The Devil's Cage

The window had a wooden frame and glass embedded on it, and the sunlight shined through the transparent glass, shedding light inside.

The warm sunlight expelled the cold and darkness all around it. Countless formless souls were swarming the third floor, but none of them went near the staircase window. It was like their nemesis was hiding there.

There was nothing there but sunlight. Sunlight! They were afraid of sunlight. Kieran realized it in an instant, and after rolling to dodge their attack, he used both his hands and legs to jump towards the window.

The formless souls tangling with Kieran had noticed his intention and they let out a screech, flying towards him once again.

This time, the formless souls threw themselves at him faster. Kieran was only two meters away from the window when the souls caught up with him. Not waiting for Kieran to roll away again, they appeared before him one after the other from beneath the floor.

They could pass through walls? Kieran was shocked as he realized the danger he was in.

The souls in front of him were blocking his way while he was being pursued by a bigger group of souls from behind. Their formation had put him into a tight spot.

What could he do? Kieran looked front and back, but he was surrounded by countless formless souls from both sides.

Without any more time to think, he clenched his teeth and dashed forward with all his strength. He had nowhere else to go after all.

No matter which way he headed, there were souls blocking his path. However, in front of him there was still a thin ray of hope. It was the area where the sunlight was shining.

Like a cheetah ready to run, Kieran’s leg muscles tightened up as he leapt forward.

He turned into a blurry shadow as he rushed towards the sunlight.

His left wrist shined at the part where he was wearing the black leather gauntlet, and a formless barrier covered Kieran’s body.

It was [Primus Scale], the skill he had acquired from the legendary equipment [Primus Arm]. It was the first time Kieran had activated it, and it did not disappoint him.

The formless souls that blocked Kieran's way were not formless anymore. Through his [Tracking] vision, he could see the souls get suppressed by the barrier created by [Primus Scale], their advancement toward him being prevented.

Although Kieran could not feel himself pushing the countless souls, there was still nothing else in sight. His eyes told him that the space before him was not empty, but the formless souls were so light in weight that they could hardly be felt.

Still, this had opened up a small window, allowing Kieran to quickly reach his destination. Within one breath, he was standing inside the sunny area.

The continuous screech of agony of the souls lingered in Kieran’s ears.

Every single one of the souls he pushed into the sunlight was engulfed in black smoke before turning into ashes. The ones pursuing Kieran stopped right in front of that area and lingered around its edges. They did not dare cross that minefield.

Kieran let out a breath of relief, but he did not let his guard down.

He shrunk in the area where the sunlight was shining, but he kept an eye on the floor. The memory of the formless souls appearing through the floor was still fresh. He was worried that they would appear again and attack him. After all, the sunlight could not shine through the concrete floor. When his body interlock with the sunlight, a shadow formed beneath him. That shadow could cause the temporarily stable situation to fall apart once again.

Luckily, that did not happen. Maybe the souls had a low intelligence, or they were afraid of sunlight itself, because they kept wandering around the edges of the light.

While Kieran was watching the floor for any potential attacks and recovering his stamina, he got an extra reward.

He noticed a small, sparkly, unusually eye-catching reflection under the sunlight. Among the pile of the souls' ashes, he found a fingernail-sized pale blue crystal.

[Name: Soul Shard]

[Type: Jewel]

[Rarity: Great]

[Attributes: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remarks: A crystallized shard of a weak soul is a crucial item for enchanting. Of course you will need an enchantment platform, too!]

...

"Enchantment material?"

Kieran looked at the attribute-less shard that had a different, special use. Based on his own experience, these kind of items were worth a fortune.

"Then…"

Kieran quickly scanned through the equipment skill [Primus Scale]. There was only a second and a half left in its activation time.

As a matter of fact, [Primus Scale]'s total usage time was only three seconds, and it could only be used twice a day. Kieran would not have used it if it had not been a life-and-death situation.

He looked at the sunlight beneath his leg again, clenched his right fist hard, and followed the lines of the lightning sparks on it.

Suddenly, Kieran stepped out of the sunlight again. It was exactly how he had told Jack. He preferred to earn money his own way. That was his way of life.

Trails of shadows formed by his barrage of punches, followed by a blueish white lightning that looked like real lightning. The formless souls were abolished one after the other, turning into ashes.

Even more of them had lost their formless advantage because of the [Primus Scale] skill of the gauntlet. They were torn apart by Kieran and pushed towards the sunlight.

The souls kept screeching in agony, their eerie voices as scary as the screams of an evil spirit. Kieran did not care at all, though. He just concentrated on fighting them.

When the [Primus Scale]’s activation time was up, Kieran just relied on his punches to kill them.

As his stamina depleted, he shrunk back into the sunny area to recover.

