After meeting Gardimundi, Yong-ho fell into confusion once again. He heard from her that the army of the King of Gluttony mounted the first strike against the forces of the Queen of Fury. Objectively speaking, their attack was unthinkable, which was what Yong-ho never expected.

The King of Gluttony was dead. If so, who in the world moved the king's army? The king's successor? The warlords who replaced the king's Ten Warriors?

Either way, it was very strange. The King of Gluttony's invasion was like a suicidal action. Who dared to challenge the Queen of Fury? Didn't they care about Yong-ho or the King of Violence at all?

"Oh, master of the Mammon family, king of the unclaimed territory!"

Yong-ho suddenly raised his head at Gardimundi's call. She was looking straight at him. Although she was usually playful and lively, she was different now. She was extremely tense.

"Are you hiding something?" Gardimundi asked.

She asked calmly, but it looked like she was questioning him. Kaiwan and Catalina, who were standing behind his back, reacted at the same time. Their sharp gaze at her seemed to rip her apart at any moment.

However, Gardimundi looked only at Yong-ho without moving at all. He was agonizing, faced with her.

He had an alliance with the Queen of Fury. She was a good ally who would join hands with him to conquer the north in the future. If so, wasn't it okay to tell her the truth? If he shared the intelligence with the queen, wasn't it possible to solve the current mystery by sharing information with each other?

But he couldn't make the decision on impulse. If something went wrong, their alliance could be affected. Even if he decided to tell the truth, he needed to tell it directly to the Queen of Fury, not Gardimundi.

Yong-ho opened his mouth. Gardimundi looked at him more sharply.

At that moment, Lucia shouted.

[Master!]

[Samael has regained consciousness!]

He sprang to his feet suddenly. As Lucia's voice was only delivered to Yong-ho and his subordinate spirits, Gardimundi became even more suspicious.

"I have an urgent message from the soul of the dungeon. Please wait for a moment."

After speaking to her immediately, he closed his eyes. When he strengthened his connection with Lucia, he could bring out a video. It showed the inside of Scathach's mansion.

"Karot! Karot! No!"

As soon as she opened her eyes, Samael screamed and twisted her body. She must have recalled the shock when her subordinate spirits were ma.s.sacred.

Scathach quickly hugged her and breathed warm vitality into her, holding her in her arms.

Samael cried out loud. Then she was drooping. She then raised her head again. She looked at Scathach blankly.

Obviously, she was far from normal. It seemed that it was difficult for him to get any meaningful information from her right now. But it was too early for him to give up. Yustia grabbed Samael's other hand. Then Yustia injected mental magic into her body with warmth, and Scathach blew vitality into her again.

Samael was not an ordinary woman. As the head of the Harpy clan, she was strong enough to be one of the five directors. And her strength wasn't limited to her mana or physical body. Instead of healing Samael's emotional wounds, Yustia gave her a strong stimulus to shake up her mind.

"Kuaaat!"

Samael suddenly clenched her teeth. She cried again and gasped for breath. Then she looked around as if she came to her senses finally.

"Madame Sitri!"

Sitri was soaking her whole body in blue water at that moment. After confirming her face and safety, Samael slowly pushed Scathach out of her arms. Once again, she rolled her eyes and found a face she recognized.

Yuria, who was treated dearly by the master of the Mammon family as if she were his daughter, was looking at her while crouching in the corner of the mansion. Given the dog-like spirit and the baby dungeon meerkat, it was clear that this place was the House of Mammon.

"Samael?" Scathach carefully called her.

She raised her head again and judged the situation quickly. Her own mana decreased sharply.

All her senses connected to her subordinate spirits disappeared. She knew clearly what happened. Then, now wasn't the time to hesitate anymore.

She cried out, with full confidence in the relations.h.i.+p between the Mammon family and Sitri.

"Abrasax, Orobas, and Bifronz sold the Dungeon Market. They attacked me and Sitri. The Dungeon Market today is nothing but the puppet of the King of Pride!"

Her voice was transmitted through Lucia.

Yong-ho opened his eyes. Catalina was at a loss of what to do while Kaiwan looked at him, clenching her teeth.

It was the worst situation he didn't even imagine.

It wasn't just like a simple internal uprising within the Dungeon Market. The Dungeon Market joined hands with the King of Pride.

At that moment, Yong-ho realized something. It was as if a lightning bolt pa.s.sed through his head.

'The King of Pride.'

If the new strongmen in the territory of the King of Gluttony gave up protecting it and dedicated their loyalty to somebody else, who would be their master?

The King of Pride was still at war with the King of Envy. The King of l.u.s.t's territory was located between those of these two kings. Then, what was the position of the King of l.u.s.t? Did the King of Pride make an alliance with the King of l.u.s.t? What if the King of Pride took over the forces of the King of Gluttony and even the Dungeon Market? What could the king do with his increased power?

"Father!"

A woman's screaming broke his indulgence in such idle thoughts. Startled, he looked ahead.

Gardimundi was trembling. In astonishment, she looked at the feather-shaped communication device connecting her and her father, Biryubakcha.

