The Devil’s Cage

A moment before Cripple Inn of the slum exploded, Kieran put down the cake and started to lick his fingers clean without caring about the despising gazes in his surroundings.

It was the best way to not waste food in Kieran’s perspective.

As for hygiene?

To others, it wasn’t as hygenic but for Kieran, it was really nothing.

He could now digest almost anything he consumed, both alive and dead.

It was nothing more than whether he wanted to eat or not.

Kuer Horton wanted to mickmick Kieran but when he caught his father’s judgmental gaze, he wisely picked up a handkerchief to clean himself.

“Why don’t we go for a stroll in the garden?” Kuer Horton asked as he wiped his hand.

“Sure,” Kieran nodded.

The dinner was over and he didn’t want to face a bunch of judging gazes from a bunch of strangers, so going away seemed a decent option.

The garden in Horton Mansion was similar to its decoration of the building, focusing on the delicacy and not the glamour.

Pine trees were the main plant in the garden as many were planted on the premises.

“There are a lot of flowers here during summer, but I don’t know a lot of them. The butler takes care of the flowers most of the time,” said Kuer Horton honestly.

He didn’t think he should keep his lack of knowledge of flowers a secret from his friend.

Every one of the upper class in Edatine Castle knew Kuer Horton was skilled in swordplay, shooting, and military tactics.

As for the other aspects, well, he wasn’t as all-rounded, therefore he still couldn’t differentiate a hyacinth from a hedyotis diffusa—a type of Chinese herb.

“Leave the professionals to their work,” Kieran voiced out his opinion in this.

Kieran’s words were met with applause from the young heir to the marquis.

“As expected from my friend,” Kuer Horton smiled and then pointed at a corner of the garden.

A pavilion was located there, a decent place to take a break during the summer. It would be cool and comfortable.

In the winter though?

It wouldn’t be half bad either.

There was a heater installed in the pavilion and the symmetrical walls blocked the wind, making it a decent place for people to take a quick rest here before moving forward with their duties.

It seemed like the workmen who built the garden had thought of every detail and they knew who would be using the garden, therefore the heater was very delicate touch in terms of design.

Kieran could already feel the warmth as he moved towards the pavilion.

After he stepped in, even his feet felt warm from the floor.

“A heater?” Kieran asked

“Mm! It’s the earliest model, probably made during late Edatine IV but even with today’s technology, it is still a timeless piece,” Kuer Horton nodded and told Kieran to sit down.

When both of them seated themselves, Kuer Horton went into deep thought for a while.

“Colin, I must apologize. I have something that I kept secret from you. I know friends shouldn’t keep secrets from each other, so I want to let you know about my…”

KABOOM!

The young heir was interrupted by an explosion that came from far away.

While Kuer Horton was looking towards that direction in a daze, Kieran already disappeared from his seat.

“I’m sorry, there’s something I need to attend. I’ll be leaving now,” Kieran’s voice came from afar after he had gone away.

“O-Okay.”

The young heir nodded and looked in the direction where Kieran’s voice came from blankly.

He didn’t notice how Kieran left. Had Kieran remained quiet, he wouldn’t even know where Kieran had gone off to.

“Is the gap this huge?” The young heir muttered to himself, followed by a heavy sigh.

He had mustered up enough courage to tell his friend his secret but who knew accidents would happen and his friend would have to leave.

‘Next time.

Next time… I might not be able to say it out loud?’

The young heir bitterly smiled, but when he heard the footsteps of his servant, he put away his emotions. After the servant came to him, he asked “What happened? What’s with that explosion just now?”

“It’s the slum area…” The servant quickly explained what happened to the young master.

“What?! Pagans?! Call in the men, I will… Hold on!”

The young heir was stopped by the old marquis before he could do anything.

The old marquis also came into the garden without the young heir’s knowledge and waved at the servant, telling him to stand down. The servant bowed and quietly left the father and son alone.

“Father, is there anything of importance? The slum area of the Lower Seven Ring is suffering…”

“I know about that,” said the old marquis in a resolute way.

“You knew? Then why didn’t you send the men there?”

The young heir looked at his father in a daze, the burning question following right after that.

