Dungeon Maker

Ophelia and Tigrius returned to Cadis Fortress last night, and Eligos was busy providing shelters for a dozen former masters of the Mammon family as well as almost one hundred spirits of the arena.

Yong-ho sat alone in the demon king's room, leaving alone Kaiwan, who was just enjoying oversleeping openly, and Catalina struggling to wake up in the morning.

As soon as he sat on the throne, he heard Lucia's voice.

[Master.]

[Are you trying to access the virtual space of the Dungeon Market?]

"Yes, because I have to meet Sitri. Also, I have to buy lots of stuff to strengthen my forces."

[Okay.]

[I will prepare it right away. Please close your eyes.]

Yong-ho buried himself a little more comfortably on the throne. As soon as he closed his eyes, he got connected to the virtual space of the Dungeon Market.

The whole white world was the same as the one he saw yesterday. Faced with an empty world, he let his shoulders droop in a little disappointment.

Apparently, Sitri had not yet returned.

But suddenly, the sky turned red. At the same time, the endlessly connected space was cut off. The white floor quickly shrunk to a dozen-meter-long rectangle, and all other spaces were filled with pitch darkness. It was a completely different reaction from what he felt yesterday.

[Recognition number: 009]

[Descendant of that man.]

[Emergency response 17.]

[As of now, all connections between the virtual space and the public network of the Dungeon Market will be blocked.]

[Only access from the Labyrinth of Greed is allowed.]

"Sitri?!" Yong-ho shouted instinctively.

But he heard no reply from her. The letter of light also did not continue anymore.

He felt ominous. It was clear that something had happened to Sitri.

The wording "emergency" made his heart pound rapidly.

"Sitri! Answer me! Sitri!"

No matter how often he called her name loudly, it was useless. He tried to stay calm.

Instead of screaming blindly, he thought about it.

This space was special. He always met Sitri here. According to the light text, Sitri went to the trouble of disconnecting this space from the network of the Dungeon Market, while keeping it connected with the Labyrinth of Greed.

He recalled the memories of Sitri, who he had seen the other day. The place where his memory had been reproduced was also this space.

Sitri sometimes appeared on the bed. She wasn't just acting, but she sometimes met him after waking up from a pretty deep sleep.

So, he immediately realized that this space was not just a terminal. It was completely different from the place where other masters reached when accessing the virtual space of the Dungeon Market.

In other words, it was Sitri's personal space as well as her secret place.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. Strongly yearning for Sitri, he activated the power of Greed.

The smoke of Greed arose like a flame. Spreading out in all directions, it filled the space at once, and it soon aggregated to form several strands. Finally, they became one and led him to the way.

The air cracked, revealing a hidden secret door. The smoke of Greed surrounded the door layer by layer. It shouted that there was something inside that he yearned for.

He opened his eyes again and concentrated his mana. Breaking it halfway, he opened the secret door. Perhaps because the opponent was Yong-ho, the secret door let him in helplessly.

So the place appeared. It was a space that was clearly reproduced on top of a virtual space, and therefore, it would have an impact on the real world.

The smoke of Greed moved once again. Permeating inside the secret door, it quickly wrapped up a huge red jewel in the middle of the room.

It was the heart of the dungeon, connected with Sitri's soul, her alter ego!

He once again followed the guidance of Greed. He put his hand on the heart of the dungeon then spoke to it as if he was dealing with Lucia. He tried to communicate with the heart of the dungeon.

The heart of the dungeon, like the secret door, did not reject Yong-ho. It accepted him and told him what he wanted.

And how long did it pass?

"Sitri."

He immediately got out of the virtual space then sprang to his feet.

He was occupied with only one thing at the moment.

He had to save Sitri.

***

The subordinate spirits of the Mammon family gathered at the door control station in the space on the 9th floor of the Labyrinth of Greed. As soon as he got connected to Ophelia and Tigrius in Cadis Fortress by remote communication, Yong-ho immediately took out the main topic.

There were two main things that Yong-ho learned through the heart of Sitri's dungeon.

First, Sitri was dying now.

