Chapter 254 Fierce battle 4
The King of Lust blinked his eyes with a blank expression, but only briefly. The king realized what had happened before his eyes. He was just an ordinary master before he became the King of Lust. He had power as a demon king. It was not the flesh of the King of Lust that exploded. The moment the explosion occurred, his body turned into smoke and scattered in the air.
The smoke that quickly moved away, carried by the fast wind, was reconstructed at a distant place. It was beyond the army of Gluttony, which was at the exact opposite of where he was until a moment ago.
The reconstructed King of Lust looked at Yong-ho and the Queen of Fury for a while then turned into smoke again. He disappeared as if he had no regrets at all about the fierce battle until now.
The King of Lust fled, abandoning the forces of the Gluttony.
His escape was not incomprehensible, given the fact that he found it hard to deal with Yong-ho and the Queen of Fury at the same time, but Yong-ho didn't think so simple.
Why was there only the King of Lust on this battlefield?
The King of Pride was not here nor were the three other directors of the Dungeon Market.
Were they all attacking the tribesmen of the eight clans?
If that was the case, their attack was unreasonable. It was so inefficient. It would have been much more efficient if they had attacked the Queen of Fury altogether.
Yong-ho thought about the situation from the viewpoint of the King of Pride.
What if the purpose of the King of Pride was not to annihilate the Queen of Fury or the eight clans? Did he want anything more?"
What was it? What could the King of Pride value more? Would it have a greater value than the Queen of Fury who possessed not only the Sin as well as the Godly Energy?
Yong-ho turned his head to the west. He looked farther away than the west area where the main stronghold of the eight clans was located. Then he suddenly realized something.
The one who had risen to the king's position even without one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The strongest dragon in the demon world with a powerful dragon army.
'The King of Violence.'
It was because of him, not anybody else.
***
Yong-ho felt confused. He suddenly came to recall the King of Violence, but he could not be sure whether his guesswork was right.
So, he sorted out his thoughts quickly by reconstructing all the information he obtained until now.
First of all, he thought about those that he learned through Samael.
First, the Dungeon Market was taken over by the King of Pride.
Second, the territories of the kings that had been managed by the three directors—Orobas, Abrasax, and Bifronz—were wholly possessed by the King of Pride, but the territory managed by Samael was not absorbed by the King of Pride completely. And it was reasonable to assume that Sitri's section was not absorbed.
Third, as the King of Pride acquired the Dungeon Market, he could use the distribution network of the Dungeon Market freely. And this kind of distribution network made it possible for the king to conduct a blitzkrieg operation.
Kings were naturally wary of the movement of other kings' troops within their territories.
For example, they installed the so-called invisible sky barrier intended to check outside in and out of their airspace, or sometimes, they attacked or intercepted them.
However, the kings were not wary of the Dungeon Market. The Dungeon Market created several high-speed means of transportation within the territories of the kings. So, the kings didn't care about the Dungeon Market using their airspace to move their items fast.
It was a trust they built over a thousand years. In some respects, they just forgot it for a long time, so much so that the Dungeon Market was considered as natural as water or air in the demon world.
Of course, the kings did not completely trust the Dungeon Market. Although they tolerated the distribution channels of the Dungeon Market, they didn't allow the Dungeon Market to take control of the most important points in their territories.
But Samael said that there was a secret distribution channel for the secret transactions between the kings and the five directors of the Dungeon Market, and that sometimes, the secret distribution networks led to the important points because of their secrecy.
The King of Pride ambushed all the territories of the Queen of Fury, including the Temple of the eight clans by using the secret distribution channel.
Ophelia said the surprise attack was very effective, but the King of Pride would not be able to mount the same ambush again because he virtually revealed the drastic change of the Dungeon Market to the whole demon world by making such a large-scale attack with the help of the spirits of the Dungeon Market and its secret distribution networks.
