The Devil’s Cage

Kieran entered the Battle of Winter Night as a Herder and he did not forget about that.

However, while his identity granted him the qualifications to enter the battle, it was also holding him back at the same time.

He represented Ai City, so he could not do something over, therefore, even though he knew the abandoned city had good things lying in the shadows, he had to search for them in a more subtle way, for his hands and legs were bound.

Although it was merely a deal, since he had made a promise to Huai Cuike, he intended to keep it.

BUT!

Things were different now, something unexpected had happened!

The lord, the big shot who organized this Battle of Winter Night, was actually plotting something!

Regardless of what this mastermind sought after, Kieran was freed from his shackles.

So even Huai Cuike couldn’t say anything about Kieran’s action anymore despite him striking the deal with Kieran.

Huai Cuike might even agree with his actions to ‘save himself’.

That’s right, he was saving his ass!

No one could force him to sit down quietly and wait for his demise!

Though Kieran wasn’t in a hurry to make a move.

He had to find out what that lord and the red skull were after, or more accurately, what they were plotting.

“Outside world, eh?” Kieran muttered to himself.

He put the empty container back into his backpack and then took another new one out and put it beside the fire.

In his heart, Kieran was contacting his Superior Demon, Bloody Mary.

With countless contracts binding Bloody Mary and Kieran together, the distance between Kieran and Bloody Mary was non-existent.

It has transcended through space!

…

Beep Beep Beep!

The communicator at Daliphen’s waist beeped.

He checked the contents of the message and his face turned black.

The middle-aged man who was snoring a moment ago, presumably passed out because of the alcohol, jumped up with beeps from the communicator.

“What’s wrong?” the man asked.

“Take a look for yourself,” Daliphen passed his communicator to the man and then walked down the mountain

The man scanned over the contents and he too followed Daliphen down the mountain without a second word.

The content of the message was a simple one, there was only one sentence: the monsters entered earlier than expected, the Herders and Inhumans have suffered a great loss.

The engine roared to life, Daliphen driving his car towards a secret base 10 kilometers away from the little mountain. His car sped so fast, it looked like he was gliding on the ground.

Ahead of the car was a wooden barricade but Daliphen did not plan on stepping on the brake, the modified jeep ramming through and knocking it into pieces.

BANG!

The furious Daliphen came down from the jeep after a hard brake, pushing the guards who came for questions away and storming into the tent in the center of the campsite with the middle-aged man.

“Ciroc! Tell me what the hell happened?! Why did the monsters get in earlier!?”

Daliphen slammed the table and questioned the man behind it.

The man, Ciroc, glanced over Daliphen’s angry eyes and then lowered his head, looking at the communicator on his table quietly.

Under the tent’s lightning, the silver hair looked rather obvious among the golden ones, wrinkles spreading from his eye corners, his handsome face looking a little aged but that calmness on his face adding a sense of maturity and charm to his countenance.

BANG!

“Answer me!” Daliphen slammed the table again with a shout.

Ciroc wasn’t bothered at all, even when Daliphen grabbed him by the collar, his expression not changing.

“SPEAK! Damn it!” Daliphen yelled.

“What? The number of casualties? Or you want to go in yourself so you can kill those monsters?” Ciroc said coldly.

“Then why the hell you didn’t do anything?” Daliphen asked.

“I already did! Before you two arrived, I already did what I could and I’m waiting for news now,” Ciroc answered.

Daliphen stared into Ciroc’s eyes, and Ciroc looked back without flinching.

In the end, Ciroc let Daliphen go.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

“Tell me what happened,” Daliphen asked.

“The monsters broke the rules,” Ciroc replied.

“I know! I’m asking who the hell did that? I will snap it’s neck!” Daliphen said in gnashing teeth.

“I’m on it,” Ciroc answered, as cold as before.

When his words subsided, the communicator on his table beeped and he answered it right away.

“It’s me, Ciroc,” he answered.

“Ciroc, we’ve got a big problem here. I suggest you bring all your men here. Lord Victor was murdered!” the voice from the other end of the communicator was trembling.

