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| ← Ch.083 | Ch.085 → |
~b~~u~Translator: Jen~/u~~/b~~b~~u~Editor: Zeroth Deuce~/u~~/b~
"Ophelia, the daughter of Endelyon, would like to have an audience with the owner of the great House of Mammon. Wehave a big problem."As soon as she landed, she ran into thedungeon and quickly kneeled before Yong-Ho. She stated the reason as to why shewas here after quickly greeting him.
"Calm down and drink some water."
When Yong-Ho handed her a cup of water, Ophelia became flustered, but managed to take the cup. She spoke more calmly."I apologize for showing that side ofmyself.""I'm sure you had your reasons foracting that way."Ophelia's eyes widened and then shedisplayed a bright smile for a moment when she heard him say that he trustedher. She spoke after activating the magic stone that she had already taken out."I will explain the situation first."
The small, purple magic stone releaseda light and displayed a map in the air. It was the map of the empty land."A large number of owners in the westhave unified in order to go against Embrio. While, Embrio has also unified withtroops in the west to go against them. A big war will happen very soon. There'sa chance that Embrio's power will crumble through this war."Information was displayed on the map. There were about 11 houses that hadunified to go against Embrio. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that almost allthe houses in the west were participating. A fight between the north and west. Asa spectator, it didn't matter who won. It wasn't going to be an easy fight andthe winner would definitely suffer some injuries. 'Or, is this type of war different?'That would often happen in fightsbetween humans. But in the demon world, and between demon kings that ruleddungeons, the fights were a bit different. They may lose their spirits, butthere's also a chance that the winner would become stronger after consuming thespirit of the defeated owner.
This aspect of the battle was veryimportant. If the group that fought against Embrio wins, it would put Yong-Hoat an advantage.
The war between the northern andwestern region was so important that it would decide the future of the entireempty region. But Ophelia wouldn't have rushed over here just because of that.
As expected, when Ophelia manipulatedthe map, instead of focusing on the northern and western region, she insteadzoomed into the southern region.
"While the northern and western regionare fighting amongst themselves, the owners in the eastern region are fightingamongst themselves instead of attacking Embrio. And one of the owners from thatgroup is targeting the southern region."
She zoomed in again. It was safe to saythat she was only showing the southern region now."Thanks to you, Jungceros and Forasdisappeared at the same time, so it's safe to say that there's a gap in power. The House of Laura, the neighbor of the House of Foras, is keeping quiet andthe daughter of Junceros is having a hard time controlling her house."
Out of the three houses that werearound the Free city, one of them had disappeared while the other two wherehaving a difficult time controlling their dungeons. The fact that Yong-Ho brought down bothJungceros and Foras hadn't been known yet, so it was obvious that there wouldbe a gap in power. Some of the owners would want to take this opportunity totake advantage of the southern region.
"Agares, an owner in the easternregion, is targeting the southern region. He is so strong that several ownershave already surrendered their dungeons to him."The three dungeons that were located inthe eastern region glowed at the same time. Those were the dungeons that Agareswas controlling."Is Agares targeting the House ofMammon?"
Ophelia bit her lips when Yong-Hoasked. She replied a few minutes later."In the end, yes, but... Agares iscurrently targeting the Free City."It was an unexpected answer, so Yong-Hotilted his head without knowing. Ophelia then explained further.
"Powerful owners with large dungeonstend to claim the areas around their dungeon as their territory. The Free Citycan be considered a place that doesn't have a demon king or a dungeon.""It's definitely an appealing place.""Yes, and there's a lot of spirits thatare living in the Free City. And the Free City can also be used as a base whenattacking the dungeons near it."
The second explanation was probably thereason. The Free City was the perfect basesince it allowed the attackers to attack the many dungeons that were near it."How are the rulers of the Free Cityreacting?""As you already know, three powersexist within the Free City. The bar that I'm controlling, the group of outlaws, and the guild for workers. The leaders of the outlaws and the guild are sayingthat we should fight. As a spirit of the House of Mammon, I was planning onfollowing your orders, but... I've already told the two leaders that I agreedwith their decision."
