Dungeon Maker

No one knew exactly when the Dungeon Market first appeared within the demon world.

Some speculate that it was a thousand years ago while others say that it appeared way before then.

However, those were baseless assumptions.

Regardless of the history of the market, in the modern demon world, the Dungeon Market was a necessity to survive.

The environment of the real Dungeon Market was vastly different from any of the virtual spaces.

The sky seemed as if it was on fire while the color of the walls and ground were so pitch-black it was like they were made from hardened lava.

The Pentagram Council.

Five elites controlled the Dungeon Market.

To put it more simply, they were the Board of Directors.

Just as the name suggests, five chairs were positioned around the room, each at the corner of a pentagram drawn on the floor with lava. Naturally, the Board of Directors were seated in those chairs.

"The King of Pride is gathering troops. A large battle may break out soon in the northeast."

A large, red demon named Orobas pointed to the map, materialized in the center of the pentagram, and spoke with a low profound voice.

He was one of the many demon princes within the demon world and was regarded to have the greatest physical strength out of the elites of the Dungeon Market.

His pig's head and large bulky body sharply contrasted with the neat tuxedo that he adorned. It looked odd, but at the same time, seemed to work well together.

Orobas had six horns and managed the Dungeon Market located in the north. To his right, a man with a spider head spoke softly.

"The King of Envy is also gathering soldiers. I think they may have found out that they've been targeted by the King of Pride. Within just this month, they've already purchased 20,000 Skeleton Warriors."

He was known to be the intellectual of the group and had a body in the form of a spider. Even though his current form was more humanoid, there are rumors that his true form was a giant spider larger than a mountain.

His name was Bifrons. He also managed the northern Dungeon Market along with Orobas.

The King of Envy was purchasing a large quantity of Skeleton Warriors.

Despite the sensitive information, the one that sat on the left side of Orobas started to chuckle.

His name was Abraxas and he was known to have the greatest reserve of mana amongst the elites. He managed the Dungeon Market in the western part of the demon world.

He had the head of a large rooster adorned with seven horns. Both of his legs were in the shape of large snakes, each with a different venom.

He spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

"That's the King of Envy for you. Is quantity always better than quality?"

"It's too early to jump to conclusions. This is a war between kings. Twenty thousand soldiers aren't considered that many."

Bifrons warned Abraxas of his hasty remarks. Orobas looked at the demon world map again and asked.

"What about the other kings?"

"The Queen of Wrath is curled up, which is unlike her. Whereas, the King of Lust is busy as usual because of the Witches' Sabbath."

The one that answered was Samael, the Queen of the Harpies, who sat on the right side of Bifrons and was known, amongst the elites, to have the greatest speed. She had luxurious golden hair that complemented her beautiful face but sharply contrasted with her black ebony wings.

Orobas tilted his head.

"And Gluttony?"

"It doesn't look like he's just going to sit by and watch. I believe that he's quietly increasing the number of high-ranked spirits in his ranks. A couple of days ago, I found out through an agent that the King of Gluttony may have purchased a Bone Dragon."

The Demon Kings that possessed the Seven Deadly Sins.

The six Demon Kings, that controlled the demon world, were busily preparing under the surface.

Abraxas shrugged his shoulders.

"The only king that doesn't possess one of the deadly sins...we shouldn't have to worry about the King of Violence, right? It seems like he's still resting."

Out of the six kings that controlled the demon world, the King of Violence was the only one that didn't possess the power of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Orobas touched his chin.

"Then, is the Queen of Sloth the last one we should watch out for?"

"She's always been lazy."

Samael smiled softly as if it was a joke.

Orobas was satisfied with Samael's answer. He leaned his large body against the chair and spoke softly.

"The power of the six kings are similar in strength. Thus, the balance of power in the world is harmonious. Even though the King of Pride is trying to break that balance, he won't be able to do anything too unexpected. No matter how much power he has, he can't possibly take on the other five kings by himself. Which is a good thing. Unless someone comes along that's strong enough to defeat one of the kings, this wonderful balance will surely continue."

The Dungeon Market didn't desire just one king. The conflict between the kings is what caused the Dungeon Market to be created in the first place.

Bifrons and Abraxas nodded in agreement. The other directors smiled as if they felt the same.

However, there was one that had a different sort of smile.

"Miss Sitri?"