The trembling voice clearly entered everyone’s ears in the tent, the angry Daliphen and the middle-aged man stunned.

Victor!

The name might sound normal but everyone on the mystical side knew what the name represented: justice and meticulousness!

Any matters would be treated with the utmost justice and fairness in front of Victor.

Like the Judge in legends, all injustice would be exposed and all wrong would be righted!

In fact, many already addressed Victor as Lord Judge a long time ago.

Those whom Victor helped called him that way, including some monsters, some monsters who were treated with injustice and wrongly accused.

It was because of the trust from the monsters that Victor’s title of Judge spread like wildfire and that was 20 years ago.

Now?

Anyone who mentioned the name Victor would automatically add the prefix of lord, including those rulers of certain lands.

Mian Yi was the best example!

Due to the early entry of the monsters, Mian Yi was furious and his expanding head still couldn’t wrap around the suddenness of the incident. He never thought those monsters were so bold that they would attack Victor.

It was an act of war!

“Did those bastards lose their minds!?” Mian Yi grumbled.

Due to the special traits of Song Shi Family, Mian Yi certainly didn’t wish for a war to break out.

Song Shi Family might be recognized as Inhumans but its origin and roots were from monsters!

The identity might not be a problem during normal times, it could even achieve great results and success in many things everywhere, but during the time of war, this kind of double identity was not to be trusted.

Humans would deem them as monsters and monsters would mark down what they did.

“Damn it!”

Mian Yi cursed out of anger but he wasn’t slow at all, transforming into flowing light and flying towards another camp: the monster camp.

Transparent souls, translucent spirits, weird looking monsters gathered in this shady and dark cmp, but none of them looked scary or ferocious at the moment.

Quite the contrary, on their ugly looking faces was a sense of dullness.

As for the reason for the monsters to go blank, it was the body in the center of the camp.

A body sat in the center of camp, without a head and heavily damaged.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even a body anymore, it was just a pile of skeletons with a little bit of flesh lingering around.

The monsters knew a group of ghouls attacked the camp earlier.

Unlike the monsters, who could communicate with others, the ghouls were mindless monsters and ferocious, fearing no death and the couple of Witchcraft practitioners among them created quite the problem for the monsters at camp.

However, looking at the skeleton, the monsters knew the real trouble was only beginning.

Victor was dead! Dead in their camp and more importantly… the shard of the Philosopher’s Stone on Victor was gone!

When the monsters discovered the skeleton, they had examined the body and the surroundings thoroughly, yet none of them found the shard of Philosopher’s Stone.

The worse thing was, when Victor was still alive and possessed the shard of the Philosopher’s Stone, some monster asked to see the shard out of curiosity and Victor did not reject the request.

Although during trial or judgement, Victor was just and strict but during most of the time, he was just a kind man, not just to fellow humans but to monsters as well.

He even went to extensive lengths by not bringing any guards with him while he settled down in the monsters’ camp, it was to prove his trust for the monsters, but…

Reality was a harsh one.

Victor died in the ambush and following his death, everything changed!

Explanations no longer worked, evidence was no longer relevant!

Everyone else would think the monsters killed Victor because they were after the shard.

The atmosphere in the camp was tense, the situation was so heavy that many monsters were looking at each other, doubting one another, whether any of them took the risk and committed such an atrocity.

Victor was a nice man, no one would deny that but the temptation from [Philosopher’s Stone] was also undeniable.

“Who was responsible for Lord Victor’s security before this?” a monster with scales asked.

“It’s my Lord Du.”

A spirit with the look of a young girl floated out from the crowd and replied softly, looking at the headless skeleton in sorrow.

“Em. You shall die for this!”

The monster with the scale raised its hand, fire engulfing the female spirit.

The female spirit felt the flame but it did not struggle or dodge, allowing the fire to burn freely.

It had failed Lord Victor, so it would atone her wrongs by dying.

However, when the fire burned its translucent body, it sensed a very familiar presence.

It was the Philosopher’s Stone!

It started to struggle and scream, “It’s you! It is you who killed Lord Victor!”