The Devil's Cage

Kieran wasn’t unfamiliar with the place marked on the map, as it was the same place where he had met Karles last time.

When he recalled how Karles was killed within his own room, Kieran frowned. He knew that the peace right now was just the calm before the storm.

The storm would be coming any minute, and as for him?

He had to accumulate more strength before that storm.

As the thought came, Kieran didn’t stay behind any longer. He boarded the train and headed to the outer block of the city.

…

Meanwhile, inside the dark room, the usual five people were still sitting around the table.

“The latest news shows that 2567 is heading to the outer city in search of Swordsmith Alisritter,” one of them said leisurely.

“This is a chance for us,” the person sitting opposite said.

“A chance? You said it was a chance the last time, too, when we sent someone to test him and look how that turned out in the end.”

“Not a single one of my carefully trained men returned. All of them even died under unclear reasons!” The person beside grunted coldly.

“At least their deaths have value. We now know that there are still some other bastards hiding around,” the person at the corner said calmly.

“You can only say this so calmly because those men that died weren’t yours!”

The person who grunted coldly replied angrily.

“What’s dead is dead. We have to face the present now, not linger on the past. The four of us will pay you equal compensation, so… How should we deal with this incident now?”

The one who had first spoken seemed to be the leader of the bunch because when he spoke, no one seemed to object. He, however, was staring at the fifth person, who had stayed quiet since the start of the meeting. The other three also laid their gazes on that man who seemed to be merged with the shadows.

“Wait and see. Blade of the Daybreaker 2567 and Swordsmith Alisritter aren’t idiots. If we really pick a fight with them, what do you think will happen? I’m almost certain that both of them will gang up on us. Are you guys prepared to go to war with the two of them?” asked the man merged with the shadows.

Following his question, the other four went silent.

The answer was obvious: they weren’t prepared.

Not only would they have to face two powerful high-rankers, but there was also the many people behind those two as well.

Think about those lone wolves at Harvest Inn!

They all might seem to be moving alone but whenever one of them was provoked, especially those who had a good relationship with Lawless, it meant stepping on a bunch of wolves’ tails.

All of the mentioned didn’t even include the lady owner of the inn, who represented something that exceeded what common players could imagine.

As for Swordsmith Alisritter?

The skills and techniques he mastered had determined that there would be a great deal of people willing to work with him.

The promise of a Legendary sword was enough for any high-ranker to join the Swordsmith’s side and offer him their services.

“Then what should we do? It’s quite rare for that Broker to miscalculate. We can’t just sit here and do nothing, can we?”

The slightly grumpier one broke the silence.

“Of course now, but changes are imminent. Didn’t you guys notice that most of our attention before was all placed on 2567? I bet that bastard Broker must be laughing like a crazy man.”

The shadowy man said this in a meticulous and conscientious way without changing his tone.

“Could 2567 and Broker be working together?”

The grumpy one uttered out of consciousness but the moment his words escaped his mouth, the other four looked at him like he was an idiot.

“What? I’m just saying it’s a possibility. Is it really impossible?”

The grumpy one seemed to know that he was wrong but he wasn’t going to alter his thoughts now, thus he tried to be glib-tongued.

Everyone present knew his personality, so no one really cared about what he said.

“So what are we really going to do now?” the one in the corner asked.

“Guardians! Since the beginning, Broker’s target has always been the Guardians, or should I say the Witch’s Legacy? 2567 and the killer players are all smokescreens to blind the public. I’m afraid that that terrifying person has started to make his move,” said the one merged with the shadows.

“Then we have to seize the window.” The leader’s tone suddenly got heavy.

No one likes to fall behind others.

One step behind means forever behind.

Everyone present knew this perfectly, even more so when the one leading was Broker. It struck anxiety in everyone’s heart.

“No need to rush. Broker has his own ways. We have our own as well. We can’t chase Broker in an anxious state, as it will only make us follow his pace, allowing him to drag us around like the previous times,” said the one in the shadow.

“What are you saying?”

The other four looked at the person in the shadow in unison.

“We will disrupt Broker’s pace with our own, thus leading him into our own pace.”

A cynical laugh came from the shadow.

…

Kieran was standing on the outskirts of the big city, looking at the blurry horizon.

The horizon wasn’t just dark, it was turbid and even looked chaotic, endless robots pouring into the construction, building new structures.

New streets and buildings were being built every day.

“This place will soon become a normal street block. Seems like the new outer city is going to expand again,” Kieran thought in his heart when he saw the buildings being built rapidly.

Until now, he didn’t know what the city expansion was based on.

Population?

There was indeed a lot of players in the big city but it was a ridiculous thought that the players could fill the entire city.

In fact, the majority of the city’s streets had only a few players lingering around.

Only some of the gathering spots for factions or shops would present a crowded scene.

Given such circumstances, population didn’t seem to be the first thing taken into consideration.

However, other than this point, Kieran couldn’t think of anything else.

He wasn’t frustrated though because he knew what he was good at and what he wasn’t.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have traveled the distance in search of Swordsmith Alisritter.

Dang, Dang, Dang.

The concentrated smithing noise guided Kieran forward.

After he made a turn past a half-constructed building, he saw a huge man wielding a giant hammer.

The man was hammering a piece of metal block.

The metal block was rapidly turned into a sword with cold glares under the relentless hammering, but Kieran’s attention wasn’t on the sword.

Instead, he was looking at the giant hammer in the man’s hand.

Through Kieran’s perception, the giant hammer felt heavier and sharper.

Correct! Sharper!

The blunt weapon emanated a feeling of sharpness!

The weird feeling made Kieran furrow his brows but he soon squinted his eyes at what he saw.