Edited By: Sebas Tian

Even if it was a simple exploration, it was a lot better than when they were exploring the armory and gold mine.

During that time, they didn't know where anything was and had to assume the direction, but this time, they had a map.

Even though the owner from two generations ago inherited the throne, the gold mine was taken from them by the Crazy Ants. They even had to give up their loving sister's belongings, so they were probably in an urgent situation.

And it meant that the areas after the gold mine room remained as Kaiwan's.

The map he found in Kaiwan's journal was more of a blueprint that included her future plans.

However, the areas around the gold mine were probably already built during Kaiwan's time, so he was still sure that the map was accurate.

After arriving in front of Kaiwan's office, he waved his finger and displayed the dungeon map and Kaiwan's map that he drew in the air.

Before starting the exploration, he looked back at Catalina.

"How are you with using your shadow? Have you gotten used to it?"

Catalina hesitated for a moment and answered as her ears weakly dropped.

"I haven't perfected it yet. The more I use it, I feel like there's more to it…I think I'll have to use it as an additional attack for now. Um…would you like to see it?"

He had no reason to decline, so after taking a few steps back, he nodded his head. Spot quickly caught on, so they grabbed Salami's tail and pulled them back.

Catalina kept her distance from the others and after taking a deep breath, she unsheathed the dagger that was on her belt. And then she quickly cut through the air.

It was definitely one movement.

But after Catalina cut the air, something black appeared behind Catalina's arm and it cut the air again. The shadow cut the exact spot that Catalina's first cut did and then disappeared like smoke.

After advancing to a Shadow Runner, it's a new skill that she learned.

The skill required her to use a dark element mana, but it was more of a martial arts technique than magic.

'Will she be able to manipulate it once she gets used to it? Or will the number of additional hits increase?'

Since there wasn't any information about it, she had to figure it out by studying.

'But she really looks like a demon now.'

Describing Catalina's amazing body movement as being acrobatic wasn't enough and describing her as a demon wasn't fitting. She didn't really use mana all that much.

"Good job. I'm looking forward to your growth."

"Thank you."

After hearing Yong-Ho's compliment, Catalina became really happy and sheathed her dagger. Spot also looked excited after seeing an interesting sight.

"I'll start activating the inactive passageways."

Lucia stepped in and activated the passageways. The first area they were going to explore was the training ground.  

"Nice."

The gold mine and the training ground weren't that far apart and monsters didn't appear on the newly developed passageway that was between those two areas. There was only about two Slimes.

It was expected.

The inner part of the dungeon past the gold mine was used to store the core facilities of the dungeon rather than used to block the enemy's attack.

Since the facilities were placed to make the living conditions better, the distance between the facilities was close and since they weren't far from the gold mine, other dungeon monsters weren't there.

"I'll begin the activation process for the spirit training ground."

Once mana was poured into it, light appeared and it showed a room that was as big as the throne room. A few of the Crazy Ants that were in there started crawling across the ground and walls as if they were trying to run away.

When Yong-Ho signaled with his eyes, with Spot on their back, Salami flew towards the Crazy Ants to kill them.

Since it wasn't a dangerous fight, Yong-Ho turned his attention to the inside of the training ground.

It was similar to a worn gym. The ceiling was a bit higher than the other rooms and the ground was filled with dirt.

Beside the rectangular section, which was probably a fighting arena, the puppets that you see in games were standing there.

Skull started hitting the puppets with their hammer as if to show an example. For some reason, Yong-Ho felt that Skull's development rate was increasing every time they were hitting the puppets, so he instinctively activated the Power of Evolution.

'Wow, it really is increasing.'

Skull already evolved several times, so even if they hit the puppets a lot, they'll most likely get one point. Anyways, the important thing was that the development rate did increase.

Out of all the spirits, Eligor popped into Yong-Ho's head.

From the possible advancement routes that were displayed, Yong-Ho was interested in the Red Demon – Beast.

Since the word, beast, was next to it, Yong-Ho was excited to see what kind of skill he would obtain.

'I'm sure they're a fighting race. A fighting race.'

Yong-Ho smiled and opened the dungeon map again by waving his finger. He was planning on discovering the other facilities like this.

And then.

Skull stopped hitting the puppets and looked around. On top of that, Salami, Spot and Catalina were all looking in the same direction.

Yong-Ho as well.

They felt the flow of strong mana beyond the wall, but it wasn't that far.

"There's an unusual amount of concentrated mana in the air."

"This isn't a good sign."

"The dungeon shop's basic data and the current situation…distortion!"

