The Devil's Cage

Back in the big city of the game, on the street where the malicious wind blew, Lawless, Hanses, Coll, and Raven the Loner were searching around.

However, other than knowing Kieran and Starbeck vanished from this spot abruptly, they had zero clues.

The four of them regrouped at the crossroad and exchanged heavy gazes before returning to Harvest Inn.

They hoped that the others could find some useful clues.

As Lawless and the others left, many pairs of eyes shone with an evil glare and then faded into darkness.

Although none knew what happened here, the lingering aura in the place attracted much attention, and one of the auras they picked up was the Flaming Emperor's.

As for the other one?

Many of them were doubtful about the second aura, and some puzzled over it, but very few knew who it belonged to. Alisritter the Swordsmith was one sandwiched in between.

He knew some but not enough to paint the big picture, so he got in touch with his good friend.

The Swordsmith swiftly shuttled across the wilderness, which was once the edge of the city, and arrived at an abandoned building in a deserted area.

Dust and pebbles were everywhere; even the clouds were gray and dusty, and the wind could easily whip up a dust storm.

Even those robots who worked 24/7 couldn't clean the place in time because all the dust and pebbles were from the many abandoned buildings in the area.

Alisritter walked in and immediately felt the land shake.

The buildings in the area felt like they were breathing. They started to expand and collapse like a human's chest.

Countless dust and pebbles fell from the buildings, and blanketed the ground in an instant.

Coincidentally, when the wind blew, Alisritter was buffeted by the dust storm.

Ouh!

"Acala! This is how you welcome a friend? Don't forget that you still owe me 1,024 Points!"

Alisritter knew what was happening, so he shouted at the dusty environment instead of panicking.

He knew his friend was in closed cultivation somewhere around the area, but he did not know exactly where.

After Alisritter's loud shout, the wind stopped and the noise of a door opening sounded somewhere.

A man in monk robes and a blurred face came out.

"I've paid the debt!"

His voice was as clear as the murmurs of a natural spring and almost as pleasant as bird chirps in a forest, and despite being filled with helplessness, his voice would linger in one's ears.

The moment his voice subsided, he took a step; however, this single step from him crossed almost a thousand meters in distance as if the space in between had folded up and allowed him to reach Alisritter in an instant.

"It's been a while, Alisritter," the man said.

Even though the face was blurred out, Alisritter knew his friend was smiling.

As for the reason?

Alisritter knew why, and it wasn't because of seeing a friend for a long time.

"Is it really necessary? Every single time we meet?" Alisritter tapped the dust off his shoulder and rolled a white eye at Acala.

"Each meeting is a new start, and each new start is…"

"Ok, that's enough! You are a fake monk, not a real one! A real monk wouldn't be as vexing as you are!"

Alisritter waved his hands in denial repeatedly to stop Acala, and before Acala had the chance to even speak again, he continued, "Crazy woman no.2 is looking for you!"

"Is it because of the aura earlier? I'm sorry, I can't do anything."

Acala pointed at the direction where the malicious aura exploded and shook his head straightaway.

"Do you want me to tell her exactly what you say?" Alisritter raised a brow.

Acala went silent.

After a few seconds, Acala asked in the hopes of getting a better answer, "Can you tone it down a little?"

"What do you think?" Alisritter replied.

"You know what I think. I have a contract with that guy, and I owe a debt to Rachel, so all I can do is stay away from both sides," Acala said with a bitter smile.

"Even you too… It's all that bastard's fault! This is what he hoped for!" Alisritter said in a heavy tone.

Acala's smile grew bitter. "It can't be changed. Back then, none of us would have expected things to turn out like this, or should I say… we did not expect for that person to know what is going to happen right after he came in here. He had started to plan from there on, and there's nothing we can do now."

The bitter smile on his friend's face made Alisritter curse in a muffled voice.

All sorts of vulgarities and harsh words escaped his mouth softly.

Acala didn't stop him though because he thought the same.

Unfortunately, the power of the contract forbade him from doing it.

"Is the repulsion strong?" Alisritter asked all of a sudden.

