Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 136

Chapter 136: Chapter 49. The Fifth Auction of Devildom (6)

My guide went forward and stood in between the two spirits.

The reason that the two spirits wanted to accompany me was very simple; I had told them the truth.

Nothing was more powerful than the truth when it came to moving someone. I did not know this in my previous life, but I learned this important lesson in this life.

The Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire, which included both Jeeves and Kerpy, knew that I was the only one who could protect them in the middle of this dark castle.

I was very different from the other demons, and I was preventing the Spirits of Darkness from realizing their plans.

I told them what happened to their sacrifices to their god, and I asked for something in return.

“I will establish a relationship as a token for telling them the truth,” I thought.

Now the scale of this problem was getting larger. At first, it was just a fight between demons. However, that fight had now expanded to the World of Spirit. If I thought about how the angels got involved and tried to step in, the problem had gotten far larger than I alone could handle.

In a situation like this, I needed to have allies, who would work for me as my arms and legs.

I chose the Spirits of Water and Fire as my allies.

They were the perfect choice because not only were they hostile with the Spirits of Darkness, but they also did not have any strong relationships with other demons.

Points were not my concern anymore. I had enough. I did not know how much I would earn by the end of this auction for individual items.

However, I was very confident that everyone in the room would be interested in the item that I would put out.

In particular, some of them would be desperate to take some of my items.

I calmly looked up at the closed door of the auction house.

Archduke Ariel, Ufa, and Pandemonium were on the other side of this giant door!

I smiled.

“They must be fighting over their territories while the hunter is gone,” I thought.

However, the tables had turned; the hunter had returned.

I was curious to see how they would react when I showed up. They must have thought that I was dead.

I wondered if they would try to fight back or hide.

Then I opened the door.

Bright light welcomed me.

The auction hall was two-stories high and divided into four sections. Ariel, Ufa, Pandemonium, and Adonis occupied each division. Where Adonis was sitting used to be Oculus’ seat, but he had died, and the seat became available.

What surprised me was that there were a few of Oculus’ demons in the auction hall.

It seemed that they now worked for Pandemonium. I had killed four of his demons, but Pandemonium’s group was larger than the others.

Ariel had fifteen demons with her, Ufa had eighteen, and Pandemonium, twenty!

There were fifty-four demons in here, including me.

“Oculus’ demons did not perish even though their master died,” I thought.

Pandemonium’s group was the largest, but seven of his demons used to work for Oculus.

Oculus used his skill, which was Soul Assimilation, before his death. I had thought that such a skill would kill some of his demons, too, but it seemed that the skill did not have much impact.

Anyway, I was quite surprised at Pandemonium’s prompt response to Oculus’ death. I did not expect him to take in Oculus’ demons and expand his group even further.

However, the demons who used to work for Oculus looked like they were lacking energy. Perhaps Pandemonium was controlling them from behind. I would not be surprised if he was, because the demon was a master of magic.

Pandemonium seemed to be more surprised than I was when he saw me.

Of course, he was not the only one.

Ariel and Ufa were shocked to see me alive.

Even though I could, I had not shown up in the previous Auction of Devildom. Based on my long absence, the others must have thought that I was dead. I was sure that Deboron made an announcement echoing their guesses, too.

But here I was, standing tall in the auction hall.

And I had changed.

I had become so much stronger than I was before. I had gotten overwhelmingly powerful and reached the realm of transcendence, while the other archdukes remained the same.

They, too, had grown tremendously compared to their previous lives. However, I was still much more powerful than they were.

Holding their attention, I grabbed a seat on the first floor of the hall.

Throughout the first three Auctions of Devildom, only I sat on this seat. The other demons sat on the second floor.

Next to me were the Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire. I was in the center of the crowd, which made me stand out.

“Randalf Bruciel…”

I heard Ariel Diablo’s voice. She freaked out at first, but now, she looked very curious about me.

She was not emitting much mana, but she was very sharp. The archduke noticed that I had become the overwhelming one.

Out of all the demons in Devildom, Ariel had the most curious and competitive mind. She was abstaining from asking questions about me to focus on the auction for now.

I looked around slightly while smiling.

Now I could say that I was on par with these archdukes.

