The Devil’s Cage

A person’s voice could express their emotion.

In fact, not only could the voice do that, many other voices or sounds could achieve it too and one of the most alarming ones was footsteps.

Some skillful people could even sense emotions through footsteps.

Horlaika the Undying and Horfe the Edge were one of those people.

Their missions determined that they had to master this set of skills, therefore, after Horfe heard the messy footsteps outside the door, his calm heart tightened right away.

‘What happened? Could it be…’

A bad feeling appeared in Horfe’s heart, and a while later, it came true.

All three of his colleagues who watched the Lower Seventh Ring had died, killed by Anderson, the Wolf Sect Demon Hunter.

Bang!

After hearing the report, Kurtzargert punched fiercely on the table.

“I’ve said it clearly before! Watch them! Just watch them! Can’t any one of you understand my orders?”

Horfe wisely lowered his head when Councilman Kurtzargert bellowed.

He didn’t know how his colleagues who were sent to watch over the Lower Seventh Ring were discovered but he knew things were about to get a lot worse.

They were already in a disadvantageous situation and now they had completely fallen into the passive side.

He had no idea what he should do next.

War God Temple!

Demon Hunters!

Mist Religious Sect!

The thought of the society being surrounded by all three enemies sank Horfe’s heart. When he realized Councilman Kurtzergart was looking at him, the arrogant field agent couldn’t help but feel numb at his scalp.

“Go call everybody in!”

Right after Kurtzergart’s voices sounded, Horfe ran out as if he had been spared from death.

He didn’t notice that after he turned around, there was an unusual gleam in Councilman Kurtzergart’s eyes and a slight curl to his lips.

‘Nicely done, Anderson!’

Bloody Mary wasn’t fond of the Demon Hunters.

It was fair to consider that without its boss, it would never get close to one.

It wasn’t just because those hunters were dangerous, it was also because they were persistent, as if they were real wolves which never let go of their prey once they locked onto them.

Plus, with its own background, the Superior Demon and the Demon Hunters were enemies more than allies.

But now?

Bloody Mary cheered from the bottom of its heart.

It could finally die less times!

According to its plan, it would eventually go after the three representatives of the southern councilmen who were tasked to watch the slums in Lower Seventh Ring, not in a straightforward way, but more of a natural one.

In order to make it all look natural, dying once or twice in the process was almost inevitable.

For example, when a night guard accidentally discovered three hostile watchers in the dark, ‘it’ would surely be killed, and at the moment of death, the sorrowful cry would alarm the others.

Inside Bloody Mary’s mind, it had already planned how the sorrowful cry would spread, but none of those were of use now!

That old Demon Hunter had completed it on behalf of itself!

‘Thank you!’

Bloody Mary thanked Anderson from the bottom of its heart.

If one could live, who would want to die? Especially Bloody, Mary who deeply experienced the pain of dying.

The curled up lips lasted for a second. Bloody Mary then looked at Horlaika.

“Describe the previous incident again,” Bloody Mary kept using Kurtzergart’s tone.

Horlaika wasn’t that stupid to acknowledge anything in this kind of timing.

Likewise, he wasn’t so stupid as to ask his teacher why he had to describe again, he just described it again with all the details.

Bloody Mary carefully listened to Horlaika’s description. It was searching for possible flaws in the words.

This was also something that it learned from its boss.

There were no flawless plans in the world, only perfecting the plan endlessly.

It once heard its boss say that, so it remembered it and carried it out itself.

Its boss carried it out himself, so it had no reasons to not learn from him.

At the same time, it also kept perfecting its own setup.

Horfe the southern councilmen representatives had fluctuating emotions just now and it was enough for Bloody Mary to pry a little of his memories.

Not much, but enough.

While Horlaika was describing, the other 10 southern councilmen representatives came back to the council hall once more.

Unlike their cold and stately previous selves, even though it was just looks, Bloody Mary was able to detect anxiety in the representatives’ hearts clearly through its [Demon Instinct].

After all, several hours earlier, there were 14 of them and now, in the span of a few short hours, they had lost 4 of their colleagues.

