Dungeon Hunter

The auction continued.

As a result, Mago ended up in my hands.

I had roughly 11 million points remaining. Originally I had intended to buy only one more item, but I changed my mind.

It seemed necessary to reinforce my strength.

Okullos had a.s.similated the souls of 12 demons. He seemed to be aiming for my back so I needed to be able to handle him. Or else I might end up stabbed through the neck.

But a little more time was needed. My strength was still lacking against 13 demons, including Okullos.

"I need to handle this problem. There is also the possibility that he will self-destruct due to the a.s.similation.’

Okullos needed to be killed. I was positive that his body was currently burning up and suffering from the process. If I was lucky then Okullos and the remaining 12 demons would self-destruct.

I needed to do some preliminary preparation at this auction. My original plan was to select the appropriate items to build up my power but...

“Dwarf king! Often referred to as the final form of a dwarf. The dwarf king is born knowing how to handle all metals! It will start at 600,000!”

“600,000.”

“Marquis Anastasia-nim!”

"700,000.”

"Grand Duke Upa-nim!”

“800,000.”

"Ahh, once again Randalph-nim! Where is his limit?”

The atmosphere once again died. It was natural for them to feel weary and resentful.

The result was shown from Dubolong’s following words.

“The dwarf king has been sold for 800,000 points. Congratulations Earl Randalph-nim!”

The dwarf king was indispensable when it came to creating things from the Tree of Origin. Stein and the other dwarves only had adequate skills. The dwarf king was needed for an overall qualitative improvement. The equipment and weapons used by the dark elves and creatures would be enhanced. That alone made it worth spending 800,000 points on the dwarf king.

After that, I gave up a few items. I relaxed and played the role of a decoy. My purpose of partic.i.p.ating in this auction had changed, but I couldn’t neglect my final goal of hampering the demons.

Soon the 19th auction item arrived.

"Now, let me introduce the following auction item. I introduced them in last year’s auction: M1 and M2. They were only iron sheets so some didn’t realize their true value. Only the buyer personally experienced the benefits. But this time, it is worthy of praise at first glance. M3!”

Cheok, cheok.

Slow footsteps.

Soon a knight wearing full length red body armour and holding a long lance could be seen.

"Different.’

There were few similarities to M1 and M2. From the feel of the magic power to the appearance, everything seemed quite different.

Plus...M3.

I couldn’t remember him. There was no reason why I shouldn’t be able to remember a golem like this. He gave off a strong presence with just one glance.

I opened Mind’s Eye with interest.

Uniqueness: Completed from the beginning. There is no more need for growth and there is no sense of self since its intelligence is 0. But the golem gives its best performance under a powerful master. There are more improvements since M1 and M2.

Skill: Gale (Ex U), Joint Attack (Ex U)

My first thought after checking M3’s status window was ‘obedient.’ He was good in all respects when compared to M1 and M2.

In particular, Gale and Joint Attack were perfect skills to use. He was strong enough to engage with high cla.s.s creatures. Although he was slightly lacking compared to Mago, the other grand dukes were eyeing him.

“It will start at 600,000!”

It was the same opening bid as the dwarf king, but the atmosphere was more heated.

It was a law that in order to create something, materials were needed. I had the Tree of Origin to use as materials for the dwarf king, making me different from the other demons. Materials were more readily available for me.

“600,000.”

“Duke Visach-nim!”

"700,000.”

"Marquis Ganwisyu-nim!”

However, it was a different story when it came to pure strength.

I had M1 and M2 so my eyes naturally went to M3.

“800,000.”

“A hot atmosphere. Awesome! Earl Bahasos-nim!”

Mago, who received the hottest attention, was sold to me, so the demons weren’t worried about their points anymore. All hesitation about buying things had disappeared.

Of course, I was the decoy so I couldn’t stay still. For example, Duke Visach Mentam who looked interested in the auction would continue to partic.i.p.ate after I bid. Right now, it was fun to watch the bidding. They wouldn’t be able to move unless instructed by Grand Duke Upa in advance.

‘He is a demon who covets things. He is planning to gobble up the items in the second half. He has such intent.’

