The Devil’s Cage

The dark green snake wriggled its body before it tilted its head up and tried to bite Kieran’s wrist. Just as the fangs were about to pierce Kieran’s skin, he shook his wrist.

Pak!

Making a clear whipping noise, the dark green snake was swung into a straight line. Its body then quickly softened and lingered over Kieran’s hand.

“You… Hsss… You…”

The dark green snake tried to say something, but Kieran didn’t give it a chance; he shook his wrist again.

The bones in its small reptilian body cracked again, and this time, the snake didn’t even have the energy to hiss.

Kieran then hurled the small snake to Bloody Mary.

“I’ll leave it to you,” said Kieran.

“Leave it to me?” Bloody Mary widened its eyes.

“Of course. Who else is more suitable than you?” Sloth said before disappearing together with Gluttony.

Kieran then delivered a kick to the still-struggling elderly.

The elderly twitched in pain and lost all signs of life.

An orange glowing item floated above the body.

[Name: Concentration Joss Stick]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: None]

[Attribute: Focus]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: Lighting it up while mediation will produce twice the effect with half the effort. Of course, not just mediation, the incense also work with learning and reading.]

…

[Focus: Light it up, within 1 meter radius range, your mental state will be in unparalleled concentration.]

[Note 1: This is a one-time consumable joss stick.]

[Note 2: It burns at average speed, last around 2 hours.]

……

“Focus, eh?” Kieran raised a brow and gave away surprise in his eyes.

No one understood the benefits of concentrating during learning and reading more than Kieran did.

Of course, the uses of this [Concentration Joss Stick] were far greater than its description gave, but those were matters for the future.

Now?

Kieran picked up the joss stick and checked the surroundings, but it was fruitless, so he walked out of the room.

Bloody Mary was left behind with a bitter, helpless expression as it looked at the small snake in its hand.

Of course, it knew what its contractor wanted it to do—it was obvious.

The appearance of this little snake was also within its contractor’s expectations.

The only unexpected thing was… the snake was too weak.

It was so weak that even Bloody Mary started to ask questions, let alone its contractor, who was born dubious. Perhaps its contractor had begun doubting and suspecting the very moment the little snake appeared out of the ground.

After all, its contractor did display his strength with that single slash that cut the Devourer.

Some people might ask whether or not Kieran could perform a second slash, but starting off from that single point, anyone would evaluate Kieran’s strength highly, let alone when bringing in his achievements of slaying gods.

However, of all the things, a ‘little snake’ was sent to deal with Kieran.

The meaning behind it was self-explanatory.

Kieran set up a trap for the mastermind, and likewise, the mastermind wasn’t an idiot either.

The mastermind didn’t just reply to Kieran, but counterattacked.

But…

‘Why does it always have to be me? Why am I always hurt?

‘Whose tail did I step on?’

Bloody Mary, who thought this was an exception, looked at the little snake with a more ferocious gaze. As for its contractor, it didn’t dare to defy his command.

The overwhelming power, the remarkable memory, a man who, if he could, open his eyes during sleep; once anyone entered his crosshair, their life would truly be in despair.

However, the little snake in its hand was different. The snake was an enemy, so anything that happened to an enemy wouldn’t matter to its contractor.

Bloody Mary grabbed the snake hard and said fiercely, “Do you know what’s an ouroboros? It’s a totem that people worshipped and admired! It doesn’t just represent immortality, but also means that fate runs in a cycle. Now, I will give you the chance to be one—BITE AND EAT YOUR OWN BODY! NOW!”

Bloody Mary then grabbed the snake’s tail and stuffed it into its mouth.

The eyes of the snake, which had quite the intellect, showed fear.

This made the High Demon even happier though.

Why not be happy? Being happy before ‘dying’ was much better than crying a river, right?

KABOOM!

10 seconds later, a huge explosion came from the forest. The blast wave swept everything away, destroying every plant and tree in a hundred-meter radius, and even the rocks were blasted into debris. The ground was heavily damaged too, as a dozen-meter crater appeared in the middle of the blast point.

The other terrifying thing was that an evil, malicious, corrosive energy was corroding everything that got caught in the explosion.

The black fertile land turned dry.

A lifeless yellow color replaced the fertile black color of the soil.

Cracks appeared all over the dried-up land.

Then…

Kak!

After a loud noise that was similar to the sound of breaking porcelain, everything was thoroughly destroyed.

Including the land where the explosion went off, everything within a hundred-meter radius broke down into nothing, vanishing into thin air.

…

13 illusive figures floated in the air.

Standing in the middle of the group, Anxico’s face looked firm and steady, and his illusive eyes showed a victorious gaze as if he were bound to succeed.

He was confident enough because he understood his enemy too well.

Maybe his enemy’s strength was considerable, but his weakness was too obvious.

Fierce, merciless and taking revenge for the slightest grievance, all the stated traits were part of Anxico’s character, so why wouldn’t he step into the trap to get his ‘gift’?

On top of that, Kieran was exceptionally good in playing along with Anxico’s plan.

Whenever Anxico thought about Kieran’s performance earlier in the day, he couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Did Kieran really think he would fall for that?

He had only played along, trying to beat Kieran at his own game.

The other illusive figures around Anxico didn’t speak. They looked at him, waiting for a result. They believed in Anxico because, without him, this great situation wouldn’t have taken form, let alone his help in obtaining the power they didn’t even dare to imagine wielding in the past.

Wung!

A buzz, or tremble, came from the ground.

Light appeared in the sealed space, and they saw the scene where ‘Kieran’ was destroyed to bits in the light. Anxico laughed out loud.

In the body part where he was kicked by Kieran, he felt that the pain was relieved a lot.

What else was better than watching his mortal enemy be destroyed to bits?

Destroying the thing that his enemy ought to protect!

“Success! Now, gather all the warriors under your command. We will march to Arya Outpost. Let them all become sacrifices!”