The Devil's Cage

A mouthful of blood was spat on the chess board.

The white and black was tainted by red, and with the broken chess pieces, the chess board looked like bloody ruins.

"No! I will not lose!" the chessmaker shouted.

Even though his face was blurred out, the cowardly man could tell the chessmaker was absolutely infuriated, picturing the ferocity and frenzy underneath.

The cowardly man stood up without a second thought, wanting to leave.

Leaving was the best option for him since he had only lost three less-than-obedient skeleton companions.

Otherwise…

The cowardly man shrunk his neck at the sight of the bloody chess board, not wanting to put his life on the line.

"Our collaboration ends here. The Flaming Devil isn't someone that I can afford to provoke. I hope… we can work together again sometime in the future," the cowardly man paused for a second before finishing his sentence.

Despite what he said, he didn't expect a next time with the chessmaker because he didn't think the Flaming Devil would spare the chessmaker.

After that, the cowardly man turned around and left, his figure vanishing beyond the darkness of the shadow.

"It ends here? How foolish of you, the moment you walk into the castle, there is no end for you!"

The chessmaker did not care about the blood in his mouth, he simply raised his hand and pinched the air.

Pak!

An agonizing cry later, as though a watermelon fell on the ground, a lump of bloody meat floated up and landed on the chessboard.

"Sacrifice! I sacrifice this piece of meat to turn around the situation!"

His voice echoed in the dark hall, the bloody chessboard starting to glow faintly and shining through the lump of meat.

No! More precisely, it enveloped the meat and vanished swiftly, as though the light had 7devoured it.

When the last bit of meat vanished from the chessboard, a red chess piece appeared in the chessmaker's hand.

"Now! Turn the tides with me!"

He then smashed the red piece onto the chessboard.

Pak!

The powerful smash produced noise as the chess piece was slammed, but… nothing happened.

The red chess piece stood in the middle of the chessboard without moving.

"Why?"

The chessmaker stared at the red chess piece with a dull gaze, mumbling gibberish.

"Why not? You really think my boss would step into a weird castle without doing anything? Or do you think my boss is here to have some beef soup?"

A ridiculing voice suddenly sounded in the hall.

A hand then tapped the chessmaker on the shadow, pinning him down.

"You, you…"

The chessmaker was frightened by the sudden tap on his shoulder, turning around and looking at the person who appeared without his knowledge.

The dark hall was a secret spot, not just any John Doe could have located it, let alone enter.

The dark hall didn't even have a traditional door!

"Me? Oh I walked in. I know it's weird, but to me, it's almost the same as home."

Bloody Mary smiled at the chessmaker and sized up the dark surroundings.

The shadows might seem normal but in Bloody Mary's eyes, the thing inside the shadow was stretching its body and baring its fangs and claws, subtle growls sounding.

Bloody Mary shrugged.

"Always try to act smart."

Bloody Mary then swung its hand over the chessmaker's neck

Pak!

The chessmaker's head flew up and blood gushed out from the sliced neck.

His eyes were wide-open, filled with rage and unwillingness because the chessmaker realized the blood chess piece was still in his hand, but did not land on the chessboard.

Illusion!

The chessmaker—who wasn't a newbie—reacted to the situation, but so what?

He was dead.

Pak!

The chessmaker's head fell on the floor and the thing in the shadow conceded right away. Bloody Mary didn't even bat an eye at the thing, taking the red chess piece and the chessboard before vanishing from the secret spot.

It hasn't completed its mission, killing this guy with the chess was just along the way.

The true enemy lay deep in the castle.

As for the chessmaker?

He thought he had everything under control, but he didn't realize he was also just a chess piece himself.

A player who just got into the Advanced Rank and acquired some wondrous items, hence the arrogance. In the end, the chessmaker died because of his ignorance.

Bloody Mary gave its honest comment on the man.

Similarly, Alisritter, who had just suffered a stab in the shoulder from the shadow also warned himself honestly: never owe a debt anymore!

Alisritter smiled bitterly as the pain from the wound in his shoulder tormented him.

If there was pain, there would be wound; if there is pain and no wound, there were only two possible explanations.

One, the weapon was poisonous.

Two, the person who inflicted the pain had other thoughts.

Regardless of which, Alisritter assumed the worst, just like how his shadow hadjust stabbed him.

The stab was aimed towards his heart, but Alisritter's senses—which he honed through countless danger—told him to evade, but despite the effort, his shoulder was hit.

Such damage ignored common defense, the armor, inner mail, and even the force field barrier; they were all useless.

His own shadow stabbed him in the back, it was like he stabbed himself with a sword.

What was worse was that after the stab, his shadow vanished. Even under the light, he had no shadow.

'The Witch's Curse?

Tricks from the Fiends?

Purgatory Sealing?'

Thought after thought popped up in his heart, Alisritter trying to solve the problem but it was all useless.

Holy water, silverware for exorcism, hickory sword, and talisman charms were not effective.

Rather, it increased his anxiety.

He had to leave this place! At once!

Otherwise he would be finished!

The anxiety in his heart was rushing him.

Even though he was without his shadow, he must leave!

Alisritter followed his heart and started to back off but when he moved, the street behind him vanished.

The gate to the inner castle was opening as its screeching capstan turned.

