The Devil’s Cage

A group of young men and women appeared from the bloody mist.

Some of them looked arrogant, some looked cold, some were filled with anticipation, but soon enough, their various gazes were replaced by seriousness.

At the other side of the bloody mist, the group of young men and women saw another group that looked almost nothing like humans.

Some had human figures but were in soul form, some had two heads, and some had a big hole in their stomachs with organs spilling out.

Some even appeared in non-human form, with sharp ears and fangs, wings on their backs and fins around their arms, it was a monster carnival!

The scene alone would send chills down the spine.

The Inhumans saw the monsters and vice versa.

The monsters were swallowing their saliva as they arrived in the blood-filled city and when they saw their rivals, their battle intents rose and they salivated even more.

In the outside world, because of the Dark Moon Treaty, these ‘traditional’ monsters rarely had a chance to taste human flesh and blood, but that would change in the Battle of Winter Night.

They were free to kill and had no rules to abide by!

Some of the monsters joined the Battle of Winter Night just so they could taste human flesh and drink human blood righteously, especially the blood and flesh of the Inhumans!

The taste was unforgettable, and it wasn’t just the taste they sought, eating the Inhumans proved to be beneficial to the monsters too!

Some, who had no patience, dashed towards the Inhumans upon landing.

A lot of the Inhumans reacted the same way, they did not step back and replied to the monsters with their own intimidating charge, but not all of the Inhumans did the same.

Some of the Inhumans looked around cautiously and slowly retreated from the messy battlefield. The Herders who arrived the earliest had already scattered into the wind and hid in the shadows the moment the bloody mist rose.

The sudden battle cost them severely.

It was already rare enough to get a breathing chance, they had no intentions of wasting time on the chaotic battlefield.

The Herders had learned their lesson, none of them chose to remain in the city as every one of them went outside.

They were all cautious and vigilant. The battle of life and death made these excellent young men and women better.

As for the dead Herders, their demise was regretful but… their deaths had no value in this kind of timing, it couldn’t be helped no matter how regretful their demise was.

Amidst the fighting and leaving group, Kieran and his group stood in their spot firmly and it made them every eye-catching.

Kieran said nothing and watched the messy battle between the monsters and Inhumans.

The minotaur and horseman stood guard behind Kieran like two door guardians.

Paladia wanted to run, but he felt helpless and exhausted when Kieran had zero intentions of retreating.

‘There’s a good chance! Why didn’t he run!

Staying here and watching the messy battle, what does he seek?

Can he really spot something unusual?!’

Paladia was criticizing Kieran’s choices in his heart.

Pangnard felt the same, he wanted to run too but Lucan did not budge either, so he ultimately chose to stay.

Pangnard knew what Lucan was thinking, he was just trying to pay his debt.

Pangnard really wanted to tell Lucan that it wasn’t necessary to do this right here, right now, but when the words reached the tip of this tongue, it got carried away by the wind.

As for leaving Lucan behind?

Pangnard hasn’t repaid the debt of saving his life, if he would ditch Lucan behind, he himself would look down on his own despicable act.

Therefore, Kieran and his group stood firm.

Their proud stance naturally attracted the attention of the Inhumans and monsters despite being busy fighting each other.

The Inhumans were a neutral force to humans, as long as the humans didn’t step on their tails, the Inhumans couldn’t care less, but the monsters were different.

A goat-like monster was searching for food on the ground and when it saw Kieran and co. standing up there, its eyes glimmered.

The excitement for blood had gotten the best of it, the goat-like monster had forgotten itself and did not care why a human had two monsters behind him.

It threw itself towards Kieran, who was standing at the front of the group.

“Hey, blood, flesh! Mine! All mine!”

The monster laughed, muttering in blurry, short words and then dashed towards Kieran’s face but Kieran didn’t even spare it a look.

Kieran was concentrating on the messy battle further away and when the goat-like monster saw no response from Kieran, it became bolder and fiercer.

It thought Kieran was stunned by his own astonishment, like the other humans that it ate before.

Its bloody claws rose high into the air and then… it was severed from its shoulder.

Its claw, together with its entire arm, fell on the ground. It didn’t even feel any pain, somehow feeling its body grow taller.

The goat-like monster looked down, seeing a metal pitchfork through its chest. It tried to speak but its head was twisted off by a giant hand from the pitchfork, like picking an apple from the tree.

The last thing the goat-like monster saw was the giant mouth of an ox.

The moment its head was crushed by that hard teeth, its consciousness faded.

Spat!

“What the hell is this? Why are there so many bones in the head?!”

The minotaur shook its head in denial and then spat what was left in its mouth out.

