The Devil’s Cage

When Kieran reappeared, he was in a shadowy corner 15 meters away from the car.

The merciless kick he launched at the spy looked like a spear piercing through the black figure before him.

Bang!

The black figure was smashed hard against the wall behind him with a loud sound. The impact crashed the wall, causing the bricks to fall on him.

Dust flew up, blocking Schmidt’s sight as he pulled out his gun to aim. Schmidt’s jaw dropped unconsciously before he could go over to help Kieran.

A sudden powerful neigh dissipated the dust around that spot.

A red-eyed black warhorse appeared out of the dust, an armored knight sitting straight on it, wielding a long black spear. His armor had a footprint-shaped dent on it, indicating that he was the person spying on Kieran.

As the black knight drove his spear straight at Kieran, aiming for his chest, the black horse started to gallop.

The galloping was as powerful and loud as battle drums. The black spear was storing energy, waiting to pierce its target.

Kieran moved swiftly aside, but the red-eyed black horse altered its course to pursue him, blocking his way.

Then it sped up its charge.

If the horse could change direction while accelerating, its hoofs, which already looked sturdy, had to be even stronger and more powerful than expected. After altering its charge, the horse’s technique and speed surpassed even Kieran’s wildest dream.

”An alchemy beast!” Kieran shivered silently. As the thought bloomed in his mind, he gave up any intention of dodging.

Considering that the alchemy horse had displayed a certain advantage, it would be idiotic to compete against it in that particular aspect.

Kieran waved his palm over at the charging horse.

A chain formed entirely of shadows appeared instantly by its galloping hooves, intending to bind them, or even act as a heel rope. It didn’t work though.

[Shadow Chain] didn’t work, although it had passed the Strength authentication.

[Shadow Chain: Target is immune to the Shadow Debuff!]

The battlelog notification that popped up reminded Kieran of Raul’s words.

”Fire, electricity, common blessed objects and spells didn’t work. It’s even immune to shadow energy! What the hell is this thing?” Kieran thought, not slowing down his movements.

He could not dodge it, and bindings were ineffective against it. What else did Kieran have up his sleeve?

He could put up a hard fight!

The [Mordos Arm] spider web might have some effect on it, but once Kieran thought of the battle he would need to face later that night, he decided to save it.

Kieran stood still on the spot, facing the black knight as he charged closer by the second.

He lowered his waist, forming a triangle with his shoulders as he charged back at the black knight like a football player.

A giant rhino mirage formed behind him, growling loudly.

The ground trembled as Kieran charged, crashing hard against the war horse. The red-eyed horse’s firm chest was crushed, its head and its buff body following suit. Then the black knight riding on the horse collapsed.

That primitive power was the most direct way to destroy the horse and the knight.

The knight seemed like he did not care about his body being crushed to bits though.

The black armor hid his expression. but the lunging spear showed his determination.

He was ready to die with Kieran!

The black spear transformed into a black lightning bolt, striking its target hard. [Primus Scale] was as sturdy as a monolith though. The black spear struck Kieran, but it could not advance under the force field barrier.

Kieran, who was still under the [Reckless Rush]’s effect, took the black spear with him as he kept charging forward.

The spear broke in half with a clear cracking noise. The upper half, which was a mixture of metal and wood, flew up high in the air.

Without the spear acting as a buffer, Kieran’s body crashed against the armored knight.

Bang!

The armor was destroyed, the thing inside it getting trampled to bits.

Kieran was sure it wasn’t human. A human wouldn’t turn into a dissipating black mist as they died.

When the [Reckless Rush]’s effect faded away, Kieran turned around.

The pieces of the black knight’s armor, weapons and horse had turned into a black mist and dissipated in the air, leaving a palm-sized token with a special carving and a purple glow behind them on the ground.

[Name: Night Owl Token]

[Type: Etc]

[Rank: Great]

[Attributes: Night Owl Summoning]

[Prerequisites: None]

[Able to bring out of the dungeon: Yes]

[Remarks: A night owl is a mutated beast with the appearance of a horse. If you treat it as one though, you will be making a huge mistake! It is far more dangerous than any purebred warhorse, but it has a short lifespan!]

[Night Owl Summoning: Summon an extremely durable, explosive red-eyed black night owl with outstanding power and speed, Duration: 1 hour, Cooldown: 24 hours, 4 times remaining]

[Note 1: A night owl is a temporarily summoned beast, but despite sharing a connection with it, you will still need to have a Basic Riding Skill in order to ride it.]

[Note 2: Summoning a night owl in this dungeon world will be free of charge. After you leave this dungeon though, every summoning will cost you 1,000 Points.]

...

Kieran picked up the special token and went through the detailed information the system provided him with.

”The warhorse is summoned through this token?” Kieran was surprised.

Although he now knew the origins of the red-eyed black horse, a bigger question had presented itself.

How had the red-eyed black horse gotten summoned there?

The level of [Mystical Knowledge] that Kieran possessed could not even recognize the complicated, deep meanings of the runes carved on the token. He could not even make out the structure of the runes.

Although this was not the first time this had happened to him, Kieran still sighed. He was even more eager to upgrade [Mystical Knowledge] now.

”What the hell just happened? How the hell did that horse appear? What about the black knight? The one Raul and Cidney were talking about? The one from Forende?” Schmidt ran over with a confused expression on his face.

Kieran wanted to explain, but a sudden notification popped up in his vision, making him furrowed his brow hard.

TL Note

Night Owl: A species of horse in the dungeon world.