The Devil's Cage

Nocturnal insects buzzed as the night breeze blew.

The slaughtering in the battlefield earlier that day seemed to have passed. Among the night patrol on top of the outpost walls, the youngest one couldn't help but gasp.

But he coughed right away.

The young soldier wasn't used to the fishy stench in the air.

In fact, everyone in Naveya City couldn't get used to the fishy smell, even merchants selling seafood had to give their best effort to withstand the disgusting smell.

As for why?

Just look at the monsters in the sea!

Once he thought about the scene earlier that day, the young soldier couldn't help but shiver.

Although a soldier had to fight in the battlefield, forgetting fear was something hard for the young soldier, even a veteran soldier could barely achieve it.

Ignoring death made a person brave and fearless, but the fear of death didn't make them a coward.

In the end, you have to make your own decisions.

Others can never make decisions on behalf of you.

"Roffu, what are you thinking?" one of the young soldier's colleagues asked softly.

"Of course, about what happened earlier today. That lord is amazing," replied the young soldier, Roffu.

"I know, right? If I had one-tenth of that lord's strength, I think I could get through the knights test easily."

"The knight's test eh… Sigh!"

When his colleague mentioned the knight's test, the young soldier sighed helplessly.

The knight's test was held twice a year, opened to every believer of Lady Thorn below 25 years of age.

When passed, one could become a member of the Thorn Temple Knights, but not as an official knight, but an apprentice knight.

Despite that, those who passed the test were only a handful.

Roffu participated in the test twice now. During the first time, he was eliminated in the preliminaries; the second time, he passed the preliminaries but fell short at the reexamination.

As the knights test came around the corner, Roffu was running out of confidence.

Whenever he thought about this being his last chance to be qualified as a knight, he couldn't help but feel depressed.

Unconsciously, Roffu turned around and looked further away.

He'd always avoided his problems whenever he faced them.

Then, the young Roffu was stunned.

What did he see further away?

It seemed like a… monster?"

But why was the outpost tower so quiet?

The doubts in Roffu's heart didn't delay his actions, as almost instantaneously, he shouted.

"Enemies in sight! Enemies in sight!"

...

The loud screams broke the silence of the night. Arya Outpost fell into clamour at the next moment.

Fully armed, Nelson rushed out of his camp with his trusty longsword the moment the screams broke out. Behind him were the knights of Thorn Temple, who reacted faster than common soldiers.

The knights split up into four groups: two groups went up the outer walls of the outpost, one group went up the inner walls, and the last group went towards the highest spot of the outpost, the outpost tower.

When the group of knights went up to the outpost tower, they saw dead outpost soldiers on the floor.

All three outpost soldiers were killed without mercy. Other than their horrible deaths, their flesh was almost eaten, leaving only the skin and bones.

The knight who lead the group didn't hesitate at all and splashed holy water on the three bodies.

But before the holy water fully splashed on the bodies, the bodies suddenly opened their mouths!

Countless flies flew out of their mouths like thick black clouds, enveloping the group of knights wholly.

Wuuuung!

"Careful!"

Amid the concentrated buzzing, the leader of the group of knights moved the torch he brought in front of his body. The flies then split into two groups. One stayed behind and attacked the group of knights while the other flew over to the outpost walls and headed straight for… Roffu!

Roffu gripped his spear and torch tightly, as he had never encountered something as freaky as this.

He hadn't properly seen what happened at the outpost tower, but he knew a mere spear wouldn't be enough to fight the swarm of flies.

Wung!

The flies whipped up a strong gale with their movements.

Similar to the knights before this, Roffu also had a torch in his hand, but his strength was not the same, not even half of the knights' capabilities!

Roffu fell down on the ground after he lost his balance to the strong gale.

The flies flew over his head and attacked the other soldier behind him.

"Aaaargh!"

Amid an agonizing cry, Roffu turned around to his colleague. The soldier who spoke to Roffu a moment ago was completely covered in flies. Roffu raised his torch at the flies, trying to expel them, but it was a futile attempt. His colleague was swiftly turned into a dry corpse before his eyes.

Then, the flies flew towards Roffu again.

Roffu swung the torch even faster, but it was still useless. The flies scattered away and regrouped before flying towards the young soldier.

'This is the end!'

Roffu felt chills run through his body. He never thought death would come knocking so suddenly, nor did he think he would die like this.

"I never got to be a knight…" Roffu mumbled.

Fuuu!

Anoher air-breaking sound later, the young soldier felt his world turn upside down. When he regained his senses, he realized the swarm of flies heading towards him had blown towards the wall, getting squashed into meat paste.

A black figure stood in front of Roffu.

"If you have dreams that are not yet fulfilled, then take your weapon and move forward. Bring along his will and ambitions with you."

Amidst the calm words, the black figure pointed at the deceased soldier who turned into a dry corpse by the flies.

After that, Kieran turned his eyes outside Arya Outpost.

As for why he saved the young soldier?

He was along the way and the young soldier seemed like a nice guy.

Roffu was willing to save his colleague when the flies attacked instead of running, hence Kieran liked him.

"Lord Ryan! Thank you!"

The young soldier looked at Kieran's black figure and called his name, but what he wanted to say was quickly silenced and eventually became a word of gratitude.

Other than expressing his thanks, Roffu didn't know what he should say.

He then looked at his deceased colleague. His eyes couldn't hold back the sorrowful gaze.

People die in wars, the question is whether it is less or more.

Despite knowing that, Roffu still felt sad for his colleague.

He gripped his spear, stood up, and also looked outside the outpost wall.

He wanted to avenge… No, he wanted to fight with his colleague! He bent down and grabbed his colleague's spear.

Then, he hurled it towards the monsters rushing towards the walls.

He didn't know if he did the right thing, nor did he know what his action would cause, but he knew that if he didn't hurl the spear, he wouldn't be at peace.

Puk!

The spear infused with the young soldier's strength plunged into a monster's body.

Although only the spear tip plunged into the monster, it wasn't a lethal hit to it due to its thick skin.

Quite the opposite, as the spear infuriated the monster, causing it to be more ferocious.

It looked up and roared at the wall, then…

The ferocious roar stopped abruptly. Not only that particular monster, but all the other monsters that clamoured in the night were forced to a stop.

Their bodies were frozen on the spot.

Outside Arya Outpost, the monsters who tried to siege the outpost at first light were all frozen on the spot like they were lifeless puppets, standing still.

All of them looked in a single direction above the outpost walls, or more precisely, a single spot: the spot where Kieran was.

He stood above the walls and looked down at the monsters with his eyes shining an unusual color. He then turned around and left.

As he turned around, his feather mantle fluttered, sounding like a sign of sorts.

After the flutter…

Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!

The heads of the monsters beneath the walls exploded one after another. Thousands of headless bodies fell down en masse.

The battlefield once again plunged into silence.

Everyone else was captivated by the figure who turned around and left.

The night breeze continued blowing, the waving feather mantle fluttered along.

Somehow, the night sounded a little noisy with the clamour.