It then looked at the messy battlefield, it really wanted to charge in and grab a good meal but…

Kieran did not move at all, so the minotaur gave up the thought.

It shook its body and reverted its giant size back to a human size.

However, the little scene landed in the sights of the Inhumans and monsters in the messy battlefield. Despite engaging in a fierce battle, the Inhumans and monsters looked at Kieran, and then both sides split in an instant like they suffered an electric shock.

The Inhumans and monsters were fighting fiercely a moment ago but now, they were all looking at Kieran and co. in utmost vigilance, especially the minotaur.

A single thought appeared in the minds of the Inhumans and monsters: a monster that enslaves humans?

It was heard of in history books but every time such a monster appeared, the people that it enslaved would end up terribly.

Monsters treated their human slaves like how humans treated their food, probably even worse.

Humans have high intellect but monsters were much more ruthless than normal beasts!

When the thought bloomed in their heads, the Inhumans looked at Kieran and the other Herders, who looked human, with pity.

The monsters, however, looked at them in glimmers.

A monster who enslaved humans! Despite this monster appearing in this abandoned city, it would only mean one thing: communication!

Communication meant talking, and as long as they could talk, endless possibilities would follow, like forming an alliance!

Once the alliance was formed, the monsters could easily wipe out the Inhumans!

As for that goat-like monster who got eaten? It was stupid enough to die at the hands of the minotaur. Going after food that already had an owner was like a declaration of war in the view of the monsters!

It was the goat-like monster’s own fault that it died!

As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just limited to food, every monster had it’s own turf for hunting and whenever another monster trespassed another monster’s territory, the conflict wouldn’t end until one of them was dead.

It was obvious that this battlefield was the minotaur’s turf!

The other monsters that had just arrived were the trespassers!

If things could remain as they were, all would turn out fine, but once the minotaur made a move and without evaluating its strength… the other monsters would end up like that goat-like one.

No one would help the goat-like monster, it would end up as an after meal joke between the monsters and everytime the goat-like monster was mentioned, laughs were bound to follow.

Now?

They would give their best in maximizing their gains!

“Hey oxen brother, we don’t mean to trespass on your turf, that idiot had nothing to do with us! We will follow your rules around here.”

A monster with the form of a human and the mouth of an insect and no eyes stepped out from the group, representing the monsters. It sounded very sincere, so the horseman also sincerely swung its greatsword and sliced it in half.

“Just following his rules? What about mine?”

The horseman snorted and looked at the other monsters.

The insect man that got chopped in half widened its eyes at the horseman, how did it not think about these two horse and ox monsters weren’t on the same side?!

But if these two weren’t on the same side, why did they stand so close together?

Just to scam the other monsters?!

The insect man widened its mouth, it wanted to say something, but nothing came out and its body twitched for a few seconds before it died off.

The other Inhumans saw the insect man get chopped in half, sneering and mocking the fool.

It was fact that the Inhumans behaved in such savage ways, they spoke with their strength and words would not be reasonable.

The same went for the monsters, they had no compassion for the insect man and mocked its death.

A fool who hadn’t got the clear picture and vainly attempted to maximize its gain?

It was natural that it ended up dead.

The insect man would be better dead because only after that could the others truly benefit.

However, there was always someone else who was faster than the rest.

Right before a few monsters wanted to step up, one of them beat them to it, jumped out and said, “Ahem, I’m sorry, we just…”

Pam!

One of the monsters spoke, but the minotaur thrust its pitchfork into the monster’s chest with lightning speed. It shook the pitchfork and tossed the monster up in the air, it then landed into the minotaur’s mouth, which became big again.

“Sorry? You are saying sorry to that horse-face? Are you ignoring me right now? Where’s my respect? Damn it, why so many bones! Meat! I want meat!”

The minotaur chewed and then spat out the bones as it grumbled.

The sticky pile of goo that got spat on the ground was melting the remaining bones swiftly.

The other monsters who got upset because of losing the chance jolted and then heaved a breath of relief.

The ox and horse weren’t together, but they had a grudge with each other?

No, it shouldn’t be a grudge, it was more like a quarrel!

The Inhumans and monsters finally regained their senses after they saw the minotaur and horseman stand together.

It would be best for them to not stop those two from their quarrels, the best way would be go to either one of them and voice one’s request.

It might not work for a single monster or an odd number but for numerous monsters, it wasn’t that hard.

At the next moment, two monsters flew out from the group, thinking they had grasped the situation good enough.

One of them stood in front of the minotaur, the other in front of the horseman.

“My lord!” the two monsters spoke in one voice.

