The Devil’s Cage

The person behind Schmidt was a middle-aged woman.

She was quite tall, even compared to a man, and there were wrinkles on her face, but she still looked very delicate. She had brownish-red wavy hair and she was wearing a mandarin collared coat with a pair of long boots, which made her look very energetic.

Still, none of these things were the reason everyone was frowning.

As she walked into the house, a vague aura covered the whole living room.

To commoners, such an aura only felt unsettling, yet to the mystics, it was a display of strength.

[Fear: You are within Target’s Fear range, Your Spirit has passed the authentication, No abnormalities have occurred…]

A notification started to ping in Kieran’s vision as soon as she appeared.

Kieran started to look at her in an unfriendly way.

No matter the reason behind her visit, such a display of strength was a provocative act based on ill intentions. Therefore, Kieran replied in a straightforward way.

He used the [Dead Man’s Gaze]!

Kieran’s [Half-Dead’s Gaze] on his right index finger shone as he activated the skill. Instantly, the middle-aged woman’s face turned sour.

Suddenly, a gold glint started shining within her wavy hair, removing her from the terrifying illusion.

It was her earring, a golden earring in the shape of a snake!

”A magical item that can withstand a mental attack?” Kieran was surprised.

The Spirit attribute had a special place in the underground game and within the dungeon world.

In other words, within the dungeon world, any skills and items that could counter and correspond with the Spirit attribute were extremely rare. That was why Spirit had a special role in the game.

Players with a naturally high Spirit attribute were known as the Chosen Ones.

Kieran had been through a couple of dungeon runs, but other than [Lionheart], this was the first time he had seen a native possess an item that could resist a mental attack.

Kieran unconsciously wanted to take another glance at her, but the middle-aged woman flipped her hair forward with her hand, avoiding Kieran’s gaze.

”Schmidt, won’t you introduce everyone to me?” the woman said in a pleasant voice filled with reverence.

”This is Simones, Elli Jones, Raul, her husband Cidney, Louver and… I don’t need to introduce him, right? I bet your desk is filled with files about him!”

Even a passerby would have been able to tell that Schmidt was being hard on the woman. During the introduction, he couldn’t help but use a mocking tone as he spoke.

Kieran looked at Schmidt curiously. He knew Schmidt was not a rude person. He might be hot-headed, but he was actually quite kind and generous. He could be a good friend, if one could ignore his messy outer image.

Kieran was waiting for an explanation. He believed that the man would give him one.

After a slight pause, Schmidt introduced the woman to everyone present.

”This is Tally Landsky, the newly appointed station director of the West Coast. She completed the handover procedures with the previous director a day ago,” Schmidt said, emphasizing each word.

Kieran squinted instantly, catching the hints Schmidt was throwing at him.

Kieran had come back to the West Coast a day ago, just as the new director had completed the handover procedures.

Suddenly, he thought of the attack at the train station and the mystical consultant he had seen at the Golden Beach before the Sunshine Mary. The woman’s eagerness to display her strength as soon as she’d stepped into the house made it seem like she had come with malicious intent.

Kieran squinted his eyes as he looked at her again.

The newly promoted director looked back at Kieran with a smile.

”Good afternoon, Sir 2567. I hope my sudden visit is not an inconvenience,” she said in a friendly tone.

If it wasn’t for Schmidt’s hints, Kieran would have been fooled by her friendliness.

However, now he replied coldly, ”Director Landsky, strangers are not welcome at our house. I would like you to leave right away!”

Kieran was certain that Landsky was with a hidden agenda, but he was not interested in finding out what it was.

The Shepherd of Death, the mysterious mystical organization that was after the [Fantos Manuscript], and the black knights that had appeared in Feronde were all that Kieran could handle for the time being.

Other than the Sub Mission, he still had his own agenda, which was to study [Alchemy] and [Astrology] and reach a respectable system level.

With all those things on his plate, Kieran was reluctant to get involved into even more unpleasant business. Especially when that business involved a person with malicious intent.

”I came here as a friend. This was just a little test. Such rudeness would not match your kingsly nature,” Landsky replied. She was still smiling, even though Kieran had told her to leave.

She explained her actions and elevated Kieran’s position, all the while downplaying her own as a veteran. This seemed like an appropriate move for her considering the current situation, but Landsky did not know that Kieran felt embarrassed about the prophecy.

If Kieran had had a decent relationship with her, he might have kept this to himself, but he did not feel like being generous when the person embarrassing him was someone with ill intent.

Kieran’s heart beat hard, emitting the aura of the Creature of Desire and the Devil Lord at the same time. That soft aura was enough to make everyone present uncomfortable, even Tally Landsky, whom Kieran was looking at.

Landsky felt like she was being targeted by two primordial beings. One of them was like a primal sin in the deepest part of her heart, condemning her into an eternal abyss. The other wanted to burn her to ashes and produce flames so high that they could scorch the sky, punishing her to never be reborn again.

Landsky did not have the power to resist those two distinctive auras.

As her face turned pale, she said goodbye quickly and left.

Kieran smiled when he saw her retreating back. He had discovered the use of the [Fusion Heart] aura accidentally, when he had been facing the Hell Fiend Spider.

Everytime Kieran wanted to use [Devil Transformation] or [Desire Summoning], his body would emit that aura.

Although this was an aura without the true powers of the Devil or the Creature of Desire, it was enough to scare people off.

Schmidt laughed delightedly as he watched his director leave in a hurry.

”If you keep laughing, you might lose your badge.” Simones sighed and turned his attention to Kieran. He inspected him, but did not question his actions.

The mystics had a lot of unspoken rules. One of the most important ones was not to ask about other people’s strength.

”Who cares? I’ll just take a vacation!” Schmidt said indifferently after a stunned pause. His manner still revealed his true feelings though. Everyone could easily see that behind his tough front was a kind person.

No one doubted how passionate Schmidt was about his job, yet none of them could help him.

No one lingered on the topic. Instead, they talked about other interesting stories concerning the mystical realm, trying to diffuse the unpleasant, depressing atmosphere.

The conversation eventually turned to Kieran once more. Everyone was really curious about his adventures during the past two years.

Kieran knew his limits though. He was unable to tell everyone what he had done in the past two years. After all, who knew what sort of weird description the system had created for him?

After some chit chat, Kieran noticed that the arrow of the conversation was pointed at him and used his wounds as an excuse to go back to his room and avoid the conversation. He left and went back to doing his own thing.

Before repairing [Paul’s Camouflage], he wanted to go through all the books he had gotten the previous day.

Even he could not fully understand everything, but he wanted to learn as much as he could.

[Stars and Destiny] was the first book. He had already been half-way through it.

[Reading books related to Astrology, Experience increased a little…]

[Reading books related to Astrology, Experience increased a little…]

...

As the pages were flipped over, notifications kept popping up in Kieran’s vision.

Kieran quickly submersed himself into reading, competely forgetting about the time.

Until…