The Devil's Cage

Inside an underground cave that was dug before the incident, Darde the Titan was leaning on one side, panting heavily.

Darde was pouring potion after potion into his mouth but for his current injuries, it was like putting out a burning cart with cups of water.

“How could this happen?”

“I calculated everything!”

“Both the Grand Duke of Dawn and Burning Marquis should have suffered severe injuries!”

“Why?”

“Why the Burning Marquis is fine?!”

Amidst the question, Darde was looking at the figure opposite him.

He hoped for the figure’s answer.

However, the answers that were supposed to come didn’t appear, even the figure started to become illusive and faint, similar to a soap bubble on the brink of bursting.

“No!”

Darde growled loudly.

He knew what it represented if the figure vanished.

Suffering a great loss of strength was just the beginning, even being weakened for a long period of time was just a side effect but in the end, he would be completely eliminated from this rivalry.

It was an unacceptable outcome for Darde since he put everything on the line, so he chose the most dangerous way: merging with the figure.

Both of them were one before but were separated because of some mystical spell.

Now, they would become one again!

Perhaps Darde might face the repulsion from the spell but it would still be better than losing everything.

Darde threw himself over to the figure with his remaining strength.

The figure was being torn apart by Darde’s bite.

It was already on the brink of bursting and with the additional fierce tearing, it was torn to shreds without further resistance.

The shreds and bits of the figure then turned into mist form and were sucked through Darde’s nose and mouth, into his body.

Then…

Shhhh!

A great amount of blood gushed out from Darde’s pores and formed a cloud of blood mist, enveloping him inside. Darde’s normal form was already unimaginably huge and buff but now with the blood mist, it was shrinking at an exponential speed visible to the naked eyes.

After a while, his body shrunk down to the size of a dwarf.

“BURNING MARQUIS!”

“ANSECORD!”

“EXTREMUS!”

“2567!”

“STARBECK!”

“YOU ALL WILL NOT DIE A PEACEFUL DEATH!”

The repulsion from the spell was stronger than Darde thought. He clenched his teeth and growled loudly as he felt his body and soul weakening.

Darde was recalling the moment where he fought the Burning Marquis, the grudge in his heart instantly flooded his sanity.

It made Darde hate everything and everyone related to this incident!

Ansecord who laid the trap!

Extremus who put up the smokescreen!

Kieran and Starbeck who watched from the sides!

From Darde’s point of view, all of them must die! Die under a thousand, million slices!

“Without your f**cking bastards, how would I fail?”

The grudgeful voice could numb one’s back and cause goosebumps.

Obviously, even after his defeat, Darde couldn’t accept the fact.

He would not acknowledge his own failures nor would he admit he had fallen into a trap.

Therefore, Darde wanted to alter the situation before his eyes to prove that he was right.

He wanted to strike back!

“I still have a chance! Another chance…”

Darde’s almost distorted face had a sense of gloominess on it.

However, the rattling noise that entered his ear changed his expression for the worse.

Without a second thought, Darde crawled and ran with all four of his limbs towards the escape passage that he left when building the underground cave but just as he went near to the passage, he had to halt his steps.

Darde saw that a couple of wolves were blocking the escape passage; his facial expression became extremely ugly.

He knew he was surrounded.

When he was suffering the repulsion and neglected his surroundings, he was surrounded by a pack of wolves.

The rattling noise grew clearer by the minute.

Seeing more and more wolves appearing before him, Darde leaned back to the wall, trying not to have enemies at the front and rear. While in his heart, he was thinking about how to handle the situation before his eyes, especially when he saw the figure that followed the wolves without the slightest intention of hiding, Darde cried out loud without any hesitation.

“2567! We can work together! I’ll tell you everything I know and pay a significant price by exiting this rivalry, this competition! Believe me please, you won’t have anything to lose and will gain unimaginable benefits!”

Darde’s voice was echoing in the underground cave.

Kieran, on the other hand, turned a deaf ear as he walked over.

The wolves that were blocking the cave divided themselves apart like water being split, allowing Kieran to walk through.

The distance between Kieran and Darde was closing by the second.

The aura on him was getting fiercer, sharper.

The killing aura was so dense that it almost materialized like a mountain peak pressing down on Darde’s body which had suffered the repulsion.

Kieran would not believe what Darde had to say, or, Kieran didn’t think Darde had any valuable things to share.

What Darde knew, Kieran knew.

From the attack on the Grand Duke of Dawn’s mansion to Darde’s grand entrance to Dawn City, it was all Ansecord’s trap.

The “dead” Ansecord wanted to mislead Darde to think that the Grand Duke of Dawn and the Burning Marquis were badly injured, thus allowing him to believe that Dawn City was absent of any powerhouse that could stop him.

But the real case?

It was certain that the Grand Duke of Dawn had suffered severe injuries from the attack at his mansion.

After all, with Extremus and Burning Marquis’ simultaneous sudden strike, the outcome would hardly change.

However, the Burning Marquis was unscathed and it became the fatal point for Darde.

As Ansecord expanded his plans as he went along and even “dying” himself, Darde did not see that coming, thus resulting in his ugliest form.

“Are you sure you want us to destroy each other now? Our enemies are Ansecord and Extremus! They’ve teamed up! It’s hopeless for you alone!”

Darde growled repeatedly as he saw Kieran stepping closer in an intimidating manner.

However, why would his words stop Kieran?

Ansecord and Extremus were enemies, what about Darde?

If he wasn’t injured, would he negotiate in such a “calm” manner?

More so, the remark in the dungeon background clearly stated “The title dungeon allows killing between participating players. All the value of the items acquired from the potential kill will be increased by 50% and Points increased by 100%”. A player that was considered as extremely powerful even among the Supernovas, his value was very tempting to Kieran, let alone the increase in value.

While feeling the stern killing intent from Kieran, Darde’s breaths turned rapid.

When slaughtering others, Darde could have a heart of stone but when he was the lamb up for slaughter, he wasn’t stronger than a common man.

Of course, there was also the repulsion from the spell that affected his current condition but most of it was how the spell influenced him in the beginning.

Lines of Spirit authentication popped up on Darde’s vision.

His current state of mind which was similar to a split personality couldn’t even allow him to resist the authentications.

Darde was terrorized, then his mind entered a state of chaos.

Then, he spoke without filtering his words.

“Spare me! I’ll tell you the secrets of the “crown”! IT CAN ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE THE GAME!”