The translucent Magnadon's alter ego didn't attack Yong-ho recklessly just like Aamon first said. He said, looking straight at Yong-ho, "Has the master's successor finally appeared? It's been such a long time."

[Magnadon.]

The flames of the red lotus arose right next to Yong-ho because even Aamon, who was usually calm, couldn't stand it.

Magnadon was certainly alive that last day. He didn't die.

Then, why didn't Magnadon himself, not his alter ego, appear?

Magnadon looked at the flames of the red lotus with mixed feelings of longing and joy.

He responded to Aamon's call with a smile.

"Yeah, Aamon. I am already dead. Not long after I arrived at the Labyrinth of Greed, my energy was all exhausted."

As soon as he finished talking, he shook his head.

He continued even before Aamon could say something, "Aamon, my friend, don't make an expression like that. Who do you think moved the whole Labyrinth of Greed? And who do you think maintained the Labyrinth of Greed and our 12 Spirits? As a matter of fact, I was injured severely at that time. As I used up all my energy, it's natural that I died."

It was as if he was talking about somebody else. He even laughed heartily on his own then turned his eyes from the flames of the red lotus to Yong-ho. He nodded politely out of courtesy.

"I apologize for the late greetings. I am Magnadon, my lord Mammon's wizard."

"I'm Yong-ho Cheon, the master of the current Mammon family."

When Yong-ho introduced himself, Magnadon moved his eyelids as if he was hesitating for a moment. He opened his mouth again after looking back at Kaiwan, who stood by him with a somewhat nervous expression.

"You are the new King of Greed. If so, you must be my lord's successor. But I didn't expect it would take over a thousand years for you to appear before me like this. I think my lord's arrangement for his successor paid off anyway. In any case, I'm glad that his successor has appeared."

He muttered to himself then didn't give Yong-ho and Kaiwan any chance to respond just like he did with Aamon.

He said, opening his arms wide, "Let me tell you bluntly. There are lots of magic traps inside this door that I have made myself. Indeed, it is a series of traps that reflect the producer's malice."

He was a typical evil sorcerer, given that he was laughing, mentioning his malice.

Magnadon stroked his long white beard and said, "At the end of the room, there is a control device that can control the traps. And beyond that, there is a control tower that I can describe as the true purpose of the existence of the 9th floor. This is the trial I have prepared for Mammon's successor. And surely, Aamon might wonder why I have put so much effort into something like the control tower. Tut, tut. That's why you can't go far. The control tower is more important than you think."

He poured out words as if he was doing both sides of the conversation.

Magnadon took a step closer to Yong-ho as if he wanted to emphasize his point.

"The 'network' built by Mammon in the past does not include only the dungeons under his command. His network reached all over the demon world."

It was an important point. It was like a solid rock amid a flood of words he poured out.

Magnadon laughed again after reading his expression.

Then he continued with a satisfied expression, "Of course, over a thousand years have pa.s.sed. Many parts of the network collapsed, and probably, there are lots of places where the gates of s.p.a.ce built everywhere in the dungeon world were destroyed, so you might not be able to pa.s.s. But there are still some places left intact. I think you know about it even if I don't tell you anything more."

What Yong-ho first expected was just the door of a s.p.a.ce where he could move between the dungeons.

But if it was true that the network was also connected to other places beyond the unclaimed land in the south as Magnadon said, this was a really big deal.

Magnadon took another step back. This time, he bowed deeply to Yong-ho then pointed to the steel door with a theatrical gesture.

He said provocatively, "It's my masterpiece. I hope you can lightly break through it."

Yong-ho and his subordinate spirits turned their eyes at the steel door all at once.

The embossed scorpion moved according to Magnadon's gestures, and the steel door was soon opened.

***

"Kill it! Wipe s.h.i.+eld!"

"Hey, Yong-ho!"

Yong-ho and Kaiwan's voices were mixed in the air. At the same time, Yong-ho, who held her waist, lifted her high and blocked the front while Kaiwan activated the power of distortion toward the front.

Various magics threatening to devour the two began to scatter into the wrong places when the power of distortion distorted the attack trajectory of the magics.

"Yos.h.i.+! Grando Season!"

"What the heck is he saying now?!"

Yong-ho cheered up, watching the magics exploding in the wrong places, and Kaiwan concentrated on the power of distortion while cursing profusely. She converted Yong-ho's mana transmitted through the Brigada ring into the power of distortion.

