The Devil’s Cage

Rorl carefully opened the door.

When he saw the person outside was really Kieran, he heaved a sigh of relief.

He was afraid to see someone else.

Why not verify Kieran’s identity in some other way other than opening the door?

He really wanted to, but he couldn’t.

Anything required a sufficient amount of Points in the big city.

Rorl’s points?

He had offered almost every point for that raid group member position.

He even had to sell off one of his personal equipment just to set up a meeting like this.

Sucks to be him, right?

A player whose 5th dungeon was inbound and yet he was in this kind of distressed state. It really sucked for him, but what was worse was that he had to face a conversation that could determine his life and death.

Rorl tried his best in adjusting his breath, calming himself down, but when he saw Kieran come in, he couldn’t hold it anymore.

His mind was rumbling with rumors regarding the man before his eyes.

Cold and ruthless.

Killing people like flies.

The executioner.

The butcher.

The Devil.

Each of the descriptions of the man before Rorl’s eyes was scary, but each of them represented a single thing: strength.

Immeasurable strength!

It was hard for Rorl to imagine how a player could reach such levels of power in a short few months after entering the big city. Broker, who was once so powerful and influential that he could cover the sky single-handedly was forced back into his room; the player killers who hid in the corners of the city and hunted down others were eliminated, even the Guardians of the Witch who only showed little inklings of their existence dared not face him out in the open.

Perhaps, this man was the embodiment of a real powerhouse.

It may be subtle during normal times but when this man had a chance, he would radiate his own indestructible shine.

Rorl? Even if he could latch on to Kieran, he would only end up in a different place and live on his last breath.

“Good day Flame Emperor,” Rorl’s voice trembled.

Among all the titles given to Kieran, Rorl picked the one he thought most suitable.

The Devil? It would be best if he could keep it to himself.

Kieran didn’t answer, he looked coldly at Rorl.

Rorl’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly explained since he knew what kind of person Kieran was.

“Saikory is the one who put the bounty on you.”

“He is also plotting on how to defeat you, and to achieve it, he even teamed up with an unknown force. The whole Iron Chariot was changed from the inside out.”

“Those who obeyed lived. Those who didn’t would disappear.”

Rorl’s words were partially right, though.

Other than the point where Saikory was plotting against Kieran, Rorl assumed every word he uttered was the truth. Everything would be out in the light as long as Kieran spent some effort to verify his claims.

Given the circumstances, Iron Chariots wouldn’t have survived the onslaught from Kieran.

Should Kieran strike, everything would be turned to cinders.

Rorl was confident of it; he knew what Iron Chariot could do and also understood how destructive Kieran could be.

Which past enemy of Kieran wasn’t stronger than Iron Chariots?

How could the guild survive the onslaught, should it happen.

Once the guild was disbanded, he could take back the rights to his room, and Rorl could hide in it for the rest of his life.

That’s right, this was Rorl’s plan.

It wasn’t outstanding by all means, it was something of a last resort after Rorl was forced into a desperate situation.

Rorl didn’t think his plan could fool the world, but he never knew it would get exposed so fast.

“You are lying to me,” Kieran said calmly.

“I-I…” Rorl was shaken. He wanted to explain, but when he caught Kieran’s gaze, his opened mouth couldn’t say anything except for ‘I.’

In the end, Rorl fell on his chair, limping.

His last resort failed, as well. Would death really come as promised?

The person before his eyes would not spare his puny life.

I shouldn’t have taken the risk, maybe I could live a few more days had I not done this.

I should have stayed in the room and played solo.

Had I played solo from the start, I wouldn’t have to face a situation like this.

Messy thoughts entered Rorl’s heart, it somehow lessened the fear of death in his mind, though, but it was just a little.

Rorl was shivering on the chair most of the time, but death did not come as expected.

Kieran looked at him. No, no! Not looking at him, Kieran was waiting.

Rorl was sure that Kieran was waiting after a little size up, but who?

Doubts then rose instinctively in Rorl’s heart.

Then—

Dak Dak Dak.

Clear footsteps came from the wooden corridor further ahead.

A few seconds later, a figure pushed open the half-shut door.

“Guildmaster!”

The extremely familiar figure caused Rorl to jump up from the chair, he widened his eyes and cried out in shock.

Rorl would never have thought he would see his guild master here.

After his common brain thought for a while and connected all the dots, he understood what was happening before him.

“T-This… Everything was apart of your plan?” Rorl stuttered.

“Yes, I plotted everything,” Saikory nodded.

“Then… The one who put the bounty on 2567 was also you?” Rorl asked quickly.

“Yes, it was me, and you… you were also carefully handpicked by me.”

“Otherwise, how could I lure out our Fiery Devil into the trap?” Saikory admitted again.

The guild master didn’t hide anything. Instead, he told Rorl even more things.

Bang!

Rorl wasn’t happy at all after he got everything right out of dumb luck. Quite the opposite, his body limped down and sat back into the chair. His heart was in a mess, he couldn’t control his emotions and ultimately fell to the ground with his chair. He didn’t feel any pain, though; instead, he was sitting on the floor, looking at his guild master blankly.

It was the first time he realized how scary the man before his eyes was, he seemed even more terrifying than the Flaming Devil!

Unconsciously, Rorl turned to Kieran, he hoped to notice something different from the Flaming Devil, but unfortunately, Kieran was still as cold as ice.

He wasn’t surprised at Saikory’s appearance and plan, neither did he say anything about it.

He just looked at Saikory.

“You don’t seem surprised? Is it because you’ve expected this to be a trap? Or…”

“You have confidence that your strength can breakthrough every trap laid for you?”

Saikory locked his gaze at Kieran, telling him word after word.

Then, the guildmaster continued without letting Kieran speak.

“But you are overconfident in yourself. Too much confidence will blind you.

“And you will welcome death because of your blinded sight!” Saikory laughed loudly after he spoke.

His laugh was irritating and endless.

So Kieran made his move.

His hand was fast and sharp as a blade as he lunged towards Saikory.

The guild master’s head was then chopped off just like that, but…

Saikory didn’t die!

Even with his head rolling on the ground, the laughs didn’t stop.

“I’ve said it, you are blinded by your confidence!”

“You have no idea what you are facing!”

Saikory, with his head on the ground, didn’t die; instead, he continued loudly with an energetic voice.

At the same time—

Chang Chang, Chang!

Heavy metallic objects collided with the walls of the room. Before Rorl could react to what happened, all the walls of his room, together with the ceiling and roof was dragged to the sky.

Sunlight flooded in.

Rorl looked at the quiet, concentrated crowd beyond his room with a dumbstruck state.

He didn’t know when that many people had gathered outside his room.

And… These men seemed weird.