The Devil’s Cage

After the male servants formed the human wall, the person behind them, the masked man, sat down, leaning on the wall. His legs twisted in an abnormal way, and because of the mask, the expression on his face was unclear.

It seemed like the masked man’s body, which died in the explosion, wasn’t the real one, but actually one of the male servants’.

Kieran was quite sure based on the number of servants forming the human wall.

The other thing that Kieran was certain of was this: the masked man’s injury seemed to be much more severe than his.

However, the masked man still had absolute advantage over Kieran, whether in terms of manpower or… weaponry!

Unlike the male servants, who were armed with swords and knives, the masked man had all sorts of firearms around him, from the common handgun to the highly destructive assault rifle.

When the masked man picked up the assault rifle, Kieran retreated right away.

He didn’t want to get ganged up on by a group of men while having to pay attention to a firing assault rifle.

Bang!

After successful dodging and kicking away another dead body flying towards him, Kieran was surrounded by the male servants.

The male servants were as cold as robots as they raised their weapons and attacked Kieran.

All their weapons were one-sided swords and knives, and when they were swung down, a unique, metallic, air-breaking sound followed.

However, the series of metallic, air-breaking sounds were overpowered by the sounds of heavy hitting.

Bang!

A heavy hit later, Kieran landed a kick on the first male servant in front of him. He also used the motion to push himself backwards, throwing himself at another male servant behind him.

Bang!

Kieran’s firm back smashed the male servant behind him after the kick; clear bone-cracking followed right after the crash. The male servant couldn’t help faltering backwards, but Kieran managed to grab the male servant’s hands with his intact left hand, thus swinging the male servant around with all his might.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The male servant kept crashing into his fellow servants with Kieran’s furious wielding, and at the same time, the swords and knives landed on the male servant’s body, blocking all the attacks for Kieran.

Finally, when Kieran let go of the male servant, the body that had suffered multiple slashes was out of breath long ago.

While that was happening, the first male servant that Kieran kicked climbed back up, but was welcomed by a flying dead body.

Bang!

The man and the dead body collided and tumbled to the ground like a rolling gourd.

The other three male servants didn’t care about their fellow mates; after reacting to the attack, they charged towards Kieran again. He was faster though.

His handgun slid behind his pants, and his left hand managed to grab ahold of a male servant’s fallen sword.

Although Kieran didn’t have the corresponding sword skills, it didn’t mean that he didn’t know how to use a sword.

The similarities between Sharp Weapon skills and its wielding techniques plus Kieran’s Strength and Agility, which were at the peak performance of a commoner, along with his outstanding Constitution were enough for Kieran to handle the situation at hand.

Wung! Pum!

With a sharp, air-breaking sound, the sword swung down from a diagonal direction with Kieran’s leap, and the male servant who charged the fastest had half of his body sliced off.

As blood sprayed, Kieran leapt over the body and twisted his left wrist, performing a second slash at the second male servant behind the first. Similar to the first, the second male servant was sliced in half as well.

Kieran’s step utilized the motion of the slash and circled his body around, the sword in his hand swinging along with the circular motion.

This third slash was faster and sharper.

The sword glared, and a head flew up.

When Kieran stabbed the last male servant that struggled to climb up from the floor, the dead body finally stopped struggling and died on the floor quietly.

Huu, Huu!

With slightly heavy breaths, Kieran picked up his sword and sliced off the heads and limbs of all the servants he killed.

The safest people were dead people, but it wasn’t applicable here since they could come back to life.

Finally, after Kieran dealt with all the dead bodies that might come back to life, including the masked man’s, the whole ruined hall eventually quieted down.

Kieran once again headed towards the door, but before he could approach his destination, guns fired.

Dak Dak Dak.

A machine gun swept the place. The door was showered with bullet rain, causing pebbles and debris to fly around.

The gunfire lasted for many seconds before it paused, followed by the sound of reloading. Kieran didn’t move; instead, he picked up a stone and threw it towards the origin of the gunfire.

Dak Dak Dak!

The machine gun fired again, sweeping the place, including the hurled stone.

It seemed like the masked man was dual-wielding while reloading with a single hand.

“It’s useless! You can’t get close to me like this! Of course, you can wait for the police to arrive, but… Do you think the police is faster or the men I’ve prepared?”

A deep voice came from the end of the corridor beyond the door. The man’s tone sounded steady; it seemed like he wasn’t trembling because of the pain.

The sneers he hid between the lines were obvious too, and they grew denser by the second.

“Or do you think you can fight alone against a trained mercenary armed with heavy artillery? I know your strength is beyond what was expected, but that’s it! It’s over, everything is over! The ‘mystical’ age has fallen! The remnants of the past will perish under the merciless fire of the bullets! Including… you, the shaman!”

The man spoke in a decisive tone as if he was certain of victory in this situation.

Kieran stood in a blind spot where the masked man couldn’t fire and showed a strange smile on his face.

“So… Are you waiting for me to show my ace card? Are you waiting for me to use ‘reverse energy’ to save myself from this sticky situation?” Kieran said calmly.

“What ‘reverse energy? What are you talking about?” the masked man asked out of confusion.

“Of course, I am saying this world has changed because of ‘your’ intervention. In this world, my body is weak, my items are sealed and my companions aren’t allowed to follow. What a terrible start.

“Fortunately, a friend… an acquaintance of mine helped me. She wanted to try her very best to help me turn around this situation, thus she crafted the ‘Reverse Bracelet’. But everything that is happening is within ‘your’ calculation, and ‘you’ didn’t stop it because it benefits ‘you’.” Kieran paused for a while before continuing.

“If I ‘turnaround’ all this, I will be breaking the ‘protective shield’ the ‘big city’ provided for me. ‘You’ must be weaker than me because of ‘your’ extra intervention, so you need to ‘turnaround’ all this more than me, but ‘you’ can’t do it, so your only option is to rely on me! Rely on me, who is still protected by the system, to use my strength to free ‘you’ of your bindings!”

When Kieran’s voice stopped, the hall fell into silence.

Two seconds later, the voice of the masked man came from the door again.

“How did you know? I was very sure that I didn’t show any flaws or mistakes! Everything seemed so reasonable!” The masked man’s voice sounded deeper.

Kieran laughed.

“Coincidence! It was too coincidental! I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in coincidences, especially those created by someone else!” Kieran emphasized each and every word.