Chapter 221: Alliance (8)
The Queen of Fury’s alliance with the House of Mammon also had great strategic significance. She wasn’t sure if the Mammon family had great power, but if she could join hands with them to counter the King of Gluttony, she felt she could produce good results.
Although it was sad, the best way to stop war was something like a lovely dialogue. It was a powerful force that could even stop those refusing to talk.
‘If you hit me, you’ll get hit, too.’
This kind of warning was straightforward and coarse. But it was the most effective means.
If the southern alliance became strong, the King of Pride would not start a war easily even if he beat the King of Envy.
‘It’s not just because my heart is pounding.’
As a matter of fact, the House of Mammon was a variable that the queen didn’t think about, but it was a very meaningful one. Her alliance with the Mammon family had sufficient strategic value.
The Queen of Fury lightly pressed on her heart. She gently closed her eyes and counted the dates until her meeting with the master of the House of Mammon.
“Calm down. It’s around the corner.”
“Nope, why are you saying I’m nervous?”
Gardimundi burst into a silent laughter when the two repeated the same conversation ten days ago. She watched the two engaged in a war of nerves with their chins on their hands.
Time flew like an arrow.
There was nothing unusual during the past twenty days. The King of Gluttony still did not reveal himself, and the war between the King of Pride and the King of Envy in the north was still going on slowly.
Vimana, called a ‘moving fortress’ and the dungeon of the Queen of Fury, was a unique dungeon even in the demon world where all kinds of different species prevailed.
Vimana was built on the back of a living giant and giant turtle spirit. To be precise, Vimana was the name of the turtle.
A dungeon created naturally on the back of a super-large spirit.
The Queen of Fury modified the dungeon somewhat and made it her palace.
The only dungeon as unique as Vimana was the ‘sky fortress,’ considered the dungeon of a nameless master in the north, which was built on a giant and giant sky whale.
Anyway, the queen’s dungeon could move. However, instead of moving Vimana itself, the queen directly led her subordinates to the unclaimed land in the north because her moving Vimana would draw the attention of other kings.
Finally, the day of her forming an alliance with the master of the Mammon family arrived.
Since it was a secret alliance, the Queen of Fury was accompanied by only her close aides Kirtimuka and Gardimundi as well as five people from each of her eight clans.
No matter how secret an alliance it was, she needed to show a proper decorum because the alliance itself was a sacred ritual. That was why she took a total of 40 people with her.
‘Of course, they are going to serve as my bodyguards, just in case.’
Gardimundi took a fresh tour of the uninhabited wasteland in the north. Even though it was an open area, no one could be seen. It seemed that there would be nobody to spread rumors even if something happened here.
However, the queen had to be prepared for contingencies. The master of the House of Mammon and his subordinates that she saw were far from weak.
The 40 representatives of her eight-clan people formed their own groups and set up flags. As the power of their eight mysterious flags came together, a blocking barrier was created over the surrounding area. Now, nobody could guess what was going on inside by watching from a distance.
“Anyway, calm down. Take a deep breath.”
“Oh, I’ve never been nervous.”
Although she said that, the queen took a gentle deep breath. Her chest went up and down a few times, which made her feel a little more relaxed.
But where the hell was the master of the House of Mammon? The appointed time was close. Wasn’t it time he appeared?”
Kirtimuka asked Gardimundi inquisitively. Since it was an open wasteland, he could be seen anywhere if he was approaching by now, but there was not a soul in sight, let alone the troops of the House of Mammon.
Kirtimuka considered the Mammon master as the bridegroom for the queen, but if he couldn’t even keep the appointment, she would think twice. It was not just a promise, but a summit meeting with the queen to form an alliance.
‘I wonder if he is late.’
Instead of refuting Kirtimuka’s words, Gardimundi frowned and looked around again. If the Mammon master was willing to keep the appointment, it was about time he appeared from any direction in the open land by now.
Kirtimuka frowned even more, and the queen was also a bit disappointed.
Right at that moment, Gardimundi uttered with a blank expression, “No way!”
Gardimundi raised her head right away, and the queen and Kirtimuka, who was looking at her, also raised their heads instinctively. They opened their eyes wide at about the same time. Gardimundi uttered in an embarrassed voice as if expressing feelings on their behalf.
“Is he the Mammon master?”
The clouds were scattered. There appeared a huge flying vehicle reminiscent of a red dragon from the far sky.
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Tiamet, the giant red dragon.
The private flying vehicle of the Mammon master left a deep impression on the queen and her close aides with its overwhelming force.
And this was not all the performance that Yong-ho prepared.
The hatch of Tiamet, the giant red dragon that landed far away from the queen, was opened.
The first to appear from the flying vehicle was Skull and his one hundred elite soldiers that had been selected from the Skull unit.
The Skull unit, which marched, led by Skull, moved in perfect unison without any error, as if to boast of their synchronization. After a wonderful march, they lined up and opened a way.
Since they were an undead army, they didn’t move at all after stopping. Their black armor uniforms shone in the sun.
