Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 102
Chapter 102: Episode 28. Devorong’s Request (3)
I thought about Deboron. He was a cold go-getter and the highest of the Spirit King of Darkness’ servants. Such a powerful spirit himself greeted me. Deboron invited me for the meeting, so his greeting made sense. However, I suspected that there was a hidden meaning behind it. Hiding my emotions, I nodded.
“I was also looking forward to meeting the Spirit King.”
“You will not regret this meeting.”
“However, we are not inside a castle.”
The room and the manner of his greeting were similar to those of the time I was summoned forcibly. However, the mana, which was flowing nearby, felt slightly different. Deboron chuckled.
“You noticed the difference. Yes, we are not in a castle.”
“What is the reason?”
I frowned slightly and grabbed Anger. I did not like how they changed the meeting venue without notifying me in advance. I looked at Deboron indifferently, as though I would swing Anger if his excuse did not make sense to me.
Then Deboron became nervous and started to sweat. He was one of the highest spirits, but I, too, was very powerful. If I wanted to kill him, I could easily do so.
“Spies of the other Spirit Kings invaded the castle… If they found out that we forcibly created a portal, then the Spirit King of Darkness will have to pay for it. Please forgive me…”
The Spirit King of Darkness was ambitious. He signed a contract with the demon god and started the Auction of Devildom to take over the World of Spirits. He had sacrificed many of his spirits to get items and monsters for the auction. The other spirit kings must have noticed his intention.
However, it was too soon. In my previous life, it took at least a decade for such a conflict to take place. The Spirit King of Darkness had to first save a large amount of points and upgrade himself. Then he could start making moves to take over the World of Spirits.
“Did my moves affect the World of Spirits?”
The only difference between me in this life and that in the previous life are my moves. However, I only became famous in this life in the Auction of Devildom. Did my lavish spending make such a difference? Of course, there could be a butterfly effect, where a butterfly flapping its wings could lead to a tornado. However, the correct analogy in this situation would be tectonic movements instead of a tornado. It was such an irony to think that my moves ended up becoming so impactful.
“That is strange. Isn’t the Spirit King of Darkness much more cautious than that?”
When I asked this question, Deboron put his hand on his head.
“Phew! Do you know the Shadow Emperor, a legendary figure in middle earth?”
I was familiar with the name, so I nodded.
“I heard the name before.”
“We had a hard time getting into his treasure house in the abyss. In fact, we could not get in at all. However, we spotted some evidence of teleportation between dimensions. We wanted to find out what was going on quickly, and we sent some of our scouts to the abyss. Unfortunately, the other spirits caught us.”
Ah, that was the reason. Now everything made sense. The spirits were very interested in the affairs of middle earth, and there were many of them living in middle earth. It was no surprise that many of them got really excited about the incidents taking place in middle earth. Furthermore, I was also directly related to this issue.
“I guess this issue is not related to the Auction of Devildom.”
“You are correct. However, the other spirits suspected what we were up to. The Spirits of Light and the Spirits of Fire sent their spies to us, and they are giving us a headache. I guess it would not hurt to be cautious?”
“And you also wanted to check on how much I have grown, don’t you?”
In order to sense such a small flow of mana, I needed to get stronger dramatically. It seemed that Deboron designed the room to get as close as he could; I could read his intentions so easily and I could not help smiling. Deboron was indeed treacherous, but spirits were like that.
“Why would I do that? Mr. Randalf and I are collaborators!”
Deboron shook his hands. I took my hands off of Anger and spoke.
“There is no second chance.”
“Haha of course. Why don’t we start moving?”
Deboron changed the subject and started to guide me to the meeting.
We entered the Wailing Forest.
It was a perfect resting place for the Spirits of Darkness.
The darkness was surrounding the forest, and I could hear screaming from different corners.
The forest itself had some mana, which was the cause of the screaming.
“Please be careful. Your mind can be penetrated.”
Of course, the forest could not do any harm to me. After looking around, I spoke to Deboron.
“This forest surely does not look like a place fit for the Spirit King of Darkness.”
“… I do not mind what you just said, but please be careful in front of the Spirit King.”
