The Devil’s Cage

Kieran saw a steel wire as thin as hair sticking out from the cell room’s door gap. It was poking skillfully at the inside of the cell room’s lock, waiting to be turned.

If it was not for his D+ Intuition, his activated [Tracking] and the sound that had reached his ears, he would not have believed his eyes.

He unconsciously blinked as he stared at it.

He remembered that the cell room he was in had belonged to the prisoner everyone had called the Master Thief.

A series of flashbacks appeared in Kieran’s mind, replaying the scene of the two of them meeting in a hurry. The old man’s face had had a satisfied smile on it, unlike the other prisoners’ stiff, angry faces.

At the time, Kieran had not understood how the old man could have such a relaxed expression, but now he knew.

Alcatraz Prison was not able to hold him down after all. The old Master Thief had not been harmed while the formless souls had rampaged all over the place.

Kieran had already checked carefully along the way, and every single guard and prisoner were dead.

”He could have escaped anytime, but he chose to stay in this hellish place. If he was not concerned about the formless souls, why would he pass me those papers in the first place?”

Kieran squinted his eyes. He had just realized he might have been used by the Master Thief. From what he gathered, the old man had been prepared for everything.

Even if Kieran had not appeared, the papers would still have fallen into somebody else’s hands.

Some righteous prison guard’s hands, or the hands of someone wanting a piece of the cake.

Kieran thought it might be the latter, but no matter what it was, the riot would have been unavoidable, and the Master Thief would have used it as a stepping stone in achieving his goal. Just like he had now.

”Another Gilfren Hatch?”

Oddly, Kieran thought of the heresy leader. Their methods might have been different, but their goals had been similar.

Kieran signaled for Starbeck to stop as Kieran himself headed towards the cell room.

Crack!

The lock opened with a clear sound, and the cell room door was unlocked.

The gate was pulled from the outside and the door let out an unsettling, screeching sound. The man in the cell room did not possess any of the characteristics of a common thief, let alone a master thief.

The old man did not seem to care about the screeching of the door. He pushed it even harder, opening the gate quicker.

Kieran was waiting for him. watching him from the corridor.

Once again, he had confirmed that the old Master Thief had known what had been going on in Alcatraz all along. He was the only one who had been able to move around without any concern or care after all.

However, the old Master Thief had not foreseen that Kieran would survive the riot and the attack of the formless souls. That only confirmed that he had not given Kieran the papers out of goodwill, but malicious intent.

That act had been necessary in order for him to realize his goal.

When the Master Thief opened the cell room door, Kieran held his [M1905] in his hand and pushed it against the old man’s head.

”It’s you? I think there might have been a little misunderstanding!”

The old man had recognized Kieran and quickly raised his hands up.

”A little misunderstanding? I think this misunderstanding is quite big!”

Kieran’s tone sounded angry. He did not pull the trigger, but he pressed the gun even harder against the old Master Thief’s head, pushing his head back along with it.

”I can explain! Please let me explain!” the old man said loudly, afraid that Kieran might pull the trigger out of rage.

”Please do explain the situation at hand! How come all the other prisoners are dead, yet you’re alive?” Kieran did not hold back on his strength. He kept pointing the gun at the old man’s head as he urged him to explain.

He wanted to know the old Master Thief’s goal. The appearance of the half-dead had proved that Alcatraz was no normal prison.

Zywane’s actions might have added fuel to the flame, but if there hadn’t been a secret in the first place, no matter how hard Zywane had tried, he would not have been able to cause a sixth-time dungeon Boss to appear in an average fourth-time dungeon.

As a matter of fact, if it had not been for Lawless, the whole team would have been wiped out by now.

Kieran was perfectly clear on that, just like he knew that he would get a big reward once he uncovered the secret behind everything.

The very reason that he had entered this team dungeon, other than the high price Starbeck had offered him, was to gain more rewards through the dungeon’s high difficulty.

That was why he had tracked down Zywane’s footprints without a second thought, and ended up where he was now. It might have seemed extremely dangerous, but high risk and big rewards always went together.

The Master Thief before him seemed able to lower his odds of running into danger.

”Before I came into Alcatraz, I had someone tattoo a magic circle on me. A shaman that helped me for free when he found out I would be coming to Alcatraz, the very place where Gilfren Hatch was held at. I am glad for his help. It got me out of harm’s way with those evil spirits!” the old man explained as he opened up his collar.

At the left side of his neck, there was a tattoo the size of a coin. The symbol was extremely complicated and detailed, so Kieran could not really tell what it was by just one look. It was even more complicated than the Grand Demonic Heptagram. Obviously, it had to be the real deal.

The man’s words did not satisfy Kieran, though. A shaman?

Considering that they were currently confined in the Alcatraz compound, he could hardly verify that claim.

In other words, the small magic circle might really have kept the old man safe from the formless souls, but the shaman story might be a bluff. There were too many flaws in his explanation. The old man was still trying to fool Kieran with his words. The whole thing made Kieran frown in anger.

He punched the old man in the abdomen hard.

The heavy blow made the old man bend down like a cooked shrimp. Before he could recover, Kieran raised his elbow and struck him in the back.

The Master Thief fell right to the ground, the [M1905] in Kieran’s hand pushing against his head once again.

It was not on his forehead this time, but at the back of his brain.

The gun was pointed down at the old man’s head, pressing his face hard against the floor, robbing him of his freedom to move.

”My patience is limited! Tell me what your real goal was, and not some bluff about Gilfren Hatch!” Kieran emphasized again, changing his tone to a more anxious, faster one.

”Or are my methods too soft? Should I cut off your fingers one by one to show you your place?”

Kieran grabbed his dagger and lingered with it around the old man’s hand.

The sharp edge of the dagger sliced the skin on the man’s index finger, making him spill the truth faster.

”I’ll speak! I’ll speak!”

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

The most important NPC in the dungeon. Guess what he does?