The sky and the ground were filled with darkness. The dungeon shop’s Virtual Space used to be all white, but now, it was the complete opposite.
Black. Darkness. The light was blocked out, so nothing could be seen within this space.
There was no sound. A heavy silence was the only thing that filled the room.
It was an extremely special space. All of their senses will be disabled to those that enter this space.
They couldn’t see, hear or touch anything.
That’s why it was comfortable.
If they could endure being in solitude for a long time if they could deeply fall into it by being alone.
Unfortunately, most living things have difficulty doing that. Sitri was someone that would be able to endure it, but she didn’t like being in this room for a long time.
Sitri liked the feeling of a soft blanket that’s been dried in the sun. She liked the warmth that a person’s body had and loved the sound of nature that tickled her ears. She felt happy when the wind blew against her skin once in a while.
But still, Sitri came to this room sometimes. There are times when she would think about the past whenever she entered this space.
The demon world’s history was long.
The citizens of the demon world didn’t know the history of the dungeon shop, how old the dungeon world was and how it all started. Honestly there weren’t that many that were interested.
But, there was one truth that they did know.
The absolute being of the demon world.
They were an absolute being that the description, Demon God, was the only one that described them perfectly.
That kind of figure existed. They’re not here now, but they definitely existed in the past.
Seven Deadly Sins and seven superhuman strengths.
There were 14 Tokens and they were known as the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ and the ‘King’s of Seven Wonders.’
The figure that gathers all of them will become an absolute being. They’ll become the true king of the demon world.
It’s an old legend.
Among the demons, there were those that naturally obtained the Seven Deadly Sins.
The power of the sins were their root and they would reign over the other demons and by possessing a part of the demon world, they created their own kingdom.
It was obvious that the seven superhuman powers would fall into the hands of the demons that had the powers of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The kings that had the power of the sins repeatedly participated in wars. There were those that only had superhuman powers and they would participate in the war among the kings.
An absolute being didn’t appear.
No one was able to gather the Seven Deadly Sins together and none could combine the superhuman powers into one.
But, there was one that was close.
The King of Greed, Mammon.
Within the long history of the demon world, that powerful being built a strong force.
Out of the Seven Deadly Sins, Mammon collected three. Out of the seven superhuman powers, they obtained four.
They were able to reign over 1/4th of the demon world and they had about 100 dungeons.
The strongest being in the demon world.
But in the end, they couldn’t rise up to become an absolute being.
Mammon suddenly died and the kingdoms that were under him crumbled down like sand castles because the other kings invaded them.
The Greed’s Labyrinth was Mammon’s true nature and the biggest dungeon, but the other kings destroyed it.
Other kings ended up obtaining the four superhuman powers that he acquired and Greed disappeared within the demon world.
Mammon’s forces quickly collapsed.
There were 12 spirits that were known as Mammon’s Spirits and many of them lost their lives. Those that survived didn’t show themselves to the world.
The dungeons that Mammon reigned over fell into other’s hands. The kings separated Mammon’s land and claimed it as their own, but before they completely finished doing that, a new war started amongst them.
The King of Greed that was directly related to Mammon took over and thanks to the tense war among the other kings, they survived. However, they didn’t have Greed’s power. On top of that, the king’s superhuman power ran out.
Greed’s power didn’t appear to the future generations. The House of Mammon was slowly collapsing and they almost lost all of their dungeons and spirits. The only thing that was left within the House of Mammon was an old, rusty dungeon that Mammon himself built. Because of that, out of all the dungeons that’ve been recorded in the demon world’s history, this dungeon was in the top 10.
It was very interesting.
The House of Mammon collapsed and that’s why they were able to survive.
Greed was on the Seven Deadly Sins and out the seven superhuman powers, the House of Mammon didn’t have any of them, so they weren’t much of a threat to the other kings.
The other kings were waiting for the House of Mammon to collapse and it was nothing more than a small, useless family to them.
‘That’s what everyone’s thinking.’
A light smile appeared on Sitri’s face. She opened her eyes in the darkness. She couldn’t see anything, but it didn’t bother her.
Recently, there have been six kings that were reigning over the demon world.
Five kings had the power of the Seven Deadly Sins as well as a superhuman power and there was one king that didn’t have the power of the Seven Deadly Sins, but did have a superhuman power.
The five kings were Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath and Lust.
