The Devil’s Cage

Slash after slash, [Acard Knife] in Kieran’s hand was like a precision cutting tool, cutting the sharpest diamond. Each slash landed precisely on the seam of the armor, inflicting the most direct damage to War Ghost.

Soon, War Ghost’s struggle was reduced to a wriggle, and eventually gone altogether.

As for his screams?

Kieran had silenced him a while ago when he slashed his throat with the knife.

Kieran continued to cut War Ghost slash by slash, torturing the monster with [Acard Knife].

The Northerners who were running away stopped, watching the jaw-dropping scene with astonishment.

‘What is this?

He defeated War Ghost and is torturing him?!

How is this possible?’

Disbelief filled the Northerners faces, the scene unacceptable for them, likewise one of the bosses of the North Sector who controlled War Ghost.

“Impossible! This is impossible!?”

The boss screamed loudly in his secret room.

He could not believe that War Ghost, a fearsome monster who was immune to guns and explosives, was being tortured by a little knife.

“Stand up! STAND THE F*CK UP! TEAR HIM TO SHREDS!”

The boss screamed out of anger as his mind was reading the incantations but it was useless.

The joints on War Ghost’s physical body were all destroyed, he was like a puppet without strings. Even if War Ghost could reply to the boss, he couldn’t perform any actions.

Bang!

The boss punched the floor angrily, his knuckle bleeding but he didn’t care.

He knew his War Ghost had failed.

“I knew remaking War Ghost was too difficult! Even with the geographical advantages, it’s hard to achieve the peak level. Maybe I should… UGH!”

The boss was mumbling to himself but before he finished, a small dagger was stabbed into the back of his neck.

The knife’s stabbing angle was very delicate, avoiding the neck bones and piercing through the soft spots, going out from the boss’ mouth.

Splat!

Blood gushed out from the boss’ mouth, he widened his eyes at the figure behind him and fell to the ground.

He didn’t die just yet, his stronger-than-average vitality allowing him to hold on for a little longer, but the longer he clinged to life, the more he had to suffer.

The figure that appeared behind the boss simply took away a test tube from the boss’ pocket in his jacket.

The figure even removed the bangle from the boss’ hand.

“Don’t look at me like that. These things aren’t that secretive to me, I can simply sense it if I want, let alone if you keep checking these things,” Bloody Mary said with a delighted smile.

“H-H-How…did you f-find me?”

The boss wasn’t speaking from his mouth anymore, it came from his stomach, like some kind of ventriloquism.

“It’s simple. I ‘asked’ the people around about the War Ghost, then I found out it isn’t the legendary ‘living being’ that it used to be, so someone must have controlled it from behind. The person who controlled the War Ghost wanted it to arrive at the battlefield with perfect timing, so this person must know a thing or two about the North Sector,” Bloody Mary continued with a smile.

“You found me based on that ?!” the boss was not buying what Bloody Mary said.

“Of course not, but to locate you is also simple. With a puppet like War Ghost in hand, not many Northerners would continue to stay in the north, everyone wants to leave this shithole. Even if this someone wanted to power up the War Ghost, he should have temporarily changed his living environment for the better, but based on what I found out, there’s no one in the north that fits the criteria. Adding in the perfectly timed appearance of War Ghost, there’s only one possibility left: this person must have already changed his life for the better and is living decently in the North Sector. So given all those clues, how hard is it to find you?” Bloody Mary asked.

“It’s not hard! But… you talk too much!”

The boss laughed coldly, and then…

Bang!

The boss’ stomach burst, a monster with the body of a baby and the head of a rat jumping out from the hole and throwing itself towards Bloody Mary.

Bloody Mary stood there without moving a muscle, as if it was frightened terribly, allowing the monster to jump to its face.

But just as the monster was about to push itself down, Bloody Mary showed a delightful smile.

‘Shit!’

