The Devil’s Cage

The deeper part of the outpost was supposed to be a storeroom for supplies but since when did it turned into a giant pit?

The huge pit didn’t just swallow the original storeroom, it broke the land of the outpost camp into pieces.

Esiko who was donning a long robe was climbing down the rope with ease.

Despite his body no longer being young, such a simple task would not wear him down, let alone that he was climbing down an extremely safe place.

“How did his lordship did this? What was the darkness back there? And this giant pit…”

Esiko was filled with doubts as he recalled what Darde, the Titan ordered him to do.

However, it was because of the doubts and confusion that he was fueled to further carry out the mission assigned to him by Darde.

Other than fulfilling his curiosity, he would be rewarded greatly as well.

Once he thought about him owning the energetic body of his youth once more, Esiko’s actions became faster.

When his feet landed, the oil lamp that he prepared was ignited.

Under the dim light from the lamp, the weird stones and humid ground entered his sight.

At the same time, a faint vile stench was entering Esiko’s nose as well.

He raised his hand and covered his nose. Then, he followed Darde’s orders and trailed the stench to its origin.

The stench became heavy very fast as he moved.

Even covering his nose and mouth, Esiko couldn’t help but cough.

The smell was too much for him.

He swore that even a rotting body in an underground cave wasn’t as bad but soon, the vile stench started to fade away rapidly.

As he was trailing the stench and moved almost 30 meters ahead, the stench faded away completely.

Before his eyes was an intricate magic circle that would cause dizziness to a common man with a single glance.

The most captivating point about the intricate magic circle was the core position.

A pitch black can was placed there.

Under the light from the lamp, the black can was reflecting a black metallic luster.

“Found it! This is it!”

Esiko held his excitement and took out a scroll from his pockets. He first tore the scroll apart, allowing the brilliance that flowed out from the scroll to envelope his body wholly before he walked on the magic circle.

It was the defensive measure that Darde provided him.

It was because of the defensive energy, he was not harmed by the magic circle.

Protected, Esiko slowly approached the black can. His eyes were glued to his target, therefore he didn’t notice the delicate changes that happened to the magic circle.

In fact, when he tore his scroll, the changes had started but after he stepped into the magic circle, the changes were hastened.

When Esiko was in front of the black can and picked it up, the changes were completed.

The darkness on the can which was darker than the deepest black rose up like a raging mist when it was picked up, the mist promptly transformed into a shadow monster that had claws, a head, and a torso with its size being twice as big as a common man.

The monster opened its mouth and wretched laughs came out from its bottomless mouth.

It was irritating and lethal. The moment Esiko heard the laugh, his eyeballs burst like a water balloon, blood was gushing out of his ears and signs of life swiftly faded away.

Till his death, he didn’t understand why the protective measure Darde provided him didn’t work.

It was because what was in the scroll wasn’t a protective measure at all, but…

FUUU!

Following Esiko’s death, the brilliance that emanated from the scroll swiftly fused with his body.

Esiko’s body then inflated like a balloon; he grew from the size of a common elderly to a three-meter tall figure before he stopped.

Then, the “titan-morphed” Esiko climbed up.

He used destroyed eyes, or more precisely, his sockets to glare at the shadow monster.

Although the “titan-morphed” Esiko was a size smaller than the shadow monster, the aura that he emanated wasn’t weak at all.

The rampant and ruthless aura was ravaging the entire underground pit like a typhoon.

Smaller pebbles were blown away; the weird stones that were less sturdy were broken by the aura typhoon.

However, the misty shadow monster didn’t even flinch, with its own strange and cold aura, it was like a sturdy thousand-year glacier stuck on the ground.

Its laughs were heard once more; it was more irritating and lethal than the previous one.

Ripples of energy waves followed its laugh like the ripples on a quiet lake and it was launched at the “titan-morphed” Esiko.

Puk, Puk Puk!

Blood and flesh exploded off “titan-morphed” Esiko as the energy waves hit him. Blood gushed out non-stop and the wounds on his body were so deep that it revealed his bones.

However, despite suffering such terrible wounds, “titan-morphed” Esiko didn’t even care, he even… laughed loudly.

“Hahahahaha! I knew you would leave “something” down here. They will be the clues for me to find you!”

His voice was rough and powerful; it wasn’t Esiko’s original voice but Darde instead.

Darde, known as the Titan, was using Esiko’s body to send out laughs similar to his own.

The shadow monster turned a deaf ear to the words, instead, it replied with a bigger energy wave attack.

“I know this is just a useless shell, but if you damage it so badly, I won’t be happy! I bet the shadow you left behind is tasty as well. I can’t wait to get a bite out of you!”

Darde was laughing with Esiko’s body before he threw himself towards the shadow monster.

The shadow monster, however, didn’t even know how to dodge the attack. It stood there and allowed Darde with Esiko’s body to bite its body. The shadow monster was like some fluid based food as Darden was sucking its body, swallowing it relentlessly.

The shadow monster’s body was shrinking at an exponential speed.

At the same time, a gloomier, colder energy started to rise in the shadow monster’s body.

“Still trying to retaliate? Come on! Come on! I don’t mind tasting stronger “food”!”

Darde words were unclear as his mouth didn’t let go of the shadow monster’s body.

“Food? You never know who the real food is here!”

Suddenly, a voice came from the shadow monster.

Then, the shadow monster exploded just like that and returned to its misty form.

The thin rumbling mist then enveloped Darde in Esiko’s body completely.

“Hahahaha! Dining together seems to be a fine idea! Let’s see who will eat who!”

Darde continued his great laugh.

The shadow monster in its misty form kept rumbling around Darde until a voice interrupted the duo.

“Dining together? Sounds fun, how about an extra pair of chopsticks?”

As the voice sounded, the blade arrived.

The 20-meter light sword tore the darkness apart and shed light on the entire underground cave.

With its indomitable force, the light sword slashed over the two monsters tangled together.