The Devil’s Cage

The Gods were watching with casual hearts.

Kieran, however, felt the gazes from the Gods clearly with his SSS Intuition.

Pressure! Immense pressure! Pressure that he never felt before!

He felt like he was a helpless and feeble person being surrounded by a pack of wolves.

It was the worst feeling that he could possibly feel.

Kieran was certain that if he didn’t have a Strong I rank Spirit, he would have knelt on the ground, trembling non-stop.

“Terrifying Gods!” Kieran commented in his heart again.

Compared to the blurry image from before, the comment he made at the situation before him was much more precise and appropriate.

When that bolt of lightning appeared, his comment became even more precise.

The difference was like heaven and earth!

A formidable force that was unchallenged by mortals!

Such thoughts appeared in his mind instantly.

If the Gods just now were a pack of wolves, the bolt of lightning from the God of Lightning was a fierce tiger, a giant striped tiger!

Even though it was just showing off its towering presence, it made Kieran unconsciously clench his fists.

He slightly looked up, watching blue sky after the dark clouds dispersed, he was feeling the warmth of the sun bathing on his body.

However, his clenched fist didn’t loosen up but instead, it clenched even tighter.

Kieran suddenly realized, he had a new goal. It might seem outrageous but it was very grounded and real as well, which also fit his thinking.

He wished that he could stand tall at the sky, he wouldn’t look down on living beings but he hoped that he will not be the one who was looked down on by others.

Even if the one who looked down on him was a God! He wouldn’t allow it!

Huu!

Kieran took in a deep breath, he then quickly dismissed his thoughts.

Having ambition wasn’t a bad thing but without sufficient strength, spoiling his own ambitions would be the greatest mistake he could ever commit.

He smirked again before looking down at Atrina.

Atrina was a little evasive of Kieran’s gaze, her face was still looking panicked somehow but after it flashed over, she returned to normal.

Then, Kieran noticed Atrina’s gaze at him turned hot.

“Is this Tiki’s handy work?” Kieran thought while raising a brow but he decided to play along as well.

Both of them stared at each other, Atrina’s heart was beating even faster, her face was not only blushing, but it was also hot as well.

She stared at Kieran and it automatically reminded her of how valiant Kieran was a moment ago.

Atrina knew how powerful Kieran was already but she never thought he would be this powerful!

One versus one hundred, all the Wealth Temple Knights were annihilated!

Atrina never even dreamt about this situation before but it happened before her eyes.

Shock!

The immense shock to her worldview caused her to breathe rapidly and cast another gaze at Kieran who caused all of this.

The more she looked, the most she wanted to look. Atrina realized that something was wrong with her but the slight changes in her body made her unconsciously neglect the “unusual” feelings, despite a few hours ago, she kept reminding herself not be deceived by Kieran.

Now, all she wanted to do was look at Kieran and if she could, she would prolong the minutes into hours, and days into years.

Both of them stared at each other for a while and ultimately ended with a shy turn away from Atrina.

When Atrina noticed the Thorn Temple priests and knights were looking at them, she felt even more embarrassed but Atrina wasn’t Starbeck, she didn’t have abilities to hide. All she did was drag Kieran by the hand and headed towards Thorn Temple.

“Sir Ryan.”

As Kieran came near, the three priests and other knights saluted at him.

The priests bent down and saluted like a real priest and the knights placed their fist before their chest like a traditional knight salutation.

A powerful man would earn the fondness of the opposite gender and also the admiration of the same gender, especially when the powerful man was on the same side and had saved everyone’s lives, the admiration spread like wildfire.

The frantic look on the young knights had said it all, if it wasn’t because their identity didn’t allow them to, they might have already asked Kieran to take them as followers.

Still, it didn’t stop them from expressing their enthusiasm.

More than a dozen young knights had asked Kieran out for a hunting trip and even elder knights expressed that they wanted to have a friendly spar to test their strength.

Of course, all of them didn’t mean it in a provocative way but a real sincere manner, asking for guidance.

However, Kieran agreed to all of the invites for a friendly spar but rejected those for huntings.

The young knights weren’t disappointed by the rejection, instead, they invited Kieran again for similar sparring sessions.

This time, Kieran accepted all of their requests without any more rejections.

When the elderly priest went up to Kieran, Kieran had almost accepted all the invitations for spars.

“Ryan, trust me, this will only eliminate your free time even more.” Priest Einderson laughed.

“Being busy means living fully. Compared to doing nothing, I am more than happy to grind my skills and I don’t mind discussing it with others,” Kieran answered.

“A truly powerful person really has something that differs him from the others,” Priest Einderson exclaimed.

Then, his face turned stern.

“Ryan, come with me. The archpriest and officiant wanted to see you,” he said.

“Of course.” Kieran nodded.

While Atrina and the knights saw Kieran off, Kieran followed the priest closely and went up the stairs to the temple.

The flight of stairs has a total of 212 steps, they were made of gold and were embedded with black gravel which was Lady Thorn’s favorite.

Black gravel stone was deemed as the stone of fate.

Legend had it that anyone who touched black gravel stone would see his own fate in his mind.

As Thorn Temple’s deacon, their main responsibility was to polish the gravel stones every day, not with cloth or other things but with their own palms.

Every time something happened or appeared, it will be recorded into the Book of Fate in front of the Thorn Temple entrance.

It was 3 meters tall and a few thousand pages thick, it was half written now and whenever the Book of Fate was fully written, Lady Thorn will collect it back to her divine kingdom and grant her believers another new book.

Whenever that happened, it would be Thorn Temple’s greatest festival.

The last time the festival happened was 50 years ago and for the next time, it would also need another 50 years judging from the progress.

Kieran followed Priest Einderson around the Book of Fate in front of the entrance and suddenly, he felt his sight widened up.

A front hall that was 3 times bigger than a football field appeared before him.

There were no extra decorations around but the space alone was astonishing enough because it was just the front hall, it was like the porch in a common house.

A wagon was parked in front of Kieran where he entered.

After the elder priest signaled him, Kieran boarded the wagon.

One of the priests filled in as the Wagoner and the wagon traveled for almost 30 minutes inside the temple before reaching the core area of the whole building: the prayer room.

Two elders were already waiting inside.

“Archpriest, Lord Officiant.”

Priest Einderson bowed the moment he came down from the wagon.

The archpriest was an elder with white hair and beard, his body was a little hunched and it was hard for his face to conceal his tiredness.

The lord officiant was a tall middle-aged man with a refined temperament but similar to the archpriest, his stern face looked tired as well.

Seemed like both of them paid quite the cost in “supporting” Lady Thorn.

With questions lingering in his heart, Kieran bowed in a knight salutation before the two elders.

The moment Kieran bowed, a layer of brilliance shed over his body, it was the light of Lady Thorn!