Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 64
Chapter 64: Episode 18. The Second Auction of Devildom (1)
The Auction of Devildom was a great opportunity.
With enough noise and some luck, one could win something ridiculously useful with a small number of points. In other words, that person would be a step ahead of other demons. Furthermore, that person would be better prepared for war in the future.
Finally, one could show off their extravagance.
Fighting was prohibited in the World of Spirit. However, one could still show how strong he or she was. The one monster that a demon was allowed to bring would be a measure of how powerful the owner was.
Such a measure couldn’t be ignored. It indirectly represented the capabilities and power of that demon. At the same time, the accompanying monster could be used as a psychological weapon, meaning the owner could overwhelm others, make others feel hurried, or cause others to feel stuck.
Fierce battlefields were not the only places where fights took place.
Fighting covered a wide spectrum, including making one’s opponents act as one wished, deceiving others, and accomplishing one’s desired results through opponents’ actions.
I had two top-notch monsters on my side, Griffin and Giante.
Out of the two, I decided to have Giante accompany me. Griffin had participated in a battle once, but Giante had never had an opportunity to prove itself to the world. Furthermore, Giante’s presence was more dominant. I believed that Giante’s attendance would surely be threatening to the other demons.
‘You have to choose.’
They could choose to hide their cards. However, hiding wouldn’t be the best option.
I had a little less than seven million points in my pocket. No one had ever had such a large amount of points before. I was planning on spending them all in the upcoming auction.
However, what would the other demons think of me if my monster looked terribly weak when I was spending such a large amount of points? Demons worked in simple ways. The strong took everything, while the weak were robbed.
If my monster seemed frail, other demons would look at me as prey. I was the only demon that remained neutral, and I was merely a count. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they wanted to target me. The archdukes wouldn’t cooperate with each other, but they would try everything to find me.
So, I sent them a message by accompanying Giante.
The message was “do you want to fight? If so, you’ll get hurt.”
In fact, in a more direct way, the message was “don’t even try to look for me!”
On top of that, accompanying Giante had another purpose, which was alerting the demons.
Remaining a neutral demon could be a powerful weapon, depending on who the demon was.
If I wished to, I could topple the balance among the four factions. I had an extreme number of points, I owned top-notch monsters, and I was very powerful.
‘I don’t wish to upset the balance at the moment though.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
There were some other trivial reasons. Long story short, accompanying Giante had many purposes, including psychological warfare. Above all, I also wanted to boast a little bit in front of the other demons.
I hadn’t been able to prove myself enough during last year’s Auction of Devildom. I hadn’t had a chance to impress the four archdukes and have them remember the name Randalf Bruciel.
However, I didn’t know what would happen this year…
“It’s going to be fun.’
The space fluctuated, and soon, Giante and I disappeared from the dungeon.
I opened my eyes.
A large room appeared.
In front of me, a Spirit of Darkness in the form of a Gnome was waiting for me. I had seen this spirit in the past.
“Hehehe! Mr. Randalf Bruciel, long time no see.”
“Nice to see you.”
It had been exactly one year since our last meeting.
Then, the Spirit of Darkness turned its head and looked at what was standing behind me.
“But… what is that monster behind you? It feels like it’s in a different league. Its level must be higher than high…”
There were so many kinds of monsters. Even the Spirits of Darkness couldn’t know all of them.
This monster was a giant at 13 feet tall, and it was wearing dark armors. However, it didn’t seem like a normal giant. Its Mana was too powerful.
I answered lightly, “You’re correct.”
The Spirit of Darkness’ eyes opened wide.
“This is the highest-level monster! That’s amazing. Although demons are masters of the dungeon, I assumed that it would take at least five years for anyone to raise the best monster…”
If I told it that I had two of them, the spirit would bite its tongue.
“Are there any highest-level monsters in this auction?”
I had already received a list of the auction items through Devorong, but there could have been some items that I wasn’t aware of. I was looking forward to seeing one and asked that question. However, the spirit shrugged its shoulders.
“It’s not easy to prepare a highest-level monster. If we want to get monsters on par with overwhelmingly strong ones, we have to sacrifice a lot… Even if we did have one, no demon has the points to purchase them. I heard that they will try to include a highest-level monster once the demons’ average number of points is above one million.”
