The Devil's Cage

The black figure stood tall in the room, the hole above his head allowing the night breeze to pour in.

His hair waved and his sleeves fluttered, but his eyes were as cold as ice.

He spun the knife in his left hand around his finger tips, and a perfect circular motion later, the tip was pointed at those souls, translucent yet similar to the dead spirits.

His provocative movement seemed to have angered the unusual souls with the hostile gaze.

Grrrr!

Amid the heavy growls, the translucent souls jumped at Kieran frenziedly.

"Careful!" Li Jiajia cried in shock, but what she saw next made her cover her mouth.

The sea of translucent souls failed to drown the black figure, the black figure instead jumping at the souls and cutting them apart swiftly.

The black figure was like the sharp knife in his hand, sending chills down one's spine.

He moved like a shadow, leaving a keen glare in his wake.

The wind blew and carried away the dusted bodies.

Stab, slash, chop.

All were simple techniques but they looked remarkable in Kieran's hands.

His left hand wielded the sharp knife, his right hand wielded the longsword.

Each attack he made took away one translucent soul.

He went on a rampage back and forth from right to left. It was as easy and natural as breathing or drinking for Kieran.

Li Jiajia watched the scene in a daze.

She didn't know whether it was her own thoughts, she found out that this black figure seemed to be getting more and more relaxed as the battle went on, and at the same time, an unknown presence started to appear in the room.

The presence was leading her to a place that she yearned for, as if she could achieve tranquility when she arrived there.

Out of control, Li Jiajia's translucent body started to float away, but when she left the ground, a tremendous suction force appeared.

The suction force appeared very suddenly and caught her off guard, causing her to grow dizzy.

When she regained her senses, she suddenly realized she was back in the school corridor again. The security guard was nowhere to be found and there weren't any injuries on her body.

"Just now… was that an illusion?"

Li Jiajia was shocked, but then she heard a commotion from underground.

"No! It wasn't an illusion! That black figure…"

Li Jiajia subconsciously stood up, but when she did, she felt dizzy again.

Bam!

She fell back on the floor, unconscious.

Experiencing the uncommon and supernatural meant she had to bear the following consequences.

Her soul was extracted from her body, so things must have changed.

Was it a blessing or misfortune?

Who knew.

…

Pak!

Another translucent soul was stabbed by the knife, disintegrating into dust.

The faint 'faraway' energy appeared in the ruins.

Compared to normal dead spirits, these translucent ones weren't exactly the same. The 'faraway' energy was supposed to be weaker than usual but to Kieran's surprise, it was much higher.

The 'cost' these translucent souls provided was naturally a lot higher than common dead spirits. In addition to that, there were many translucent souls in the room. A single glance saw a sea of them and had no sign of decreasing, despite Kieran having killed many already.

When the quality and quantity were far better than the usual, Kieran's attributes welcomed another round of breakthrough.

His Spirit remained at B+, while his Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Intuition had all reached B- rank.

All these had surpassed Kieran's expectations, just like this sharp knife he had picked up.

[Name: Acard Knife (Fragmented)]

[Type: Weapon]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Attack: Powerful]

[Attribute: 1. Soul Hunt; 2. Fear; 3. Absorb]

[Effect: Consume Soul]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: No]

[Remark: This is one of the fragments of Acard Knife. Although it is fully utilized, it is just a fragment, but its fearsome traits should not be looked down upon.]

…

[Soul Hunt: When Acard Knife attacks any being with soul, inflict extra +1 damage to the soul.]

[Fear: When posing an offensive stance against soul or formless beings, the target is forced to undergo a Spirit authentication no lower than C. Failed and target will be induced with Fear debuff for 1 second.]

[Absorb: When Acard Knife inflicts damage on the soul, it will absorb the soul energy and replenish itself and also recover the wielder's Stamina.]

…

[Consume Soul: Acard Knife has a special requirement of its wielder, even though it is just a fragment, the wielder must have Spirit B- or above to wield it properly, otherwise the wielder will be bewitched by the knife.]

…

A Legendary item, which was a fragment of another item.

Kieran could only imagine how high its rank would be if it was a complete item. It must be at least rank IV, or even rank V!

However, Kieran had no intention to repair it.

It was restricted from being brought outside the dungeon world, so it had sealed its fate as a temporary weapon for Kieran, similar to [Sharp Standard-Issued Blade] and [Gordor's Chain], but much stronger.

Its Powerful attack rank with [Fear] and [Absorb] allowed Kieran to enter an unrivaled state in front of these witchcraft puppets.

A mere second of Fear debuff was enough for Kieran to inflict multiple fatal hits and [Absorb] allowed Kieran to stay at his peak after some time in battle.

These witchcraft puppets were like tofu being sliced and diced under [Acard Knife (Fragmented)]'s fury, unable to defend themselves or retaliate.

They couldn't even react properly to Kieran's stabs and cuts. Kieran was tireless in reaping the souls, and soon enough, the witchcraft puppets were slaughtered completely.

As more and more faint, yet pure, 'faraway' energy appeared, the Origin Forces in Kieran's body became more livelier than ever, but it stopped breaking through the attribute seals.

After all his attributes reached B rank, the energy required skyrocketed, and Kieran wasn't displeased by it. Quite the contrary, he was quite satisfied with the results at hand.

B+ Spirit and B- other attributes would be enough for him to deal with most of the problems at hand.

Of course, Kieran would never give up the chances to continue breaking through the seals.

Therefore, he spent another 10 minutes searching the underground room. He jumped back to the surface with a sigh after his search was fruitless.

The entrance to this underground room wasn't within the school campus, it was in a residential house near the school. It was the reason why Bain and the other Herders did not find it in the first place.

