novelSkirmish (4)
| ← Ch.127 | Ch.129 → |
Eligos couldn't say anything with a stupid expression, and Yong-ho, a real man who graduated from an all-male middle school, high-school, and college, just blinked.
'Wow... '
On the other hand, Catalina, Yuria, and Lucia moaned in admiration.
Alarmed by their reaction, Yong-ho suddenly came to his senses. He felt there was something these women should not have learned from Ophelia's interaction with Eligos, but it was too late. Eligos, who was moving his lips without saying anything, turned to Yong-ho. Again, he was desperately signaling him for help, but Yong-ho ignored it at once. Paying particular attention to Catalina and Yuria, he walked ahead and left the training field.
'Ophelia... scary girl. '
Shaking his head from side to side, Yong-ho looked back at Catalina slightly. As if she discovered something new, moved by the romantic interaction between Eligos and Ophelia, Catalina's gleaming eyes seemed very dangerous.
And two days later, Yong-ho met Skull, who hastily returned from the House of Randolt, and headed underground with all of his dungeon spirits.
They were in front of the second floor of the Labyrinth of Greed.
They launched the attack on the "Gate of Hell, " the massacre demon Baphomet's place.
~hr /~
The first floor of the Labyrinth of Greed, 'The Garden of Life, ' was literally a garden.
Therefore, it was as good as an open place. With no facilities to defend against the enemy, there was only a beautiful scenery that suited the castle of the great king.
However, the second floor, "Gate of Hell, " was different.
Indeed, this was the beginning of the Castle of the Demon King.
It was the first door at the end of the beautiful garden. Regardless of an ally or an enemy, anyone who wanted to enter the Labyrinth of the King of Greed must pass it.
The passage connecting the first and second floors was very huge. It was no exaggeration to say that the whole room located in the opposite direction from Scthach's room was a passage leading to the second floor.
When they passed through a huge arch door decorated with trees, vines and colorful flowers, a staircase wide enough for dozens to pass at the same time appeared before them. A film of soft mana blocked the space between the first and second floors, so it was impossible to discern what space was under the stairs.
Yong-ho came here with the minimum number of dungeon spirits he selected in person.
They were four dungeon spirits of the House of Mammon, Salami, Bucephalas, and four skeleton knights that stood out among Skull's squad.
Under the influence of the "Enkatro Pegnium, " a huge mountain on the dungeon of the Mammon family, called the end of the world, those dungeon monsters were far more powerful than the normal dungeons that appeared in the House of Mammon. And this tendency got worse as they went down to the deep floor.
On the second floor, there would probably be dungeon monsters more powerful than those on the first floor. Moreover, since the second floor was an entrance, it was highly likely that traps were installed, unlike the first floor.
When she met Yong-ho, Scathach did not specifically mention the structure of the second floor or the traps installed. However, she recommended that he take only the elite members rather than mobilizing a motley group.
Going about 10 meters down the stairs, he stood in front of a canopy of subtle mana. The stairs also ran down to the canopy as if they stretched down the lake.
Yong-ho didn't bother to look back. After smiling at himself, he stepped beyond the canopy.
He felt as if he dipped his feet in the water. Instead of stopping, he speeded up.
He quickly crossed the canopy and entered the second floor.
The air changed.
It was different from its freshness on the first floor. It was quite different from the Garden of Life that made him feel that it was cute despite its vastness for it contained a mountain, a field, and a lake.
It was such a huge space.
The whole second floor was a huge space. The ceiling was over forty meters high, and the floor was real earth, not stone. Beyond the wilderness reminiscent of the Free City was erected a truly massive castle wall.
It was exactly as Scathach said.
Yong-ho didn't think that the space he was standing now was inside the dungeon.
He almost made a forced smile at the vastness of the second floor.
"Oh my God!"
Catalina, who passed through the canopy after Yong-ho, opened her mouth wide.
She decided she would not be surprised no matter what she saw, but she never imagined that she would face the vast wilderness and high walls before her eyes.
To talk about its functions alone, it was like the "gathering place" on the first floor of the house of Mammon. In other words, it was like a combat space where they secured a large space first to block the enemies with defense facilities.
The only difference was the size of the space.
If Yong-ho made the gathering place, assuming the fight among a few dozens, the second floor of the Labyrinth of Greed assumed thousands. Rather, it seemed possible to assume tens of thousands of forces at this scale.