The one other king was Violence.
The King of Sloth had the power of the Seven Deadly Sins as well as a superhuman power, but they didn’t create a group of forces. Just like their title, they hid within the shadows and didn’t do anything.
.
That’s why, there were six kings that were reigning over the demon world.
Six forces.
None of the kings knew. No one knew the truth.
It wasn’t about how a new demon appeared and the fact that they had Greed’s power.
It was something else.
Something more important than that.
Sitri hugged her body. Since it was a room that cut off all senses, she couldn’t feel anything.
Warmth of course didn’t exist.
Despite that, Sitri hugged herself. She reminisced about the past while thinking about the present.
The King of Evolution, Chun Yong-Ho, had Greed’s power.
When will he visit again? Will he be able to inherit Mammon’s glory?
Sitri closed her eyes again. She escaped the present and immersed herself into the bitter and sweet memories.
A long time ago.
She went back to the time when Mammon, the King of Greed, was alive.
It wasn’t always great to wake up from a deep sleep.
His head would either feel light-headed or he would feel pain as soon as he woke up.
‘How…?’
Yong-Ho blinked his eyes with a blank expression. He couldn’t finish his thought about how he’s been waking up like this pretty often lately, so he looked up at the ceiling and had sort of a difficult time swallowing his spit.
He was thirsty. And because of the sleep in his eyes, his eyes were hurting.
“Hm.”
When he sat up, he let out a groan without knowing. He wasn’t sure how long he was in bed, but his back and waist were in pain.
He turned his head. He saw Catalina.
They weren’t in bed lying next to each other naked. Catalina was crouched below the bed and was falling asleep in that position. Her forehead was leaning against the bed.
Yong-Ho looked at Catalina for a moment and looked around the room again. He was looking for the water jug. And that’s when.
“Woo-ah?”
With an odd sound, Catalina quickly raised her head. He wasn’t sure whether she was having a nightmare or if she woke up from Yong-Ho’s groan, but she was like a student that suddenly woke up while falling asleep in class.
“Hi.”
“I-I wasn’t sleeping. I wasn’t sleeping.”
Catalina instinctively replied when Yong-Ho greeted her. And she seemed surprised by her own reply that she became flustered.
There was no need to see her fluttering ears or her tail that was wagging. Seeing the trace of saliva along her lips was already enough.
Yong-Ho changed the subject for her.
“How long have I been out for?”
He remembered bringing the Queen Ant down and taking back the gold mine.
She must’ve been fully awake because Catalina fixed her posture and answered.
“It’s been two days.”
“Right, two…two days?!”
“46 hours to be exact.”
“I believe it’s the side effect of the mana potion.”
The Spirit of the Dungeon explained it right on time. Yong-Ho breathed in deeply to calm his embarrassment.
Side effect of the mana potion.
When he thought about it, it was reasonable. Not only does it recover the mana, but it also strengthens the mana itself.
It was normal for his body to be exhausted since he drank the mana potion several times whenever his mana ran out.
But still, two days?
“You don’t have to worry. The dungeon was peaceful during the past two days.”
Catalina said it with a smile, but Yong-Ho couldn’t smile.
The fact that he was talking with Catalina right now was proof that the dungeon wasn’t under attack during the past two days.
The only thing Yong-Ho had an issue with was the fact that he wasted time.
Two days.
It meant that it’s been four days since they brought down the Orcs that invaded the dungeon.
He didn’t have that much time left. He needed time to purchase various items within the shop by using the gold mine as collateral and building traps and facilities with those items.
Yong-Ho closed his eyes tightly.
He couldn’t erase the fact that he wasted time, but it already happened. Like always, Yong-Ho tried his best to think positively.
“What about the remaining Crazy Ants that were in the mine?”
“They ran away. The salamander burned all the eggs.”
“Dungeon Facility: The gold mine is now under your control, master.”
“It’s a bit slow right now, but gold is being produced again.”
The issue with the gold mine has been completely resolved.
But, he couldn’t immediately move to the next step. It’s because there was something he suddenly thought of.
“And Aamon?”
“Sir?”
“Aamon…are they currently in the gold mine?”
The Red Lotus Demon Lance, Aamon.
The legend says that anyone, other than the owner, that touches Aamon will burn to death.
He didn’t check to see if it was true, but he was sure that he was the only one that could touch Aamon.
