The Devil’s Cage

The tiger was gone, but the presence stayed!

Wherever the beast walked in the mountains, its presence would linger and scare off small animals.

The grave corridor was precisely in this situation!

Around 15 minutes ago, the corridor leading down was still normal, but now, it was filled with an aura from the peak of the food chain. The aura instinctively frightened Bloody Mary.

Without a second thought, Bloody Mary transformed into its illusive form, wanting to escape.

However, the moment it transformed, an invisible energy came from the corridor and seized Blood Mary. It dragged Bloody Mary out of its illusive form and pulled it deeper into the hall.

The hall was, as usual, unchanged.

Once Bloody Mary was dragged inside, the cone it had hidden before floated out from the ground and moved toward its face, emitting a faint glow.

Bloody Mary couldn’t help but squint its eyes at the glowing cone; it scanned the object with a doubtful and anxious gaze.

It wasn’t stupid, so it quickly came to know what was happening.

“This was all your plan from the beginning?” Bloody Mary asked in hopes of probing.

It couldn’t tell whether the cone object had intellect like it assumed it did, but that didn’t stop Bloody Mary from stalling instinctively.

Although Bloody Mary was dissatisfied with its bastard contractor’s methods, it never minded working with Kieran to fight enemies from the outside.

After all, Bloody Mary and Kieran were one, their relationship even having surpassed the common “bound together for good or for ill”.

If Kieran died, Bloody Mary wouldn’t be able to live either.

If Bloody Mary died… Well, nothing would happen to Kieran.

Whenever Bloody Mary thought of Kieran’s twisted personality, the calmness it showed a moment ago before the danger somehow became too stuffy for its heart.

The cone object glowed brilliantly, but no sound came out.

Bloody Mary frowned. Just when it thought that it had maybe come to the wrong assumption, a mechanical composite voice came from the cone object.

“You are stalling? Because of the contract?”

When asked this by the mechanical voice, Bloody Mary showed a smile without even thinking.

This kind of cover up was nothing difficult for Bloody Mary; it was like an instinct of sorts.

“Yeah, I’m forced to, you see.” Bloody Mary shook its head and sighed as it spoke.

“What if I were able to help you dissolve the contract?” the mechanical voice asked again.

This time, Bloody Mary reached with a small jolt.

It was somehow moved, but soon, it showed a bewitching smile again.

If Bloody Mary hadn’t witnessed the broadness of the world, if it weren’t aware of the vast darkness in Kieran’s heart…

It would have been moved! But it saw and knew.

So everything was decided.

It didn’t want to be bound to this dungeon world and have to worry about Kieran taking revenge.

If Kieran were a friend, he would be the best of friends.

If he were an enemy? One might not even be able to sleep tight because of the troubling nightmares.

Ever since it began following Kieran, Bloody Mary came to know Kieran’s methods, so it never once felt hopeful at the words, because Kieran never believed in such things.

Bloody Mary had also learned from its contractor.

Somehow, its thoughts were already affected by Kieran.

Maybe it was different from learning from imitation like the Frost Wolf, as the essentials hadn’t changed.

Therefore, when it showed a smile on its face, Bloody Mary quickly rearranged its words.

“Are you saying you can help me dissolve the contract? But do you even know what my contract consists of? And do you know what will happen to me if you somehow fail to do it? Of course, with all due respect, I am just hoping for more insurance.”

Bloody Mary bowed at the cone object as if it really believed that it had offended the mechanical voice.

But its true goal?

Stalling.

Even without further orders from Kieran, Bloody Mary knew what it should be doing at the moment.

It tried its best to buy more time for its contractor to proceed with the plan.

Although it was just one of the backup plans they had agreed on, Bloody Mary hadn’t expected it to really go down this way. However, the scene before its eyes told it how vital a backup plan could be.

“You are lying!” the mechanical voice said.

“Lying? Me? Why…”

Bang!

Just as Bloody Mary tried to explain, that invisible force appeared again.

But unlike the first time, where Bloody Mary was dragged in, this time it was pushed away, or rather, thrown away.

As if hit by a speeding truck, Bloody Mary flew towards the wall further away. As it crashed, its body embedded itself deeply into the wall like a picture.

It wasn’t that it didn’t want to dodge, but it just couldn’t.

Similar to the first time, its illusive form was rendered useless at the moment.

Not only its ability to transform into an illusive form, but its rapid regeneration powers were jammed to a certain degree as well. Although they weren’t completely nullified, Bloody Mary couldn’t regenerate as fast as before.

Before this confrontation, Bloody Mary would have been able to regrow its limbs rapidly.

Now? The best it could do was heal some small cuts.

But none of them was of concern.

More importantly, another wave of that powerful force came for Bloody Mary. It was stronger and fiercer than before; the force wanted to crush Bloody Mary.

Bloody Mary tried its best to dodge, but the pressure on its body pinned it down against the wall, rendering it immobile.

As it felt the force approaching its face, it couldn’t help but open its eyes wide.

All that was left in Bloody Mary’s heart was prayers. It prayed to its special ability to save itself from death.

A High Demon praying sounded weird, but other than throwing its hopes into its own abilities, what else could it do?

Hope that Kieran would save it?

Stop joking. It would not happen regardless of the dimension or realm.

Why would Kieran save Bloody Mary?

Kieran’s attitude towards the High Demon was evident enough.

It was only a tool, a very efficient, excellent tool.

Rather than praying for the user to save his tool, might as well hope the tool will save itself.

“I can! I can do it! I can… F*ck! How the f*ck am I supposed to dodge this? If I can’t make it out alive, I’ll curse this motherf*cking bastard that killed me!”

As the force came closer, Bloody Mary sensed the danger within. Its confidence withered away quickly, and it wanted to start dropping a curse at the cone object.

Not all demons knew how to curse, but High Demons knew a thing or two, and when their lives were hanging on the line, the curses would be extra effective.

But just before Bloody Mary could utter the first word, a palm came out from the shadows and dragged it out from the wall.

BOOM!

The invisible power grazed Bloody Mary’s shoulder and penetrated the thick wall with a boom.

That was not the end; the force’s special power even spread across the wall’s surface.

Bloody Mary shivered in cold sweat when it felt the peculiar power.

It was certain that if it had taken the blow head on, it would have died a second time and not come back anymore!

Its heart racing, it took a deep breath. Bloody Mary then looked at Kieran, who just saved it.

Gratefulness filled its gaze. Kieran didn’t care.

After pulling out Bloody Mary, Kieran’s gaze glued to the cone object.

“What are you trying to do to my tool? Did you ask permission from me, the user? Only I can use my tool, and even if it has to be destroyed, only I can destroy it. When someone else has other thoughts about it… You want to die?”

Kieran spoke with a gloomy face.