Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Episode 8. Auction of Devildom – 1 – (6)

It was Archduke Ufa that stopped me.

He was known for the skill called ‘Black Hole’, which sucked everything around it.

Beside Archduke Ufa were many monsters.

“You recognized me, but how dare you not bow at me? You are completely out of your mind.”

I could tell his personality from simply listening to the way that he talked.

He sure was arrogant and self-righteous.

Archduke Ufa was in the position to deserve much respect, but I did not care at all.

“Am I your subordinate monster? I do not have any memories of working with you or any of your monsters.”

Archduke Ufa became very feisty, and I could tell that from looking at his face.

“How rude. However, I know for sure that you dared to attack one of my monsters. How are you going to explain this to me?”

I did not have to explain anything. I only launched an attack because I was attacked in the first place.

I did not answer carefully because I did not want to explain.

“That bastard attacked me first.”

“You cut his arm though. How dare you.”

“You can just put the cut arms together with a potion.”

I did not understand why he was making such a fuss out of it. It was not hard to put the cut parts together with the help of a potion.

However, I did have some vague anticipation that I would run into a situation like this.

I’d anticipated and therefore I acted accordingly.

In fact, if I got pissed off at insults from someone like Groggy, I would be in the same league as his. As Kim Yongwoo said, the difference between Groggy and me was that between an elephant and an ant. It was such a large difference.

I was not even angry in the first place.

I made my hands dirty on what was not even worth cutting arms off.

Why did I do so?

I did so because of the other side of Devildom. Only I accurately knew all the rules of Devildom, where the King of the Spirit of Dark reigned!

“I guess you will shut your mouth when I cut off your neck.”

“My neck? Haha!”

No one could cut my throat.

In my previous life, I survived until the last moment, even when I lacked strength.

We did not return to die in a place like this.

“You bastard…I wanted to forgive you if you showed me some sincerity, but now I cannot. Pagan, go and shut his mouth for me.”

On the side was Duke Pagan.

Duke Pagan was one of three dukes who assisted Archduke Ufa.

He nodded his head and started to move forward.

The monsters quickly became very hostile.

I opened my Eyes of Mind.

Name: Fagan Grewoolly

Job: Duke of Devildom (Dungeon Master)

Title:

* He is called the King of Wolves (Ex U, Strength and Agility +4)

Statistics:

Strength 80 (+4) Intelligence 63

Agility 65 (+4) Health 68 Mana 77

Potential (353+8/500)

Comments: He owns the land of Grewoolly, harsh land of wolves.

Skill: Pagan Grewoolly has the skills of Wolvesification (U), Regeneration (U)

[Opponent comparison]

Pagan Grewoolly

Strength 84 Intelligence 63

Agility 69 Health 68 Mana 77 Potential (353+8/500)

Randalp Bruciel

Strength 71 Intelligence 56

Agility 66 Health 72 Mana 80 Potential (329+16/500)

(All of the abilities are reduced by -10 due to penalties.)

I slightly swung my head little bit.

I was slightly behind in abilities compared to Pagan Grewoolly because of the penalties.

While using the Eyes of Mind during auctions to identify five sealed items, my abilities dropped by -50 because of the penalties. Despite such penalties, the numbers that I had were not too bad. I would win comfortably under my normal conditions, without any abilities reduced.

The same went for skills that I had. If I learned Brain God Power and got used to Anger, I would overpower my enemy.

‘There sure is a big difference between archdukes and just regular dukes.’

The total sum of an archduke’s abilities was nearly 400. However, that of a duke was somewhere between 340 and 360. That was a surprise. Archdukes were in a totally different league.

Furthermore, I had improved to the point where I could compete with Archdukes. Although the penalties from auction cancelled out all of my improvements, I was surely proud of myself and my progress.

Just in time, monsters were coming out of the auction house one by one.

Archduke Ariel, Pandemonium, and Oculus also showed up soon.

They looked at Pagan and me, and they looked rather interested.

