The Devil’s Cage

It felt like a dream, but Kieran was somehow part of it.

When Kieran woke up, everything had ended.

All that was left before his sight was his Spirit, which had reached V-, and the second part of his dungeon clear notifications.

[Special rating: Eliminated intruder (Perfect Rating)]

[Calculating player’s final rating…]

[Player receives +3 dungeon clear reward!]

[Player receives +1 dungeon clear reward for completing main mission in a short time!]

[Dungeon Primordial Invasion has completely ended!]

[Player used a special way to finish the dungeon duration, dungeon clear reward +1!]

[Current dungeon reward number has exceeded the current calculation, distribution of dungeon will change into a way that will best benefit player instead.]

[Distributing reward…]

[Reward distributed!]

…

When Kieran regained his senses, the last line of the system notification had popped up.

“That just now is the reward? No, that scene shouldn’t be the reward, that moment that triggered all of them together… that is the reward!”

Kieran was recalling what happened back in the void. In the end, he shook his head and stated the happenings in a more precise way.

“A chance… Worth it!”

Kieran commented after he carefully went through the system notifications.

The system calculated this dungeon clear rating in a different way, which meant that Kieran’s rewards were significant in this particular dungeon run. But no significant rewards were greater than…

V-!

Kieran was looking at the tag in his Spirit tab.

He felt the chaos and darkness that was residing in his brain as it was burned and expelled when the weak fire was ignited in the core. Kieran couldn’t help but grin.

He was no longer a newbie, it was safe to say he was near the peak of the current player pool, so he knew what this V- rank represented and what it meant.

If he was nearing this stage before this dungeon run, then…

After the dungeon run, he had already entered rank V!

This stage was something even Rachel sought, and a lot more players like Rachel were working their way up to it.

Now, Kieran had reached rank V.

The first time leading and beating other people to the ultimate goal was something unexplainable, it made Kieran release a breath of relief.

When he understood the ‘truth’ of the underground game, he had always felt like he was being pressured, being pushed by something because he had missed the best window to enter the game.

Given the circumstances, Kieran seemed to have overtaken groups and groups of players throughout his journey, but he knew a majority of them were just casual players, playing the game to get along and only a few noteworthy ones. Compared to those players, who devoted their lives to the game, Kieran was still falling behind.

As time went one, the gap was getting bigger. Each time he leveled up and visited Harvest Inn, he would feel a heartache when he saw Rachel and realized how powerful she was.

He felt the gap between them, so he had been hustling to reach her, to shorten the gap.

Fortunately, he made it and even slightly overtook Rachel.

The feeling was indeed unexplainable if you weren’t there yourself.

But Kieran wasn’t a person who would get overtaken by a minor victory. He calmed down soon enough, thinking of the Witch and the Guardians, an organization that had yet to show its true colors and had unpredictable depth.

What will they be like?

It was hard for him to imagine.

After reaching rank V, Kieran understood the difficulties it took to reach his current stage. Other than that, after reaching rank V, his Spirit tab had completely disappeared, leaving him with only a V- tag.

And that still wasn’t the most important thing.

The most important thing was the loot that he gathered throughout his journey and was kept safely in the corner of his room. The unknown remains that looked like a hilt from Dawn Church, [Ancilanco Codex], the unknown coin from Lady Wealth’s ashes, plus the [Fenrir’s Crown] and the claw missing one of its talons that he got from Blade of the Daybreaker, all the relics and items were shaking.

They were attracted to Kieran. It was something that had never happened before and after Kieran’s Spirit turned into V-, everything changed. The items, it felt as if they had come to life, and became the most alluring delicacies, making Kieran drool.

Kieran was holding back; No matter how hard his impulses pushed him, in his heart, he wasn’t moved.

The process was torturous but Kieran was used to it.

Whether it was the first Devil Force or the later Cardinal Sins Force, he had resisted all of them before he had chosen to work with them and eventually becoming one with them.

But! It was when Kieran has no viable options!

If he had to return to the time where he mashed his heart together, Kieran wasn’t confident he could survive the process a second time. He had to admit how dangerous and risky it was for him to take the leap of faith back then.

Therefore, with viable choices now laid in front of him, before he made a decision, he would figure out what it would cost.

Likewise, he wouldn’t ignore the problem when it sprung up in the first place.

Had the Witch been through a similar experience?

Although it was a question, the answer was already inside Kieran’s heart.

Starting from that point, Kieran speculated again.

Did the Witch have similar items as well?

If she did, what would it be?

Would the Guardians, the people who sought the Witch’s Legacy, know the details behind the Witch’s journey because they were so close to her?

Or would they grasp something Kieran wasn’t aware of?

Kieran sat on the floor with his legs crossed, thinking of all the questions he had asked himself.

From time to time, he would glance at his right hand, or more precisely, the mark under his glove.

This thinking process was destined to be long, so he had to list out all the possible options one by one before he started deducing.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours.

Kieran only came back from his thinking trance when the PM tab began pinging him non-stop.

The messages were from three people.

Lawless, Starbeck and Wu.

Lawless: Rachel gave me a holiday today, come to the inn, I’ll sneak her precious wine out for you.

…

It was ‘Lawless’ as usual, but Kieran slightly shook his head.

He didn’t want to be on the list of Rachel’s coolie, Lawless alone suffering Rachel’s wrath would be enough.

2567: If you don’t want to sell your life to Rachel, I suggest you stop doing so.

Lawless: Don’t worry, I’ve trained myself in the art of swapping out wine!

Lawless: Rachel won’t notice!

…

Looking at his friend trying to jump into hell, Kieran moved away and saved himself. If Lawless wanted to jump into Rachel’s trap, he could go ahead.

Would an outstanding bartender like Rachel not notice her wine being trifled with?

What kind of joke was that?

Rachel was just going for the big fish by letting her eel go loose now.

“Good luck then.”

Kieran muttered his blessing before opening Wu’s message.

Wu: How are you doing?

2567: Still kicking.

Wu: Great.

…

Kieran frowned and ended the uncomfortable conversation with Wu.

Kieran then anxiously opened up the message from Starbeck.

A smile appeared over his face because it was a simple and comforting message.

Starbeck: I’m working on a new menu, it may take me two weeks or so, so please wait for me!

2567: Sure.

2567: I’ll be looking forward to it.

Kieran replied simply and added more at the end.

Starbeck didn’t reply though, obviously he was busy with his cooking. Kieran didn’t interrupt anymore.

Kieran stood up, a thought in his mind, but before he executed his thought, his body paused.

He had almost forgotten about one particular thing.