Deboron’s voice trembled at my offensive comment. He was surely very loyal to the Spirit King of Darkness. It was amazing how he managed to control his emotion and did not break down.
“I will.”
I needed to be courteous. When I answered indifferently, Deboron changed the subject again.
“Have you saved many points? I heard that the average points of the demons have increased dramatically.”
“I have saved some. But what is the average?”
I could not tell him the exact amount. The large number of points that I had, which was more than ten million, was one of my weapons and my trump card. Even if Deboron and I were collaborators, we were just making use of each other, so I needed to keep the amount a secret.
Deboron seemed to have expected that I would not tell him the actual amount. He continued to speak indifferently.
“The average was roughly 850 000. Ah, it was such good news to us. Since the average point was nearing one million, we were considering getting one of the highest monsters.”
Spirits could find out the average points that demons had. And they claimed that once the average reached around one million, they would try to get one of the highest monsters.
It had been three years.
And it was still very early for the highest monsters to appear.
Curious, I asked a question to Deboron.
“What do you have in mind?”
“The plan for getting one of the highest monsters was rather abrupt. But we do have a few candidates. We recently noticed that one of the old Titans left its group. We also found Goolfin, which is a monster that looks like a whale. Of course, there is a huge difference between making a list of candidates and actually getting them…”
Deboron shook his head and continued.
“What I told you in the past is still valid. If you have any know-how on getting the highest monsters, we can make a deal. We are willing to pay for it.”
“I will think about it.”
Now that we had established a relationship, there was no reason to refuse his offer immediately. It was important to keep Deboron’s favor. Of course, I would not tell him that I made a deal with the gods to get the highest monsters.
“I really hope that you will seriously consider the deal.”
Deboron shrugged his shoulders.
An open area soon appeared.
In the center of that area stood a lonely thatched house.
“It’s modest.”
“The Spirit King does not like luxury.”
It did not make sense. The castle where the Auction of Devildom took place was an epitome of luxury; it was so large that one could barely see one end of the castle from the other end. I had never met the Spirit King in person, and therefore I did not know him personally. However, I thought that the word “modest” did not fit him very well.
At that very moment, Deboron turned towards me. With a stunned face, he spoke.
“… I beg you, please do not refuse the offer.”
**
Deboron guided me to the entrance.
When I opened the door and entered the room, I saw a tall man, wearing a black cape and sitting on a chair.
He was wearing rings on all his ten fingers. The man was also wearing a lot of accessories.
The Spirit King definitely did not look thrifty or modest.
I would call him flamboyant, instead.
“Welcome.”
I spoke first. Then the Spirit King of Darkness started laughing.
“Welcome? Huh! You got me!”
The Spirit King was definitely all into himself. At a glance, he was making a fuss, but I could not judge him yet. I sat on the other side of the Spirit King and opened the Mind’s Eyes.
[‘The Eyes of Shadow (Ex U)’ penetrated ‘the Mind’s Eyes.’ The attacking probability is now sixty percent.]
[Your mana increased by a large amount (96)! However, your opponent is more intelligent. The attacking probability is about fifty-four percent. Some of the opponent’s information is hidden.]
Name: Adonis
Occupation: The Spirit King of Darkness
Title:
<ul>
The Spirit King of Darkness (Epic, strength and mana +6)
</ul>
*The ruler who causes thrill (Epic, Mana +10)
<ul>
The Manipulator of Shadow (Ex U, Strength +8)
The condescending one (Ex U, Health point +8)
</ul>
Statistics:
Strength 100 (+14) Intelligence 100 Agility 100 Health point 100 (+8) Mana 100 (+16) Potential (500+38/???)
Comments: ???
Skill: Thrill (???), The Eyes of Shadow (Ex U), ???, ???
Adonis frowned.
“What are you looking at?”
“I was looking at your accessories. They look nice.”
I casually crossed my legs.
However, I was secretly surprised.
“That is amazing.”
The statistics of the Spirit King amounted to 538. He was already the overwhelming one. However, he had not yet made the “breakthrough.” Perhaps the reason that the Spirit King was obsessed with points was the breakthrough. He must have felt that he could not get any stronger and decided to improve himself with the help of points.