Lucia's calm voice changed to a high-pitched voice at the end.

Lucia spoke as if she was shooting her words out.

"The unusual amount of concentrated mana is causing a distortion."

"There's a high chance that dungeon monsters will pass through the opening that's caused by the distortion."

"It's difficult to tell what kind of monsters will pass through. Please get to a safe location for now!"

It must've been a really urgent matter because instead of notifying only Yong-Ho, she created a message in light and notified Catalina as well.

Yong-Ho recalled Eligor's explanation in the past.

Distortion was one of the reasons why dungeon monsters appeared!

The Crazy Ants and Salami also appeared through this method. If they appeared while Kaiwan was the owner, they would've been killed, but the past two owners weren't able to do anything. In the end, the gold mine and armory were taken from them.

The same thing could happen again.

Catalina looked at Yong-Ho. Yong-Ho quickly made a decision.

"Lucia! Tell me where the distortion is being created!"

"According to Kaiwan's map, it's in a vacant lot that's located right next to the training…sir?"

Yong-Ho took out Aamon. Catalina understood Yong-Ho's thought and she immediately unsheathed her weapon and Skull nodded their head.

He wasn't going to run.

After the distortion opens, he was planning on getting rid of the dungeon monsters.

The spirits here were currently the strongest soldiers in the House of Mammon. If the monsters couldn't be stopped with this group, then there's a high chance that the dungeon monsters can't be stopped in the future.

Lucia understood Yong-Ho's thoughts. That's why she groaned as if she was hesitating, but it didn't last long. Lucia immediately activated the passageway that led to the area next to the training ground.

"Dungeon monsters will soon appear through the distortion."

"If you're going to do it, please hurry! And don't get hurt!"

Yong-Ho smiled and then ran. With Catalina in the lead, the other spirits ran as well.

"Because of the excess amount of mana caused by the distortion, I'm unable to activate the area."

"I have notified Eligor and Rikum of the current situation."

"Rikum will be arriving with a support unit."

Beyond the passageway, Yong-Ho saw darkness. Within the darkness, there was a whirlpool of mana.

Spot got off of Salami's back and took out a stick-looking lighting device from the bag they carried and threw it onto the ground. And then, white lights appeared from the sticks, causing a portion of the darkness to disappear.

Catalina and Skull couldn't read the mana's color and element, but they were able to see the distortion. It looked like a heat wave that was spinning unusually fast. It was swaying in the air and released an unusual energy.

Distortions can appear in any dungeon. The important thing was how it's handled after it appears.

The area itself wasn't that big. It was only a quarter of the training ground they were just in.

Yong-Ho stood near the entrance with the spirits in case they needed to escape. He ordered Salami to aim at the distortion.

The moment dungeon monsters appeared out of the distortion, Salami was going to shoot out fire. Depending on the situation, Yong-Ho was going to add Aamon's fire as well.

Using fire to deal with the situation was better than fighting them.

Salami gathered the fire and glared at the distortion.

Yong-Ho looked at the mana's color and element again. Different colors made up the distortion, but it turned into one color.

Red.

The distortion stopped. The mana that was whirlpooling exploded and a strong light lit the area!

"Swoosh!"

The moment the light was in his sight, Yong-Ho yelled. Salami opened their mouth while closing their eyes and shot out the fire they gathered.

The fire that they released was a lot stronger than Yong-Ho's. The fire overpowered the light. Even though he didn't hear any screams, he smelled something burning and heard the sound of wings flapping powerfully.

Yong-Ho was able to clearly see again. Yong-Ho widened his eyes and looked straight ahead. Even though it was only for a couple of seconds, Salami's fire was still in the room.

He saw a large bug. The distortion hasn't closed yet, so bug-like monsters were coming through and were greeted by Salami's fire.

The plan was a success. Since Salami was getting tired, Yong-Ho immediately raised Aamon.

But during that moment.

Salami's fire was split into two. A strong fire was released from the distortion and it broke through Salami's fire.

Yong-Ho recalled his first battle with Salami. He overpowered Salami's power by using Aamon's fire and this was a similar situation.

"Tactic! It's a fire tactic!"

Catalina yelled. The fire that shot out of the distortion made it difficult to see the figure, but they were able see that it was the body of a large male.

He could tell through his senses. Fire didn't work on them. They needed another method.

"Skulllll!"

Skull bravely charged and swung their hammer, but it was useless. It was impossible to hit fire with a hammer. The figure ignored Skull's attack and looked at the tired Salami, Yong-Ho and Catalina. They unified the fire that was in both of their hands and just like Salami, they created a large fire.

