The Devil’s Cage

“You wouldn’t treat me with your fist right? It’s so rude!” Renata smiled sweetly at Kieran.

“Of course,” Kieran nodded seriously, keeping his fist and dishing out a kick instead.

Kieran’s kick caused a heavy whistle. Upon impact, it shattered another illusory evil spirit being which was invisible to common eyes, before Kieran landed his shoe on Renata’s face again.

Bang!

Renata, who had nowhere to dodge, was sent flying away again, but this time, Kieran controlled his strength precisely, not kicking Renata to the wall.

Renata tumbled mid-air before landing on her face beside Jemara.

Moments after landing, Renata climbed up again.

“You can see my Ghost of Appetite and your kicks restrain its abilities?!”

Renata didn’t care about her swollen face, she had to verified her doubts about Kieran’s abilities. A never before felt panic rose in her heart, agitating her thoroughly.

Ghost of Appetite was a very special ability; it could be considered Renata’s talent and, from a certain aspect, was almost invincible.

The spirit was formless, immune against any kind of physical attack and able to mitigate majority elemental attacks, absolutely loyal to its summoner.

Therefore, Renata, who controlled the Ghost of Appetite with a certain technique, thought she was the strongest among the student body. She could even win Tai in a battle as long as she was serious.

However, Kieran’s appearance shattered her pride. Renata was doubtful at first when she was defeated by Kieran the last time.

Kieran could not only see the Ghost of Appetite but also possessed abilities to restrain the spirit?

Doubts gave birth to anxiety in Renata’s heart, hence she followed Jemara when the 3rd year First Seat wanted to challenge Kieran again.

After the little ‘challenge’, Renata’s anxiety were verified.

Most people would choose to clear the anxiety in their head and would only run away from it when they failed. Renata was one of them.

Kieran was her bane and since she couldn’t find any ways to win Kieran, the thought of running away bloomed in her heart.

Kieran naturally captured the emotions on her face.

Even though her face was swollen, the glare in her eyes was obvious and it was something Kieran didn’t want to see.

Once Renata ran away, the other three ‘food suppliers’, Jemara, Dale, and Tai, would surely be affected. Kieran would not allow that to happen.

Therefore, Kieran pointed at Jemara, who had stopped her twitching but was still unable to stand up.

“Compared to her, your threats are nothing to me.”

Jemara and Renata’s confusion was obvious.

‘You did well, put in more effort and you can defeat me.’

Even Kieran deemed such words fake and embarrassaing from him, hence a provocation would be more appropriate in his view.

“Oh yea? Then you never knew my true power…”

Bang!

Renata flipped her hair and tried to get closer to Kieran.

Aside from the swollen face, even if Renata was in her normal beautiful face, she would fair less than a piece of braised meat in Kieran’s eyes.

Kieran automatically delivered a punch to Renata’s stomach.

The First Seat of 4th year curled up on the floor like a cooked shrimp, covering her stomach and twitching repeatedly.

While Kieran knocked out Renata, Jemara mustered enough strength to stand up.

“I’ll win next time,” said the swordswoman in a firm tone.

A ‘Bento Exchange Voucher’ was then passed to Kieran.

Bento Exchange Voucher was a voucher exchangeable using academic scores at the general affair department. As its name suggested, it could be exchanged for a Bento class meal.

Jemara then helped Renata up, took out another ‘Bento Exchange Voucher’ from her pocket, and gave Kieran.

“I’ll be waiting,” Kieran replied after receiving the two vouchers.

He didn’t forget to provoke Renata before they left.

“And you, I don’t have much hope for you. You think too clever of yourself, loser. Get out of my sight.”

Kieran then opened the door and asked them to leave.

Jemara was looking cold, the ugly look from all the twitching earlier gone without a sign but Renata was different, her face swollen, her stomach twitching, and her eyes glaring at Kieran like an erupting volcano.

“Don’t think yourself too high either, you’ve just won me twice! I’ll come back next time and make you kneel down before me, begging me to spare you!”

