Chapter 232 The King of the Arena 1
Gusion had a dream.
It was a dream that he could definitely call a nightmare. He, who woke up from his dream, breathed out wildly. A cold sweat broke out all over his red body.
Too much time had passed.
It was a very long time that he could not feel even in the arena where he could hardly feel the passage of time properly.
Gusion closed his eyes again. He could not dream anymore though. However, the scenes that he saw in his dream and the fragments of his old memories came to his mind vividly.
It was definitely a nightmare. But at the same time, it was a yearning dream. It could be called his good old memories. There were so many people he couldn't meet unless they didn't appear in his dream.
At first, he was angry. He was frustrated, and finally, he conceded that he could not reverse all of these things. Maybe he might have been tired of overwhelming time.
But he was not impatient. He calmed down his troubled mind. He tried to understand what Mammon wanted. Naturally, he recalled the successor of the King of Greed, Mammon.
He smiled before he knew it. Just thinking about him made him feel a lot better.
Gusion opened his eyes again and looked into the darkness. He took a deep breath in the cold air floating in the arena and stood up.
He would witness it quite soon. He would decide sooner or later.
"Master."
He called the name quietly. He didn't hear the master's reply.
He woke up from his memories to face a reality where the king did not exist.
***
One month and 15 days have passed since Yong-ho mounted a guerrilla attack on the King of Gluttony's territory.
He attacked seven more dungeons during that period. Almost all of them were dungeons located in the western part of the king's territory.
Lucia, who fully absorbed the essence of the dungeons, grew up rapidly and succeeded in taking complete control of the 8th and 9th floors despite skipping the 7th floor. In addition, Yong-ho could refill Mammon's treasure storage with the gold and other jewelry he collected from the seven dungeons. Of course, the treasure storage almost looked the same as before. In fact, there was no sign of the treasures decreasing even when he took a huge amount of gold to buy the red titan dragon, Tiamet. Indeed, it was a huge treasure storage befitting the King of Greed.
Ophelia and Tigrius developed Cadis Fortress well. It was no exaggeration to say that money ruled the world. The more money they spent, the more concrete results they got fast.
One month and a half were never short. The long silence of the King of Gluttony was enough to make other kings have doubts about his whereabouts. Yong-ho's guerrilla attack spread little by little to the territory of the King of Gluttony and other territories.
Because of this, Yong-ho temporarily loosened the reins in the attack. It was enough for him to watch how the other kings reacted before he made his next move. Time was on the side of the Mammon family.
Yong-ho never wasted time. In order to make the best of the time for the Mammon family, he had to spend it well and efficiently.
He attacked the arena with his subordinate spirits. He embodied the new power he gained through actual battles. And there was one more thing he should not miss.
[The door of the 10th floor of the Labyrinth of Greed is opened. ]
[Which of the 12 Spirits is waiting for you this time?]
[Pit-a-pat pit-a-pat.]
Yong-ho shook his head at Lucia's charming briefing.
There were only two of Mammon's 12 Spirits that he had to beat.
Since the two won in many battles with brilliant records, Yong-ho could find out all the detailed information about them quite a bit just by browsing through a few books.
It was Aries Yustia, who defended the Grand Library of Mammon on the 10th floor of the Labyrinth of Greed.
Nicknamed "the Navigator,' she was both the king's adviser and a prophet.
[Master, the Grand Library is a treasure of knowledge. It is no exaggeration to say that it contains all the knowledge of this world.]
[Yustia's wisdom will also help you a lot.]
As always, Aamon's advice was universally sound. However, it was still a library anyway. It could not be denied that Yong-ho was more interested in the various living facilities on the 11th floor than the library on the 10th. Moreover, it was none other than "Virgo" that guarded the 11th floor.
The 11th floor was filled with various personal spaces including the rooms of 12 Spirits. Guarding the 11th floor was Virgo Yuno, the last member of the 12 Spirits. According to many legends, there were many episodes about her beauty, so it was natural that Yong-ho was interested in her as a man.
'Of course, it's just my curiosity, nothing more or less.'
Murmuring to himself like that, he looked at Catalina, who was sitting next to him. She tilted her head and fluttered her tail as if she was curious about his unexpected glance.
Just like the 10th floor suggested, it was full of powerful dungeon monsters. In addition to the Night Shade, also called the Prince of Darkness, spiritual monsters with dark attributes such as Specter and Race were waiting for Yong-ho and his party.
