Edited By: Sebas Tian

The sky of the demon world was red. But, it wasn't just one color.

Purple lights were mixed during twilight and it connected to the western sky. It was as if the black, red and purple watercolor paints were mixed together and beyond that, red and yellow were mixed together. It looked as if the sky was on fire.

And that didn't fill up the entire sky. The quiet and soft red light filled the blank sky. It was similar to a sunset.

Dust flew with the wind. The ground was dry, but like the sky, not all parts were like that. There were fertile areas as well and there was a forest with tall trees not too far off. Just like the ones in the human world, they were trees with green leaves.

There was a river that flowed through the forest. It was too far, so it was hard to tell, but the river was pretty clear. Out of many streams, one of them flowed near the dungeon, so Yong-Ho knew where Eligor and the other spirits went to early in the morning.

The air was cold. Catalina said they were between winter and spring.

Mana was the root of all living things in the demon world. It applied to the birds that flew in the air and the bugs that crawled the ground.

Along with Catalina, when Yong-Ho stepped out, he stayed outside for a long time. He wasn't really looking around the area. All he did was look around the dungeon entrance.

The House of Mammon's dungeon entrance was located at entrance of a large mountain.

The name of the mountain was Encatro Pagnium. It meant Edge of the World in archaic.

Catalina let out a sigh of relief when she saw Yong-Ho wondering near the dungeon for two hours.. She was worried that he would want to climb the mountain.

There's a reason why it's called Encatro Pagnium. The enormous rocky mountain looked like it was going to pierce through the sky and there was a large amount of mana that raged on. Once you go in, you won't be able to come out.

After Catalina sighed, she yawned and discreetly stretched and rolled her eyes. She wanted to go hunting instead.

Yong-Ho just stood still and looked at the sky and the ground. Since Catalina was the guard, she couldn't leave her owner and go on a hunt, so there wasn't much she could do other than stay by his side.

While Catalina was getting tired due to boredom, Yong-Ho looked at the flow of the mana.

He drowned into the amazing flow that not only made up the sky and the ground, but this entire world.

The mana had colors and attributes. Yong-Ho was able to see it through the Power of Evolution.

It was amazing.

This was the demon world.

This was mana.

He wasn't tired of looking at it for two hours. Yong-Ho gulped and let out another small exclamation. He was planning on looking for a brief moment and then help Eligor, but he fell into a trance that his feet wouldn't move.

And moments later.

Yong-Ho averted his eyes. Catalina was kicking the dust to fight off the boredom, but then, her ears pricked up and her eyes became sharp.

A low cry made out of mana rang inside both of their heads.

The Dungeon Meerkat stood up on top of the House of Mammon's dungeon entrance and stopped crying.

Yong-Ho instinctively lowered his stance and Catalina stood beside him.

The Dungeon Meerkat's eyesight was similar to an Elf's. Because of that, Catalina was able to see what the Dungeon Meerkat was able to see.

"A combat carrier is approaching."

Excluding the forest that was located on one side of the area, the land was empty. Even though Yong-Ho wasn't able to clearly distinguish it, he knew something was approaching.

Catalina continued talking.

"There are five carriers. From the size of it, I would say there are over 40 spirits. And…I can see Foras's crest. It looks like Foras himself brought their army."

Catalina finished talking and gritted her teeth. Yong-Ho was shocked, but instead of heading inside the dungeon, he squinted his eyes. It's because the carriages stopped moving even though they were still far from the dungeon.

"What are they doing?"

"I think they're resting before attacking."

Catalina spoke in a slightly uncertain tone.

Dungeon fights usually took place within the dungeon. There were those on defense that would counterattack from the outside, but that was rare. Fighting inside the dungeon was more advantageous than fighting outside.

Yong-Ho assumed Foras's mentality.

Even though they lost a group of Orcs, Foras knew the House of Mammon when the owner from two generations ago started ruling. Even though they brought a lot of their spirits in case of an emergency, but there was a high chance that they were looking down on them.

There weren't counterattacks. Even if they announced that they were going to attack, it wouldn't improve the dungeon's defense.

Yong-Ho wasn't mad. He was actually pleased. If that gave him more time, then he welcomed it.

"How long do you think they'll rest for?"

Yong-Ho asked quietly. Catalina thought about it for a moment and answered quietly as well.

"I don't think they'll be resting for a long time. Possibly over an hour."

It wasn't enough, but it was better than nothing.

They probably saw him too. The break they were having could even be their way of declaring war.

