Dungeon Maker

The sky of the demon world was red. However, it wasn't just a single color.

Mixed within the twilight was violet light that stretched across the western sky. Black, red, and violet light mixed with each other as if there were watercolors and beyond that, red and yellow danced together in the sky. It seemed as if the sky was on fire.

And that didn't fill up the entire sky. A quiet, subtle red light covered the margins of the sky. It was similar to the sunsets of earth.

A dry wind scattered the dust into the air. The ground was dry, but just like the sky, not all of it was the same. There were fertile areas as well and not too far away there was a forest full of tall trees. The trees were filled with vibrant green leaves just like the ones in the human world.

A river flowed through the forest. It was too far away to tell, but it seemed that the river flowed with clear water. Out of the many streams that derived from that river, one of them flowed near the dungeon, so Yong-Ho could now tell where Eligor and the other spirits went to get water in the morning.

The air was cold. Catalina said that they were now between winter and spring.

Mana was the foundation of all living things in the demon world. The same was true for the birds that flew in the air and the bugs that crawled on the ground.

Yong-Ho, along with Catalina, stayed outside of the dungeon for a long time. He wasn't really looking around the area or doing anything. At best, all he did was look around the dungeon entrance.

The entrance to the House of Mammon's dungeon was located at the edge of a large mountain.

The mountain was called Encantro Pagnium. It meant the 'Edge of the World' in an archaic language.

Catalina, who was worried that Yong-Ho might try and climb the mountain, let out a sigh of relief when he just had a look around.

There was a reason why the mountain was called Encantro Pagnium or 'Edge of the World'. The enormous rocky mountain looked like it was going to pierce through the sky and there was an endless storm of mana that raged on it.

Catalina yawned after sighing and discreetly stretched her arms while looking around. She wanted to go hunting instead.

Yong-Ho just stood still and looked around at the sky and the earth. Since Catalina was the guard, she couldn't just go hunting and leave her owner alone, so there wasn't much she could do other than stay by his side.

While Catalina was getting tired due to boredom, Yong-Ho looked at the flow of the mana.

He fell into the amazing flow that not only made up the sky and the earth but the entire demon world.

There were various colors and attributes within the mana. Yong-Ho was able to examine the mana through his Power of Evolution.

His heart was filled with wonder.

This was the demon world.

This was mana.

He didn't get tired of looking at it for two hours. Yong-Ho swallowed his dry saliva and let out another exclamation. He was planning on just having a look outside for a brief moment and then going to help Eligor, but instead, he was caught in a trance and couldn't move.

Moments later.

Yong-Ho suddenly averted his eyes. Catalina was kicking the dust on the ground to fight off her boredom, however, just then, she too became alert as her ears pricked up and her eyes sharpened.

A low cry made by mana resonated inside their heads.

One of the Dungeon Meerkats was standing on top of the House of Mammon's dungeon entrance and stopped crying.

Yong-Ho instinctively lowered his posture and Catalina crouched close beside him.

The Dungeon Meerkat's vision was similar to an Elf's. That was why Catalina was able to confirm what the Dungeon Meerkat had seen.

"A battle carrier is approaching."

Except for the forest that was on one side, the rest of the land was bare. Even though Yong-Ho couldn't clearly distinguish it, he could see that something was approaching from afar.

Catalina continued to talk.

"There are five battle carriers. Given the size of them, I would estimate that there are over forty spirits. Also… I can see Foras's crest. It looks like Foras himself is leading his army."

Catalina clenched her teeth as she finished talking. Instead of heading inside the dungeon out of shock, Yong-Ho squinted his eyes. It was because the carriages had suddenly stopped moving even though they were still quite a long distance from the dungeon.

"What are they doing?"

"I think they're resting before they commence the attack."

Catalina spoke in a slightly uncertain tone.

Usually, dungeon battles took place within the dungeon. Sometimes there were those who would counterattack from the outside, but that was quite rare. Fighting inside the dungeon was far more advantageous than fighting outside.

Yong-Ho guessed Foras's mentality.

Although Foras had lost a group of Orcs, he was well acquainted with the House of Mammon from the last two generations. Although he had brought a lot of their spirits in case of a contingency, it was still highly likely that he was looking down on them.

There was no counterattack. Even if they announced that they were going to attack, it wouldn't improve the dungeon's defense.

Yong-Ho wasn't mad. Rather, he was actually pleased. If that gave him more time, then he welcomed it.

"How long do you think they'll rest for?"

Yong-Ho asked quietly. Catalina seemed to think about it for a moment and then answered back quietly as well.

"I don't think they'll be resting for very long. Possibly an hour or so at the longest."