Due to the nature of the Demon World Auction, there might be good items in the beginning and bad items at the end. Sometimes more useful items would often appear in the second half. Perhaps...Upa was truly aiming for the second half. After losing Mago in the beginning, he didn’t partic.i.p.ate and decided to focus everything on the second half.

So he was trying to thin out the compet.i.tion in advance. My expectations didn’t seem wrong when considering how toxic Upa and his faction was.

"He clearly established a strategy.’

He must be feeling urgent. In fact, Upa wasn’t in a good situation right now. He lost demons so it was necessary to reinforce his power. He looked impatient after the auction started, but now I knew his actions weren’t the truth.

"A smokescreen."

That’s right. Smokescreen. He aimed to use this to trick the enemies and reverse the situation. Thanks to Okullos, most eyes moved away from Upa. In fact, Grand Duke Upa’s faction had won the most goods from the auction so far. I only just realized this.

‘Okullos acted as a decent smokescreen.’

Tak.
I slapped my knee.

Okullos left such a strong impression that it eclipsed Upa’s faction. This could be a huge chance for Upa.

The other grand dukes, Ariel and Pandemonium.

Did they realize Upa’s strategy?

"900,000."

"He is playing. Earl Randalph-nim! 900,000 points have come out.”

“One million.”

"Ah, this time it is Grand Duke Upa-nim!”

Upa was still faking an uncomfortable expression on his face.

Ha!

It  was ridiculous. The grand duke was still acting as he came forward. Certainly, the situation was rapidly changing. Even now, Upa still looked anxious and irritated. 

It seemed like he couldn’t make the top bid anymore. At the same time, he knew. Someone else would surely make the top bid.

‘Some demons are looking at the long term. One or two years would make a significant difference.’

I had purchased Mago while Okullos became stronger through a taboo method. He had to hurry. In order to eliminate his anxiety, he was obsessed with getting more creatures and good items.

“1.1 million.”

"Grand Duke Pandemonium-nim! M3 is a very powerful golem. Pandemonium, who is familiar with magic, has realized the astronomical value of M3!”

The behaviour that Upa showed here was simple. The sound of his fingers tapping wouldn’t stop. Grand Duke Upa and his faction showed a great performance.

It was silent after Pandemonium’s words. It was a sign that it was settled at 1.1 million points.

At that moment, Dubolong opened his mouth to make the final declaration. I smiled and opened my mouth.

“1.2 million.”

"Earl Randalph-nim has made the top bid once again!”

I just folded my arms and closed eyes. I was running quickly without worrying about problems. Looking at others would just make my mind more troubled.

“Is there any more? I will give you three seconds. If there aren’t any more bidders then Randalph-nim will win M3! Three, two, one!”

However, Upa didn’t make another bid. He appeared satisfied that he had raised the bid by 100,000 then 200,000.

"Congratulations! M3 now belongs to Randalph-nim!”

A few other minor items were omitted. Upa’s ulterior motive became more obvious. After Okullos came out and talked about crossing the line, the fire when bidding had subsided a little bit.

They considered it highly likely that I also broke the taboo. Ariel was still looking down at me with a cold gaze. It seemed she was still furious about having Haien Moon’s Necklace stolen away from her.

"I am going to destroy her anyway. Shall I give you some time to become my opponent?’

I only paid attention to the items and didn’t worry about the greedy compet.i.tion.

I was still worried about Okullos, but I was satisfied with this position. I did Upa a favour and leisurely purchased items. It would be better to benefit as much as possible while he was still under an illusion.

Thanks to that, I easily added ‘Millennium Stigma’ and ‘Lightning Orb’ to my collection. Both had vague options that I wasn’t significantly greedy for but I needed to maintain my current position in the compet.i.tion.

"The next item I am introducing is a little unusual. It is an item that I can’t describe. Yes, the ‘Unknown Box.’ This is it.”

The dark spirits brought out a big box. The appearance of the box was extremely ugly. It wasn’t a normal item seen in the Demon World Auction. While everyone was puzzled, Dubolong let out a sign.

"Have you heard of someone called the ‘Thief of the Century?’ He is a legendary figure that existed 500 years ago.”