The monster’s heart skipped a beat, its jumping forward posture immediately defying the law of physics, freezing in mid air before swiftly flying backwards, drawing distance from Bloody Mary.

Though… nothing happened, no sudden ambush, no unexpected change, only a smiling Bloody Mary standing there.

“You bluff me!?”

The monster yelled and threw itself at Bloody Mary again, but before it got to Bloody Mary, it went back again.

Nothing happened during the second time either.

The monster looked at Bloody Mary with a doubtful and anxious gaze.

It didn’t know whether Bloody Mary was bluffing or it really had some tricks under its sleeve.

If there were tricks, why wasn’t it activated?

Did Bloody Mary see through the monster’s action?

If it was a bluff?

Bloody Mary was too calm, wasn’t its acting a little too good?

On the other hand, Bloody Mary’s smile remained after the monster retreated twice, yet deep down in its heart, it was praying non-stop, rushing Kieran.

“BOSS, HURRY UP! I CAN’T HOLD IT ANY LONGER!”

It was at this time, the monster threw itself at Bloody Mary a third time and this time, it didn’t coward out anymore. It stuck its tiny, sharp claw out to test Bloody Mary.

Bloody Mary kept away its smile, put on its serious look and raised the little dagger in its hand up high.

“GOD SLAYER SLASH!”

Its loud yell echoed in the room.

The monster with its sharp claw stuck out retreated right away.

‘There IS a trap!

Lucky I am careful enough!

Don’t you dare bluff me!’

The monster thought in its head, and while it was watching Bloody Mary with the utmost caution, Bloody Mary turned around and ran for it.

The monster jolted, a heavy insult rising from its heart and attacking its mind.

“HOW DARE YOU BLUFF ME!”

Infuriated, the monster chased after Bloody Mary.

Finally, the angry monster didn’t hold back anymore, its sharp claws went through Bloody Mary’s chest but the empty feeling caused the monster to jolt again.

Although Bloody Mary was also greatly weakened by the system, it retained some of its special traits. It may not be what it was during its prime, but its current state of power was enough to deal with this little monster.

Bloody Mary neglected the sharp claw through its chest and raised its little dagger again.

“GOD SLAYER SLASH!”

“Trying to fool me again? Do you think it will work this time?!”

The monster laughed repeatedly, did this bloody bastard really take it as a fool?

It was enough to be tricked once, did this bastard really think it will fall for it a third time?

‘Stop underestimating me!’

The monster raised its other claw without further ado, it did not believe Bloody Mary was truly an undead.

If its attack could accumulate to a certain limit, it would surely kill this insulting bastard.

The monster dished out its claws again.

Another sharp knife quietly approached the monster.

Just as the monster plunged its claws into Bloody Mary’s chest again, the sharp knife went through its ugly head.

Splat!

The monster’s body trembled violently, trying to struggle, but it was futile as its head was stabbed by a knife.

Kieran slightly twisted his wrist and opened the monster’s head, prying out its brain.

The monster’s brain burst, Kieran stepping back to avoid the whites and reds.

Bloody Mary turned illusive to avoid the spilling brains.

After its brain and body fell on the floor, a lit up molotov cocktail was tossed on it.

“Aaaaargh!”

The supposedly dead monster suddenly screamed in excruciating pain.

Its body swiftly burned to cinders by the fire, but despite that, Kieran still used [Acard Knife] to check it carefully, making sure the rat faced monster was truly dead.

Bloody Mary stood straight beside Kieran, remaining as quiet as it could, not daring to even breath loudly.

‘This isn’t being scared!

Why should I be scared of my own boss?

I just don’t want to disturb the boss!

That’s right, I don’t want to disturb him.’

Bloody Mary got used to comforting itself and when Kieran turned to it, it took out the test tube and the bangle that it got earlier with both its hands.

Inside the test tube was a 20ml red liquid.

