulparyeong.’
He was a master of mystical ancient magic, capable of reviving even the dead.
However.
“Isn’t it time to let her go?”
Even his healing arts could no longer help the girl.
“Bringing the dead back to life is a simple matter for me. But.”
The patient was a princess from the neighboring Fairy Forest.
“This child has no time.”
The Elven King’s only blood relative, the seven-year-old child’s life was far too short.
Her soul refused to remain in her body, like oil in water.
A destroyed body could be regenerated, but a departing soul was impossible to stop.
The Dokkebi King described it as her time being up.
“Mortals have a set amount of time. I can revive the dead, but I cannot hold on to someone whose time has run out.”
He tried to persuade his friend with an earnest plea.
“Let go of your heart now. It is past time to send her to the Ethereal Galaxy.”
“…”
“Even you, a master of all magic, cannot hold back time.”
The Fairy King of the Elven Forest clutched his young daughter’s hand, covering his face with the other.
“Let’s let her go. Wizard King.”
*
After composing himself slightly, the Wizard King, ruler of the Fairy Forest, sat down with his friend for a cup of tea in the drawing room.
“Do you remember the Fairy Queen?”
At the dry question, Healer Eulparyeong slowly nodded.
“How could I forget?”
“She supported me from the time I was fifteen, just fooling around in the Fairy Forest.”
“…”
“She was always there for me in the background, from when I joined the Fairy Forest army, became an official, entered the council of elders, and finally became the Fairy King.”
But she was frail.
Just like the Wizard King’s daughter, whom Eulparyeong was now tending to.
She had no time.
And she was curious about how much she had left.
Normally, calculating one’s remaining time was a divulgence of heavenly secrets, something even Eulparyeong did not do lightly.
“I had no choice.”
About ten years ago, she had come to see Eulparyeong without her husband’s knowledge.
Please, Dokkebi King.
I’m begging you. You can calculate a mortal’s remaining time, can’t you?
Please tell me how long I can stay by his side and care for him.
He’s treated as this great figure, the Wizard King who has mastered all magic, but deep down, he’s a gentle soul.
Sometimes… he even acts like a child around me.
Recalling the fearsome Wizard King’s secret expressions and voice, the Fairy Queen had smiled faintly.
She was prepared to make any kind of sacrifice.
And Dokkebi King Eulparyeong was not the type of person to ignore someone like that.
Three years.
You will die after that. No one can extend your life.
The cruel, final verdict from the continent’s greatest doctor was even shorter than expected.
And who could have possibly imagined it?
The following year, the queen became pregnant.
She was carrying the Wizard King’s child.
Are you mad!
Eulparyeong, filled with rage, had grabbed the Wizard King by the collar.
Do you think the queen can survive childbirth in her condition?
If one were to assign blame for that incident, Eulparyeong, the queen, and the Wizard King would each bear a third of it.
It was the price for revealing a heavenly secret.
The queen had gotten the Wizard King thoroughly drunk, led him to the bedroom, and seduced him to conceive a child.
Do something…
The Wizard King was on the verge of madness.
He had pleaded with Eulparyeong, his face pale, but there was nothing to be done.
As if swallowing poison, Eulparyeong had recommended an abortion, but the Fairy Queen, of course, refused.
Eulparyeong, I know the Wizard King better than anyone. He will fall apart without me. He’s a man who gets lonely easily and is full of affection. He won’t be able to bear the loss of his wife.
But with this child, he will not break. The Wizard King is a man of great responsibility. If he has a child to protect, he will keep his wits about him even if the sky falls.
I know this is a terrible thing to do to my child. But you must understand. The balance of the Nine Kingdoms is maintained by a thread. If the Wizard King falls, the Fairy Forest will be invaded. The world will fall into chaos once more.
Please know that my decision comes from a place of resolve to save the nation, to protect the Wizard King and the Fairy Forest. And…
After making a litany of excuses using the political situation with clear eyes, she let a few drops of her fiery, true feelings fall at the end.