A person in black walked out from the castle.

The person had no face, but the aura Alisritter felt was extremely familiar.

He knew who the person in black was in a single glance because no one knew the person better than himself! It was his shadow!

The shadow that had` stabbed him and vanished!

The black shadow paused, chuckled, and then raised its hand to form a shadow sword, pointing it at Alisritter.

Alisritter frowned, not just because of his shadow pointing a sword at him, but because the environment changed as the sword was formed.

The castle was transformed into an ancient colosseum.

The stage was very wide and there were 4 tall seating platforms around it.

A bloodthirsty cheer sounded in the colosseum.

"Kill him!"

"Kill him!"

"Kill him!"

Cheer after cheer, it was high as the waves.

Alisritter's shadow moved. It turned around the sword and stabbed its right arm.

PAK!

The shadow sword pierced the shadow left arm.

A cut appeared on Alisritter's left arm and he was bleeding.

Unlike the weird painful experience before, this pain from this cut was real, his mind feeling it and it making him breathe slower.

Alisritter then widened his eyes because the shadow stabbed itself over a dozen times.

Each stab avoided the weak spots but caused excruciating pain.

Alisritter was moaning in pain.

The crowd above the seating platform cheered even louder when they heard the painful moan.

"Kill him!"

"Kill him!"

"Kill him!"

The bloodthirsty cheer sounded loud again.

The shadow without a face acted like a real person, circulating the colosseum and stabbing itself repeatedly as he walked.

Each stab was extremely painful for Alisritter.

After the shadow circulated one full round, Alisritter was kneeling on the ground. His body was badly cut, with no intact piece on him anymore, as though he had been through the grinder and survived but hadn't died yet.

The path he had chosen determined him to be unyielding and had powerful life force, which also determined his adaptability.

The shadow stabbed its body again but unlike the previous time, Alisritter did not moan in pain. Not only that, he even stood up.

"Now I see," Alisritter spoke softly.

He then walked to his shadow.

The shadow was arrogant and a show off a moment ago but when Alisritter walked closer, it became scared.

Alisritter grinned at the reaction.

"You can inflict damage on me but you can't kill me, that's why you try to wear me off! After all, once I will die off, in addition to these kinds of illusions, you might really have what it takes to kill me, or... Replace me!"

Alisritter shouted the last word.

After the shout, he grabbed the shadow by the neck, and slammed it on the ground like a gunny sack.

"You freaking bastard, hiding in the dark, come on out!"

Boom!

The ground trembled, the shadow shattered upon impact and reappearing beneath Alisritter's feet.

The colosseum vanished and he was returned to the inner castle.

However, he did not manage to catch the person who had hurt him so badly.

As he pulled out a potion for healing, the gate to the inner castle opened up again. Instinctively, Alisritter hid himself into the shadow.

Amid the noise from the rolling wheels, a prisoner wagon was pushed out from inside the inner castle.

Alisritter squinted his eyes at the person inside the wagon.

It was Decoman!

Although the face was blurred out, he wouldn't forget Decoman's presence.

However, he felt a little dubious about the wagon with his acquaintance inside.

"Is this another trap?"

Alisritter rubbed his yellow bronze ring again.

…

After White Jack paid for the 5 bowls of beef soup, Kieran walked out of the restaurant.

"My collaborator is dead," White Jack said after they walked out.

"Collaborator?" Kieran looked at the white skeleton.

"Contractor if you may, but my contract is a little special. There are no given orders, so I call him collaborator," White Jack explained.

Kieran didn't say anything and looked at the skeleton.

He believed the sudden explanation wasn't just for the sake of explaining things.

White Jack continued under Kieran's questioning gaze.

"Since my collaborator is dead, I can't stay in this city anymore but I can't return to my own world, so I may be erased by the system. But I don't want to vanish quietly! I want to form a contract with you! Of course, it isn't a collaboration contract but a real companion contract. Your strength is something that I would serve wholeheartedly."

White Jack knelt down on one knee like a knight, placing his skeleton fist at his chest.

"Oh," Kieran nodded and walked around White Jack before he walked further away.

White Jack was stunned, it had never met such a situation before!

Acquiring a companion for free, how could anyone not be interested?

"My lord, I want to serve you!" White Jack said again.

This time, Kieran didn't even look at it, walking inside the inner castle.

"My lord, that place…"

White Jack panicked when it saw Kieran walk closer to the inner castle.

Because of the special contract, it didn't really know anything about the castle but it still knew where danger lay. For example: around the inner castle gate.

Though White Jack was stopped by what it saw.

Gaaaak

The gate to the inner castle opened up, a figure walking out respectfully and bowed to Kieran.

"Boss."

After the bow, Bloody Mary straightened its body, offering the chessboard and blood chest to Kieran and looking at him with flattery.

It was waiting for praise, and of course, it gave White Jack the side-eye.

Bloody mary was being clear with its gaze.

It looked down on the skeleton! It sneered at its existence!

If Kieran wasn't there, Bloody Mary would have stepped the White Jack's skull and questioned it. Even the capable Bloody Mary got a slave contract from Kieran, how could a mere skeleton get a companion contract?

Was it because White Jack was white?

Tsk!

Bullsh*t! Shameless pile of bones!