Samael called out quietly and looked at the last, and yet most powerful, director.

The red-headed and beautiful Sitri.

She answered calmly while lightly touching her chin. Her eyes were fixated on the map.

"No, it's nothing. I just find this all rather fun."

Her vague answer made Samael tilt his head in confusion. He looked at the map as well and tried to figure out her intentions.

Sitri was looking at the southern part of the demon world, which was known to have no major power.

It was the land of the King of Greed, who once controlled a quarter of the demon world and was known as the greatest demon to have ever lived in recent times.

***

[Wild dungeon monsters have appeared!]

[Two Crazy Ants and a Slime!]

The King of Greed, Yong-Ho, frowned when he heard the Spirit of the Dungeon's passionate voice.

Just as stated, three monsters suddenly appeared before him.

Two red ants, the size of large dogs, and a spherical slime, that reminded him of tree sap, were in front of him.

Encountering monsters was quite common in the demon world. He welcomed the fight since it would give him the chance to increase his evolution rate. However, there was something that bothered him.

'Why are there monsters in my dungeon?!'

If anybody else was to hear him say that, they would have looked at him strangely, as if it was obvious.

The monsters in front of him weren't dungeon spirits.

They were ownerless monsters. The Spirit of the Dungeon had recently shared some common knowledge with Yong-Ho, which according to her, the monsters were nothing more than ants and cockroaches that he would see back at home.

In short, they were just simple beings that liked to freeload in people's dungeons.

However, few such monsters existed in ordinary well kept dungeons, since if they did appear they were usually taken care of right away.

'The worst ones are the ants.'

It's not that Yong-Ho especially disliked ants. Actually, he regarded them better than cockroaches. However, the issue was the lifestyle of their kind.

Like the ants in the human world, they lived in large colonies. So, there probably existed a large ant colony underneath the dungeon.

"Master! Concentrate!"

After hearing Catalina's stern voice, Yong-Ho eliminated his distracting thoughts. While continuing to face forwards, he spoke as he channeled strength into the arm wielding Aamon.

"I'll take the Slime. Catalina. Skull. Take care of the ants."

"Understood."

"Skull, skull."

Catalina and the Skeleton Soldier, Skull, answered respectively. They both charged forward towards the ants.

Two days ago. In order to increase the dungeon's defense, Yong-Ho decided to focus on improving the dungeon's facilities rather than evolving the spirits.

However, despite that, he decided to use the Power of Evolution to evolve just one spirit, the Skeleton Soldier, who he subsequently named Skull.

The Skeleton was one of the lowest level spirits and didn't even have any specialized evolution like the Goblins. However, as soon as he evolved him, his rank increased to Skeleton Soldier.

Yong-Ho decided to equip Skull with the hammer from the dead giant.

The Death Knight was considered the highest rank amongst the Skeletons and Yong-Ho planned on evolving him to that rank, so he wanted to give him a special name, though simplicity was best.

Catalina took down one of the Crazy Ants with a single strike. However, instead of moving to attack the other ant, she waited and watched Skull fight it, so that Skull could increase his evolution rate through battle.

'The same applies to me.'

Yong-Ho focused his attention on the Slime gliding across the ground.

Aamon was known amongst demons for being able to burn the sky and evaporate the sea with a single swing.

For Yong-Ho, however, performing such a task was a bit too much. However, he was still able to use a fraction of Aamon's power.

'Just one strike!'

Yong-Ho kicked off the ground. The slime must have noticed that Yong-Ho had targeted it because it suddenly shot acid at him. The highly concentrated acid traveled quickly through the air. If it touched him, the acid would melt away his skin and bones.

However, Yong-Ho easily dodged the attack. He agilely leaned his body to the side, kicked off the ground, and shortened the distance between them.

"Ha!"

He simultaneously wielded Aamon and pierced through the Slime's body. As soon as the sword pierced through its center, he released his mana.

Flames exploded from inside its body. Green flame enveloped its entire body.

Thanks to its powerful acid and mucus, the Slime was able to neutralize most physical attacks, but it couldn't resist even a spark of Aamon's flames.

Yong-Ho pulled Aamon out, with a smile on his face, and stretched his back. Feeling satisfied, he exchanged a glance with Catalina and watched Skull fight the remaining Crazy Ant.

Two days after the first attack.

Yong-Ho was looking for the armory that belonged to the owner three generations ago.