The Devil’s Cage

New discovery?

Bloody Mary maintained its calm.

After utilizing almost all the factions and the power in Edatine, if they still couldn’t find anything that Broker left behind, it would suggest its boss retreat right away because it would only mean two things.

First, Broker had power that exceeded its boss’ imagination. This dungeon world was molded into his own backyard.

Second, a trap! A trap to stall its boss in this world!

Although the flow of time in the dungeon world and the big city was very different when they were compared, several minutes were able to change everything, let alone 1 to 3 hours.

According to Broker’s schemes, flipping over the whole big city might be a possibility at some point.

Fortunately, it wasn’t the two worst outcomes.

Without the need to even adjust, Bloody Mary displayed the habitual solemness of Kurtzargert.

“What discovery?” Bloody Mary asked.

“There’s several base points which should be the backup that ‘his’ emissary left behind. We have captured them and are questioning them right now,” replied Horfe. He then added, “Councilman Eindefern will not stand in the way on this matter.”

Horfe rather liked and adapted to the current atmosphere of teaming up, he didn’t want some unwanted misunderstandings to occur.

“Having clues is good. As for Councilman Eindefern? I know him well.” said Bloody Mary and the solemness on its face never decreased a bit, instead becoming heavier.

Horlaika, who was silent throughout the conversation, stepped up in a timely manner.

“What’s wrong my lord?” asked Horlaika.

“We are losing the initiative, everything is coming to an end. Before this, ‘he’ did not notice that we’d discovered him and now with these base points raided, what do you think ‘he’ will do? What is his response?” Bloody Mary asked.

Horfe was shocked. He was only thinking about how to steady the internal, he never thought about anything beyond that.

Now, with Bloody Mary’s reminder, he regained his senses.

Right! They might not have had enough clues before this but they owned the initiative, they were on the active side! Now, they were completely exposed! What would that ‘God’ do now?

As he pondered, Horfe started to sweat.

“Horfe,” Bloody Mary suddenly called the representative’s name.

“Yes, sir?” Horfe bowed after regaining his senses.

“Be careful, the real fight is just starting. Deliver my words, as they are, to Eindefern,” ordered Bloody Mary.

“Yes, sir,” Horfe nodded. He didn’t move away though, instead directly contacting Councilman Eindefern.

Horfe didn’t think that he should move away, since both sides were allies right now.

Moreover, they were one organization after all.

Looking at Horfe’s action, Bloody Mary didn’t show any reaction but in its heart, it chuckled.

Unconscious influence was the scariest.

What kind of ability was more useful than its [Demon Instinct] and [Illusion] to influence others?

The more time it spent in contact with them, the more confident it was at grasping people’s hearts, and from there, secretly influencing all their decisions.

There wouldn’t be any caution or strange feelings. Everything under its influence would feel like something they wanted to do themselves. they might not even know when they had committed some huge mistakes.

The reason why a Demon was called a Demon was because of this scary point.

Unfortunately, it was useless against its boss.

It had never seen a person as vigilant and as calm as its boss. Kieran’s vigilance had surpassed the mortal level and reached some transcendent state.

Bloody Mary had no idea whether it was a talent of its boss or if its boss adopted it.

It only knew that if the situation required it, its boss could sleep with his eyes open.

Soon, the communication formation was set up.

The representative of all the councilmen of the south, Eindefern, appeared in the room as a projection image.

“Good morning, Kurtzarger,” Eindefern still used his signature friendly tone, but Bloody Mary’s response was extremely cold.

“I don’t want to talk to you, Horfe will tell you everything.” said Bloody Mary, before it really shut up.

Going through Kurtzargert’s memories, Bloody Mary knew very well what kind of person this Eindefern was.

Other than being known as the smiling tiger, he was one of the most powerful among all the southern councilmen. He was tenacious, meticulous, and wise, a small fishing village was able to develop into a major port with just his own efforts alone.

Bloody Mary had no intention of dealing with such a man. Even though it thought it was playing Kurtzargert well enough, who could guarantee that Eindefern wouldn’t see through its disguise?