Another thing was, Ed Wong didn't disappear in this place.

Bloody Mary had searched and investigated the place thoroughly.

With Bloody Mary's mapping and the clues Kieran had found earlier, this underground room was the place where that hooded woman had succumbed to the bewitchment of [Acard Knife].

Kieran also knew that Ed Wong might have been in this room but he left in the end, otherwise Ed Wong would have ended up as one of the translucent souls.

The woman might be crazy but she wouldn't just give up on such nice material, like that female student.

Kieran didn't want to comment on the female student's action. Maybe she had her own reasons for doing this, maybe she was just looking for excitement, but none of that had anything to do with him.

He didn't even wake her up when he saw her fall unconscious.

Since she had chosen this path, she would have to endure the bramble on the path and the difficulties that blocked her way, not just enjoying the glory and smooth ride.

Unless someone before her paved the path for her, she would have to learn to give first before taking.

Kieran walked out from the main door and spotted the terrified Bain and the other Herders outside at first glance. The other Herders looked worse compared to Bain, because they had never truly seen Kieran.

They only knew about Kieran from Ed Wong's report, describing him as the son of an old friend in the mountains and Ed Wong had entrusted to take care of him before this old friend had died.

This son of an old friend learned many skills in the mountains, skills that average people could only dream of, and because he grew up in the mountains, he had some weird habits with him.

Everything in the report, other than learning skills in the mountains and some theory about Kieran eating some special things in the mountains, hence strengthening his body a little, was nothing special that caught the Herder's attention.

As Herders, they had seen too many strange things, but…

Was Kieran only strengthened a 'little'?

The lingering energy from the room told them that there were at least 20 dead spirits exorcised in a short period of time.

The speed was something none of them could rival.

As for his skills?

They saw it with their own eyes, as if Kieran was tempered through countless battles, each strike clean and fatal, and that beastial instinct that seeked out his prey… he was a lethal weapon!

None of the Herders at the scene dared to step into Kieran's crosshair. His speed, his technique, his instinct, and his informal attacking methods, it made the Herders' heads numb. They wouldn't want to be burned and smashed by a gas tank.

'Damn it Ed Wong! He must have taken us as some clowns!'

All the Herders shared the same thought in their mind spontaneously. Then, they looked at Bain because only Bain had contact with Kieran before.

Their gazes ushered Bain to approach Kieran once more and he too stepped up.

Ahem!

"Did you locate Ed Wong?"

After clearing his throat, Bain asked in a pretended seriousness for he remembered the words he said before. From how Bain saw it, Kieran must have charged into the secret room for Ed Wong.

"No, he isn't here. There are traces of witchcraft here but that woman has gone mad. Other than endless massacre, there's nothing in her mind. The reason why you guys located the traces of witchcraft is because the woman didn't hide it at all," Kieran shook his head.

"Massacre? The female student and the recently missing people?" Bain said in surprise.

"Not recently, I saw some wearing old-fashioned clothes in the sea of witchcraft puppets, probably from a decade ago," Kieran corrected Bain.

"Witchcraft puppets?! How many?" Bain cried in shock and then looked at Kieran with widened eyes, his mouth shivering.

Witchcraft puppets was shocking enough but the number that Kieran encountered would be sufficient to stop a heart from beating.

The other Herders came closer and surrounded Kieran, looking at him with a dull gaze.

"At least a hundred, probably more than that. I don't really count how many souls I kill during battle," Kieran said while he walked outside.

He has been gone long enough.

Although Bloody Mary was with Starbeck, Bloody Mary's current power level was only enough against a common man. Should any trouble arrive, it would be cumbersome.

Therefore, even though Bloody Mary didn't send any alarm, Kieran ought to return swiftly.

Astonished, Bain stepped aside, opening a way for Kieran, the other Herders not stopping him. They were also astonished by the numbers.

At first, they had deduced that Kieran must have encountered many dead spirits in this place based on the intensity of the 'faraway energy', but who knew it was witchcraft puppets! And a hundred of them!

Sending Kieran off into the darkness, a Herder suddenly laughed bitterly, "Is this considered as rival a hundred?"

"Of course! Not just a common hundred, he just took out hundreds of powerful witchcraft puppets that are much stronger than common dead spirits!" another Herder replied.

"Is that even possible?"

Suddenly, the quiet Bain asked.

It was not that Bain didn't trust Kieran, it was just that the numbers were too shocking, too unbelievable!

"Let's go have a look!"

The first Herder nodded and then walked towards the academic building.

Although witchcraft puppets would disintegrate into nothing after death, the Herders still had some tricks to locate traces.

As one of the Herder went into the building, the others swarmed in behind him, Bain too.

They wanted to know the answer and soon they got what they were seeking.

When the Herders confirmed the numbers of witchcraft puppets, every one of them looked at each other in silence.

More than 10 seconds later, Bain said with a sigh, "B Class eh?"

The other Herders trembled when they heard the word B Class, they knew what this 'class' represented.

"B Class! A real, authentic B Class!"

The Herder who led everyone in nodded eagerly, looking at Bain with a gaze yearning for something.

In fact, not just him alone, the other Herders also looked at Bain in the same way.

"No! I can't! Go look for Ed Wong, ask him to persuade that Royan! I don't have the confidence to do so!"

Bain waved his hands in denial for he knew what his colleagues wanted.

He would never go back to that restaurant!

How could he!

He wouldn't just have to face that annoying brat, he would also be reminded of the disgraceful memories!

How could he go back!

Stop joking! He would never go back!

…

The next day, when Leaf Dining opened, Bain knocked on the door, full of smiles.