In short, the message was that there was no need to auction off a highest-level monster when no one could afford it anyways.
I agreed with the spirit.
It was merely the auction’s second year, and most demons didn’t have many points.
“What’s the average number of points that demons in this auction have?”
The Spirits of Darkness could somehow know the average points that demons had. They couldn’t know how much each individual demon had, but the average was good enough.
“The average is 440,000 points. Hehehe, it’s better than last year.”
I swept my hand across my chin.
The average was 440,000.
This was less than I had expected.
If I assumed that I had gained about 100,000 points, the demons’ average points had to be between 340,000 and 350,000 points. The amount was several times larger it was last year, but that was about it. It was incomparably small compared to what I had in my pockets.
‘There are still a lot of places to use points. It takes a lot of points to learn observation skills.’
It wasn’t like I couldn’t understand the situation.
Had I not completed the quest, the points that I had would’ve been significantly less. That amount would only be around double or triple the amount I had last year. In other words, without the quests, the amount hadn’t changed too much. However, I successfully completed the quest, and the compensation multiplied my points by four and a half compared to last year’s number.
“Mr. Randalf, if you don’t mind, could I ask how you obtained a highest-level monster? Of course, I will pay for the information. If it’s related to your personal know-how, then I will report it to the Fairy King of Darkness separately and try to make a deal.”
The Spirit of Darkness spoke to me with a rather earnest look.
Even the spirits envied my knowledge of how to catch the highest-level monsters. However, the method I used to raise Griffin and Giante was a secret that I couldn’t reveal to anyone.
Even if I told them, they wouldn’t believe it.
It was very rare for someone to meet the Fairy King of Darkness in person. However, I wanted to separate that opportunity from revealing my secret. I hadn’t even told Lyhee about how I acquired these monsters, and I obviously didn’t plan to tell the spirits anything.
“Excuse me.”
“…Hehehe. All right, follow me. I’ll show you around.”
The spirit was quick to give up.
It seemed a bit disappointed, but it obviously didn’t want to ruin the Spirits of Darkness’ relationship with me.
Nothing good came from caring too much about other people’s business.
Soon, the Spirit of Darkness turned around and started to guide me.
Giante followed me silently.
Many Spirits of Darkness who were passing by stared at Giante with surprise. Spirits were by nature very sensitive to the smell of Mana. The smell of Mana radiating from Giante had them realize its level.
At the same time, the Spirits of Darkness looked at the owner of the highest-level monster. When they gazed upon me, they nodded in surprise as though everything became understandable. I had spent the largest number of points during the first year, hence I had become the “big hand” in the spirits’ minds.
“Hehehe. You’re popular, sir.”
“There are quite a lot of Dark Spirits.”
“Last year’s auction was the first, and there was a lot of work to be done. However, this year, they knew what to expect and managed to finish their work early. It seems that they’ve come out to take a look while waiting for the auction. Hehehe, do you like any of the spirits? We’re using the ones out there as workers because of their low levels. However, if you pay a little bit, they’ll escort you for the day and provide you the ultimate pleasure.”
Every Spirit of Darkness took the form of the most recent species they had corrupted. Therefore, all the spirits around them had different bodies and faces.
Furthermore, spirits’ bodies became real in the World of Spirits, unlike Elves. The spirits would surely be able to provide incomparable pleasure in this place.
“No, thank you.” However, there was no time for any sexual pleasure. This place was too important.
As I walked along the corridors of the castle, I heard a familiar voice not far away.
“A Spirit of Darkness dares to imitate a Succubus? You little b*tch. Those boobs are fake, too.”
“Ah!”
I frowned.
I had also heard a woman’s moaning, and I was sure that it was Groggy.
The demon who spoke had filled his dungeon with Succubi and tried to pick a fight with me during the last auction.
The Dark Spirit who was guiding me smiled insidiously. “Hehehe. Are you sure you don’t want any help? You only need to pay a few points.”
Ignoring the spirit, I kept on walking. Soon, I saw Groggy across the hall. He was walking while fingering a spirit that looked like a Succubus.
However, he didn’t continue for very long. When he realized that someone was behind him, he turned around. As soon as he noticed me, the smile on his face disappeared.
‘A Dark Warrior.’
