The Devil's Cage

As the air-breaking noise was heard, a cold flash neared the back of his brain fast.

Kieran didn’t turn around like his instinct told him to. Instead, he stepped to the right.

He knew that if he turned around, his head would be pierced by the killer, who had been waiting to ambush him. Even with [Body of Evil], Kieran still wouldn’t be able to withstand such an attack.

The thin long blade chaffed Kieran’s hair a little, but missed its target. The heavy killing intent that filled the area sent chills down Kieran’s spine, making him shiver.

The terrifying feeling was caused solely by the dense killing intent.

The killer behind him was like a venomous snake hiding in the bushes, waiting for its prey. The moment it leapt out, it revealed its fangs and sprayed its venom.

The thin long blade switched direction, following the turn of the killer’s wrist and aiming for Kieran’s head once more. The killer seemed to be confident about terrorizing his opponent. He did his best as he struck again, his thin long sword producing a powerful wind and a whistling sound.

When Kieran bent his body and lowered his head to dodge the attack, the killer was shocked.

Kieran’s right foot turned outwards as he span his body away from the killer, the [Jagdtiger-X1] appearing in his hand.

By the time Kieran stopped spinning, he had turned around. He was now facing the killer as the sniper aimed at his head.

Bang!

Kieran pulled the trigger without a second’s delay, blood and brains splattering around him.

An Honor Kill notification popped up in his vision, but before he could pay any attention to it, he sensed even more danger. He quickly tip-toed backwards.

As he left his spot, the concrete floor was blasted by a powerful impact, a bullet hole appearing on it.

There was a sniper! And he was not alone!

Bang! Bang!

As two more shots were fired, Kieran was forced to change direction once again. The abrupt, continuous twist of his body caused his ankle to give out with a cracking noise.

The stinging sensation that followed made Kieran realize that, unless he wanted to be crippled during the rest of the fight, he had to come up with a solution. Although his ankle was not weak, he couldn’t keep twisting his joints like this.

Kieran suddenly dashed towards the empty fountain.

The fountain, which was made of concrete and bricks, was not a good cover, but Kieran had no other choice at the moment. He was planning on activating [Primus Scale] to defend himself against the attack of the third sniper.

However, something strange happened as Kieran was dashing towards the fountain. One of the three snipers that were taking turns shooting made an odd pause, disrupting the rhythmic shots.

Even though snipers soon resumed firing, this pause was enough for doubts to form in Kieran’s mind.

When Kieran was less than five meters away from the fountain, he acted like he wanted to leap into it, and then backed off abruptly.

BOOM!

A big explosion shook the fountain. The powerful shockwave blasted Kieran from behind, pushing him against the ground. Kieran managed to escape the explosion without injuring himself any further. On the contrary, the dust that was blasted in the air created a natural cover for him.

Kieran quickly rolled away from his current spot and looked in the direction of the sniper that had paused.

Based on the shooting skills at least at Master rank and the connected traps, Kieran was sure that the person had paused on purpose! Which meant that the sniper had given him a warning!

But why would he do that?

Kieran had no idea, but when he saw a dozen humans gathering around him and the six-storey building entrance, he chose to attack before they could.

A loud, beastly roar shook the ground with a mighty aura.

Kieran dashed out of the dust cloud and crashed into the small crowd.

BANG!

A killer player was trampled to bits, followed by a second and a third one.

Kieran dashed into the building, leaving a bloody trail behind him. He didn’t forget to throw a couple of grenades at the killer players.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of explosions devoured the killer players as more Honor Kill notifications popped up.

Kieran didn’t even have the time to catch his breath though. Suddenly, an arrow was fired down at him.

Kieran put the box containing [Arrogant Word] over his head, using it as a shield, but the powerful force of the arrow tore the box apart upon the impact. The metal arrow landed on the blade body of [Arrogant Word], its force as strong as ever.

The arrow clashed with the dark red greatsword, producing a clear clunking noise.

