The Devil’s Cage

The huge monster in the nurse outfit flew off with a bang and crashed down hard against the reception desk.

The wooden desk was instantly torn apart, wood splinters flying around as it hit the promotional poster on the wall, which had already turned white.

”Was it hiding inside the poster?”

Kieran looked at the monster in surprise.

”Monster” was a fitting word for the creature, which had no eyes, ears or nose, just a big bloody mouth with sharp teeth. Its fingers were all replaced by scalpels, and its arms and legs were muscular.

Its muscles were moving along as it breathed, like frog skin during an experiment. The fresh red muscles were jumping with each shock.

Its abdomen had also collapsed in an odd way. No one could connect that monster with the sweet smiling nurse on the promotional poster.

Of course, no one would ever have expected a five-year-old girl with navy blue eyes and a pure, holy presence to be the one controlling the monster.

If Kieran was not sure that the five-year-old could not have reached the tall iron door window or had the time to stand on a stool while being chased down, he might actually have gotten fooled by her.

The little girl floated past the iron doors, hovering above the monster’s head.

Her golden blonde hair had turned as yellow as dried grass, and her navy blue eyes were smeared with darkness. Even her fair skin had turned a gray color with a dash of green.

She had turned into a vengeful demon without a sense of holiness.

The little girl demon was hissing like a rattlesnake and breathing like a jackal as it stared at Kieran with its pitch-black eyes.

A formless [Fear] effect started to erupt from her eyes, but it was useless.

[Fear: Player has Body of Evil, Low-Level Fear is ineffective…]

The outcome shocked the demon in the form of a little girl, who hastened her breathing and hissing noises.

The monster in the nurse outfit quickly stood in front of the little girl and raised its arms, opening up its hands, which were filled with scalpels, before it charged towards Kieran.

The huge body of the monster filled the whole corridor, its scalpel hands easily cutting through the walls around it, leaving five long trails on the two walls.

As it accelerated, the cutting noise was getting clearer.

The dirt that spilled out from the walls did not fall on the floor. Instead, it floated up.

The demon, which was floating in mid-air, was blowing at the dirt around it, forming a mini cyclone that enshrouded the monster as it charged towards Kieran.

The monster’s attack and the mini dirt cyclone almost devoured Kieran.

Bright, cone-shaped flames formed in mid-air among the darkness. The fiery flames were instantly fired off, engulfing the charging monster and its dirt cyclone. There was no space left for it to struggle.

Thanks to the [Sulphuric Poison] effect, the [Burning Hand] attack was boosted up to Powerful Attack, becoming the nemesis of the monster before Kieran.

To be honest, if Kieran had not sensed a slightly unusual vibe coming from the mini cyclone, he would not have cast the [Burning Hand]. Instead, he would have taken down the monster with [Hand-to-Hand Combat, Kicking Combat].

The kick that had sent the monster flying had allowed Kieran to know what the monster was capable of.

Other than its ability to hide in the poster, there was nothing else worth mentioning.

Everything was progressing according to Kieran’s expectations. The monster let out an agonizing cry amid the flames and turned into ashes. A piece of [Soul Shard] fell off it right afterwards, but Kieran did not even glance at it. He threw himself like an arrow let loose, aiming for the little girl demon.

The demon had been going through the wall when the flames had been ignited, but it had underestimated Kieran’s reflexes.

A tube of [Holy Water VIII] was smashed against the wall before it could go through.

The faintly glowing liquid and the broken glass flew all over the wall. Unable to hold itself back in time, the demon crashed straight against the wall as [Holy Water VIII] was smeared over it.

An agonizing cry followed. It was like the corrosion of a powerful acid, burning the demon’s body and producing smoke before it fell to the ground.

”I should take its life while it’s weak!”

Kieran had the awareness not to show any mercy to his enemies.

A barrage of shadows from his kicks were launched at the demon, drowning it completely.

[Holy Water VIII: Lethal Attack, 400 Damage inflicted to Target HP, Target is Heavily Wounded…]

[Hundred Violent Kicks: Rapid Attack, 300 Accumulated Damage inflicted to Target HP, [+1 Level from Transcendence Kicks], Target has Demon Aura, 200 True Damage inflicted to Target HP, Target dies…]

...

Kieran only stopped when the battlelog notification notified him that his target was dead.

Just like the monster, the demon turned into ashes when it died.

Another piece of [Soul Shard] fell off the ashes, and so did a picture.

It was a smiling little girl with blonde hair and blues eyes.

”The demon took the form of the little girl in the picture?”

Kieran picked up both the [Soul Shard] and the picture.

Back in Nikorei’s library, there had been a book on supernatural monsters like Demons.

They were not humans or animals, but they could take the form of a human, animal, or even a daily-use item, like a comb or a mirror.

The infamous Mirror Devil was also a kind of demon.

Their abilities also varied infinitely. It was said that no one would ever be able to record all the abilities of a demon.

One thing was for sure though. Demons had malicious intent towards humans, because they were born from the most extreme, destructive emotions inside the human heart. They were similar to the Creature of Desire, but not entirely the same.

Demons could be controlled through contracts.

Judging by the movement patterns of the demons just now, Kieran was sure that they had been controlled by someone else. Otherwise, a low-level demon wouldn’t have played tricks and tried to escape. Even though their plan had failed, the demons’ characteristics had still been similar to a hungry wild beast’s that attacked its prey non stop.

”Controlling demons? They’ve really done it this time…” Kieran muttered to himself.

It was not easy to control demons born from destructive human emotions, even under the bindings of a contract. Even if the target was a low-level demon, the controller would be affected somehow and experience some destructive actions.

As for the recovery center…

Kieran had a bad feeling about it. He kind of understood why that guy had wanted to attack it though.

A recovery center had more self-destructive, emotional patients than any other place in the world.

Kieran picked up the other [Soul Shard] from the monster and quickly headed towards the left wing.

However, when he opened the iron door, he was completely overwhelmed.

He quickly backed off without a second thought.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

Anyone who watched ”Supernatural” knows demon are quite friendly :)