Second, Sitri's current location was somewhere in the north.

"Even through the heart of the dungeon, I could not find out her location accurately. I just know roughly where she is now. But you have to search the whole area to find her."

Yong-ho's tone was firm. Ophelia, who was looking closely at the map of light that Lucia displayed in the air, presented her opinion.

"The Dungeon Market has its own territories throughout the demon world after the six kings recognized its influence. The headquarters of the Dungeon Market is located near the place you mentioned. It's a place where the five directors might have held a meeting."

Ophelia raised her hand and pointed at the map. Lucia marked the area with a separate light.

Yong-ho felt that it was the Dungeon Market's own territory. The headquarters of the Dungeon Market was located in a place where the territories of the Queen of Fury, the King of Gluttony, and the King of Lust bordered each other.

[Master, this is the location information of the doors of space currently available.]

Bright spots of light spread over the demon world. Its number decreased as they went beyond the blank area, but fortunately, there was a light near the headquarters of the Dungeon Market.

"Is the closest one inside the territory of the King of Lust?"

Although the door of space was not deep in the territory of the King of Lust, it was still within his territory. However, Yong-ho did not have any fear now. Even if it was located right next to the gate of the dungeon of the King of Lust, he was ready to carry out the operation.

Gusion said in a low voice, "Master, you seem to be in a hurry. Sitri won't die easily."

But Yong-ho stared at him immediately because he knew that Gusion had some feelings of love and hate toward Sitri. Before he knew it, he looked at Gusion with a hostile expression.

However, Gusion dealt with him casually, as usual.

Soon Yong-ho let out a sigh first. He admitted that he was excited at the moment, so he tried to calm down.

Tigrius, watching them quietly, said in a calm voice, "I think it's also important to understand why this situation happened. Sitri is one of the five directors of the Dungeon Market as well as the Queen of Sloth. So, it is very unusual and grave that she was on the verge of dying and neglected somewhere in the north."

"You mean this is an event involving the directors or even a king," Gusion added.

As Aamon said, she was the Queen of Sloth even if she suffered an irreparable injury.

It was impossible for her to plunge in such a dangerous situation at the attack of ordinary men.

"That doesn't matter," Yong-ho cut off Gusion.

If the opponent drove Sitri into such a precarious situation, he must be very strong.

But that didn't really matter to Yong-ho..

"The only thing that matters at this point is the fact that we are going to save Sitri. Lucia, mark the position of the door of space once again."

[Okay, Master.]

Apparently, influenced by Yong-ho's mood, Lucia responded in a rather hard tone and hurriedly followed his order.

He continued to order, "As you can see, the territory of the King of Lust is the closest to the door of space. Let me start exploring from there."

He was urgent. He was nervous. He was definitely getting excited. However, it did not mean that he could not make a correct judgment. For everything except for Sitri, he spoke and acted, based on his rationale.

"It is unreasonable to fly Tiamet directly across the territories of the King of Gluttony and the King of Lust. The invisible air barriers that the kings might have laid out in the sky pose a threat, but the bigger problem is our flying time. Therefore, instead of sending large troops through the flying vehicle, we are going to use the door of space. After infiltrating the territory of the King of Lust with a small elite force, we are going to search for Sitri."

Yong-ho paused for a moment and looked at Salami and Bucephalas standing nervously behind the subordinate spirits. Unlike the usual meetings where they were absent, he had them attend it this time for this reason.

Salami, who evolved into a fire elemental dragon, could adjust his size to some extent thanks to his attribute as a spirit. If he could stretch his body as much as possible, he could carry more than four on his back.

"Since we have to put priority on our mobility, all of us can't go. Moreover, we have to take into account how often we can use the door of space. So, let me call the names who will go with me."

It was because of the limits to the daily use of the door of space that Ophelia and Tigrius attended the conference via long-distance communication instead of coming directly to the Labyrinth of Greed. They could move through the space door control station only twice a day.

Ophelia and Tigrius could not come. Yong-ho looked at the rest of the subordinate spirits.

"Gusion, Scathach, Kaiwan, Catalina, Skull."