“Who allows you to speak to him first?!”

The minotaur and horseman also spoke together, the pitchfork and greatsword swinging up and splitting the monster in front of them in half.

They controlled their weapons very well with the right amount of strength and did not spill a drop of blood on themselves.

The two monsters who jumped out got sliced in half.

The minotaur wasn’t picky with its food, it shoved the two monsters into its mouth and munched happily, but there wasn’t a lot of meat for it to chew on, so it simply spat out the remains again.

The horseman looked at the minotaur with a despising gaze, like it was looking at some boorish fella from the rural areas.

The minotaur got pissed off by the look, returning its glare to the horseman.

The minotaur and horseman were locked in their own staring contest and this time, no monsters dared to jump out again. They finally realized the minotaur and horseman were the weirdos among the monsters, they were savage and lived only by their own rules in their own world.

It would be best for the monsters to keep their distance from them, otherwise the monsters would suffer instead of getting anything in return.

Sharing a tacit understanding, the Inhumans and Monsters slowly retreated to the opposite direction.

This place was the minotaur and horseman’s turf and if the Inhumans and monsters continued to fight, they might step on the quarreling duo’s landmine.

The strength the minotaur displayed in a blink of an eye was powerful enough to tell the Inhumans and monsters what they should do.

Law of the jungle was a normal rule for the Inhumans and monsters.

Both sides reached a silent accord right away: leave this place first and then continue the fight!

However, before the Inhumans and monsters could step away, the minotaur made its move again.

“Who allowed you people to leave? Come as you like? Go as you like? What do you think this place is? A public toilet?”

The minotaur was infuriated by the reaction, its body instantly growing to become 10 meters tall, its pitchfork growing bigger as well and the muscles on its buff body twitching.

It threw its pitchfork out.

Fung!

The power infused in the powerful pitchfork tore the air apart and created many wind blades flying towards the monsters. The monsters closest to the pitchfork and those that had physical bodies were sliced to shreds.

When the pitchfork landed on the group of monsters, those who failed to dodge were smashed to a pile of meat, none survived under the pitchfork’s wrath.

After the iron pitchfork got swung around, a huge area of monsters were wiped clean, and the remaining ones started to retreat.

“You all are scared of him so you came to me? You bastards really think I’m that bulliable?!”

The horseman snorted a few times, it was also upset by the reaction and grew its body as big as the minotaur’s. The greatsword in its hand was swung out like the iron pitchfork, cleaving the monsters in half.

There was no technique involved, they were just big and strong, and because of that, it was extremely hard for the monsters to fight back. The only way to deal with this kind of savage monster was to have a certain level of technique of a unique set of skills.

It was obvious that none among the monsters had what it took to deal with the two giant monsters.

Those monsters who were in soul form were shattering under the absolute strength.

They weren’t Superior Demon who could come back from the dead.

Fung!

Fung Fung Fung!

The iron pitchfork and great longsword swept left and right, creating bursts on every monster they killed.

A few breaths later, a great amount of monsters were slaughtered, the ones who survived looking at the infuriated minotaur and horseman in fear.

The Inhumans looked at the scene in a weird gaze. None of them were hurt in this onslaught, they didn’t even lose a strand of hair!

The two powerful monsters slaughtered many other monsters and during the process, whenever their pitchfork or greatsword were going to hit the Inhumans, the two of them would hold it back to prevent hitting them.

It might be coincidence once or twice, but even a pig knew it was unusual when the numbers accumulated.

“You are doing this on purpose!” one of the monsters shouted in fear.

“You know too much!”

The minotaur grunted and smashed the monster into a pile of meat with its iron pitchfork.

“Let me go, I don’t know anything,” another monster screamed.

“You don’t know anything? You are too stupid, so you die!” the horseman pouted and swung its greatsword, smacking the monster into the ground.

“Run!”

The other monsters finally knew what was happening, all of them scattering away in panic.

The Inhumans didn’t go in pursuit of the fleeing monsters, instead looking at the minotaur and horseman returning to their human size and standing behind the man.

After all that, the Inhumans would not treat the man as some slave anymore.

It was obvious that these two powerful ox and horse monsters served the man.

This young man was the one in control, but the Inhumans didn’t say anything.

They knew what happened to the monsters who spoke, they saw what happened with their own eyes and they wouldn’t want to bet on it even if they did not display any hostility.

Of course, they dare not simply leave the scene either.

They were curious and reverent, their hearts pounding endlessly.

Finally, under the many curious gazes of the Inhumans, Kieran regained his senses and looked at the group of young men and women. He asked, “Which one of you is the strongest?”