Next to Groggy stood a Dark Warrior. It was a high-level monster at level two. It was sold at 110,000 points from the shop for everything. The monster was just okay, not bad but not great.
However, we were at the Auction of Devildom. Participants were allowed to take only one monster with them, so everyone tried to bring their best monsters. If the best monster that Groggy had was a Dark Warrior, his other monsters would be even worse.
‘It’s surprising that there are Dark Warriors in Groggy’s dungeon. I guess he didn’t completely fill up his dungeon with Succubi like the rumors say.’
In my previous life, I wasn’t really interested in Groggy. Even then, there was a rumor that he loved Succubi immensely. I found that rumor interesting and remembered it until this life.
Groggy growled. “Randalf Bruciel…”
“I thought Archduke Ufa and his demons couldn’t participate in the Auction of Devildom?” I said as though it was unimportant.
“It’s none of your business.”
“It looks like Fagan Grewoolly took the blame.”
Groggy’s face turned red as I clicked my tongue.
“Nonsense!”
I guessed my hypothesis was correct.
I thought about Archduke Ufa. I couldn’t let my guard down around him. Unlike other archdukes, he knew how to lie if it was necessary. That made him the most annoying out of the four archdukes. It was also the reason that I wanted to eliminate him first.
“We’ll see if it’s bullsh*t or not when we get into the auction house.”
“How dare you enter the auction house? You’re a loser who couldn’t even join a faction.”
Although he was defeated last year, Groggy seemed to be confident.
I understood where his confidence came from. Demons never wanted to look weak.
Smiling, I asked the Spirit of Darkness, “I have been insulted, and I want to take action.”
“Hehehe. We added one rule last year after the accident. Now, monsters of similar levels are allowed to combat. However, they need to match one another.”
Everything was as I had expected.
The new rule took the characteristics of monsters into consideration, and it was fair.
It would be very hard to suppress belligerent demons.
If fights between demons were allowed, there would be fewer of them.
There had been a similar rule in my previous life. Considering that it was only the second year in this life, setting the new rule in place already was quite fast.
“Okay, I understand.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
Then Groggy looked at Giante, which was standing behind me.
“Grrr! Fight. I win!”
Giante’s presence was hostile. It glared at Groggy with dogged determination, and Groggy broke out in a cold sweat. I even had a hard time fighting Giante, so Groggy was definitely no match.
However, I wanted to analyze more accurately and opened my Mind’s Eyes.
Name: Groggy Inpire
Vocational: Marquis of Devildom (Dungeon Master)
Title:
*Succubus stud (Ex R, Mana +5)
Statistics:
Strength 64, Intelligence 64
Agility 67, Health 75, Mana 74 (+5)
Potential (344+5/500)
Unique: None
Skills: Vibration of Fire (U), Increased Health (R), Observation (R)
[Comparison]
Groggy Inpire
Strength 64, Intelligence 67, Health 75, Mana 79, Potential (344+5/500)
Randalf Bruciel
Strength 89, Intelligence 74, Agility 77, Health 82, Mana 93, Potential (392+23/500)
I had been travelling around for the last fifteen days, and as a result, my strength and agility had both increased by one point each.
It had been a while since the last time my statistics had improved naturally, though my total statistics had been increasing consistently.
I compared myself to Groggy.
Frankly, it wasn’t fair to say I could compare the two of us, because I was so much better than him.
The Dark Warrior that was accompanying Groggy looked very stiff. It was confronting Giante, a monster of a different league, and it was overwhelmed by the giant’s mere presence.
Crack!
“I don’t have the time to deal with you—”
“If your lips are moving, you must be lying, Groggy.” I cut off Groggy, who was grinding his teeth. Then I spoke next to him and showed him what it was like to be superior.
Groggy shivered with humiliation. However, he didn’t continue talking. Had he done so, he would have gotten involved in a monster fight with me, knowing who the obvious winner was. Even at first glance, Groggy’s Dark Warrior was no match for my Giante. He must have thought that it was wise to stay quiet.
“If you want to bark, have some dignity at least. Now, you’re nothing more than an underdog.”
Could there be a more insulting remark to a demon than what I had just spat?
Groggy started to tremble even harder.
I continued with a grin, “Let’s go to the reception.”
“Hehehe, I will take care of it, sir.”