The Devil’s Cage

The Church Hall massacre!

All the bodies had been rebels.

Kieran had seen it with his own eyes.

”If they were on the same side, why would he or his organization want to massacre all those rebels in the Church Hall?”

New doubts filled Kieran’s mind.

Hanses’ expression turned even uglier when he saw the armored rhino charging with the rebels beside it.

He raised his hand and signaled at Kieran.

”Let’s go!” Hanses barely moved his lips, not making any sound.

What happened? What had he seen?

Kieran noticed Hanses’ unusual manner.

In fact, Hanses’ actions hand been weird ever since the masked man had appeared.

Still, Kieran fully agreed with his suggestion to leave.

The defending troops and the main rebellion forces were about to engage in a serious battle, and it was not something the three of them, with their injuries and incomplete equipment, could participate in.

Even the slightest misstep could cost them their lives. Lawless was still on top of the castle gate though.

He had not stopped fighting the dozens of elite guards.

”I’ll go get him! You cross the bridge first!”

Kieran pointed above his head, signalling at Hanses.

Hanses nodded quickly.

His lethal wounds and significantly lower stats made him unfit for any hand-to-hand combat.

He understood that himself, and he knew what he should be doing instead.

Hanses quickly pulled the war horses through the castle gate and onto the hanging bridge.

Meanwhile, Kieran made his way to the top of the castle gate.

The masked man, Gradon and his forces saw the whole thing, but none of them tried to stop him.

No one wanted to make the extra effort.

The fierce battle had already drained most of their concentration and energy.

They could not spare any time or energy on those petty thieves.

The only exception were the elite guards on top of the castle gate. There were seven guards left, to be precise.

The others had all been brought down by Lawless. Some of them had died, while others were moaning in pain.

The long sword in Lawless’ hand was flashing, whipping up shadows from his fast wielding.

Lawless engulfed the remaining elite guards in his frenzy, skillfully wielding his sword and injuring his enemies. Each time the blade flashed past a guard, a deep cut was left on his body.

The counterattacks from the remaining seven guards were all blocked easily by him.

It was as if Lawless had three heads and six arms. No matter from which side the guards attacked him, his blade was there to block them.

”What kind of skill is this?”

Kieran could tell that the skill Lawless was using was the same one that had blocked all the arrows earlier.

Despite his defensive stance though, his sword skill was more suitable for attacking.

Kieran was certain that the remaining guards would not have lasted long if Lawless had enough time.

Time was of the essence though.

Kieran signaled at Lawless before joining the fight.

The remaining guards noticed Kieran as soon as he appeared on the castle gate, but Lawless was still fighting back, so the slightest distraction could cause another deep cut to form on their bodies. The guards could spare no extra attention for Kieran.

This was his chance.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kieran raised his leg and started kicking immediately. It was as simple as kicking a ball without a goalkeeper.

In two seconds’ time, the remaining guards had all fallen down.

One of the guards even dropped a green piece of equipment.

Kieran quickly stepped aside when he saw the item.

Even though he had joined the fight, Lawless had done all the heavy lifting.

He would have managed even if Kieran had not interfered.

Saying that time had been running out as an excuse was not enough for Kieran to get the loot.

His principles would not allow him to do that.

”A surprise drop! I’ll share the rewards with you after I sell it!”

Lawless picked up the Magical Equipment and showed Kieran the details generously.

[Name: Piercing Spear]

[Type: Polearm]

[Rarity: Magical]

[Attack: Common]

[Attributes: Armor Penetration Lvl 1]

[Effects: None]

[Prerequisites: None]

[Able to bring out of the dungeon: Yes]

[Remarks: This used to be a common long spear, but it was enhanced using alchemy to give it a better piercing power.]

...

[Armor Penetration: Able to pierce through light armor (Defense: Weak, Common)]

...

Just like Kieran held on to his own principles, so did Lawless. He was never stingy when it came to sharing things with his friends. Especially good things.

”Let’s go!” Kieran did not respond to Lawless’ generosity. He just turned around and jumped from the castle gate before sprinting towards the hanging bridge.

Hanses had already crossed the bridge and was waiting quietly, his eyes locked on the castle gate.

When he saw Kieran and Lawless sprinting down the bridge, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

However, he was struck by anxiety again the next moment.

”Careful!” he shouted loudly in warning.

Truth be told, Kieran and Lawless would have noticed that something was off even without his warning.

The hanging bridge was trembling hard. When the two of them turned their heads around to take a look, their faces turned pale instantly. They started running even faster towards the other end of the bridge.

The armored rhino was now under Captain Jorque’s control and was charging through the castle gate!

The heavy scale armor the rhino had on and its thick rough skin made it invincible against normal attacks, but that did not mean that it had no weaknesses.

Its eyes had been compromised.

No matter how powerful its body was, its eyes were still its weakest spot.

Despite the small cover over them, Jorque had successfully fired two arrows directly into them, half an arrow plunging deep into the beast’s eye socket.

The excruciating pain that had struck the rhino had made it ignore the masked man’s orders and dash madly towards the gate.

Considering its accelerating force, Kieran was sure that the formidable castle gate would not be able to stop it.

After the rhino broke through the gate, it would charge forward towards the hanging bridge, and Kieran and Lawless would be caught in its path.

Kieran was not sure whether the bridge could withstand the substantial weight of the rhino, but even if it could, the two of them would still be at disadvantage.

They would have to race the rhino. Kieran’s scalp felt numb when he thought about the tremendous force the rhino possessed. It would be like a common man facing a truck.

They would definitely be crushed to bits.

Their other problem were the countless small fishes with sharp teeth swimming around anxiously inside the water under the bridge.

Piranhas!

Before they had entered the dungeon, Hanses had purposely mentioned the scary moat outside the castle.

Thousands of piranhas were swimming in those waters. All they needed was one second to turn a grown man into bones.

”Sh*t!” Kieran cursed out loud.

This was revenge. Kieran knew what the actions of the Bestowed Captain meant.

His eyes instantly found Jorque, who was looking back at him.

When the two of them locked gazes, Jorque smiled with a pleased expression and raised his right index finger, sliding it across his neck.

Then he turned his attention away from Kieran and went back to join the fight against the rebels.

Jorque was certain that Kieran was dead meat.

The heavy crash blasted the castle apart like a paper torn to pieces. The gate did not even stall the beast one bit.

The rhino dashed up the hanging bridge, charging towards Kieran and Lawless.

As the distance between them became smaller, Kieran suddenly stopped running and turned around.

He dashed towards the rhino out of the blue.

Lawless and Hanses looked as if they’d been struck by lightning.

”2567! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” they both shouted at Kieran simultaneously.