Yong-ho walked on the road between them. Behind him were Catalina and Kaiwan, dressed in their best costumes.
Ophelia, Eligos, and Tigrius remained inside Tiamet. They were on standby just in case of contingencies.
Kirtimuka nodded in satisfaction, looking at Yong-ho, who appeared confidently in time for the appointment. Gardimundi narrowed her eyes, watching Tiamet, the giant red dragon, because it was far from any ordinary flying vehicle.
The Queen of Fury stiffened like a piece of wood. Once again she pressed on her heart.
‘Wow, it’s real.’
Her heart was pounding very hard.
Yong-ho approached the queen. The nearer he came, the harder her heart was beating.
“I’m honored to meet the Queen of Fury. My name is Yong-ho Cheon, the master of the House of Mammon.”
He first expressed due manners to the queen. Thanks to his practice overnight under the supervision of Kaiwan and Ophelia, the way he extended courtesy to her was perfect.
But the queen could not respond. She just stared at him blankly.
She didn’t respond for about five seconds. When Yong-ho and his close aides began to be embarrassed about her silence, Kirtimuka hurriedly shouted at the queen through her psychological interaction with her.
‘Your Majesty!’
Only then did the queen come to her senses suddenly. When she found him standing a few meters away from her, she held her breath once again, embarrassed by her pounding heartbeat. She was at a loss about what to do at the moment. She then hurriedly cleared her throat and barely opened her mouth.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Dritarastra, the head of the eigh-clan people.”
Kirtimuka felt she ruined the whole thing. Her face got stiffened, and her voice was stiff.
When Kirtimuka felt frustrated, Catalina rolled her eyes and looked at Kaiwan, who narrowed her eyes.
However, Yong-ho himself did not feel anything strange about her response, for he didn’t properly focus on her voice and facial expressions.
His heart was pounding. It wasn’t just because of his resonance with her. She felt a stronger impulse than he did when he encountered her at the auction house.
Why? For what?
He barely held down his strong greed that arose to engulf not only the queen but also her aides.
He gulped while his heart was beating fast before he knew it.
Was the queen standing before him right now different from when he met her at the auction house?
He looked down at her lower body and stared blankly at the metal belt wrapped around her slender waist.
He knew it now. Barely holding back his urge to utter exclamation, he murmured to himself.
‘The Godly Energy of Gluttony!’
The Gluttony inside him was crying for it desperately. It showed a terrible longing for its other half.
It was a very fleeting moment.
The desire of Gluttony was about to express itself outside. Unlike the desire of Greed, Yong-ho was not aware how the desire of Gluttony expressed itself outside. It was because he could detect the flow of the desire of Greed, but not Gluttony.
But the problem was that the moment Gluttony inside him expressed itself outside, it could be detected by the queen.
After all, he brought out the power of Greed. He did it almost instinctively because his action was very fast. His Greed that arose fiercely swallowed up the sin of Gluttony.
It was tough because he had to suppress Gluttony without exposing the power of Greed to the outside. He controlled both sins by exercising strong control.
A cold sweat broke out on his back. It wasn’t because he was worried that the queen would catch him possessing the two sins. It was because it was so tough for him to control both sins at the same time.
It was only a few seconds.
With utmost concentration, his Greed suppressed Gluttony. He made sure his Greed completely engulfed Gluttony. The sin of Gluttony did not reveal its craving anymore, even though the Godly Energy of Gluttony was right before it.
Only then did Yong-ho let out a sigh of relief. He felt a sense of accomplishment. But soon he realized he had made another mistake.
He didn’t have to feel relaxed just because the queen did not notice the sins of Greed and Gluttony for now. He was now standing in front of the Queen of Fury.
All this happened only a few seconds, but he didn’t even know what kind of expression he made because he couldn’t pay attention to those around him due to his extreme concentration.
He hastily looked straight ahead. The queen was blinking, with her head tilted.
He quickly opened his mouth without thinking deeply.
“Sorry. I heard the rumor that you are a beauty. I got distracted because you are much more beautiful than I heard about you in the rumors.”
It was ridiculous bullsht, just nonsense. Who the hell would be hoodwinked by this bullsht?
‘What did he say?’
But the queen’s response was strange.
The queen, biting her lower lip slightly, looked down and twisted her body a bit.
Her earlobes and cheeks turned red, which stood out because of her fair skin.
This time, Yong-ho blinked blankly. Did his impromptu excuses pay off?
Sensing his gaze, the queen smiled awkwardly and said, “I’m flattered, but thanks for your kind words.”
Then she lowered her head as if she was shy.
He blinked again then looked at the queen, feeling somewhat different about her.
While the two were interacting like that, Catalina raised her tail and Kaiwan looked at him fiercely, but no one noticed it because they just focused on Yong-ho and the queen.
Everybody was silent for a few seconds except for Kirtimuka, who was moved, holding her hands together.
Yong-ho, who also came to his senses, escorted the queen to the meeting place, as he had practiced, and the summit between the two began.