I felt like I was still lacking something in the past. However, I broke through my limits, and I was no longer inferior to them.

In all aspects, I was better than the archdukes.

I opened my Mind’s Eye and read the information about Ariel.

Name: Ariel Diablo.

Occupation: Archduke of Devildom (Dungeon Master)

Title:

*The Descendant of the Dark Lord (Epic, Mana +10)

*Weapon Master (Epic, all statistics +3)

*The Successor of Chaos (Epic, Strength, agility, and health point +6)

*The Path of Ruler (Ex U, Strength and mana +4)

Statistics:

Strength 84 (+15), Intelligence 92 (+3), Agility 89 (+11), Health 85 (+11), Mana 87 (+17), Potential (437+57/500)

Comments: Ariel is one of the four archdukes. She reigns over Under Hell and is the master of eighteen demons. She found out about chaos and became the true ruler.

Skills: Weapon Cheat (Epic), Abyss Sword (Epic), Kotodama (Ex U), Tornado (Epic), The Blessing of King (Epic)

Currently activated skills and effects of items: Reigning Sword (Strength, Agility, and Health +2)

Previous and current condition comparison

Strength 75, Intelligence 76, Agility 81, Health 73, Mana 87, Potential (372+20/500)

Strength 99, Intelligence 95, Agility 100, Health 96, Mana 104, Potential (437+57/500)

Ariel had improved tremendously compared to when I first saw her in the Auction of Devildom. The total sum of statistics added up to 494, and she had mastered one of the best kinds of swordsmanship, Abyss Sword. She could not have shown such progress in just five years in her previous life.

Her rapid growth implied that the world was changing very quickly.

However, despite her tremendous growth, I was still a step ahead of her. For instance, I was already better than her in statistics. Furthermore, I improved much faster than she did.

On top of my superior statistics, my skills and items made me even stronger.

“Hmm…!”

Then I looked at Ufa.

He, too, did not seem to expect my return.

He frowned when he saw me. However, Ufa seemed to underestimate me, unlike Ariel.

Finally, Pandemonium was looking at me cautiously.

He must have suspected that I was the culprit behind the disappearance of his four demons.

Despite his suspicion, Pandemonium could not have made any moves, because he had to fight with Kirin and the humans.

It was too late for him to even guess that I was the culprit. I had been unharmed and even prepared a bunch of plans. Here I was, all ready, in the auction hall.

“Their abilities are about the same,” I thought.

Using the Mind’s Eyes, I analyzed all of the archdukes, and I found out that their overall statistics were mostly similar. The differences came from titles, skills, and items. Ariel Diablo seemed to be the strongest of all now. However, I would need to fight all of them to see if my guesses were correct.

“Tsk.”

Adonis, the Spirit King of Darkness, suddenly clicked his tongue. He seemed to be annoyed.

The Spirit King wanted me to fight with the Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire. He even prepared a stage for me to fight. However, I got along with the spirits, and he was disappointed. At the same time, he gave me a doubtful look.

Despite the doubts, Adonis did not have any evidence. He could not do anything but look at me.

“Hello everyone! My name is Deboron, and I am glad to be your host today.”

When the flimsy curtain was lifted, Deboron, who was dressed up as a clown, walked out. Grinning, the spirit looked around and nodded.

“I see some new faces! Is it because the auction rules changed? And… one of the customers whom we thought was dead has returned! Mr. Randalf Bruciel!”

I answered his greetings with a short nod.

“He’s shameless,” I thought.

I had already talked with Deboron before the auction, but the spirit pretended that he had not seen me before this auction. Deboron was indeed a very good actor.

“I am sure that all of you are now quite familiar with the changed rules. We now have a session where participants sell their items. I am quite excited to see what kind of items will be there!”

I also became curious about the items.

Other demons must have felt the same about the auction for individual items.

The auction was a good opportunity to earn some points before the main event. Other demons could sell what they did not need anymore. They could even fake “traps” as treasure.

Cursed items were a good example of such traps. A high-level curse could hide important information about the item from the customer. If one fell for it and paid, he or she would be losing points.

Another example of a trap was a set of skills that were activated in certain situations, such as a secret tracking curse. One could sell such a trap so that he or she could later break into the customer’s vault using the location formation from the trap.

