The Devil's Cage

Huuu!

The wind entered the room.

Amid the unusual wind, Garcia's five men, who blocked the exit, fell into their own bloody puddles, and as the leader, Garcia was pinned to the wall by Bloody Mary, its hand plunging through his chest.

What happened?

Morrison, the 2nd year student, and the other five men widened their eyes in horror.

Their sight couldn't even provide them with an explanation of what just happened.

All they saw was the outcome, and it was unacceptable to them.

As a matter of fact, not just them, but Garcia was also having a hard time accepting the outcome.

Cough Cough!

Blood gushed out of Garcia's mouth as he looked at the cold 'Palreynold' with a disbelieving gaze.

People from the Dark Sect, the general term of an Inner Sect, were strong.

One could even say the true place to inherit the ultimates of a sect was the Inner Sect, but the Sil Sect was one that practised potions and utensils crafting, so how could someone from there be so strong?

According to Garcia's deduction, Sil Inner Sect, which practised a single line of inheritance, should possess a special or powerful cooking utensil or tableware, or even some secretive potion. That was the reason why he brought five elites that were second only to professor level. He thought he wouldn't fail this time, but reality slapped him hard in the face, much harder than 'Palreynold' did to the others earlier.

The five elites, who were the assistants the professor behind him meticulously trained, had held most of Garcia's hopes and anticipation, but they died just like that.

All five of them died so easily as if they were tofu under 'Palreynold's' hand, not one of them able to resist their fate!

The outcome was totally unacceptable to Garcia, but the pain from his pierced chest told him it was a cold, hard fact that he must accept.

"I am the wind, my hand is the blade.

"When blood flashes, myriads of bodies stack."

Bloody Mary uttered a little phrase it came up with in the nick of time. Its eyes on Garcia were filled with disdain so heavy that it almost materialized.

"If you don't know what kind of existence the Sil Inner Sect is, please don't judge it with your shallow knowledge," Bloody Mary said softly.

"I-I lost this time, but… next…"

Garcia stuttered after a deep breath, his face tormented by the pain, but before his words subsided, Garcia's body melted and vanished like snow under the sun, only many times faster.

Allowing Garcia to escape was part of the plan, much more effective and natural than Bloody Mary sparing his life.

Bloody Mary purposely frowned; it had to make everything look real because it was related to the boss's plan.

Bloody Mary then turned back to the Sil Sect's spies.

"Palreynold, I…"

Puk!

Morrison wanted to explain, but Bloody Mary had no interest. It appeared behind Morrison in a flash and beheaded the teacher. Morrison's head flew up high, and the blood from his throat gushed out and splashed against the ceiling.

As the white ceiling and walls intertwined with red, the whole room looked extra vibrant, and when the whole room was tainted red, the color didn't soften up, becoming more saturated instead.

Once all the Sil Sect spies were killed and their bodies scattered across the room, Bloody Mary carefully checked each of them before going out.

When the spies surrendered, their fates had been sealed.

A true member of the Dark Sect would not tolerate traitors within the sect.

…

Bang!

When Garcia reappeared in his liquid form, he was in a room, more precisely, his research lab.

When the assistants on duty at the lab saw Garcia appear and fall on the floor with a big hole in his chest, all of them rushed over immediately.

An emergency surgery was performed right away.

There was sufficient medication in the lab, and the people who operated on Garcia had skillful hands. With the addition of some extra products from the Mystic Realm and Garcia's heart being on the left side of his chest, he survived.

Once everything was patched up, Garcia's outstanding body woke him up quick enough.

"Contact Professor Duyor and call him back to the school as soon as possible. The Sil Inner Sect is not what we thought; they should be a branch of an ancient sect."

After delivering the message, Garcia laid down on the sick bed as if the message took the last bit of his energy.

However, anyone who came closer to him would clearly hear the mumbles coming from his mouth.

"I am the wind, my hand is the blade.

"When blood flashes, myriads of bodies stack."

It was the little phrase Bloody Mary came up with.

The others who were treated Garcia heard it, but they didn't understand the meaning.

Since it came from Garcia and they respected his position, they did not simply neglect it.

Almost 20 minutes later, Garcia finally came back to his senses.

"Contact the First Seat freshman, tell him I want a meeting," Garcia told the assistant of the research lab beside him, but right away, he noticed a strange look on the assistant's face.

"What happened to the plan?" Garcia asked after being a little stunned.

…

A few hours earlier.

Kieran saw Garcia off, but he didn't close the door. Instead, he took the metal box containing [Golden Cake (Replica)] outside the dorm before truly tasting the rare Proper Meal class cake.

Garcia left but the people who followed him here did not.

Kieran knew what these people wanted to do; every single one of them was after the [Golden Cake (Replica)] in his hand.

Kieran wasn't angry at all, but rather delighted.

His delight didn't come from the joy of sharing. Since he already got his hands on the Proper Meal class cake, how could he possibly let it go?

He was delighted because of the extra rewards.

Kieran soon arrived at the big, spacious field he remembered without stopping; he didn't want the upcoming battle to harm his one true lodging spot in this dungeon world.

When Kieran finally stopped, the group of shady figures appeared and surrounded him.

The number of people were twice as many as Kieran had sensed.

It also seemed like the ill-intended people had noticed each other, and in order to properly snatch the Golden Cake, they contacted their fellow accomplices.

Some of them rushed over right after Kieran stopped in the middle of the field.

