The Devil’s Cage

The God of Knowledge, who was crawling on the ground, felt a sharp gaze on his body. It felt like a blade slicing his flesh, not only painful but also frightening.

Without a doubt, the old book spoke the secret in his heart.

“Lord Ryan! I never lied to you! I am sure something did happen 300 years ago, but I don’t have that particular memory with me! That is why I became what I am now, a ‘False God’ of sorts! The owner of the walnut tree can prove my words!”

The old book pointed at the walnut tree that expelled him.

He still could pick up the presence of the owner, who, although heavily injured, hadn’t died just yet, so it would be possible for the owner to become his witness.

However, the very next moment, the forest started to disappear, tree hole after tree hole left behind as the trees uprooted themselves into nothingness.

The old tree had obviously learned a lesson from the old book by not leaving a bit of presence as he left.

The old book was stunned.

He then pointed at his left, the little curly stream, with crystal clear water.

“The owner of Dal Stream can prove it as well!”

Faw!

As his words subsided, the flowing stream stopped abruptly, the crystal clear water disappearing, eventually leaving behind a wet river path.

“There is also… There is also the Dolder Caves…”

Groooom!

The old book turned around and tried to mention the caves, but before he could finish, or even raise his hand, the short, little hill behind him collapsed.

The old book was stunned.

He never thought these Gods, who were swollen with pride during normal times, would be so unreliable.

Once he thought about the offerings he provided them every year, the old book felt heartbroken. But the most painful fact was that he had run out of leverage.

Gulp!

Gluttony swallowed his saliva loudly, frightening the old book and causing his body to shiver.

Then, the old book started to cry and snot, “I know every knowledge, every history about Yort Fields and its neighbouring lands for the past 500 years! I know mystical knowledge that normal people wouldn’t ever learn! I also know a lot of secret spells and techniques from unrecorded books! Please, don’t eat me!”

The God of Knowledge cried out loud while trying to prove his worth, taking out book after book from his cloth bundle and presenting them to Kieran.

Kieran simply went through the books.

Just as he had expected, all the mystical knowledge in the books was only around Master level and the so-called secret spells and techniques were in an even lower level. Most of them were just some Average spells, only a few of them Magic rank, and for Kieran in his current power level, the things the old book offered had little to no benefit to him.

However, no matter how small the gains from the offerings, Kieran didn’t alter his initial thoughts: he’d never let Gluttony eat the God of Knowledge.

After all, Kieran was quite curious about the Gods in this dungeon world, he ought to know more about them.

“Sign this.”

A follower contract was thrown in front of the old book.

Without any hesitation, or even a second thought, the old book took the contract and wrote his name: Canberlanor.

Canberlanor then stood up with the contract, offering it back to Kieran respectfully.

“My lord, do you want anything to eat? I know many of the hideouts of the ‘Gods’ in Yort Fields and I am quite familiar with their habits and traits.”

After Kieran kept the contract, Canberlanor put in his suggestion right away.

He reacted exactly like Luphus when he first woke up from being knocked out.

No, Canberlanor was more… devoted?

Kieran looked at the expression on the old book’s face, taking him quite a while to think of a word to describe it.

Although it was a little insulting to use the word ‘devoted’, he couldn’t find a better word to fill in the blanks.

“You hate them?” Kieran asked.

“I am now your follower, my lord. Everything will be prioritized after you and things that can further empower your strength will be my utmost priority,” the old book bowed and answered.

Hate? A little.

The other Gods took a lot of his offerings, but once misfortune hit him, none of them dared to step up and stand by his side. Every single one of them had ran.

It will be a lie if he said he didn’t hate all of them.

But! Canberlanor wouldn’t say it out loud.

He knew how precious an honest man was and how gruesome death would be.

He had seen a lot of similar people and he didn’t want his own death to be that horrible!

He wanted to live long enough to become a ‘True God’, to get his own temple and believers!

With a dream in his heart, why would he simply voice the truth?

However, as the God of Knowledge of Gordor, he knew he couldn’t lie either.

The demigod before him wasn’t someone that he could brush off with mere lies.

Therefore, he said something that would lean towards the demigod’s favour.

Canberlanor devoted himself to serving the demigod, because only then would his dream come true.

When the demigod truly ascended to Godship, as his follower, ascending to Godship together wouldn’t be terribly hard. Moreover, Canberlanor was already a ‘False God’, so it would be a lot easier than other followers.

How could he allow some random John Doe or some weird fella climb over his head and beat him to it, right?

This is perfect!

The old book told himself in his heart, but he quickly regretted his decision.

Kieran didn’t say anything, simply looking at his new follower with a cold gaze, increasing the pressure on the old book.

Sweat appeared all over his forehead. He felt a formless hand grab his heart , ravaging and trying to crush it.

Canberlanor followed his heart and knelt down again.

“My lord, I admit that I acted selfishly just now. I hate them because they accepted my offerings but didn’t come out and help me. And…”

Canberlanor had forgotten all the perfect praise in his mind that he had given himself; all that was left in his mind was figuring out how to beg for Kieran’s forgiveness.

“How did you come to be?”

Kieran spoke and stopped the crying begs from Canberlanor.

“How did I come to be? Well, I was once a normal person who lived in Gordor, and one day, I suddenly found a book in the collection house. I read it like any other book but when I finished it, I realized I’d gotten powers and became the God of Knowledge in Gordor Land.”

Canberlanor didn’t even bother to wipe away his tears and started to tell his story.

“A book? Does it share a similar presence with this item?”

A thought struck Kieran, taking out the gold coin that he had once gotten for killing Lady Wealth.

Looking at the gold coin, which was as big as a child’s palm, Canberlanor widened his eyes inconceivably, nodding repeatedly.

“Yes! Yes! It is similar but mine was much weaker,” said the old book honestly.

Kieran then squinted his eyes.

For a moment there, Kieran thought of a lot more things but before he could truly ponder upon the question, a picture came into his mind that made him squint his eyes in an unusual shine.

“I see, this is what happened… Interesting,” Kieran muttered.