It was difficult for Yong-ho to deal with dark properties, especially spiritual monsters, among various dungeon monsters. It was because Yong-ho could attack them physically, and the unique energy of the dark attributes poisoned the living.
However, Yong-ho already possessed not only darkness but also the attribute of light.
His subordinate spirits received the mana of the light attribute from Yong-ho through Brigada, and as always, they attacked the 10th floor fiercely.
[This is the entrance to the main library.]
[It's been a long time since I came here.]
Aamon whispered in front of the steel door with the embossed head of the sheep.
There was a deep yearning in his voice.
Skull and Eligos opened the steel door at Yong-ho's order. The peculiar smell of paper came out from inside the door. At the same time, Yong-ho found himself amazed at the size of the library.
It was huge. It looked like it was as large as the treasure house in terms of size. The ceiling was high enough to fit five floors. It was very large on the side, let alone its depth.
It had only a few pillars with no separate walls, so the vastness of the library caught his eye immediately. It was no exaggeration to say that books were everywhere.
It was as if even people who didn't like books felt like reading books, enchanted by the atmosphere. In that respect, it was absolutely true that Aamon said that the library contained all the knowledge of the world.
'Cayan would have loved it here.'
Kaiwan recalled her younger brother before she knew it. So, she quickly changed her expression after clenching her teeth. Fortunately, no one noticed her because others were distracted by the massive library, except for only one.
"Haven't you ever seen a library? You don't see me?"
An old woman shouted at her. Only then could all of them, who were hooked on the huge library, fix their eyes on somebody right before their eyes. Although nobody was right before their eyes, there was clearly a skinny and tall old woman sitting in the seat reserved for a librarian about ten meters away from them.
[Yustia.]
Aamon raised his voice first. When the flames of the red lotus arose in the air, a smile was on her face, who looked like a dry old tree.
"Aamon. You still look as great as you were a long time ago."
She was wearing a black dress that covered her body up to the neck. A pair of sheep's horns stood on her neatly curled gray hair, and light emerald pupils were shining below it.
Old woman Yustia, the king's advisor and a prophet.
Perhaps, because of her upright posture or because of her peculiar disposition, she gave out an air of confidence when she spoke or acted.
"I'm Yustia, a librarian in charge of the Grand Library. As you can see, I'm a lonely old woman. Understand me when I speak to you curtly. I'm the oldest among the 12 Spirits of Mammon. Man, I've lived longer than Aamon."
At that moment, Yong-ho recalled a notorious cursing old woman he had seen on TV in the human world several times. Of course, Yustia didn't use any abusive language.
Yong-ho stepped forward and introduced himself, "I'm Yong-ho Cheon, the current master of the Mammon family."
"You're great. You don't look like a mere successor. Nice to see you anyway. Since you're the legitimate successor, I can't say anything short. Please understand me if my tone is a little messy."
She laughed heartily then turned her eyes at the flames of the red lotus instead of talking to him. She asked Aamon, "Aamon, how much time has passed? I don't know because I was asleep while the door was closed."
[One thousand and hundreds of years have passed.]
She closed her eyes at his reply. One thousand years was never short even for her who had already lived such a long time.
"Much more time has passed than I expected. Too much time has passed. But it's not all bad. The passage of time must have devoured the traitors. It might be much better for guys like Gusion."
She spoke eloquently. Yong-ho and his subordinate spirits focused on some of her words.
Traitors who must have been devoured by the passage of time.
That turned out better for Gusion.
It was obvious that her mention was related to Mammon's death.
Yong-ho opened his mouth, Yustia opened her eyes.
She looked straight at Yong-ho and said, "Hear it from Gusion, not me. It would be best for Gusion to tell the story of Master Mammon to you."
She wasn't strict. Rather, it was more like the kind of advice that a grandmother gave to her grandchildren.
She shrugged again and said. "But the order is in a mess. You came up to the 10th floor, but you have yet to conquer the 7th floor?"
[Yustia, you know the arena well, don't you?]
When Aamon replied indirectly, she frowned. Then she hysterically said, "I wonder if the previous masters of the Mammon family have been piled up in the arena over the last thousand years."
He didn't have to reply. Aamon just ignited the flames of the red lotus, and Yong-ho made an awkward expression.
Yustia said with a sigh, "Oh My God! Dang it, Gusion. I knew that that damned arena would devour the Mammon family. The lineage of the Mammon family has been carried on for over a thousand years even when its masters were caught in the arena one by one. But I can't say that this is also bad. That means the accumulation of power in the arena is tremendous."