Because of many possibilities, I had to purchase items carefully from this round of the auction.

Deboron spoke again slowly.

“Bidding on an item is simple. You just have to call a higher price. However, if you call for a price that you cannot afford, the statues of a boy and a girl, which are hanging on the ceiling, will laugh at you. If you don’t trust me, go ahead and try yourself now.”

Many of the participants had already known the rule, but Deboron explained it again for the newcomers. Soon, the auction hall fell silent, and Deboron stretched his hands out wide.

“Dear valued customers, we greet you once again. I am very happy to meet you. Spirits may pay for items with their levels. Then the system will evaluate your level and allocate you points that correspond to your level.”

Deboron was smiling confidently.

His original plan, which was making the Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire fight with each other, did not work. The cunning spirit moved on to his second plan, which was lowering the levels of other spirits that had gathered in the auction hall. The Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire in the hall were very powerful, and Deboron thought that lowering their levels would have the same effect as making them fight with each other.

“Deboron, you got the wrong person. The Spirits of Water and the Spirits of Fire are nothing more than my assistants,” I thought.

I was going to pay for the items. The spirits were setters for this auction.

At the same time, I grew curious about the godly energy, which the spirits had. It was going to come out in this round of auction. If this item was worth more than the alliance with the Spirits of Darkness was, I could simply take the item and abandon the spirits.

I could crush Deboron’s plan in every possible way.

“Now, it is the time for the long-awaited auction. Let us begin. We have a lot of items, so we will divide them into two different sessions. In between the sessions, we will have a break for an hour.”

Clap!

When Deboron clapped, his workers brought out an item.

The item was a huge statue of a Gargoyle.

“Well, that was very unexpected. I can feel that the mana from this item is very special. It is a delicate Gargoyle statue! Not only does this statue have special mana, but also the soul of the sculptor. The starting bid is five thousand.”

Name: The delicate statue of a Gargoyle

Comments: The sculptor put great effort into making this statue. The statue is so lifelike that the Gargoyle looks like it could alive at any moment.

*The statue increases the reproduction rate of Gargoyles by fifteen percent within ten kilometers.

*The statue is under the Curse of the Artist. As soon as a person owns this item, he or she will be affected by the curse and lose mana by one.

“As I expected,” I thought.

The item had a penalty, which was the curse. I had anticipated that the demons would try to trick others by selling defective items, and I was correct. Only those who wanted to earn points would sell normal items in this round of auction.

“Five thousand.”

The penalty was cunningly hidden as an option. Anyone with mediocre observation skills would fall for this item.

The statue was a great trap. Not only was the penalty hidden, but the starting bid was also very cheap. Furthermore, items related to reproductions were rare.

“Marquis Mamatuan!”

“Ten thousand.”

“Count Ciel!”

The price increased. However, not that many demons fell for this trap.

After several bids, the item was taken.

“Count Pururum takes the statue for thirty thousand points! Congratulations!”

Crossing my arms, I calmly watched the auction.

I could have easily joined the bidding if I wanted. However, the statue was not worth such an effort. As a result, I only watched this round.

Several different items appeared after the statue.

And as I guessed, most of them had some defects or penalties.

Some of them were normal, but their qualities were poor. The sellers must have wanted to get rid of them.

Once in a while, some useful items, such as the Flowerpot of Angela or Electric Shoes, came out. However, I never raised my hand to bid.

I was waiting for something bigger than them.

The atmosphere changed when the auction reached the twentieth round.

“The item that I am going to present is simply great. Don’t be surprised! It is the Quintessence of Fire. It is the fire that never fades and the item of the absolute!”

Deboron introduced the item passionately.

The workers brought a huge metal cage out front.

Inside the cage was the Quintessence of Fire.

“The fire looks amazing.”

“It seems to have some special mana…”

The demons started evaluating the fire.

“Ah, it is one of our nine gods!”

“It must have lost so much of its power, yet it is still burning so beautifully!”

The Spirits of Fire were excited and showed reverence.

However, I could not join them.

“Is that really fire?” I thought.

The spirits called it the Quintessence of Fire, but it looked completely different to me.