The Devil’s Cage

Inside the room of Jerry, the first man in a long white robe who Kieran had killed, Kieran was looking at an item with a shocked stare.

It resembled a motorcycle, but it didn’t have wheels. The metallic black frame, big engine, and extremely robust exhaust pipe—it felt like some kind of punk ride, but in reality, it was far more than met the eye.

When Kieran touched the wheel-less bike, the information popped up.

[Name: Dark Shadow Ride]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: I]

[Attack: Strong]

[Defense: I]

[Attribute: 1. Riding Instinct; 2. Shadow Sprint; 3. Shadow Shuttle]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: Riding (Grandmaster), possess any kind of Power of Chaos.]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: Dark Shadow Ride once shone in the Heimdal Divine War, but it disappeared after the war ended. The Gods couldn’t allow a kind of product that defied the mystical to continue existing, even though the inspiration behind its creation was from the mystical realm.]

…

[Riding Instinct: Dark Shadow Ride has speed of rank I, has a certain level of attack, cost 2000 Points for each usage.]

[Shadow Sprint: When Dark Shadow Ride rides through shadow, it gains Agility +1 and attack +1.]

[Shadow Shuttle: When under a shadow, spend 3000 Points to travel between shadows within a 150 meter radius, 2 times per day.]

…

As the information popped up on Kieran’s vision, the wheeless bike item began to change too.

Vroom!

An engine sound roared and brought the frame to life. The body of the frame started to extend and expand, especially its front and rear, where wheels began extending out and turned into four robust limbs of a horse. The front light transformed into a mechanical horse head, and in its eye socket, two scarlet red lights shone. On both sides of its saddle was a light machine gun for each.

Dak, Dak Dak.

The pitch black mechanical horse walked around Kieran, causing the Devil, Cardinal Sins, Plague Force in his heart to shake for a moment.

Neigh!

It sounded exactly like a real war horse. It then stopped in front of Kieran, bent down its front legs, and lowered its head.

Kieran touched its mechanical head, but he didn’t hop on.

He knew once he chose to ride, he would have to pay. He gave an order to [Dark Shadow Ride] through his heart, and the black mechanical war horse transformed back into its bike frame mode. Kieran then kept it inside [Wealth’s Keep].

Why not [War Zealot Box] though?

[War Zealot Box] required a third Unit place as reserve if the item stored was bigger than 1 Unit, so for Kieran, who was meticulous in calculating, it was something that he couldn’t accept.

After all, an empty Unit space was much more valuable than [Wealth’s Keep] storage, which required only a mere 10 Points.

Kieran once again sized up the room of Jerry the Agility high-ranker. Since he got a surprise like [Dark Shadow Ride], Kieran, who would never look down on people, intend to be more careful in his search.

Though, the only surprise he could find was [Dark Shadow Ride], and other than a Rare rank equipment, there was nothing more. Moreover, the Rare rank equipment wasn’t something noteworthy, it was something that Kieran would sell in a heartbeat.

But it was expected of Jerry; otherwise, he wouldn’t be treated as a pawn.

Kieran turned around, closed the door, and traveled back to Harvest Inn.

Before Kieran left the inn, there were only a few lone wolves there, but when he returned, it was already crowded.

When the crowd saw Kieran, their clamours paused and the anticipation grew denser in their eyes.

The little auction that was held almost once a week had recently become the rare gathering for the lone wolves. A lot of them didn’t even need to be contacted by Lawless, and they would drop by automatically.

Kieran glanced over the group of familiars before going to the table where Lawless was.

Kieran’s most familiar acquaintances were all sitting at the table: Blacksmith, Hanses, Coll, Raven the Loner, Ramont, Rhino, Lemour the Alchemist, Blaire, and Garwen.

After nodding at the group, Kieran passed Lawless a dozen of Rare rank items and many more Magic rank items.

Then? Lawless was in-charged, and all Kieran needed to do was sit and wait for the payment.

Lawless did a quick check on the items and their attributes before he took his glass and walked to the center of the inn.

“You guys should thank my thick face that I dragged 2567 here in the first place. Otherwise, you guys wouldn’t even get this kind of auction! Now, a toast, to our respectful Treasure Hunter!”

Lawless started the auction with his own prologue and the new title, Treasure Hunter, was given to Kieran by the lone wolves, as Kieran always brought tons of spoils of war back, as though he went treasure hunting.

Kieran didn’t dislike the title though, or rather, he didn’t dislike treasures.

He placed the cup of lemon water on the table and turned around to Rhino, who was staring at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Since they knew each other, Kieran asked straightforwardly. Likewise, Rhino, who was a boorish guy and didn’t know how to tone down his words, asked, despite hesitating at first, “2567, did you really killed Barkel the Robber?”

Although he asked, the question involved Kieran’s privacy, thus it was slightly awkward and embarrassing for Rhino. He’d even added an assurance in the end, “It’s fine if you can’t tell.”

“Yes. Rachel hired me to do it,” Kieran replied honestly.

“The rumours are true, then,” Rhino mumbled to himself when he heard Kieran’s words, he then raised his cup and expressed his thanks with a toast.

“What rumours?” asked Kieran.

“Some players in the big city are saying that the last era belonged to the Witch, and now, the next one belongs to you, 2567,” Rhino said seriously, like said era had already arrived.

Not just Rhino, though, the others around the table were also looking at Kieran seriously, including Lemour the Alchemist.

“You guys didn’t take that seriously, did you?” Kieran shrugged at the serious group.

“Not just taking it seriously, it’s really happening. Since you came into the big city, everything has changed. I really can see the Witch’s shadow in you sometimes,” Lemour said slowly.

“That’s because you guys have forgotten some other relevant parties. Or should I say… Those players purposely erased themselves from people’s memories.”

Kieran smiled and continued, “I am quite sure that this rumour is those players’ handy work.”