Even as the elites of the southern councilmen, it was impossible for them to not be moved by the loss.

Anxiety! Nervousness! And the fear towards the unknown!

Everything was just as Bloody Mary expected, but something was still lacking!

Bloody Mary quietly sensed them and a moment later, it knocked on the table.

Knock, knock, knock.

After the first, the next two continuous knocks were also heavy, sounding like the knocks were knocking at the representatives’ heart.

“I want to have a Council Meeting again! I need to speak with the councilmen you serve!” Bloody Mary said decisively.

The representatives, who were somewhat at a loss, didn’t object, bringing the communication crystal out once more.

“Kurtzargert! What the hell are you doing?!”

The moment the hot-tempered councilman appeared, he bellowed.

“Don’t push it, Kurtzargert!” said the gloomy voice.

“Kurtzargert, anything happen yet?” asked the friendlier voice.

The rest of the councilmen shared their reactions too, some even looking like things were none of their concern, at least on the outside.

“Ask your men,” Bloody Mary coldly chuckled, with no intention to speak at all.

At this point, the southern councilmen finally realized something wasn’t right.

Some of their men were missing.

“Where’s my man?” asked the hot-tempered one.

The gloomy one did not speak, instead looking towards the rest of the councilmen.

Under the councilmens’ gazes, Horfe walked out from the representative group.

He bowed at the friendly councilman. It was obvious that this councilman was the one he served. He then told the others what had just happened.

After getting confirmation from one of their own about the unknown God, Bloody Mary was able to tell that these southern councilmen unconsciously tightened their body.

‘Hmph, a bunch of cowards!

Don’t worry, I still have some bigger surprises coming up for y’all!’

Bloody Mary chuckled in its heart.

Horfe paused uncontrollably, then continued after he adjusted his condition, speaking with a smoother flow.

“We… ran into the emissary of that powerful God. We were careful in our watch but the gap of strength was too wide, if the emissary wasn’t toying with me, I wouldn’t have made it back to Silent Night Town. And the slums of Lower Seventh Ring…”

Saying up to this point, Horfe hesitated.

“What happened there?” asked the hot-tempered councilman.

Horfe didn’t say anything, looking at the councilman he served.

His looks and reaction were enough to provide all the southern councilmen with a single theory.

Or rather, when their men first arrived at Edatine Castle, all the southern councilmen had made some specific arrangements, which was to cause trouble for Kurtzargert when necessary.

“Accidents happen,” said a councilman after he cleared his throat.

“Yes. They are decent men, what a pity that they left us like this,” said another councilman.

Then, more and more councilmen spoke.

The topic of the meeting was slowly diverted by each and every word from the councilmen. After waiting for a while, Bloody Mary slammed the table powerfully.

Bang!

“You people treating me like a child? Or an idiot?” bellowed Bloody Mary.

Right away, all the clamouring councilmen around the table stopped.

The hot-tempered councilman even tried to explain but Bloody Mary did not give him the chance.

“Enough! I don’t want to listen to your explanations! All I want to say is that from now on, I will have nothing to do with Edatine Castle! I will leave this place at once!” Bloody Mary said as it stood up.

“Hold on!”

“Kurtzargert! I think we can talk about this!”

“Don’t be so reckless! Calm down!”

All the southern councilmen spoke in various attempts to stop Bloody Mary, then one of them spoke in a very irritated voice.

“Are you sure that you won’t end up like us? If our positions had been swapped, you wouldn’t do the same as us?” the gloomy councilman spoke.

Bloody Mary, who had turned around, really wanted to give the councilman a big hug, he went along with its plan too well! It was actually thinking how it should explosively round it up, but now?

Hu!

As though the sigh came from Bloody Mary, it turned around.

It glanced over all the southern councilmen before it emphasized each word, “We are all the same, therefore if our positions are swapped, I would do the same.”

Bloody Mary purposely paused at that point, waiting for them to play along with its little farce.

As expected, that gloomy voiced councilman opened his mouth and mocked itself once more.

“Then what else are you talking about? We are all the same…”

“Don’t compare me to yourself, idiot!” Bloody Mary bellowed.

