The Devil’s Cage

When did he appear?

The question flashed through the intruder’s heart but he wasn’t slow at all.

“I am…”

The intruder said loudly as if he was trying to state his identity but his body shrunk suddenly, his body’s physique and height of a normal man was shrunken down to the size of a dwarf within a moment.

He wasn’t just small and thin, the changing of size didn’t reduce his agility and nimbleness either and without holding back, the intruder turned around and gave a fierce punch.

His punch missed though, there was no one behind the intruder.

That dagger floated in the air spun around and lunged towards the intruder again.

Ding!

The intruder dished out another punch, blocking the floating dagger with his armguard but his face changed for the worse right away because of a thread as thin as a strand of hair that was wrapped around his wrist.

As the thread tightened, the metal armguard produced a teeth-numbing screech along with the sound of flesh being cut.

Pak!

At the next moment, the intruder’s hand was cut off and fell to the ground. Blood gushed out like a geyser.

However, the intruder didn’t care about his hand being cut off, as though he couldn’t feel pain, he sprayed his blood around him.

Immediately, a figure tainted with blood appeared at the corner of the room.

“Gotcha!”

The intruder said coldly before dashing up to the corner without concern about the several daggers being hurled at his face.

Puk, Puk Puk!

The daggers precisely struck the intruder and the intruder landed his fierce punch on the concealed figure. After a series of broken bones and torn tendons, the concealed figure fell and limped on the ground.

Though, the intruder wasn’t any better. Losing a hand and suffering multiple dagger wounds, he too sat down on the ground.

But the moment the intruder sat down, the concealed figure that limped on the ground jumped up like a snake and hurled out a couple more daggers.

The flying daggers missed though.

The intruder who seemed weak and unable to fight anymore jumped up from the ground like an agile ape. He didn’t just dodge the hurled daggers but he shortened the distance between the previously concealed figure as well.

Both intruder and concealed figure clashed once more but compared to the previous horrifying collision, this time was a testing attempt.

Perry Kaner who was already hiding on the other side of the room the moment the dagger appeared watched the two engage in a fierce fight. Her eyes flashed over some thoughts from her mind but her thinking didn’t slow her down from calling for help.

A tiny green venomous snake crawled out from her sleeve and went out the window.

The moment the intruder and concealed figure saw the green snake, both of them were stunned.

Then, both sides shared a tacit agreement to a ceasefire all of a sudden.

Both of them exchanged gazes before sprinting out of the room.

Perry Kaner finally heaved a long breath after the two left.

“Ape Sect and Viper Sect?” She wondered.

As for how the two sects located her, she wasn’t surprised at all.

For Ape Sect, she originally wanted to murder with a borrowed knife anyway, so it was well expected.

As for Viper Sect?

The other branches always wanted to eliminate her.

After all, she did know a lot of Viper Sect secrets, including but not limited to those secret techniques which shouldn’t be spread out.

“They reacted so quick. So this is how a sect with true inheritance operates?”

Perry Kaner glanced over the ugly state of the room with furrowed brows.

Based on her calculations, it would be normal for Ape Sect to appear at least 3 to 4 days later and Viper Sect should be longer than that since two of the branch leaders just died.

Unless…

Suddenly, Perry Kaner thought of something.

At the same time, a series of footsteps appeared.

When those familiar footsteps were heard in her ears, the last bit of worries in Perry Kaner’s heart was resolved.

Nowhere was safer in the current state of Riverdale than being beside this young man.

If even this young man couldn’t protect her…

Perry Kaner would really die a graveless death. She would even choose to take her own life.

Coming from Viper Sect, she knew how torturous Viper Sect methods were and she had no intentions of experiencing them herself.

“My lord, I…”

Perry Kaner quickly switched to a more respectful form of address when the black figure came to the entrance of her room but before she finished, she was stunned.

She saw the heads in Kieran’s hand, two heads to be exact.

One of them was the Ape Sect that she confirmed and the other was an unfamiliar one but appearing at the same time was enough to allow her to deduce more.

Perry Kaner didn’t object Kieran’s methods though.

Showing mercy to your enemies, that is the way of a saint.

The ways of an assassin would always be removing the target together with the roots.

“You are saying that they are from Ape Sect and Viper Sect?” Kieran asked.

“They aren’t?” Perry Kaner was stunned again.

She wasn’t stupid, so instinctively more thoughts came into her mind. She then frowned again.

Based on what she figured out if those thoughts of hers were valid…

“Go get Maxim and Celtym” ordered Kieran.

“Yes, my lord,” Perry Kaner swiftly left.

When she left, only then did Kieran take out the spoils of war that he just got from the two targets.

Two Magic rank items. He inspected them with squinted eyes.

[Name: Ghastly Woods Short Knife]

[Type: Dagger]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: Average]

[Attribute: 1. Rapid Lvl 1; 2. Nimble Lvl 1.]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Prerequisite: Sharp Weapon, Dagger (Master)]

[Remark: This is one of the special weapons of Ghastly Woods Sect, owned mostly by the official members of the sect.]

…

[Rapid Lvl 1: When user Agility is lower than C, increase extra 10% attack speed]

[Nimble Lvl 1: It will not slow down the user’s actions]

…

[Name: Combustion-support Powder]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: None]

[Attribute: Combustion-support (When using Raven Sect’s burning technique, increase fire element attack)]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Prerequisite: Mystical Knowledge (Raven Sect, Master)]

[Remark: This is owned, used by the official members of Raven Sect. It didn’t just require skill but an inheritance of knowledge as well.]

…

[Ghastly Woods Short Knife] came from the intruder allegedly from Ape Sect.

[Combustion-support Powder] was from the concealed figure that appeared later.

There was a possibility that both items were looted from elsewhere but might also be the items that will prove their identities.

Fortunately, Kieran has two candidates who had an extreme understanding of Raven Sect.

That was the reason why he brought back the heads with him.

He wanted Maxim and Celty to identify the body.

If that concealed figure was really a Raven Sect member…

“This will be interesting,” Kieran muttered softly.

Then, he looked down and inspected the room meticulously for any possible traces.

The chances were slim for him to discover something but the vigilance was carved into Kieran’s body, he was used to double-checking things.

Then…

He really discovered some unusual traces in the room.