Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 114
Chapter 114: Episode 33. Auction of Devildom (1)
“L-lyhee-hee. Why is it so hot in here? Oh, it’s so hot.”
Lyhee was feigning ignorance while fanning herself with her hand. But discomfort in her face and gestures showed that she was acting.
“Will you tell me? Or just pretend not to know?” I asked.
“That is… Lyhee… made a mistake… Sob…”
Lyhee then flew to me and knelt in front of me. She had realized that excuses would not work.
When I kept silent, Lyhee, who was about to cry, went on, “White brought the Flesh back. So, Lyhee took it away. The Flesh started to get mad at me, even though Lyhee treated it well.”
White meant the White Saber Tiger. I kept listening. Lyhee gestured, explaining that she took a branch from the Tree of Origin and poked the Flesh. Then, it changed to something else. When she got bored of it, she left it. She added that Steane appeared to have picked it up.
In short, Steane, who had accidentally picked up the Flesh, created the Infinity Armor.
“Lyhee is really sorry. Lyhee should have watched it but didn’t. Please, forgive Lyhee, master. Sob.”
She begged for the mercy more eagerly, since she had a previously made a mistake as well. I stared at Lyhee silently.
It was surprising that she was consistently making trouble. But I viewed it from a different standpoint. She was clumsy and playful. And she did everything half-heartedly. She was not hung up on specific things and usually acted according to her mood.
So, Lyhee had something that I didn’t have. The creativity and the power to produce new things.
Lyhee could notice things that I couldn’t and act instinctively. Who would even imagine poking the nucleus with the branch of the Tree of Origin? If anyone knew of the characteristics of the Flesh, they would not try to go closer to it. Ordinary people would just avoid it.
It was the same with burying an angel near the Tree of Origin. If it were me, I would just throw the body to the monsters to eat. But, Lyhee had buried it properly, prompting Tashumal to change her mind. Other small things that she had done popped in my head, too.
“She is somehow helpful.”
It could be a coincidence. However, if the repeated occurrence could not be treated as just a coincidence.
Lyhee was guilty, but I was a bit worried about whether it would be right to scold her or not. If I constrained her, she might feel afraid of doing things. In the end, she might lose her creativity. Of course, I would not worry about these things, if it was not related to Lyhee.
“So, what are your mistakes? Tell me yourself.”
First of all, I gave her a choice.
Lyhee hesitated for a while and said, “Lyhee did not wait for her master.”
“No, that is not a sin since I gave you the right to do so.”
“Lyhee left the Flesh unsupervised!”
“Leaving something unsupervised can be dangerous. Yes, that is a sin, but there is a bigger one.”
“A bigger sin. What could that be?’ Lyhee thought carefully. And as if she finally realized, she muttered in a small voice, “Sob… Lyhee contacted the master too late.”
I finally nodded. “Yes. You contacted me after things became way worse. If I were far away, it could be very dangerous.”
“Now Lyhee gets it. Lyhee was so bad.” She became sullen and tears pooled in her eyes.
“If you just contacted me quickly, I would not place the full blame on you. Since you did not, I am punishing you. But you decide your own punishment.”
“Lyhee decides?”
“Yes.”
I wanted to punish her, but I also wanted to see how creative Lyhee could be. Since she admitted her mistake and would decide her punishment herself, I hoped she would not make mistakes anymore.
I sat back and waited for her. She thought about it for a while. About 10 minutes later, she spoke with eyes filled with determination.
“Lyhee will be a honeybee for a month and collect honey. And Lyhee will live with the bees, too. Lyhee is a honeybee from now on.”
“Is she kidding me? No… she is not.”
It was not a joke. Lyhee’s face was flushed and her body was trembling. It appeared that she felt it was a shameful thing to be the bee that she had been harassing all this time. Similar to how I treated the Dark Elves. Even though it was not great creativity, it was quite a practical suggestion.
“One month is too long. I can’t leave the dungeon without a fairy for that long.”
“If it is shorter, it will not be enough punishment for Lyhee.”
“Be a bee for a week and take care of the baby angels for Tashumal for the remaining three weeks.”
Tashumal had said that the leaves from the Tree of Origin would help the baby angels grow. I wondered what would happen if the Fairy of Origin took care of the babies herself.
“Ok, master. Leave it to Lyhee.”
“Then, now you can be a bee.”
“Yes, right. Lyhee is a bee, now. Buzz…”
She crouched and moved her wings quickly. She looked more like a fly than a bee, but she was doing her best. Soon, Lyhee flew to where the other bees were.
“…”
I was lost for words. I just decided to ignore her for a week.
<hr />
Was the incidence caused by the influx of too many events?
But, apart from tending to the Chinese dungeon and causing a monster wave, I did not cause special events like the invasion of angels or the appearance of the Army of Malicious Commander.
After about three months, a note was sent through an interdimensional crack. It was from Deboron.
“Could it be the list of items for this year’s Devildom auction?”
It finally arrived. I read the memo carefully and smiled.
“This year will be a turning point.”
The content of the note was brilliant. There were a lot of things I knew, so it was great to them affirmed by the note. Some items that shouldn’t have come out yet this year and some treasures I thought would come out later also appeared in the list.
