It felt like time stopped.

Inside the room where the battle was taking place, everyone remained still as if they froze. They were so still that one would probably wonder if they remembered how to breathe.

But it didn't last long.

The one that broke the silence was surprisingly the one that caused the silence.

Jungceros's large body fell to the ground. It seemed like he was just leaning over, but he must've not been able to handle his weight, because his body fell. And he didn't move anymore. He had a blank look on his face.

"Pant, pant…pa…"

Yong-Ho, who was being weighed down by Jungercos, raised himself up while panting. Catalina, who was within Yong-Ho's arms, quickly used her arms and legs to help him.

It was hard to tell how this happened. Jungceros fell on Yong-Ho and their eyes met. And a few seconds later, Jungceros became unconscious.

"Mind oppression."

Yong-Ho quietly spoke while trying to collect his breath. The sight of Greed devouring Jungceros impacted Yong-Ho. Jungceros and Yong-Ho were on the same level, so when Jungceros couldn't resist Greed, it excited Yong-Ho.

"They tried to control my mind."

That was enough. The Orcs were surprised because they didn't know what he meant, but it wasn't the same for Catalina and Ophelia. Ophelia actually felt joy and fear at the same time.

Her joy was because of Greed.

Her fear was also because of Greed.

Jungceros protected his place as the owner for many years. However, they were just an owner of a small dungeon in an empty land. In the end, they couldn't go up against one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

That was Greed's power.

It was such a strong will.

It made her happy. The fact that the man standing in front of her was her happy, made her extremely happy.

But at the same time, she felt fear.

The day she first saw him at the pub.

If Yong-Ho didn't stop, Ophelia could've ended up the same way as Jungceros. It would've destroyed her mind and caused her to blank out like him.

She didn't even want to think about it.

She recalled the time she encountered Aamon and Greed within Yong-Ho's mind. It felt like she was going to fall into that fiery world again if she closed her eyes.

Ophelia kept on gulping. Her body was covered in sweat.

On the other hand, Catalina was feeling happy.

She smiled brightly as if she was showing off the fact that Yong-Ho was her master and also the owner of the House of Mammon. The way her tail and ears moved showed how excited she was.

Rikum recalled what happened at the bar and the reason he trembled was different from Ophelia's.

Rikum didn't know about Greed or Aamon. Because of that, Rikum believed that Yong-Ho used a mind defense skill that overpowered Jungceros.

Taking control of the female pub owner was surprising enough, but within a few seconds, Yong-Ho was able to destroy an owner's mind.

Yong-Ho's state of mind of powerful. He earned a great deal of respect.

Rikum's eyes went from Yong-Ho to Jungceros and then to Ophelia. Ophelia, who was covered in sweat, noticed Rikum looking at her and as the pub's female owner, she was able to catch Rikum's inner thoughts through his expression. Even though her hands and feet were trembling in fear because of Greed and Aamon, she forced a smile on her face and stood up from her seat. Someone needed "explain" the current situation.

"Jungceros tried to take control of the owner's mind. But it was a very stupid act. Taking control of the mind isn't one-sided. It's safe to say that it's a mind battle between two figures. Jungceros probably thought they were a wave. And they also thought the owner was some sort sand castle. But, the owner was actually a shield. A kind of shield that will break the wave. And the result of that is shown right before you."

The Orcs widened their eyes when they heard Ophelia's explanation. They nodded as if they now understood, and along with Catalina, they expressed their surprise and satisfaction at the same time.

After feeling satisfied by how the Orcs reacted, Ophelia winked at Yong-Ho.

Usually, someone would either kick the floor and others would complain jokingly, but they didn't have the energy to do that.

Their backs were still wet. They tried to hide it, but their legs were slightly shaking as well.

That's what Ophelia's wink meant. After standing up from his seat, Yong-Ho answered the spirits that were focusing on him. His short answer made them cheer.

"We won."

A declaration of victory.

Catalina and Skull were the first spirits to cheer.  

  &

Even though his body was full of energy, his mind was exhausted. The length of the battle was short and was mostly one-sided.

All Yong-Ho did was kick Ophelia and roll on the floor with Catalina.

'I'm not sly, I'm not sly.'

After defending himself, he headed towards Foras's dungeon's Heart of the Dungeon with the spirits.

Yong-Ho decided to absorb Jungceros's spirit later since their mind had been destroyed. It was a simple reason. It was to prevent the news of Jungceros's death from spreading.

If the owner dies, then the Spirit of the Dungeon dies.

When Foras died, the Spirit of the Dungeon in Foras's dungeon died as well and Foras's successor and the butler clearly sensed Foras's death.

There was no reason to give unnecessary information to the House of Abigail.

If they found out that Jungceros died, then they would've made a move. Either the successor or the butler will take the spirits and lead them to Foras's dungeon.

Those kind of things should happen later. A day or two later. After Yong-Ho and the House of Mammon's spirits took the items they needed.

Even though the Orcs had a hard time carrying Jungceros's Ogre-like body, it couldn't be helped. Yong-Ho did his best to ignore the pants he was hearing behind him and continued moving forward.

After being accompanied by Catalina, Skull and Ophelia, Yong-Ho entered the Heart of the Dungeon and didn't waste any time. After standing in front of the Heart of the Dungeon, he raised both of his hands.

Since the Spirit of the Dungeon died, there wasn't much of a reaction. The only thing Yong-Ho felt was a strong shield.

After pouring his mana, he forcefully broke the shield. Yong-Ho absorbed the Heart of the Dungeon's mana.

