The Devil's Cage

"Who is that bastard?"

Hanses replied with a bitter smile.

"One of the ten Supernovas, their strength are only second to the Witch! The Black Hell Banning! A ruthless, selfish bastard that specializes in area of effect attacks!" Hanses elaborated.

"The ten Supernovas, only second to the Witch?"

It was the first time Kieran had heard of that title.

"Is he a killer player too?" he asked out of instinct and curiosity.

"Him? Maybe yes, maybe not! As long as you have the Points and Skill Points, he will do anything for you! You need to beware of getting backstabbed though!"

The bitterness in Hanses’ smile was getting denser. Sometimes he could be really moody. It wasn’t just Hanses though, Ramont and Raven were the same.

Kieran had noticed that all three of them had started acting weird as soon as Black Hell Banning’s name had been mentioned. They reminded him of panicked deer.

Only Lawless’ expression had not changed much. He looked very serious about the matter.

When Lawless noticed Kieran’s gaze, he grinned.

"Can you guys buy me ten seconds?" he said, pointing his finger at their surroundings. The formless souls had emerged again, despite being eliminated once.

Unlike their grand entrance the first time, this time they were popping out of the walls and the ground, making it harder for them to defend themselves against them.

"I’ll do my best!" Kieran said before launching a barrage of kicks and burning the formless souls to ashes.

It was not difficult for him to deal with the formless souls with the [Lightning Tiger’s Finger] and his [Flaming Iron Boots]. The hard part was that they were popping out through the walls and the ground.

Even with his Grand Master Level [Tracking], Kieran could only see them once they came out of the walls. He still did not have X-ray vision, so he could not see the formless souls behind obstacles.

Plus, the formless souls came in bulk, as if they could drown out Kieran like raging waves. Kieran still needed to cover Lawless while he fought them off, which was a stretch beyond his abilities. This was no reason for him to give up though.

Striking blue and burning red colors intertwined, lightning and flames blending together.

Kieran was spinning around Lawless, expelling all the formless souls around them.

Lawless placed his backpack down and took out a [Tekken-II].

He slowly caressed the rocket launcher’s surface, getting ready to attack.

A screech was heard and sparks spilled out from Lawless’ palm as he touched the rocket launcher.

After the screech, the dark green rocket launcher instantly turned red, as if it had been heated up with hot fire and was on the verge of melting.

Steam was emitted from the burning part of the rocket launcher.

A heavy howl was suddenly heard, like a battle horn signalling the beginning of a battle.

The formless souls answered the howl with a soundless roar and hurled themselves towards Lawless with even more force.

Suddenly, they surrounded Lawless from left, right, top and bottom. Everywhere he looked, there were dark shadows.

Kieran was like a sailboat in a dark sea raging with waves, struggling to steady himself and not flip over.

After some delay, Hanses and the others came back to their senses and got over the Black Hell Banning’s terrifying presence.

"GUYS!" Hanses shouted loudly.

Ramont appeared behind Lawless and wielded his flaming long sword quickly, forming a fiery barrier.

Hanses placed his shield in front of Lawless, the giant shield sparkling with lightning.

Raven did most of the heavy lifting though, taking out a scroll the size of a page. After a few simple incantations, the ground beneath Lawless and the walls beside him had a layer of sticky goo over them, which prevented the formless souls from coming through the structures.

Kieran was relieved when the three of them reinforced him with their unique abilities.

He gave them a thumbs-up as he kept expelling the countless formless souls, still sparing some of his attention to locate Black Hell Banning.

If Banning had summoned this many formless souls, his goal had to be to trap them there to buy some time for the black veil above them to make its attack.

Although Kieran had no idea what the black veil’s attack would be like, he had no intention of finding out.

Judging from experience though, if Banning was able to channel such a big AOE attack, he had to be nearby.

Where was he then?

Kieran used his spare attention and his [Tracking] to scan their surroundings thoroughly, not letting any clues slip by.

Although Lawless only wanted Kieran and the others to buy him 10 seconds, if Kieran could lend a hand in locating the culprit, he would not mind.

"Huh?"

As Kieran punched the formless soul before him, he saw a shadow different than the others.

That shadow was bigger than common formless souls, and it had a more solid structure.

It did not have the misty feel of the souls. It was more like a bottle of ink poured into a bucket of water.

While the other formless souls were floating around like flies, that shadow remained still. It had not moved much.

Although it was not eye-catching at first, as the formless souls thinned down, it became more obvious.

Kieran kept up his attacks as he slowly approached the shadow.

Meanwhile, Lawless’s [Tekken-II] had turned a burning red, the steam it emitted becoming even fiercer.

The blurry steam got thicker by the second and engulfed Lawless, his huge body turning blurry instantly. Only the hot red rocket launcher was visible through the steam.

As the rocket launcher moved, everyone could tell that Lawless was using a lot of power to carry it, although it was supposed to be light for him.

By the time Lawless finally moved the rocket launcher upwards and aimed it at the black veil, two seconds had passed.

Hanses, Raven and Ramont were looking at him, when suddenly...

BOOM!

There was a deafening explosion, and a blinding bright ball of energy was fired straight towards the black veil from the [Tekken-II]. It was like firing a mini sun.

The formless souls on the ground and in the air vaporized instantly.

When the energy ball came in contact with the black veil, an even bigger explosion was triggered.

The wind from the explosion turned into a mini typhoon, heading towards the ground. Kieran, Lawless and the others were blown off the ground when it struck.

Kieran had his eyes locked on the unusual shadow though.

It was very obvious now that all the other formless souls had vaporized.

When the shadow hurled itself towards Lawless, Kieran moved his hand and threw the [Deceiver’s Key], latching it onto Lawless’ body.

Kieran pulled hard, the sudden force dragging Lawless back and making him switch places with Kieran in mid-air.

As Kieran threw himself towards the shadow, his right hand charged with freezing air.

He launched his freezing punch, aiming directly at the shadow’s head.