The Devil’s Cage

Scarlet and Victor walked out of the outer ring and arrived at the secondary outer ring, Ding City Sector.

Along the way were ruins and endless painful moans. Scarlet’s soul fire kept flickering as he walked. It knew the three kings would not let this atrocity slip just like that.

It had a hunch what Ring City meant for the three kings and after the city was destroyed, it meant their efforts for the past hundred years had gone down the drain.

The three kings would wage war against the culprit that blew up the city and would not rest until they rip the culprit into a million pieces.

However…

Scarlet turned around and stared at Victor, his soul fire continued to flicker.

“It wasn’t me!” Victor said heavily.

In his plan, there was a part that he would blow the city up but he hadn’t reached that part yet.

“Really? Then can you tell me you had absolutely no thoughts about blowing up the city?”

Scarlet argued.

“No,” Victor said decisively.

The soul fire flickered again, Scarlet went quiet but it was very certain of one thing: Victor was lying!

It wasn’t just its hunch, it was also part of his ability to tell apart lies!

It clearly felt changes in Victor’s soul for a moment back there. It was weak and vague and if it wasn’t for its skeletal talent, it would not have noticed.

Faint killer intentions came afloat in its heart.

It could accept a cunning and vicious collaborator who would go back on his words, but definitely not someone who could potentially threaten its plan, even if this collaborator played his part honestly and bore a code of honor.

However, Victor was obviously not someone of the latter.

Victor wasn’t just cunning, vicious, always going back on his words, he also threatened Scarlet’s plan.

The red skull of Scarlet couldn’t find a reason to keep this kind of person around itself.

A decision was made in its heart but the faint killer intents faded away.

It wasn’t time yet, it had to wait for the perfect time.

Scarlet walked forward like normal and Victor slowed down.

Unknowingly, Victor slowly put distance between Scarlet and himself.

He didn’t know Scarlet’s skeletal talent, nor did he sense the faint killer intents in its heart, but he knew he must leave this place.

He saw how King Reow and King Qi reacted.

Boiling rage coupled with overflowing killer intents, it wasn’t just meant for the person who destroyed the city, it was also meant for Victor and Scarlet.

It was obvious that the kings wanted to vent their anger on him, but Victor would not try to explain himself, unless he had a death wish.

As for that King Liao?

He might not be around back there but he was a grumpy and harsh person to begin with. He would only be harsher and angrier than King Reow and King Qi and more eager to kill the culprit and anyone related to the explosions.

Therefore, Victor had to leave the city as soon as possible.

What about Scarlet though?

Both Victor and Scarlet were using each other anyway, there was no bottomline or code to follow.

All men for themselves in the face of danger.

If he could kill Scarlet and compensate for a part of his loss, he wouldn’t mind.

The duo walked into Ring City together but were driven apart by the events when they left. They were calculating and plotting against each other and it was only natural because both of them weren’t sincere in working with each other from the start.

The duo soon entered Mou City Sector.

Situated in the outer ring, which was the farthest from the explosions, Mou City Sector suffered much less damage compared to the secondary outer ring, the outer ring, and inner ring. It was only second to King City.

Mou City Sector was the gathering spot for many weak monsters, so they were never Kieran’s priorities. Nevertheless, the monsters also suffered considerable amount of damage, not from the explosions but from the royal guards that came after the blast.

Many monsters only suffered scratches during the explosions and it was very suspicious in the eyes of the royal guards.

The secondary outer ring, outer ring, and inner ring suffered severe damage but the weakest and furthest ring sustained insignificant scratches?

Could the culprit be hiding among the weaker monsters?

The thought bloomed in the royal guards’ minds, thus leading them to apprehend the monsters without pausing.

Conflict was inevitable during the process.

When one of the monsters accidentally scratched one of the royal guards, the already tense guard exploded and chopped off the monster’s head.

Blood gushed out like a fountain from its neck.

The smell filled the place and the scene infuriated several more guards.