Its face flushed and eyes widened. No one would doubt how angry Kurtzargert was right now.

“I also have the same thought but I won’t do it! I am not that stupid when the enemy is right before our doorsteps and still dumb enough to make more enemies for myself! Do you all have a detailed understanding of the Snake Sect? Do you know that the newly risen Mist religious sect has connections with the Snake Sect? Do you all know that the remains of Wolf Sect had been accepted into Snake Sect? Your bodies are bound, together with your brain? What is your brain holding? Grass?”

Question after question, it rendered the southern councilmen speechless.

Even the last sentence, an insulting phrase, was neglected by the councilmen, because they really knew nothing about the Snake Sect Demon Hunters.

Everything they knew about Snake Sect was from the filtered information that they got from Edatine Castle.

In short, their understanding of Snake Sect was limited to what Edatine Castle wanted them to know.

They, however, knew more about the Mist religious sect, because their men witnessed the confrontation between the Mist and God of War.

They were evenly matched!

Even though God of War had most of his energy concentrated on that lady, it was still enough to prove how powerful the Mist was.

It was just that… How was the Mist religious sect related to the Snake Sect?

“Kurtzergart, can you explain to us the relationship between the Mist religious sect and Snake Sect Demon Hunter?” asked the friendly councilman.

“Mist should come from the Snake.”

Gasp!

Right after Bloody Mary’s words faded, gasps sounded throughout the council hall.

As the organization that gave birth to Lady Calamity, how were they not clear about what it meant?

“Is the Mist this powerful already?” The hot-tempered councilman sounded a little afraid this time.

“Not yet! They are still lacking a crucial part, but it’s not something mortals can fight anymore! Now, you people pushed me up and made me go against a divine existence, plus another one who’s near divine status. I have reasons to suspect that some among you wanted me dead!” said Bloody Mary.

Its mockery silenced the southern councilmen once more.

Several of them even looked at the gloomy voiced councilman. They seemed to be suspecting something.

The gloomy voiced councilman intuitively wanted to retort but when the words reached the tip of his tongue, he was stopped by the friendly councilman.

“Horfe, can you prove it?”

The friendly councilman looked at his man, his voice sounding heavy, his reaction big, to the point that even with a hood over his head, one could tell he had turned around.

“Yes, councilman. I can swear on it. Both Etorin Tailor and the Mist or Snake Sect, I can prove them,” Horfe swore without a second thought.

Bloody Mary didn’t even need to influence him, because it was what he saw with his own eyes.

So it was natural that he could swear on it.

As the leader of the representatives of the 14 southern councilmen, Horfe’s words had weight.

The silence similar to before appeared once more.

The southern councilmen communicated with each other under the table again.

Bloody Mary didn’t choose to return to its seat, instead it talked to Horlaika, “Pack your things. We are leaving Edatine Castle tonight for the outskirts of Mozaar.”

“Yes, my lord,” Horlaika nodded and walked out right away.

Horfe and the others wanted to stop Horlaika when they saw it but dared not; they wanted to say something but didn’t know what was appropriate.

Deep in their hearts, some of them even had a similar thought, the difference was that they’d return to the south.

One thing worth noting was that going up against a divine existence was horrifying enough for them already, and now with another one who was near divine status, would there still be any hope of winning?

In fact, not only the representatives thought as such, even the councilmen who communicated with each other shared the same thought.

“What should we do? Are we going to give up on Edatine Castle?” the hot-tempered councilman asked.

“NO! Once we give up on Edatine Castle, it will completely expose us in front of God of War and the unknown God. Kurtzergart is the best candidate to attract all the fire power, at least he must stay in Edatine Castle to be the target before we solve our own problems!” said the friendly councilman straightforwardly.

The other councilmen nodded in agreement.

“But what do we have to do to make Kurtzergart stay there? He has sounded his retreat against a God, let alone another one nearing divine status,” the hot-tempered councilman failed to find the solution to the problem.

“Who said the one nearing divine status is our enemy?” The friendly councilman chuckled.

The rest of the councilmen were stunned. Then, they thought of something else and they too showed a smile.