The Devil’s Cage

Why Royan?

How could it be Royan?

Lucan and Pangnard looked at the person that walked out from the dark and made the minotaur and horseman submit to him in disbelief.

They never thought it would be Royan.

Their brains went blank when they saw Kieran.

Until Kieran left with the two monsters, both of them finally came back to their senses.

“W-Wait!” Lucan called out loud.

Kieran didn’t stop.

To Kieran, neither Lucan and Pangnard were worthy to make him stop.

Kieran continued forward. Lucan was scratching his head anxiously but he didn’t know what to say.

Pangnard then spoke on behalf of him, “Do you want to get more treasures? Bring us along! We can help you!”

The coastal area representative spoke with respect and humbleness. He knew what attitude he should put on when begging, let alone he was begging a powerful human… Inhuman like Kieran!

That’s right! An Inhuman!

A person as powerful as Kieran must be an Inhuman!

Why would he be assigned to the human campsite anyway?

Doubts appeared, one after another, in his heart, but Pangnard didn’t show anything on his face.

Everyone had their own secrets and prying too much would kill them.

“Help me?” Kieran turned around at Pangnard.

“Em. Help, this is my talent! I can sense the presence of treasure and he can become the last line of defense. We can not only help you in pathfinding, we can also save your precious time!” Pangnard said seriously.

He didn’t mind revealing his talent to Kieran.

He might be protective of his talent during normal times, against other competitors, he would never reveal it, but now? It wasn’t necessary.

He could sense the treasure’s presence but at the same time, he also knew they were guarded by monsters and there were some other dangerous presence that he couldn’t pick up.

Especially the last point, every single one of them would be some fearsome existence.

Being in the middle of this battlefield, the danger level was unimaginable.

“Oh,” Kieran nodded without any comments.

Pangnard immediately understood what Kieran meant, he said “There’s a wooden treasure box around 500 meters ahead, there’s another at the right side 700 meters in front…”

Based on what he had gathered, Pangnard had categorized the boxes.

Kieran didn’t say anything.

He looked at the minotaur and horseman.

He spent a great amount of effort to tame these two monsters, who obviously had extremely high intellect and it wasn’t just for fun or to make him look good. He took the two monsters in because he wanted to have a clear picture of the underground.

When he made up his mind to venture underground, he already knew what to expect and what he would run into but when Kieran finally arrived, he realized he took it too lightly.

The underground of the city wasn’t a simple sewer system anymore, but a true underground city.

It wasn’t just huge, its terrain was extremely complicated too.

The ‘paths’ opened up by the monsters were all random, they simply dug holes and excavated paths wherever they preferred. The end of a passage might be a dead end but making a turn at a rocky path might end up in a broad street.

Kieran did try to explore the underground himself but the randomness of the passage and tunnels were too much for him. After running into multiple dead ends, Kieran gave up on trying his luck, hence he got himself a ‘guide’.

Among the monsters, the horseman that had a strong presence eventually became Kieran’s target.

After he left Paladia behind, Kieran had been chasing the horseman.

As for the minotaur? It was just something extra.

Two guides were better than one, that’s what Kieran thought.

However, after he saw the minotaur and horseman nod to acknowledge Pangnard’s words, it seemed like the extra gain was the Herder representing the coastal area.

What would be better than a map in an unfamiliar and complicated place?

Two maps and a treasure finder!

Of course, a sturdy pathfinder was also quite okay.

Kieran commented on Lucan after a quick glance over him.

“Lead the way,” Kieran said.

“My pleasure,” Pangnard smiled and grabbed Lucan to the front of the group.

Lucan didn’t say anything or disagree, the Northerners were stubborn but they weren’t stupid and took things for granted.

He knew why Pangnard did what he did: to keep his own hidden talent under wraps!

This was a huge favour and a Northerner would return the favour whenever possible!

Therefore, after the group continued onwards, Lucan gradually recovered with the help of the potions, he then charged further ahead to open up the path.

