The Devil's Cage

The Devourer was slashed in half, splitting its head and body into two, but it didn’t die.

The front of its body cried in agony. It was rolling and struggling in the sky while the other half of its body was being eaten.

The small spider took a big gulp. The Devourer’s lower body that was as big as a dozen Naveya Cities was instantly shrunken to the size of a few centimeters long and as thin as a strand of hair.

The Hell Fiend Spider then chomped down on the shrunken serpent body.

Joy and satisfaction filled Kieran’s heart; the Hell Fiend Spider then vanished on the wristband.

Then, a dimmed golden glow was circulating the [Mardos Arm].

“Bloody worm!”

Devourer with half of its body left growled furiously.

The Devourer had no idea how Kieran dished out an energy sword like that and neither did it know why the things that frightened it would appear one after another.

However, it knew half of its body was devoured.

The Devourer’s body was devoured!

It was not just the lamest joke but it was also related to its strength.

Despite the fright in its heart, it wouldn’t allow such things to happen.

Enduring its pain, what was left of the Devourer turned around and threw itself at Kieran.

Kieran who was exhausted leaned on top of the Creature of Desire. His eyes ignored the Devourer which was flying towards him; he looked at Lady Thorn instead.

Kieran waved at the God of Thorn as if he was saying his goodbyes.

Next moment, Kieran vanished from thin air together with the Creature of Desire.

The Devourer roared angrily as it missed its target.

“DESPICABLE WORMS!”

…

The roar was still buzzing in Kieran’s ears after he returned to his game room.

He shook his dizzy head and unconsciously wanted to rub his temples to ease his dizziness but he felt powerless and weak, he couldn’t even move his fingers properly.

Having his Stamina depleted twice in a short period of time was exhausting, especially the second time which combined a couple of the Origin Forces in his body to ignite the never before seen [Dawn Sword] that was ridiculously powerful. Even for his New, I rank Constitution, he couldn’t really take it all at once.

“Are you okay, 2567?”

Starbeck who was already back in the room looked at Kieran with a worried look.

“Manageable. Consumed too much Stamina,” Kieran replied honestly.

“You need some Stamina recovery potions?” Starbeck asked.

Kieran nodded right away.

He had no reason to reject potions to quickly recover his Stamina at that point.

Although in theory, the game room was absolutely safe, Kieran hated himself being in a weak and powerless state.

A quick nod later, Starbeck took out two Stamina recovery potions from his bag.

They were different than the common potions though, with Kieran’s [Potionology] level, a single glance at the potions allowed him to know those were high tier goods.

Kieran wanted to reach out to the potions but his weak body prevented him from the casual movement.

“I-I’ll feed you.”

Starbeck said in stutter when he saw how weak Kieran was.

Then before Kieran even replied, he held Kieran up into his arms; he unplugged the cork on the tube and carefully feed Kieran the potion.

After two Stamina recovery potions were poured into Kieran’s mouth, a warm feeling came from his stomach and spread throughout his body, as if he was soaking himself in a hot spring; Kieran closed his eyes uncontrollably.

Then… he fell asleep.

Because of the system blur, Starbeck couldn’t really see Kieran’s real face but the loud snoring told him Kieran was completely worn out.

Starbeck didn’t doubt anything though. He was behind Kieran the whole dungeon and he knew how Kieran lived throughout the dungeon run. Other than the inevitable fights and necessary rest, Kieran would never even rest throughout the day. If he wasn’t searching for valuable clues of the dungeon, he would be theorizing and perfecting his plans.

Starbeck never saw such a life-risking person before.

Kieran could already be considered to be risking his life on a daily basis.

Starbeck saw hardworking people before but compared to Kieran, the others felt a little lackluster.

“Why are you putting your life on the line so much? Well, I guess it’s only you, who risks your life this hard so that you can reach such levels in such a short period of time… You are really… amazing!”

Starbeck muttered softly as he watched Kieran sleep but as he spoke, he suddenly realized something; his system blurred face suddenly showed an upset face because of the embarrassment.

“Next time, if you have any plans, tell me beforehand… I-I’m afraid of heights! But if you discuss it with me beforehand, I-I’ll try to overcome it.”

Starbeck was upset by the embarrassment but he didn’t slam Kieran’s head on the floor.

Given his character, he would never commit such atrocities, besides his mood faded away quickly.

His emotions came quick but went away quicker.

All that was left was Starbeck’s mutter to himself.

“And that snake… it was huge! It’s my first time seeing such a huge snake! So scary!

“It’s even more ugly than the worm that frightened and made me cry last time!”

“You know, at times I was planning a garden cosmos, so I had to dig the soil myself, who knew there is a worm underneath the soil…”

…

His soft mutters continued on and off; the snoring was getting louder and louder.

While listening to the loud snoring, Starbeck felt more like himself.

Not only did the feeling of restraint slowly wear off, but even Starbeck’s words also sounded more energetic which he never showed during other times.

Although no one could hear his voice.

Really no one?

Maybe…

…

Outside Wallway 13th, Lawless was waiting anxiously with a cigar in his mouth.

As a veteran, he knew how dangerous was it to enter a dungeon without sufficient preparation.

In fact, aside from sufficient preparation, even if a player was fully prepared, as the dungeon entry number accumulated, so would the increase in difficulty; no matter how prepared a player was, the danger was imminent.

Otherwise, there won’t be players who failed their dungeon runs.

“That Goddamn cunning merchant!”

Lawless squeezed out the word through his clenched teeth.

He hated Broker from the first glance; he felt like the cunning merchant was always putting up an act, like a venomous snake with a smile.

Still, he never would have thought he underestimated Broker.

Broker was planning to acquire a second Unique Title! He’d even went so far to alter to the course of the title dungeon!

He didn’t know how Broker changed the progression but he knew it would require Broker to pay an unimaginable cost; even with his financial status, it wouldn’t be easy.

“Do or die situation? Or have absolute confidence in victory?”

Lawless took a deep puff off his cigar. His eyes looked a little troubled.

Suddenly, a Gatling gun appeared in his hand and was pointed at the shadow beside him.

“Hey mate, this is private property, no trespassers allow!”