novel
| ← Ch.081 | Ch.083 → |
~b~~u~Translator: Jen~/u~~/b~
~b~~u~Editor: Zeroth Deuce~/u~~/b~
"She's... alive?"
"Did you see her at the Arena?!"
They both stood up at the same time, but the emotions in their voices were different.
Ophelia sounded shocked, butaffectionate. It was quite different from Eligor's shocked reaction. Opheliacouldn't control her feelings. This type of excitement that she felt wasdifferent from the other ones she had expressed before. She sat down andmumbled to herself.
"Oh my. Oh my gosh. She's..."
Ophelia has never met Kaiwan before.
But she was the daughter of Endelyeon, the one that admired Kaiwan. She heard a lot of stories from her father andnaturally, she started admiring Kaiwan as well.
Ophelia recalled her father's face. Heleft because Cayenne, Kaiwan's brother, was weak, but he couldn't forget aboutthe House of Mammon. She remembered him saying that the House of Mammon wasgoing to rise up again after watching it fall.
What would she say if she met Kaiwan?
That her father abandoned her brother?That he left the House of Mammon because it wasn't up to his standard?
She wasn't scared of Kaiwan's anger. She was scared of facing her sadness.
Kaiwan would probably understand. Ifshe was the Kaiwan that Ophelia knew, she would say that she knew he was goingto leave.
Kaiwan wrote a letter in case shedisappeared and in that letter, she mentioned that if Endelyeon left, she wouldrespect his decision.
But, but still!
Ophelia was extremely worried.
She came up with an excuse.
Endelyeon was extremely heartbrokenwhen Kaiwan disappeared, so he wondered around in the empty wilderness for along time. When he returned with the young Ophelia, the House of Mammon hadalready fallen.
And if he didn't leave?
Then the dungeon monsters wouldn't havetaken the armory and the gold mine.
Even though Cayenne was a weak owner, the House of Mammon still wouldn't have fallen that much.
The excuse no longer sounded like anexcuse.
Yong-Ho couldn't read all of Ophelia'sfeelings. But, he had a feeling. Whenever she greeted him, she mentioned herfather's name. She respected and loved him that much, so it was only naturalthat she would be shaken up after hearing that Kaiwan was alive.
"The Arena rewards the competitor whenthey clear the floor, but there's a punishment if they lose. The punishment canget worse depending on the floor, but... I think Kaiwan became part of the Arenaas punishment for losing."
Ophelia used Yong-Ho's voice as a guideand after managing to calm down, she bit her lips.
Yong-Ho continued talking.
"It's not just Kaiwan. I can't confirmit, but I think there's more. I think out of all the House of Mammon's owners, most of the ones that disappeared may be in the Arena."
Eligor kept on gulping. He recalled theHouse of Mammon's family tree. Kaiwan wasn't the only owner that had suddenlydisappeared.
If what Yong-Ho said about the ownerswas true, then.
And if there were spirits at the Arenathat were strong enough to take down those owners, then.
"Gusion, the manager of the Arena, saidthis. If I clear every floor of the Arena, then I'll be able to control all thespirits that are serving in the Arena."
Yong-Ho spoke. Eligor and Ophelia, whowere still shocked by the news, had huge reactions.
"Gusion, the one with superhumanstrength."
Ophelia said his name as if she wassighing. Eligor yelled as he clenched his fist.
"One of Mammon's 12 spirits. Thestrongest one. Out of all the Red Demons, he's known to be the strongest one inhistory!"
That was Gusion.
He was so strong, that he was known asthe strongest Red Demon in history.
"I apologize for my immature behavior. But... but it's hard to not react to that news. If you were able to complete theArena... and if you're able to control all the spirits that are in the Arena..."
"He'll even be able to go against thesix kings that are controlling the demon world."
Ophelia finished Eligor's sentence.
It wasn't an exaggeration.
Having Gusion under his control wouldbe a huge success. And if the previous owners and the spirits that defeatedthem were under his control, then!
Just imagining it made him excited. Itmade him shudder.