Of course, they were mostly interested on me, not my enemy.

Only I was not part of any faction in 72 groups of monsters.

At the same time, no monster besides me spent a huge amount of points so lavishly in the auction.

Would I look strong or weak to them?

They would take the strong and throw the weak away, just as they only took what benefited them and threw away what was useless.

The monsters would try to look at gains and losses, and they would try to get the most out of me.

“Hold up your weapons, you punk.” Pagan yelled at me like an animal growling.

Pagan was called the King of Wolves and the ruler of Grewoolly. He was the loyalest of the loyal, but he would be thrown out when no longer useful to his master. Indeed, he was naively honest and dumb.

I quickly analyzed my enemy, Pagan Grewoolly, in my head.

“You do not need a weapon, you doggy monster?”

“You are such a bastard. This is my weapon.” Pagan said, showing teeth and nails harder than steel and sharper than blades.

“Those are your weapons? I do not mind them then.”

I also held a sword.

Both of us were ready and were about to run into each other to take the other down.

“…Stop! This is the temple that the King of Spirit reigns! I will not allow you to make a fuss in this sacred place!”

A high spirit who looked tough appeared and approached Pagan and me.

Next to him stood Devorong, who looked at me and winked.

I was, so to speak, a VIP customer to Devorong. I acted as a bait in his auction and gave him great profits. I was not surprised by his hospitality.

‘Everything is right in time.’

I stretched and dropped the sword to the floor at once.

I informed them that I had no further intention of fighting.

“How dare a mere spirit interrupt our business? This bastard insulted our Archduke Ufa! He shall be punished.”

On the contrary, Pagan protested openly, showing his fiery temper.

They had never been to the World of Spirits before. In addition, Archduke Ufa was indeed very arrogant, and so were his subordinate monsters. They listened to no one and wanted to do things in their way.

Hearing such nonsense, I slightly grinned.

They were making the dumbest moves that they could ever make.

Had one known how important the Spirits of Dark who organized auctions were, he or she must have not taken such actions. Taking a step back was much more beneficial to both sides.

Archduke Ufa did not stop Pagan at all. He also looked very irritated at the situation.

He did not like the fact that he was forced to take part in the auction in the first place.

On top of that, I’d provoked them, and the spirits also interrupted their business. I would not be surprised if their anger from the series of these pleasant events erupted any moment now.

‘Everyone makes mistakes when it is his or her first time. It is just that Archduke Ufa and Duke Paga made mistakes that cannot be undone.’

Things would have been much better if it were a different place.

However, this place was very important to the Spirits of Dark.

It was the temple of the King of Spirits.

How could they ignore the King of Spirits and fuss around?

Their rude actions could do no good at all.

The demon god’s contract restricted spirits from directly attacking monsters first. However, the contract did allow the spirits to ban certain monsters from participating in auctions.

In particular, monsters tended to rely on auctions because of lack of points in early stages. Therefore, if monsters cannot participate in auctions, then they sure would have hard time keeping up with other monsters.

However, Archduke Ufa and Duke Pagan did not know such valuable information yet. Their ignorance led them to act so rudely.

“A mere spirit? I know that Archduke Ufa and your monsters are big names in Devildom, but this is the World of Spirits! You cannot act so recklessly here!”

The highest Spirit of Dark shivered in anger.

Various spirits were gathering behind him.

Pagan did not care at all.

“Huh! Is that why you want to stop us? This is our business, and you do not have any right to stop us!”

It did not look good for spirits to interfere in the affairs of monsters.

Other monsters shared the similar thought and opinion about spirits’ interference.

However, the spirits and I had different perspectives.

“This is the World of Spirits. If you are in a new environment, you may follow what others do in that place. You shall abide by the laws of the Spirits!”

“You summoned us forcefully against our wills and ask us to follow your ways? Do we look so easy to you?”

“The demon god wanted to summon you. If you are not happy with the summon, then fine! We will prohibit Archduke Ufa and his subordinate monsters from our auction house for the next three years.”