‘The truth is, I wanted a child, too. I know it’s selfish, but I want to have a child with the man I love.’
She sobbed, covering her face with both hands in a very un-queen-like manner.
‘If I can just hold my baby in my arms once, I can die without regrets… Please, just once…’
Her wish was granted.
The Fairy Queen gave birth to her child, held her in her arms, and died with a happy expression, her face a mixture of tears and laughter.
But some tragedies are so cruel they defy human imagination.
“How can this be?”
The Wizard King simply could not bear it.
“How… How can time be… stolen from this child, too?”
All of the queen’s predictions had been correct.
All except for ‘the time her daughter had left.’
“Is this truly the will of Wizus? Does it make sense that this is all the time this child is allowed?”
Even her assessment of the Wizard King’s sense of responsibility had been spot on.
So accurate, in fact, that it became the problem.
“I can never give up on this child.”
The child was seven years old.
Seven years had passed since the queen’s death.
The Wizard King had not broken.
On the contrary, he had become stronger than ever.
He was prepared to do anything to protect the child—his wife’s final legacy, the spitting image of the queen herself.
“You want me to give up? No. I will never let her go.”
A hint of madness began to gleam in his eyes.
“I would sell my soul to protect this child, Eulparyeong.”
“…”
“What if… what if I go into the Labyrinth and ask…?”
Finally, he arrived at a terrible conclusion.
“What if I beg the Labyrinth Master… to save this child?”
*
There were things that even the continent’s greatest healer, Dokkebi King Eulparyeong, could not cure.
If a person’s time was up, he had no choice but to let them go.
And one more thing.
Another thing he could not cure had emerged.
‘The world has gone mad.’
The entire continent, which had been maintained in a precarious balance, was swept up in madness.
It began with the Wizard King.
While researching the Labyrinth to save his daughter whose time was running out, he suddenly offered his entire kingdom to it.
In return, he gained the power of immortality.
What in the world did he see inside the Labyrinth?
What exactly did he experience in there?
No one knows that secret. But one thing was certain: the Wizard King was possessed by madness.
He was now called the White Lion.
The army of the Abyss, led by that monster, now marched across the land.
The offensive began near the Fairy Forest.
The White Lion started by subjugating the local warlords.
The city of the Kappas—a minor power that, while not a kingdom, boasted the greatest influence among its peers and even conducted diplomacy on equal footing with the lords of proper kingdoms—was struck by a rain of fire.
Did it even take a full day for the city to fall?
The Kappa race was pushed to the brink of extinction, its refugees scattering to barely preserve their lineage.
The next target was Fox Valley.
The guardians and elders of that mighty city, home to the mystical Fox Spirits, were terrified and cast their fox bewitchment, but it had no effect on the Wizard King.
He shattered the illusion using a Tier 9 scroll no one in the world had ever heard of: ‘Complete Awakening.’
The Fox Spirit guardian fought back against the Wizard King but was killed in an instant.
The fate of those poor warlords came to mirror that of the Kappas.
So, where was next?
The Dokkebi Kingdom, ‘Bimungol.’
“Eulparyeong.”
Before the walls of Bimungol, the White Lion called out to his old friend.
“It’s been a long time.”
“What has become of you? How could the wise and strong Wizard King have fallen so far?”
“I do not wish to kill you. I will give you time to think. Watch and see what the other lords do.”
The White Lion turned his horse.
The army of the Abyss left Bimungol and marched south.
Can you guess what decision was made in the Dwarf Fortress?
“We will not follow the same path as the Fox Spirits or the Kappas.”
The Dwarf Lord was just as insane as the Wizard King.
“No one shall trample my kingdom. If I cannot protect it, I will destroy it with my own hands. Watch closely, Wizard King!”
Mimicking the Wizard King, he offered the entire Dwarf Fortress to the Labyrinth.
