novelDungeon Breakthrough (3)
| ← Ch.172 | Ch.174 → |
Yong-ho's transaction in the virtual space was over. His connection with it was also lost. Instead of opening his eyes right away, he thought of something that he put off as an afterthought.
Samael used honorifics when speaking to Sitri. And Sitri sent back none other than Samael in a few seconds, one of the five directors of the Dungeon Market.
'Is Sitri also one of the five directors?'
If so, Sitri's usual joke about describing herself as a "big guy" at the Dungeon Market was true.
Well, it was natural if he came to think about it.
Sitri was Mammon's lover, the King of Greed. This meant that she was one of the giant dungeon spirits that lived for over a thousand years. There was nothing wrong with her even if she was called one of the five directors of the Dungeon Market.
So, Yong-ho didn't bother much because his ties with her wouldn't change anyway even if Sitri was one of the five directors or not.
'Five directors... At least Samael doesn't know Sitri's relationship with Mammon. And Sitri wants to hide it... '
Although there were some assumptions in his thinking like that, his conclusion was quite reasonable. He thought about one more thing.
A master's frequent meeting with Sitri. How would it affect his deal if it was known that a master meets Sitri often?
'Am I too worried?'
Maybe it was meaningless. If something urgent really had happened, Sitri would have sent him back, not Samael.
'But. '
It was clear that he was bothered by Sitri's action. He even felt that he was attracting Sitri's unnecessary attention.
'Whatever. '
Yong-ho opened his eyes. He gently shook his head to put it out of his mind. The immediate task for him was to occupy the eastern area.
"Are you back?"
"Did you buy a lot of cheap stuff? What about my gift?"
Catalina and Kaiwan asked as if they were waiting for him. Instead of replying, Yong-ho looked for Eligos and Ophelia to discuss some practical matters.
Two days later, Yong-ho started to attack Stravadi's dungeon.
There were two ways to attack the dungeon.
One of them was to just blindly dispatch a huge number of troops to neutralize the traps inside the dungeon and take over it.
The other was to properly attack the dungeon by infiltrating the elite force.
Most of the masters preferred the first option compared to the second if they could afford it, even if their damage was heavy.
Attacking a dungeon was completely unpredictable to any attacker. On the other hand, a dungeon was the ultimate home ground for the defenders.
It was dangerous to send an elite force to such a place. What if the elite dungeon spirits fall into an unexpected trap and get killed? They were different from low-quality spirits that could be easily obtained with money. There was a high possibility that the elite spirits could not be obtained even with money. Moreover, if the killed spirits were put to service as dungeon spirits, they would deal a considerable blow to the dungeon master.
For this reason, the attack on the dungeons in the demon world was often carried out in the following ways—they send a large-scale force of low quality to neutralize the defenders' traps and collect information on the inside of the dungeon. After that, an elite force could pass through the incapacitated trap zone, destroy the defenders' force, and occupy the dungeon.
Generally speaking, when attackers devised tactics, the defenders also prepared their own tactics. But the attackers changed their tactics too often, so the defenders changed the dungeons accordingly.
As for the traps, those with a wide range of effectiveness and specialization in slaughter were preferred to those with high power and accuracy. And the structure of the dungeon was changed in a way that was easier to deal with a large number of attackers rather than a small one, so they could trap them all at once.
But there was one thing that didn't change.
What was the most annoying and difficult thing when attacking a dungeon?
Yong-ho, who had not much experience in attacking dungeons, could easily answer that question. It was because anybody could easily answer it if they thought about the PC games they used to enjoy during their middle and high school days.
The answer to this question was getting lost in the dungeon. In other words, the attackers keep wandering about in the same place because they couldn't find the right way.
Demon King Aurpasso, who was famous for making dungeons in the past, said, "The best and worst dungeon is the labyrinth."
Stravadi, always reliant on rational thinking, turned his dungeon into a labyrinth.
His dungeon was huge, above all. It was large enough to hold three to four dungeons, compared with a typical dungeon in the southern area. Moreover, the passages inside were complicated. They were not just a motley of crossroads. Stravadi could change its internal structure in real-time.
