The Devil’s Cage

The footsteps were getting closer and just as Kieran expected, they stopped before his cabin.

Dong, Dong Dong!

”Good day, I am one of the passengers that are heading to the Final Island as well, may I come in?”

The rhythmic knock came with a greeting.

”Please do.”

Kieran raised his brow slightly. He didn’t really care about why someone was looking for him.

After the small commotion happened just now, there were only two reasons that the person came to him at this timing.

One, was to probe for information and , find out who Kieran was.

Two, if it was possible, try to rope Kieran into that person’s little group.

Kieran did pick up the footsteps wandering around the cabin area before the person with the rude remarks was thrown into the sea, though he didn’t care too much about it.

The way the footsteps were walking didn’t sound like it was for sightseeing.

If it wasn’t for the little fiasco with the person getting thrown off, the footsteps owner would have already knocked at Kieran’s door.

Kieran was ready to reject politely at the visit since it contained tons of other probing intentions of him but when he thought that he might need more informations about the current situation, he ended up allowing the person in.

Tssk Grak!

After the slight friction of the cabin door, a young man walked in.

Around late twenties of age but there was already a thin layer of beard around his face, though it didn’t make him look dirty, in fact it was neat like his combed hair.

”Good day sir, I am Azinder and you are…? Oh, okay, so did you heard about that little commotion that happened back there?”

Azinder introduced himself politely with a smile and questioned Kieran but when he noticed Kieran has no intentions of replying, he continued directly.

There was no awkwardness amidst the slight pause, which made Kieran size him up.

He looked resourceful, seemingly reliable and quite good at socializing, just like how he presented himself a moment ago.

”Mmm!” Kieran nodded.

”It seems like we are in trouble. The fellow that was thrown into the sea was not just some John Doe in the Northern Islands, yet the captain killed him off with one strike from his blade. The blade was drawn so fast that I didn’t even see anything and the next thing I knew, that fellow’s head was sliced off!”

Azinder started to describe the previous commotion vividly and even made postures to show the actions at that particular moment.

Kieran stared at him in silence, waiting for him to spill his true intentions.

After blabbering for four to five minutes, Azinder finally cut to the point.

”We need to stand united now, or else we might be finished before we even reach Final Island! I suppose that you are also here for the Sanctuary Trials right? If that’s the case, we need to stand together even more! There is something wrong with the trials this time around, that captain and a couple of his crew certainly are here to cause damage! If we can stop them, the overseer from the Sanctuary will look at us in a different way! Then we might be able to pass the trials easily!”

”What do you say? Want to join us?” Azinder then extended his hand for a shake, but Kieran shook his head.

It was not because of Azinder was there because of the Sanctuary Trials, there was nothing doubtful about that. Even if Boller didn’t tell him everything in detail, Kieran knew that the trials wouldn’t open up for just him alone.

It will definitely open up after a certain number of candidates were accumulated, or the trials were opened at a specific time, attracting more trial contenders.

Whether was it the former or latter, the candidates number was the key factor.

Another simple theory was, if there wasn’t any people around, how could the Sanctuary last for 1,500 years without any disruption in their traditions and inheritance throughout the period?

The reason Kieran rejected it was that he had the lesson of teaming up with people that he was not familiar with. It made him clear on what choices he should make at that moment. No matter how alluring Azinder made it sound, the outcome will be the same.

”No thanks, I’m better of alone.” Kieran said.

”Is that so? Well then, it’s such a pity! I really hope that you can join us… I am at the cabin at the end of this corridor, should you change your mind, please do drop by for a visit! Though, time is limited, so be fast before we make our move!” Azinder then said his goodbyes and went off.

Keiran raised a brow at the shut door.

Kieran had to admit that, Azinder did gave out an impressive presentation from start to finish . He was polite and well mannered. Even when he was rejected by Kieran, he didn’t show any dissatisfaction but it felt unreal to Kieran. It felt like he was watching a theatre play, regardless of how real the acting was on stage, the audience below knew it was all an act.

”Hidden agendas?”

Kieran laughed softly and continued his plans of practicing [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

He didn’t plan to mess up his plans because of Azinder’s appearance. To Kieran, Azinder was not important enough to force Kieran to change.

It was getting late into the night.

The pure moonlight was shining on the ice on the sea. A slight white glow reflected from the surface, forming the scenery totally different from the day or the tropical sea.

It was not as far as alluring, causing one to forget to return however. After all the temperature was very unforgiving yet even one who was afraid of the cold would admit, the place was very peaceful.

Peaceful scenes tend to make one’s mind more focused.. Just like that, Kieran, entered the special state once more while practicing the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] that he rarely got into.

Other than relying on the system leveling and the warm stream circulating, it was the second time Kieran entered the training state by himself.

Kieran tried his best in relaxing, giving his best effort to experience the current state that he was in, he wanted to carve the feeling into his mind.

However, similar to the previous time, Kieran exited the training state soon after.

[Through practicing, Master level Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art acquired a decent amount of experience, leveling cost decreased by 500 Points…]

The results on the notifications was far from delightful. Kieran’s focus was placed on how he would enter the training state again.

”Is it the focusing problem? Or the current environment?” Kieran guessed but he wasn’t sure of any of it.

For the focus part, every time he practiced the skill, he would discard all the lingering, useless thoughts and placed himself in a state of utmost focus.

As for the environment, the last time he entered the training state, it was in his old broken garage. There was nothing in common with the current icy field that he was in.

”Is there something more that I haven’t discover?” Kieran recalled the scenes, trying to come up with a comparison.

However…

Aaaaaa!

A loud scream broke the silence of the cold night.

Kieran sitting in his wooden hammock could clearly hear the noise of swords clanging, blood splashing and bodies being thrown into the icy sea.

The battle didn’t last for long though, at most four to five minutes before it stopped.

Then, Kieran picked up series of heavy footsteps.

The owner of the footsteps arrived at Kieran’s cabin door and kicked it down without any sense of courtesy. The person barged in with a long knife stained with blood, one of his hands was holding a head.

Although the head was in pain and couldn’t hide the fear and twisted expression before it died, but Kieran could tell with one glance that it was Azinder’s head.

”This guy said before he died that you are his comrades?”

The man threw Azinder’s head at Kieran’s feet, emphasizing each and every word.