And just as the Wizard King became the White Lion, the Dwarf Lord also became a monster. It took the form of the sea creature most feared by the southern dwarf fishermen.
A Shark.
And the power he brought back from the Labyrinth was the ‘Main Cannon.’
The power of the God of Naval Cannons, the cannoneer of the Ethereal Galaxy faction from the Age of Myth.
His main cannon, which never missed, left nothing but smoke and ash in its target area once fired.
All the heroes of the continent held their breath, watching to see how the gunner Shark would deal with the White Lion.
“Let’s go.”
Something shocking happened.
To everyone’s astonishment, the monster joined the White Lion’s forces.
Their next target was the so-called ‘Highest Kingdom,’ built by the Avians.
The Raptor King of that land declared he would kill the Labyrinth Master himself.
He entered the Labyrinth in person, intending to eliminate the source of his enemies’ power and thereby destroy both the White Lion and the gunner Shark.
However, he too emerged as a monster, his beautiful feathers all replaced with blades.
The Highest Kingdom vanished overnight like dust, with only rampant rumors that it had been devoured by the Labyrinth.
The White Lion’s army advanced with unstoppable momentum.
They moved clockwise around the continent, conquering the Nine Kingdoms one by one.
Smaller factions were crushed to the point of extinction, while kingdoms willing to join were accepted.
At some point, the kings began, as if possessed, to offer their kingdoms to the Labyrinth and join the Labyrinth Master’s army.
And finally, they returned to Bimungol.
“Are you prepared now, Eulparyeong?”
*
“So, did you lose that war?”
I pressed the Spider Doctor grandpa (?) for the next part of the old story, but he didn’t answer.
We had reached our destination.
“This is the White Lion’s hideout.”
A small, beautiful fortress stood in a forest decorated like the Fairy Forest. Its size was similar to the Berten estate.
Surprisingly, we hadn’t encountered a single guard on our way here.
It must have been the White Lion’s will.
“But why did the other Inter-floor Lords join the Labyrinth? Like the Dwarf Shark?” Yernil asked.
“The White Lion claims we are all being deceived by Wizus.”
“...?”
“It’s a matter of no interest to me. I just need to get my original body back.”
The Spider Doctor approached the main gate of the White Lion’s fortress.
“And as for that war, I’ll have you know we put up a good fight at first.”
The reason was that while the White Lion was conquering the surface, the Dokkebi Kingdom had been creating a stone monument.
Faced with the formidable power of the Tier 10 magic, ‘Mass Annihilation,’ even the White Lion’s army had to halt its advance.
“But then the Labyrinth erupted.”
Before the true power of the Abyss, the Dokkebi Kingdom vanished without a trace.
“In any case, the Wizard King was an old friend of mine. It was truly a shame he met such an end…”
Thwack!
A dagger embedded itself in the Spider Doctor’s forehead as he opened the main gate.
“...!”
Bipa and I caught him as he fell, while Mugol and Aimus reflexively shot forward.
On the staircase at the front of the fortress lobby.
The White Lion was sitting on the railing.
“Babbling on about soft things like a thirty-thousand-year-old friendship.”
“White Lion!”
“That’s your problem, now and then, Eulparyeong.”
“Your arm is almost healed.”
Mugol immediately assessed the enemy’s condition.
I did the same.
The White Lion’s right arm was almost fully regenerated, but he wasn’t at one hundred percent.
“Shall we talk for a moment?” the White Lion said.
“Fuck that. You think we came here to chat?”
Mugol drew his sword.
“I wasn’t talking to you, brat. Butt out.”
The White Lion smiled wickedly.
Then he asked me.
“You have it, don’t you, Caleb?”
“…”
“The Hourglass.”
The monster truly wanted to talk to me. That’s why he invited me here.
And from my perspective, his story was bound to be interesting.
“You. What will you do if it was Wizus who erased your memories?”