Dungeon Maker

The chill embedded in his mana broke apart the green flames and opened the way. Stravadi saw Sargatanas defending himself by releasing mana just like himself. Five horns were towering above the head of this purple-skinned giant. Given that his muscles were wriggling, it seemed that he was prepared for the fight. But Stravadi thought he should not fight. So, he reached out and grabbed Sargatanas instead of shouting at him.

"We're going to retreat."

"Father-in-law?!"

Their eyes crossed. Sargatanas' eyes trembled greatly. He was inflexible, but not stupid. He clearly understood why his father-in-law mentioned retreating.

"We're going to desert the entire eastern army on the battlefield. Only two of us will run away."

Sargatanas opened his mouth wide at his sudden proposal. Although he could not persuade Stravadi, a smooth talker and strategist, he wanted to say anything. The total number of the eastern army soldiers on this battlefield exceeded 2,000. Dump them here? It was something he could not think of. He could not follow his father-in-law.

Sargatanas stopped breathing for a moment. Stravadi looked straight at him without saying anything. There was no more time. Stravadi already began to feel the presence of the man with terrifying mana, the master of the House of Mammon, approaching him beyond the green flames.

Sargatanas clenched his teeth. Stravadi activated his power.

Stravadi's nickname was the Demon King of Jump.

The two men jumped over the space and disappeared amid the green flames.

***

Salami, trying to dive into the green flames while burning Stravadi's reserve army, suddenly fluttered its wings again. Then it instantly changed its direction and increased altitude.

Yong-ho also felt that Stravadi and Sargatanas disappeared because Sargatanas's mana, who opened all his five horns, evaporated before his eyes.

Yong-ho thought of several possibilities of his disappearance. He could have made a short-distance leap as Tigrius did in the past. Or he could have simply hidden his mana and gone into hiding nearby.

'I guess he has at least five horns,' Yong-ho thought.

Sargatanas released mana very shortly. But Yong-ho was extremely good at detecting the opponent's mana. Given the size, color, and properties of the mana that arose among the green flames, it was clear that Sargatanas was a demon king with five horns.

Just because one had the same number of horns, it did not mean that even the strength and weakness of the mana owner were the same. And the range of a mana's strength and weakness within the same number increased as the number of horns increased.

Sargatanas's mana was a little stronger or similar to that of Kaiwan, who barely produced five horns. Given that Stravadi also had five horns, it wasn't easy for Yong-ho to deal with two demon kings with five horns.

'But.'

Given his power as the master of the current House of Mammon, he could defeat Sargatanas and Stravadi without any difficulty. It might be too hasty to judge the outcome even before Yong-ho had yet to confront the two, but he thought so.

Catalina, who was prepared to jump in the green flames and have it out with the two leaders of the eastern army, looked at Yong-ho curiously when Salami changed direction. In his right hand, he held a moonlight sword he inherited from Elune instead of the dagger he used until now.

It was a silver sword that looked like a crescent moon.

"It looks like the two ran away. Let's wrap up the fighting first."

Yong-ho, who stroked Catalina's head, ordered Salami to turn back.

Stravadi had hundreds of reserves, and only a few of them were struck by the green sun, but Yong-ho didn't care anymore. Now that their main forces broke up, there was only one option for these soldiers who lost their commander.

As Yong-ho expected, the reserve soldiers started running away instead of joining their main forces on the battlefield. They were living witnesses who would convey the overwhelming defeat of the eastern army everywhere.

Salami fluttered its wings again. It squinted to see Bucephalas striding down the ground with Skull.

Just as Salami was promoted to "Fire Elemental Dragon," Bucephalas was also promoted to "Nightmare Lord". With a mane made of green flames and a pitch-black body, which was more than twice as large as a normal warhorse, Bucephalas was now powerful enough to dwarf the ordinary Phantom Steed, so much so that the eastern army soldiers were so scared of its glaring green eyes as to drop their weapons.

Quietly watching Bucephalas fighting on the battlefield with its owner Skull, Salami nodded its head slowly. Looking at Bucephalas's glaring eyes, it seemed Salami was quite satisfied with its fighting posture.

There was a massacre, not a battle, happening on the battlefield.

If the two large armies fought head-on, the death toll was surprisingly small, generally speaking.

However, when the formation of any one army collapsed, it was a different story. Besides, when they started fleeing with their back against the other party, the number of their deaths increased dramatically from then on. That was why the loser in many of the historically famous battles incurred an enormous number of casualties, compared to the winner. In other words, the army that lost its formation and ran away was just helpless against the opposing army's attack.

The overwhelming destructive power of the Skull unit broke the formation of the eastern army from the front. Skull, teaming with Bucephalas to sprinkle death in all directions like Baphomet, was a disaster for the eastern army.

However, it was because of Eligos, Ophelia, and Kaiwan joining them when they decisively smashed the formation of the eastern army.

Out of the trio, especially Kaiwan clearly knew what her role was on the battlefield.

The general role of a general was to command his soldiers. However, the roles of the three dungeon spirits, named as Independent Task Force, were different.