Eligos, who crossed the canopy after Catalina, kept gulping at the spectacular scene.
He couldn't even imagine that there would be a place like this in the basement of the Hosue of Mammon where he had been staying for decades. He was aware there was a basement, but he just thought there were literally several basements.
Moreover, this was not the end. This was only the second floor.
'13th floor. '
Yong-ho got goosebumps at the thought of it. It was the thing of the distant past, more than a thousand years ago, but Yong-ho could feel how powerful the House of Mammon was in the past.
"Let's go."
Yong-ho could not afford to be overwhelmed. He came here to conquer the second floor, not for sightseeing.
Salami, who was already embarrassed in the Garden of Life, opened his eyes wide. Bucephalas also went down the stairs with a confused look.
There was a wilderness of about a hundred tens of meters from the end of the stairs to the wall. The wall was in contact with the ceiling. Therefore, the only way to enter the castle was to destroy the gate or the wall.
After getting on Salami's back, Yong-ho looked far away. There were many large and small scars on the gray wall that looked as strong as deep-rooted trees. There were a lot of embrasures for a long-range attack, and there were a couple of stone statues of a fierce-looking giant on the left and right side of the huge castle gate, which seemed to be 20 meters high.
When Yong-ho looked closely, there weren't only two statues. Stone statues in the shape of giants or monsters were seen at regular intervals. Some were so severely damaged that they could not be identified.
The statues were still far away, but they were so huge that Yong-ho could only recognize shapes roughly. Catalina and Eligos once again expressed pure admiration.
But Yong-ho was different. From the moment he saw the stone statues, he felt a strange anxiety.
'No way. '
At that moment, he saw something else. The flow of mana that was being released from the wall engulfed the statues.
Vast space and wide ramparts.
Would Yong-ho deal with the invading enemy with long-range weapons? Was there no other way than opening the wall for the hand-to-hand fighting?
He got the answer soon. The stone statues standing on the left and right of the castle gate took a huge step.
They didn't roar or shout. Their giant stomping replaced it. The ground was shaken sonorously, which was as good as an earthquake.
The stone statues saw Yong-ho at the same time. Then they rushed at him immediately.
"Let's go!" Yong-ho yelled.
It was not a retreat order. He had Salami spread the wings of flame.
There were four stone statues on the move.
In the past, they would have run away without fighting, but they would not now. Just the huge stone statues alone could not stop Yong-ho himself and his dungeon spirits.
Salami flapped the wings hugely. The dungeon spirits triggered Brigada at once.
Catalina spread her wings made of black mana and defended Yong-ho, who soared, scattering flames.
Eligos and Ophelia kicked off the ground at the same time. They concentrated mana on their fists and legs. At the same time, they revealed their horns.
"Skull!"
Skull lifted the battle hammer. The battle hammer, reborn in Burgrim's hand, did not simply save Skull's lightning strike. The lightning spell cast on the battle hammer itself strengthened Skull's lightning strike.
Bucephalas charged at them. The members of Skull's squad who got on their respective Nightmare horse followed their captain and raised their magic weapons.
It was only a hundred meters of distance between them.
The moment they ran toward each other, there occurred the first collision.
Ignoring the giants, Yong-ho flew toward the city gate.
Catalina, who was separated from Yong-ho after soaring, saw the stone statue on the left. She strongly wished she could stand near Yong-ho. As the escort knight for the King of Greed, she wanted to stand by him. She needed the power to do it. She needed the power to be able to walk with him side by side!
The darkness of greed rose from Catalina's fingertips. In an instant, it became huge before turning into a black blade. The stone statue could not attack Catalina. It was impossible for the statue to even look back at her passing by its side at a tremendous speed.
The stone statue's head fell to the floor. The moment it slid along a cleanly cut surface and touched the ground, Eligos and Ophelia threw their punches at it.
Bang!
Although the two attacked the statue, there was only one noise heard. Eligos, who jumped high, punched the giant's abdomen, which resulted in massive destruction. The stone statue with a broken hole in its stomach collapsed from its knees.
Ophelia did the same thing. On the stone statue where she gored with her horns was a trace of a huge whirlpool. With a hole in its chest, the stone fell back.
"Skullkull!"
Skull shouted.
| ← Ch. 127 | Ch. 129 → |