500 years ago. It wasn’t that long.

Pandemonium was from that era and his face froze after hearing it. It didn’t seem like a good expression.

‘He seems to have heard it before.’

A careful thief. Or an adventurer. He was active in the Demon World hundreds of years ago.

I remembered a story about a thief able to steal techniques. The locations of treasures were obscure places and quite a bit of adventuring was required to obtain them. Places like the Valley of Souls, the Underground Wilderness, Red Scorpion Mountains, the Lion’s Lake, etc...he easily gained many great things from those places. I didn’t know if this was true or not but I was interested in the name.

Dubolong then continued.

"This is the only treasure remaining. This was a ridiculously difficult item to obtain from the Underground Wilderness. However! There are fairly strong constraints on it. Once opened, it is non-transferable like a curse. Therefore we couldn’t confirm the items in it. It is a troublesome position to be in when trying to sell it.”

The dark spirits knew a great deal about seals. The same was true for curses.

Yet this was a seal that they couldn’t solve.

"It isn’t a normal box.’

The problem was that no one could know what was inside.

I calmly used Mind’s Eye.

I might be able to find a hidden option that the other demons weren’t aware of.

Description – A box concealed by a famous thief. It is unknown what the box contains.

* It is non-transferable once opened. Everything in the box will be forced onto the person who opens it.

* Only one item will emerge and the rest of the items in the box will be destroyed.

The higher the person’s intelligence, the higher the probability of a ‘good’ item coming out.

It reminded me of the mimic. It was a box type creature that hid exclusive items in its body.

But only one item would emerge while the rest would be destroyed.

"Higher intelligence...’

n.o.body knew what would emerge. Instead, intelligence was largely involved.

Intelligence! I had Chrisley up my sleeve. She was someone who had an overwhelming 105 intelligence, a number that surpa.s.sed 100.

It was enough to make a gamble. The only remaining thing was the price.

“...It will start from one million points. I’m sorry. However, our losses were too big while obtaining it from the Underground Wilderness. Of course, this box was carefully hidden so I’m sure the contents aren’t ordinary! Isn’t there a high probability of it containing a sealed item?”

Even Dubolong didn’t seem certain.

Yet he was still trying his best to sell it. It was in order to make up for their losses. It wasn’t possible to transfer, so the dark spirits couldn’t check it.

Even so, the price was too high for a sealed item. The demons couldn’t see the hidden options so not many would think of buying it. The dark spirits wanted ‘only one’ person.

It was the reason why Dubolong looked around with embarra.s.sment. Too many spirits had died while exploring the wilderness. It was a much more dangerous place than the Valley of Souls.

“Is there really n.o.body? The last box left behind by a legendary thief. We followed his footsteps but he didn’t leave anything else behind in the world. Only this box remains. Aren’t you curious?”

The only one.

I decided to buy it.

It was something carefully left behind. I also had Chrisley with her 105 intelligence. That alone made it worth giving it a try.

But I didn’t act immediately after making the decision. I gave the impression to Dubolong and the other demons that it was a difficult choice.

Upa had intruded in vain, giving him a headache.

“The list of items that he stole is amazing. Just obtaining one of them would make it worth spending one million points for the box. No, if you are lucky enough to even obtain the ‘Sign of the Dead Mountains’ then it is easily worth more than 10 million points!”

He cried out loud but it just echoed through the venue.

Dubolong counted for a while before saying.

“I will count down from three. After this time, you will never see the box again. The Dark Spirit King is eyeing it. Three, two.”

“One million.”

“Ahh! Earl Randalph-nim! I guarantee that there is only one left of this in the world. I sincerely wish that you obtain a good item!”

There was no need to wait for any further bids. I instantly became the winner of the Unknown Box.

And...Dubolong was looking at me with grat.i.tude in his eyes. He seemed to think I bought it after the mention of the Dark Spirit King. He thought that I didn’t want a ‘bad’ relationship with each other.

But I didn’t have such intentions.

I had completely high expectations for the Unknown Box.

‘I will allow him to maintain that delusion.’

There was no need to point it out so I just shrugged.