The Devil’s Cage

Aqua Ape “looked” at the person blankly.

The stare from Aqua Ape made the eight-headed, seven-tailed viper tattoo man frown.

He hated such a glare, or should it be said, he hated those who didn’t fear death.

“Did anyone ever tell you that your blind gaze is really hateful?”

As the man spoke, he swung his arms repeatedly.

The eight-headed, seven-tailed viper tattoo man couldn’t help but twist along with the motion, as if it was leaping out of the man’s arm and devouring its prey.

But what really came out from the man’s arms were metal arrows.

Tsk, Tsk Tsss!

Three consecutive arrows plunged into Aqua Ape’s body.

Blood splattered, and Aqua Ape, who was already exhausted, became weaker, but the man wasn’t relieved of his anger at all.

Quite the opposite, the man became even more furious because Aqua Ape was still just as calm. Even though he suffered many attacks, his eyes and countenance didn’t change.

“Hmph!”

The man coldly grunted, he planned to teach Aqua Ape a good lesson.

After all, it was the right of the victor, wasn’t it?

Of course, before that, the man carefully fired four more arrows.

Sou Sou Sou Sou!

As the arrows flew and danced through the air, Aqua Ape was pinned down on the ground by the arrows through his limbs.

After the precautious attack, the man with the tattoo walked over to Aqua Ape without worry, lifted his leg and stomped down on that face that he disliked so much.

Bang!

Aqua Ape’s face suffered a huge blow. His head was plunged into the ground.

Feeling the sensation from his feet and listening to the slight bone-cracking sounds, the tattooed man couldn’t help but curl his lips into a grin.

He revealed a bloodthirsty, happy grin.

That’s right!

It’s this kind of feeling!

It’s this kind of stomping, this kind of insulting to my enemy!

Fun!

This is too fun!

An unknown excitement spread throughout his body, causing the man to stomp on Aqua Ape’s head in an even more furious, frantic manner.

Bang Bang Bang!

After the repeated stomps, blood flew.

Some landed on the ground, some got on the man’s boots.

The amount of blood was increasing, and some of it started to shift slightly.

The changes wouldn’t have escaped the man’s sight during normal times but now, the man was very stimulated and excited, he didn’t even notice that the blood was moving.

This was until the blood formed a blood dagger and sliced across the man’s abdomen.

Puk!

The man raised his foot and didn’t step down anymore.

The man opened his eyes wide and stared at Aqua Ape lying down there with a distorted face beyond recognition, then…

The man was split in half!

More blood gushed out from the man’s body and sprayed all over Aqua Ape’s face and body, thus soaking his entire body in blood.

The soaking ended quickly though. When Aqua Ape stood up from the puddle of blood, the blood on the ground was nowhere to be found, leaving only a dried body with withered organs before him.

His pale blue robe was tainted red by the blood.

Aqua Ape’s nose loosened up, his ever calm face showing a sense of disgust but whenever he thought about what had just happened, Aqua Ape would become anxious and restless.

He knew he must deliver the message to White Ape, otherwise…

“Ugh!”

Just when Aqua Ape was about to leave, his body suddenly felt weak, causing him to falter and fall to the ground.

Dizziness struck Aqua Ape’s mind.

“The blood is poisoned?!”

Aqua Ape finally reacted to the situation a moment before he passed out.

…

It wasn’t a strange thing for Viper Sect members to hide toxins in their blood, some even purposely used this method to perfect some secret techniques.

As for this moment, the main priority was to assassinate the target.

As long as the assassination could succeed, some necessary loss was completely acceptable.

Feeling heavy and dizzy, Aqua Ape felt like he just had a nightmare.

When he opened his eyes, a 12 or 13 years old girl entered his sight.

The girl was wearing casual clothes with a longsword at her waist.

With a single glance, Aqua Ape knew that the sword was a rare one, but his gaze didn’t stop on the sword and almost instantly, he turned to the young man beside the young girl.

Aqua Ape felt a sense of danger on the young man and the emblem on the young man made Aqua Ape cautious as well.

Emblem of the Flying Dragon?

Duke Zilin?

Aqua Ape was stunned. He looked at the girl again and when he saw that blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes, he was almost certain of who she was.

“Mary James?” he asked in a questioning tone, but it was very sure.

There was only one underage girl in all of Warren that could make Duke Zilin a follower.

“Um. How do you feel? The royal doctor’s medicine seems to be working.”

Mary nodded, her valiant face showing a kind smile.

“Good. I have to leave now. Thank you for saving my life. I will repay you when I complete my mission.”

Aqua Ape struggled to get up but when Mary placed her hand on him, his struggles became useless.

Blood tainted with poison wasn’t something that was easily absorbed away; even with an extraordinary body and abilities, it still proved difficult.

“The doctor said you should rest well,” Mary emphasized.

“You have no idea what happened. I must…”

“You must rest. Leave the rest to 2567. I, too, need to attend to something. If you have any request, tell the servants. They have my orders to try their best to serve you,” Mary interrupted Aqua Ape sternly.

While Aqua Ape was caught off guard, Mary turned to Duke Zilin, nodded and walked outside.

Duku Zilin followed tightly behind.

But when Duke Zilin saw that Aqua Ape was still in his dazed state, the righteous young man wasn’t relieved.

“Don’t worry. With Lord White Wolf here, everything will be fine,” the young duke comforted Aqua Ape.

“No, you don’t know what happened.” Aqua Ape regained his senses and shook his head.

“I know what happened! And of course, I got the news from Lord White Wolf. Believe me, Lord White Wolf will deal with it and… Thank you, Ape Sect, for what you all did for Riverdale—Her Highness already gave the order, from today onwards, Ape Sect is free to move in and out of Riverdale.”

Duke Zilin then bowed slightly to show respect.

‘Looking’ at Duke Zilin’s bow, Aqua Ape went silent.

He knew Duke Zilin hadn’t lied to him.

They really did know what was about to happen, otherwise, they wouldn’t have treated him so kindly.

But…

How did they know?

Or, how did they understand all of it so fast?

“White Wolf?”

Aqua Ape muttered the name that made an impression in his mind and slowly entered into some deep thinking.