The Devil’s Cage

The appraisal process couldn’t happen in the inn.

Kieran and Blacksmith greeted Rachel before boarding the train to Emma Street 99th.

They sat side by side. Blacksmith was quiet, and Kieran wasn’t a person who would heat up the atmosphere either. He leaned back against the soft seat and looked straight ahead, his mind thinking about the information regarding Saikory, or more precisely, why it was Saikory and not others.

But just like what he told the others before, he didn’t know.

Without any useful information, he couldn’t deduce anything.

“I hope Hanses and Coll are getting more on their side,” Kieran thought with a certain level of confidence.

Coll might not be praiseworthy in terms of combat, but her ability to gather information were very useful.

Although the big city had monitors all over the place, they, of course, belonged to the cyber law enforcers, and players couldn’t access them.

But Coll, she was different. In a certain aspect, she was the bane of the cyber law enforcers.

Of course, there was Garwen and Blair too.

Both were new to the group, but Kieran would never underestimate anyone, as he and a lot of veterans were once newbies themselves.

What reason did he have to look down on the two of them?

Moreover, both of them showed extraordinary potential.

Lawless had praised Garwen’s vigilance and Blair’s courage more than once, also their flawless teamwork.

The more the number, the bigger the power. Garwen and Blair were the exact embodiment of teamwork.

It was similar to the tasks everyone took up this time. No matter how powerful he was, had Kieran done everything alone, he wouldn’t be able to be at two places at once. It was a cold hard fact, and Kieran couldn’t deny it, just like how he couldn’t deny his habit of entering a dungeon world alone.

Was it conflicting?

Not really.

Dungeon worlds had natives living there, who were special themselves. Following the increase in difficulty, the specialty of the natives would only surge.

Any slight misstep could cause Kieran to fall short of a successful run; a slightly severe consequence could doom him forever, and he would die a graveless death.

Kieran wasn’t fond of accidents like this, so usually he chose to go alone.

However, the big city was different.

One only had to face players in the big city.

Kieran dealt with other players, and other players were around him as well.

Of course, accidents were inevitable, but the accidents came from players themselves, not something out of their control.

So Kieran didn’t mind joining a small group. The main reason, however, was credited to Lawless.

Without Lawless to tie everything together, Kieran might still be alone in the game.

“We have arrived at Emma Street.”

The conductor announced the arrival of their destination. Kieran and Blacksmith alighted from the train one after the other. Kieran then purposely paused for a while, allowing Blacksmith to take the lead.

Although he already knew where Blacksmith’s room was, he still maintained his manners.

Blacksmith also stopped for a moment, though, when Kieran paused.

Then?

She strode towards her room. Her steps weren’t just big, but also fast as well.

A person had very different reactions when he or she was angry or not.

Sometimes, the expression on a person’s face wasn’t needed to determine the person’s feelings; one could easily notice it from their tone and actions.

Kieran felt Blacksmith’s rage, but he couldn’t understand why.

Looking at her back, Kieran frowned and quickly followed.

He didn’t say anything.

Kieran wasn’t good at asking questions first.

He always thought that if a friend wanted to tell him, they would, and if they didn’t want to talk about it, it’d be best not to ask about it; otherwise, the friendship might suffer a crack.

Kieran looked heavily upon friendship.

Both of them reached 99th smoothly.

“Wait here,” Blacksmith said coldly.

“Okay.” Kieran nodded.

The door was opened and then shut. Once Blacksmith was in her room and sure that Kieran wasn’t listening, she took a deep breath.

“DAMN IT!”

She shouted loudly. She dashed towards a practise dummy in a corner of her room.

It was the kind of dummy made out of wood, normally used when practising martial arts.

Blacksmith dished out a punch at the wooden dummy, splitting it in half with a single punch. Then, a kick was launched like an iron whip, and the entire dummy was kicked up from the ground, but it still wasn’t the end.

The wooden dummy in the air was pulled back down by Blacksmith and dunked hard on the ground.

Left punch, right punch, left punch, right punch…

By the time Blacksmith stopped, the wooden dummy was beaten into wood chips.

Huu!

A long breath later, Blacksmith clapped her hands and returned to her cold countenance.

She turned around and walked to the working station.

…

Outside on Emma Street 99th, Kieran was leaning in the shadows, looking at the sunlight a meter away and waiting patiently.

Whenever shadows enveloped him entirely, Kieran always felt safe from the bottom of his heart.

It wasn’t an illusion, but the conclusion of experience after a long time spent in battle.

Striking first to suppress the enemy was better than allowing the enemy to strike and suppress you.

Kieran was in deep thought as he watched the surroundings.

His vigilant character plus the many times in battle branded the habit of inspecting the surroundings in the deepest part of his soul, almost making it his second instinct.

It had its pros and cons.

The cons were that no one would be able to surprise Kieran anymore, but compared to the pros, the cons was not of Kieran’s concern.

His eyes stared at a black spot in the sky.

It wasn’t the hawk that he remembered from the last time but…

A pigeon, a gray-white pigeon with a letter tied to its legs.

The pigeon fluttered its wings and landed in the spot where the sunlight shone in front of Kieran. It hooted and looked around by turning its head, as if it were searching for something.

Despite being only a meter plus away from Kieran, it didn’t notice his presence.

When Kieran extended his hand out of the shadows and grabbed it, only then did the pigeon flutter its wings in panic. It quickly quieted down though.

It wasn’t that Kieran had calmed the pigeon down, but rather, it was the pigeon’s trained instinct.

He took the waxed, sealed paper from the pigeon’s leg. The cowhide paper was nicely sealed with wax; after being dried up, it was not only resistant to water, but was also granted with a tenacity that other paper lacked.

Once he got the letter, he opened his hand and let the pigeon go.

The pigeon flapped its wings and flew up quickly. Soon, it turned into a black dot in the sky, but another faster, more hidden black dot followed the pigeon.

Kieran turned his gaze away from the pigeon. He checked the letter, removed the wax and took the paper out.

The contents were simple; there were only two lines of words.

‘Want to know why Saikory?’

‘Come to Border Street.’

Kieran couldn’t help but smile at the simple message that was purposely altered to conceal the handwriting. He smiled coldly with interest.