The Devil's Cage

“What? This is also a key?”

Kieran didn’t show [Lionheart] when he felt Wu’s gaze, but he asked her nonetheless.

“Yes. It is one of the keys, especially for you. It is related to whether or not you can turn around death.” Wu nodded.

“Death, eh?” Kieran muttered softly to himself, his face showing no fear of the term.

He had been through a lot of life and death moments.

These experiences didn’t grant him the ability to ignore the fear of death, but from a certain aspect, he had grown quite used to it.

Habits were scary for everybody.

It could change a lazy person to a hardworking one; it could also change a hardworking person to a lazy one. Of course, it would also empower the weak to become stronger.

Habits are always changing in a person, quietly and subtly.

Kieran? He was no exception to that.

“You say it is one of the keys, then… what else?” Kieran asked.

“The other… is you and me!”

Wu pointed at Kieran and herself.

Kieran jolted, then shrugged and laughed. Just like how he was used to fighting battles alone, he had also built a habit of trusting his own habits in battle.

As for others?

He might trust them, but not Wu at the moment.

Without further explanation or words, the laughs alone allowed Wu to know what Kieran was thinking. She didn’t explain any further.

Wu wasn’t an idiot; the more she came in contact with Kieran, the more she grasped of his personality.

She knew what she should say at particular times and when she should stay quiet.

“Thank you for your help. It’s been great working with you. I hope we can work again sometime in the future.”

Wu slowly floated up as she spoke. As her words subsided, she left.

Kieran watched her fly off from the ceiling hole where she first came in.

The special traits of a Title Dungeon gave Kieran a lot more time. After Wu’s primary mission was completed, he didn’t mind doing more things that were related to himself.

After all, time was a luxury that he could barely seize, whether it was in the big city or the dungeons.

As for Bloody Mary?

Kieran believed the High Demon would do a good job.

Meanwhile, in Central Graveyard, where Bloody Mary was surrounded by a large group of people, it maintained a smile while looking at the non-stop blinking sirens further away. Feeling that its contractor had left, its smile still hung on its face, but its heart cursed ‘F*ck’ a myriad of times.

“Am I some lifting jack or what? When you want to use me, you push me in front to hold the situation, and when you don’t have use of me, you just throw me aside to let me die?”

Bloody Mary desperately wanted to question its contractor about what kind of position it had in his heart.

Kieran, of course, heard Bloody Mary’s voice, but he didn’t care though.

Kieran was too lazy to care. In his perspective, the High Demon should know by now. Moreover, compared to Bloody Mary’s endless muttering, Kieran was more concerned about the changes in his body.

The most profound Origin Force in Devil Force couldn’t be utilized at the moment, but it didn’t mean his body hadn’t undergone any changes.

After the scene back then with the sentient cone, his body had already changed drastically. The most obvious was [Transform Devil], which was tagged by the system.

It leveled up from rank II to rank III!

The transformation time increased from two minutes to three minutes, all additional skills and attributes having had obvious changes as well.

[All attributes +5]

[Acquired Devil Lord Constitution III (High Devil Armor III, defense automatically set above Extreme; able to mitigate 35% of energy damage); Acquired High Devil Body III, extra +3 Strength; Every attack is added with Extreme rank burn damage and has a certain percentage to trigger Fire Splash within a 5-meter radius; Fire Splash’s damage is ranked at Powerful. When receiving damage, the attacker will suffer above Extreme rank burn damage from rebounding; Secondary Elemental Damage Resist +3, HP +2000, Stamina +2000]

[Acquired Flame Blast III: By flapping your flame wings, form a 135°, 50-meter blast range before you. Rank I flames, a rank I blast wave, 3 times per transformation]

[Acquired Beheader Flaming Sword III: Summon greatsword of flames, Extreme rank fire damage and rank I sharpness, 3-minute duration, 1 time per transformation]

[Acquired Blaspheme Whisper III: Any target you kill will temporarily resurrect and fight for you, 3-minute duration, 1 time per transformation]

[Acquired Sulphuric Scorch III: Any targets burnt by your attack will undergo a -1 Constitution authentication to yours. If failed, target will suffer an extra 300 poison damage per second, 10 second duration]

[Acquired Light of Fear III: Any living target that sees you will have to undergo an authentication no lower than A- rank Spirit. If failed, induce Fear debuff]

[Devil Libra II: The density of the bloodline awoke a part of the gifts of the Devil Lord inside you. You can choose any stats at will and add them onto other stats with a 1:1.8 ratio. Added stats should not be lower than D rank and can not exceed the limit of Spirit level +3. Duration 3 minutes, 1 per transformation.]

…

Kieran carefully read through the new attributes of [Transform Devil].

“If I can utilize the Origin Force of the Devil, I can surely further enhance [Transform Devil] and make it my ace again.”

Kieran was quite attached to this special skill, [Transform Devil].

He would not forget that when he first entered the big city, he had relied on this skill to overcome many hurdles, but as his strength grew, this active offensive skill slowly became a supportive one.

Rather than the skills attached to it, he was more concerned about the attributes and stats increasement of this skill.

It was a certain path through the road of growth; if he could take it back, he would not hesitate.

Only Kieran could understand [Transform Devil]’s true power, as he was the one and only Fiery Devil.

He thought back to the black wilderness that he had ‘seen’.

He felt the aura that the figure brought him.

Kieran unconsciously put his hand on his left chest, over his heart.

He felt the special heart beating vigorously, quietly feeling the powers contained inside.

Unfortunately, the Origin Force didn’t react.

But Kieran didn’t give up.

“We still have quite a long time to tune ourselves together. Let’s take it slow, no rush,” he muttered to himself.

He then felt Dawn, Plague, the Cardinal Sins, and the Saint Thorns.

As the Devil Force strengthened, the other four Origin Forces changed gradually as well.

Dawn and Plague became even more lively, operating in his body quicker than ever as they eased the rampant Devil Force.

The Cardinal Sins Force became even harder to detect, like some hidden assassin that would stab Devil Force from time to time.

The most obvious was the Saint Thorn Force.

It stood its position firmly. Whenever Devil Force went slightly out of control, resisting in the fiercest manner, Saint Thorns Force would disregard all consequences and rather perish together with Devil Force than compromise.

With the four Origin Forces clamping Devil Force down, the rampant Devil Force didn’t cause further trouble for Kieran, but that didn’t mean he was relieved.

“Balance, balance,” Kieran muttered with a frown.

After setting his initial plans, Kieran turned his attention to the new [Wilco’s Redemption] and [Seattle Right Hand].