The smell of blood stimulated their anger. It was like pouring gasoline on fire, the royal guards then started to slaughter the monsters in the area.

The manageable situation instantly went out of hand.

The monsters were acceptable to being apprehended, but losing their lives for some weird reasons wasn’t something they could swallow down.

While the monsters resisted the capture and unfair treatment, the royal guards further suspected the culprit was hiding among them, so every one of them drew their swords, a messy fight breaking out!

The monsters at the outer ring engaged the royal guards in a chaotic and bloody fight.

The strength of every royal guard was self-explanatory, the reason why they were chosen as royal guards was because of their decent strength, plus the weapons and gears from the kings, every one of them rivaling 10 monsters by themselves.

But…

There were more than 10 monsters in the outer ring. As the biggest city sector of Ring City, more than half of the total population lived in the outer ring.

Nothing would happen during peaceful times but when the riot broke out, the royal guards were overwhelmed by sheer numbers almost instantly.

More and more blood flowed and the smell stenched the air.

Majority of the monsters were caught in the riot, baring claws and fangs, reverting to their primal instinct and attacking their enemies in the cruelest ways possible. Some monsters managed to keep their calm though, quietly moving to the walls of the city and then the gate to Mou City Sector.

Several monsters even got to high grounds and shouted at the chaotic crowd, “Stop this! Stop this right away! Calm down everyone, calm… UGH!”

One of the monsters was shouting at the crowd loudly but before its words could be useful, its head was bitten off by another monster with a lion’s head. It was then swallowed whole by the lionhead.

After swallowing the monster, the lionhead looked at the rest of the monsters.

The others dared not make noise anymore and retreated from the conflict.

However, the smell of blood had gotten the best of the lionhead. It was in a frenzy and had no intention of letting go of it’s prey. The lionhead chased the rest and wore them down.

Those monsters who retreated to the city gate watched the scene with cold and uncaring smiles.

‘Serves you right!’

They mocked the others in their heart.

Right after that, just when they were about to push the gate and flee inside the city, a white figure jumped in front of them.

“Go back!”

White swung its stick, filled with vengeful spirits, and pointed one end at them, several vengeful spirits consuming the monsters in front, leaving those in the back staggering backwards.

“Lord White, please, let us through!”

“They are crazy!”

“We don’t want to die!”

The monsters plead at White.

“Go back!”

White said coldly.

White was still the loyal gatekeeper at the moment, performing his duty truthfully.

“Just go through him!”

“He is just a gatekeeper!”

“Don’t be scared of him!”

When the monsters failed to plead, they revealed their true nature with vicious laughter, charging towards White.

White wasn’t frightened by the monsters, it swung its stick to release the vengeful spirits at the monsters, drowning them like the rising tide in less than a breath’s time.

The monsters resisted and struggled, but it was useless.

The illusory vengeful spirits were immune to physical attacks.

As the vengeful spirits went through the monsters, their vitality was sucked away instantly.

One vengeful spirit sucked a little from one monster and the large number of spirits almost wiped them out upon contact.

Immediately, the monsters noticed something had gone south!

White was too strong for them, they were no match for the unimaginable power!

The monsters thought White, a mere gatekeeper, was slightly stronger than the royal guards, regardless of the rumours, but after White released the vengeful spirits, the monsters understood how wrong they were.

White similar to a royal guard?

White could rival 10, no, 100 of the royal guards himself!

Fear loomed in the monsters’ hearts.

White smelled fear from them, laughing coldly.

‘Did you bastards really think I did nothing for the past hundred years?

I may be nothing a hundred years ago, but today, a hundred years later, I am not the gatekeeper I used to be!’

The cold laughter in its heart made it swing the stick with vengeful spirits attached harder and faster, more and more vengeful spirits released at the monsters.

Countless monsters tried to sneak into Mou City Sector every single year, some of them had nothing, while others had valuable drops. All the valuables, including their souls, ultimately ended up as White’s resources.

Its strength, its gears, and it’s weapons were not the same from a hundred years ago. It was just that White had been keeping it a secret.