When his stamina was fully replenished, he went out again to fight the formless souls.

He repeated the same actions at least a dozen times, until the third floor was completely free of souls.

He had also received an additional three pieces of [Soul Shard]s as a reward.

As he watched the third floor go back to normal, Kieran stepped back into the light, fell on his bum, and sat down in exhaustion.

Although he had been able to recover his stamina sufficiently, he was still mentally tired.

The battle with the formless souls had been tough, and despite the shelter of the sunny area, he'd still had to be on high alert. Every second that he'd been fighting the formless souls he had been on high-concentration mode. He knew perfectly well what would happen to him if he was even the slightest bit careless.

Despite his high concentration though, he had still suffered some scratches. However, unlike Jack, Kieran had been extremely lucky.

The serial killer was already out cold and robbed of any signs of life. His body was stiff as it lay down on the stairs.

The formless souls only appeared before and targeted people who exhibited signs of life.

Kieran felt no sympathy for Jack. He deserved none after what he had done.

Several innocent guards in the infirmary had also died.

Kieran let out a long breath and felt his mental fatigue fade away. He stood up and looked towards the infirmary. He shook his head in regret. It was not that he did not want to save those guards. He just did not have enough power to save any more people.

Kieran had never dreamed of becoming the sort of hero people sang songs about. It was lucky that that was not his life goal.

After a few seconds, he turned away and looked down the stairs. He was not sure whether there were still formless souls wandering around the building, so he quickly decided to leave the area.

He jumped out of the window.

Three floors were a piece of cake for Kieran, whether he wanted to climb up or jump down from them.

The window and water pipes acted as Kieran’s stepping platform as he climbed down like a monkey and landed on the ground with ease.

He quickly spotted Lawless and Starbeck. Lawless was munching on a newly lit cigar while Starbeck was standing behind him looking white as paper. He was looking at the building in fear and alertness.

Beside them were the Warden, the doctor and a couple of guards.

"Dead! All of them! All dead! What happened? Tell me what happened!" the Warden shouted in shock.

"Jack was Old Tom’s accomplice!" Kieran said as he walked over to the Warden.

"What?" The Warden raised his head and looked at Kieran in shock.

Kieran had no intention of starting a conversation with him.

[Sub Mission: Hidden Accomplices (Completed)]

The notifications in his vision were the reason Kieran had to stay away from the Warden. If Kieran was not sure that the Warden was related to the Main Mission, he would have killed him too.

"How was it?" Lawless asked as he walked over.

"Not good. Things went south, I started…"

Kieran told Lawless a summary of what had happened, putting particular emphasis on the magic circle in Gilfren Hatch’s cell.

Then Kieran pointed to the Warden and the doctor, and asked, "What happened to them?"

"They were there suppressing the riot, but they did not take my advice and rushed directly inside. They bumped into a formless soul army and got surrounded. I could only save a couple of them, the rest..."

Lawless shrugged. His gesture was self-explanatory.

Even Kieran had had a hard time facing the formless souls, let alone normal prison guards. They would definitely not have been able to make it out alive.

"What a fellow that Gilfren Hatch was! He really used his own life as a trigger to start that magic circle!" Lawless said, his tone both admiring and mocking.

"You know about the magic circle?"

Although Kieran might have guessed that Lawless could know something about the circle, he was still in awe when Lawless himself confirmed it.

"I have cleared seven dungeons, mate. What's so strange about me recognizing a Grand Demonic Heptagram?" Lawless said proudly.

"Grand Demonic Heptagram? What's that?" Kieran asked, pressing the matter.

"Haven’t you seen it? With enough blood and flesh, it can summon dead souls and make them your slaves! All the dead within a certain radius will be controlled by whoever creates the magic circle! The magic circle that Gilfren Hatch created was covering the whole Alcatraz Prison!"

Lawless pointed at the main building of Alcatraz.

Under the sunlight, the building seemed to be emitting an endless cold aura that frightened Starbeck even more.

"So all we have to do is destroy that Grand Demonic Heptagram and it will all be over?" Kieran asked.

"Of course! If it was night, there might be some trouble, but now the sun is shining down on us. This Main Mission was too easy. I’ll show you what a Dragon Killer can do!" Lawless laughed.

A pair of sunglasses appeared on Lawless’s face. When he put them on, he could easily locate Gilfren Hatch's cell.

Lawless set the [Tekken-II] on his shoulder, aiming the rocket launcher at the outer wall of the cell.

The rocket launched directly towards the cell's wall.

BOOM!

The flash and the explosion created a huge hole in the building.

As the sun shined inside it, a shadowy figure appeared amidst the debris.

As the figure revealed its face, Lawless and Kieran were left speechless.

Translator's Thoughts

Dess Dess

The heptagram is not for exorcism i suppose...