It was a moment of life and death.

Catalina grabbed Spot's waist, who froze in place, and kicked off the ground. Despite being tired, Salami looked at the fire and Yong-Ho stood in front of Salami to protect them and released Aamon's fire.

Both fires clashed. While holding Spot in one arm, Catalina kicked off the ceiling and wall and ended behind the figure. With her shadow, she threw the dagger.

It was useless this time too. It looked like the shadow made a small impact after the dagger was thrown, but all it did was slightly push through the fire.

But Catalina wasn't trying to take down the fiery figure. By attacking from behind, she was trying to turn their attention away from Yong-Ho.

Yong-Ho pierced through the fire. The fire that Aamon released enveloped the enemy's fire and headed straight towards the unknown figure.

The figure quickly turned their attention back to Yong-Ho after Catalina distracted them. But when they did, the distance between Yong-Ho and the fiery figure had closed.

The figure violently swung their arms. A wave of fire was shot from the sky towards Yong-Ho's head and it was a horrible sight.

But Yong-Ho didn't close his eyes. Aamon released more fire and Yong-Ho watched the stranger.

The wave of fire enveloped Yong-Ho's face. It mixed with Aamon's fire and it dispersed into the air. Despite what was currently happening, Yong-Ho took a step forward.

It was hot. The sight of the fire enveloping both figures was a diversion. He thought Aamon's fire would be enough to defend against the fire, but the way his instincts reacted to the fire was something he couldn't control.

The fire was shot down from above him. Aamon's fire and the enemy's fire clashed once again. It exploded and Aamon's fire that enveloped Yong-Ho's body disappeared.

The temperature increased. He wanted to close his eyes. The fire that was created by the unknown figure was blazing in front of Yong-Ho.

Aamon's fire wasn't all-powerful.

When he first fought Salami, he used Aamon's fire to defend and he was only able to win because Skull kept on attacking Salami's body.

Then where?

Where was he supposed to attack when they were covered in fire?

Yong-Ho looked at the man's flow. Despite the dangerous situation, he concentrated really hard.

He saw another color within the fire. The thing that was swirling was the core of the fiery figure.

Yong-Ho released another fire. He pushed his left arm into the fire instead of Aamon.

They exploded again. The fiery figure and Yong-Ho couldn't hurt each other. But Yong-Ho didn't care. He read their mana and extended his hand towards the core. Instead of Aamon's fire, he released the mana that was stored inside the bracelet!

It wasn't fire.

It was coldness. It was the mana that he obtained by absorbing the Queen Ant and Foras's spirit!

With Kaiwan's journal, he found the bracelet and it allowed him to store mana in it. During the fight with the Land Worm, he used all the mana that was stored in there and filled it with coldness mana. Yong-Ho had a hard time controlling his mana, so it took him a long time to store mana inside it, but it didn't matter. From the free city to the dungeon, the only thing he had left was time.

Yong-Ho still didn't know how to use magic. He was merely pouring out the coldness. But that was enough. The coldness drove out the fire. He made it so that the core of the fiery figure froze.

The figure screamed out in pain. Yong-Ho ignored it because it sounded like the wind. With all his might, he grabbed the frozen core!

Like a weak piece of ice, the core broke. As the figure screamed, the fire that formed the figure dispersed and nothing was left. Just the heat from the fire proved that the fiery figure existed.

"Pant, pant…"

Yong-Ho stumbled as he started breathing heavily. Catalina quickly supported him.

"There aren't any signs that show that more dungeon monsters will appear through the distortion."

"Good job. You did really well!"

"I'll notify Eligor and Rikum about the current situation."

Yong-Ho tightly closed his eyes after hearing Lucia's calm voice. He felt mana from the remaining core, even if it was really weak. It might be too much to absorb it, but it wouldn't be a problem to give it to Lucia as a snack.

He didn't think an enemy who wasn't affected by fire would appear.

But he killed them in the end. Catalina couldn't contain her joy and smiled brightly.

"The distortion will naturally disappear."

"But you never know what might happen, so I suggest you keep your distance from the distortion."

It was a reasonable argument.

But instead of backing out, he fixed his stance by leaning on Catalina. Even though the swirling distortion shrunk, he closely observed the mana's flow.

Distortions appear when an unusual amount of mana is gathered.

It meant that the distortion itself was a huge lump of mana.

"Master?"

"Master?"

Catalina and Lucia both called out. Instead of answering the two, Yong-Ho extended his hand out towards the distortion.

And naturally.

The Greed inside Yong-Ho opened their mouth.

End.

Chapter end