The Devil’s Cage

[Staying period is up, player will return to game lobby!]

Without further notifications, when the duration of 12 weeks was up, Kieran who was searching in some base of a certain mystical faction vanished from the dungeon world.

After the blinding light, Kieran couldn’t help but sigh when he saw his familiar game room.

Even before Kieran left the wedding, he knew his rewards that wouldn’t be as big but he didn’t think what he found later would be so little that it was negligible

All the places that could be categorized as a mystic gathering spot, including the Church of Light, Kieran had paid all of them a visit but the Church of Light was already an empty shell, it had a lot of gold and jewels but not even one valuable item.

As for the other mystic factions, they had less gold and jewels with only a bit of vague mystical knowledge. Not only was it crude, but all of them were at basic levels. Kieran couldn’t even bear to take a second look at them.

“A fallen mystical realm!”

Going through all the experiences he had for the last few days, Kieran gave a heartfelt sigh.

Then, he recalled the old guardian knight and the elderly sister that lived in that world. His emotions sank deeply right after.

Despite him having promised to return, he knew how hard was it for him to keep that promise.

Kieran didn’t plan to give up just yet. The unyielding attitude in his heart had determined that Kieran would never easily give up on a certain goal.

Huu!

Kieran took in a deep breath, the gloomy expressions on his face faded swiftly.

He knew he wasn’t used to saying goodbye, just like how he didn’t fit in with the merry and cheerful situation but he knew what he had to do.

Similar to how he knew he had to be ruthless against his enemies but not merciless for everyone else because he knew how precious friends were.

When he thought about friends, he smiled.

He opened his PM tab and laid his backpack down.

When the tab was opened up, the pinging sounded relentlessly, Lawless’s messages were spamming his face.

Lawless: Just like you said, that coward bastard Broker dares not come out of his room anymore.

Lawless: But me and the others in the Blood Alliance did sweep a lot of his peripheral turfs.

Lawless: Some guilds even started to join our crusade! That guy really pissed off a lot of people.

Kieran smirked as he read through Lawless’s nagging.

He glanced over each and everyone of the messages without missing any.

Kieran wasn’t surprised that Lawless teamed up with the rest of the Blood Alliance.

It was a fact that Allen was Broker’s spy but not all of the Blood Alliance was.

Quite the contrary, all those that remained in the Blood Alliances were the ones that really held a grudge against Broker, it would be more than ideal to ask for their help in this.

As for the guilds?

Kieran reserved his opinions on that matter. Perhaps Broker might not be a likeable person but the majority of the factions revolved around profits.

If there weren’t any profits to talk about, why would the guilds, the organizations with sufficient manpower, attach themselves to all these lone wolf players?

Kieran’s eyes continued down his PM tab. He frowned when he saw a message sent by a stranger.

“J.Pearlman: Hi, Mr. 2567. I am from Freedom Alliance, I saw your battle with Ghost Claw Casswell before and I want to invite you to our alliance. If you are interested, please contact me.”

Freedom Alliance?

Kieran never heard of the organization before but it didn’t stop his interest in this player, J.Pearlman.

He didn’t forget during the battle with Ghost Claw Casswell, there were two other obvious high-rankers back then observing and one of them even displayed killing intent toward Kieran.

“Is that you?”

Kieran pondered upon the name and sent a message to Rachel.

2567: Heard of Freedom Alliance before?

Rachel: Freedom Alliance? That alliance of high-rankers?

Rachel: It’s different from the lone wolf high-rankers that I want to introduce you to but it’s an organization formed by casual high-rankers. Not too shabby, has a certain level of trust amongst each other and they trade equipment and items of values as well.

Rachel: One of them invited you?

Rachel: Try to consider it.

While Kieran was reading the messages, Rachel gave an immediate reply and she also described Freedom Alliance with more details.

After Kieran saw Rachel’s reply, he continued to press the topic.

2567: What about J.Pearlman?

Rachel: The Fisherman is quite a nice person, skilled in fishing and cooking.

2567: Got it.

After finishing the conversation with Rachel, Kieran didn’t unlock his furrowed brows.

He believed Rachel without a doubt but it would depend on the situation.

Maybe J.Pearlman might look decent on the outside but who could guarantee he didn’t possess another dark side?

After experiencing Allen’s incident, Kieran’s vigilance towards strangers was elevated once again.

But he wouldn’t just give up like that because of some slight risk.

He thought for it for some time before replying to J.Pearlman.

2567: Can we meet up and discuss?

J.Pearlman: Of course.

J.Pearlman: Harvest Inn?

2567: See you in an hour.

Kieran didn’t oppose the location suggested for meeting. At the same time, Kieran could tell this J.Pearlman was quite familiar with Rachel as well but he didn’t discard the possibility of J.Pearlman being the high-ranker than showed killing intent.

As the thought lingered in his mind, Kieran started to tidy up his equipment and items.

An hour later, Kieran entered Harvest Inn.

He greeted some of the familiar lone wolves before heading straight to the bar.

There, a stranger was chatting happily with Rachel.

When the stranger noticed Kieran walk over, he stood up from the chair right away.

“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. 2567.”

The man was an elder, his voice was deep but it couldn’t conceal his age. He had an average height with a set of casual outdoor clothing together with a fisherman’s hat on top. Beside him was a bag loaded with fishing instruments and a box that was supposed to store fish.

The man’s look was quite common in the real world.

Some retired elders always dressed like that, fishing alongside the river but in the underground game, it alarmed Kieran.

However, this elderly fisherman wasn’t the high-ranker that showed killing intents toward him, otherwise Kieran would have felt extremely alert right now.

“Hi, Mr. J.Pearlman.”

“You can call me J, or Pearlman. To be fair, I wasn’t there last time because of Broker’s bounty. I was just there to watch the fun but who would’ve thought I was able to see Mr. 2567 in action, not only did you kill Ghost Claw, you made me and Hilton run in panic!”

“There are quite a number of players who keep asking me about your recently. Flame Emperor, The Fiery Tyrant, Flaming Devil, all sorts of titles from the rumours scared them away for good!”

J.Pearlman smiled bitterly and said with a self-mocking tone.

But his bitter smile and self-mocking words quietly explained what happened back then and at the same time flattered Kieran’s power.

However, Kieran did not care about the flattery at all, he was captivated by the other name J.Pearlman mentioned.

“Hilton? Can you tell me more about him?