When Yong-Ho poured out his mana, the Heart of the Dungeon released a red light.

The heart was resisting. The dungeon can be considered as an enormous spirit and even though they lost their will, they still had their survival instincts.

Yong-Ho gritted his teeth. He understood the mana by hitting onit. There was a reason why the small frys waited months for the House of Mammon's shield around the heart weakened. If Yong-Ho didn't grow through the Power of Evolution and spirit absorption, he would've died already.

Of course he chose to take a break after pouring his mana. Since mana hasn't been added to the Heart of the Dungeon, it was in its original condition.

But Yong-Ho wasn't going to take care of it all at once. And the reason for that was simple as well.

'It looks uncool!'

There were a lot of eyes watching. After his fight with Jungceros, the Orcs started looking at Yong-Ho with respect and praised him. Catalina looked at him the same way.

It felt like she was saying, "If it's the master, if it's our master!"

In order to protect the owner's dignity and loyalty, it had to be ended quickly.

Yong-Ho overdid it. And he got rewarded it for his hard work. The shield around the Heart of the Dungeon couldn't endure Yong-Ho's mana and broke. To Yong-Ho, it felt like a window shattered.

The Heart of the Dungeon, which was as big as two fists put together, broke. And a small marble that was a bit larger than a thumb appeared. The red light that appeared was the dungeon's spirit.

When it landed in his hand, he felt a strong mana. Also, despite of the fact that the owner died and the dungeon was shut down, the Heart of the Dungeon still had a large of mana within them.

Greed started wiggling. Even though they didn't say anything, Greed was definitely reacting to the mana that was in front of them.

Yong-Ho was patient. After grabbing the spirit tightly, he opened the leather pouch that was hanging from his waist. Yong-Ho closed his eyes shut and put the spirit inside the pouch.

The Heart of the Dungeon was the only one that could effectively absorb a Heart of the Dungeon's spirit.

This was Lucia's job. In order to build various facilities within the dungeon and increase the dungeon's defensive power, Yong-Ho had to increase Lucia's powers.

'I still have work to do.'

But, it wasn't something he could do right away. Even though he became exhausted after breaking the heart's shield, Yong-Ho gave his next order instead of resting.

"Rikum, gather all the valuable items in Foras's dungeon and move it to the dungeon's entrance room. Since the dungeon's heart is destroyed, the traps won't work."

Yong-Ho was now used to giving orders.

After Rikum showed his respect, he took the Orcs and walked out.

Yong-Ho looked at Ophelia next.

"Ophelia, go back to the pub."

"Yes, sir. I'll make up a story saying that the House of Foras's owner and Jungceros put their life on the line and killed each other. However, it'll only act as a set up. The information isn't something I can announce by using the pub's name."

Yong-Ho was satisfied by how quickly she understood his intentions when he ordered her to return to the pub.

And Ophelia was feeling satisfied as well. She was happy about serving a master that was capable and friendly.

Yong-Ho spoke while smiling.

"That's fine. If it buys us more time, I'm satisfied with that. And I'm sure it'll cause some chaos too."

The story about the House of Foras's owner and Jungceros killing each other can be easily made up.

But, who was the one that destroyed the Heart of the Dungeon?

Who absorbed Jungceros's spirit and who took the dungeon's treasures?

Anyone with a brain would question those things and there were only a few who could actually do those things.

They couldn't use the pub to spread vague information like that. The relationship between the pub and the House of Mammon had to be kept a secret.

A baseless rumor.

The source will be unknown, but it was convincing story. Saying that the spirits that ran away from the House of Foras saw it was enough.

And this kind of rumor was enough to make the nearby owners confused. The House of Abigail won't be able to easily make their next move and the other owners won't be able to easily confirm that this was all done by the House of Mammon's owner.

"Then, I'll take my leave. I hope you'll forgive me for not being able to send a separate carriage."

"That's fine and thanks for today. And I'm sorry for kicking you."

Ophelia laughed at Yong-Ho's last comment. Like always, the way she bowed reminded him of musical actors that bowed at the end of the show. After that, she left the House of Foras.

They must've used a lot of money on increasing the dungeon's defense after Foras died, because the House of Foras didn't have a lot of treasures.

However, it was still more than what the House of Mammon currently had.

In the carriages that they rode in, it was filled with various gold and valuable items. But Yong-Ho didn't stop there. He took the artifacts that both Jungceros and Kun had. He thought about taking the Living Armors and melting them, but it would be odd if there weren't any signs of there being a fight, so he only took half of them.

Since the seats were filled with items, they had no choice but to walk, but the spirits all had bright smiles on their faces. They felt good about winning, but it's because Yong-Ho promised a special bonus.

It took them about three hours to collect the items after the fight was over.

Within the deepest part of the House of Foras, Yong-Ho saw Jungceros lifeless body.

A demon king's power was like the Joker in a card game.

Yong-Ho was able to easily defeat Jungceros since their power was mind control, but when looking at just the process of the battle, there were a lot of close calls.

Kun changed the battle when Yong-Ho assumed that Kun could no longer fight. And Kun was only able to fight because of Jungceros's power.

Foras broke through Aamon's fire through coldness.

Jungceros made Kun move despite of them being unable to move.

What kind of powers did the other demon kings have?

And among the kings that had the Seven Deadly Sins, what were they like?

Yong-Ho emptied his head. Instead of contemplating, he stretched out his hand and placed it on Jungceros's forehead.

Getting stronger.

Yong-Ho's Power of Evolution and Greed's power were getting stronger.

A light appeared.

Greed devoured Jungceros's spirit.

End.

Chapter end