However, Catalina didn't seem excitedat all during the conversation. Her ears actually looked weak. It was easy totell that she was worried.
That sight calmed Eligor down.
He had forgotten about the dangers itcould cause because he was so focused on the big prize.
Kaiwan and the other owners were in theArena because they had failed.
The same thing could happen to Yong-Hoas well.
The excitement that Eligor feltdisappeared.
He sat back down and when he slightlymoved his mouth, Yong-Ho waited for him to speak.
Moments later, Eligor managed to talk.
"Are you planning on going back to theArena? Like Kaiwan?"
"That's right."
Yong-Ho answered camly. Yong-Ho hadalready thought about all the things that both Ophelia and Eligor were thinkingabout.
Of course, he wasn't going to gowithout a plan.
But that didn't mean he was going toback out.
He wanted to get stronger through theArena.
He wanted to rescue Kaiwan.
"I understand. Eligor the butler willfollow you, sir."
Eligor spoke seriously and Yong-Hodisplayed a warm smile. The spirits were really worried about him, so Yong-Hobrought up another topic.
"Those are the two announcements that Ihad for you guys. Next is something a bit different."
Yong-Ho stopped talking for a momentand turned his head. Everyone else followed Yong-Ho and looked in the samedirection.
"Skullll?"
Skull tilted its head. Yong-Ho took outa scroll.
***
As he created the Skull Army, Yong-Honaturally inspected different types of Skeletons.
Of course each Skeleton had differentpersonalities. The potential evolution and the advancement routes were proof ofthat.
But as a race, they shared the samecharacteristics.
Skeletons were undead monsters thatwere made out of bones. Skeleton Workers were the lowest rank and Death Knightand Elder Lich were the highest rank, but they all belonged to the Skeletonrace. Bone Dragons were technically part of this race too.
Lower rank Skeletons rarely had aconscious.
Skull was a rare case because it had anego despite starting out as a mere Skeleton Worker. Skeleton Soldier was rightabove the Skeleton Warrior and their ego was about the same as a Golem.
Among the Skeletons that were in theSkull Army, there was one that barely had an ego despite being a SkeletonWarrior.
Yong-Ho was standing in the corner ofthe library and he ripped the Skeleton Mage scroll that he earned from theArena.
Even though he didn't use his mana, thescroll still activated the magic.
White and blue lights appeared. The twocolors started spinning in the air like a distortion and as it spun faster, itreleased another strong light.
A Skeleton stood where the light was. Like the other Skeletons, it looked like a human.
"Skeleton Mage?"
Despite being a Red Demon, Ophelia wasknown to be the strongest mage in the House of Mammon and she noticed howspecial the Skeleton Mage was.
Yong-Ho nodded his head. The scrollused the remaining mana and displayed letters of light in the air. It wasn'tlike the message that Lucia displayed. They were letters used in the demonworld.
[Skeleton Mage]
[Thunder]
[Magic Ability: Enchant Magic (Thunder)/ Lightning Arrow]
Just like the other Skeletons, the mageprobably didn't have an ego because it just stood there.
Ophelia spoke.
"A Skeleton Mage is a spirit that'sonly created through a special order. It's impossible for them to learn newmagic, but they're very skilled in the magic they already know. Since theydon't really have an ego, they're required detailed instructions, but withEnchant Magic and Lightning Arrow... I believe it'll increase our fightingpower."
Enchant Magic enveloped a weapon withthunder and Lightning Arrow was a arrow that released magic shaped likelightning.
But Yong-Ho wasn't going to besatisfied with just that. If he were to only use the mage for its magicalpowers, then Greed wouldn't have reacted to that scroll.
Yong-Ho activated the Power ofEvolution. He looked at Skull and noticed that after it became an Iron SkeletonKnight, the Mid-Rank Training Ground didn't really help in increasing hisdevelopment rate.
A light appeared. The light connectedSkull to the Skeleton Mage. The words that Yong-Ho was expecting were showingup in the box of light.
[Skeleton Magic Knight]
A unison between the Skeletons.
