Suddenly, a monstrous shout was heard.
Then dungeon monsters charged from three directions of the crossroads.
The first basement floor of the House of Mammon.
The forbidden land for more than a hundred years was now occupied by the dungeon monsters.
Dozens, maybe even hundreds of dungeon monsters rushed at the House of Mammon's spirits.
Most of them were Ghouls and skeletons. There were among them who were full of blind hatred for the living. They were the Banshee and Abomination, the incarnation of horror.
Eligos breathed roughly and fast. Ophelia grinned after slapping Eligos on the back.
Instead of waiting, she charged at the dungeon monsters face to face.
"Dang it! Help me, Brother!"
He couldn't tell her to stop if she wanted to save her life. She was like a typhoon, who penetrated deep into the Ghouls and kicked them hard. It seemed that the Ghouls, not Ophelia, had to shout for help.
"Wow!"
Eligos rushed after Ophelia. It wasn't because he was afraid of the consequences if he didn't rush now, though it was partly true. But he had another reason.
Eligos was the butler of the Mammon family. He had to show his strength befitting his status as the great Mammon family's butler. Of course, he was a little bit, yes a tiny bit worried about Ophelia's safety.
Eligos, equipped with a unique dynamic strength of a Red Demon beast, overwhelmed the Ghouls. Eligos' punching literally crushed them all at once.
"Awesome, Brother! You look like a beast!"
Ophelia kicked in the air with a hearty laugh. With the energy arising from her sharp toes, she cut several Ghouls with the blade of magical power.
"Skull, Skull!"
Skull, who was standing on the opposite side, also showed off his bravery. He didn't stop at merely smashing the Ghouls with a battle hammer with a lightning strike.
The magical power of greed soared from Brigada that Skull had on his neck. Skull, a skeleton magic knight, concentrated its magic on the hammer. He struck the ground at once to release a tremendous lightning strike!
Dozens of lightning strikes that were spreading around the attacking point covered the entire corridor.
Not only the Ghouls but even the Banshee, which could be said to be almost an astral body, could not avoid the lightning strike. The bodies of the Ghouls exploded here and there because they could not overcome the impact of the lightning strike. Banshee's astral body was scattered in the air.
Skull shouted again, "Skull! Skull!"
It was a rush order. At the captain's order, the Skull unit invaded the place that had been devastated by the lightning strikes and wiped out the dungeon monsters.
Under the command of Jun, the only female goblin, the Goblin Rangers fought in an organized manner. Baduk, with a bamboo spear, joined them, so Jun made a new formation including Baduk to tackle the Ghouls.
They weren't greedy. They held their places as if they were defending their positions in a basketball game. The Goblin Rangers were not in their element when it came to the offensive.
Rikum and the Orcs were excited as they were engaged in a real fight after a long time. No matter what others said, the Orcs were born fighters.
But this time, they had to take a step back. There was a great wall between the Ghouls and them.
Catalina ran through the darkness.
With the blood of the dark elf running through her body, she could see through the darkness. Inheriting the blood of the succubus, she could control the magical power of greed with amazing sensitivity.
She was a shadow runner. Darkness was her friend, not her enemy.
Not only the floor but also the walls and ceiling were her fighting stages. Running through the walls and kicking the ceiling to penetrate into the Ghouls, she rotated herself where she was and swung her arms. In an instant, she released the power of her black magic.
The blade of the shadow raged. Soaking in the magic of greed, it stretched over a few meters and broke everything that stood in the way. Banshee, the semi-spirit, couldn't avoid the blade of the shadow, and neither could Abomination, whose thick skin denied the attack of a normal blade.
The blade of the shadow changed its shape freely. Sometimes it was a giant reaper's scythe. Sometimes it was a sharp Scimitar. Thanks to Catalina's mobility, which occurred almost instantly, the fighting was as good as a wide-range attack.
"Wow! Way to go!"
Standing carefree among the spirits fighting against the enemies charging from three directions, Yong-ho clapped and cheered them. Salami, standing by his side, looked at him incredulously, but he did not intend to join them in the intense fighting.
It wasn't a matter of Yong-ho alone becoming strong. The spirits under his control had to be strong as well.
The best way to accumulate evolution EXP was the experience of real fighting that risked one's life. The more powerful the opponent and the more fierce the battle was, the more evolution EXP one could get.
