The Devil’s Cage

A stinging sensation came from the back of his right hand.

Kieran pulled the tip of his glove and saw clearly another unusual layer of red around the scarlet red tattoo.

A circle formed outside the strange smiley face but its irregular shape and connection made it look extremely abstract.

Kieran couldn’t tell what it was. It was as if the tattoo was some messy drawing on a piece of paper that was crumpled up multiple times and eventually opened after a thrashing.

”Should I search for clues?” Kieran wondered with a furrowed brows.

Not only were the clues too abstract to begin with, it was also because he has no intention to look for the unknown. However, his logic told him that. If he wanted to claim the initiative, he had to locate these people fast.

The ”man” that the mysterious smiley face party sent out just now was not only powerful and possessed unusual skill sets. Kieran could also feel that the ”man” had everything under control and had intimidating pressure!

If the smiley face people wanted Kieran to be nervous, Kieran had to admit that they succeeded. However, to rely on such a level of threat to force him into compliance?

Kieran laughed coldly in his heart.

He then crawled up from the ground and shook his head ceaselessly, trying to clear his head before heading towards Allen.

”I think we should have a talk somewhere else.”

Kieran said and then headed straight back into the inner city area.

Allen followed up quickly.

Questions? Allen wouldn’t want himself to hit a snub. He was considered a lunatic by others but it didn’t mean he was an idiot.

...

Wallway 13th, Kieran’s game lobby.

Lawless was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the pillar, smoking a cigar in his mouth, and spitting out clouds of smoke. Lawless cleared his ears for what Kieran had to say.

”Allen has basically agreed to our direction of cooperation! The thing that we need to do is lend our hand when we are needed. He doesn’t have a lot of top-tier battle capabilities with him, even though he has a lot of veterans around him.”

Kieran shrugged after he delivered the brief results of the meeting.

Not all the players, even veterans, were like Kieran, desperately entering dungeons once the cooldown was reset and going as far as using a [Cool Down Reset Card] to hasten his progress.

Most of the common players waited until the final deadline before they chose to enter the dungeon world.

A minority of the risk-taking players would be more adventurous but none were definitely on par with Kieran.

Even if there was a handful of players who were as desperate as he was, they weren’t as lucky as him either like Lawless!

Kieran didn’t even ask for details but from the usual nagging, Kieran felt that Lawless was very unhappy every time he entered a dungeon world.

A fully equipped firearms set was forbidden by the system as well as the act of sending him to fight laser-based weaponry with swords and blades.

The sole thought of it could send Kieran in a state of sorrow. So, Kieran knew he had to try his best to not pick on Lawless’s wounds.

”Broker really is a genius! He went as far as creating his own industrial chain in the game for himself! No wonder that fella never lacked Points!” Lawless exclaimed after a smoke cloud.

What was the best way to earn Points and Skill Points?

Raise one’s dungeon rating as high as possible? Or sell as many pieces of equipment and items as possible?

Wrong!

The most lucrative way to get Points and Skill Points was Broker’s method, forming an industrial chain from top to bottom and operating his chain in a monopolized way to earn a substantial amount of Points.

Lawless could guess that Broker’s daily earnings were astronomical figures. However, he was more concerned about another matter.

”The attack that appeared later. Was it one of Broker’s?” Lawless asked.

”You remember this?” Kieran took off his glove, revealing a strange smiley face tattoo on his right hand to Lawless.

As a friend, Kieran wouldn’t hide certain secret matters to Lawless anymore, especially when Lawless’s help was desperately needed.

”This is what you mentioned before?”

Kieran nodded to Lawless’s question and repeated the story all over again.

Lawless looked at the tattoo on Kieran’s hand. His face turned heavy as he listened to Kieran’s story.

Lawless indeed knew about that strange eagle and ball of paper but what happened after that was not what he expected.

”The fellas I know that can create that kind of ice are only, ”The Frost Force”, ”Subzero Ender”, and ”Universal Freeze”. But I don’t know anyone who has that kind of clone creating ability, none! Let alone the ability to invade a player’s room!”

”Though maybe they did hide some aces under their sleeves and maybe it’s some new hidden players! Damn it! Other than Extremus and his gang, now many hidden players are there in the game?” Lawless cursed.

Lawless wasn’t concern about the hidden players because, in a certain aspect, he was also a hidden player himself.

As a hitman in real life, some of his habits have been branded in his DNA. That was why he knew how terrifying those hidden players could be.

Some hidden players who hid in the shadows and had hidden agendas with them were like venomous snakes in hiding. A slight misstep was going to be fatal, let alone the venomous snake now presented itself with unparalleled power.

”Don’t worry. I’ll go take a look!” Lawless said quickly as he wanted to leave quickly.

Obviously, Kieran being in danger made him anxious as well. He didn’t want to waste another moment waiting for results, but Kieran held him back.

”Are you comforting me now? Come on, the things that I’ve been through in the dungeon world has made me used to all kinds of threats. As long as I treat the time here like another dungeon world, I don’t think I can’t fit myself in! Let alone I still have an absolute safehouse here! Although they presented the abilities to invade this place, I believe that was the best they could do. It’s impossible for them to truly hurt me in here.”

Kieran pointed at the room that they were in.

Lawless was stunned by Kieran’s words before he gave a bitter smile.

”Damn it, it’s all too real! I think I will mix up the game and reality soon! Bunch of motherf*ckers!”

Lawless cursed silently and sat back down.

”As long as you don’t turn into Allen, I don’t think there’s any problem. As for that Allen guy… He is much smarter and vigilant than the rumour says, even though he presented himself like a lunatic!” Kieran commented.

It was not the first time he commented on Allen’s character. He previously rated Allen twice before and the fact that it made him comment for the third time meant that the Blood Alliance’s leader had made quite an impression in Kieran’s mind.

”He was able to outlive everyone else in resisting Broker and kept causing damage to Broker’s operations. How could that guy be a lunatic? In fact, a lot of the players think that if Allen didn’t spend all his time fighting Broker, he might have already ascended to the ranks of Supernovas!”

Lawless spilled the rumors going through the veterans.

Of course, the following rumours weren’t just about Allen. As if Lawless has activated his natural chatbox, his nagging attribute was increased to the max, a point where even Kieran’s face started to turn weird.

Kieran kept quiet and Lawless would talk. Kieran talked and Lawless would talk after, ten times more even!

Wung Wung Wung!

The amount of talking from Lawless was like a fly circulating in Kieran’s mind, allowing him to understand that it was a dangerous thing to do by inviting Lawless into his room.

So, when his message tab suddenly rung, Kieran was eager to open it up.

It was from Blacksmith and when Kieran saw what the PM was about, his eyes lighted up.

The grumpy and depressed feeling was all swept away in an instant.