He had an idea as to why Ophelia hadrushed here. When Yong-Ho didn't say anything, Eligor spoke carefully."I'm surprised the two leaders saidthat."Yong-Ho wasn't able to understand. After Eligor looked at Ophelia, he spoke to Yong-Ho."It's obvious that they want to protecttheir position, but their life is on the line. I'm not trying to look down onOphelia, but the rulers of the Free City believe that their life is moreimportant than honor."They weren't owners or spirits thatwere tied to a certain location. If the opponent was too strong, surrenderingwas the best plan. Ophelia, who was one of the rulers, agreed."Eligor is right. Usually, they wouldthink about surrendering rather than fighting for their lives. Because Agaresreally is that strong. But despite that, there's a reason as to why they'vedecided to fight."
Ophelia paused. After gulping, shestarted to talk again."Agares is a cannibal demon. He's moreof an evil spirit than a demon in human form. If the rulers surrendered to him, not only would he consume their spirits, but he would eat them as well. Whilethose working under them would also share the same fate. All the owners thathave already surrendered to Agares have ended up that way."Surrendering was no longer an option iftheir life couldn't be saved. Yong-Ho asked again."What about running away?""They're rulers that have followers. And the Free City has been their homes for a long time... running away withouttrying to fight is unreasonable."Ophelia was a spirit that belonged tothe House of Mammon and was also the owner of the pub. Because of that, shefelt the same way as the other rulers."Agares can be considered as thesmaller version of Embrio. The owners in the southern region consider both astheir enemies. Because of that, the two rulers are thinking about asking theowners nearby for their help."It meant that they were going to worktogether to fight against Agares. Yong-Ho looked at the map again. Hedidn't say it out loud, but he only saw one owner that was willing to help therulers of the Free City.
Ophelia knew what Yong-Ho was thinkingabout. Even if Ophelia wasn't a spirit that belonged to the House of Mammon, she probably would've been standing in this same spot."Like I've mentioned before, thedaughter of Jungceros is unable to control her house, which is unexpected. Andthere's a high chance that Laura will remain quiet. Most importantly... it'simportant to question whether the owner of the House of Laura even has thepower to go against Agares."
The powerful Foras and Jungceros didn'texist anymore. But a new powerful figure had emerged.
"The other two rules are expecting alot from the Demon King of Fire. And as we already know each other, I came hereon behalf of the rulers of the Free City."According to Ophelia's information, Agares was a figure Yong-Ho was going to have to go up against eventually. If the groups in the Free City becamehis ally, then this could be his chance. But Agares was targeting the Free City, not the House of Mammon. It wasn't a dungeon where traps were going to beinstalled in different areas. There was a high chance that this was going to besomething like the Korean War. This was going to be totally differentfrom the previous battles he had experienced. It was a big war between large groups.
"Ophelia, how much do we have leftuntil Agares attacks the Free City?"
"I can't say exactly, but earliest willbe 10 days and the latest will be 15 days."
She was thinking about the amount oftime Agares needed to move his troops. Yong-Ho then asked a different question.