Much information was hidden in question marks. The archdukes back in Devildom must have had similar statistics like the Spirit King. Such a thought surprised me and also motivated me at the same time.
“Hmm. You are one funny guy.”
“I want to know the reason that you called me.”
I did not want to have small talks. Adonis rested his jaw on his hand.
“Before I tell you the reason, I want to ask you a question. How do you think of yourself?”
“Dark Lord.”
I was not the Dark Lord yet, but if it were not me, no one could become the Dark Lord. I motivated myself every day with this thought.
I did not hesitate a second, and Adonis was silent for a moment.
“… You are very ambitious. In that sense, Randalf Bruciel, you resemble me in many aspects.”
“Are you trying to take over the World of Spirits?”
“You are correct. I want to become the true Spirit King. In fact, I want to go even further and become the Spirit God. And in order to achieve my goal, I need help from others around me.”
I already knew about his dream. Nothing really surprised me, so I moved on. When I remained indifferent, Adonis snickered.
“When I tell someone about my goal like this, they usually ask questions, but Randalf Bruciel, you are different. You act as though you had known about my dream before.”
“I do not care about that which does not interest me.”
“You are very chill. Hmm… fine. The reason that I asked you about how you think of yourself was simple. I found someone who has high expectations of themselves easy to talk to. Therefore, I will ask you this question. Why don’t you make a contract with me?”
I thought about the Contract of Spirit.
That was the reason that the Spirit King called me.
This contract was what Deboron meant by the offer. He also wanted me to accept it.
The Spirits of Darkness, who host the Auction of Devildom, were not allowed to make any contracts. As soon as they become inclined towards a particular faction or a demon, the auction would not be fair anymore. However, the Spirits of Darkness were cunning. They must have thought about making contracts without getting caught by the system.
Now the problem was that… the one who made the offer was the Spirit King of Darkness.
“What is the motivation? Why are you willing to take the risk?”
“Everything is changing very quickly. I am sure that you are feeling the same, Randalf Bruciel. The enemies outnumber us. However, if we bind ourselves with contracts and work together, the situation will be different.”
The contract was the Spirit King’s move to not only adapt to the changes but also dominate. At a glance, the contract looked beneficial for both of us. However, when looked at carefully, the contract was only beneficial to me.
Even if it helped the Spirit King, he would not get much out of my help.
However, the Spirit King still offered such a contract… He must have had some other intentions.
Furthermore, Adonis was greedy. I did not know about his other traits, but I could be sure about this one.
“The Contract of Spirit. It is a contract for the sharing of the abilities of both contract holders. Helping each other would keep the other demons in check. If he came up with this contract first, what is he trying to get from me?’
I took a moment to think.
I tried to see what the Spirit King could get from me through this contract.
There must be a reason that he wanted to bind me with the contract so that I could not escape from him.
“Perhaps I should regard this contract as a sign, which indicates that the Spirit King has a complete understanding of me.”
Otherwise, the Spirit King would not have offered the contract.
The Spirit King must have found out some of the following information: overwhelming points, the situation of the dungeons, the speed of my growth, and important information that only I knew. Of course, there was no way that he could have known all of the above, but even if he knew just some of them, the Spirit King must have wanted to bind me to him.
Helping me was not enough. The Spirit King wanted to step in and take control.
“I refuse.”
I realized that there was more loss than gain in this contract. When I refused so boldly, Adonis’ face changed.
“What is the reason? I will let you take the items of the Auction of Devildom in advance. I also know some important and useful information, which are related to the dungeons. And if you grow and help me, we can become the best in our respective paths!”
The Spirit King became furious.
However, we had different interests.
I needed to set him straight.
Bam!
I stood up and hit the table.
“Ha! Do you think that I am an idiot? Or do you think that I am dumb enough to be tricked?”
Adonis needed the contract more than I did.
For the last two years, I had spent a lot more points than any other demons. I was the VIP and the best setter of the auction. The Spirit King could not ban me from the auction, nor could he persecute me.
The Spirit King must have heard about me through Deboron. However, he was very arrogant because he was a king after all. He must never have been in a position where he had to ask for something from another.
Now Adonis looked more relaxed.
He realized the subtle difference between asking and being asked.