“Fine, go ahead and ban us. We will not pay our visit even if you beg us to!”

Pagan had no authority to make such decisions, but he was completely out of his mind because of anger.

It seemed that they would argue for a long time, but Pagan’s declaration ended the argument.

‘Haha!’

Archduke Ufa and his monsters were banned for the next three years!

It was well done for sure.

Archduke Ufa and his subordinate monsters would not be able to attend the next three auctions which would take place over the course of the next three years.

They would fall behind compared to other monsters, but they would be able to recover the gap later. However, this gap in the beginning would last until the end and would sure have some impacts.

‘One is knocked out from the race.’

I could anticipate that at least one or two monsters would try pick up a fight. Archduke Ufa was dumb enough to fall into the trap that I installed.

Everything was going as I hoped.

A little argument was enough for paying off my job as bait.

“I will deal with the fight that took place here according to the Laws of the Spirits,” the Spirits of Dark declared.

Then Pagan ground its teeth. “That is nonsense! Who are you to do this…”

“I agree. Do you have any questions?” I cut off Pagan.

I’d gotten what I wanted, and it was the right time to put an end to it.

At the same time, the highest spirit looked content. Devorong also looked content.

“Mr. Randalf Bruciel. Will you help me with the assessment?”

“Sure, I can cooperate if it’s not too much. This is indeed your land.”

“Thank you.”

“Haha! There is a saying in human language. When in Rome, do as Romans do. For your information, Rome is the name of a country.”

“There is indeed something good about humans in that regard. Mr. Randalf Bruciel, I would like to hear how everything happened…..”

The spirit showed a different attitude when he was talking to me compared to when he was dealing with Pagan.

I was competing with other monsters anyways. I did not care how they thought of me.

On the other hand, spirits could be good partners.

It was obvious from the beginning that was whom I should team up with.

The monsters frowned at me. Archduke Ufa and Duke Pagan looked at me with hostility.

I could not care less.

I did not need to fit myself into their mold.

‘I am going my way.’

I did not know what was ahead of me.

At least it was clear that they would not be there.

So…I would walk and do things in my own way.

The auction was over.

I was able to return safely to the dungeon.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Lyhee sleeping on the dungeon core.

‘She must have been sleeping all day.’

Fairies were naturally sleepy. I did not know why she had to sleep because she had no physical body. However, she could sleep for days if not interrupted.

It seemed that she did not care even though the Dungeon Master had returned.

I took out a stone that was as small as a little fingernail.

I remembered Devorong, the host of the Devildom auction.

He, one of the closest friends of the Spirits, gave me the stone as a gift.

‘He said he would contact me through this stone.’

According to Devorong, this stone was a tool that would allow its users to contact and communicate with each other.

However, I believed that there was more to this stone than just making contacts.

Devorong did not say it explicitly, but I could guess what his true intention of giving me this stone as a gift.

‘He wanted to do me favors and let me know items that would come in the future auctions in advance.’

If I could know what items would appear in auctions in advance, I could make plans accordingly. The more plans I had, the more likely that I would get better items, skills, or monsters.

Through my actions, I showed Spirits that I did not want to antagonize them, which helped me start building a good relationship with them. In addition, I implicitly agreed with Devorong that I would continue to be a bait in future auctions. Such agreements lead to this gift right here.

Both of us could win. There was no reason to refuse the offer.

Zing.

Suddenly, a crack in space appeared right next to me.

I put the stone in my pocket and turned my head away.

‘The items have finally arrived.’

Anger showed up first after the crack cleared.

Then came the Wand of Death, Paranormal, the Flower of Eternity, Brain God Power, and the potion of agility, in that order.

Auctioned items were being transferred.

“Huh! What, what is it? What is happening!” Lhyee, who woke up at the sudden sound of waves, looked around.

Her lips were watery because she’d forgotten to wipe them.

I ignored Lyhee and put all of the received items in my magic pocket.

Zeeeeng!