The Devil’s Cage

Amidst the loud roar, a big, bloody mouth swallowed Pride completely.

At a spot further away...

KABOOM, BOOM BOOM!

A series of quick explosions blasted the huge mouths outwards like black holes under the ground. Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, and Envy were swallowed.

Some mouths swallowed one while others swallowed two together in succession.

Then, the ground started to tremble fiercely.

An enormous body that could strike fear in one’s heart sprung out from the ground, bringing with it a vile stench of rotten fish.

The bright, clear moon shines its light onto the enormous body. Its black scales reflected the moonlight as if it was a lustrous metallic plate. Five giant snake heads were flicking their forked tongues, displaying vicious looks.

A five-headed hydra! They over a hundred meters in length but even that was not its most terrifying point. The truly terrifying point was on top of the snake heads that were as large as wagons, five pairs of dark yellowish snake eyes gave mocking, contemptuous glares, seemingly no different from humans.

Aside from that, a depressing rattling sound came from within the snake heads.

”Even if you are a Royal, you will die a graveless death! It is the era of Nobles now. You are nothing but a relic from the past! And I, Mozorc, will become the new era’s king! I will rule over everything!”

Arrogant words kept spewing out from the snake heads.

Kieran who was standing in the shadows frowned when he saw the hydra and heard what it said.

”Isn’t Mozorc’s goal to free that king from Neegor Dynasty? Were those his own thoughts? Or do the majority of the other Mutants share his vision as well?”

The sudden thought that bloomed made Kieran draw in continuous breaths.

He was no stranger to the name Mozorc. Through the dominated Sven and Rien, he knew who Mozorc was. He was the other leader of the Mutant race besides Benz.

Not only was he strong, he also had a far better reputation amongst the Mutant race.

After coming to know his existence, Kieran treated him as the greatest enemy in his thoughts from the main mission. Kieran just didn’t expect that Mozorc’s goal was not to free the king from its seal but to take his place instead.

”If this was the case, all my speculations before are wrong!”

Kieran stood in the shadow and raised his head to the enormous reptile. The five snake heads of the hydra were wriggling under the moonlight, giving out loud hisses that were mixed with some known language.

”I am the strongest!”

”I am the rightful king!”

Mozorc was crazy!

”Has he lost his mind?”

Kieran squinted his eyes. He was sure that it was not because of the embodiment of sins that the hydra swallowed that affected his mind but it was he himself who has lost it.

However, it didn’t stop Kieran from further escalating the situation.

Even though Kieran made some mistakes in his speculation, it didn’t change the fact that Mozorc was still an enemy he had to defeat, and a strong one too.

Therefore, Kieran didn’t transmit his thoughts to just the cardinal sins: Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride, whose bindings had to be freed as well.

The devilish aura erupted promptly.

The clear and bright moon was dimmed by the aura spreading throughout the field.

The faint mist of aura enshrouded the enormous hydra body without it noticing.

Mozorc who was in his hydra form was astonished by the sudden mist. He instantly growled louder, acting more animalistic at the sky.

”Mine! Everything is mine!”

”Everything that exists in this world will fall beneath me!”

What Kieran saw after that shocked him. He astonishedly gazed at the five snake heads of the hydra which started to bite and tear each other apart.

The unified voice even split into five.

”You are all mine!”

”My words are the truth! Listen to me! Obey!”

”No, I should be the one to ascend to the throne!”

Five of the snake heads bit and crunched each other, instantly tearing the flesh and blood of the enormous body apart. Its wiggling body shook the ground, trembling the surrounding mountains and hills.

Even Kieran had to escape from the shadow that he was hiding from so that he didn’t get caught in the shockwaves from the hydra’s body.

Mozorc saw Kieran move away but he didn’t pay attention to him. He kept biting himself, devouring his own flesh and blood.

”Being devoured by his own desire?” Kieran muttered softly and raised his vigilance in his heart.

The scene before his eyes served as an alarm once more to his heart.

Although the embodiments of sins were good, a slight misstep would cause a huge misfire to himself.

If Kieran wished to not be devoured by his own desire, he had to let his guard up at this moment against the sins.

Otherwise, even if he was as powerful as Mozorc, he couldn’t escape his demise.

Mozorc was indeed powerful. The fact that he could be a hundred meter snake head hydra proved that.

Although the five-headed hydra had no special abilities, it could rely solely on its enormous body and rigid scales to protect itself and it could freeze anyone that gazed at it.

According to Kieran’s calculation, the hydra’s strength was at least S rank or above. The defense on its scales was also at least a Powerful rank.

He validated his thoughts when he slashed one of the scales that flew towards him with [Arrogant Word]. Even [Arrogant Word] with a Powerful attack had a sluggish feeling when he slashed the scale. He believed that if the greatsword hadn’t reached Powerful attack, the sluggish attack would have been quite the obstacle.

However, what use was a powerful body and rigid scales as a defense?

In the end, Mozorc still lost himself from his own desire!

”Without a state of mind that could rival his desire, the weak points were infiltrated and his desire ambushed him from within…”

Kieran witnessed the hydra gradually go from its frenzied state to a weakened state. Still, it continued biting itself with all its might. Kieran couldn’t help but think about Mozorc.

Who ambushed Mozorc from within and caused him to be like this? It was surely something or someone that the hydra swallowed, which made Kieran almost out of time.

He gripped the tilt of [Arrogant Word] and leaped out. The dark red greatsword had sharp edges that had a bewitching glare under the moonlight.

Puum!

The intact snake head among the five was beheaded by the great sword at its neck which was already missing almost half a chunk of its flesh.

The vile rotten stench burst out together with the hydra blood. Kieran turned around swiftly, not only dodging the splashing blood but also swinging out [Arrogant Word] to its next target.

Puum!

Another head was cut off.

After losing two of its heads, the intense pain struck Mozarc hard, but it didn’t wake him up from his trance. Instead, it made him even more animalistic..

”You traitors! Betrayer! How dare you defy me. I am your king!”

”I will execute you one by one!”

The weakest of the remaining three snake heads growled loudly. The other two snake heads replied with a combined attack on its neck.

Karb! Tssk Tssk!

The bone-crushing bite with the ear-piercing screech snapped the weakest snake head off.

Kieran swiftly followed up with his charged up stance with [Arrogant Word], slicing the two remaining snake heads.

Pum! Pum!

The last two snake heads were beheaded, and they flew into the sky before falling hard to the ground.

A glowing, golden item appeared on the enormous body.

As the enormous hydra was slain, the rest of the embodiment of sins were released from its body.

Kieran quickly took a step ahead and grabbed the golden glowing item before Greed, Gluttony and Envy could touch it. Then he pointed at the remaining loot beside the enormous hydra body and what was left of the Evil Eye body. He said, ”Those are yours!”

Instantly, the released embodiment of sins charged like a violent wind, devouring what was left in the battlefield.

Only Pride stayed behind, staring at Kieran without budging.

Kieran didn’t care about Pride’s gaze.

Ding Ding Ding!

The system notification kept spamming Kieran’s vision.