The Devil’s Cage

Atrina witnessed everything with gazes of disbelief.

Xeriche who had the title of Dual Blade shared the same gaze as well but he was different from Atrina; he knew he was in deep trouble.

The pain from his wrist kept stimulating his brain, warning him that if he didn’t want to end up like Anderson, he had to run.

Fortunately, his wrists were hurt, not his legs.

As for the possibility of never wielding a sword anymore for the rest of his life?

Xeriche couldn’t even spare his thought about that, all he wished for was to stay alive.

So, Xeriche the Dual Blade who was infamous for being bold and reckless in Naveya turned and ran, but the moment he turned, he stopped.

He didn’t even finish his first step out because a long rapier pierced the air and its sharp tip was pointed at his neck.

The sharp tip instantly pushed up to Xeriche’s neck, cutting his skin.

“My lord, I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just that…”

Puk!

Before he even finished, the rapier before Xeriche’s eyes glared and his legs were chopped off.

[Dandelion’s Pierce] with Strong rank attack sliced his legs like cutting tofu.

“Aaaaaaaaargh!” Xeriche screamed in agony.

“You know, I don’t want to listen to any of your bullsh*t, and you should know what I want to ask you.”

Kieran’s voice entered Xeriche’s ears together with the night breeze and as he spoke, [Dandelion’s Pierce] didn’t stop.

It continued cutting Xeriche’s chest at Kieran’s will and it wasn’t cutting at random, the wounds formed a perfect square on his chest.

When [Dandelion’s Pierce] cut the last line of the square, it poked into his chest and pried the skin.

Tsss!

A big area of human skin was pried out together with a tearing noise, blood gushed out from the wound and instantly dyed Xeriche red.

Ugh!

Atrina covered her mouth, she sounded like he was going to throw up; Starbeck dared not even look as he covered his eyes.

Kieran however controlled [Dandelion’s Pierce] with a calm manner as he waited for his answer.

“I don’t know who that man is! I am now one of Emerald Rock, I’m just following orders!”

Xeriche wasn’t a tough person like those in the temples and he didn’t want to suffer another part of his skin being pried away. So when he saw the rapier approaching his abdomen, he spilled the beans without a second thought.

“Emerald Rock?” Kieran waved his hand as he seemed to have thought of something.

Xeriche’s head was chopped off right away after the signal.

After conveniently picking up the equipment from Xeriche and Anderson the Wild Beast, Kieran placed them into his backpack and reached his hand out.

Souuu!

[Dandelion’s Pierce] landed directly on his palm.

“Although the answer is clear now, I think you should go have a look as to whether the Holy Thorn Grail still there,” Kieran said.

“O-Okay!”

After witnessing how vicious Kieran was, Atrina started to stutter.

Although she knew Kieran was by no means a good person, she didn’t know Kieran would be so ruthless.

Interrogation by skinning, even the Sin Temple didn’t always resort such methods—they would only use it against an extremely sinful criminal.

Despite Xeriche indeed being a sinful criminal, skinning him alive was too cruel.

The temple deacon Atrina couldn’t stop such thoughts from entering her mind.

Human beings always paid attention to others and not one self.

At that particular moment, Atrina didn’t even think about whether it was cruel that she sent her servant to die. Perhaps in the temple deacon’s eye, the life of a servant wasn’t worth much at all.

While standing on top of the stone bridge, Atrina carefully went prone and started to search the inside the pillar beneath the bridge.

When she pulled out an empty rope, her face changed.

“It’s gone! Don’t let me know who is it! Or else…”

Just as Atrina wanted to voice her threats, she instantly thought of her actions being monitored by the mastermind. Her face changed once more before going silent for good.

She then turned her eyes to Kieran. Unquestionably, Atrina was a smart lady, she knew how the situation was totally disadvantageous to her, so at this particular time, other than relying on Kieran the outsider for help, there was no other choice for her.

Rather than acting smart on her own, she might as well wait for Kieran’s orders for the next step.

“You should return to the Thorn Temple first. Under Lady Venessa’s divine light, you are safe. As for the rest of the matters, I’ll deal with them one by one. But don’t forget you haven’t accomplished your end of the deal. According to the contract’s terms, you must offer more to compensate my losses,” Kieran said frankly when he saw how the temple deacon was acting up.

“Very well, my lord. Can you escort me to the temple’s premise?” Atrina nodded before asking a favor.

“Sure! I don’t want you to get ambushed half way either,” Kieran said.

…

After going through the wealthy district and council district, they arrived before the entrance to the temple district.

Kieran halted his steps as he saw Atrina off into the temple district of which even the night could hardly cover its brilliance.

The colorful brilliance carried different auras, some grand, some hidden, some rampant and some peaceful; all of them descended from the sky and were bathing over the entire district.

Anyone with nefarious deeds would be exposed whenever they stepped in there.

Kieran for one of course wouldn’t enter. He was looking at the colorful brilliance almost a dozen meters away from the temple district.

His SSS- Intuition allowed him to faintly catch glimpses of some terrifying existence within the brilliance, just like seeing a tidal wave at the beach or facing a tornado up close.

Tiny!

Helpless!

Compliance!

Worship!

All kinds of feelings started to affect Kieran without him knowing and when his sharp senses realized that, he grabbed Starbeck and left quickly.

They retreated more than a hundred meters before those feelings went away.

“Just the unconscious aura from the light and made me feel like this… so this is the power of the so-called Gods?”

Kieran was recalling the pressure that the terrifying presence brought him while he turned away.

He knew he didn’t have the qualifications to approach all of that yet.

Trying to break through head on would be striking a stone with an egg.

But, it was a measure of his current strength.

With enough time, he would trample in without any fear.

Before he truly left the temple district, Kieran turned around and took another glance at the colorful brilliance descending from the sky.

His eyes glimmered and his retreating steps hastened—his heart was more eager than ever.

However, his eagerness didn’t mess up the steps in his plan.

Kieran started to adjust his plans step by step according to the situation and he got a conclusion.

Emerald Rock.

The organization was originally in the “pay-a-visit-later” list and now, it was elevated to a top priority.

…

Meanwhile inside a certain spot of Thorn Temple.

A figure clenched his fist when he saw Atrina come back unharmed but he returned to his normal self after a slight second.

The figure walked out with a kind smile on his face.

“Good evening, Chief Knight Reppu.”

Atrina was respectfully greeting one of the five important figures that had actual strength and authority within Thorn Temple.

“Hi, Deacon Atrina.” The chief knight responded in courtesy.

He nodded and slowly walked away under the deacon’s sight.

Everything was normal.