Dungeon Maker

"Hmmm. The next step that you mentioned last time..."

Fortunately, Yong-ho came to his senses after hearing Aamon's voice.

Gusion replied with a cheerful smile, "Yeah, I hate to admit it. The next step is for you to empower your subordinate spirits then share the power of Brigada with them. That's why the kings with the Seven Deadly Sins should have powerful subordinate spirits under their command."

Although there were several subordinate spirits, their master was one.

What kind of synergy would be created if the power of all the powerful subordinate spirits were concentrated on their master?

What if all the power of 12 Spirits of the House of Mammon, each of whom could be called a legend, would be combined into one?

'That's outrageous.'

Yong-ho seemed to know why only those who had the Seven Deadly Sins reigned as "kings".

It was really a great power.

'Brigada is a fragment of the Demon King's flesh... The fragments that didn't turn into Godly Energy.'

Suddenly, Yong-ho got intensely curious about Godly Energy.

He could exert this much power with the general Brigada. Then, what kind of miracle could he pull off if he had Godly Energy?

The seven unsurpassed magic powers that existed in the demon world were currently owned by each of their masters.

Namely, the six kings of the Seven Deadly Sins such as the King of Pride, the King of Envy, the King of Lust, the King of Sloth, the King of Gluttony, and the King of Wrath.

And the King of Violence who reigned as king even though he had no Seven Deadly Sins.

If Yong-ho didn't defeat one of them, he would never own the unsurpassed magic power. Yong-ho shook off such thoughts and decided to focus on his current job for now.

At that moment, Gusion said, "As I told you the other day, your opponent on the 10th floor is Kaiwan. Since the reward is special, the penalty is also special."

"What is the reward?"

"Well, you can check with your own eyes after winning. I can't tell you the penalty right now. But at least you're not dying because of the penalty, so don't worry."

"Can you tell me which floor Kaiwan lost?" Asked Yong-ho one after another.

As if he organized his thoughts, Gusion replied after moving his neck several times, "Well, she was defeated several times. It would be no exaggeration to say that as a family head, she experienced the most defeats since the arena was created. If there is one of her defeats that you might be interested in, it's the 20th floor."

It was the penalty that demoted Kaiwan to a subordinate spirit of the arena from the head of the House of Mammon. It was the 20th floor, not far from where Yong-ho was.

"You don't have to delay. Let's get started," Yong-ho said, turning his arm lightly.

Not only Yong-ho's magic power but also Catalina's was almost completely restored.

Giggling to himself, Gusion pointed to the arena with his chin.

"Kaiwan is waiting for you at the moment and very earnestly at that."

Yong-ho turned to the arena. Indeed, as Gusion said, a woman with gray hair was standing there alone.

Kaiwan, the Demon King of Distortion, it was her.

***

Kaiwan wasn't dressed in an attire that Yong-ho used to see in the arena.

A skintight leather attire mixed with black and red and a long hanging sword. Her gray hair was wrapped around her sad but ferocious face.

She was the same as the one that he peeked at through the little magical power present in her ring of distortion. That look of hers was the same as the one when she was still the head of the House of Mammon.

On the surface, she was quite calm. Rather, she was full of spite at the moment.

Kaiwan stared at Yong-ho without saying anything, and Yong-ho faced her silently.

After taking a deep breath, he opened the bag he brought for this visit in particular.

He took out an old book and handed it to Kaiwan.

"This is Cayenne's journal. He kept a journal until he died."

Kaiwan's eyes trembled. Yong-ho finally realized that Kaiwan wasn't staring at him but just looking at him.

Yong-ho waited this time again, and Kaiwan clenched her teeth. After she received the journal reluctantly, she slowly turned the pages.

Nobody hastened their fight. Gusion was silent, and the arena spirits and the previous heads of the House of Mammon in the stands waited for Kaiwan to respond.

Kaiwan couldn't read the journal properly because her overflowing tears wet the journal.

She gasped for breath. Soon, she struggled to hold back her tears, but she couldn't control herself after all. She cried sadly like a child.

Yong-ho waited again this time. After hesitating for a moment, he carefully hugged her.

Just like she first heard about Cayenne's death, she didn't push away Yong-ho.

Relying on his body temperature, she expressed her sorrow freely.

How much time passed?

Kaiwan's crying subsided. But she did not lift his forehead from his chest. After catching her breath several times, she said in a low voice, "Thanks."

Then she pushed him out. She also stepped back to increase the distance between them.

Finally, she faced him.

At that moment, he just replied, "You're welcome."

When he deliberately spoke lightly, Kaiwan smiled a bit.

Laughing a little loudly, she said, "You didn't attack me when I was reading the journal or crying. Then, you could have defeated me easily."

That was what Yong-ho didn't expect at all. He heard Gusion, who was sitting in the special seat in the stands, laughing heartily.

Yong-ho smiled bitterly and said, "Well, I could do so, but it's not fair."

It was a lie. Yong-ho didn't even think about it in the first place.

Kaiwan knew it, too. That was why she hugged Cayenne's journal dearly then turned around.

Only after leaving it outside the arena, she stood again, looking at Yong-ho.