On top of that, the Skeleton Mage had alow ego. Skull had a strong ego even when it was a Skeleton Worker, so there'sno way that the Skeleton Mage would consume Skull.
He did think about evolving theSkeleton Mage, but decided that this was the best route.
For warrior spirits, increasing theirphysical strength was enough, but for magic spirits, it was important that theylearned new spells. There was no guarantee that the mage would learn a newspell if Yong-Ho evolved it. And if the Skeleton Mage's ego became strongerafter the evolution, then things could turn out differently than what Yong-Hohad imagined.
This unison was an investment for thefuture and also a test.
And since he didn't have plans tocreate a High-Rank Training Ground anytime soon, he had saved the developmentrate for just this moment. And it was time.
"Ready?"
Yong-Ho asked Skull. Since this wasSkull's third time, Skull answered without any hesitation.
"Skullll!"
This was the first time Ophelia wasseeing a unison, so she didn't know what Yong-Ho was going to do. Catalina andEligor smiled and took a few steps back.
"Master? Eligor?"
Eligor grabbed the confused Ophelia andpulled her back. He made sure that she stepped back far enough so that Yong-Hohad enough space.
Yong-Ho raised his hands. He placed hishands on Skull and the Skeleton Mage's shoulders and drew out the dungeon'smana through Lucia. He poured a large amount of mana into both spirits.
Unity Evolution.
A large, green light appeared. And whenthat light disappeared, a Skeleton Knight enveloped in blue light was standingbefore them.
Ophelia's eyes widened when she feltthe Skeleton Mage's mana from Skull. She didn't say anything and just looked atYong-Ho, Eligor and Skull.
Excluding the mana that was needed tomanage the dungeon, Yong-Ho used nearly all of it. He took his hands off ofSkull and carefully called his name.
"Skull?"
"Skullllll!"
Skull answered energetically, thengrabbed the hammer and raised it up high and casted a spell.
Enchant Magic!
A blue thunder enveloped the hammer.
The Skeleton Mage's mana was added ontop of the mana that Skull already had. And Skull understood how to control thenew power.
Skull swung his hammer that wasenveloped in thunder and then pointed it towards an empty part of the library.
Thunder was released from the hammer. It was the Lightning Arrow.
"Oh! Ohhhhh!"
When Yong-Ho exclaimed, Skull swung thehammer in the air again. Skull was going to show this during the Skull Army'straining.
Every time Skull swung the hammer, thesound of thunder filled the air. Because there was a spark, it sounded like asmall thunderbolt.
Yong-Ho was extremely satisfied. Hewhispered to Catalina, who was standing next to him.
"I'll give the Nightmare to Skull. You're okay with that, right?"
Catalina, who was competing againstSkull over ownership of the horse-shaped spirit, nodded. Skull was the leaderof the Skeleton Army and on top of that, Skull was now a mage that had theability to cast spells, so giving the Nightmare to Skull seemed like the bestchoice.
When Catalina happily approved, Yong-Holooked at Skull happily. The final goal he had in mind for Skull's changes.
Death Knight?
No.
A being that mixed the Death Knight'spower and the Lich's mana. The first Undead Magic Knight!
Just imagining it made him proud.
***
That night, Ophelia left the House ofMammon like she had planned and returned to the Free City. She would bereturning a few days later. They decided to register her the next time shereturned.
After Yong-Ho finished eating with thespirits, he returned to his bedroom and took out Kaiwan's journal. He wanted tocheck the information about the Arena.
But after turning a few pages.
Yong-Ho's hand stopped. Instead oflooking through the journal, he took out a different book.
Cayenne's record.
Cayenne's journal.
He recalled the face Kaiwan made whenshe asked about her brother. Yong-Ho opened Cayenne's journal.
He slowly read the information writtenthere.
~u~ Missing Chapter ~/u~
Hey everyone,
I haven't yet finished the missing chapter (53. 5) but should have it finished soon, and will publish it alongside chapter 81 in a couple days. Sorry for the delay.
| ← Ch. 081 | Ch. 083 → |