"It hurt a lot at first, but I got used to it. Don't worry, it's just a piece of contract. It may shackle me for now, but not for life," Acala said slowly.

"You be careful, tell me if anything happens."

Alisritter tapped his friend's shoulder and left.

Acala saw his friend off before he returned to his short and suffocating room.

He laid eyes on the ferocious portrait of the Enlightenment King that saw in space with three heads and six arms. He slowly sat down.

Promptly after that…

Splat!

He sprayed a mouthful of blood.

Acala quickly fell back from his sitting posture.

"Repulsion? Hmph."

Acala didn't mind the repulsion at all. Lying there limp, he chuckled, looking even more relaxed and at ease after the splash of blood.

Compared to Acala's relaxed state, the folks at Harvest Inn had heavy expressions on their faces, and it even suppressed the atmosphere.

Similar to Lawless and the other four who came back with him, Ramont, Rhino, Lemour the Alchemist, the newly joined Blaire and Garwen, Doctor Derder, and J. Pearlman, included, had no results in their search.

Blaire laid his hands open helplessly. "I asked everyone in my friendlist, but no one seems to know where the aura came from."

"It's normal. There shouldn't be anyone around you who knows that aura." Rarely did Raven the Loner speak.

"Are you saying…" Blaire reacted right away, he wasn't an idiot.

"Other than the earliest batch who acquired a certain level of strength, no one would know what that aura is. This aura did appear back before the Witch's Calamity. Even back then, only a few sensed it, but most of them didn't care because it was weak. Then… When the Witch's Calamity started, everyone's attention was attracted by that crazy woman, and thus, many forgot this aura, but not all. They think that the aura is related to the Witch's Calamity. They even went on to deduce the sudden change of personality in the Witch because she came in contact with this aura." Lawless finally spoke, not hiding anything from his friends and brothers-in-arms.

Everyone exchanged gazes of doubt and confusion when they heard the secret stuff because everyone thought of a single person: Kieran.

Kieran and the Witch shared uncanny resemblance.

Similarly powerful, similarly bloodthirsty.

"Then, could 2567…" Coll sounded worried.

"No! He won't! 2567 will not become that crazy woman!" Lawless shouted.

Despite saying that to protect his friend, Lawless showed obvious worry through his gaze, and it made his breath hurry. The worry was soon replaced by frenzy.

Pak!

Right before Lawless went out of control again, Rachel, who appeared behind him at an unknown time, smacked the back of his head.

"Stop overthinking! Don't mislead others!" Rachel said angrily.

Her words immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Lawless regained his senses and covered the back of his head. He looked at Rachel's face, which, behind her system blur, was full of anxiety.

"Let me say this straight: the aura and the Witch's Calamity are somewhat related, but it was not the aura that caused the disaster. 2567 and the Witch are two different people. That crazy woman did whatever she liked; she went out of control and gave into her killer impulses. On the other hand, 2567 has total control of himself; he knows how to put his mind in check and understands that he should never cross the line. Even if both of them have the same power, 2567 wouldn't simply go around killing innocents, unless they stepped on him first," Rachel said calmly.

"But…"

"But what? You idiot! Can't even tell apart rumours from the truth now, can you?" Rachel said angrily.

"Rumours?" Lawless and the others jolted.

"Yes, rumours! Some bastards spread rumours just so they could protect their schemes. They deliberately planned all this early on and made many kinds of arrangements to counter 2567. This is just one of the many traps the bastards had for him!" Rachel nodded.

"Bastards? You mean Broker!? I will search the earth for that piece of shit!" Lawless squeezed those words out of his gnashing teeth.

"Yea, yeah, yeah musclehead. He's completely in the dark now, not even Wu can find him. Rather than paying attention to him, why not focus on that special aura? If you pay close enough attention to the host of the aura, you might find something unexpected," Rachel said to Lawless and the crowd. Before they even made a noise, she went off to the little living room.

Inside the living room, Wu was on her knees atop a piece of carpet.