Gardimundi hadn't said anything yet.

However, Yong-ho felt immediately what the King of Pride could do when he took possession of the Dungeon Market, and what could happen if the king attacked other forces.

Gardimundi raised her head, confirming Yong-ho's conviction.

***

The lords in the demon world traded their dungeon spirits at the Dungeon Market. It was no exaggeration to say that more than 90% of the spirits in the demon world were bought and sold at the Dungeon Market.

All those spirits, and the elite troops that could be deployed at any time.

They were not the only items possessed by the Dungeon Market. But that didn't matter. Only the fact that the Dungeon Market managed them was important.

The King of l.u.s.t was with the King of Pride.

The army of the King of Gluttony knelt before the King of Pride.

Just like he dealt with the King of Envy, the King of Pride didn't need to keep his invasion secret.

His invasion of the territory of the Queen of Fury through the Dungeon Market was clearly an effective means, but he could not keep relying on it.

But the lords under the command of the Queen of Fury were not suspicious of the Dungeon Market just like the King of Envy's subordinates. They welcomed it, as always.

At the moment when the Queen of Fury cheered with her forces, the King of Pride began ma.s.sacres throughout the queen's territory.

***

The Queen of Fury, who became a red flash and struck the battlefield, was beautiful. As expected, she always led her own bodyguards to the battlefield as soon as a large-scale battle broke out.

The King of l.u.s.t stretched his body's length. His hair, white like snow, fell down on his shoulders and chest. His red eyes stood out between his pale face.

Since he could take any shape, regardless of age or s.e.x, the King of l.u.s.t had no such thing as a true self. It was also impossible to identify himself because of the additional effect of the sin of l.u.s.t from his birth.

For this reason, the King of l.u.s.t chose one of his countless alter egos as his true self.

Actually, he decided on it a thousand years ago. It was something like a woman that the King of l.u.s.t believed as her true self.

The King of l.u.s.t, Asmodeus, gently grasped the G.o.dly Energy of l.u.s.t. This new energy, which the king had separated on that day a thousand years ago, greeted him gladly. It changed its shape from a dagger to a long and thin sword.

In the distance, the Queen of Fury was fighting. She stood out among the forces fighting the army of the King of Pride.

The Queen of Sloth had one of the Seven Deadly Sins and the G.o.dly Energy, but he had no forces.

The King of Violence had one of the forces and the G.o.dly Energy, but he had no Sin.

Only the Queen of Fury had everything.

Seven horns of light sprouted above the head of the King of l.u.s.t. Once called the best swordsman of the demon world, the King of l.u.s.t released the Sin of l.u.s.t from his fingertips.

His heart was pounding. The King of l.u.s.t felt the Queen of Fury was on the battlefield now.

The Queen of Fury also felt him. Even though she was still hundreds of meters away from him, the queen looked back exactly where the king was. She was startled to find him.

The King of l.u.s.t had a sad smile. He stepped forward and moved to the queen forcefully.

***

"Let me go back now," Gardimundi said unwittingly. She was almost aghast.

She served as the Queen of Fury's eyes and ears. At the same time, she was the only daughter of Biryubakcha, the king of the Garura clan.

She could gather all sorts of information in real-time. She instantly knew both the Queen of Fury and the temple of the eight clans were in danger, so she could not stay any longer. She had to go back to help them.

When she thought about the current situation rationally, what Gardimundi needed most now was the a.s.sistance of the House of Mammon. But she was not an idealist. She was convinced that Yong-ho hid something. It was foolish for her to trust somebody like him.

She felt she made a mistake by telling him unwittingly that the Queen of Fury and the temple were in danger. She hastily turned, but Yong-ho grabbed her arm.

He remembered what Sitri had told him, as well as what the Queen of Fury told him about the importance of a southern alliance.

The King of Pride was their enemy. He already began to take action. He took over the Dungeon Market and enlisted cooperation with the King of l.u.s.t. The remaining forces who lost their master, the King of Gluttony, were in the King of Pride's control. Perhaps, his fighting with the King of Envy might have been over without anybody knowing, just like Yong-ho fighting the King of Gluttony.

Yong-ho couldn't lose the Queen of Fury. She was his ally who could confront the King of Pride. Gardimundi looked back at Yong-ho. Rather than explaining, he convinced her by action.

He released the power of Greed.

***

The temple of the eight clans was not a dungeon. There were no subtle traps or the darkness that blocked the vision in the temple built on the plains.

Dark red smoke rose under the red sky. The beasts flocking to the smell of blood witnessed the slaughtering on the ground.

Warriors from the alien world, Death Knights, Vampire Lords, Arc Demons, and Night Shades, these five-star monsters ran wildly, slaughtering everywhere in the temple. They built a barrier with the bodies of the representatives of the eight clans gathered for the emergency meeting. They fought fiercely, but they were overpowered. Aside from their combat abilities, they were numerically inferior to these monsters.

Orobas, the strongest Herculean power, took a cheerful step among them. His fists were already stained with the blood of the heads of the Mahoraga clan and Karvinka.