Yong-Ho didn't waste any more time and turned around. Along with Catalina, they headed towards the entrance of the dungeon.

His breathing started getting heavier as excitement filled inside him.

The dungeon owner, Foras.

It was now time to fight.

  &

"I'll alarm the other dungeon spirits!"

"Eligor commanded the spirits to evacuate."

As soon as Yong-Ho entered the dungeon and was reconnected with the Spirit of the Dungeon, they informed him. After Yong-Ho confirmed, he ran with Catalina. It took them some time to reach the throne room.

"This is a report from the Dungeon Meerkat."

"There are about 30 Orc soldiers."

"Over 10 Imps."

"It's difficult to determine the number of spirits on the carriage!"

There were six war carriages.

Catalina said that Foras brought at least 40 spirits with them. They had four times more than the House of Mammon when comparing just the numbers.

They didn't have a chance if they attacked head on.

They would only be able to win by using the facilities within the dungeon.

"This is the from the Dungeon Meerkat!"

"Foras's war carriages have started moving again!"

"Master!"

As soon as he reached the intersection in front of the throne room, the Spirit of the Dungeon and Eligor shouted at the same time.

Yong-Ho waved his finger and answered the spirit. He collected his breath and approached Eligor.

Eligor answered with an urgent expression.

"I've gathered all the spirits into the throne room as you have instructed."

"And the traps?"

Yong-Ho asked. Eligor smiled with pride.

"The traps itself have been completed."

It was worth purchasing the finished traps even if they were expensive. If he purchased the ones where they had to build it, they definitely wouldn't have been able to install them on time.

"The Dungeon Meerkats are wanting to hide."

The Spirit of the Dungeon informed him. It was proof that the war carriages were getting closer to the dungeon.

Yong-Ho accepted it this time as well. He returned to the throne room with Catalina and Eligor. All the spirits that were in the throne room showed their respect towards Yong-Ho.

He suppressed his anxiety again. It wasn't because he was in front of the spirits. The more rushed he felt, the colder he tried to become.

Yong-Ho sat on the throne and by using both of his hands, he created a large window of light. The spirits were able to see a simplified version of the dungeon map.

And then there was silence.

The Kobold started whimpering due to the heavy atmosphere and Catalina kept on gulping. Yong-Ho closed his eyes and waited.

How long has it been?

The Spirit of the Dungeon spoke.

"The owner, Foras, and their spirits have invaded the dungeon."

Yong-Ho opened his eyes. He saw Foras's mark on the dungeon map.

  &

A type of spirit. The dungeon, also known as a great spirit, wasn't a product that was manufactured from a factory.

The exterior and the layout was different and some had distinct attributes.

The layout of ordinary dungeons have an underground system and just like the King of Pride's dungeon, there are those that are as high as a skyscraper. Some are located on top of the water and others actually fly in the sky.

Despite of the different types, there are dungeons that can be described as ordinary.

Most dungeons have similar characteristics.

One of them.

The dungeon entrance room is safe.

When Foras entered the entrance room, they squinted their eyes. It wasn't a small room, but it felt small because over 40 Orcs and 10 Imps were inside.

'There's a new owner.'

They couldn't think of it as a dying dungeon that lost its owner. They could feel the liveliness from the activated rooms that was receiving mana.

Foras carefully raised his right hand. Then, the Orc warrior, Busker Gokun, commanded the spirits quietly. One of the Orcs opened the door that led them to the next room and out of the Imps that were trembling in fear, they picked one and forced them to take the lead.

Foras didn't move. They observed the next room through the open door.

The room wasn't dark.

The light that was made up of mana was on.

When attacking a dungeon, one of the necessary item was lighting. There wasn't a dungeon defender that provided light to the enemy that was invading their dungeon.

Despite of that, there was light in the entrance room and in the room next to it.

There were two possibilities.

One, the Spirit of the Dungeon isn't experienced, so they're unable to control the amount of mana that's distributed.

There are times when they cut off the mana to turn the light off, but they end up cutting off the mana that's distributed to the traps as well.

If the Spirit of the Dungeon is unable to properly control the mana, those kinds of issues could occur.

Two, the new owner is a newbie that doesn't know anything about dungeon defense.

They purposely ignored the second one. Looking down on the enemy will only lead them to defeat.

Foras calmly observed. After the Imp died due to the trap, he commanded the rest of the troops to move on to the next room.

  &

Foras carefully, but steadily pressed on. He was able to pass four rooms that had a trapping pit installed in it.

