The Devil's Cage

[Special Event: Battle Of The Sons] had made it necessary for Kieran to meet the Duke of Zilin but the timing had to depend on the movements of the Prairie King.

Kieran raised his hand and Fire Raven soared up high over Herr Valley's cliffs. It was surveying the movements of the Prairie main camp with its eyes which were sharper than an eagle.

Even Kieran's Intuition had reached SS+ but compared to Fire Raven's amazing talents, he was still far from comparable. Besides, Kieran didn't have the spare time to divert his attention at the moment.

It was the pros of having a team, dividing tasks among members and each member had their own responsibility.

Despite how powerful or all rounded a lone wolf player could be, unless the player had a real cloning skill, otherwise it would still be lackluster compared to a team. Fortunately, Kieran had acknowledged this problem a while ago and that was the reason why he acquired the Fire Raven: forming a one man, one raven team.

In fact, it wouldn't have been possible for Kieran to take care of the campsite and Riverdale at the same time if it wasn't for Fire Raven's assistance in this dungeon world.

"It's really convenient of having a Fire Raven!"

Maxim exclaimed when he saw Fire Raven soared over the cliffs.

As the recorder of the Raven Sect, he knew clearly what a Fire Raven was capable off, thus the exclamation.

"Mary's mother… That Lady Ellen, what was her position within the Raven Sect?" Kieran suddenly asked. Celty did reveal some information before this and it spiked Kieran's interests again towards Mary's mother's identity.

"Ellen? She was once the first seat of the Raven Sect!" Maxim sighed before continuing.

"First seat?" Kieran was slightly stunned. Obviously, Mary's mother's identity had exceeded his expectations.

The book "Words of Sect" did include a description about what a first seat meant.

The first seat, it was what the sect addressed the best of the best disciples with the highest talents among themselves and was also the heir to the leader of each.

Yet such a person was assassinated by other sect's assassin?

Even if it was an ambush…

Kieran then looked at Maxim unconsciously with his eyes filled with suspicion.

Maxim had quite the suspicion himself because of his wild ambitions for the Raven Sect leader position.

"Even if I wanted the Crown Raven position, I wouldn't have struck at Ellen. Back when our Crown Raven went missing, we did something terrible to her. Besides, Ellen wasn't a threat to us since she has lost her identity as the first seat."

"On top of that, even if I were to move on her, I wouldn't have waited so long."

Maxim waved his hands in denial but Kieran didn't take back his suspicion against him.

Maybe it was true that Maxim felt guilty about doing something terrible to Ellen but if that guilt drove him into killing, it would make sense as well.

Why didn't he make a move at first though?

A golden opportunity wasn't something that appeared easily, thus the long wait.

Kieran didn't press the question, he was more interested in what did do Maxim and his men to Ellen. It would be the origin of all the problems and also the key factor to determine whether Maxim involved himself in the assassination of Ellen or not.

"What did you people do to Ellen?" Kieran asked directly.

"When the Crown Raven went missing, Ellen who was already the first seat would ascend to the position naturally. However, even though Ellen's strength was the top of the list, compared to a real master, it was still a bit lackluster and plus her young age… So we decided to abdicate her position."

"At first all we wanted was her to give up her first seat position but Ellen resisted fiercely and gained a lot of support from the young disciples. The situation suddenly went out of control."

Maxim found it hard to continue at the point.

Kieran, however, couldn't help but laugh coldly when he saw Maxim's regretful face. The picture in his mind about the sequences of what happened in the Raven Sect has started to become clear.

After a bunch of people with wild ambitions lost control, they'd abdicate in order to gain authority yet it turned into a messy battle. A huge number of the disciples and masters died in the process and caused the crumbling of the whole sect.

Then, they wanted to use the name of searching for the Crown Raven and reorganized the sect, it might look harmonious in appearance but various at heart, to the point that they had to compromise with Kieran, the fake Crown Raven disciple.

After getting a clear picture of the story, Kieran's doubts grew heavier.

Maybe it wasn't Maxim who directly made a move against Ellen but what about the others, the others who failed in contending for the position?

"Was Ellen hurt badly in that messy fight?" Kieran started to delve deeper into the topic.

"Um, Ellen was badly hurt indeed but as the first seat of Raven Sect, Ellen was skilled in potionology, those injuries wouldn't trouble her for a long time." Maxim nodded.

Similar to Celty who was poisoned a day before yet he appeared healthy the next day as though nothing happened to him. It gave Kieran a general understanding of the Raven Sect's potionology.

However, it might not be the potions themselves but because of the power of the curse.

Kieran still has a fresh memory about the [Dispel Potion] that Ellen left for Mary. It was also one of the goals of his current dungeon run which was to find a way to dispel the curse from the curse dispeller in the game.

"I know. I've drunk Ellen's [Dispel Potion] before, so what other potions are there in the Raven Sect that could dispel a curse?" Kieran asked as if he was curious.

"[Dispel Potion] is already the best within the Raven Sect against a curse. The Raven Sect are experts in fire, not potions and curses. The Ghastly Woods Sect might be skilled but…"

Maxim smiled bitterly as he spoke.

"What's wrong?" Kieran frowned.

"The Lady Jeanne James you killed before, she was the first seat of Ghastly Woods Sect and even though she wasn't recognized by the masses, her identity was valid. So even if my lord, wanted Ghastly Woods Sect to help, it's impossible. All you can find are those witches in the hidden lands, they are the ones who are skilled in curses related matters."

Maxim's answer made Kieran frown harder.

He never thought that Jeanne James had another identity behind her but recalling the fight with her, it made sense that [Karma Doll] dropped from her death.

"The kingdom of Warren houses not only the Raven and Viper but the Ghastly Woods as well?" Kieran mumbled.

"It's only natural, because of the various resources, all the sects couldn't have lingered around from the nobles and royalties as well," Maxim explained.

Kieran nodded with an unbelievable look. He then ordered Maxim to gather his men quickly and ended the long but less than satisfactory conversation.

"Ghastly Woods Sect?" Kieran muttered but he quickly swept away his thoughts.

He knew it wasn't time for him to think about those.

He took out the four skill books from [Crimson Ghost Stomach] and placed them in front of him.

Three green books and one scroll in purple. As the glow intertwined, it emitted a different radiance.