The Devil’s Cage

“Dawn Force could never cancel out Plague Force.”

It was true. In this current dungeon world, it could be considered as one of the absolute truths but what Kieran used wasn’t Dawn Force!

It was an inheritance skill that came from a certain era, powered up using Dawn Force as it displayed its strength willfully.

Its name was, Marulyn!

The Marulyn Church was originally skilled at healing and dispelling plagues. While facing off against Plague Force, it was like it had met its bane.

If it was a while back, Kieran might still face some trouble going up against Plague Force but now?

With the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] reaching Transcendence, the advanced skills from Marulyn’s inheritance, [Expel Plague] and [Holy Light] were instantly mastered by Kieran and [Detect Poison], [Repel Toxin], [Heal] and [Brilliance] reached Transcendence as well.

[Name: Expel Plague (Transcendence)]

[Related Attribute: None]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effect: You can use the energy in your body to expel the power of the plague within a 20-meter radius, consume 100 Stamina, lasts 10 seconds; cooldown: none.]

[Special Effect: Expert Expel (Expel range +5 meters)]

[Consume: Stamina]

[Prerequisite: Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art (Transcendence)]

[Remark: This is a perfect combination of two energy systems from different worlds, it allows your casting to be simpler, easier, and will almost never cause a repulsion]

…

[Name: Holy Light (Transcendence)]

[Related Attribute: None]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effect: You can use the energy in your body to create a soft brilliance in a 5-meter radius, Low and Medium negative energy beings will suffer lethal damage within the area. Target that is not contaminated by negative energy will receive High continuous healing effect (Heals Medium to Heavily wounded status, recovers 1 HP per second), consume 200 Stamina, lasts 10 seconds; cooldown: none]

[Special Effect: Expert Restriction (Damage to negative energy beings increased by 1)]

[Consume: Stamina]

[Prerequisite: Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art (Transcendence)]

[Remark: This is a perfect combination of two energy system from different worlds, it allows your casting to be simpler, easier, and will almost never cause a repulsion]

…

With Transcendence level [Expel Plague], it would be the most ridiculous idea for Reed and his men trying to fight Kieran with Plague Force.

Although within the list of high-level inheritance skills, Kieran still hadn’t touch [Divine Protection] and with [Expel Plague] and [Holy Light] as a reference, he knew when he mastered the advanced skill of [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art], changes would happen accordingly.

Kieran didn’t care about Reed whose presence was growing weaker or Gateli who was still struggling, he looked down at the box beside his feet.

The box was as big as a palm, standing beside his feed with edges at all corners, plated with copper garnishing, there was not much of a difference to a regular wooden box, except for the secretive markings on it.

It was like carvings patterns, the designss looped over one another, as if a whirlpool was carved on the wooden box cover.

Lines of golden thread extended out of the whirlpool and gathered at the bottom of the box, squeezing together at one end, forming pus.

It shaped was like pus, the building yellowish lump on humans when they were having abscesses.

The boxes originally looked dignified and elegant with the gold threads but when it formed the pus, it instantly gave people a disgusting feeling.

Kieran raised a brow and his eyes automatically turned to the small chapel.

The box with edges and corners yet it rolled towards his feet, even in other places, he would feel suspicious against such coincidence, let alone near the small chapel. Plus the pus on the bottom of the box, it really made him consider to a lot of things.

“Give…it back!”

Reed who was weakening by the second struggled hard to climb up from the ground, his face was ferocious as his frantic gaze stared at the box, his body even start to distort.

A gray light suddenly appeared from within Reed, running rapidly throughout his body. It bloated his head a while, bloated his stomach and even all four of his limbs.

When the light stopped its movement, the ex-security captain looked nothing like a human being anymore.

He was transformed into a 3-meter tall, strong and buff monster with four limbs on the ground. Its face was green and had red hair accompanied by sharp fangs.

The gray aura circulated around his body as he breathed, the grass that was tainted by the aura withered away rapidly.

Even the plants and the ground which was nourishing the plants were having their life force destroyed as well. It wasn’t taking the life away but truly destroying it!

Wasn’t the power of the plague exactly this? Like locusts flying across a field, destroying every crop in their path.

“Sir 2567! That is a monster that used the plague force to transform! Don’t go near it!”

Gateli who was inside the white brilliance of [Expel Plague] shouted out loud.

He knew if this continued on, he would be exactly like Reed and his men, suffering the repulsion of Plague Force.

Gateli who knew how terrifying Plague Force was certainly didn’t want to suffer from that kind of power, so he had been figuring out how to escape the impending repulsion.

So, escaping this damn white brilliance became his priority for now but no matter how his gears spun, Gateli couldn’t figure a way out of this.

However, following Reed’s transformation, he knew his chance had arrived but of course, before he was grateful for this chance, his heart was cursing out loud.

“God Damn it, Reed! You bastard! You are really as sh*t as I thought, how could you hide the extremely important thing from the inheritance! Not just only the way to increase power but also the transformation before my eyes? You Goddamn bastard!”

His heart was cursing out loud but it didn’t affect him from showing his utmost sincerity.

Gateli called out to Kieran with great affection and deep voice, “Sir 2567, I know its weakness, as long as you are willing to…”

Before he could finish, he stopped abruptly.

Gateli opened his eyes big as he saw a 20-meter light sword being slashed out from Kieran’s hand.

The Plague monster was slashed down from its head onwards as if it was made out of tofu. The stinking blood and organs fell out of its body as it was split in half, producing corrosive sizzles as it touched the ground.

Amid the corrosive sizzles, Kieran turned back to Gateli who was dumbstruck.

The coldness from Kieran’s gaze made Gateli swiftly collect his senses.

“Sir! My dear Sir 2567, I was forced to do what I did before! It was Reed’s fault!”

“Wait, I know everything about the Revival Society! I even know the secrets to the Ancilanco Codex! The New God! Yes, the New God! I can tell you everything about the New God! Please…”

Gateli spoke with his silver tongue, laying all his chips on the table but the outcome that welcomed him didn’t change.

“Arrrggh!”

An agonizing scream later, Gateli fell to the ground because of the repulsion from Plague Force.

Likewise, a box fell off his body and rolled up beside Kieran’s feet as well.

When Kieran saw the two palm-sized boxes beside his feet, he didn’t just pick it up but instead he looked towards the small chapel.

The presence of will that was hiding inside had grown restless at the scene.

“We should have a talk about it!”

The voice echoed in Kieran’s ears.