Chapter 158: Libra Elune (3)
Catalina opened her eyes wide at her statement, while Yong-ho imagined a situation where he, who squandered family fortune at the gambling place, watched Yuria and Baduk crying while lying on the floor. For some reason, Salami was also crying beside them.
Yong-ho felt he needed to think twice about setting up a gambling room in the dungeon of the Mammon House.
“Let’s keep going anyway.”
By now, the dungeon monsters at the entrance were removed already. Yong-ho walked toward Salami bravely making the snorting mixed with sparks.
The third floor was a gambling room, as Ophelia expected.
Yong-ho passed several simplified arenas, rooms with roulettes, and lounges before standing before a tightly sealed door. Like the Garden of Life, Scathach’s space, the 3rd floor gambling house was structured so that he could go down to the 4th floor without having to pass by the 12 Spirits. In front of the sealed room was a large staircase leading down to the fourth floor.
Elune, one of the 12 Spirits and Mammon’s escort knight, already died. However, Scathach told Yong-ho that Elune must have left behind her surrogate.
For this reason, Yong-ho again ordered Skull and Salami to step back.
He allowed only himself and his dungeon spirits to enter the room.
At his order, Skull and Eligos opened the tightly closed door.
***
The room was spacious and quiet.
Yong-ho didn’t need to throw a lighting device. The moment the door was opened, a soft light poured down from the ceiling. It was like moonlight.
He stopped Skull from trying to walk ahead then pulled Aamon out of the air. His greed naturally triggered as if he was breathing. Some of the colored smoke arising from him wrapped around the dungeon spirits, and the rest spread into every nook and cranny of the room.
He took the first step. Darkness in the room and the light from the ceiling reacted to him. Every time he took one step, darkness was cleared away. The light from the ceiling illuminated the place where he stepped forward, as if to guide him.
There was no such thing as a trap. Led by Catalina, the dungeon spirits began to follow him one by one.
And when he finally reached the middle of the room, the door that was open wide closed smoothly. The light guiding him became stronger, while the other lights from all sides dimmed. It was like starlight that dimmed when the moonlight got brighter.
The soft golden light became one. It formed a lump of light then took the shape of a human in no time.
It was a blurry shape. However, Yong-ho could see it clearly.
Golden hair and a red eye patch.
Libra, one of Mammon’s 12 Spirits.
Elune who cuts the night.
It was a beautiful scene. Standing up from the light, she breathed softly. Everything about her coincided with the woman in his memory.
Despite her slender figure, he didn’t think she was fragile at all. Rather, he felt she was strong, determined, and sharp.
She opened her mouth, “The King of Greed, who has finally returned!”
At that moment, Yong-ho knew that none of the previous masters of the House of Mammon could face Elune. She opened her eyes in response to his greed.
Elune continued, “What you are facing now is a mere shadow of the old me. But don’t worry. I am obviously Elune that cuts the night. And I, standing before you now, will think and judge the same way I do.”
On the day Mammon died, Elune also died.
Moreover, Elune died ahead of Mammon.
So, the Elune that was standing here was her ghost. She was a kind of alter ego she had left behind right before she went out of the Labyrinth of Greed lastly.
But it was exactly what Elune said. She could not be classified as a mere ghost.
Yong-ho felt like he faced the very Elune in his memory. Even the dungeon spirits realized that they were facing a legend just like when they encountered Scathach and Gusion.
In particular, Catalina seemed to have been more impressed than other spirits perhaps because she shared with Elune her unique characteristics such as an escort knight and a lover.
Catalina looked at her with a pious expression.
“Well, it’s a good introduction. Can you show me your face a little more clearly?” Elune said kindly. She wasn’t necessarily as sharp as a sword. She, who had loved everything about Mammon, also loved him because he was Mammon’s descendant.
She wanted to face him kindly as if she were his mother.
Yong-ho took a couple of steps again to get closer to Elune. Although she was wearing an eye patch to cover her eyes, Elune had a mental vision. She could easily see through anything that ordinary people could not see.
Elune gently caressed his cheeks. A smile came to her lips naturally.
“You look like that person.”
He didn’t need to ask who that person was. Withdrawing her hand, she took a step back.
Once again, she took a look at him as a whole then said brightly, “You’re very attractive. I don’t know how many generations have passed, but it was certain that a person’s blood must be flowing in your body. And you seemed to have inherited the blood of the Incubus a lot. It must be the blood of the famous and powerful Incubus family.”
“Pardon?”
Yong-ho raised his voice before he knew it.
Elune laughed gently and said, “Don’t be too surprised. I can figure out this kind of stuff very easily.”