Of course, due to more variability and more complicated passages, the durability of the dungeon wall could be problematic for the dungeon owner. But Stravadi solved this problem in a very simple way. He expanded the dungeon site. If the dungeon site was wide enough to create a complex passage with walls of sufficient thickness and strength, he would not have to worry about it.
It was only Stravadi, the designer of the dungeon, who perfectly understood the dungeon structure. The dungeon spirits knew no more than the zone assigned to them.
Stravadi, located in the Demon King's room in the deepest part of the dungeon, believed in his dungeon, a labyrinth that he built with utmost efforts. So, as always, he devised a rational and simple strategy.
The House of Mammon was now the only enemy to Stravadi. If he defeated its master, he would achieve everything. That was why he spared no time and effort to win in this battle.
His strategy was to reduce the combat power of the House of Mammon and wear them out. He was ready to use all his available dungeon spirits and traps for that purpose.
A true labyrinth didn't allow for the attackers' entry but also their exit. So, once the attackers were lured into entering the dungeon, half the battle was already over.
Stravadi intended to lure the master of the House of Mammon and his dungeon spirits into his dungeon and kill them slowly.
That was his plan, which he had to carry out, and by all means at that!
"But how could they break through it?"
Stravadi asked in a low voice. Instead of expressing anger, he gave it a serious thought.
He tried to understand the unreasonable situation unfolding before his eyes right now.
Stravadi's dungeon spirits, who were called the four knights of the east, also could not hide their embarrassment. What was happening in the dungeon map that the souls of the dungeon opened in the air were completely beyond Stravadi's expectations.
The infiltration troops of the House of Mammon were advancing straight ahead inside the dungeon. Straight, without any hesitation or wandering, they were advancing through the shortest route straight.
Even the structural change of the dungeon itself, Stravadi's pride, was not functioning. When he changed the route by manipulating the forks and part of the passage, the infiltrating force of the Mammon family changed the route accordingly.
The four knights did not fully understand the structure of the dungeon. However, they partly knew that there were limits to structural changes. Moreover, the Mammon family's infiltrating forces found and destroyed the core structures that were subject to change.
By doing so, they gradually reduced the room for Stravadi's changing the dungeon itself.
Stravadi's dungeon was no longer a labyrinth. It was just a simple one-way dungeon.
Moreover, that wasn't the only problem.
Yong-ho did not dispatch a large unit into the dungeon. He sent a relatively small number of only 40 members there. Besides, it wasn't just ordinary dungeon spirits that attacked at the forefront. Each of them was the dungeon spirit of the Mammon family with tremendous power.
Neither the traps nor Stravadi's dungeon spirits could not stop them. The passage, which was inevitably narrow because it was a labyrinth, rather empowered the dungeon spirits of the House of Mammon. Stravadi's dungeon spirits had to confront the enemies they couldn't deal with properly. They could not make use of anything like a numerical advantage in this fight.
Of course, to prepare for this kind of situation, there was always supposed to be a "gathering place" in the dungeon, along with a "special force" specialized in destroying the enemy's elite force.
Stravadi's special force was strong. Trained only for the purpose of fighting at the gathering place, they could defeat any outside attackers, who were twice as strong as they were.
But there was one problem.
The dungeon spirits of the House of Mammon were strong and too strong at that. It was no exaggeration to say that they were strong enough to be called the Masters' Alliance, rather Strong Masters' Alliance.
Stravadi's labyrinth was neutralized. The traps and dungeon spirits there were incapacitated. He could stick it out if only one of them was functioning because he had sized up the power of the House of Mammon early on. But when both of them proved useless before Yong-ho's forces, he could do nothing to defend against them. Even this time, his combat calculations went wrong. Stravadi opened his eyes. Once again, he repressed his anger and stood up from the throne. The risk of his next strategy was high because he failed to wear down the Mammon forces, contrary to his expectations, but he had to carry it out. He had no other choice.
"We're going to destroy them one by one. Everybody, stand by in your position!"
At his order, the four knights swallowed in extreme tension then hurriedly got out of the demon king's room.
Under his plan, he intended to capture each of the dungeon spirits of the Mammon family then kill those powerful enough to equal the head of the masters' coalition to weaken the master of the House of Mammon while growing his own power.
'First of all, let me get rid of that gray-haired girl. '
| ← Ch. 172 | Ch. 174 → |