Samael said that the King of Pride must have attacked the King of Envy on the day when there was a revolt in the Dungeon Market. If the King of Pride attacked the King of Envy, as Samael predicted, it was more likely that he carried out the attack on a small scale more secretly and that he could have hidden it from others because he had been prepared for it for a long time.
On the surface, the King of Pride was still at war with the King of Envy. It was clear that the King of Pride used this kind of deception trick to hide the change of the Dungeon Market from outsiders until he ambushed the Queen of Fury.
'If he had to ambush the queen, this would be his only chance.'
That was correct. Only now could he attack the queen without any prior notice. After today, it would be impossible for him to mount a surprise attack because the King of Violence, who noticed the coup at the Dungeon Market, would obviously destroy or seal the distribution networks of the Dungeon Market in his territory. Besides, the dragon corps on standby along the eastern borders would also move.
In that case, an all-out war pattern would be inevitable. The King of Pride would have to wage a full-scale war with the King of Violence.
'Blitzkrieg.'
The three directors of the Dungeon Market lost Sitri and Samael.
The King of Pride now discovered that Sitri was the Queen of Sloth.
He also knew that the King of Gluttony was killed.
The only enemies confronting the King of Pride were three, namely, the King of Violence, the Queen of Sloth, and the Queen of Fury. Given that Sitri, the Queen of Sloth, was in charge of the southern part, she would throw her weight behind the King of Violence if the King of Pride would wage a full-scale war with the King of Violence.
Yong-ho seemed to put together the puzzles in his mind correctly.
According to the logic of the King of Pride, he would have the King of Lust beat the Queen of Fury. Then, he would dispatch Orobas and the elite forces of the Dungeon Market to strike the major dungeons of the Queen of Fury. After that, the King of Pride himself would lead his elite forces to attack the Queen of Fury in person.
Most of the dragon corps were on standby along the eastern borders, not near the King of Violence's hideout at the far west end of his territory. Moreover, the territory of the King of Violence was maintained by Abrasax until now. Since Abrasax was the first to have come under the command of the King Pride, he could have built a secret passage without the King of Violence knowing it. This was just Yong-ho's assumption of course, but there was a real possibility that could happen. He imagined the situation where the King of Pride carried out all of these plans. In that case, he would have to face a truly terrifying situation.
Under that scenario, there would be only one, namely the Queen of Sloth, who could confront the King of Pride. All the King of Pride could do was to absorb the groups that lost their central figure, namely their 'king,' one by one over time. And the process of him taking over their remnants would be much easier than a full-scale all-out war.
That was the completion of the domino in the demon world that Samael feared.
Of course, the reality was different.
Yong-ho himself, the King of Greed, existed.
He saved the Queen of Fury from the King of Lust and saved Samael and Sitri as well.
He was not sure how much the queen's forces were damaged by Orobas's surprise attack, but no matter how severe it had been, he would not have devastated them. In other words, the Queen of Fury and her forces were largely left intact.
If the King of Pride really ambushed the King of Violence, at least, there was one premise. Namely, the King of Pride should be stronger than the King of Violence, and he should be able to defeat the King of Violence by a surprise attack.
Could he?
Yong-ho closed his eyes tightly. There was a dearth of information about it after all. He kept making too many assumptions. Maybe he made the wrong assumption from the beginning.
What if the King of Envy was not killed yet? What if the King of Pride was really fighting rather than pretending to fight the King of Envy? What if the King of Pride defeated the King of Envy, but the latter is now in recuperation after suffering a major injury?
At this point, Yong-ho stopped thinking. It didn't make sense for him to think more about it. He thought a lot about it in a surprisingly short time, but his conclusion was simple. All he had to do was to check it by himself.
He faced the reality again. And he felt something wriggling in his arms.
"Uh, um… please…"
A woman's sweet voice was added to her sweet smell. He heard it again from his chest.
He quickly released his hands and let go of the Queen of Fury.
After trying to forget her sweet smell on his arms, he said while stepping back, "Sorry."