“How can you...” He blurred.
He felt something was strange, but he thought maybe she was right. Above all, her voice was full of confidence.
“It’s been quite a while since you became the King of Greed. I can feel gravity in you. You seem to be older than you look. And...”
“Wait a minute,” he said, shaking his hand quickly.
“First of all, I’m from the human world. I don’t know my ancestors, but my father is just a normal human. It’s only been about half a year since I became the master of the House of Mammon.”
“Uh?” Elune said in a strange tone. It was a familiar scene for Yong-ho.
“Oh no, I can’t believe my ears. You became the master only six months ago? Your blood was not mixed with an Incubus?”
Remarkably embarrassed, Elune quickly looked at his lower body. Aside from her embarrassment, she blushed.
He quickly covered his lower body with his hand as if he was also embarrassed.
He was sure why this scene was familiar to him.
‘Dang it! How can she be wrong?!’
Ophelia murmured, narrowing her eyes. Eligos leered at Catalina while Skull looked at Catalina openly. Catalina was so shy at the moment. As if she was humiliated, she was at a loss of what to do, turning red.
Put to shame, she lost their reverence, let alone mystery about her.
In the same league as Elune, Catalina, who couldn’t stand it anymore, covered her face with both hands. Likewise, Elune did the same.
It took a lot of time for the two escort knights, who shared everything over a thousand years, to regain their composure.
***
“You, the King of Greed who has finally returned!”
Her voice was elegant and beautiful. Resonating hazily in the moonlight, it was truly fantasy itself. But Yong-ho said, knitting his brows, “Wait a minute. It seems unreasonable to start over from the beginning as if nothing happened.”
Not only Yong-ho, but also the dungeon spirits of the Mammon family looked at Elune with mixed feelings such as cold, compassion, and regret, etc.
Elune curled her lips and said, “So mean!”
Grumbling a bit, Elune suddenly stretched out her hand then pointed to Catalina, who was feeling shy like her.
“Hey, come over here.”
“Uh, me?”
“Yes, you.”
Since she was singled out suddenly, Catalina blinked, embarrassed, then turned to Yong-ho as if to ask for his permission. When he nodded a bit, she scurried to Elune.
Elune let out a long sigh. She quickly glanced at him, but he was not clear because she was wearing an eye patch. Then she put her lips to Catalina’s long ears and whispered something.
Then Catalina showed a reaction befitting her. She flapped her ears as if startled then nodded violently, looking at him.
He was not sure what she was trying to express to him, but it was clear that her action bothered him a lot.
Elune smiled then whispered into her ears again. As if she agreed completely, Catalina kept nodding. This time Catalina whispered to Elune.
“You’re right, you’re right!”
This time, Elune agreed excitedly. Yong-ho was extremely bothered.
After all, Elune said something very important.
“Oh, I just feel refreshed only now.”
Elune laughed. Catalina also laughed instinctively then quickly curled her lips. Elune patted her on the shoulder and put her index finger in the middle of her lips. This time, Catalina raised her finger as Elune did then nodded.
It looked like they wanted to keep their conversation today to themselves.
While Yong-ho was nervous, wondering about their conversation, Ophelia clicked her tongue. Eligos shook his head because he felt sympathetic to Yong-ho, and Skull just laughed.
With a brighter expression now, Elune looked back at Yong-ho and said, “Don’t look at me like that. What you see here is Elune’s ghost. That’s why she is more honest, simpler, and more childish. The real Elune is a beautiful and noble swordsman, so don’t worry.”
Since Elune reacted so brazenly, it was hard for Yong-ho to respond properly.
Catalina, trying to read his mind, quickly came to him and stood where she was.
As if on cue, Elune spoke again right away, “I think I can stop playing with you. The power of my ghost has become so weakened. It seems it took much longer than I thought for the new King of Greed to appear. Let’s get back to the main point now.”
Elune changed the atmosphere. Yong-ho felt her manner was distant now, though she looked very friendly to him a moment ago.
“The fact that you are here means that you have been recognized by Scathach and Baphomet.”
The light in the room dimmed. The moonlight pouring toward Elune dimmed, but the starlight became brighter instead.
“Scathach’s power is life. Baphomet’s power is death.”
The number of light increased. However, the light could not drive out the darkness. The moonlight was eclipsed, and the starlight was too little to drive out the darkness. The starlight was buried in the darkness one by one, and the darkness in the room grew thicker.
However, no one looked away. Everyone looked at Elune. There were others right next to her, but they didn’t feel it. They felt as if there were only Elune and Yong-ho in the dark.
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