Soon enough, Kieran had acquired some wooden boxes, all of which were potions.

Up until know, Kieran already got a general understanding about the pattern of the contents in the boxes.

The lowest rank would be the wooden box that held potions, followed by metal, copper and silver boxes. Lastly, the golden boxes.

As the rarity of the boxes increased, the contents would also be different. From the simplest potion, to Advanced Rank items, all things were possible.

It seemed like some parties had invested a lot in this Battle of Winter Night.

Were there any boxes above the gold rank?

Kieran had no idea yet, but based on his deduction, there should be.

His deduction came from the scarlet red skull.

Kieran frowned when he thought of the monster.

The red skull was without a question a powerful foe for Kieran ever since he stepped into this dungeon world, and until now, Kieran still didn’t have absolute confidence in defeating that red skull.

“Pangnard, how far is your detection range?” Kieran asked.

“Around a kilometer. If the numbers are less enough, my detection range can go further but most of them were already in my range,” Pangnard didn’t hide any details about his talent.

Since the deal was struck, Pangard tended to lower the pride in his heart. He would not go back on his words and would not use some lousy tricks that couldn’t even prove useful.

“Only a kilometer?” Kieran thought for a while before he looked at the two monsters.

The two, minotaur and horseman, understood Kieran based on a single gaze.

Without further ado, both of them started to draw a map on the ground for Kieran.

5 minutes later, a messy looking map was drawn.

The map was just an overall map with a square holding a circle inside. The square was irregularly shaped, so it was just a rough idea.

The inner circle was almost perfect though, ring after ring, starting from the outer circle, there were 6 connected rings to the center.

A dot representing their current whereabouts was drawn on the outer circle.

“Lord Yan Luo, we are currently here. If we want to go ahead to the Mou Sector, we have to go through a hang bridge guarded by the White Guard. That guy is a troublesome one.”

The minotaur and horseman spoke one after another and quickly explained the situation clearly.

“How long until sunrise?” Kieran nodded before asking.

He didn’t want to face endless waves of monsters all of a sudden while he was doing other things.

After hearing what Kieran asked, Pangnard and Lucan looked at the two monsters. Both of them remembered what they’d been through earlier.

“After the wooden clappers clap 12 times, the sun will rise.”

The minotaur answered in a muffled voice and right after its words subsided…

Bang!

The clappers clapped.

The faint roars that came above ground paused for a moment.

“So coincidental?” Pangnard was surprised.

“I don’t know. It’s not me who claps the clappers, it’s that weird guy and no one knows what that guy is thinking but that guy is very powerful. That guy must have formed some agreement with those bastards in the Jia Inner Rings, right?”

“Those bastards forming an agreement with that weird guy? Are you kidding me?”

“Who’s kidding right now? You dumb horse-face!”

“What did you say? You bullhead?!”

The minotaur was explaining before the horseman joined the conversation, and soon, both of them were arguing with one another.

Right before the pitchfork was going to hit the greatsword, Kieran gave a strict face and the two monsters went quiet right away.

This wasn’t the simple Oath of Allegiance anymore, both monsters knew what was under the surface: contracts!

The worst thing was the one holding to the Oath of Allegiance was a scary person.

Everytime these two monsters looked at Kieran, their hearts would throb and their body would quiver because after forming the Oath of Allegiance, they could see what this person did before in the past.

Colossal crocodile.

Bloody sorcerer.

Assassins from the dark.

Giant serpents that covered the sky.

Although what they saw from the vision was blurry, that lingering image of that giant serpent made their soul shiver, let alone this person who chopped the serpent’s head in a single blow.

Both monsters were terrified to their core!

So the minotaur and horseman dare not oppose Kieran, it was their natural instinct to follow the law of the jungle. Even though they weren’t exactly from jungles, the law worked all the same.

“Let’s leave for the meantime,” Kieran said, which represented the group’s decision.

