The Devil's Cage

Contly, the self-proclaimed bounty hunter, was actually one of the guardians of Isogu City.

Back in [Ancient City Foreign Matter], she collaborated with Kieran to take down Bartos. Because of their cooperation, it made Kieran more vigilant against her.

It was not just because of her strength. It was also because of her identity.

As one of the guardians of Isogu City, she was a guard who was left behind by the Neegor Dynasty King.

Some of her group deviated and got lost in the path, turning them into Night monsters.

What about the remaining ones?

Were they the ones who obeyed the hint in the tablet, aiming to reform Isogu City? Or were they the older fashioned guardians which took the warning seriously?

Kieran couldn't know which is why she closely observed her.

"I mean no harm! Can we talk somewhere else?"

Contly waved her short bob red hair and asked Kieran directly.

"Sure, of course. But you'll have to wait!"

Kieran pointed at Pierre and the others who were still unconscious on the ground.

"Not a problem. I'll come back for you later!"

Then, Contly leaped up to the rooftop of the closest house and disappeared after a couple jumps and flips. She possessed a nimble body and moved as light as feather.

Just after Contly left, he heard a series of messy footsteps.

It was Roshen and his men, arriving at the scene a second too late.

Roshen was astonished when he saw that Charlie Street was leveled to the ground; he turned to Kieran with an unbelievable look on his face.

If he was still reluctant when Herbert said earlier that he would need at least ten thousand fully armed men to deal with the situation, this reluctance vanished when he saw the scene.

Based on the information he received, the scene before him was caused by two men.

One was an unknown individual and the other was Kieran who was standing before him!

"What a monster!"

Roshen thought this, his heart racing wildly, but he continued speaking to Kieran with even more respect.

"Sir 2567. Sir Herbert. Do you need me to call for some wagons?"

"That will be great!" Kieran said with a smile.

Kieran had guessed what Roshen was thinking.

Since it was such a great commotion, it was not hard for anyone who had a brain to know. However, Kieran refused to comment on Roshen.

He wasn't concerned about a native's change of attitude when he could barely consider the native a friend and was not related to the main mission.

After Roshen called for help, three more wagons appeared before Kieran and Herbert that sent them back to Lander's mansion in a swift but steady pace.

Back in Lander's mansion, Lander's own house doctor and a couple more of the best doctors in the city were waiting for them.

Herbert was relieved when he saw the doctors move Pierre and the others into the room specially emptied out for them.

The worries in the elderly scholar's heart were finally free; Lander also shared the same feelings.

The father of the young man heard from his doctor state that although his son's arm was broken, it was not crippled. All they needed was some chiropractic treatments and a casing over his hand for it to fully be healed after some recuperation.

"Thank you for bringing Harold back to me!" Lander turned around and expressed his gratitude to Kieran and Herbert.

"This was my mistake. I led them to harm's way in the first place. If you really wanted to thank someone, you should thank 2567 here. Fortunately for him, everything proceeded smoothly!"

Herbert waved out of shame. His character and well-educated personality would never allow himself to accept such thanks. In fact, he was full of apologies at that moment.

Kieran easily saw what Herbert was thinking. The expression on his face was too easy for him to read.

"Leave the rest to the professional doctors. They will be fine in no time! For the time being, all we have to do is wait patiently!"

Kieran pointed to the sofa at a side and diverted the topic. At the same time, he went over his sub mission completion notifications.

[Sub mission: Escaping threats (Complete)]

[All related personnel was saved, Perfect rating!]

Frankly speaking, like all the previous missions that gave ratings, a Perfect rating was quite hard to achieve. Kieran knew clearly if it wasn't for [Fusion Heart]'s variety of skills, it wouldn't have turned out so well for him despite having the goal to clear every sub mission and title dungeon with his best efforts except when he came across a mini-boss like Benz.

Without the heart, Kieran at most could have only completed the basic requirements and escaped with Herbert. If he was lucky, he might have been able to save one or two from Pierre's group.

After all, Benz's abilities had far exceeded the dungeon's difficulty.

In fact, for other common players, once they realized the signs pointed at the Mutants, they would have definitely persuaded Herbert to look at the bigger picture. Given Herbert's character, the chances of successfully persuading him would have been quite high.

Of course, the rewards of that decision would have been obvious as well. It might not have even provided the player with a basic reward.

"Raising the dungeon rating means that I need to face a greater risk, and to face greater risks, I need more strength and power. To get that, I would need higher dungeon ratings…"

"It's a complete death cycle!" Kieran exclaimed softly.

He felt utterly grateful in his heart. If it wasn't for his luck in the newbie dungeon and Lawless's guidance, he would probably be lost in the sea of common players.

Maybe it wouldn't turn out like exactly like that but it probably will be pretty close.

"Whenever there is a risk, there is a reward!" Kieran thought.

Compared to the real world's harshness where there might not even be a reward, at least the scale was balanced in the virtual world, even if it was more dangerous. With such fairness in the game, it was enough to change a lot of things like Kieran himself at that very moment.

Because of the fairness of the game, it made him stronger, exceeding the dungeon's difficulty with his abilities and granting him more advantages and benefits. Kieran, of course, wouldn't mind widening his advantages as well. Thus, he sat down on the sofa and thought about the targets that would grant him more rewards.

The Night Race! Or more precisely, the current leader of the Night race. That leader possessed the abilities to forge replicas from great items. Edgar!

Kieran has longed for the "great items" since he saw the descriptions and what moved his heart was the technology to forge the replicas out of it.

Quantity will incite changes in quality. Kieran had a deep understanding of this saying.

Although he knew better, it would be a more difficult task to acquire the great items themselves than to acquire the technology to forge the replica out of it.

It would be harder than flying to the moon.

Yet, it was not completely out of the question.

Kieran recalled the Mutants and their leader that he just killed, Benz.

The war going on between the Mutants and the Nights seemed to provide him an opportunity to take advantage of.

It was also possible for the Mutants to scatter in the wind after their leader got killed, given that the Mutants were under a single command.

However, regardless of the outcome, it was only going to grant Kieran more chances. Without the control from their leader, he wondered what the Mutants will do next?

Kieran was quite looking forward to their actions.

The most likely outcome was an election of a new leader, similar to the Nights.

After Bartos went down, Edgar took his place.

However, no matter how often both sides changed its leaders, Kieran had one absolute advantage over them.

It was Herbert!

The Mutants or Nights races were determined to get information about the location of the seal and incantation of the Neegor Dynasty king.

It was the insurance for Kieran to get more chances.

Since the elderly scholar was getting more important, Kieran was also determined to protect him with diligence.

Kieran also needed to remove every potential danger elements around him. He took a deep breath and asked Herbert, "Herbert, what do you think about Contly?"