A trapping pit was a basic trap. It was easy to make as long as there were workers and it didn't require a lot of mana to maintain it.

After avoiding four trapping pits consecutively, Foras thought to himself once more.

It hasn't been that long since the new owner ascended. The Spirit of the Dungeon was young and the quality of the traps weren't that high.

A trembling Imp walked into the fifth room. Thankfully, the trapping pit wasn't activated when they walked across the room.

It was reasonable for this to happen. It was impossible to fill every passages with traps. And if they really became an owner recently, then it was obvious.

It was as if they expressed their anxiety by installing traps consecutively into the rooms that were next to the entrance.

Foras became slightly less nervous.Like before, they commanded the spirits to keep moving.

Among the two groups, the first group was made up of Orc warriors and 20 Imps and they entered the fifth room. Foras waited for the remaining 20 spirits to walk into the sixth room.

And the moment the Imp opened the door to the sixth room.

Fire was released from the ceiling and the ground, burning the fifth trap room.

  &

Repeated patterns will make people less nervous.

It was the same as the light that was turned on despite of the fact that the enemy invaded.

The fire that was made out of mana was strong.

Orcs are known to be talented warriors, so as soon as the fire trap was activated, they protected their head, chest and back and tried to dodge it, but since they were in the middle of the room, there wasn't enough time.

The fire that contained mana burned the Orcs. Six Orcs either died or was badly injured that they couldn't fight.

While Foras was cursing, all the House of Mammon's spirit started cheering in the throne room. Catalina and Eligor also couldn't hide their joy as they clenched their fist.

But Yong-Ho gulped. He looked at the paths that were laid out on the dungeon map.

The linear path between the throne room and the dungeon entrance room didn't change. The only thing that changed was the distance.

What kind of strengths did the House of Mammon's dungeon currently have?

A large space that was useless.

A large amount of inactivated rooms.

Yong-Ho used the existing trap room as the center and activated the inactive rooms that were around it. Through that, the once linear trap rooms changed into a rectangular shape.

After that, all he had to do was create a new path.

Within the large rectangular space, there were many square rooms and they were placed one after another.

Starting from the entrance room, it went straight up and after turning left, it went down again. And after turning right, it went up again. And after turning left, it went down and after turning right again, it went up.

And within that long path that they created, traps were installed.

There was about 50 rooms between the entrance room and the last trap room.

Among them, there were about 20 rooms with troops, but that was enough.

A concentrated trap.

Deciding where to install certain traps.

After quickly sorting out the troops, Foras entered the sixth room and deeply observing it.

Yong-Ho didn't care.

There wasn't a trap in the sixth room.

  &

There was no need to install traps in all the rooms.

It was enough to plant the idea that there could be traps in any of these rooms.

Rooms without traps.

Rooms with small traps.

Rooms with strong traps that were purchased from the dungeon shop.

Complete control was important.

Something big can happen the moment you're relaxed.

Having a new trap when the enemy thinks there aren't any more traps.

Making the enemy carefully inspect the room with no traps after experiencing a strong trap and then make them mad after finding out that there aren't any traps.

Foras and their spirits turned into their first corner and continued moving. If they've been moving up all this time, they were now heading down.

While they passed the 20th room, they couldn't ignore the injuries that they've accumulated. The spirits that were maintaining their fighting power were feeling really exhausted.

And the second corner appeared.

They headed up after changing their direction and Foras stopped moving.

It wasn't because they were exhausted and annoyed.

Foras was an old owner, which made them an experienced owner. Foras was a dungeon owner that controlled the dungeon for over 70 years.

It might've been too much if it was one corner, but they turned into two corners. After passing the area where the top and bottom sections were repeated, they drew the dungeon layout in their head.

And they were certain.

Foras made the spirits stop. And by using the next room as the base, they turned left.

A wall with no entrance.

But it didn't matter. If it followed the same pattern, then a tunnel existed beyond it.

Even though the new owner was a tough opponent, the amount of time they've been a dungeon owner was short. If they really did activate all of these rooms, then they wouldn't have any choice but to strengthen the walls that were placed between the rooms. On top of that, if they were going around in circles, there was a good chance that the wall between the rooms were thin.

Foras placed the palm of his hand on the wall.

As the attacker, Wall Break was a necessary item and they activated the scroll that contained that magic.

A boom followed after the vibration.

Beyond the large hole that was formed, a new room appeared.

Foras smiled. Foras growled aggressively and raised their hand.

Foras walked through the shortcut with the spirits.

End.

Chapter end