In front of her were 12 Legendary rank items surrounding a crystal ball.

The golden glow from the items dyed the crystal ball with the same color and radiance.

The golden energy kept gushing inside the crystal ball like a river stream. It then swirled towards Wu before ultimately turning into a sparkling crystal.

Kak!

All 12 Legendary rank items quickly rusted and broke, a crack even appearing on Wu's crystal ball.

Wu didn't mind at all as she grabbed a dagger, intending to slice her wrist, but it did not happen and no blood was spilled. Rachel had snatched the dagger.

"Are you out of your mind? Do you know what you're doing?!" Rachel scolded her.

"I know. Crow is in danger. I have to go help him," Wu said calmly.

"So you are trading lives now?" Rachel said coldly.

Wu didn't answer, but it was obvious that that was her intention.

"Do you think it's meaningful for you to die like this? Or do you think you are helping 2567? I assure you, if you cut that wrist, 2567 will indeed overcome the difficulty easily, but at the same time, you will also put him on a path of destruction beyond redemption," Rachel emphasized.

Wu looked up, her eyes fixating on Rachel.

"You are lying! This is just your little plan to stall me! You want to…"

"I want to what? Your gifts, your talent, and your title is enough for you to know something secretive. If you don't trust me, you can foretell a bastard called Broker. When you see the results, you will know what is happening."

Rachel crossed her arms and stepped back, allowing Wu to test it for herself.

Wu jolted for a moment before she took out her 12 cards.

Three rows of cards, from top to bottom; the first row had five cards, the second row had four cards and the third had row three cards.

She quickly picked up the middle card of the upper row.

A person with a knife and mask was looking at the golden cross in the sky.

Then, she pulled her second card: the first card on the left of the second row.

The golden crow radiated brightly, and the masked man's knife broke, but he was instigating others.

Wy squinted her eyes.

She then went for the middle card of the last row.

This final card didn't show the golden crow, yet the masked man stood high on stage, accepting the praise of foolish people.

When she saw the card, Wu clenched her fist.

"Broker!"

Cold harsh words escaped her gritted teeth.

Rachel heaved a sigh of relief after she saw her friend's reaction.

It was better to let it flow than stop the current.

After Rachel noticed how madly in love she was with Kieran, she changed her ways in approaching her.

If Wu wanted to take 2567 as Crow, 2567 would be crow.

If her friend wanted to help 2567, she would also help, but within her own means and definitely not out of.

What Wu was trying to do was give help to Kieran by extending herself into the Unique Dungeon.

It would really kill her if she managed to go in.

As for going up against Broker?

They were already in conflict with Broker; they were like mortal enemies, to begin with.

Now, pinning more blame on the criminal didn't seem wrong at all.

"Understand now? Inside the dungeon, 2567's power can settle everything. But similar to how Crow was stabbed by a dagger in the dark, 2567 is facing a similar situation, and what you need to do now is help 2567 locate the dagger in the dark," Rachel said.

"En," Wu nodded. She took a deep breath and shook her robe.

Two white candles appeared; the flames on the candles were a pale green and ominous to even look at.

A straw doll appeared in Wu's hand right away.

"W-What are you doing?" Rachel asked, stuttering.

Wu made a sof reply before she placed the straw doll in the center of the two candles. She then pulled out a spiked club from her sleeve and smashed the straw doll into pieces.

Boom!

...

Registrar Zorl, Broker's most loyal subordinate, was beside his boss at that moment.

"Hope everything goes well," Zorl prayed softly when he saw Broker go to sleep.

The Registrar suddenly noticed Broker twitching violently, blood gushing out of his nose and mouth.

Zorl opened the supplementary meal and tried to wipe off all the blood.

However, after he wiped the blood away, he realized his boss's body was swollen.

"Wh-what is this?"

Zorl was very anxious.

...

In Leaf Dining's basement training room, Kieran appeared to be calm. He wiped his loot clean and then took the core of [Philosopher's Stone] out.

He glanced at the dazzling shine and took a deep breath before saying, "Initiate Equivalent Exchange!"