"If we fight for nothing, it won't be fun. So, let's bet. If you beat me, I'll grant your wish, no matter what it is," she said.

"What if I lose?" When he asked back immediately, she leaned her head slightly.

"Well? I haven't really thought about it. In fact, I'm so grateful to you that I don't want to ask you for anything."

Although it was brief, she smiled at him. Perhaps, she had never smiled like that for the past few decades.

Yong-ho was calm on the surface but very agitated deep down.

'Did she say she would grant my wish, no matter what?'

At that moment, he heard somebody shouting from behind him.

"Me, me too!"

It was Catalina. Raising her tail upright, she shouted with her blushing face.

"If your master beats me, I'll grant your wish!"

"Uh?"

Why did Catalina suddenly interfere?

Catalina flinched at Yong-ho's embarrassed glance. She then covered her mouth with both hands. With her ears drooping, she became silent.

Yong-ho blinked again, and Kaiwan smiled brightly. She even giggled, holding her belly.

She was very different from the one that Yong-ho used to remember.

Even Gusion and the former Mammon family heads, who looked at her with an embarrassed expression, felt the same way.

"She is cute."

Kaiwan took her breath. Then she faced Yong-ho with a bright smile that she had never shown to anyone other than her younger brother Cayenne.

"Let me tell you again, Thanks. So..."

Her ecstatic smile was brief. There was now ferociousness in her eyes full of affection.

Powerful magic power came out from her body that was defenseless a moment ago.

Kaiwan stepped forward. Her step was very light, but it was far from small.

Kaiwan's breathing quickly enveloped Yong-ho.

"I will do my best."

As soon as she finished talking, she brought out a storm with her sword.

***

Yong-ho couldn't remember how he stopped her first blow. Her enchanted smile made him let down his guard, and her single advance made a dozen meters of distance to zero. It was a miracle that he stopped her first sword attack, aiming at his chest.

No, it wasn't like a miracle. Yong-ho stopped it with his skills.

His sense of fighting never collapsed because of her smile. His sense of death, which he cultivated by dying dozens or hundreds of times, responded sharply.

The moment Kaiwan swung her sword, the magnetic field covered Yong-ho's left arm.

Her sword and the magnetic field collided, and Yong-ho's lower body hit the ground hard without waiting for his command. Without resisting the force from her attack, he moved his body accordingly. He increased the distance to buy time.

While he was stepping back, the flames of red lotus arose. Kaiwan's vision was dazzled for a moment, and by the time the flames disappeared, he already grabbed Aamon.

His distance from Kaiwan was only five meters.

Both hit the ground at the same time. They rushed toward each other.

Yong-ho flew high. He wielded Aamon hard from top to bottom.

On the other hand, Kaiwan flew low. She looked like she was crawling on the floor.

She pulled her hand, holding the sword between her armpits.

Yong-ho concentrated, so he could share the time.

At that moment, Aamon drew a beautiful trajectory. She was inside the trajectory.

Now, even before she touched him, she was about to expose her upper body to Aamon.

But that didn't happen.

Booung!

During that moment, Aamon struck the air, not Kaiwan.

Clearly, Yong-ho struck down with Aamon, but it was a horizontal cut.

Aamon's flames burned the air above Kaiwan's gray hair.

'Space distortion!'

She didn't just make a shield to protect herself. She distorted the space itself where Yong-ho was attacking and directed Aamon's attack into the wrong place.

But she herself penetrated into his body. Besides, she moved around behind his back and babbled on cheerfully.

"It's time for you to be punished!"

Her sword wrapped around his body. It wasn't a figurative expression, but it was real.

It was what they called a whip sword. Its blade, which turned into something like a whip, coiled his body like a snake, and Kaiwan shook her arm roughly. Then she hurled him hard on the ground.

A powerful shock beyond imagination hit him on the back. Moreover, the blade of the whip sword slit his body. A dazzling sense of pain penetrated his spine as if it contained poison, or there was something special about Kaiwan's magic power, flowing through the blade.

Her attack didn't end there. She unleashed her Herculean power and randomly swung the whip sword that stretched more than a dozen meters.

Yong-ho, hanging on the end of the whip sword, had to kiss the ground several times.

It lasted dozens of seconds at most, but his damages were beyond imagination.

He had never been dealt a big blow like this since he challenged his opponents in the arena. Actually he had never been wounded heavily since he fought Foras.

"Kuuuuk!"

Yong-ho became more vigilant. His whole body ached, but he activated the green flames.

Burning Kaiwan's mana, he opened all four horns.

At that moment, Kaiwan's whip sword could not withstand his vast mana and let go of him.

But he couldn't feel relieved because she, who was standing before him, was gone. He cast the spell of chill as much as he could. He instinctively activated it.

Kaiwan, who was about to attack him from the side, was engulfed by the chill.

But he failed this time, too. The shield of distortion that she spread out wide drove out the chill. Then she charged at him and brandished the sword.

"Kuuuuk!"

The tight and powerful sword struck his waist like a blunt weapon. At that moment, he almost broke his legs, but he endured it, clenching his teeth.

Once again, he swung Aamon and spouted the waves of green flames!

But she escaped his attack. She disappeared again this time. The green flames went nowhere, blocked by the barrier of distortion.