The Devil’s Cage

The sound of the sheathing sword echoed in the hall, the sun from the opening above bedazzling Kat Lady and the others for a while.

The hall was 100 meters underground and Kieran had broken through it with just one slash?

The Knight and Weapon Master looked at each other.

They had heard about Kieran winning against Grudge Dragon, Death Knell and Mr. Ghost. The title given to him—Glutton Emperor—symbolized his absurd power but to what extent, the two elderly heroes had no clue until now, everything painted clearly in their minds.

After the slash, Kieran’s breathing did not change, meaning the slash was an easy one, something that he could perform with a flip of his hand.

Once the thought entered their mind, the Knight and Weapon Master added a sense of astonishment in their eyes for Kieran.

The two elderly heroes knew what the slash represented: power that surpassed even Drexton, the Fist of Justice—without limit!

Drexton was undoubtedly powerful when his feet were on the ground. He wasn’t just invincible, he even possessed tremendous strength. But once his feet were off the ground, his powers would be greatly halved, so the smarter villains knew how to deal with Drexton.

However, Kieran was different, because other than a great appetite, he did not display any kind of weakness.

Delight appeared on the Knight and Weapon Master’s face. They could already picture how strong the Hero Alliance would bvecome.

Compared to the myriad of thoughts Knight and Weapon Master had, Kat Lady, Machinist, and Fortress were simpler.

They were dumbstruck and rendered speechless.

As for Drexton?

The Fist of Justice did not feel frustrated at all for Kieran overtaking him, he felt only joy, grateful that Kieran was on their side.

“A beautiful slash!” said Drexton, “Now it’s my turn.”

Drexton was eager to fight after praising Kieran. Their escape was secured but the army of skeletons were closing in, so someone would have to fend them off.

“No, Drexton. Your battle is up there,” Kieran pointed at the surface. Drexton was stunned.

“You didn’t think the setup here was just a coincidence, right?” Kieran asked.

“When Grudge Dragon occupied Smorewill Street, he did not discover this historical remains and after he is defeated, the remains just pop up? Plus that strange looking bastard… You really think all this is just coincidence? Don’t forget about the explosion earlier in the day!” Kieran emphasized.

Drexton frowned.

“You are saying… 2567, I’ll leave this to you. Kat Lady will be your contact from the surface; the others come with me!” Drexton made a quick decision.

Although there were a myriad of moving skeletons in the remains, there were only three exits in total and the space was limited. Kieran alone should be enough to fend them off.

Drexton believed with Kieran’s strength, he could easily deal with the rusty bones, but Alkender City was different. Alkender City was big and once it was under attack, Kieran alone might not be able to do much. He couldn’t be everywhere at once, requiring at least 3-4 more heroes to aid him in defending the city against potential enemies.

Drexton led the group away.

Kat Lady didn’t follow right away though, staring at Kieran and sizing him up with a never before seen gaze.

As a matter of fact, after Kieran performed that absurd slash, Kat Lady’s eyes had never left Kieran’s… waist.

Her gaze felt so sharp that it almost pierce the feather mantle and exposed [Extreme Night].

“What is that meow?” Kat Lady got close to Kieran, pushing her face against Kieran’s arm and acting like a spoiled kitty.

“A weapon,” Kieran replied briefly.

“Can you let meow see it? I’ll let you pet meow’s head in exchange! You already missed the chance earlier, don’t miss it a sec-… MEOW MEOOOOW!”

Before Kat Lady even finished, Kieran grabbed the back of her neck and threw her up to the opening.

After some irritating meowing, Kat Lady finally reached the surface.

A cat is something magical because whether you are rich or poor, it will always look down on you.

Occupying your sofa, bed, or stool as their own turf, using your pillow and cushion as claw grinders. There was only one reason a cat gets close to you on its own: it’s hungry and nothing else.

Does it feel bored and wants to play?

What a joke. A cat is happier when it is playing on its own than playing with you.

Kat Lady, who possessed the exact characteristic of a cat, had other motives when she got close to Kieran, she wasn’t hungry but she wanted [Extreme Night].

Kieran had no idea how Kat Lady knew [Extreme Night] was special but it didn’t stop him from rejecting her.

Although he wasn’t a swordsman who viewed his sword as his own life, he knew he should never lend his weapon to someone else, especially to a dirty cat person.

Kieran didn’t want anything to happen to [Extreme Night], which he spent a huge amount of effort and a fortune to fix.

The other point was, Kieran didn’t want anyone else to pay attention to the upcoming battle due to his Intuition picking up a very special presence among the skeletons.

…

“What monster is this? He is exactly like the direct descendants of those monsters! Impossible! The direct descendants are extinct! A mutation! It must be a mutation! Damn it! Why do I have to run into some mutated monster! This should be a rare chance for me to escape this hell hole but now it’s become an escape for my life? Damn it! I will not accept this! I will not!”

A skeleton among the tens of thousands jumped up and down nervously. It looked no different than the other skeletons and with its intentional cover, its soul fire was very similar also. In simple words, it was hard for people to tell apart this particular skeleton from the others.

Especially when this skeleton mimicked the other’s way of walking, behaving exactly the same, but deep in its heart—if it had one—it was rumbling with anxiety. It knew how scary those mutated monsters were.

Even if the monster wasn’t a mutated version of the direct descendant, reaching similar levels was already too overwhelming for it, it was something it could not afford to step on.

Its only hope now was to pray for the monster to have a weak perception and neglect his existence.

But… it soon realized it was naive.

Kabooom!

A blazing flame wave drowned all the skeletons like the rising tide, the skeletons, which were supposed to be as hard as iron, were melted right away, except for that particular skeleton.

