The Devil’s Cage

Under [Tracking]’s sight, most of the tracks and traces intertwined, making them look extra messy and slowly faded due to time, but there were also two brand new trails.

Not just new, but also seemingly deliberately left behind.

After signaling J. Pearlman, Kieran moved into the shadows beside him.

J. Pearlman, too, raised his hand, trying to say something, but before his sentence could form, Kieran disappeared into the shadows.

Shock covered his eyes, and it soon elevated into astonishment because…

Even when J. Pearlman went close to the shadows and entered them, he couldn’t find a single trace of Kieran.

“Transcendence [Undercover]?! No, it has far surpassed normal Transcendence [Undercover]. It must be something more advanced!” As he mumbled to himself, J. Pearlman’s shock slowly toned down to a relaxed state.

When J. Pearlman sought Kieran’s help, he already had quite the confidence in Kieran. A series of notable achievements were enough to prove how strong Kieran was, but J. Pearlman’s concept of Kieran’s strength was limited to ‘fire’ and ‘Blade of the Daybreaker’; other than that, he didn’t really know much.

And now, J. Pearlman came to know about a technique that was overshadowed by the former two, a technique that was very effective for hunting down a ‘hunter’.

Who else better understood a person who was skilled in ‘undercover’ than a person who was skilled at it themselves?

None! Especially when the former picked up the trail and tracks of the latter.

Heaving a breath of relieve, J. Pearlman immediately PMed Amilian, trying to notify the boss about his new discovery.

Amilian quickly replied, but when J. Pearlman saw the reply, his eyes couldn’t help but widen.

…

The traces were clear and the direction was obvious.

Shuttling through the big city, Kieran soon found the person who left the traces, or more precisely, the two people.

The two of them stood side by side, wearing similar outfits and mantles that covered their whole bodies.

The familiar look instantly reminded Kieran of who they were: the Prifen Brothers!

Kieran ran into the Prifen Brothers when he reached an accord with the deceased Karles a few dungeons back.

“Bird of Death?” the elder brother on the left spoke.

“Yes, Bird of Death,” the younger brother on the right replied.

The conversation began the exact same way as last time, the only difference being that during the last time, the two of them left after they spoke, but now, they didn’t even budge.

“Were you guys the ones who assaulted the Freedom Alliance?” Kieran asked.

If it was the duo, it was highly possible that they killed a defense high-ranker in a short time.

Kieran didn’t forget what Karles said back them. Karles emphasized that the brothers joined the Guardians very early on, and both of them were Agility high-rankers, known for their masterful combined attacks.

Especially the latter, Kieran bore that in mind.

After all, when one plus one equals more than two, it wasn’t just unusual anymore, but also dangerous!

“No,” the elder brother on the left replied.

“Yes, no,” the younger brother on the right answered.

“Are you the one ‘hunting’ down members of the Guardians?” the elder brother asked again.

Hunting down members of the Guardians?

Not just the Freedom Alliance, but the Guardians too?

Kieran raised a brow and didn’t reply right away but sent a message to Rachel.

Soon enough, Rachel replied with a firm answer: In the past few days, the Guardians have been decreasing in numbers in an unusual way.

“No,” Kieran replied after a glance at his message tab.

“He says no,” the elder brother said.

“Yes, no,” the younger brother nodded.

They talked like they were asking and answering, but it also sounded like they were confirming something. The way the Prifen Brothers spoke was very weird that even Kieran couldn’t help but subtly squint his eyes.

He didn’t think it was a natural habit, but could they be doing it on purpose?”

‘Is this part of their combined attack?’ Kieran wondered as he raised the alertness in his heart.

Although he wouldn’t take the initiative to launch an attack at the official members of the Guardians due to the Witch’s Gift, he wouldn’t stay passive and take a hit either.

Should the Prifen Brothers make a move, Kieran would make them experience death.

But to Kieran’s surprise, after the asking and answering session, the brothers turned silent.

A few seconds later, the elder brother spoke again.

“Borl is still at Harvest Inn?”

“He isn’t happy?”

“He should be happy.”

“Yes, staying alive is a cause for celebration.”

“Make him stay away from the dome clocktower!”

“Getting close to there means getting close to death.”

“Death is not good.”

“Staying away is best.”

…

The Prifen Brothers left as they asked and answered each other one after another.

Kieran saw them off but didn’t give chase because it wasn’t necessary.

His squinted eyes showed an interested shine.

“Interesting. Even Borl ‘appeared’?”

Kieran laughed lightly. He stepped back and went back into the shadows.

Before he figured out the truth behind the Witch’s Gift, his vigilant character urged him to carefully deal with things, just like how he kept his guard up against Borl.

After telling Rachel about what happened, Kieran turned around and went back to Huke Alley.

Despite the Prifen Brothers’ words indirectly verifying Borl’s identity as one of the Guardians, Kieran didn’t fully trust the man. Quite the opposite, as he thought of even more things.

For example: could Borl be one of Broker’s men?

The timing of his appearance was uncanny; the moment Broker went into hiding, Borl appeared.

And he was related to the Guardians.

Most importantly, Borl was vaguely pushing Kieran to oppose the Guardians. Despite having all kinds of reasons, his nature didn’t change.

Deducing from that point, should Kieran and the Guardians have a falling out, given Lawless’ personality, he would take Kieran’s side without a word. Once that happened, would the other lone wolves stay back and not help, or would they just ignore him? Would Rachel stay out of this too?

A messy battle was bound to break out.

Kieran didn’t know what the outcome would be, but one thing was for certain: regardless of which side emerged a victor, they would still suffer a great loss, and when that happened, the quiet Broker would appear.

What would the situation become then?

The answer was self-explanatory.

“Is this your ultimate goal?”

Kieran talked to himself as he neared Huke Alley. However, when he got close, he realized the atmosphere wasn’t right. He then saw J. Pearlman all tied up, kneeling in the alleyway while being surrounded by a group of Freedom Alliance members.

“Traitor!”

“How dare you kill Lord Amilian, you damn traitor!”

‘Amilian is dead?!’

Kieran was utterly astonished.