It broke into pieces upon the impact, but the dark red greatsword did not even suffer a scratch.

Kieran held the sword up and tilted his head in the direction the arrow had come from.

A man with a strange body was holding a longbow and staring down at him.

The reason he looked strange was because he had a very thin physique. If his arms were not so buff, he would have been considered scrawny.

Kieran thought that he looked like a 12 year-old boy with the arms of a bodybuilder.

However, it was the six-storey building that concerned Kieran the most. Even though he knew that the building was odd, he was still shocked when he entered it and saw its interior.

The second and third floor ceilings had been scrapped completely, fusing the first and the fourth floor into one. Between the floors and the breaches were chains that intertwined around the entire space.

The man with the bow was standing on one of the chains.

"Lucky you!" the bowman said in a mocking tone. Then he pulled his bow into a full-moon shape, loading another arrow. He didn’t fire yet though.

"See the stairs above my head? That’s the entrance to the fifth floor. Tiger… Uh, I mean Lawless, is being tortured by our boss on the sixth floor! I suggest you hurry up, or he will be the second man to be thrown off the building!" the bowman said slowly.

His words were like knives stabbing Kieran relentlessly, but Kieran was not as infuriated as he had anticipated.

"You are the cold, merciless type, huh? Why don’t you try to imagine how Lawless is feeling right now? Or are you just going to give up?" The bowman kept talking, but Kieran was ignoring him, as if he couldn’t hear what the man was saying.

His attention was not focused on the bowman.

After going through a series of ambushes that he could barely guard himself against, Kieran was smarter than this. When he calmed down, he realized the killer players were moving in certain patterns.

Everything they had done, no matter how dangerous, had been a bait. The true danger was lurking in the darkness.

From the moment Lawless had disappeared, the killer players had adopted a specific formation. Whenever one of them revealed himself to Kieran, another group would strike from the dark.

The killer player that had ambushed Kieran from behind and the other three snipers had been the first line of offense.

Whenever the snipers stepped into the light, the fountain, which was rigged with explosives, would act as the darkness.

The killer players took on that dark role, waiting for Kieran to fall into their trap.

Even though their rhythmic formation had been messed up and rendered useless by one of the snipers, the light and dark side of the killers had still left traces that one could follow.

If the bowman before Kieran stepped into the light and revealed himself, he would work in formation with another killer player in the dark.

"So where the hell is the one hiding in the dark?" Kieran thought, squinting hard.

...

Standing by a dark corner of the square, the Broker clapped his hands lightly when he saw Kieran dash into the building.

"Not bad, not bad! Better than I expected!" he praised.

Then he leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms and humming a strange melody as he waited for another one of his collaborators.

His wait ended when a slender figure approached him.

"I’ve done what you requested, so it's time you keep your promise and tell me where that thing is!" a woman’s voice said.

"Of course!" the Broker answered with a nod. "I always keep my promises. Even if the deal doesn’t go well, I do my best to compensa-"

"YOU LIED TO ME?" the woman interrupted him angrily, throwing herself at him like a jaguar.

The Broker didn’t move as a dagger was placed against his throat.

"No! Of course not! My dear Lady Nightingale... I said ‘even if’. Do you understand? In other words, although the deal did experience some small problems, I solved them all!"

The Broker raised his hand up as he spoke hurriedly.

"You better be telling the truth!" Nightingale said in a threatening tone.

"I am always honest when conducting business!" the Broker said.

Then he revealed the information Nightingale wanted through PM.

Nightingale left in a hurry after getting the message. The Broker grinned as he watched her go.

He hadn’t just given her the information she had wanted, but quite a lot more!

Every person the Broker had contacted shared the same position as Kieran, Lawless and Nightingale. Every single one of them was his collaborator.

When the Broker saw the doubtful, angry replies in his PMs, he became even happier.

"Everything is progressing smoothly…" he muttered to himself.

Translator's Thoughts

Dess Dess

The mastermind Broker has made his move.