Renata spilled her declarations with gnashing teeth.

“If I remembered correctly, you are the one who knelt just now,” Kieran said.

“You…UGH!”

The angry Renata wanted to refute this but the pain in her stomach caused her to twitch again, unable to say a complete sentence.

Kieran curled his lips into a grin when he closed the door after the two ladies left.

He knew his ‘long-term meal ticket’ had just went back online.

Kieran was delighted, placing the two new vouchers together with the others that he had gotten from the freshmen tutorial lesson, which was two more Bento vouchers and one Fast Food voucher.

“Four Bento class and one Fast Food class are enough to exchange for a Proper Meal class. Too bad the general affair department doesn’t provide regular exchange for a Proper Meal class. The Proper Meal class exchange will only be opened during the end of the year.”

Kieran touched his chin.

He hadn’t forgetten the description of his main mission. The longest he could stay in this dungeon world was until the end of the current semester, but he would have to leave after that.

Although he had secured a continuous entry, he wasn’t sure when he would enter the dungeon world.

Therefore, if he wanted to exchange his vouchers, he would have to figure something out.

Unlike the first day in the dungeon, Kieran had acquired a strong network after all his adventures in the school, making it easy to secure a channel for him to exchange the vouchers for a Proper Meal class food.

Kieran called Professor Tyrese with his communicator.

Among all the natives that Kieran knew, the ‘good’ professor would be a solid candidate for him to exchange the vouchers.

“4 Bento vouchers and a Fast Food voucher for a Proper Meal class food? Not a problem. When do you require it?”

Professor Tyrese agreed to the terms after Kieran stated his purpose.

“As soon as possible,” Kieran answered.

“How about during the anniversary celebration?” Professor Tyrese gave a specific time.

“Okay.”

Kieran nodded after he calculated the days and realized it was less than 2 weeks from now.

They didn’t further chat anymore. Kieran hung up the communicator after saying goodbye, his eyes locked on the documents and reports of the ‘crying gymnasium’ and the ‘hidden treasure’, which he placed on his table.

Both ‘rumours’ had nothing special to them, just some school myths and it was hard to tell apart the lies from the truth.

However, the one who used these ‘myths’ to their gains…

Kieran squinted his eyes and his gaze turned cold.

He was fine about people watching him because it was what he wanted. However, it didn’t mean Kieran would stay put when some intentional parties set him up.

Since the said party had ill-intents, they better be prepared to bear the consequences.

Death was quite the decent outcome for those ill-intended parties.

…

At night, the merry and noisy Theorate finally quieted down.

Standler, with his backpack, and Maica, in his jersey and tactical gloves, snuck out of the dorm.

“Here!”

Marv, who had been waiting for a while, waved at them.

Unlike Standler and Maica, Marv was fully-equipped, literally.

He was wearing a black camouflage uniform with a military-issue backpack. There was a holster around his waist and the stock that stuck out from it told the two of them it wasn’t a toy.

“You are really being extra here,” Standler commented on Marv’s look.

“Better safe than sorry. Come one, the First Seat is waiting for us, right?”

Marv, with an ulterior motive, diverted the topic with a smile.

“Let’s go!” Standler nodded in excitement.

Earlier during evening, the three of them visited Kieran again and Kieran agreed to go with them but he would only wait for them outside the gymnasium.

Standler and Maica did not object, because from their point of view, the biggest reliance they had in this little trip was Kieran.

As for not staying with the group from the start?

The two aide were used to Kieran’s solo act.

Only the smiley Marv chuckled coldly in his heart. He had his own theory about Kieran’s solo act. There were only two explanations for Kieran to arrive at the gymnasium earlier than them.

First, it was to check whether or not the area was safe.

Second, it was to make sure whether or not the said treasure was there.

The second explanation was obviously more important than the first.

“Too bad… you won’t find anything there and you will slowly step into the trap!”