Therefore, Blood Mary adopted the ‘stay away’ tactic that it used earlier, misleading Eindefern to think that it wanted to escape but was forced to stay in Edatine, going up against the ‘God’.

As a matter of fact, Bloody Mary’s tactic was quite successful.

When Eindefern saw Kurtzargert’s response, he didn’t doubt a thing. He politely smiled and then started to ask Horfe questions. After he heard Horfe’s reports, the southern councilman signed Horfe to leave him alone with Kurtzargert.

Similarly, Horlaika also left the room after he got permission from Bloody Mary.

“Tell me, why did you come to me? Don’t use that excuse you used just now, if you can figure it out, so can I. We are not idiots,” Eindefer put away his false friendliness and asked in a straightforward manner.

“I want a ship leaving Qitar Bay,” said Bloody Mary heavily.

“Are you kidding me?” Eindefern’s projection raised a confused brow.

“No, I’m serious. I’ve always deemed your resistance useless since the very beginning. Now, after what happened, it strengthened my thoughts,” Bloody Mary inhaled deeply and bellowed as if he was venting his anger.

“Calm down, Kurtzargert. The situation is beneficial to us!” Eindefern frowned and tried to persuade Kurtzargert.

“Beneficial? It’s been a week, what have you got? What did you find? Did you even think about what you’re going up against?” Bloody Mary continued to bellow, as if it had turned a deaf ear at the persuasion.

A sudden realization hit Eindefern after he saw how aroused Kurtzargert was.

“You’ve seen ‘him’! That’s right, you must have seen ‘him’! Otherwise, why are you so scared now? The Kurtzargert I know is not a coward like you! The only explanation is you’ve seen ‘him’ before and what you saw turned you into a coward!”

 The words escaped Eindefern’s mouth and gradually sounded firm.

“Being a coward is better than being dead! Besides, you think death is the end? ‘He’ is much more cunning and fierce than you think, you really think you can get information from the captives? Let me tell you, stop dreaming! Did you ever think that these captives might be… a trap?”

Right after that, Bloody Mary showed an evil smile.

Eindefern’s brows locked tightly together.

Then—BOOM!

A huge explosion went off at Eindefern’s side, causing his projection to shake violently.

Eindefern’s face was twisted by the shake and looked very ugly.

Bloody Mary laughed out loud though.

Amid the laughs, Eindefern’s projection vanished for now.

Bloody Mary continued laughing for a few more seconds before it calmed down and pondered upon the situation with a heavy look.

Of course, it was also a performance.

Everything was as it’s boss’ expectations.

Broker’s usual tactic had two goals, one on the bright side and one on the dark side.

The ‘captives’ that Eindefern caught would only be a trap. The capture also served as a sign for the real and valuable ‘secret agents’ to retreat, or… get disposed.

“What a troublesome opponent!” Bloody Mary commented.

Against an opponent like Broker, the simplest way Bloody Mary could think of was to decapitate the man before he could start any of his plans and schemes.

Other than that? It had no idea at all.

Once Broker started his schemes, no one would be able to find an entry point, because no one understood what he was after.

Besides, even the plan of decapitating the man was difficult to carry out.

Broker wasn’t a brave warrior.

He must have meticulously planned out his own safety and set up many layers of traps around him.

While thinking about how to make a move against Broker, Eindefern’s projection image came back online, causing Blood Mary to lift its head up.

Eindefern acted like before, but Bloody Mary discovered fear in his eyes. It seemed like Eindefern had just experienced something that surpassed his imagination and it was what Blood Mary wanted.

“Do you understand now?” Bloody Mary asked.

This time, Eindefern didn’t speak right away. He went quiet for several seconds before he said, “Do you have any place to go in the southern islands?”

“Not many but a safe spot housing several is still manageable.” Bloody Mary said.

“Count me in then. I’ll provide the necessary ship, sailors and resources,” After that, Eindefern limped weakly like a deflated balloon, muttering softly to himself, “Qitar Bay is gone.”

…

Qitar Bay vanished on Edatine’s map in the explosions and fire.

Edatine already received the news around afternoon.

Immediately, people were fearful and horrified, even starting to criticize the factories making firepowder and their ill-practices.