What frightened the skeleton further was the monster had no intention to stop. The flame that it feared was fired out like a machine gun, relentlessly and swiftly engulfing the entire hall.

The disguise it relied on to cover its presence was gone in a second.

The monster looked at itself with a plain yet pressuring gaze.

The pressure from the gaze made its soul fire jump violently, the power that the soul fire covered up exposed.

Gak Gak Tss!

The skeleton exterior slowly cracked and crumbled into pieces, revealing a green, lizard-like strange monster in Kieran’s sight.

It looked exactly like the one earlier but something was different.

The previous one obviously possessed minimal intellect, it was only slightly smarter than its own animal self and its body was also stronger. This one, who broke out from the skeleton disguise, was obviously weaker, its body looking like it was suffering from rickets but its eyes were glimmering with intellect.

Regaining its original form, the lizard humanoid stood still and blank, thinking about how it should escape from the sticky situation.

Fight?

Not even possible! The younger junior who was stronger than itself died so easily under the monster’s hand, it knew what happened and it didn’t want to be eaten.

More so, that slash the black monster performed had frightened it to its core. Even back in its era, such a powerful slash was a symbol of absolute power.

Since it couldn’t engage heads on, it had only one option left…

Pak!

The lizard humanoid got down on its knees and hands in the air, trying to express that it was harmless.

“My lord, I am just an old dying interrogator! I’ve abandoned my interrogation tools and am living on a thread here. Please spare me!”

“What is this place?” Kieran asked.

“This is the outpost of Almendra, it is occupied by the 7th battalion of the 5th armada,” the old lizard humanoid answered honestly.

“The 5th armada? The skeletons just now? What happened here?” Kieran continued asking.

This time, the old lizard seemed a little reluctant to reply, but it soon complied and answered, “Yes, the skeletons are the soldiers of the 5th armada and all of them died because of an accident. I lost most of my powers in that accident.”

“What accident?” Kieran asked.

“The Black Calamity!”

The old lizard looked scared and when the fear troubled its mind, Kieran subtly scanned over the flight of stairs in the hall, which was obviously leading upwards.

The fear in the old lizard’s heart made it neglect Kieran’s little action but it felt something was coming closer.

“Black Calamity! It’s the Black Calamity! It’s coming! Why is it still here?!” The old lizard screamed in fear and confusion.

As he screamed out of fear and confusion, his green body was getting nibbled away, bit by bit, by the darkness, no doubt a painful process.

Its eyes pleaded with Kieran, wanting him to kill it and release it from its suffering.

Kieran, however, was unmoved. He watched his green body be nibbled away little by little, until only its head was left.

The head didn’t fall to the ground though, it hovered in mid-air and Kieran looked into its eyes.

His eyes weren’t pressuring, weren’t blank and cold but he was looking at the head with great interest, trying to find out what he was looking at. Through [Tracking], Kieran saw a layer of supernatural darkness, similar to the previous one, covering its body and making it look like its body was nibbled away.

But this supernatural darkness was much smarter than the previous one.

It didn’t just hide its dark color, its coldness was removed as well.

“How did you notice the Black Calamity?! Does your mutation grant you interrogator’s abilities? Impossible! Those crazy men would never succeed! The interrogators are unique, it’s a gift from the gods, it’s…”

The old lizard suddenly shouted furiously under Kieran’s watch, very agitated. It turned around and ran for it.

It seemed like the nibbling scene was also a disguise, without question.

The moment the old lizard turned around, the furious look on its face was gone, leaving him with a calm and cunning face.

As an interrogator, it always believed in alternatives. If it couldn’t win a battle heads on, it must win by using its mind!

As long as its scheme worked, no matter how powerful the enemy, they would fall before it, similar to the countless times before this! This time would not be an exception either!

‘If I can lure this monster there… Victory will be mine!’

The old lizard was confident but at the next moment…

Ssssss!

Snake?!

When the snake hiss sounded, the old lizard froze because as lizards, it had a natural fear towards snakes, especially this kind, with giant black bodies as thick as water barrels. The snakes were a dozen meters long, with horns as sharp as spears and 4 fangs as sharp as blades.

The old lizard was horrified when it saw the snakes.

Not only its body but its mind was also frozen and under such condition, the old lizard seemed like it was freed from some kind of control.

‘What is this?

How did it happen?

I just want to escape quietly! How did it turn into a battle?

Black Calamity!’

Only the Black Calamity could subtly affect its mind and alter it. Only the Black Calamity!

The answer came into its mind right away and it felt even more terrified.

It pleaded loudly, “Spare me! Please spare me! I don’t want to…”

Tssss!

Before the terrified lizard finished, it was vaporized.

It transformed into the supernatural darkness with the chilly aura and flew towards the flight of stairs leading upwards like swallows returning to their nest.

As the supernatural darkness entered the stairs, it triggered some sort of chain reaction and more supernatural darkness came out.

The cold aura caused the temperature in the hall to plummet.

A common man would freeze instantly but not Kieran.

Quite the opposite, because as the thick darkness appeared, Kieran picked up a rich cocoa scent, as if an underground fountain of cocoa was dug up and spraying out hot cocoa endlessly.

Gulp Gulp!

Unable to resist, Gluttony climbed out from Kieran’s shadow, standing beside Kieran, the rumbling noise from its hungry stomach relentless. The endless swallowing of saliva was like flowing stream, murmuring softly but consistently.

However, Gluttony did not jump on the darkness, looking at its elder brother with pleading eyes.

Kieran was unmoved by Gluttony’s puppy eyes but he explained, which was very rare of him.

“Do you know the trap to catch a bird?”