Moreover, he needed to be more adept at using Brigada.
Yong-ho looked at Catalina closely, in particular. He was impressed by Eligos fighting like a beast, but Catalina's progress stood out. He felt she could really challenge the first floor of the arena with her current skills.
The ground shook. Dungeon monsters appeared from another direction of the crossroads.
As if to make up for their absence from the fighting until now, their numbers were several times more compared to the monsters from other directions.
Yong-ho turned to them. He wasn't afraid even though dozens of Ghouls were charging toward him. He reached out in the air and grabbed Aamon, the red-lotus demon spear.
"Let's go, Salami," Yong-ho said, and Salami understood it. Regretting the absence of its rival Bucephalas here, Salami gathered all the magical power.
Yong-ho did not run. Instead, he concentrated the power of greed on the tip of Amon.
"Kiaaaaah!"
Ghouls popped out of the dark. Yong-ho pulled Amon and stepped forward, trampling on the ground strongly. Salami also opened its mouth wide to emit flames.
The mouth of greed swallowed the flames of Salami. The one direction of the crossroads, namely the entire wide corridor, was engulfed with the waves of sparks.
Not only the Ghouls but also the darkness itself was driven out.
Since it was the sparks of enormous magical power, those who were fighting in the other three directions had no choice but to look back for a moment. And they all smiled.
The air was on fire. The burning smell filled the hallways, and all the spirits soon had to refocus on their fighting while frowning.
Yong-ho also frowned, but he was still smiling.
How much time had passed?
The moment Eligos smashed the last remaining Ghoul's head with a fist, they heard Lucia's voice that they had been waiting for earnestly.
[The first basement floor of the Mammon family has been occupied!]
[I'll supply the magical power from now on!]
Magical light poured out from the ceiling.
Faced with the light, Yong-ho looked around. Then he met the eyes of those spirits belonging to the Mammon family, which were ebbing away from it, avoiding the light.
The first basement floor of the Mammon family.
The exploration of the 'Labyrinth of Greed', the giant castle of Mammon, the King of Greed, was about to begin now.
After they won the battle and occupied the hall on the first floor, Yong-ho began to send the spirits upstairs, which didn't know about the 'truth.'
The Orcs, including Rikum, did not know much about the Labyrinth of Greed.
Goblin Rangers and Baduk also thought that this battle was part of the operation to recover "Kaiwan's legacy," as it always had been.
However, it was impossible to cheat them forever.
According to Aamon and Gusion, this was the beginning of the Labyrinth of True Greed, not the "fake" one. Therefore, there was a possibility that a truly great facility or artifact could be discovered. Even if Kaiwan was the best of the dungeon heads for the past few generations, it didn't make sense that she achieved all of this during her reign, spanning ten years or so.
Apart from Baduk or other goblins, it was possible that Jun or Rikum, who had smart brains, would detect the truth.
It wasn't that he couldn't trust Rikum or the Goblin Rangers.
But he had to have the worst situation in mind. If the existence of the Labyrinth of Greed was known even by mere chance, not only Yong-ho but also all the spirits of the House of Mammon would be in danger.
Except for the subordinate spirits, all of the others returned to the ground floor.
After confirming that the passage connecting the ground floor and the first basement floor was tightly closed, Yong-ho felt relieved and looked around the area.
It was a large space.
The square space, the center of the crossroads, was large enough for a basketball match.
The straight corridor was also wide enough for five or six adult men to walk shoulder to shoulder.
"This is indeed the dungeon of the House of Mammon."
Ophelia did not hide her admiration. When she showed curiosity like that, she looked like a pure girl, not a veteran pub mistress who had gone through ups and downs.
In a way, her reaction was natural.
Before starting the exploration, Yong-ho confessed the 'truth' to his subordinate spirits.
They were in the same boat as him, sharing his fate. Moreover, they were supposed to continue to explore the Labyrinth of Greed with Yong-ho.
That was why he confessed the truth. He confessed the existence of the Labyrinth of Greed to four people.
It was in the same vein that Ophelia was more excited than usual during the battle.
In fact, she had been seized with all kinds of delusions after hearing from her father, Endelyon, about the depths of the Mammon family. So, it was natural for her to get excited because she realized that the identity of the depths was nothing but the Labyrinth of Greed.