"And what about the strength of the twogroups? Are they similar to the pub's?""They're pretty similar. Having a largeamount of outlaws is an advantage and even though the workers lack fightingexperience, but along with the Gigantes, they have several tools that can beused in the fight.""Gigantes?""It's a war weapon that can be drivenwith mana. Um... you can think of it as a large Living Armor or... Golem."Yong-Ho's eyes started sparkling whenhe heard the explanation, causing Ophelia to stop talking. Yong-Ho coughed to stop daydreaming andthen started counting. Before making a decision, he asked his last question."Ophelia, what do you think?"Ophelia fixed her posture. She lookedat Yong-Ho with a serious expression."Agares is an enemy you're eventuallygoing to have to face. I'm saying this as the spirit of the House of Mammon, not as the owner of the pub, but I recommend that you use the Free City andfight Agares. If you win this battle, you'll not only have taken Agares down, but the Free City will be in your hands."The other two rulers would've stood upif they heard this. Ophelia was thinking about what would happen after the fightwith Agares. The other two rulers were thinkingabout the same outcome. However, unlike them, Ophelia showed her loyalty toYong-Ho as the spirit of the House of Mammon, not as the owner of the pub. Yong-Ho looked at the others. Starting with Rikum, they gave theiropinions."This is your chance to use the FreeCity's power. I agree with Ophelia.""I'm worried because you have to gooutside of the dungeon to fight, but... I also agree."Rikum and Eligor agreed. Instead ofgiving her opinion, Catalina bowed to Yong-Ho and spoke in a deep voice.
"I'll protect you with my life, sir."She was going to follow him no matterwhat kind of decision Yong-Ho made. Yong-Ho looked at Skull last and Skullplaced the war hammer on his chest and roared."Skulllll, Skullll!"Yong-Ho didn't know what he said, buthe knew what Skull meant."Great, I'll meet with the rulers ofthe Free City. Ophelia, please prepare the meeting."Yong-Ho gave his orders. The spiritsthat were in that room all bowed to Yong-Ho. They replied loudly."Master, we will obey your commands." ***After hearing that Yong-Ho was going toleave in two days, Ophelia immediately left the House of Mammon. Her job was to bring the two rulers tothe meeting as well as creating a defence.
After seeing Ophelia leave, Yong-Hodecided to rest. The situation was moving along fast, so Yong-Ho had to movequickly as well. He would still have time to meet Sitri after everything hadbeen taken care of. Like Ophelia mentioned, Agares wasgoing to attack in 10 days. 10 days was a bit tight since he had tonegotiate with the rulers as well as help with setting up the defence. Despite that, Yong-Ho decided to leavetwo days later instead of leaving with Ophelia. It wasn't because the House of Mammonneeded time to prepare for the battle.
One day after Ophelia's visit. Yong-Ho and Catalina headed to Kaiwan'sbreak room. He opened the secret passageway that led to Mammon's Arena. He had one day. He wanted to get as strong as possiblebefore encountering the powerful Agares and the other rulers of the Free City. The man wearing a beast-shaped maskguided Yong-Ho. Once he arrived, Gusion, who was wearing a white suit, greetedhim.
"You came earlier than I thought. Kaiwan needed a week to start the next floor."Gusion was slowly starting to annoy him.
He was sure that Gusion liked him. Gusion actually had high expectations, unlike before. The reason why hementioned Kaiwan was to provoke him a little and help him use more of hispower. Although it was a relief that he didn't bring Kaiwan with him. But he still didn't like Gusion. 'Someday. 'He'll save Kaiwan and make Gusion oneof his subordinates. Yong-Ho glared at Gusion. He thenrevealed the reason for his visit."I would like to try the Arena's secondfloor.""Sure."Gusion pointed at the stadium whilelaughing. The second Floor Master was waiting.
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~u~ Announcements ~/u~
~u~ 1. Editing Past Chapters ~/u~
I'm considering editing past chapters of Dungeon Maker to improve their readability since there has been soon many complaints about them. I've already talked to'Light Novel Bastion' and they've agreed to it. So I'll probably have them all re-edited in the few weeks. Please let me know what you guys think and if you think it's worth my time to attract new readers to this novel.
~u~ 2. Discord ~/u~
You may have noticed that I've finally created a Discord channel, which I humbly (and desperately:D) urge you to join since I'll be posting more frequent updates on there about: chapter progress, release dates and any future novels that I plan to do.
Finally, I hoped you enjoyed this latest chapter. Things are starting to get good, so make sure to stay tuned for the next few releases:D.
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