The Devil’s Cage

A wall!

A wall made out of rock, full of green moss. There were no wall seams on it. The rock was a whole wall. Not only the one before Kieran, but the other three around him as well.

”Is this a prison?”

Kieran noticed the prison door on the other side of the wall. There were bones next to his feet and chains that extended from the wall. Kieran frowned.

The scene before him was all too familiar. He had had the same treatment back in the Special Dungeon [Prisoner].

At least he was much more fortunate than the dead fellow on the floor though.

”This skull was crushed hard. The top of the skull was crushed using some sort of chain or hammer-like weapon… The unlucky fellow that had been cuffed here must have been forced into a dead end. He must have kept struggling and begging, but the assailant showed no mercy. They killed him off with a single fatal blow…”

This was the theory Kieran came up with as he squatted down, inspecting the bones. He even pictured the execution in his mind before he turned his eyes to the prison door.

Surprisingly, it was not locked.

”There’s light outside, but the door isn’t locked. If I exclude the possibility of this being an illusion, this means that the prison guards have assumed that the person inside here is dead! If they know this fellow is dead though, why would they let him rot here?”

New doubts replaced the old ones in Kieran’s mind. A body rotting down to the bones was not a nice image. The vile stench alone was intolerable for commoners. Especially when the body was kept in an underground dungeon like this one.

Kieran could imagine everyone covering their noses. The place reeked of that vile stench, yet the bodies were still not taken care of.

Kieran unconsciously looked at the bones again, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Disappointed at the lack of results, he stood up with a sigh and carefully pushed open the door, trying not to make any noise.

Outside the door was an average-length corridor with enough light for one to see.

”Is this only a single cell?”

Kieran scanned his surroundings in surprise. He was standing at the end of the corridor, his cell right behind him. There were no other cells along the corridor. At the other end of the corridor was a shining light.

Kieran walked over to it carefully. He was vigilant enough to check for traps before his each step.

As he was getting closer to the source of light and leaving behind the cover of the shadows, Kierran took out [Arrogant Word] just to be safe.

The scene before him surprised him again.

In front of him was a well-lit hall with nothing noteworthy about it. There were no people or items inside it.

The only thing that caught Kieran’s attention was the source of light.

There was a statue emitting a dim light that looked like an oil lamp. It was a vicious-looking statue.

The base of the statue was not round or square. A couple of human faces were carved into the stone, their heads being stepped on as they wailed in sorrow.

The statue was big and tall. It had wings on its back and it was holding a greatsword and a whip in its hands. A rotten arrow was stabbed in its face, making its facial features obscure. Kieran’s heart was pumping fast as he looked at it.

Although there were some minor differences, it generally looked similar to his [Devil Transformation] image. Kieran had never looked into a mirror in his devil form, but thanks to the Special Daily’s description of him, he could guess what he looked like.

”What is this? Why is there a devil statue here?” Kieran continued scanning the area doubtfully.

Other than the corridor he had come from, there were eight more corridors distributed evenly around the hall, each corridor having a similar length. In the middle of the hall was the glowing devilish statue.

Kieran noticed that the floor of each corridor was different. To be more precise, the patterns on them were different.

”Magic circles!” Kieran reached a conclusion after a simple inspection.

Although he was still lacking in [Mystical Knowledge] and could not understand what the magic circles could do, he could still recognize some of the runes within them.

Especially the word ”Death”, which was formed by 15 runes and symbols. Kieran made it out with a single look. It was the first meaning that he had understood, so it was still a fresh memory in his mind.

All nine corridors had ”Death” runes carved on their floors without exception.

”A sacrifice?” Kieran guessed after connecting the formation of the cells with the devil statue. Then he inspected the remaining eight corridors carefully. Other than the crushed skull bones in each cell, just like in the one he had been transported to, there was nothing else.

Kieran turned back to the faintly glowing statue and started to think seriously about the situation.

”The mist must have some kind of transportation properties in order to bring me here. This seems like a location for some sort of sacrificial ritual, but it must be old. Even the ones in charge of the ritual are nowhere in sight, plus the devil statue looks destroyed… This place must have gone through a small ambush! Not an attack, but maybe an assassination!”

Kieran’s gaze unconsciously landed on the shadows in the corridor, getting into the shoes of the people who had been there.

”The assassin must have infiltrated this area silently, hiding quietly in the shadows and waiting for his target to appear. It was not a clean kill though. When that arrow hit the statue, the target must have fled in panic while the assassin chased them relentlessly!”

As Kieran pictured the whole process in his mind, his brow relaxed.

This seemingly useless process allowed him to come up with another theory.

There had to be at least one exit, maybe even two!

The first one was the door that the hosts of the ritual used to come through.

The second one must have been the door the assassin had entered through.

The reason that the existence of a second door was not necessary was because Kieran speculated that the assassin might have been one of the hosts that had wanted to kill his own comrade to usurp their position and authority.

That was the first theory Kieran came up with, but there were also other possibilities.

None of this mattered to him though. His objective was to locate the exit as soon as possible.

Just as he was about to inspect his surroundings, a sharp screech was heard.

Suddenly, a figure jumped down from above.