I thought this auction would be the turning point to decide whether to get ahead or not in the competition. If I got left behind, I would not be able to follow the next five years. Instead, if I went ahead, I would get numerous benefits for five years. Since Deboron still took the effort to send me a note, it looked like our alliance was still the same.
“Ha-ha!”
I checked my remaining points and laughed louder. This year’s Auction of Devildom would be incomparable to last year. It was important. I shouldn’t brag, but I would be the winner.
At the same time, I imagined who would be the second, third, and who would be the loser. In particular, I couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of how Ufa would react, having lost his subordinates while battling me.
“Will unusual things happen? It doesn’t matter whether it happens to me or not, though.”
I was confident that I would be the winner at last.
“But if something unexpected happened, I would greet it with a laugh anyway.”
Whatever happens, they would be a new stimulus and pave a bright path for me.
<hr />
The portal opened. In front of it, the Spirit of Darkness in the shape of a Gnome was waiting as usual.
“Long time, no see,” I said.
“Ke-he-he. How have you been, sir?”
“It was an alright year. How about the World of Spirits?”
“We were very busy identifying spies…”
I knew about it already. But I didn’t know what happened after that. Also, I wanted to find out what had happened from someone who did not know about the alliance between Deboron and me.
I asked indifferently, “There are spies here, too?”
“Ke-he-he. Yes, sir. There were disguised Spirits from other elements. And some Spirits of Darkness were bought off. We had lots of trouble. Thanks to that, we had to keep things quiet for this auction. Anyway… how many points did you get?”
“Isn’t it prohibited to ask directly?”
The Spirit of Darkness laughed awkwardly. “Oh, I am sorry. Please, ignore what I just said. I was just wondering because the point average this year was pretty high. Since you are the best customer and play a big part in raising the average, so…”
“What’s the average?”
“Don’t be surprised. It is 1.3 million!”
1.3 million. I nodded.
I had caught three demons. If there were 69 demons left, it would come up to a total of 89.7 million points. And among them, about 22 million were my share. In other words, the original average would be about 1 million. I had raised the average by 300,000 alone. If it were my previous life, I could buy about two highest 2Lv monsters.
Of course, the highest monster had to be in the auction, and the competition for it would be intense. Sometimes, the highest monster became the starting point of a war because the top-level highest monster could boast the power of one dungeon. That was why getting the highest monster was so important.
When a fight went wrong, the highest monster could be a hidden card that turns the table. So, an Archduke who had lost power would make every effort to get the highest monster. Hydra or Devil Dragon were examples of the highest monsters.
“The highest monster of 2Lv.”
And in this auction, there was a monster that was one-level higher than Griffin or Gigantes. Goolfin, the monster mentioned by Deboron last time, was not even comparable to this one. Buying the highest monster of 2Lv in the third year would turn the table.
“I must buy it.”
It was a treasure that I had to purchase, no matter how much I had to spend.
The Spirit of Darkness looked me and said, “It seems like you are not surprised at all.”
“I am surprised.”
“Ke-he. You have a very good poker face.”
“Stop your nonsense. Let’s check out the stuff.”
“I will guide you. Please, follow me.”
We went to the place where I could check out the auction items in advance. In the first year, there were only Ariel and me. In the second year, there were more visitors. This year, all the demons gathered and looked around.
I spotted a few familiar faces: Archduke Oculus and his demons, and Archduke Ufa with his fewer demons. I counted all of them, and there were 68. Including me, there were 69. From the number, I could tell nothing had changed except the demons I had killed. It was proof that nothing major had changed.
The demons were not interested in me. Even though they heard my footsteps, they did not turn to look. What attracted the attention of the demons was the huge iron cage in the middle.
“Hmm.”
“I don’t know how they get this extinct monster.”
“It’s only a monster, but it seems pretty good.”
They all said different things, but how they felt were all the same. They were all admiring it. I also looked inside the steel-barred cage.
“Mago, the Angelic Lady.”
This species could be released into the wind to control a typhoon. They were Magos. They were also called Angelic Ladies because they looked like women in a glance. But they were not as beautiful as they sound.
This Mago was about 5 meters tall, and its hair was long. It only had one eye and several dangling breasts. However, its speed and power were enough to surprise heaven and earth.
And Mago’s eye was known to have insight. I had no idea if it were the same as the one of Oculus. But that was why it was called a perfect gem, and that was why it had gone extinct.
In the beginning, their number was small, and they had a habit of living separately. So, they were easily exterminated. However, it was said that tragedy occurred when one Mago was killed, where a thousand bodies remained within one kilometer of the dead Mago.
“Nice to meet you.”
I was really glad to see it. When I looked at it with a smile, Mago turned its one eye to me. Then, it bucked all of a sudden.
Whoosh!
Boom! Boom!
A huge typhoon formed around Mago. But the iron cage that was made from a special material just shook a little, standing as firm as a rock.
“Wow!”
“That is amazing mana!”
Kiyaaaa!
Mago screamed and fell on the floor, shedding red tears.
“It is not in good condition.”
It was the third year. The Spirits were not used to deal with the highest monsters yet. It was inevitable. I stretched out my hand quietly and pretended to hold Mago.
“You are mine.”