White thought it required a chance to show off its strength so that it could be promoted to a higher position, but Kieran’s appearance disrupted its plan.

It might have felt unhappy at first, probably even grudgeful, but none of that mattered anymore!

All White felt now was delight and joy!

White didn’t feel happy just because the convoy of the kings got robbed, it could have robbed the convoy by itself if it wanted to. The reason why he was so happy was because the whole city was blown up and it had never thought of doing so before.

White did not feel sadness or pity for the ruined Ring City.

White was just a gatekeeper, all it got from the city was a couple of glimpses whenever he snuck in and it would have to worry that others would report him from being away from his position, so to hell with the city.

White’s restless heart was ignited together with the explosion.

As for the ‘death’ order that Kieran gave, it accepted it without a second thought.

It wouldn’t truly die, so it ought to ‘die’ a glorious death. It wanted to fight until its death!

Soon, the other monsters engaged in battle with the royal guards spotted White’s action.

The royal guards slew the monsters one by one and White wiped the monsters out group by group. By comparison, it was hard for White to not stand out.

The royal guards looked at White with weird and confused gazes, never thinking of White as strong before.

Realization then replaced their confusion, they thought of the kings they served.

The kings must have sent White here as a gatekeeper because it was so strong.

When the thoughts bloomed in their mind, the royal guards got a morale boost.

“Go along with Lord White, eliminate all these monsters!”

The leader of the royal guards shouted to its men.

White grunted in its heart when it heard what the leader said.

Before Kieran, it would feel happy about being called a lord by the leader but now?

It felt more disdain than happiness, especially when the leader wrongly addressed its name!

It was white, but its name wasn’t White.

Just when White wanted to walk over and teach the leader a lesson to remember its name, it suddenly saw Scarlet and Victor.

White was stunned when it saw the duo walking closer.

It had a fresh memory of the duo.

Other than Scarlet the red skull being a regular around the gate, Victor was the first human to enter Ring City in the past decade and on top of that, Kieran asked about both of them multiple times.

‘My lord has beef with them?’

White recalled how Kieran reacted when he asked about the duo.

His tone and expression might not change but excessive questions had made it less than normal.

If that’s the case…

A thought came up in White’s mind.

“What a disaster!”

Scarlet couldn’t help but sigh at the scattered bodies, but Victor sharply noticed Scarlet was quietly absorbing the bloody aura in the area. Even the puddle of blood quietly moved towards its feet.

Victor drew even more distance from Scarlet.

“I can’t help myself sometimes. You know, after becoming a monster, I always lose control of myself,” Scarlet explained with a smile.

Victor didn’t catch what Scarlet said, striding to the city gate on his own.

White had defeated those monsters who tried to get into the city sector and because of its effort, the nearby area around the city gate was emptied out.

When Victor, and Scarlet behind him, walked close to the spacious area, they instantly attracted unfriendly gazes from the monsters who still hadn’t given up.

The monsters wanted to escape behind the duo.

“GO BACK!”

Scarlet shouted at the monsters and raised its hand. The blood, plus several monsters, on the ground was sucked into its body right away.

It had lived in Ring City for many years, it knew how it should deal with the monsters out here.

Coincidentally, it was rather hungry after being stimulated by the bloody smell.

After ‘consuming’ the blood and the monsters, Scarlet looked at White. It was still as polite as usual.

“General White, you are really the best at defending the city. Me and my friend wish to leave the city for a while…”

Scarlet spoke politely out of habit but shortly after it tried to ask White to move, it realized something wasn’t right.

The white monster who had stood guard in front of the city gate for a hundred years didn’t look at it at all, instead it looked at Victor with a pondering gaze.

Huh?

Scarlet was startled.

It was sure White and Victor hadn’t met before, then what was with the pondering look on White’s face?

While Scarlet was dwelling in confusion, White suddenly thought of something. Its expression turned sour and it shouted at Victor, “It’s you! I recognize your presence! You are the one who caused the explosions and the unusual changes in the moat!”