Yong-ho and Kaiwan were currently located halfway through the trap room prepared by Magnadon. Like Magnadon warned, the room was full of magical traps with Magnadon's malice.

Yong-ho had seen the greatest number of magic since he came to the demon world.

Of course, it did not mean that Yong-ho suddenly went crazy. Normally, he would have used himself, not Kaiwan, as a s.h.i.+eld. Although they were arguing over this issue, both already agreed before they left. It was Kaiwan who mentioned it first.

'Hey, Yong-ho, just in case, use me as a s.h.i.+eld and run. As you know, I'm much better than you in controlling the power of distortion.'

When Kaiwan, who had the power of distortion, was determined to defend, the strength of her defense was beyond imagination. However, in that case, she could not move, which was a fatal weakness. So, she tried to solve this problem by letting him hold and present her as a s.h.i.+eld against the opponent's attack.

They agreed on this, and it was Kaiwan who brought up this issue first.

"But, this is unfair! How come you are using me as a s.h.i.+eld even if I okayed it?"

"You asked me to do so, right?"

"Granted it, I feel terrible more than you think."

What she imagined was rather romantic, such as Yong-ho running with her in his arms as if she was a princess.

But he grabbed her waist and lifted her up. Although she was ready for it, she felt really disappointed when he treated her roughly like a s.h.i.+eld. In short, she was upset.

Right at that moment, when she was screaming, he violently swung her to the right.

"Kaiwan! To the right! s.h.i.+eld of Darling!"

"Arrggg, I'm going to see you later at night. Got it?"

Why 'night'? He laughed instead of flinching.

Although he was in the midst of an enormous magical storm at the moment, he kept laughing.

Magnadon, who watched them from a distance, made a comment befitting him, "He really looks silly, but awesome."

In fact, Magnadon could not find any more appropriate word than 'awesome.' It was a trap room made by Magnadon himself, who was called the best wizard during Mammon's reign. Each of the activated magic was very powerful and fatal. But Yong-ho was breaking through the trap room very fast and recklessly braving it from the front at that.

That kind of breakthrough was generally impossible. Strong gravity magic was in effect in the trap room. Normally, anybody trapped in the room could not even walk because their legs were held by an invisible force.

Yong-ho wasn't just running with Kaiwan as a s.h.i.+eld. He also continuously released mana.

He stopped the interference of gravity magic with a lump of pure mana.

Magnadon widened his vision to check the paths that Yong-ho pa.s.sed by. From the entrance of the trap room to the middle point where Yong-ho started using Kaiwan as a s.h.i.+eld, a huge number of corpses were scattered everywhere. All of them were the bodies of the dungeon monsters that Yong-ho used as his s.h.i.+elds.

What Yong-ho did as soon as he encountered the trap room was to bring back as undead all the bodies of the dungeon monsters he had encountered on the 9th floor. Of course, Yong-ho did not do it himself. No Life King, Skull, who was reborn as the powerful undead king, supervised the work.

Skull did not memorize complex magic spells. Having learned necromancing as sorcery, Skull resurrected the dead by releasing the energy of death with only his will.

As they didn't go through any special process, the only thing Skull had to do was to resurrect them as zombies, which were moving bodies. But that was enough. Hundreds of corpses themselves were excellent s.h.i.+elds for Yong-ho.

Magnadon also glanced at the other subordinate spirits near Skull. With their eyes closed, each of them was concentrating to deliver even a little stronger and pure mana to their master Yong-ho through Brigada.

A smile was on Magnadon's. Although they were not comparable with Mammon's 12 Spirits, he loved their close connection with their master. Their ability to exchange mana with Yong-ho smoothly proved that he was not only very competent, but he also had firm solidarity with them.

Magnadon looked straight ahead again. Yong-ho was still blocking the magic, wielding Kaiwan. It was an unsightly scene, but Magnadon, who thought a demon king was supposed to be evil in nature originally, expressed satisfaction with his personality rather than blaming it.

'If he really conquers the next floor, I have no other choice but to recognize him.'

The last magic trap in the trap room.

the swirling magic storm of the Seven Attributes.

Magnadon, the greatest wizard of the demon world, could use all of the seven major magical elements of wind, fire, water, earth, lightning, light, and darkness. The vortex of the seven major attributes created by Magnadon was very destructive and dangerous in itself.

'It will be difficult for him to push them out with just mana. Since the vortex itself is big, it would be impossible to distort the orbit like he did a moment ago.'

If so, what would he do? How could he conquer the floor?