The Devil’s Cage

While Kieran waited, his mind started to bring up pictures of his first meeting with Allen and the encounters that followed after that.

The more he thought, the more he realized there were a lot of suspicious points about Allen.

Broker might not be able to deal with Allen right now because of some matters but what about before?

Why didn’t Broker make his move against the pesky troublemaker?

Kieran didn’t believe Broker was a merciful man and there were only two reasons why he didn’t do it.

First, there was someone else powerful behind Allen. The person must be someone that Broker dreaded, hence he didn’t make the move.

Second, Allen was… Broker’s subordinate all along.

Broker used Allen to attract attention, gathering all the others who showed dissatisfaction against him, then slowly “consumed” them.

After all, Allen was dubbed a lunatic avenger by the world, it was normal for him to recklessly assault Broker’s base of operation or something like that and once men were lost in the process, it would be natural for them as well.

Though, it wasn’t an easy feat for Broker and Allen to pull off.

The players of the underground game weren’t idiots, if both of them were purely just putting up a two-man show, it would be exposed soon enough.

So…

“Is there someone else that went along with Allen? A person that favored Allen publically and had quite the status in the game, making all the high-rankers think that Broker dreaded him?”

Kieran was guessing the mysterious candidate in his heart.

Then, in order to verify his guesses, he sent a message to Rachel.

If such player existed in the game, he or she would be obvious and Rachel, the high-ranker would know of his or her presence.

Unfortunately, Rachel wasn’t online. After she temporarily handed Harvest Inn to Lawless, Rachel had left the game for a few days.

Kieran was used to her mysterious ways anyway and given his character, he wouldn’t press the question either. He knew all he had to do was patiently wait for a precise answer.

Of course, before that, he had to deal with Allen first.

[Player Allen request to enter, Yes/No?]

“Yes.” Kieran gave an affirmative answer.

Allen appeared inside his room right after that.

He was still dressed in the image that Kieran had of him: a brown windbreaker with lifted collar, a wide cowboy hat, a poncho of the same color and the revolver on his left waist plus the two grenades on the right. Nothing on the looks changed, except for his tone.

“2567…”

After he spilled his first word, he paused.

He didn’t open his mouth for a few seconds. He only sized up Kieran after that with a straight gaze.

Looking at the direct gaze, Kieran too didn’t utter a word, he took it calm and easy as if there was nothing in front of him.

“As expected, only a talented person like you can succeed into becoming something big! And me…” Allen suddenly continued after a few seconds.

His words absent of grudge, stubbornness, leaving only a complicated sigh and it looked authentic, but it was incomparable to the weeping.

It wasn’t a loud, bitter cry but it was the soft sobs.

While Allen’s sobbed, Kieran who was already in a state of alarm instantly had a bad feeling blooming from the bottom of his heart.

Things that could make a grown man cry were only a handful and death was undoubtedly one of them. Even more so, most of the crying was caused by death.

The other part of the crying was about love and compared to death itself, love was even crueler because love would make one live in agony, wishing they would be dead instead.

Kieran didn’t want to die, neither did he want to live in agony.

So, even though he was in the absolute-safe game room, Kieran decided to strike first to seize the advantage.

Huuu!

Fire rose up from his hand, burning brightly but another ray of light was faster.

[Player Allen used 10-times Increase Cooldown Card on you!]

[Player Allen’s action is detected as malicious, elimination starts!]

[10-times Increase Cooldown Card will not inflict actual damage on you but its effect will apply!]

The system notifications appeared in Kieran’s vision and Allen’s body was also disintegrating into small light particles, identical to those dead players that Kieran killed but more agonizing.

At least Kieran’s room was filled with Allen’s agonizing wails and even though the process was so short that it lasted less than a second, the wails echoed in Kieran’s rooms for quite a while.

However, Kieran didn’t show any sympathy, his gaze was cold as he looked at the system notifications that kept on popping out.

[Name: 10-times Increase Cooldown Card]

[Type: Card]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Attribute: Single and Party dungeons will go into cooldown immediately and cooldown time increased by 10]

[Remark: This isn’t a prank, it is a card that bears malicious intent.]

[Note: If cooldown time reaches the limit time of character outside the dungeon, card effect will immediately subside]

…

No doubt this was the loophole that Broker found and Allen’s action already proved that he was one of Broker’s pawns.

Likewise, it also proved to Kieran that Broker didn’t wish for him to further increase his strength this fast.

For this reason alone, Broker didn’t mind turning Allen, his spy that hadn’t exposed himself into an expendable pawn piece.

“Is it because the previous incident made you feel a sense of danger?” Kieran muttered to himself.

Then, he sent a message to Lawless, briefly explaining what happened.

“HOLD ON!”

Lawless replied with a rare two word only message and a mere 10 minutes later, Lawless came into Kieran’s room.

When he saw the effect of [10-times Increase Cooldown Card], Lawless cursed out loud.

“That f*cking son of a b*tch! I will f*ck him over!” Lawless said as he wanted to leave.

“It’s useless. Since Broker has made Allen do such a thing, he must have arranged it early on. Unless you can break into the player’s room, otherwise you can’t even touch him. Believe me, if it is possible, Broker will not just order Allen to risk his life to use a [10-times Increase Cooldown Card] on me, it will be something more deadly.”

“And… He will deplete his manpower soon.” Kieran pointed at his cooldown time which has been increased 10 fold.

“So, you are just going to let him go?” Lawless grunted in an upset tone.

“How would I? Do I look like such a saint with so much tolerance? I hope you can gather some men and sweep clean his properties. Maybe the secret bazaar is heavily guarded but the others shouldn’t be as tight as the bazaar,” Kieran said with a smile.

“What about you?” Lawless looked at his good friend with doubts who was still wearing a smile at this kind of timing.

Kieran’s performance didn’t look like a player that had been restricted one bit.

“I have my own solutions. Don’t worry,” Kieran said.

For the upcoming time, Kieran and Lawless discussed in detail about which properties of Broker they should make a move on.

After Lawless finally left, Kieran took in a deep breath and turned around, picking up [Extra Dungeon Entry Scroll].

Originally he planned to enter when everything was set but now…

He couldn’t afford to sit back and wait anymore.

Unless he planned to stay in his game room and play solo for the rest of his life and even still, he would be affected in some way.

He didn’t forget what was Broker’s main occupation was.

‘Anyone who buys from 2567, Lawless and the likes of them will receive double the price when trading in the bazaar!’

Or ‘Anyone who did not buy from 2567, Lawless and the likes of them will receive 10% discount at the bazaar!’

Kieran didn’t doubt one bit that Broker will go with such cheap moves, especially when his forces expanded once more, his influence would surely reach new highs.

Facing such a situation, Kieran knew what should he do.

[Do you want to use Extra Dungeon Entry Scroll? Yes/No]

“Yes!”

[Please choose your dungeon!]

“The Failed Great Detective!”

[Extra Dungeon Entry Scroll conflicts with 10-times Increase Cooldown Card…]

[Extra Dungeon Entry Scroll has priority!]

[10-times Increase Cooldown Card loses its effect!]

[Entering dungeon…]