The Devil’s Cage

The slight sense of unusual energy was formless yet ferocious as it hurled itself towards Walloon who was dispirited as if the energy was a cat jumping on its prey.

None of the men around him noticed, except for Kieran who was searching among the bodies.

The moment the slight unusual energy appeared, Kieran’s eyes had trailed it to the deeper parts of the outpost and when the energy hurled itself towards Walloon, he was already blocking in front of the dispirited major.

Fuu!

The devil flame was burning high in his left hand and engulfed the hurling energy whole.

Tss, Tss Tsss!

As if a piece of meat being fried on a sizzling hot pan, the wails of the dead echoed throughout the whole outpost.

Darkness fell before everyone’s sight after the wails but everyone could see through it.

They saw the soldiers being cruelly murdered one after another.

The saw the souls of the soldiers being drawn out one by one and dragged into darkness.

They were tortured until they were completely senseless!

Then, everything vanished.

An extremely tall and huge man that couldn’t be called human anymore appeared within everyone’s sight.

The gigantic man was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, chomping at the goat before his hands; blood was dripping from his mouth and tainted his chest and clothes.

“Hahahahaha! 2567, I see you’ve received my present. Best you enjoy it! A friendly reminder, don’t use your devil’s power anymore because it’s too obvious!”

The gigantic man laughed out loud. The blood stains on his teeth made his rough looks even more ferocious.

Even if the man was just an illusory image, it was terrorizing.

Pak!

The man’s image vanished like a soap bubble being popped.

The group’s sight was returned to the outpost they were in.

Suddenly…

“Aaaaaa!”

A Burning Dawn soldier cried out in shock.

He looked at the scene before his eyes with disbeliefs; he raised his trembling hand as fear appeared on his face uncontrollably.

No one would laugh at him though because most of those present also shared the same terrified looks.

They saw the scene which they hoped they would never see in their lives: dead bodies coming back to life!

The dead Burning Dawn soldiers were crawling up one after another; intact or not, they were standing up in their own way.

Their dead eyes were glowing green like a hungry wild beast.

Their bodies were mixed with a kind of strange energy, making them scarier and more deadly than a common wild beast.

What more terrifying was, as the bodies came back to live, Kieran, Walloon, and Gregori were drowned by the sea of bodies.

It made the Burning Dawn soldiers and the followers feel a loss for what to do next.

Fortunately, not all of them were stunned, at least the two conscious captives didn’t.

“Spirits of the dead?!”

The female hunter, Evie Dan looked at the scene with utmost caution.

Her special profession didn’t turn her legs to jelly like the other Burning Dawn soldiers that traveled with her but it didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid.

Quite the opposite, Evie Dan felt mostly fear in her heart but the fear didn’t rob her of her reaction.

“Hurry! Light up all the torches! Everyone, on me!” Evie Dan shouted.

In times of panic and confusion it was the best reaction with someone voicing out orders.

A couple of Burning Dawn soldiers reacted right away as though they found their spines, they quickly gathered on Evie Dan as they held torches in their hands.

Of course, not all followed the female hunter’s orders though, Sharly felt a natural disgust toward her.

Sharly stood in place and didn’t even plan to move. Her nose was sniffing.

“Spirits of the dead?”

The werewolf lady’s excellent sense of smell and the training in her mind made her voice out her doubts.

The dead bodies that came back to life before them might be similar to dead spirits but the smell was slightly different.

It strengthened the werewolf lady’s intention even more.

She grabbed a spear beside her feet, wielding it left and right to test its grip before she dashed off towards the dead spirits.

“Come on!”

The heavy growl sounded off from the werewolf lady’s throat but her voice was forced to a sudden stop.

The spear that she prepared to lunge off even froze in mid-air.

The other soldiers who were in panic widened their eyes at what happened.

Only Evie Dan reacted to the sudden changes after being stunned slightly.

“Damn it! How did I forget that guy from the Burning Family!”

The female hunter muttered softly.

Everyone around her heard her mutters but their eyes were locked at the sudden tender white brilliance that appeared from the sea of the dead.

The rumbling sea of the dead was like the snow during June, melting away swiftly.

The revived dead bodies fell to the ground one after another. Similar to harvesting wheat, as the bodies fell to the ground, Kieran walked out along with the motion while his body was glimmering in white.

He glanced over the female hunter, the werewolf lady, and the other Burning Dawn soldiers plus the followers. Then he gave an order to Gregori and Walloon, “Retreat 2 kilometers, wait for me there.”

Then, Kieran’s figure slide passed the brilliance and went straight to the deeper part of the outpost.

Seeing Kieran’s figure moving deeper, Evie Dan frowned. She wanted to remind him how dangerous the deeper parts were but when he thought about their shallow relationship, she shut her mouth.

Sharly who put away her spear showed a smile instead and said loudly, “Moving forward bravely!”

In the perspective of the werewolf lady, being held captive by a powerful male wasn’t captivity at all. Especially when Kieran presented the manners that her tribesmen were heavily absent of, her fondness of Kieran had skyrocketed.

If the situation allowed, she wouldn’t mind fighting side by side with Kieran but soon, she related to more.

She turned around and glared at the female hunter with a judgemental and cautious gaze.

“I have my eyes on you! You little witch with ulterior motives!” Sharly said.

“Hmph!”

Evie Dan felt strange in her heart but her attitude wasn’t courteous at all by replying with a cold grunt.

The sharp argument between the two ladies didn’t affect the Burning Dawn soldiers and the other followers showing their admiration for Kieran.

Pure admiration!

The soldiers of Burning Dawn saw that familiar brilliance, felt that warm energy and as they looked at the figure, all that was left in their minds was admiration.

The admiration came from their instinct, deep in their bones.

It was the crucial element they had to remember when they joined Burning Dawn.

Walloon, on the other hand, was trembling fiercely. The major glued his eyes on Kieran’s figure as he started to mutter gibberish.

“Amidst the burning fields and the shining dawn, Saint Cyanda will never be dark!”

“The eldest peasant son of Burning Family… is actually…”

“Is this a gift from God?”

“Gift from God? The appearance of his lordship is far more precious than a gift from God!”

Gregori replied to Walloon’s gibberish with a certain and proud tone.

No matter how strong or much of a surprise Kieran presented, it was a certain thing for Gregori who was Kieran’s under control.

However, to someone else…

It was a total disaster!