Kaiwan considered herself an assassin, rather a sniper.

"It's time for you guys to be punished!"

Kaiwan's whip sword wrapped around the waist of a struggling eastern army commander.

Even before he could resist her attack, she wielded the sword violently. He instantly fell on the ground. She swung the sword in succession, making him hit the ground several times.

She fought very splendidly. Bursting into a thin and high-pitched laughter, she drew the attention of the eastern army soldiers. Her targets were simple—the one riding a horse, the one fighting well, the one shouting, the commander, and the one supporting with mana in the rear.

In other words, she attacked only those who served as a sort of commanders who made numerous individual soldiers move as one group. It was much more beneficial to kill a single commander than defeating dozens of rank-and-file soldiers.

Eligos, who made his brutal nature explode, could not control his anger precisely, but Ophelia didn't. Soon she understood Kaiwan's intentions and acted the same as she did.

The absence of the commanders soon resulted in the collapse of the entire eastern army.

Losing the will to fight, the eastern army soldiers began to run away, which soon led to the start of their massacre.

The eastern army commander, who was thrown to the ground several times by Kaiwan, could not gather his senses. Fever came all over his body as if all of his bones were broken. He could hardly exert his power because of extreme pain.

Kaiwan approached him and withdrew her whip sword from him. Since it became clear who was the winner of the battle, she did not kill him thoughtlessly. She tapped his cheeks, who still didn't get back to his senses.

"Let me save your life."

Smiling brightly, she straightened and looked at the sky. Then she shook her hand toward Yong-ho, who was getting on Salami.

***

Stravadi used his power in succession. If he was fully focused, he could jump up to 600 meters instantly. So, if he used it in a row, he could escape from Yong-ho as far as several kilometers in an instant.

He used his power exactly ten times. Landing on a strange rocky area about 6km from the battlefield, he took a deep breath, gasping for breath. Depending on how he used it, he could really reveal deceptive abilities, but this space jump didn't have only an advantage all the time. Since he exhausted his mana and stamina together, excessive use of it caused a rapid loss of his combat power.

For this reason, Stravadi always used space leaps, based on his rational calculation.

Accordingly, he didn't use his power ten times in a row impulsively.

Sargatanas opened all five horns and quickly turned west. The battlefield was now 6 km away from him, and the strange rocks around him obstructed his vision, so he could not see the battlefield well

"Oh my God."

He sighed, almost losing his mind. It was natural that he showed such a reaction, given that he dumped in the battlefield the eastern army of two thousand soldiers, who had attacked the northern part with him.

It was a very shocking defeat to him. The power of the House of Mammon far exceeded his expectations.

What should he do now? Should he fight to the end or save his life by letting Yong-ho's forces occupy the eastern area without any resistance?

Sargatanas turned with a heavy heart. Then he looked at his father-in-law as well his ally Stravadi, who already led him to the right way after they decided to join hands to defeat Yong-ho's forces.

"He is strong. We cannot win with the method we have taken until now," Stravadi said calmly, as always. Even at this moment, Stravadi didn't stop thinking. He deduced from the battle the strength of the master of the House of Mammon and his dungeon spirits and drew one conclusion.

"Father-in-law?"

Stravadi nodded. With his back straight, he faced Sargatanas, who was in great confusion.

He got his face closer to Saratanas to say something important.

He whispered in a calm voice, "Listen to me, Sargatanas."

Sargatanas gulped. He just remained silent and listened to him respectively as he did when his father-in-law led his army to break through the east and devastate the northern area. Then he opened his mouth and groaned. He looked at his father-in-law putting his hand on his chest.

Sargatanas had no time to be astonished by his action. Stravadi did not tolerate his resistance at all. The moment Sargatanas raised his head again, Stravadi busted his heart with one hand to the heart of Sargatanas in one hand.

He screamed silently. Stravadi covered his mouth with the other hand. At the same time, he released mana as well as magic power that would never fall behind him. He even nullified Sargatanas's desperate struggle, who lost his heart before he knew it.

Even though his heart was busted, this mighty demon king didn't die immediately. He glared at Stravadi with resentment and anger. He tried to squeeze his voice to say something.

But Stravadi tightened his hand that covered his mouth.

As always, he explained it calmly, "Two of us, who are weak, can't deal with this strong man. Even if you and I join hands together, we can't defeat the House of Mammon. What we need right now is one absolutely strong man. We have to stop him with the dungeon-style fighting, not a battle like this."

Sargatanas's eyes trembled. His body stiffened, and he quickly lost the warmth of his body.

"Goodbye, Sargatanas. It's sad for me to part with you like this."

He was serious. It wasn't a lie.

Stravadi carefully laid down the dead Sargatanas with his eyes open. After closing his eyes with the hand that covered his mouth, he sensed his dungeon spirits were coming to him. It seemed that all of them got out of the battlefield as he ordered. Everyone seemed to have left the battlefield as directed.

Stravadi no longer talked sentimentally. He swallowed Sargatanas's essence.