The Devil’s Cage

While Kieran was moving side by side with Atrina, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed.

The street that he knew was suddenly replaced by a cat bed floating in an empty and chaotic environment.

A fat cat with yellow and white stripes was laying on the soft cat bed lazily, leaning itself back on the comfortable cushion while greeting Kieran.

“Hey, little brat! Nicely done! You are much better than I expected!” Tiki raised its paw for a wave.

“Rei is after Vanessa’s and Carricanton’s divine position?”

Kieran asked his question directly without any kind of chit-chat.

A war waged against Gods by the natives?

It might seem unbelievable but based on the information Kieran gathered, such an impossible outcome turned out to be the actual fact.

“Not entirely true! Vanessa’s and Carricanton’s divine position are quite nice but Rei doesn’t have them in her sight.”

Tiki shook its head and yawned before it continued, “What Rei wanted to do is prevent the troublesome fellow here from noticing anything strange and enter the battlefield which we have a natural disadvantage in.”

“A troublesome fellow? Vanessa?” Kieran wondered.

In order to have a better understanding of the unknown dungeon world, Kieran had carefully read through “Analytics of the temples developments in Naveya City”, he knew the divine position of Vanessa the Lady of Thorn was always responsible for “balancing fate” and “predict and prevent catastrophe” since the beginning.

Although she was pushed down by the latecomer from Wealth Temple, her divine position didn’t vanish and that Lady of Wealth didn’t acquire Vanessa’s divine position after she took her place either.

Something that was not known to the masses must have happened but Kieran was pondering upon Tiki’s words at the moment.

“The battlefield which we have a natural disadvantage in?” Kieran asked.

“Yup. Things are bad. Many clowns joined the fray and there is even one self-proclaimed “the great” that joined the scene. This bloody bastard is the one that causes Rei headaches.”

Tiki nodded without the intentions of hiding anymore.

“The one that causes Rei headaches…” Kieran muttered softly to himself.

How powerful was Nikorei who held the title of God of Earth?

Kieran didn’t know, nor could he even guess. From what Kieran had seen, Nikorei could settle any problems that went her way with a casual wave of the hand, not much could be a problem for her.

However, Nikorei with her almighty presence was facing disadvantages in the battlefield…

So how powerful was this “great” one?

Kieran’s face turned extremely heavy as he muttered to himself.

“You are worrying about Rei?”

“Little brat, you better worry about yourself first! Although I don’t know how you got a grasp of Vanessa and Carriconton’s background so fast, these two women aren’t someone that you want to mess with. Of course, both of them are fighting fiercely now but when they calm down, do you know what will happen? Did you really think your lousy arrangements can really fool two Gods? Though Rei’s little tool might be decent, it won’t be enough for you to truly escape unharmed.”

Tiki yawned again when it saw Kieran’s heavy expression. It wiggled its fat body in its cat bed, changing to a more comfortable position.

Kieran was quiet when he saw Tiki’s action; he knew why would Tiki say that.

More importantly, Tiki will not just leave Kieran like this and the best proof was [Thorn’s Deceit].

If Reppu could earn Tiki’s investment, what about Kieran?

He would be a hundred times more worth it than Reppu!

“Little brat, you really don’t know how to play along, don’t you? You just can ask me in a respectful and courteous way. I’ve slightly changed and deducted some things in the Rei’s reward to you! But I guess she would never have thought that you are able to break free of your mortal shackles this soon, so the rewards she prepared might not even be that important anymore.”

“Stop worrying you stingy brat, I won’t go after the remaining rewards.”

Tiki obviously caught the enlarged pupils and hastened breaths when it mentioned “rewards”; it couldn’t help but roll its eye’s at Kieran.

After Tiki’s words subsided, a warm energy stream gushed into Kieran’s body and started to fuse with his body quickly.

The obvious changes turned Kieran’s attention to the system notifications.

[Fusing unknown energy, authentication start…]

[Authentication cleared!]

[Effect: Strength, Agility, Intuition +1]

…

“This is the remaining rewards? If it’s the whole thing, it should be +1 to all my attributes right?”

“No, no, no, based on what Tiki said, it should directly enhance my attributes to the Advanced Rank, not just a simple +1 to all.”

The thought in Kieran’s mind made him look at Tiki in suspicion.

“You little brat, what eyes are those? Do you really think that I’ve hidden your remaining reward? What? You think fooling Vanessa and Carricanton is a piece of cake?”

The fat cat was kind of pissed as it showed its teeth.

“What did you do?” Kieran asked.

“Hmph! Why do I have to tell you?” Tiki grunted and turned its head away but soon enough, Tiki’s cat brows slightly furrowed together.

“Little brat, I have to leave now. If I stay any longer, that bastard will notice me. Remember, try to keep Vanessa busy, distract her at all times. There’s a hidden squad of mine in the north, I’ll tell them all about you. And one more thing, if your performance is good enough, I’ll help you get Vanessa’s divine position, treat it as a little promise between you and me.”

Tiki then vanished after the last word escaped its mouth.

The street before Kieran’s eyes returned to normal right away but Tiki’s words echoed in his ears.

Divine position!

Kieran squinted his eyes. He knew Tiki wouldn’t lie to him.

If Tiki was able to make such a promise, it meant Tiki really had the confidence in getting the divine position of Lady Thorn. Maybe not all of it but even if it was just a portion of it, it would be an irresistible temptation for Kieran because it meant more power for him.

Of course, Kieran didn’t get too anxious because of Tiki’s promise.

He knew even with Tiki’s promise, the process of acquiring the divine position was quite difficult.

Aside from that, he knew what must he do now.

Kieran started to arrange the information about the squad in the north that he got from Tiki, he squinted his eyes as it started to shine.

“An organization of a thousand men that has been operating for over 10 years? Seems like Rei was paying attention to this world a long time ago! Or should I say, Rei has quite the caution against Vanessa!”

“Fate eh?”

Kieran muttered in his heart while hastening his steps.

With Tiki’s assurance, the last bit of worry in his heart had vanished.

Now, he would go all out!