Those who arrived later joined their comrades and confronted the other parties; nevertheless, most of their attentions were still on Kieran, or more precisely, the metal box in his hands.

"Hand over the box!"

A man wrapped in black on Kieran's left shouted with an altered voice.

His shout caused a chain reaction, a lot of the others started to shout at Kieran too.

"Hand over the box!"

"Hand it over quickly!"

"Hand it over and we'll spare your life!"

The shouts were messy, and some used altered voices like the first man while some used their normal ones.

Greed appeared in their eyes, and they didn't care about the consequences anymore.

Kieran glanced at the people surrounding him then at the shadow further away.

There was a strange faint presence hiding there, watching the conflict.

No doubt, whoever was hiding there planned to fish in muddy waters. And it wasn't just that particular spot, as there were two more suspicious presences hiding further behind the first one.

Kieran curled his lips into a smile when he noticed the three hidden presences, which were much stronger than the people who surrounded him.

What else was better than an expected reward?

A reward far greater than his expectations!

Kieran's little smile irritated the people surrounding him.

"What are you smiling at?"

"You think we are joking with you?"

"Or you think we don't dare to kill you?"

Everyone started to growl angrily. Greed had blinded their eyes and clouded their judgments. Killer intent was spreading, affecting them, causing their breaths to become heavy.

"Kill him!"

"Kill him first, we will decide who takes the food later!"

A loud shout later, everyone charged towards Kieran.

However, just as their feet were about to move, excruciating pain filled their chests and it spread throughout their bodies. Their eyes started to blur, and their consciousness started to fade.

Dong, Dong Dong Dong.

Only a few among the attackers, those who had special bodies, survived, but they were living on their last breaths.

"P-Poison!"

A last agonizing scream escaped their mouths, death awakening them from greed.

They hoped for Kieran's mercy, but he wasn't moved.

The man they meant to kill would show no mercy because they wouldn't have shown him any had their positions been switched.

The field filled with greed went silent as death arrived.

While standing amidst a pile of over 50 bodies, Kieran looked at the shadowy hiding spots again.

[Venom Breath], which was in cooldown because of [Toxic Nibble], was activated and began spreading again following Kieran's command. The poison shrouded the two other presences behind the first one.

[Vicious Venom Pearl] could be activated even without touching; as long as it was on the user or even in the user's bag, its effect would come into play.

Other than a longer time to bring out its maximum effect, it barely had any weaknesses, especially after [Toxic Nibble] was activated, where the time, its weakness, was minimized to an acceptable range.

Clap Clap Clap!

Amid a series of loud claps and under Kieran's sharp gaze, a man in normal attire with a mask over his face walked out.

"I've heard that the First Seat of this year is very interesting, but now it seems like you are more interesting than I thought. What do you say, wanna join the Dark Eaters?" The man chuckled and voiced his invitation.

Dark Eaters, a bunch of robbers who had truly discarded their pride and relied on robbing to boost themselves. Rumour had it that there were some very extreme ones among them who chose to eat humans to boost their powers.

Kieran read about the Dark Eaters before in a book at the library.

They were hated and feared. Or at least, Kieran sensed that the two other presences further away breathed heavily when the term Dark Eaters was mentioned.

"What do you dread? Or what do you still yearn for? Do you wish to tolerate these people from day to night? Didn't you feel a release the moment they died? Isn't that the thing you have been searching for? Didn't you feel the relaxation and joy? Admit it and accept it, you and us are the same!"

Amid his pleasant and rhythmic voice, notification after notification appeared in Kieran's vision. His Spirit had passed the authentication and prevented him from falling into Chaos state.

As he looked at the Dark Eater and the surveillance camera that turned over to the two of them, Kieran took a breath to adjust his emotions and words.

At the next moment, Kieran's emotion-filled words came out of his mouth passionately.

"I am not dreading, I am only holding to my own principals.

"I am not yearning, it's just that there are too many good things in my memories, and I can't give them up!

"I don't need to tolerate these people from day to night, I have a lot of ways to make them understand what the consequences of confronting me are.

"As for the thing I am searching for, it's not just simple massacre!

"Killing might be a way to reach goals but its definitely not my final goal.

"I might feel a little relaxed or joyous, but compared to my final goal, that short-term joy is nothing.

"And, you! You may seem to be in joy, but can you really be honest with me and tell me you don't feel regret? Do you regret giving up your life, regret giving up on your friends, regret loving your loved ones, regret disappointing your loving parents? Do you?

"You dare to say there wasn't any good things in your life before?"

Kieran's loud questions formed a strange rhythm, and it was so captivating to anyone who heard it.

Word hypnosis?

Kieran also knew such a trick and from many aspects, Kieran was the true master!

Perhaps there were some who could escape his hypnosis but definitely not the Dark Eater before him.

The Dark Eater faltered backwards as Kieran questioned him, and even though the mask blocked his face, Kieran knew how ugly he appeared at that moment even without looking. Just listen to that heavy breathing, it was relentless like a broken windbox that was on the verge of breaking apart at any moment.

The Dark Eater also shook and stuttered, "I...I…"

"You still want to prove that you are right with your useless words?

"What are you trying to emphasize? What can it bring you?

"Nothing! All you get is the emptiness from lying to people, lying to yourself!

"Now look at me, and tell me your honest thoughts!"

Kieran interrupted the Dark Eater, and atop of the finger he hid under his sleeve, [Mesly Ring] swirled in a mysterious light that no one could see.