That’s right, Edatine royal court revealed to the public that it was a malfunction in the firepowder factory that caused the explosion.

As for the real reason?

Only few knew the reason and all those who knew were tense, as if they were facing their greatest enemy.

One of them was Mortor, the bishop in council of War God Temple that Kieran invited into his plan.

The bishop in council received news that he has become the only bishop in council left out of the original two.

His old friend, his rival in competing for the archbishop’s position, had died in the sudden explosion when he was observing the interrogation of that ‘captive’.

Together with him was a doze more elite priests, all of them returning to the kingdom of God of War.

What happened?

It was what Mortor wished to find out, therefore he lent the strength of God of War’s divine spell: the Eye of War.

He hoped to find some clues and traces, but he returned fruitless.

All he saw was a giant crater, which was Qitar Bay, a port city so wealthy that even Edatine Castle was jealous of it.

Now… all that was left were crystallized shards formed by high temperature. Everything was vapourized in an instant, including the layers of mystical defensive measures.

It was not because the defensive spells were useless, otherwise there wouldn’t be survivors from the blast, but among all the survivors, none were from War God Temple.

Damn it!

A fruitless result infuriated Mortor. He slammed the table fiercely as he assumed that this was Silent Night Secret Society’s doing.

After that, the bishop in council started to think how he could minimize the damage to the lowest.

Qitar Bay was a place that War God Temple had high attention on, the wealth generated by the port city very well known. Even War God Temple required a wealthy income, therefore the other bishop in council headed down to the south and built another cathedral for War God Temple. He even infused the energy and manpower into the War God Temple of Qitar Bay relentlessly.

Compared to Edatine Castle which had already shaped up, Qitar Bay was much more worthy of investment. Everyone knew it that half of War God Temple’s overall strength was all invested there and now, it was gone! Everything! Gone!

What they lost wasn’t just the strongest combatants, the loss of the main force was the most terrifying and most severe.

Mortor realized in shock that War God Temple had suddenly plunged into a gap between two harvest, meaning the younger members were still young and unable to keep up with the dead veterans.

He had to fill in the gap as soon as possible!

Mortor was wrapping his head around this incident and he naturally thought of the young knight, Gino.

Gino was loyal, young, and energetic, he would be a perfect candidate.

As for his strength?

The God of War’s blessing could solve it, it could make up for his lackings.

Besides, with Gino being a role model to attract enough attention, Mortor would have time to deal with the loss.

“Tell Gino that I want to see him,” Mortor said to the deacon on duty.

“Yes, my lord,” the deacon bowed and went off quickly.

A while later, the young Gino appeared before Mortor.

His rather handsome looks coupled with a set of shining knight armor made him look good and valiant. As he walked, his movements were clean and crisp, the Glorious Sword at his waist even emanating an aura that granted the young man a sharp yet not pressuring presence.

Mortor nodded quietly in acknowledgement.

Very good! He needed a pawn exactly like Gino!

“Son, your performance is exhilarating, that’s why you will be worthy of this honor. I will arrange for you to receive the blessing from our Lord. You will then become a warrior that wields the strongest of our powers,” Mortor said as he made up his mind. He spilled his intentions straightforwardly.

As per his expectations, the young man before his eyes was stunned on the spot.

“A-Am I qualified for it?” asked young Gino in a shaking tone.

“Of course. Other than you, no one else is qualified. Go get ready. Tomorrow at noon, it will be time for your baptism,” Mortor said with a smile. His words left no room for doubts, hence Gino never rejected the suggestion.

The young knight thanked Mortor once more before turning around and leaving.

When he returned to his own room, the young knight showed a sense of darkness in his eyes.

‘I can’t delay this anymore… Am I going to do this?

I don’t want to do this either, I just want to live!’

Conflict, anxiety, and hesitation. The layers of negative emotions put the young Gino at a loss, but his hand unconsciously held the hilt of Glorious Sword tightly, the replica that Kieran gave him.

In the next second— Chang!

The sword was drawn and the sheath was slashed at.

Pak!

Amid the clear thud, the sheath was cut in half.

An ominous black started to flow out.