The Devil’s Cage

It was not just Louver. The other patients and staff of the Gordon Recovery Center had also appeared in their doctor robes, nurse uniforms and patient outfits.

It was revealed that all the people in the recovery center had been used as vessels to raise demons.

They were divided into nine groups with different numbers.

They all gathered around their respective tentacles. Bloody, vein-like tubes poked into their bodies, sucking non stop at an unknown substance.

The black tentacles were getting stronger and more powerful. They were even growing longer. The people being sucked at by the veins had no consciousness of their own. They were like zombies piled up together.

The only difference was that Louver was tethered to a single black tentacle by himself. The other tentacles had seven to twelve people tethered to them.

”Is it because he is gifted?” Kieran muttered.

The biggest difference between Louver and the others was that Louver had the gift of spell-casting.

What concerned Kieran the most though was the meaning of their arrival.

The person raising the demons in the Gordon Recovery Center had appeared.

He was also targeting the Sunshine Mary!

The explosives he had set up at the recovery center had been meant to break the defenses of the Sunshine Mary!

However, when Kieran had appeared, their plan had been messed up. That was why that person had contacted other mystical individuals with ill intentions. The ones Kieran had just wiped out…

”Wait! I was wrong! If they wanted to kill me, they wouldn’t have sat back and watched me kill everyone like that! Even though those goons were not strong, they could still have stalled me. Instead, they let them die like that…”

The gears in Kieran’s head were spinning as fast as lightning. When his gaze landed on the Sunshine Mary, he shivered uncontrollably. He had thought of a theory that would explain the situation.

”The Sunshine Mary! They are here for the ferry! Even without the explosives, they had another alternative!”

As for what alternative they had decided to use, if Kieran had to guess, it would have been the bodies!

The Golden Beach had dead bodies scattered all over it that hadn’t been there before.

Just as Kieran thought about it, the blood and pieces of flesh floated up and flew towards the Sunshine Mary. Kieran instinctively wanted to stop them, but the nine tentacles, which looked like a sea monster’s claws, exploded, contradicting his theory.

BOOM!

When the tentacles exploded, no blood or juice came from them.

They were torn into pieces and lines of black substance, like a sentient shadow, as they spread all over the beach.

The shadow encaged the whole beach, with Kieran inside it.

”2567!” Schmidt, who was away from the beach, shouted at Kieran, pulling out his gun.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired shots repeatedly, but when the bullets hit the black cage, they vanished like a clay animal plunging into the sea.

Schmidt scattered a tube of special powder across the black cage. That special powder had been very useful against spirit-like beings and could even cause lethal damage to them. It was useless this time though.

It only had a small effect. Schmidt’s action caused a reaction. The shadow turned into a black mouth and swallowed him whole.

...

Darkness enveloped Kieran.

He felt like he was sinking in quicksand. It was hard to move around. The hand wielding [Arrogant Word] felt like it was wielding a small mountain. He was barely able to move it.

The feeling on Kieran’s feet assured him that he was still on the beach, but the changes to his surroundings were…

”Is it the demons?” Kieran guessed.

He plunged [Arrogant Word] into the sand in front of him, one hand gripping the hilt while the other reached for the tube of [Holy Water VIII].

The faint glow of [Holy Water VIII] made it shine brightly in the darkness.

Although the sinking sensation was gone, the darkness wasn’t.

It still lingered as Kieran smeared [Holy Water VIII] onto [Arrogant Word].

The smearing process was not a pleasant one. Even though Kieran tried his best not to touch the liquid directly with his skin, despite the layer of his shirt between them, he still felt the burn of [Holy Water VIII].

[Body of Evil] had granted Kieran a lot of benefits, but it had also enhanced his weaknesses.

Kieran could no longer touch [Holy Water VIII] directly.

The [Bullets of Blessing] were better. If they were not shot at him, a mere touch of a bullet would make him uneasy, but it would not hurt him.

”Not a demon? Than what is this?” Kieran frowned.

The black tentacles struck him like a demon. They shared the same negative energy and chaotic feeling after all. The scene before Kieran proved him wrong though.

Although there was negative energy around him, the darkness had not originated from the negative energy itself. Otherwise, [Holy Water VIII] would have been effective.

Maybe…

”Am I hitting the wrong place?” Kieran moved quickly as he thought of that.

[Arrogant Word] in combination with [Holy Water VIII] made Kieran look like he was wielding a giant torch as he ventured into the darkness.

After walking for 20 seconds, according to Kieran’s memory, he had to be away from the beach by now. The sand under his feet told him he was still in it though.

The darkness around him was getting denser by the second.

”Is it an illusion?” Kieran checked his battlelog, but nothing had come up.

”No damage, so no notifications?”

It was not the first time Kieran had come across such a situation with the system, so he did not panic. He knew panicking would do him no good in that situation. Keeping calm was the only way out of this pinch.

Kieran quickly made a mark with his foot and moved on. He did not look forward this time. Instead, he stared at his feet.

After three seconds, he halted. He had seen the same mark he had just made.

”Could it be sensory confusion? The darkness is clouding my vision, preventing me from locating any visible markings. I think I am moving in a straight line, but I am actually moving in circles...”

Kieran drew a deep breath helplessly as he made sure it was the mark he had just made.

He knew what was going on. He was in a maze!

Kieran had read a book titled ”The Hex Labyrinth” back in Nikorei’s library, which described exactly the situation before him.

The book had seemed like a book on the mystical but it was just describing some interesting phenomenon and actually fell into the category of books Kieran was able to understand.

He had gone through the whole book out of curiosity, so he knew what he had to do to leave that maze.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

I thought this is an episode of Maze Runner...