The Devil's Cage

Amid the spine-cracking noise, 'Drexton' was almost squeezed in half.

His waist, which was far stronger than a common man's, was squeezed into the size of a calf under Kieran's absolute strength, and that was not the end.

'Drexton' was then dunked into the ground powerfully. Kieran followed up with a stomp to the back of his head and grabbed both of his legs, twisting them like he would a towel.

Krack!

A loud crack later, 'Drexton' was twisted in half and so was the world before Kieran's eyes.

The battle-damaged Smorewill Street shattered, and Kieran appeared in his ward again.

Kieran raised a brow at the familiar scene.

He looked around, and when he saw the drizzle outside the window, he heaved a breath of relief. After going through multiple 'ultra realistic' illusory realms, Kieran got a good grasp of how deep he was in this time. Although the illusory realm could create most of the scenes or even the people he was very familiar with, it must have its limits.

The weather! The sky, the sun, the moon and the stars!

All the natural phenomena were something the illusory realm could not create. Even when it was in Smorewill Street and a 'Drexton' was created before his eyes, the sky was clouded by 'smoke'.

Though, just in case, Kieran pushed the window open and reached his hand out.

Concentrated cold water drizzled all over his right hand and drenched his forehand wet.

Kieran looked at the rain, but when he glanced over his right palm, he was stunned.

He retracted his hand and looked at the back of his right palm.

The unusual freaky smiley face tattoo became faint all of a sudden, the red line around it even losing its vibrant colors.

An ultra realistic illusory realm, a fading freaky smiley face tattoo.

Kieran glued his eyes to the tattoo at the back of his right palm, guesses drowning his heart, and in the midst of the messy situation, he pulled up the notification tab.

[Entering single player dungeon!]

[Dungeon Difficulty: 8th dungeon]

[External energy intervention! External energy intervention!]

[Player has fallen into Witch's Enigmatic Realm. Part of player's memory has been sealed. Authentication starts…]

[Authentication passed!]

[Player is freed from Witch's Enigmatic Realm!]

[Player regained sealed memory!]

[Detected player has been treated with injustice, 8th dungeon difficulty adjusting…]

[Dungeon Difficulty: 2nd dungeon]

[Background: Theorate will welcome a new batch of students in September. They are lively and energetic, and you are one of them…]

[Main mission: Pass the entrance exam and survive through the end of the semester.]

[Temporary language pack disappears upon exiting the dungeon.]

[Clothing, backpack, weapons, and other items remain unchanged. Temporarily altered appearance returns to normal upon exiting the dungeon]

[Hint: This is your eighth official dungeon. Because the difficulty is altered, you can fail the main mission, but you will have to pay 200 Points as a penalty. If your points are insufficient, the system will deduct from your equipment. If your equipment is insufficient, you will fail.]

…

A complete set of notifications was enough to tell Kieran what happened.

The lost memories, the layers of illusory realm, everything was related to the Witch, but what sent him into deep thought was why the tattoo at the back of his hand activated.

It sensed danger!

The answer appeared in Kieran's heart almost instantly.

In his Pro level [Mystical Knowledge] there were similar records about whether or not a mark or tattoo could sense danger; it was blurry but definitely there.

With the Witch's [Mystical Knowledge] level, acquiring the ways to craft suck a mark wasn't anything absurd.

Kieran, in the meantime, did not ponder about the level of the Witch's [Mystical Knowledge] and instead recalled what happened before he lost his memories.

It wasn't that hard given how good Kieran's memory was. Moreover, the things that he came in contact with and found noteworthy weren't that many.

First, the [Barrier Water], which he got from Ickart, the Resistance!

Second, his Intuition leveling up.

Third, him entering the current dungeon world.

But which of the three?

Kieran wasn't sure at the moment. All three of the incidents seemed to be quite possible in triggering the tattoo.

[Barrier Water] was crafted solely to block out the Witch's Gift, so it wasn't strange that the tattoo reacted.

If it was his leveled up Intuition that triggered the activation of Witch's Enigmatic Realm, it would seem like the Witch's Gift wasn't as hard to remove as he expected. The reason why he couldn't remove it before was that he wasn't strong enough, or… he chose the wrong way.

Removing the Witch's Gift required not only power, but the correct direction too!

As for the third?

The information was limited, so he wasn't sure, but he wouldn't discard it either.

As a matter of fact, given how dubious Kieran was, he would not discard any single possibility that might lead to the answer.

After all, he had recovered lost grounds.

Since the day the freaky smiley face tattoo latched onto the back of his hand, Kieran felt discomforted like he had a bone stuck in his throat, and when he realized it was the Witch's Gift, it raised Kieran's alarm. He felt uneasy and anxious, hence he had to be vigilant at all times.

The Witch that created all kinds of legendary tales for herself in the big city, what kind of person was she really?

Wicked, powerful, bloodthirsty, horrifying.

All the terms were used to describe her, but as for what made the Witch, Kieran didn't know and had no intention to find out. All he knew was that he had to be extra careful when dealing with the things the Witch left behind.

Moreover, since the Witch had already left the game and the Guardians sought her legacy, Kieran's alarm was raised to a new high.

Kieran never doubted the evil in human nature, similar to how he strictly believed in kindness.

The Witch had reached a certain peak in the game, and she might have even surpassed every being in the game. The tattoo might be something that she did not care about anymore or something that she simply created, but that wasn't the case for the others.

Think about the rules among the Guardians. They reeked of the Laws of the Jungle, and that was only the part made known to Kieran.

He believed there would be more astonishing things in the parts that he hadn't understood.

The Guardians? Hehe.

Kieran coldly laughed as he looked at the shallow Witch's Gift on the back of his palm. A few seconds later, he walked towards the sick bed.

Beneath the bed was his gears.

Although he was eager to get rid of this hidden danger, his priority was straight, and he knew what he must do.

A second dungeon difficulty? It's a perfect compensation!

Kieran was very eager to enter!

His black leather gear replaced his patient's clothes, and the black feather mantle covered the black longsword at his waist. He stuffed the metallic body into his dual-strap traveling bag before walking outside the ward.

Boom!