The Devil’s Cage

Gemstones!

Hundreds of gemstones of different colors, embedded on the floor in a special way, dazzling in an odd shine.

It was a harvest! A grand harvest without a doubt!

Based on the price of a single gemstone, which was 2000 Points, 1 Skill Points, the hundreds of gemstones before Kieran would at least worth, 200,000 Points, and 100 Skill Points, let alone some colors would provide a higher price.

The total value has already exceeded the initial price assessment.

More importantly, those were just the price of gemstone fragments. The cracked and intact ones had far higher value, and a glance over the floor of gemstones, Kieran spotted at least 4 cracked and 1 intact gemstones.

Once he thought about the value of those, the stingy soul within him started to breathe heavily.

Still, the expected vigilance towards the unknown was present.

Kieran examined the floor embedded with gemstones carefully.

The formation of the gemstones formed a giant circle but not a rounded one. The intact gemstone was in the center point, surrounded by 4 cracked gemstone at all four edges from the middle. The rest of the fragmented gemstones in different colors surrounded the 4 cracked gemstones, spread outwards and were embedded in a special arc.

”A magic circle… Huh?”

Kieran was certain what the formation of the gemstones represented but when he examined further, he noticed a slight presence was hidden under the magic gemstone circle.

The presence was concealed and dim, had he not paid full attention to the circle, he would’ve missed it. The gloomy and cold ruthless feelings from the presence even struck chills down his skin.

”A fiend!? Or…”

Kieran squinted his eyes, a thought flashed through his mind.

He knocked on the gemstone embedded floor with his hand.

Dok, Dok Dok!

The noise of a hallowed ground proved his guesses right.

Kieran pulled out [Arrogant Word] the next moment and stabbed it into the gemstone embedded floor at one of the edges. He slightly pried up the flooring with his sword and immediately, the gemstone embedded floor panel was pried out.

It was a stone panel that fit perfectly on the floor and the edges and traces were almost invisible to the naked eyes.

Kieran grabbed the gemstone panel up and stared heavily at the stone floor underneath.

The moment he laid eyes on the floor, he was astonished.

There wasn’t any fiend that burst out from the opening but only a small box the size of a palm, having talisman charms pasted all over it.

”So it isn’t a hidden precautious mean just in case? So… it might be one of the parts that this magic circle needed!”

Kieran picked up the wooden box right after the thought.

After he picked up the wooden box, only then he noticed the talisman charms that seemed to be many was actually a very long one that could wrap around the box a few times.

It was the first time Kieran seen such a talisman charm and it astonished him even more because he could actually read some of the words written on the talisman charm.

Pro level [Mystical Knowledge] had related knowledge about the writings but not much, it only allowed Kieran to be able to generally distinguish what the talisman was for.

Sealing!

”To seal off fiends?”

Kieran wondered but most of his attention was placed on the talisman charm itself rather than the content of the box.

When he first entered the current dungeon world, because of different worldviews, once he guessed that the power system within this world would be different but now the writings on the talisman charm were recognized by his [Mystical Knowledge].

”Did [Mystical Knowledge] have a sufficient distinction level to recognize a part of the writings related to its knowledge? Or… The current dungeon world has something that connects to the previous ones that I have been through, an inheritance?”

Kieran was looking at the box, puzzled.

The serious lack of information forbade him from guessing further, still, he wouldn’t place it back once it was in his hand.

Kieran stuffed the gemstone panel and the sealed box into [Crimson Ghost Stomach] and tried to examine the surroundings.

The space below the well was almost a hundred times wider than the one above it. Some of the parts were even delicately sculpted and carved, just like the pillar before Kieran.

The thickness of the pillar would require at least 4 grown men to surround it, there was a creature that was similar to a dragon or snake that was sculpted on the pillar. Traces of handcrafts could be found all over.

However, the dragon-snake creature on the pillar was extremely lively, to the extent that Kieran was daunted at the first sight; even though it was just a quick glance, it was enough to pique Kieran’s interest.

Kieran tried to approach and touch the pillar before him but the result was disappointing.

There weren’t any notifications about it and obviously the pillar was some decoration that looked extremely decent and not some special tools that was recognized by the system.

Though, it confirmed Kieran’s previous thoughts.

”A lively sculpting on such a pillar is definitely from the hands of a master sculptor… but a single man couldn’t have cut this wide space underground, let alone all 12 of these pillars”

Kieran counted all the pillars that were in the two rows before him.

He glanced over the remaining time which was less than half and quickly headed towards a hidden door beside the pillars.

Although he was certain that he had gotten the most valuable item in the underground lair, if he could get his hands on more, he wouldn’t mind doing so.

Even more so, Kieran was sure there would be something decent behind the hidden door.

After all the place was being used as a lair by the dungeon boss.

However, just as Kieran turned around, ready to step forth, the edge of his sight picked up some movements.

Kieran immediately halted his step and turned back around, trying to find out what was moving.

He was looking at the top of the pillar, the spot where it was connecting to the ceiling.

It was the spot where the dragon-snake like creature’s head was covering, it wasn’t visible from below the pillar. Only after repositioning, one could notice the abnormalities behind the back row of pillars through the middle of the first two pillars but the light was extremely poor in the underground lair, one couldn’t even see properly in the area, let alone examining carefully.

Kieran was not some random John Doe though, A+ Intuition granted him night vision, allowing him to catch all the details in the darkness.

When he saw birds nest that was built with hay and twigs in his sight, Kieran was stunned slightly before replacing it with a flash of delight.

What does a bird’s nest in the lair represented?

The black birds from before!

Kieran didn’t forget about them, at first he thought those birds were some sort of spell that he didn’t know off but actually those birds were reared down here.

The nests were the best proof!

”If they were reared, will there be…”

The moment the thought came into play, Kieran had moved out.

Because of the sculpting on the pillars, a slightly nimble man could climb the pillar with some effort, let alone Kieran. He reached to top with a single tap off the ground.

He took the nest down, followed by the others on all the pillars. No nest was left unplucked and he was getting faster and faster.

When he felt something unusually soft within the nest on the last pillar, he pulled it down together with the nest without a second thought.

Then, he tapped his right foot on the pillar as he fell, pushing himself towards the hidden door aside like an arrow.

However, just as he dashed himself out, abnormal changes occurred.