“Kuer, I am disappointed. Until now, you still haven’t truly become an heir worthy of my position. You are not even a qualified upper class noble. In this kind of situation, you should think about why I did it, not why I didn’t go do it.” The old marquis sounded heavy and disappointment smeared all over his face.

Looking at his disappointed father, the young heir wasn’t actually frustrated.

His voice, however, sounded aroused, “Is this another conflict? Who is it this time? The veteran orthodox nobles? Or the newer faction of nobles who split up from your subordinates? Or is it him…”

PAK!

The old marquis slapped his son on the face to stop those aggrieving words. He didn’t give a chance for his son to speak again and chose to leave the garden.

At the same time, a figure strolled out from the shadows.

“Young master Kuer, please follow me,” said the figure.

The young heir was quiet, following the figure and going back to his own courtyard.

He knew what his father had arranged for him to protect him and prevent him from sabotaging whatever plan his father had.

Temporarily grounding the young heir was necessary.

As for how long he would be grounded?

It would have to depend on how long this incident would extend to.

However, based on his father’s reaction from earlier, this incident might last for a while and… would be dangerous.

The worst thing was that his friend was involved in this.

‘I hope Colin is fine!’

Sitting in the chair in his study room, the young heir prayed in his heart.

It was all he could do at the moment and also the only thing he was happy to do.

He knew only with his friend’s well-being would the situation be solved.

After all, he had befriended a… Snake Sect!

…

Three figures were heading towards the Lower Seven Ring.

They were neither slow nor fast and wobbling somewhat as they moved.

One of them had a big head that looked like a dipper.

One of them had long arms that dragged along the ground as it walked.

One of them had long legs, almost 2 meters in length.

The reason why they were wobbling was because the one with the long hands was riding the one with the long legs and the one with the head of a big dipper was sitting on the shoulder of the one with the long arms. With each step they took, they’d wobble.

“Those Demon Hunters are really troublesome.”

“Lousy temper, stubborn as rock, rude, arrogant and always followed those lousy sh*t rules.”

“After that trap from Black Cataclysm yet they are still alive after all these years, what a miracle.”

“But… they are going to die now!”

The three pagans in human form said brazenly as they walked.

They already knew what had happened in the slum area.

A Demon Hunter causing a mess.

A should be dead Demon Hunter helping the other one to aggravate the mess.

What a damn!

“But I think we shouldn’t be doing this,” said the pagan with the longest legs and smallest head.

“Mm. We should be laying low for now and then reap the fruit of victory in the end,” said the one with the long hands.

“But we don’t have a choice! Those damn bastards! I will eat them soon enough!” said the one with a big head in an eerie manner.

Speaking of eating, the pagan with the biggest head felt a little hungry.

It has been a while since it tasted fresh blood and meat.

It had to survive on leftovers everyday and if it wasn’t for that ‘plan’, it would have run.

There were a few who couldn’t bear the torture and ran in the past though.

‘I wonder if they managed to leave Edatine’s proximity or not?

I heard they went dark at the road to Sicar City’s outpost.

I bet they are hiding after having a good meal, eh?

They might even come back and fight for a share!

Hmph!

How can they come back after leaving?

This place has been segmented properly!

That old guy is getting older, he isn’t as brave as he used to be. What’s left in him are just the intimidating looks but he is actually dying inside.

I have to give it to him for putting up a good act though, scaring us for so long.

Now? It is time for us to make a comeback!

From tonight onwards!’

Many thoughts ran through that big head of the pagan.

Then… Grrrr!

A loud growl from its stomach sounded.

The big head pagan looked down at the other two with a smile.

“What? Can’t hold it anymore?”

Due to some special conditions during their birth, these three were one. Other than having different bodies, their hearts and minds were connected.

Often their thoughts affected each other, especially the extreme thoughts like hunger.

However, when the big headed pagan looked down to its ‘brothers’, it realized its ‘brothers’ were looking at it instead.

The big head pagan got stunned.

“It wasn’t you guys?”

“It wasn’t you?”

The questions sounded at the same time from top and bottom.

Three pairs of eyes of various sizes looked at each other in confusion.

They saw the suspicion in each other’s eyes and that suspicion was the last thing they ever showed in the realm of humans.

