Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 65
Chapter 65: Episode 18. The Second Auction of Devildom (2)
I arrived at the reception area, where I could look at items before the auction.
Unlike the first year, there were many demons crowded in the reception area.
The reason was simple: they wanted to take a look at the auction items in advance so they could prepare a plan for the auction. If demons wanted to bid on as many items as they could with limited points, they had to prepare plans in advance.
Of course, demons also used this area to check on other factions.
For these reasons, the reception area, which was very large, was incredibly quiet. Everyone in the room was fueled with dogged determination and under serious pressure. The air was heavy with expectation. It felt as though if anyone in the crowd made a noise, the tension would explode.
The demons checked out the other demons’ levels by looking at their monsters. Then, they figured out what others were planning to bid on and formed plans that would make the others waste their points. The demons started to understand the importance of a “setter” to keep the bidding going, which was the role that I had played during the last auction.
Boom!
Giante’s heavy footsteps rang through the reception area. The strong smell of the highest-level monster’s Mana spread quickly, causing some of the demons to turn around and stare at me.
‘That is one enthusiastic welcome.’
Different factions looked at me in different ways.
Archduke Ariel and her demons weren’t hostile; they simply looked interested.
On the other hand, Archduke Ufa and his demons looked at me as their greatest enemy, glaring at me very intensely. I felt like they could have killed me had their stares been able to do any real damage.
Archduke Oculus seemed indifferent. He was the only demon that had successfully grown the Tree of World in my previous life, and he was the type of demon who would completely shut something out unless it was interesting enough for him to devote all of his attention to it.
Archduke Pandemonium was… cynical. He was pessimistic in the first place, so his skepticism didn’t surprise me. His demons resembled him and reacted similarly to my appearance.
“Hehehe, I’ll be waiting outside. I don’t think I can stay here.”
The Spirit of Darkness nodded quickly and stepped back.
Spirits were sensitive to Mana. It would be challenging for a spirit to enter the reception area, where demons of all kinds were silently fighting each other with their Mana.
‘Ufa…’
I clicked my tongue sharply after the Spirit of Darkness left the reception area.
Archduke Ufa and his demons were waiting inside.
Since he had blamed Fagan Grewoolly for the incident last year, he was given permission to participate in the Auction of Devildom again.
It was a shame.
When I stared at him, he also looked at me. His eyes were burning with hatred… If we weren’t in the Spirit World, both Ufa and I would have ended up fighting.
At the same time, he looked like he was searching for an answer. His stare looked as though he was asking me, “Is it you?”
I soon understood the underlying message behind the stare.
‘He must be concerned about Adol Ruff’s disappearance.’
I actually was the culprit of this crime.
Although Ufa didn’t micromanage his demons, if one of them died, things would get serious. Everyone besides Duke Fagan should have been sent to the auction without a choice in the matter. However, no one could find Adol Ruff. His absence implied only one thing.
It meant that Adol Ruff was dead.
Someone had to have attacked Ufa’s faction—it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think this way. Of course, there was no evidence that I was the culprit. Ufa suspected every demon in the room. Perhaps, Ufa had targeted all the demons that weren’t in his faction with that stare at least once.
I tried not to smile. I needed to suppress even the smallest movement of my muscles. The longer his doubt lasted, the better it was for me. If the friction between groups intensified and broke out, causing all the groups to make aggressive moves, the conflicts would benefit me tremendously.
‘While two dogs fight for a bone, the third runs away with it.’
Anyway, I had visited the reception area because I wanted to check the other demons’ status windows before I looked at the list of items. I immediately opened my Mind’s Eye.
Name: Ufa Blennon
Occupation: Archduke of Devildom (Master of the Dungeon)
Title:
*Destroyer (Epic, Intelligence+4 Mana+7)
*Master of gravity (Ex U, Mana +7)
Statistics:
Strength 82, Intelligence 79 (+4)
Agility 75, Health 74, Mana 81 (+14)
Potential (391+18/500)
Comments: Ufa is one of the four archdukes. He is also the owner of Blennon, the giant moving castle.
Skills: Black Hole (Epic), Gravity field (Epic), Observation (R)
[Comparison]
Ufa Blennon
Strength 82, Intelligence 83, Agility 75, Health 74, Mana 95, Potential (391+18/500)
Randalf Bruciel
Strength 89, Intelligence 74, Agility 77, Health 82, Mana 93, Potential (392+23/500)
I clenched my fist tightly. All of my statistics were on par with Ufa’s statistics, though I was a bit higher than Ufa in some areas. I couldn’t help but smile slightly. When Ufa saw my smile, he frowned.
‘I’m moving in the right direction.’
I also checked the statistics of the other archdukes. Their statistics were similar to those of Ufa, as they were between 400 and 415. On average, they had about two Epic-grade skills each.
If I fought one of the archdukes, it would be a tight match. In fact, it was possible that I could even dominate them. On top of that, I had two highest-level monsters, which none of the archdukes had.
I shivered at the thought of it.
Overall, I was a step ahead of even the archdukes. Moreover, I believed that I could increase the gap between us during the upcoming Auction of Devildom.
I went into the center of the reception area and began to look at the items very slowly.
The auction hall, where the actual auction would take place, looked archaic.
It had four side halls and a very large auditorium on the first floor.
However, just like the last time, only I took a seat in the auditorium on the first floor.
The other four factions occupied the four side halls, checking on each other constantly.
It seemed that they didn’t care too much about me.
‘They probably have no idea how many points I have right now.’
I had about seven million points. Such a number was equal or even greater to the wealth of one whole group. In other words, I was equivalent to one whole group in terms of points.
However, the other demons, and even the spirits who were hosting the auction, didn’t know how many points I had. Had they known the true amount, their attitudes would have changed at once, but I didn’t see the need to reveal my fortune.