[Name: Healing Potion (Witchcraft)]

[Type: Potion]

[Rarity: Great]

[Attribute: Heal Lethal damage once]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: No]

[Remark: This is a special potion crafted by a certain master in the Witchcraft Sect, combining it with the traditional witchcraft and potionology. It has miraculous power and can save your life in a critical moment!]

…

The bangle was thoroughly black, on the surface was a layer of white bones carving. When both ends of the carving converged, it looked like a skeleton lying down, or rather the bones of a beast.

[Name: Soul Keeper Bangle]

[Type: Accessory]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: Strong]

[Attribute: 1. Keep; 2. Rear]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: Spirit D]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: No]

[Remark: Souls are irreplaceable, indispensable ingredient for witchcraft practitioners, so they figured out ways to keep the souls intact and fresh. The Soul Keeper Bangle is created for this purpose, but it already a decent item to begin with.]

…

[Keep: Keep wandering souls (Kept souls has to go through a Spirit authentication no lower than D rank. Failed and the souls will be kept in the bangle) 372/400]

[Rear: The kept souls can go through a certain rituals or rear them to achieve certain goals.]

[Note: Rear requires Master level Mystical Knowledge Witchcraft.]

…

Kieran examined the two items, then put [Healing Potion (Witchcraft)] into a reachable position his backpack—he bought the outdoor backpack in the supermarket, it wasn’t as useful as his original storage items, but better than none.

He then chose to release the souls from the bangle without a second thought.

A large group of souls appeared in the room.

Unlike the souls devoured by Fedora, these souls were rather clear-minded and able to communicate through words.

It became easy conversing with the souls since Kieran was holding [Soul Keeper Bangle].

“Go, go to the place that you should be going,” Kieran said.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Thank you my lord.”

Words of gratitude sounded from this group of souls and a large area of light particles floated away, to the ‘faraway land’.

What followed was the notification, telling Kieran about his enhancement.

[Spirit broke through a layer of seal, increased from A- → A]

…

‘Exorcising’ almost 400 souls at once released Kieran from another Spirit seal. It was expected though, because before this, when Kieran reached rank A-, he had spent 200 Crossing Copper Coins, hence he got the hint from there.

When his mind got clearer, Kieran happily called Bloody Mary out of the room to carry a big bag.

“Boss, what is this?” Bloody Mary looked at the bag with a curious look.

“The War Ghost’s armor,” Kieran answered.

“You were late because you were busy stripping its armor?”

When Bloody Mary thought its boss was late because of stripping the armor, it felt rather hurt.

It was lower than some armor?!

“No.”

Kieran shook his head decisively.

While Bloody Mary was feeling a little better, he added, “I was late because I was carrying it.”

Phew!

Bloody Mary took a deep breath, it tried to keep its smile even though its face was twitching.

The autumn wind in the night was cold.

It somehow thought of the West Coast again.

The warm, dazzling sun, the comfortable, endless waves, that was its home, but… it could never return.

Nothing would ever be the same!

Looking at the back of the black figure, Bloody Mary once again felt that its future will be as dark as the person it served, without a bit of light.

“Do you feel any changes?” Before going, Kieran asked Bloody Mary.

“Changes?” Bloody Mary flinched.

“The contract between you and me has far exceeded this dungeon world’s limit. As I slowly recover my strength, you should too. Since the number of contracts is high enough, when you reach a certain threshold, you should be stronger, like I did,” Kieran explained.

“Huh? It sounds true! It’s weak but I do feel stronger compared to the moment we came into this world,” Bloody Mary examined its body before it said in surprise.

“En.”

Kieran nodded and walked away.

Bloody Mary followed him without a second thought.

What sun?

What sunshine?

What waves?

The Superior Demon was a being of darkness, it should be in darkness.

Staying around the boss was its best choice.

Kieran too smiled when he felt the joy from Bloody Mary through the contract’s power.

Suddenly, he stopped. He quietly stepped into the shadow and Bloody Mary dived into the wall.

A few seconds later, human figures appeared nearby.