The Devil’s Cage

Bang!

The front row riders clashed with Kieran, producing a explosive shockwave in all directions. The riders around were sent flying together with their horses, like waves beating on rocks, splashing out countless waves.

Those riders who went head-on were trampled underneath the rhino’s feet, turning into a pile of bloody meat paste.

Bang bang bang!

Explosions followed one after another; a straight path of blood was carved out through the riders.

Kieran was like a knife with unparalleled sharpness, splitting the riders into two parts.

”Damn it!”

The defending commander inside the fortress wall punched his fist hard onto the rock wall beside him after witnessing that scene. He was staring at Kieran who was sweeping through his troops like a tornado with a vicious face.

As the trusted subordinate of the military minister, this defending commander knew what his men were doing. Should they succeed, wealth and fame would be waiting for them, but should they fail, they would be doomed beyond redemption.

They could not afford to fail!

Once the thought of failure appeared in his heart, the defending commander made a firm decision.

”Release the pulley!” The defending commander shouted.

The soldier who was delivering the order was stunned for a while; he unconsciously looked at the riders at the inner fortress area and outside the fortress wall.

”I said, release the pulley!” The defending commander emphasized once more.

”Yes sir!”

The nature of soldiers obeying orders made the soldier send out the order by raising the torch beside him and waving it around, signaling both sides of the mountain walls.

Kark, Kark Kar!

After sounds of springs releasing, caves started to appear in the dark mountain ridges of Herr and the valley on both sides that were connecting Lightning Fortress.

Carts filled with stones were being pushed into their launching platform by the soldiers in the caves. Every single cart was 3 meters long, 2 meters wide, square in shape and required at least twenty men to move it onto the launching platform.

Then, the carts were pushed down the slopes of the mountain walls.

Kroook! Broooom!

It was loud like thunder on the ground.

Under the disbelieving and shocked sights of the riders, almost a hundred carts full of stones were charging down on their preset trajectory with unimaginable speed.

The charging carts would fully occupied the space between the inner fortress area and the outer fortress. Anyone who stood in that area would be crushed into meat paste by the carts due to their powerful momentum.

The riders knew what would become of them; every one of them panicked because the place they were in had no extra space for them to dodge.

Unless…

Quite a number of riders looked up to the sky, but it was a place they couldn’t reach. However, facing a life and death situation, no one would give up easily.

The riders started to remove their heavy armor to lighten their weight, but majority of the riders were run over by the carts before they could even remove half of their armors.

The running carts produced a teeth-numbing screech when they ran over the riders and dragged them in their wheels.

Piles of bloody metals mixed with human flesh were left on the path of the running carts.

The running carts charged on with the momentum, leaving two lines of red in their wake and pressing forward.

Only a couple of riders managed to jump over the carts but were instantly hit by a fireball in mid-air, throwing them back down under the cart wheels.

On a further side of the inner fortress wall, four 3 meters-tall war machines with sophisticated carvings around their bodies and a ferocious lion head as the firing mouth were spitting out black smoke from the lion’s mouth.

”Damn it, you numbwit! Not one of our own! That guy, lock on to that guy!”

The inner fortress’ defending commander shouted at his men for misfiring.

He placed all his attention on Kieran and didn’t even notice the unusual smoke.

He only knew that if he still couldn’t take out Kieran after losing five hundred riders under his command, even if he was the trusted subordinate of the military minister, he would be finished as well.

That harsh and cruel superior of his would definitely screw him to the bottom, maybe even as far as sending him into the black dungeon that was built for officer ranks. It was what he wanted the least.

Kill him! Kill him!

The defending commander had only one thought left in his mind, driving himself away from the thoughts of entering the black dungeon. He had his eyes locked on at Kieran until he saw that the carts passed through Kieran’s body.

Passed through! Kieran was standing there like a mirage that shouldn’t exist!

”What the hell!? Where did that bastard go!?”

The inner fortress commander rubbed his eyes and shouted loud after confirming that it was just an afterimage of Kieran standing on the spot.

The soldiers around quickly searched for Kieran, and it only took a moment for them to locate him.

”Up there in the sky!”

A soldier aside saw Kieran who once again jumped up in the sky.

”Fire! Fire!”

The inner fortress’ defending commander shouted at the soldiers that were controlling the firing war machines. Sparks instantly flew out from the thick smoke of the lion’s mouth and were pointed at Kieran who had just landed on the ground.

Fuuum! Fuuuum! Fuuum!

A total of four fireballs were fired at Kieran moments after the sparks and engulfed Kieran completely in the sea of fire.

”Hahahahahaha”

The defending commander let out a loud laugh when he saw Kieran disappearing in the fire.

He killed him! He finally killed him! Somehow, he managed to save his position!

However, before the laugh could subside, a dark red greatsword burst out from the shadows and drove its sharp edge into his body.

”Ho...How is this possible!?”

The commander looked inconceivably at Kieran who was so close to him.

He was certain that he saw Kieran got crushed by the fireball attack, not the afterimage that he saw at first, but the real one! He was absolutely sure, but how did Kieran appear before him?

Puuum!

Kieran had no intention of clearing the doubts of his enemies; he wielded his sword horizontally and slashed the defending commander before him into half. Then he flew towards the other side of the inner fortress wall.

It was the certain path towards Warren’s imperial city, Riverdale!

The defending commander would never know even till his last breath that the first afterimage he saw was from a prankster item [Trickster Conchshell]. The second one was created by [Illusion Puppeteer Ring]; the illusion that could rival reality tricked everyone present, allowing Kieran to dive into the shadow with his Transcendence [Undercover] and take cover in the dark and chaotic situation, thus closing his distance to the fortress wall.

Similar to the soldiers in the outer fortress, the soldiers in the inner side gathered towards Kieran as well. They unsheathed their swords, ready to throw their lives at Kieran, but before anyone could start…

”Run! He is a sorcerer! We couldn’t win against him!”

Such a cry was heard from one of the soldiers. Then, one of the soldiers who was controlling the war machine turned away and ran.

Similar to a pebble causing a ripple when thrown at the surface of a lake, the thought rippled through every soldier’s heart instantly. When the second soldier started running, the others who had a fierce killing intent before instantly lost their will to battle. All of them panicked and opened up a path for Kieran to proceed.

Kieran looked at the first and second soldier who turned away with an astonished look.

His sharp intuition told him that something was fishy about the two of them, but even if he had doubts in his heart at that moment, he didn’t have the spare time to clear them.

Kieran leapt down the wall straightaway, and the moment the leapt down, a system notifications popped up.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

Kagebunshin！

Side note, go watch Ready Player One.

I can relate so much with this novel!