The Devil's Cage

Kieran wasn't loud yet his voice echoed all over the quiet battlefield like thunder.

His rampant and chaotic sulfur aura blasted the whole battlefield as well.

The horrified men gazed at the charred land that Kieran was pointing, as though the land cracked and a blazing devil climbed out from hell, roaring furiously at the sky.

"It's him! It's him!"

"He's back!"

Scattered cries sounded from the Prairies main camp. The cries sounded like a ripple spread out when a pebble was thrown into a peaceful lake, louder and louder as seconds passed.

Each of the tribal leaders had to stand out, yelling out loud to stop their men from falling apart and orders after orders were sent into the deepest part of their main camp.

All they wanted was to get rid of their dissidents and obtain more wealth, not to stake their lives on the line.

A few more seconds later, the main camp of the Prairies started to back away and retreated almost a thousand meters.

"They are retreating! Retreating! The Prairies soldiers are retreating!"

Cheerful cries sounded on the fortress walls as delighted expression filled the soldiers' face. Yet the cheerful atmosphere didn't affect Kieran at all, he knew the Prairies soldiers retreated not because they were bending down before him.

They retreated back to a better hiding point to avoid Creature of Desire's attack and prepare for their next wave of attack.

The riders' assault was just to test the waters, to test the soldiers of Warren and also Kiera, the unknown variable.

The next battle will be the beginning of the real war.

Besides that, Kieran was certain that when he summoned Creature of Desire within [Thousand Evil Eye Strike] firing range, his SS+ Intuition felt that he was locked on to and when he released the devil aura, a couple of hidden rampant and cold presences appeared.

Although it was just a flash, the presences being able to show themselves even under the devil aura was enough for Kieran to take note.

"The stronger ones of the Prairies soldiers?" Kieran muttered.

Similar to the saying of qualitative changes incite quantitative changes, Kieran could not deny when the whole nation gathered together, there must be some peculiar individuals among them.

Once the cardinal number reached a certain point, the numbers of the stronger ones would be more than one could imagine.

Of course according to the underground game rules, the higher the dungeon entry number, the higher the possibility the player would run into one of those strong ones. Sometimes it might even go above the cardinal number because of the dungeon world arrangements.

As for the situation at hand, it was both cases. In other words, things would be more difficult to deal with from there onwards.

Kieran went back to Mary and James VIII's tent.

This time around when Kieran was walking across the soldiers, the soldiers still feared him but their eyes had another layer of reverence and they even saluted him.

Anyone that forced a retreat from an army of fifty thousand men should be treated with utmost respect.

Mary was standing outside the tent, he blue eyes didn't even bother to conceal her delight.

Unlike from the soldiers around who were delighted because of the minor victory and being alive, Mary's delight was because of Kieran's safe return.

"He's asleep, let's go over to my tent!"

Mary continued to address her father in the third person. She then held Kieran's hand and went into the tent beside. She wasn't shy or hesitant at all and it felt more natural and familiar to the little girl.

...

Mary's tent was smaller than the king's by a little.

In fact, even the king's tent wasn't big by any means, after the mattress that he was resting on, there was only enough space for another table.

It was natural that Mary's tent only had a mattress in it.

Kieren declined to sit with her on the mattress but Mary wasn't mad at all. She stared at Kieran who was standing at the exit and said, "After this round of testing the waters, the Prairies soldiers would cease battle for a few days. Hopefully, our reinforcements will reach and seize the initiative."

Although Mary wasn't an adult, she could see the reasons for the Prairies soldiers appearing before her land. In fact, because of her mother's teaching, the girl could see even more than common men.

Though it was incomparable to the reinforcements that she mentioned.

The kingdom of Warren didn't consist of the capital Riverdale and a Lightning Fortress only.There were wider lands at the south of Riverdale and so did the north.

The said reinforcements were the lords of the lands from the south and north together.

The girl's heart has an extra anticipation since Kieran was able to buy time for her but she wasn't blinded by the temporary breathing window.

"Three days ago, the reinforcement request letter had been sent out to the lords of the north and south from Will Prefecture and Zilin Prefecture. If everything proceeded as planned, we should get replies in one or two days, but now… The old duke from Will Prefecture has always been a supporter of my aunt, it's hard for him to send reinforcements here. On the other hand, even if Zilin Prefecture's reinforcement arrived, they would have to deal with the Prairies troops that were blocking the outer circle. It would be difficult for them to directly aid us as well."

The girl frowned as her words sounded helpless.

"Well, at least it's better than nothing right? Besides, I think you should write a letter to that old duke, tell him that if he doesn't send his troops, you will abandon Lightning Fortress and allow the Prairies soldiers to pass through, thus potentially ravaging his noble lands," Kieran said slowly.

The girl was stunned, regardless of how mature she was, her heart was kind. She never thought of using such tactics to force the old duke to send reinforcements but Kieran was different.

All he cared about was his main mission, which was to prevent the fall of Riverdale, Warren's capital.

He didn't have the time nor the effort to care about anything else.

"But...But…" Mary wanted to refute.

"It's just a tactic to force him to comply. As long as that old duke isn't really stupid, he will know what to do. Did he really think that after losing Lightning Fortress and Riverdale involved, the south could stay peaceful? Or the Prairies soldiers will show him mercy when they ravage the south?"

Kieran comforted the girl.

His words were truth thus Mary nodded.

"Shall I send Bosco then?" Mary asked Kieran for advice.

"Of course!" Kieran didn't object because it was his candidate as well.

Suddenly, Kieran hugged Mary without a sign.

The girl blushed heavily after she was stunned. She wanted to say something but before her words could form, an irritating air-breaking interrupted her.

A long sword was stabbed into the tent and sliced her mattress.

The powerful longsword that should have plunged deep into the ground rebounded and jumped towards Mary in Kieran's arms like a snake with sharp hiss.