The Devil’s Cage

With his favourite books on his back, the God of Knowledge from Gordor happily walked on a forest path.

Although it was hard for him to leave Gordor Land behind, once he thought about getting away from that monstrous demigod, he was actually quite glad.

He didn’t want to end up in the monster’s stomach. The hungry clone of the demigod looked at him like it was looking at some delicious food! The God of Knowledge was utterly sure of it!

“Where did such a monster come from? I don’t think Hero Algor from 300 years ago is comparable to him, is he?”

Whenever he thought about Hero Algor from 300 years ago, the God of Knowledge couldn’t help but feel melancholy.

He was utterly sure something had happened back then, but he couldn’t find out what exactly.

Even more so, he had been affected by that particular incident for all this time. It forbade him from absorbing faith from his believers to perfect himself, like how the other Gods did, leaving him to slowly absorb fierce and violent feelings in order to prolong his life.

Now, his only method of prolonging his life was cut off by that monstrous demigod.

Fortunately, the ‘energy’ that he had saved up all these years would be enough for him to live very long, even for a God.

The God of Knowledge also believed the monstrous demigod would leave Gordor soon, and then he could return to his homeland.

If the demigod could help him recover the lost memories from 300 years ago along the way, it would be a nice surprise.

Should that happen, it was possible for him, the God of Knowledge, to become the demigod’s follower, at least if the demigod was powerful enough.

For a ‘False God’ like him, with only a handful of battle experience, the monstrous demigod would be decent support.

After reading countless books, the God of Knowledge perfectly understood the saying ‘give and take’.

Of course, that would be a matter for another time.

Now? He had zero intention of being involved in that kind of life-threatening trouble.

From the moment he came to this earth, he understood how a God like him would be able to survive, just like what he was doing right now.

Following the memories in his mind, the God of Knowledge turned over obstacle after obstacle and reached a giant walnut tree.

Dok Dok Dok!

“Owner of the walnut tree, please don’t mind this abrupt visit!”

A rhythmic knock later, the God of Knowledge spoke in a respectful manner.

He didn’t just greet the tree, he even placed a book on the bulging spot of the roots.

After he saw the book vanish swiftly, the God of Knowledge couldn’t help but smile.

The owner of the walnut tree was the God of the forest, a true God that could absorb the Power of Faith to perfect itself.

The owner of the walnut tree protected all life in the forest, and at the same time provided protection to travellers, with conditions of course.

Quietly, a door formed on the trunks of the walnut tree.

“Come in, old book.”

An old voice sounded from inside the tree.

The God of Knowledge smiled and walked inside.

Inside the walnut tree was a round room with many wooden tables and chairs. Vines fell down from the ceiling and a window was on the wall, providing a clear view of the forest outside.

An elderly man, whose long beard touched the floor, was standing in the middle of the room.

Compared to the long-bearded elderly in a gray robe, the God of Knowledge’s white hair and beard look unusually young.

“It’s been a while, owner of the walnut tree.”

The God of Knowledge didn’t mind the owner calling him an ‘old book’, greeting the owner with a smile.

“It has been 130 years. The last time you paid me a visit was because you stepped on the tail of that ‘Darkness Visitor’. What will it be this time?” the owner of the walnut tree asked with his heavily-lidded eyes.

The owner already had wrinkles all over his face, his eyelids overlapping, making his face look like an old, dry, tree skin. The owner indeed look like an old tree who might die at any second.

“A demigod,” God of Knowledge answered honestly.

It was a fact that Kieran was considered a ‘demigod’, the God of Knowledge didn’t lie and didn’t want to lie.

“A demigod?” the owner’s wrinkles wriggled a bit, his tone dubious.

“Em. A demigod who is a little too powerful,” God of Knowledge added with a nod.

“You really don’t improve at all. You, a God, are afraid of a demigod? No matter how powerful he is, he is nothing but a demigod!” the owner grunted angrily.

The owner had prepared many words to talk some sense into the God of Knowledge but before he could continue, the whole tree house shook.

“Huh? He followed you here based on your scent?” the owner jolted for a moment and smiled.

The owner then turned around and looked at the nervous God of Knowledge.

“Since I’ve accepted your offerings, I will of course guarantee you safety…” the owner comforted the God of Knowledge but before he could finish his words, the tree house shook again.

At the same time, some heavy noises echoed around the room; the vines hanging from the ceiling were waving, as if the whole tree house was collapsing.

The owner’s heavy eyelids twitched along with the waving vines on his ceiling.

“You really think that I am the same as old book over here?”

Angered, the owner stomped his foot.

Immediately, the shaking stopped and the owner showed a confident smile.

He turned back to the God of Knowledge again.

“He is just a demigod… aaaaaarh! Damn it! Let go of my leg!”

Amid his painful screams, a formless mouth somehow appeared inside the tree house and bit the owner on the ankle of the foot that he just stomped.

The formless mouth even started to suck, other than a mere bite.

The ankle rapidly dried up as the biting and sucking got even more furious, spreading to his whole leg.

Gachak!

Without a second thought, the owner broke his leg with a furious punch. He knew if the formless mouth kept sucking on his ankle, he would be sucked dry but the pain of breaking his leg caused him to cry out in pain again.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Amid his painful cry, the vines hanging on his ceiling suddenly extended and grew thicker, throwing themselves towards the formless mouth, trying to whip it.

However, when the vines got close to the mouth, they were sucked in, uprooted instantly.

A colorful spider, as big as a human face, crawled out from the ground and spat its poisonous web at the formless mouth after the vine attacks.

Similar to the vines, the formless mouth ate everything like it was eating a big bowl of noodles; the colorful spider was eaten like a big meatball, loud crunches sounding from the mouth and juice dripping out from the corner of its mouth.

Another eye-catching red and green little frog, the size of a pinky finger, appeared on the owner’s shoulder. It inflated its throat and croaked loudly, so loud that it sounded like a clap of thunder, but it only sounded like that the first time.

When the little frog tried to croak for a second time, it became much softer.

It wasn’t the frog’s problem but it was also eaten by the mouth and with the limited space squeezing the inflating throat, the croaks sounded a lot softer.

After the vines, the spider, and the frog were eaten, the owner of the walnut tree stopped his painful screaming.

He widened his eyes and the wrinkles on his face shook as he twitched out of anger.

Then, he waved his hand and the God of Knowledge beside him vanished.

A dizzy scene later, the God of Knowledge got back on his feet, realizing he was outside the walnut tree.

“Owner of the walnut tree, how can you break your promise, you’ve accepted my offering…”

Pak!

A book fell from the sky and onto the God of Knowledge’s head, stopping his words right away.

More importantly, the God of Knowledge saw the black figure walking towards him.

“I-It’s been awhile Lord Ryan! I-It’s my pleasure to be able to see you again! What do you need of me? I will service you with my best efforts!”

When that cold, dull gaze caught God of Knowledge, he quickly crawled on the ground and cried out loudly.