The Devil’s Cage

Sayer returned to his room while fear lingered in his heart. He then started to wield his pen swiftly and energetically.

He tried to summarized what happened in Shatterstone Town in a simple and precise way.

Then, he went out through the window and placed the written note in an alley behind his house.

A carrier pigeon around Supreme Road was too obvious.

A trained hawk was not something a group of robbers would invest in.

Therefore, they had to go with the most primitive way. Fortunately, the most primitive way was also the most effective one around the place.

However, before Sayer could sigh after he returned to his room, he heard commotions going on on the streets.

Blades clunking, people falling and screaming in agony.

When Sayer opened his window slightly, he saw a familiar person run past his eyes; behind the running figure was a group of civilian troops with torches and swords.

“That guy was discovered?”

Sayer was stunned as he realized who the running figure was. He was responsible in Shatterstone Town not just for keeping an eye on the previous merchant group but he was also tasked with gathering talents.

Shatterstone Town was located at the starting point of Supreme Road, its strategic location attracted a lot of merchant groups and talents from all around.

The person that ran past Sayer was one of his targets.

The target was actually a killer with over a dozen kills and had committed multiple robberies in South Saint Cyanda. The moment the target entered Shatterstone Town, Sayer marked him down.

If it wasn’t for other bothersome people trailing the target, Sayer would have made contact long ago.

But now?

The person lying before Sayer was indeed that bothersome someone who tried to rope in his target in the first place. He glanced over the fella while his heart laughed coldly.

Sayer had no mercy against other competitors in the same line of work; he hoped all his competitors would drop dead quickly and die in a gruesome way.

“I guess it’s Volgen’s handy work. Other than Volgen, there is no one in the civilian troops capable of killing that bastard.”

Despite the fella being a competitor in the same line of work and holding malicious intent against Sayer, he never dared underestimate his competitor’s strength.

It was quite similar to how Sayer looked down on the civilian troops’ capabilities.

Most of the civilian soldiers were a bunch of good for nothing guys, muddling along day after day.

Although they were crowned as civilian soldiers, they were actually nothing more than clowns with swords.

Sayer alone had enough confidence to take out 4 of them at once… No, 5! At least 5 of them!

Sayer had set an example pole in his heart. He then started to figure out how he would rope in that target, the talent that he marked down from the beginning.

“This might be a good chance! As long as I can avoid Volgen’s sight and… that terrifying bastard! Why would a terrifying bastard like him become the sheriff of Shatterstone?”

“Shouldn’t he head directly to Burning Dawn instead?”

As Sayer recalled the terrifying scene that went down, his body felt extremely unsettled. The tremble that came from the deepest part of his body caused him to breathe heavily. He had to take in several deep breaths to calm himself down.

However, at the next moment…

Sou!

An irritating air-breaking sound appeared, followed by a scalp numbing wail from someone.

The talent that Sayer had marked down was shot by an arrow from the sky. The arrow shot through his thigh and pinned him down on the ground.

Anyone who saw the scene could tell the arrow wasn’t a lethal shot; the person who fired the arrow wasn’t going after for the talent’s life.

The fired arrow was too fast! The talent couldn’t even react to what happened!

Regardless of which part of the talent was shot, he would be dead if the person that fired the arrow really wanted him to be.

“Who fired the arrow?!”

Sayer’s face turned white as he stared at the guy being pinned down on the ground, screaming in agony. Before this, this so-called “talent” still attracted Sayer’s attention but now, he was completely uninterested in him anymore.

Sayer only wanted to know who fired the arrow.

The arrow was too scary!

Aside from the guy on the ground, Sayer himself and everyone that he knew off would not have dodged that arrow.

Soon, Sayer located the person responsible for all these. The person didn’t plan to hide either.

He was standing on top of a roof under the night sky.

The pure white moon shed its light on the earth; his crow feathered mantle was rattling softly along with the night breeze.

The young face was emanating a different kind of luster under the moonlight, making it extremely captivating.

However, all the captivated gazes were extremely terrified.

“It’s that bastard!”

Sayer saw the person’s face under the moonlight. He took a few steps back in fright as if he was struck by lightning; his mind was completely empty at the moment.

Sayer was frightened beyond logic.

He never thought he would witness such terrifying archery with his own eyes.

The scene was different from the one Sayer saw previously because Sayer himself had quite the attainments in archery as well. It was because of his attainments that it terrorized Sayer beyond words.

He knew he was discovered!

No one should underestimate a sharpshooter’s sight and perception.

It might be a split second for any commoner but that split second could determine life and death for a sharpshooter.

Sayer was trembling as he shrunk to the corner of a wall. He hoped to find a hiding spot but he knew even his room couldn’t protect him from that kind of arrow.

If he wanted to block the arrow from hitting him, he must utilize a stone wall’s formidable defense.

“I-I…need… to…”

Sayer forced himself to calm down with all his effort but when it revolved around his life and death, he couldn’t.

After leaving the robbers and merging himself into this slightly comfortable environment, Sayer was no longer the robber that people feared with a mention of his name.

Sayer was used to carving some artistic sculpture with the knife in his hand, not slicing someone’s neck with it.

However, the others were different. Those who hid in the shadowy corners swiftly ran towards the hiding spots they assumed were safe.

These people were fast but not faster than Kieran’s bow and arrow.

Transcendence [Sharp Weapon, Bow]’s special effect [Transcendence Reload] and Transcendence Option [Arrow of Will] didn’t just buff Kieran’s arrow speed but gave it outstanding power as well.

Sou, Sou, Sou, Sou, Sou!

A total of 5 arrows were fired in succession.

Five agonizing screams then followed.

It didn’t matter if they were hiding behind sturdy wooden doors or inside a dark room, none would protect them.

The most terrifying thing to Sayer was, the five of them didn’t die from the arrow. Similar to the first guy, they were pinned down on the ground with an arrow through their thigh.

So, when Kieran turned his gaze at Sayer’s spot, he made the wise choice to walk out with his hands up.

“My lord, I yield!” Sayer said out loud.

…

“My lord, we did it!” Volgen said with excitement.

At first, Volgen didn’t really voice out any opinion when Kieran decided to cut down the numbers of the civilian troops but his heart was slightly disagreeing.

Volgen knew some of the men were intolerable but he knew they would need as much manpower as they could muster to clean up Shatterstone Town.

According to the young captain’s calculation, the number of the remaining soldiers were far from enough. They would need to recruit more temporary substitutes to make it work.

However, to keep it a secret was the thing that caused the most headache to Volgen.

So, the young captain hoped Kirean would provide an effective plan.

To Volgen’s surprise, Kieran’s plan of attack was that simple!

In fact, if the previous incident with the robbers didn’t happen, he would definitely disagree with the plan, but now?

Volgen’s gaze at Kieran has nothing but respect.

Respect for his strength and respect for his confidence.

“No one can make this plan work other than you! The plan is a success”

The young captain spoke his mind since he knew the key factor of the plan.

“Success? Not quite.”

Kieran slightly shook his head as replied to Volgen’s praise.

Then, he disappeared from where he stood in a flash.