The Devil’s Cage

Kieran suddenly thought of the words Sister Reid said before in the illusory realm created by Damien of the Twenty Hounds.

Although the words were different, “blessing” and “inheritance” somehow felt familiar to Kieran.

Maybe because the illusions Damien created was too realistic, to the point that Kieran brought the thoughts back to reality despite knowing it wasn’t real.

Therefore, Kieran still heightened his vigilance against Sister Reid’s statue which was praised by many.

Kieran was originally a vigilant person, he could even be considered as somewhat dubious.

Before the phantom truly earned Kieran’s trust, he chose to reserve his opinion regardless of time and circumstances. More so, the phantom that came out from the statue showed a high level of intellect.

Other than the first words, the questions later were proof enough.

It added extra suspicion in Kieran’s heart.

Was it Sister Reid’s soul? Or?

“I am not the friars of Marulyn. The Marulyn Church vanished in the third war throughout the hundred years war era. I am just a guy who coincidentally acquired the ways to come in here.”

Kieran’s heart was turning fast but his face didn’t present the anxious thoughts from within.

“Is that so?” The phantom’s face looked sad.

“Are you Sister Reid’s soul?” Kieran asked.

“Yes.” The phantom replied and showed her merciful and peaceful expression naturally.

After the reply, Kieran respectfully bowed down to the phantom.

“Greetings to Saint Reid, Your Grace!” Kieran’s tone sounded exceptionally respectful.

The Phantom from the statue chuckled softly when she saw Kieran saluted and greeted her humbly.

“Please don’t, I…”

“I would like to ask Your Grace, who is your first student? Among all your students, who do you think is the best fit to inherit Marulyn?”

Just as the Phantom wanted elaborate, Kieran suddenly spoke.

The Phantom from the statue was stunned. It seemed like she didn’t expect Kieran to ask such a question but she reacted quickly as well.

“It was very long ago, to the point that I’ve forgotten all their names. I have been in slumber within the statue, it contains my soul for eternity but I need time to recover my memories.” The phantom explained.

It sounded very reasonable but Kieran gave out a cold smile in his heart.

If he was still suspecting the phantom before, after the explanation he was sure the phantom wasn’t ‘THE’ Sister Reid.

Because both the common books and the mystical realm books that recorded Sister Reid’s legacy mentioned that Sister Reid never took any student under her wing before.

The so-called students that she taught were the doctors and nurses that everyone knew off.

She recommended commoners to master the medical skills to save more people and not the rarer and harder to master mystical arts.

Still, Sister Reid succeeded. Not only did she teach enough doctors and nurses, she even invented multiple inventions that changed the common medical level of the world.

That was why she was so respected.

She deserved the indisputable respect and such respect could never be inherited by the monster who posed as her!

“Is that so?” Kieran nodded, seemingly accepted the explanation.

Just as the Phantom wanted to continue and yet to open her mouth, Kieran raised both his hands.

“Ms!” He shouted.

The [Fighter Bandage] that Kieran wrapped around his left arm sprung up like a venomous viper from the dark, rapidly flying towards the table in front of the statue.

His right hand flung out a bunch of grenades swiftly and landed precisely beneath the statue.

It was still easy for Grandmaster [Firearm Weapon, Explosive] to land precisely on target despite the -1 and with [Living Rope Technique]’s bindings, [Fighter Bandage] wrapped around the table.

Kieran pulled the bandage back with all his might.

Fooosh!

The heavy table was lifted to the air and flew towards Kieran.

When the table reached his front, Kieran jumped up and took up the table as though he was carrying a shield on his back, retreated back swiftly.

At the same time, [Ring of Protection]’s [Protection Field] was activated.

KABOOOOOM!

The moment the protection field appeared and enveloped Kieran, intense explosions went off.

Huge explosions occurred in succession, the shrapnel of the grenades splashed in all directions within the narrow space.

Even Kieran who moved back to the edge of the room couldn’t avoid the shrapnels completely and suffered from them as well.

The thick, heavy table that he treated as a shield was blasted into pieces upon contact.

Even Powerful level defense power’s [Protection Field] was wobbling back and forth.

Although it didn’t break, it became extremely unstable.

Kieran who was caught by the explosion already suffered such damage, let alone the statue at the center of the blast radius.

The blast of six grenades exploding en masse blasted the statue up in the air and countless shrapnel buffeted the statue’s surface, leaving countless marks on the statue.

When the statue fell back on the ground, upon contact, half its body and one stone arm broke off from its body.

The statue phantom who was stunned by the series of actions from Kieran only reacted to the situation after the explosion went off.

“Aaaaaaargh!

Following the breaking of the statue, the phantom let out a distorted wail. As if the statue was the fake mask the phantom put on, the merciful and peaceful face quickly turned wicked and devilish after the wail.

The holy radiance had faded away long ago, all that was left behind was thick negative energy. More eerie wails of a dead soul came from the phantom’s body.

Kieran could even clearly see the hospital garment on the wretched soul. It was the memories of the soul, it was not real yet enough to prove where they were from.

St. Reid Hospital!

“A demon that devours soul?”

Kieran raised his left hand when he saw the demon-like phantom charge at him.

The phantom’s illusive body was frozen in mid-air just like that.

Or more precisely, it was bound by [Ring of Binding, Binding Force]!

The power that came from the earth itself ignored the formless body of the phantom and clamped it down firmly on the spot like a giant hand.

The phantom kept struggling to break free but it couldn’t pass the authentication. All it could do was stare at Kieran raising his hands again.

Kieran crossed his thumbs and opened up the rest of his finger, pointing both his palms at the phantom, chanting “AIOPLDS!”

KABOOOM!

A bright, cone-shaped flame burst out from his palm and engulfed the phantom completely.

The phantom struggled even harder in the blazing flames.

Its dense negative energy exploded amidst its struggle yet was useless at the situation. It couldn’t truly suppress the blazing flames and all it did was delay its inevitable demise.

Especially when its escape path was completely cut off!

After casting [Burning Hand], Kieran was already standing behind the phantom quietly.

He stood precisely in between the phantom and the statue.