Marv started to picture Kieran’s severe injuries or even horrible death after the ambush by his employer, his anticipation surging.

Marv was eager to replace the First Seat, but when he saw Kieran standing under the lamp outside the gymnasium, he was dumbstruck.

‘The ambush failed?

Impossible!

Those guys are very powerful, if they are in the dark, even the First Seat couldn’t escape unharmed.

So… he didn’t go in yet? What a lucky bastard! But let us see when your luck ends.’

Marv quickly kept away his dark thoughts and put on a smile.

“Good evening, First Seat.”

Standler and Maica together, with Marv behind them, greeted Kieran.

“Mm,” Kieran nodded.

“According to the rumours, we must go in pairs to trigger the ‘crying gymnasium’, so we’ll split up. Me and Maica are one group; First Seat, you and the weaker Marv, are the second, is that okay?” Standler asked.

“Sure,” Kieran answered with simple words.

“That won’t be a problem! At first I was a little worried, but now, after grouping up with First Seat, I am completely relieved!” Marv smiled and nodded repeatedly.

The group distribution seemed very reasonable, but it was actually Marv’s little trick. He had more than once mentioned that he was very weak and required protection in front of Standler, and things progressed exactly as expected.

Standler the good guy kindly grouped him with Kieran.

‘You are really useful! I guess I shall keep you as aide after I become the First Seat. Maica? He’s a little troublesome, I guess I’ll take him out.’

Unlike the naive Standler, Maica was very simple and direct but he possessed an animal-like instinct. Marv had noticed Maica sided him up more than once and doubted his words before.

Marv swore to take Maica out before the doubts could be proven and it was also for the sake of tonight’s operation.

Theorate’s gymnasium was unlike any other. It wasn’t locked at night and inside the gymnasium wasn’t a basketball court but a ring!

There was 1 big and 6 small rings in the gymnasium.

The gymnasium was the most crowded and merry place every anniversary and semester end.

Around the ring were seats similar to other gymnasiums but the numbers far exceeded a common one. It could easily fit more than 10,000 audience at once, hence the gymnasium occupied quite a bit of land.

Marv was grouped up with Kieran, entering the gymnasium first with a torchlight in his hand.

Standler and Maica saw them go in.

When the light from the torchlight almost vanished, Maica frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Standler noticed the furrowed brows on his friend’s face.

“I felt something weird about Marv… but I can’t exactly say what,” Maica didn’t hide his thoughts from Standler.

“I think you are overthinking. Don’t forget who is he grouped up with! It’s the First Seat, not some John Doe! Stop overthinking and look at the map I’ve prepared, our adventure is starting soon,” Standler waved his hand and said with a smile.

“I guess you are right, that’s the First Seat we are talking about.” Maica smiled and discarded his doubts.

…

Dak, Dak, Dak.

Footsteps echoed clearly in the dark gymnasium, spreading along the corridor. The light from the torchlight was like a sword cutting the darkness in half.

“First Seat, according to the map, we can go to the ring in Section A straightaway. Through there, we can reach the alleged location: the main ring. The rumour says the couple was hung to death in the main ring, but that’s just a rumour. No one knows what is the truth behind the story. What do you think, First Seat? First Seat? FIRST SEAT?!”

Marv was talking as he ventured into the darkness, but all of a sudden, he realized Kieran was not beside him anymore.

Marv skipped a breath, sure that Kieran was beside him just a moment ago.

He could still spot Kieran’s figure in the corner of his eyes and even heard Kieran’s footsteps with his ears.

“First Seat! Where are you!?”

Marv stopped walking and shone his torchlight around. The concrete corridor looked extra eerie and felt cold under the light.

No! It wasn’t just a feeling, there was indeed a cold, eerie presence behind him, as if someone was breathing behind him!

But…But a human’s breath should be warm and yet what Marv felt was cold!

Breath after breath, the cold, eerie presence tickled Marv’s neck.

Marv had major goosebumps. He turned around and shone his torchlight!