A shadow enveloped then.

Gooey saliva then trapped them on the spot and a huge suction force started to suck them into that black hole.

Sou Sou Sou!

Three continuous slurps later, the three pagans were swallowed.

Gluttony remembered what Kieran told him, so he chewed before swallowing.

“N-Nice!”

Gluttony gave a rather high review to those three pagans.

The texture was like eating a piece of rib with cartilages attached and evenly distributed lean and fat meat.

The energy that filled the Cardinal Sins Force was then converted into nutrients for the others with the best seasoning.

Some of the nutrients were absorbed by the [Lord of Mist] though.

The dazzling crystal [Lord of Mist] went through some changes again after consuming three descended pagans in one shot.

Its rarity was still III+ and neither did the attributes change, but the effect of [Edatine Castle Border] changed and lost the suffix of ‘border’.

[Edatine Castle: Within Edatine Castle, the title of Mist has slowly gained recognition and you who possess the Lord of Mist can move natural mist at will and induce them with poison, ice, and rain, control flora and fauna inside the mist are also possible (unable to exceed the range of the poison mist, icy air, acid rain, snow, hailstorm, control of flora and fauna +1 level), but it will consume your stamina accordingly.]

…

Even the remark changed.

[Remark: A product of an accident during the Black Cataclysm. Unlike how your predecessor crudely used it, its true potential is being brought out in your hands. After a perfect kill, you start to gain total control over it and following the perfect kill, it is bound to you and you alone. You can use it like your own arm and you can perceive the title that it brings you. And now, after expanding the territory, it can never leave you.]

…

“It’s not just the border anymore. Is it because of Erin’s prayers and the killing of local pagans? That’s why the effect changed?” Kieran wondered.

He had a trace of understanding towards this weird dungeon world.

Pagans.

Gods.

Humans.

These were the three major category that inhabited this world

The first two were high on top of the hierarchy, the humans suffered and probably ended up as food for the first two.

The first two could exchange identities at will but at the same time, they were also restricted by the humans.

Similar to now, the Mist was able to enter Edatine Castle because of the new followers.

Based on what Kieran understood, this new theory should be the correct one.

However, starting off from that point, Kieran’s confusion about the God of War and Lady Calamity grew dense.

In his vision, those two were still fighting, as if they turned a blind eye at his invasion.

Or could it be… they were unable to free themselves to take care of the invader?

With that thought in mind, Kieran squinted his eyes and thought for a while. He moved faster than before.

All the infected monsters that he met along the way were met with a brutal kick from Kieran.

His kicks were like two pythons out of their dens. It was not only strong, the flurry kicks even whipped up a bloody storm.

Hiss!

Spheres of torrential air that could tear the air itself wreaked havoc across the street, forming into a series of snake hisses. It sounded like a myriad of snakes hissed at the moon.

The monsters of the slum area stopped what they were doing and turned their gaze at the end of the street.

Those who prayed also looked up in surprise.

Under many pairs of eyes with strong gaze, a figure walked out from the shadow quietly.

When the figure appeared, he was at the end of the street, and a step later, he was in front of the monsters.

The figure appeared abruptly in front of the monsters, yet the afterimage of the figure at the end of the street hasn’t completely gone away, playing tricks on their eyes and making those who stared at him uncomfortable.

The other uncomfortable thing was the figure’s presence and aura.

The monsters hated it, were disgusted by it and dreaded it a lot!

Growls sounded, followed by boiling killer intents.

The killer intentions of the monsters were at an all time high as they charged towards the figure.

Unlike previously, when they killed for the tasty blood and flesh, now all they wanted was to tear the strong opponent into shreds.

The heavy growls pierced the clouds and shook the night sky, met with a nonchalant voice.

“Slash.”

The voice wasn’t loud, not all at the scene could hear.

Only Anderson, the old hunter, and Sivalka heard it.

The next moment, everyone widened their eyes in shock as the man lifted his arm upright, forming a light sword of a hundred meters in length from thin air.

The hundred meters light sword was swung horizontally as the man moved his arm.

There wasn’t any resistance, neither was there a delay in that slash.

Whether monsters or buildings, everything within the range was slashed into half by the destructive force.