Catalina answered with an awkward expression after hearing his question.
“We…did retrieve Aamon.”
“Huh? Really? There weren’t any issues even though I wasn’t the one touching it?”
Was the legend a lie?
‘No. Is it better to think that Aamon allowed it?’
Yong-Ho looked at Catalina with curiosity. Either Catalina was intimidated by his attention or she wasn’t sure how to answer, but a puzzling look appeared on her face.
“Well, you see…”
“Yeah?”
Catalina bit her lower lip and then fixed her posture. She looked straight at Yong-Ho and answered.
“Eligor separated the Queen Ant’s body and brought the body back to the throne room. When they arrived, Sir Aamon…no, Aamon burned the Queen Ant’s corpse all by themselves. It’s currently next to the throne.”
Since they couldn’t touch Aamon, they brought the Queen Ant’s corpse.
It was a good solution, but he couldn’t admire it. He had an idea why Catalina had the expression that she had now.
“Oh…okay.”
“Yes.”
Things became awkward between the demon and their guard, so they remained quiet for a moment. As the owner and the spirit, just by exchanging eye contact, they both thought about Eligor.
And then a few seconds later. Yong-Ho purposely let out a cough to wrap up the conversation and changed the subject.
“Where’s the Princess Ant that we brought?”
“They’re currently in the prison cell.”
Yong-Ho’s eyes became thin again.
“Eligor didn’t torture them, right?”
“Um…probably not. M-maybe.”
Yong-Ho didn’t answer confidently and a frown appeared on his face because he was feeling uneasy. He stood up from the bed and spoke.
“I’m going to the prison cell to look at the Princess Ant. You find Eligor and bring him there.”
“Yes, sir.”
She answered right away and exited the bedroom. Yong-Ho drank the water right out of the water jug and poured the remaining on his face to somewhat wash his face.
He quickly headed towards the prison cell.
Eligor and the Goblins were busy with construction work. The salamander, Skull and Treant were guarding the entrance so the space between the prison and Yong-Ho’s bedroom was completely empty.
However, since it was a prison, there was one spirit that acted as the ward.
“Wolf, wolf.”
When he arrived, the Kobold that was crouched in the corner quickly stood up. They must’ve been playing some sort of game because pebbles were rolling around their feet.
Yong-Ho acknowledged them by waving his hand and entered the prison. The bars were made from the bamboo that was left over from making the lance and beyond the bars, he saw the Princess Ant.
The Princess Ant looked like a little girl and seeing them curled up in the corner made him feel bad.
They seemed extremely tired because they were sleeping without moving much and a frown appeared on Yong-Ho’s face.
Since he didn’t really know how the Crazy Ants lived, he wasn’t so sure if this kind of treatment was okay, but in the human world, this was terrible treatment.
Their kingdom collapsed within a day, their mother almost ate them and their sister died because the Queen Ant ate them.
“The Queen Ant controls the colony, so if they’re gone, then the self-concept within them disappears. The Queen Ant thinks of those ants as nothing more than their hands and feet.”
“The Princess Ant is excluded from this. Because of that, the Queen Ant used the Princess Ant in order to recover their mana.”
“Other than the fact that she was scared of being eaten, the Princess Ant in the cell doesn’t remember much.”
The Spirit of the Dungeon softly spoke as if to mend Yong-Ho’s heart.
Yong-Ho nodded his head. And the one that subdued the Crazy Ants was Yong-Ho himself.
Only
It was an unfortunate situation, but there was no need to be deeply immersed in it.
“Can we try registering them as a dungeon spirit right now?”
“It’s possible, but I think it’s still too early.”
“In order to register a dungeon monster into a dungeon spirit, there is a need for them surrender. Currently, the Princess Ant is half unconscious, so it’s not impossible to forcefully register them as long as we use a good amount of mana, but there is a high chance that it may be extremely inefficient.”
“I believe it’ll be more efficient by keeping them in the cell for a couple days more and try registering them then.”
It was disappointing, but it was understandable.
His battle with Foras was getting closer, so he couldn’t just waste his mana. Even if he did register the Princess Ant as a spirit, there was nothing he would gain from it, so it was right to wait for the time being.
But, he wasn’t planning on neglecting them completely. While keeping his eyes on the Princess Ant, he activated the Power of Evolution.
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