Moreover, he could not take Lucia's report as "real-time". Perhaps, the fight itself already ended at least 12 hours earlier by now.
Probably the fighting was over two or three days ago.
What would be Embrio's next move, who destroyed the Western Owners' Alliance?
Would he advance into the southern region directly or take a brief break?
[Your subordinate, Demon King Tigrius, has requested materials for fortifying the House of Randolt.]
[Since he is in a very urgent situation, you might want to help him out as soon as possible.]
Salami, who noticed that something serious was going on, quickly moved. After arriving at the central hall of the Garden of Life immediately, he climbed the stairs leading to the ground.
"Lucia, how far is the House of Randolt from the place of the final battle between the Western Owners' Alliance and Embrio?"
[Because they fought deep in the west, it would take at least five days based on their average marching speed.]
If so, Young-ho could feel relaxed even if Embrio already started his forces.
And there was little possibility that Embrio started his forces right after defeating the Western Owners' Alliance.
As expected, Tigrius was a very careful guy. Lucia showed Yong-ho not only the news about Embrio's victory but also the paragraphs from the report that Tigrius filed separately.
It was about the progress in their fight, the size of the troops mobilized by both sides, and the movement of Embrio's forces located elsewhere.
Embrio could not immediately move his forces. He needed to realign after the battle. He had to have them take a rest even for a day.
If that was the case, Yong-ho had some time to prepare for his advance. Even if Embrio decided to advance to the southern region as quickly as possible, it would take at least three days for them to reach Yong-ho's place.
Salami ran down the hallway of the House of Mammon.
The dungeon spirits, who welcomed back Yong-ho after a few days, showed their respect to him, but he could not afford to return their greetings.
Kicking the door of the Demon King, Yong-ho ordered.
"Tell Burgrim to prepare the weapon for Skull. Tell Tigrius that I will supply him with the necessary materials. Tell Oros to have his men stand by, so they can move anytime. Ophelia and her forces will understand what I mean."
[Are you going to head straight to the House of Randolt after stopping by the Dungeon Market?]
Yong-ho got off Salami's back. When Yuria, who was cleaning the Demon King's room with Baduk, nodded to say hello, he raised his hand lightly and sat down on the throne.
"No, I'm going to leave after one or two days' break."
Since he had several days of preparing for Embrio's attack, Yong-ho had to make the most of this period. Although Lucia didn't know what Yong-ho was thinking, she didn't ask anymore.
[Okay.]
[I will convey your message to Burgrim, Tigrius, and Oros.]
Lucia's sincere voice was fading from his ears.
After taking a breath, he closed his eyes.
Then he accessed the virtual space of the Dungeon Market.
***
The virtual space of the Dungeon Market was a huge network created by magic.
The head of each house could enjoy virtual services by accessing the network through clients provided by the Dungeon Merchant.
Yong-ho slowly opened his eyes. Since everything that he saw, heard, and touched in a virtual space was transmitted directly through consciousness, not through his five senses, it was not necessary to have a human body, but all the heads of houses, including Yong-ho, possessed the same physical body in the virtual space as they did in the real world. The virtual space was kind of a device to not only protect self-consciousness within a huge mass of mental magic called a virtual space, but it also reduced the sense of incongruity that one felt instinctively.
Yong-ho was now familiar with it, for he accessed it so many times.
However, he felt a sense of incongruity instead of feeling familiar this time.
When he opened his eyes, it was not a white space that filled my vision.
There was light through the darkness. The piles of light connected in a series of dots like an archipelago located in the great sea had different shapes.
Funny enough, the current situation itself was quite familiar to him, for it was similar to the scene he saw when he peeked through the memories of Kaiwan, Mammon, and Scathach through mana.
But why did he suddenly see these things? Did something happen while he was accessing the virtual space? Was that the reason why he regenerated the memory from Mammon embedded in himself or the mana of the 12 Spirits?
Yong-ho stepped forward. Then one of the piles of lights came to his nose.
He heard no sound. He focused on those who stood among the lights.
Gusion was bleeding. He cried out, sitting on the floor, with his body covered with scars.
Scathach was breathing life into him.
Yong-ho couldn't grasp the situation. He didn't have any clue just like Scathach's memory that he saw in the Garden of Life. Only Gusion and Scathach were in the dark.
Scathach was also crying. Yong-ho was really shocked to see her crying with a messy face like a child because she always smiled cheerfully.
Yong-ho gulped before he knew it. He realized that Gusion's tearful gaze was directed at a certain place.
Yong-ho moved on then Gusion and Scathach faded from him. A new pile of light came to him.
It was Sitri. She wasn't as calm and elegant as she had been. She cried sadly.
She, who squatted on the floor, was holding Elune covered with blood.
Yong-ho could not comprehend the scene. He couldn't even tell whose memory it was now.
Elune opened her lips with an effort. Sitri bowed hastily, and Elune slowly moved her lips.
Yong-ho didn't know what Elune was talking about since her voice was hardly audible, but Yong-ho instinctively felt that it was Elune's last.
Sitri nodded several times. Elune smiled gently at her. She tried to touch Sitri's cheeks with her bloody hands but couldn't. Her arms soon drooped again and stopped moving.
It was a deep silence. Sitri touched Elune's cheeks with her trembling hands. She hugged Elune's body that started to get cold and kissed her forehead several times.
Her tears didn't stop. Weeping silently, Sitri held Elune's head in her arms then looked into the sky. She was looking at something in the air.
Yong-ho stepped forward again. Instead of the red sky of the demon world, he encountered a new pile of light this time.
The moment he saw the back of someone he knew, he lost memory. Darkness swallowed everything up.
"It's all my fault."
Yong-ho heard a voice. The moment a ray of light drove away the pitch-black darkness, it turned into pure white as if to turn a page of a book. The virtual space of the Dungeon Market returned to its original place.
Yong-ho turned around. Sitri was blankly standing in the direction where the voice came from.
Yong-ho saw her sad eyes. Recalling her a moment ago, Yong-ho felt like tears were about to flow down her cheeks at any moment.
But Sitri didn't cry. She even erased her grim smile and laughed cheerfully. She pointed to Yong-ho's left arm with her eyes.
"I see. You've started to create Godly Energy. I wish I had anticipated it, but it's faster than I expected… It's really my fault."
A white chair rose behind Yong-ho and Sitri's backs. Sitri asked him to take a seat.
"As you can guess, what you saw a moment ago is my memory. The mana of the 12 Spirits embedded in your lovely magic field and that person… Whether the mana of the King of Greed came by coincidence or necessity, it stimulated the storehouse of memories I made. I wonder if I have to call it a kind of harmonized phenomenon."
Yong-ho opened his lips, but he couldn't say anything. He had lots of things to ask, such as what the memories he had seen were, why Elune died in Sitri's arms, and what happened the day Mammon died.
But Yong-ho stopped himself from asking. Properly speaking, he couldn't because the moment he made eye contact with Sitri, he realized that she would not answer all his questions.