The Devil's Cage

Kieran turned his eyes towards the [Sister Reid Statue] almost instinctively.

The statue that was glimmering with radiance a moment ago had dimmed down into a gloomy state. It even gave Kieran a feeling of a shifting mist rather and a glorious radiance.

Kieran shifted his attention back to the scrawny elder's spirit and a sudden realization hit him.

The scrawny elder did it on purpose! He purposely stood in the spot where it was closest to St. Reid Hospital main building!

His purpose was to attract the entire hospital with the explosion so the Marulyn Church's friars would draw more power from the [Sister Reid Statue]. So when [SIster Reid Statue] had suffered a certain amount of damage and its power was halved, the scrawny elder could venture forth to destroy the statue!

Kieran instantly knew what the scrawny elder wanted to achieve when he saw the spirit fly straight towards the statue.

He too leaped out from the shadows without further hesitation.

It wasn't about justice or anything, it was just that Kieran couldn't bear the consequences if the [Sister Reid Statue] was destroyed.

Even without further speculation, Kieran was certain that once the spirit destroyed the statue, the entire St. Reid Hospital would be drowned by spirits.

With his current equipment and strength level, he was incapable of dealing with a huge amount of spirits, let alone the others from the Elder Council.

"Who goes there!?"

The friars were shocked when Kieran suddenly leaped out.

Fortunately, Kieran did not have to worry about being blasted by dozens of rockets inside the hospital building, instead, he would only need to face a group of men who were slightly better than regular people.

Kieran twisted his steps swiftly, [Evading] was still at Grandmaster level despite the -1 debuff. Grandmaster [Evading] transformed Kieran into the nimblest fist and swam across the group of Marulyn friars easily.

The [Interrogator Knife] in his hand was then swept across the air like a bolt of lightning in front of the many eyes of the friars.

In fact, he was really slashing at the scrawny elder spirit's body with the knife. It wasn't a lethal blow and not even a medium one but [Interrogator Knife]'s attribute, [Ruthless Interrogator] brought immense pain to the scrawny elder spirit.

Especially after equipping the title [Demon Buster], it made the scrawny elder spirit growl in pain loudly.

The irritating growl from the spirit sent the surrounding friars staggering backward, some even fell directly to the ground.

Kieran was however unaffected by the growl and gave the spirit another slash, increasing its agonizing growl.

Since it wasn't the first time the friars fought the council, they quickly understood what happened. The standing ones didn't help their fallen comrades up but instead gathered around the statue, kneeled down, and started praying.

Instantly, the misty radiance gathered once more and formed the one-inch thick glorious radiance again.

The scrawny elder spirit was bathing in agonizing pain.

A layer of black smoke erupted from its body causing it to lose the basic spirit invisibility right away but the terrifying aura around it was multiplied.

If the scrawny elder spirit was ranked between poltergeist and evil spirit when it was invisible, now it had suddenly surged to demon rank, not just any low tier demon but a High Demon instead.

It descended from a human soul to a High Demon in just an instant!

A layer of black scales started to form over its body, expanding its scrawny body like a balloon.

Its withered hands grew longer and sharper at the fingers.

When it ceased its transformation, it had turned into a giant gorilla monster from a scrawny elder. Especially those robust long claws that touched the ground, the vibration from the claws even brought a shock to Kieran's face.

He clearly knew how terrifying its power was in addition to the black lustrous scales all over its body that seemed exceptionally sturdy.

If Kieran's strength wasn't weakened and he was fully equipped, he didn't mind fight against it but now, he had already started to look for a path of retreat inside the hospital hall with his glance.

The Marulyn friars were sharing the sour look as well.

"Twenty Hounds!"

One of the friars shouted.

The other friars too had fear smeared over their face but soon enough, the fear was suppressed down by the faith in their heart.

All of them kneeled down properly and prayed with utmost sincerity.

"Oh Saint Reid, My Lord, We ask of your light to dispel the darkness!"

"Oh Saint Reid, My Lord, We ask of your light to protect the weak!"

"Oh Saint Reid, My Lord, We ask of you to bring peace upon us again, our lives will be the cost for the harmony of us all! Oh, Saint Reid!"

Following the ceaseless praying, the statue's radiance dazzled even brighter, and it seemed to infuriate the High Demon.

"Saint Reid? A mortal yet enjoyed the treatment of a God? What a pity, you miserable bunch of fools! That old geezer Gannett has brainwashed all of you, you think you can get protection with such petty prayers? To defeat me? With a statue of a dead woman!?"

The High Demon's rage-filled voice sounded like thunder.

The loudness even turned into a powerful wind, a black light erupted in all directions.

The friars fainted instantly when the black light shined on them, even the innocent doctors and nurses in the real dimension started to wither rapidly under the eerie light.

Only a small area around the statue wasn't affected.

Kieran was slowly moving away but suddenly his pupils shrunk. He altered the direction of his movements without any further thoughts and stood beside the [Sister Reid Statue].

It was the first time he felt that he was truly bathing in light.

Then…

'Young hunter, please help them!'

A sudden voice echoed in his heart.

The unexpected voice made Kieran grip the [Interrogator Knife] tightly.

"Who's that!?" Kieran asked.

His turned his eyes towards the statue beside him and just as he laid eyes on the statue, the statue too turned her head at Kieran as though it had come alive.

The face aged but was filled with mercy and kindness, the eyes were overflowing with tender affection.

'It's me, young hunter! Please help them!'

The statue pointed to the kneeling friars in prayer.

The darkness had started to corrupt the light around the praying friars and it was closing in on them by the second.

Soon, the darkness would completely consume the friars in prayer, including Kieran who was standing beside the statue.

"How?" Kieran asked directly.

'Open up your soul, accept my blessing!'

The statue said slowly, the voice was getting more merciful as it spoke.

Kieran, however, squinted his eyes.

"Open up my soul? Accept your blessing?"

Suddenly, a term came up in his mind, puppet of flesh and blood!