The group returned the way they came from swiftly.

Paladia was on guard at the entrance and when he saw Kieran come out with Lucan and Pangnard, he wasn’t at all surprised, but when he saw the minotaur and horseman, his eyes twitched.

The former were still useful and as Herders, it was plausible for Kieran to spare them, but for the latter?

There was only one explanation: [Seodi Stone]!

Even though Paladia knew Kieran would somehow use [Seodi Stone] after acquiring it, he never thought Kieran would use it on the monsters.

Did he even consider the consequences?

It would surely attract voices of disagreement from the old-fashioned Herders.

Some family that was much more extreme would view him as hostile too.

Then, it would be reasonable for them to reject help whenever Kieran ran into trouble, he would even be purposely picked on!

The worst thing was because of [Seodi Stone], Paladia was strapped onto Kieran’s chariot, like a grasshopper on a string, no longer able to run away.

Once he thought about the despair in the rest of his life, Paladia saw nothing but darkness ahead.

So, his gaze on the minotaur and horseman was less friendly and it was very direct.

The two monsters noticed the sharp gaze at first glance.

“Is he looking down at us?”

“Hmm, I don’t like this gaze.”

“Let’s skewer him and roast him.”

“Agreed.”

The monsters understood nothing about tolerance and their dictionary had the word ‘tolerate’ opted out, so they too retaliated with a less than friendly gaze and words.

However, all three of them were under [Seodi Stone]’s control, so the monsters knew this human was one of their ‘allies’, it was just that this ally was less than likable.

“Beef and horse bezoar are quite good. Braise the beef and cook the bezoar in gravy,” Paladia fired out his sneers without stepping down.

“You want some?”

The minotaur and horseman brought out their pitchfork and greatsword; Paladia started to swing his hook rope.

Lucan scratched his head, trying to hold them back but Pangnard held him back by pulling his bear rug.

Pangnard knew this was someone else’s affair, they had no reason to meddle with it as mere collaborators.

However, to Pangnard surprise, Kieran didn’t even care about the tense situation between his subordinates, instead looking around at the surroundings.

What happened?

Pangnard was confused.

With one encounter under his belt, Paladia stopped his useless argument with the monsters and looked around nervously. The encounter with that red skull was still fresh in his mind.

After losing their opponent, the minotaur and horseman lost interest in fighting.

Both of them looked at Kieran subconsciously.

“Lord Yan Luo, what happened?” the minotaur asked.

“Newcomers,” Kieran said.

Newcomers?

The minotaur and horseman were confused, but the 3 Herders knew what Kieran was referring to and because they knew, they furrowed their brows hard.

“It shouldn’t be! We should at least have 2 days of head start! How did it shorten to 1 day?” Lucan asked in confusion.

“Maybe something happened,” Pangnard explained.

Bang!

The clapper sounded again.

The sound of the clapper was obviously enchanted by some power, whether on the surface or underground, the clap clearly entering everyone’s ears, including the monsters.

The first clap and second clap had a very long interval but after the second clap, the third clap sounded faster.

Bang Bang Bang!

A series of claps sounded.

The monsters who were swiftly leaving the surface fell into panic.

When the last clap sounded, the crescent moon hanging in the dark sky vanished, the sun skipping the rising process and straightaway hanging up in the east.

Sunlight bathed the city again.

Blood, bones, and splattered bodies were everywhere.

Some belonged to humans, some to monsters, some were the wounds on the bodies.

The dead humans had wounds caused by humans and the dead monsters had wounds caused by monsters.

A messy and fierce fight happened last night.

Under the sunlight, the human bodies got more eye-catching, the bodies of the monsters started to melt and burst.

Bang Bang Bang!

Amid a series of bursting, a 7thick mist of blood shone brilliantly under the sun and it was an unusual scene to look at.

While the city was covered in thick bloody mist, figure after figure appeared out of thin air.

The Inhumans had arrived in the city! As were the Monsters!