There was nothing to gain from revealing how many points I had.
Others would find out how many I had over time anyways.
Soon, Deboron, all dressed up, appeared from the back of the stage.
“Welcome everyone! My name is Deboron, and I am the host of today’s auction. I hope you enjoy it.”
Deboron’s face hadn’t changed in the last year. He was a highest-level spirit, and he dealt under the counter. Based on the list of items that he had sent me in advance, I was able to prepare a pretty solid game plan for the auction.
He looked around the auction house and smiled bittersweetly.
“Two seats are empty. I banned one for the next three years for violating rules. However, the other… I have sent messages many times, but it seems that he is gone for good. I offer my deepest condolences.” Deboron sounded a bit like he was mocking Ufa’s group.
After a moment of silence, he raised his head and smiled brightly.
Archduke Ufa seemed annoyed, but Deboron didn’t care.
Had Deboron followed the rules strictly, Ufa and his demons would have been prohibited from participating in the auction for the next three years. However, the spirits compromised and allowed Ufa to blame the entire incident on Fagan Grewoolly. After that incident, the spirits began to dislike Ufa.
“Well, well! We prepared even hotter items this year. Our spirits have worked so hard during the last year to find these items. If you knew how much effort they put in, you would be very impressed. It’s a pity that the time we have is too short to share how we collected these items. Above all, I do not want to interrupt the good atmosphere, so I will proceed to the auction.”
Deboron shrugged his shoulders and continued, “We have a total of one hundred items. We have spent much time deciding which auction item to present first. Last year, we presented Krathra, who had the blood of a Jinma Dragon and Ahojin. So, we cannot help but ask one important question: our customer, Mr. Randalf Bruciel, were you satisfied with last year’s purchase?”
Deboron lowered his head and looked at me.
Krithli was the real deal, but Krathra wasn’t bad, either. If Krathra grew to his fullest potential, he could become one of the highest-level monsters I had.
“The item was great.”
There was no way that I wasn’t satisfied.
Deboron smiled even more brightly.
“Thank you for the generous compliment. Of course, Krathra can’t be better than the monster you have with you right now, but it was a good monster, indeed.”
While making all these comments, Deboron tried to move the spotlight towards me, for my job was to be a setter.
A setter had to show something that could catch the crowd’s eyes.
Some demons flinched. They must have heard the news, but hearing it directly from Deboron and me definitely had a greater impact.
Some demons became curious.
It was easy to see from their faces that they were wondering how I had been able to obtain a monster that couldn’t be purchased.
I was amazed by Deboron’s tactic.
He was a darn good swindler. Some might have said he was a good businessman, but he looked like nothing more than a swindler to me.
“That’s enough product reviews. Now, I introduce to you the first item of the auction. Our spirit found this first item among ancient ruins… I am sure a lot of you have never heard of it before. We present to you ‘Astral Code!'”
A spirit brought out a box that contained a rectangular black bar.
The bar was pitch black. In fact, it was so black that anyone who saw the bar would question if anything darker than it existed. The length of the bar was about eight inches. Other than that, the bar looked very plain.
Many demons fixed their stares on the item.
All of them seemed to have learned the Observation (R) skill, but their skills were no match for my Mind’s Eye.
Observation skills would only show the item of interest’s name and options. It couldn’t display a detailed explanation, hidden options, or sealed armor.
‘Astral code. Is it a reinforcement item?’
I thought that I had seen it a couple of times, but I couldn’t remember well. Perhaps the reason was that I had never bought the item before. I opened my Mind’s Eye and checked it.
Name – Astral Code (U)
Description: Give one option to an item of interest.
*The item increases an ability by 1 or 2. The ability that it increases is randomly chosen, while it also enhances the unique characteristics of the desired item.
**The probability of failure is inversely proportional to the user’s Mana.
Only after reading the explanation could I remember the last time I had seen this item.
However, I had never seen or heard about its unique qualities, which were shown next to the two asterisks. I could only see these options when I used the Mind’s Eye. A simple observation skill couldn’t collect such information.
‘I will buy this item.’
Although Deboron had sent me the list of items that would be in the auction, I hadn’t received detailed explanations of each item on the list. When I actually saw the item, I wanted to purchase it. I had money set aside for unexpected spending, too.
Enhancing the unique characteristics of an item was very useful. For instance, such an option could sharpen a sword that was already incredibly sharp. However, the option was activated randomly, so there was a very slim chance of successfully changing a specific characteristic.
Despite the disadvantage, the code was still worth my points, because it would improve my statistics.
After waiting a sufficient amount of time, Deboron shouted, “The starting bid is 100,000 points! This item will enhance your most important weapon! You will never regret buying it! As I said last year, if you bid more money than you have, the statues of boys and girls on the ceiling will make fun of you, so please be considerate when you are making bids.”
The starting bid was more expensive than the first item had been last year.
I wasn’t surprised by the inflation since demons also had more points than they’d had last year.
“One hundred thousand.”
“Ah… Archduke Ariel! You made an excellent choice. You do have an eye for good items. We have 100,000 points.”
“One hundred and twenty thousand.”
“Archduke Oculus! Thank you for your careful bid.”
“One hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Archduke Ufa! I was wondering why you hadn’t made any bids. I cannot wait to see all of the archdukes participate in the first round of auction.”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“Ah, even Archduke Pandemonium! Now all of the archdukes are bidding.”
The fact that the code could enhance an item made it very attractive. If it enhanced an item at the Epic grade, the code could be worth up to a million points.
Other demons didn’t dare to bid while the archdukes were competing for an item.
However, things changed when I entered the scene…
“Three hundred thousand.”
Standing out among the crowd, I couldn’t help but bid.