It wasn't enough, but it was better than nothing.

The other side probably saw him too. Perhaps that break was their graceful way of declaring war.

Yong-Ho turned around without delay. Along with Catalina, he headed towards the entrance of the dungeon.

Slowly, and with excitement, his breathing started to get heavier.

The dungeon owner, Foras.

It was now time to fight.

***

[I'll sound the alarm to the dungeon spirits!]

[Eligor please order the spirits to withdraw.]

As soon as Yong-Ho entered the dungeon, the Spirit of the Dungeon quickly reconnected to him and quickly informed him of the situation. After Yong-Ho gave his confirmation, he ran with Catalina to the throne room.

[Incoming report from the Dungeon Meerkats.]

[There are around thirty Orc soldiers present.]

[And around ten Imps.]

[The total number of spirits that remain in the carriages cannot be accurately identified!]

There were six battle carriages.

Catalina said that Foras had brought at least forty spirits with him. He had four times the amount of spirits than the House of Mammon.

Yong-Ho didn't have a chance of winning if they attacked head-on.

He would only be able to win by utilizing the facilities within the dungeon.

[Another report from the Dungeon Meerkat!]

[Foras's battle carriages have started to move again!]

"Master!"

As soon as he reached the intersection in front of the throne room, the Spirit of the Dungeon and Eligor shouted at the same time.

Yong-Ho answered the Spirit of the Dungeon through the wave of a finger. He approached Eligor, breathing hard.

Eligor spoke with an urgent expression.

"As you've instructed, I've gathered all of the spirits into the throne room."

"What about the traps?"

Yong-Ho asked. Eligor smiled with pride.

"All trap installations have been completed."

It was worth purchasing the complete pre-built traps even if they were more expensive. It was now clear that if he had purchased the ones which they had to build, they definitely wouldn't have finished installing them on time.

[The Dungeon Meerkats desire to hide.]

The Spirit of the Dungeon informed him. It was conclusive proof that the battle carriages were getting closer to the dungeon.

Yong-Ho gave out the command. He then returned to the throne room with Catalina and Eligor. All the spirits that were gathered in the throne room showed their respect towards Yong-Ho.

He suppressed his nerves. It wasn't because he was in front of the spirits. The more urgent he felt the situation was, the colder he tried to become.

Yong-Ho sat on the throne and extended out his hands to create a large window of light. The spirits were able to see a simplified version of the dungeon map.

And then silence ensued.

The Kobold weighed down by the heavy atmosphere, started to whimper while Catalina swallowed her dry saliva. Yong-Ho closed his eyes and waited.

How much time had passed?

At last, the Spirit of the Dungeon spoke.

[The owner, Foras, and his spirits have invaded the dungeon.]

Yong-Ho opened his eyes. He saw Foras's symbol on the dungeon map.

***

The dungeon, known as a great spirit, wasn't a simple factory-manufactured product.

Each dungeon had a different appearance and structure and often had distinct personalities.

Most ordinary dungeons were based underground, however, some were as high as skyscrapers, like the King of Pride's dungeon. While others were located on top of the water or actually flew in the sky.

However, despite the many different types, there were still dungeons that were considered ordinary.

Most dungeons share similar characteristics.

One of them was that the dungeon entrance room was safe.

After entering the entrance room, Foras squinted his eyes. It wasn't a very small room, but it felt cramped because of the over forty Orcs and tens Imps that were inside.

'There's a new owner.'

He couldn't think of it as a dying dungeon that lost its owner. He could feel the life from the mana of the activated rooms.

Foras carefully lifted his right hand. Then, the Orc warrior, Busker Gokkun, gave out orders to the spirits in a low voice. One of the Orcs opened the door to the next room and picked one of the trembling Imps and forced it to take the lead.

Foras remained motionless. He closely observed the next room through the open door.

The room wasn't dark.

Lights supplied with mana were still on.

One of the necessary items to have when attacking was a means of lighting. There was no dungeon defender who would kindly provide light to the enemy that was invading their dungeon.

Nevertheless, there were lights in the entrance room and in the room next to it.

There were two possibilities.

One, the Spirit of the Dungeon was still not experienced enough, so they were unable to finely control the supply of mana throughout the dungeon.

To turn the lights off they would have to cut off the supply of mana, but then they would instead end up cutting off the mana that was distributed to the traps as well.

That kind of incident could occur if the Spirit of the Dungeon was unable to properly control the supply of mana.

Two, the new owner was a noob that didn't even know the basics about dungeon defense.

He deliberately ignored the second option. Looking down upon the enemy would only lead him to defeat.

Foras calmly observed the situation. When the leading Imp died due to the trap in the next room, he commanded the rest of the troops to move on to the next room.

