The Devil’s Cage

One round!

Two rounds!

Three Rounds!

….

Sweat was pouring down and Kieran who was panting like an ox was getting slower and slower yet he didn’t stop.

The stubbornness in his bones wouldn’t allow him to stop, let alone give up.

Even if his Stamina was drained, he would move slowly, step by step.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours.

When the first light of dawn shone in through the seam of the window and struck Kieran’s face, he was completely relying on his willpower to hold himself together, his eyes were almost out of focus yet he was still moving his steps one by one as if it was his body’s instinct. He was also relying on [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] to fix his breath at a steady rate.

During normal times, it would be an easy feat but at that particular moment, it wasn’t so easy anymore.

The extreme consumption of Stamina and Spirit failed him thrice after the numerous attempts.

Moreover, because of his attempts, it staggered his moving body but just as he would never stop moving, he would never stop trying with the skill.

Attempts after attempts.

It wasn’t until the 17th time that Kieran finally regulated his breath into [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art]’s method.

Dong, Dong, Dong!

The heart which was filled with Dawn Force had started to beat vigorously. Kieran’s withered body was like a land suffering from a long drought that had welcomed the rain from the sky and started to recover at an unimaginable speed.

Not only did he recover his Stamina, but his Strength had also undergone a drastic change as well.

The changes hastened Kieran’s steps which had been moving slowly, becoming faster and faster.

He started to walk fast, then it improved into a slow jog and eventually turned into a full sprint.

System notifications then popped up in Kieran’s vision.

[Limit break Strength and Constitution…]

[Strength and Constitution -3 debuffs removed!]

[Strength and Constitution original limit state increased by 1!]

[Strength SS- rank!]

[Constitution SS- rank!]

From the A+ rank with the limit to recovering his original maximum rank and the continued breaking of his base state, Strength and Constitution had displayed their new ranks but a more obvious effect was on Kieran’s body itself.

The weight that almost crushed him a moment ago became nothing worth mentioning.

His exhausted and tired state had gone away and he was brimming with energy like a lively dragon or an active tiger.

Suddenly, Kieran straightened his body and tightened all of his muscles.

A strong wind was blasted out from his body and swept out around him.

Pak Pak Pak!

The ropes that strapped the weight to him were snapped by the sudden actions one after another but there wasn’t a loud messy noise of the heavy-weights falling on the ground.

The moment the heavy disk weights fell off his body, Kieran’s hand quickly caught all the falling disks producing a series of afterimages throughout his movements.

He then placed the disks on the floor and throughout the process, not a single noise was made as his actions were very soft.

Kieran’s face, however, wasn’t giving out any extra expressions, while he maintained his habitual calmness, a big part of him was thinking deeply.

“Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art…” He muttered softly.

Kieran had always thought highly of his core skill and during normal times, he would purposely train it and try to excavate more secrets from it but the scene that just happened told him that he still hadn’t really understood the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] well enough.

Despite him having the complete exercise and training methods of the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] in his mind and access to Dawn Force.

Kieran somehow thought of the old knight Guntherson.

At that instance, Kieran was very eager to go back inside [The Failed Great Detective] to ask Guntherson everything he knew about the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] but he knew it wasn’t possible.

Without reaching the required ratings to activate the special dungeon, one could never return to an old dungeon.

While feeling the beats of his heart that housed Dawn Force, Kieran sighed softly before quickly putting away his negative emotions and placing his focus on limit breaking his attributes.

“There’s another day left? It’ll be enough!”

Kieran saw the sun that rose up again and turned over to the spot where he placed the disks.

He needed more weight now!

Limit breaking Strength and Constitution wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him.

Getting either Agility, Spirit, or Intuition limit broken was Kieran’s current goal after he had found the correct way, at least he had quite the confidence in limit breaking Agility.

…

The night descended again as promised.

Edland City rapidly quieted down.

Even those who were reluctant to part with their night lives went home early, including those who lingered in the streets.

The recent nights in Edland City were too dangerous!

Despite the newspaper and televisions not making any announcements, for those people who had their own channels, it wasn’t hard for them to find out what happened.

‘Hundreds died in a certain city block.’

‘A couple nightclubs including the bouncers were all killed silently.’

‘Some ignorant fools provoked someone they couldn’t handle and were dismembered on the scene.’

Any one of those pieces of news was enough to strike fear in people’s heart, it had become the conversation topic of the people who knew what happened for quite some time, let alone all them occurring in the span of a couple days and happening in swift succession.

Even those gang members who claimed to be dauntless against the heavens and earth had smartly chosen to temporarily avoid causing trouble.

It made the mystics’ actions even bolder.

They shuttled through the city’s alleys and streets using the shadows, running across walls and flying across roofs.

They used the little bit of information they had gotten to lock down on the suspicious ones.

Most were groundless statements but who could resist the temptation of becoming a God?

Any slight line of hope was still hope!

Though some of them had doubts and hesitation in their hearts, such as the Twenty Hounds.

Melanie was strolling around in the room of the mansion under the council’s list of properties.

Her platinum hair waved left and right as she moved around, the slight fluttering captured the eyes of the new Hound.

“Jarles, if you stare at me again, I’ll dig your eyes out!” Melanie said coldly.

“I’m just… Fine, fine, I promise!”

Jarles wanted to explain himself but when he felt the cold chilly aura, he quickly compromised but he didn’t stop talking.

The new Hound’s eyes were spinning around, glancing over the other Hounds in the room before saying, “We’ve locked down the entire Edland City but still can’t seem to locate the guy. Maybe that guy has left Edland City in ways that we don’t know of, or… Melanie, has your informant misguided you?”

The words of suspicious and jealousy attracted the attention of all the present Hounds.

The words of the new Hound immediately became ambiguous.

“I’ve heard news of that Mr. 2567 single-handedly taking out the entire Ourin Church, Tsk! How brave and fierce of him!” Jarles emphasized on the pronunciation of “brave and fierce”.

Right away, the other Hounds who guessed the meaning in his words started to laugh in malefic ways.

“Melanie, your judgment has made you unfit as the Head Hound!”

“Yeah, it would get out of hand once the bitch is in estrus.”

“I think we should elect a better Head Hound!”

Vulgar words were uttered relentlessly, none of them were cautious about the killing intent that branched out from her cold aura.

Or rather, it was because they felt the killing intent, they acted recklessly and uttered such words without concern because it won’t be them who would end up dead but the new Hound who didn’t understand the rules.

There weren’t rules within the Twenty Hounds in helping out the newbie.

All of the Hounds only upheld a single rule: devouring others to strengthen themselves.

Melanie’s hand was on her sword hilt.

Jarles seemed to notice the situation had gone south, he started to back off step by step but his retreat was blocked by the other Hounds.

Each one of the Hounds were looking at Jarles with gazes of schadenfreude.

“I…”

Jarles wanted to explain again but his words stopped abruptly as it escaped his mouth.

A keen aura as if it was tearing apart the sky exploded.

Not from Melanie’s sword as the keen aura has far exceeded the Head Hound’s level, it even felt like it shouldn’t exist within the mortal realm!

At that very instant, all the Hounds inside the room changed their expression, all of them then dashed toward the place where the keen aura came from without hesitation.