The Devil’s Cage

Kieran walked out of the shadows, holding Marco’s fist in his hand. When he’d felt the force from Marco’s punch, he was surprised. Marco’s strength was much more powerful than Kieran had expected.

”At least D+ Strength!”

Kieran came up with an estimate by comparing it to his own strength.

D+ Rank Strength was not high according to the charts, but according to the system description, E+ Rank Strength was already on par with a weightlifting champion, which was quite astounding.

How many average men could become weightlifting champions, let alone exceed the strength of one? This was an impossible feat for the average man.

Compared to Kieran’s B- Strength though, it was not enough.

Every minor rank suppressed any lower ranks. A major rank could easily crush all others.

The difference between D+ and B- was not just a mere rank leap.

Marco struggled hard. His arm joints started to make noise, but the fist in Kieran’s hand was like lead welded together, not budging an inch.

”Let go!”

Marco fired another punch at Kieran furiously. With his sanity gone, he did not think of what was happening. All he wanted was to crush him.

Kieran stood still on the spot, twisting Marco’s fist up hard.

A clear noise was heard as his joints were twisted. Then it was Marco’s whole arm. Finally, Marco’s body was forced to lean forward.

The punch that Marco had fired at Kieran missed before it could even land.

Marco only froze for a fraction of a second. The next moment, he punched Kieran again, ignoring his interlocked joints. His reckless move rendered his right arm completely disabled.

Marco was not concerned, even though his right arm was twisted into a wicked arch. Kieran could not help but sigh silently.

”His strength and constitution exceed the average person’s. Although his intuition is average, the lack of pain… No wonder the Blood Moon destroyed a whole kingdom! Back in the days when firearms had just been invented, soldiers relied on traditional weapons. Armies were formed by commoners against those monsters. It would be weird if they weren’t already dead!”

Kieran’s actions were not slow while he was thinking.

After getting some insight into Marco’s abilities, he had lost any interest in tangling with the big fellow any further.

Kieran instantly transformed his aura. If he had been a sheathed sword coming out of the shadows and grabbing Marco’s fist, then his aura was an unsheathed sword.

”Hold-”

Tally, who had come back to her senses, felt the aura around Kieran changing. Her expression changed. She wanted to stop Kieran, but it was already too late.

A half-moon qi energy wave was fired from Kieran’s right foot, slicing Marco’s neck.

His bulky head flew off his neck with a purple flash as scarlet blood dyed the office red.

Tally did not even avoid the blood.

The warm, stinky liquid woke the director up and forced her to react to what was happening.

”Why didn’t you stop? You heard me!” she yelled.

Being showered by blood had made her lose her manners, and her ignorant yelling made her lose face completely.

Kieran glanced over at her and quietly picked up the item that had fallen off Marco. Then he looked at Schmidt.

”How are you?” he asked.

He had heard Tally, but what reason did he have to comply?

In fact, if it was not for Rosland’s interesting proposition, Tally would not have been standing there without a scratch.

Tally knew nothing about this though. She was still questioning Kieran hysterically.

”Do you know what you did…”

”That’s enough, Tally!”

Tally stopped as Rosland exited his invisible form, emitting ripples as he appeared. The elderly man was looking at his own granddaughter in disappointment.

”You were influenced by that corrupted whirlpool! You were robbed of both your eyes and your sanity! Blinded as you were, your judgement was clouded. You could not tell what was right!”

Rosland bowed before Kieran once again.

”I beg for your forgiveness, Sir 2567. I hope you can forgive her ignorant, childish acts. I will take her back to the Landsky family and compensate you for what happened today. That is beside what we have previously agreed,” the old man explained.

”I’ll be looking forward to it!”

Although Kieran was quite intrigued by the term ”childish”, he did not press. He waved at Rosland and took Schmidt with him.

The fiasco had ended when Rosland had stepped in. What remained though required Kieran’s full attention. There was still time for him to finish what he wasn’t able to before.

Tally, who had been stunned from the moment Rosland had appeared, was looking at her grandfather with blank eyes. She did not even notice that Kieran and Schmidt had left. She was frozen for almost 20 seconds.

”Have you calmed down? Pack your belongings. We are going back to the family. You are not permitted to take a step outside without my permission.”

Rosland sighed heavily when he saw his granddaughter’s messy appearance. He knew he was being harsh on her, but he also knew that if he wasn’t, a catastrophe would befall her.

Disaster might have been avoided that day, but new ones would come from the ones responsible for Tally’s actions. They might even tear his family apart.

”Why?” Tally finally said when she had cooled off. She wanted no dignified excuses. What she needed was a direct answer. The true reason.

”Because you are unfit to stay here anymore. You’ve always thought that you are smart, but you never thought you might have been played by those filthy people. You never even considered the obvious odds before you! Blinded by former glory and praise, you became proud and ignorant. You thought you could control and solve everything! Yet everything before you was nothing but an illusion. A terrifying illusion that would doom you eternally,” Rosland said in a serious tone before sighing once more.

”Pack your belongings fast. I’ll call for transportation,” Rosland said.

”You’re afraid? Afraid of 2567?” Tally did not move. She was staring at her grandfather as she asked that burning question.

”The God of Earth made a prophecy about him. Anyone would… I am no exception,” the elderly man said honestly.

”COWARD!”

Tally left the office in her blood-stained outfit after making that disrespectful comment.

Rosland sighed as the door was slammed hard on him. He knew his granddaughter would not compromise that easily, even though she had decided to comply.

...

”You believe what Rosland Landsky said?” Schmidt asked after he heard most of the story. His expression was basically saying ”I don’t buy that bullshit”.

”I do, but not all of it. It’s only a collaboration!” Kieran replied with a smile.

”But tonight you need to go deal with the East Coast bastards. If anything happens, the outcome will be catastrophic! Did it ever occur to you that this might be a trap? You would be surrounded!” Schmidt was worried about Kieran’s decision. He had even come up with a theory of his own.

”That’s why I need to rest well and save my energy!” Kieran said, picking up ”Paths of Stars and Destiny” once more.

Of course, he had thought about what Schmidt had said, but he had a certain degree of confidence that it would not be a trap.

If it was…

Kieran unconsciously turned his eyes to the special item he had gotten from Marco.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

The item from Marco will indirectly affect the future to a certain degree :)