***

Foras slowly, but steadily, pressed on. He had now passed four rooms, each with a pit trap, with minimal damage.

A pit trap was the most basic type of trap. It was easy to make with enough labor workers and it didn't require a lot of mana to operate.

After consecutively passing four pit traps, Foras once again thought to himself.

It hadn't been long since the new owner took the throne. The Spirit of the Dungeon was young and the quality of the traps were quite low.

A trembling Imp walked forward into the fifth room. Fortunately, a pit trap didn't activate when it walked across the room.

It was quite reasonable for this to happen. It was impossible to fill all the passages with traps. Especially for a newly ascended owner.

It was almost as if the owner was just expressing his anxiety by installing four traps in a row right next to the entrance.

Foras became a little less nervous. He commanded the spirits to keep moving, like before.

Twenty Orc Soldiers, the first of the two groups, entered the fifth room alongside the Imp. Foras waited with the remaining twenty spirits for them to walk into the sixth room.

The moment the Imp opened the door to the sixth room.

Flames were suddenly released from the ceiling and the ground, completely burning the fifth trap room.

***

Repeated patterns made people less nervous.

The same was true for the lighting that was turned on despite the enemy's invasion.

The flames that were made of mana were incredibly strong.

Orcs were known to be natural warriors, so as soon as the fire trap was activated, each of them protected their head, chest, and back and tried to dodge it. However, for the Orcs that were in the middle of the room, there just wasn't enough time.

The flames burned the Orcs. In an instant, as many as six Orcs had either died or were so badly injured that they were put out of action.

While Foras cursed, the House of Mammon's spirits gathered in the throne room, started to cheer. Catalina and Eligor also clenched their fists with excitement.

However, Yong-Ho gulped. He looked at the paths that were laid out on the dungeon map.

The linear displacement between the throne room and the dungeon entrance hadn't changed. The only thing that had changed was the actual path.

What strengths did the House of Mammon's dungeon currently possess?

A large amount of useless space.

A vast number of inactivated rooms.

Yong-Ho activated the inactive rooms to the left and right of the existing trap rooms. By doing that, he changed the once linear rooms into a large rectangle that covered dozens of rooms.

Then all he had to do was create a new path.

He used the same logic as if he had to draw a line through all the rooms at once, causing him to create a 'squiggle' effect.

And within that long passage that he created, he installed a variety of traps.

There were around fifty rooms between the entrance room and the last trap room.

Among them, only about twenty rooms were set up with traps, but that was enough.

The density of traps.

The decision of where to install certain traps.

After quickly sorting out his troops, Foras entered the sixth room after careful examination.

Yong-Ho didn't care.

There were no traps in the sixth room.

***

There was no need to set up traps in every room.

It was enough to plant the idea in the enemy's mind that there could be traps in any of the rooms.

Rooms without traps.

Rooms with slight traps.

Rooms with strong traps that were purchased from the Dungeon Market.

It was important to adjust the pace.

A powerful blow could occur the moment you relax.

When the enemy thinks there weren't any more traps, then they would fall into a new one.

He could make the enemy mad by forcing them to carefully inspect a room with no traps after they experienced a strong trap in the previous room.

Foras and his spirits turned around the first 'corner' and continued to move. If they had been up the path all this time, now they were heading down to it.

As they passed over two dozen rooms, they gradually accumulated more injuries which they could now no longer ignore. Even the spirits that were maintaining their fighting power were feeling really exhausted.

And then they approached the second 'corner'.

After turning around again, Foras suddenly stopped moving.

It wasn't because he was feeling exhausted or irritated.

Foras was an old owner, and thus an experienced one. He had controlled his dungeon for over seventy years.

It would have been alright if it was one corner, but he had now turned two corners. After passing through repeated sections, he drew the dungeon layout in his head.

He was now certain.

Foras ordered his spirits to stop. He then turned based on the door that led them to the next room.

A wall with no entrance.

But it didn't matter. If the same pattern was repeating, then a passage existed beyond the wall.

Even though the new owner was a formidable opponent, it was clear that he hadn't been an owner for long. If he really did activate all of these rooms, then neglecting to strengthen the walls was inevitable. Moreover, since they were traveling in a wave pattern, then it was highly likely that the wall between the rooms would be thin.

Foras placed the palms of his hands on the wall.

He triggered the magic scroll 'Wall Break', a necessary item for an attacker.

A continuous vibrating roar was soon followed by a large bang.

A new room was suddenly revealed through the large hole.

Foras smiled. He raised his hand with a ferocious grunt.

Alongside his spirits, Foras walked through his newly made shortcut.