The Devil’s Cage

Kieran raised a brow at the piece of wet paper. Despite his efforts in trying to dry it off, it was still drenched in saliva.

Kieran ultimately didn’t say anything when he looked at Gluttony’s anxious and guilty face. Of course, he didn’t take the paper with his own hands, telling Gluttony to hold it up for him to read.

There wasn’t a paragraph on the paper, just two words: Ascend God.

“Ascend God? Now I see!”

Kieran released his furrowed brows a little.

He had been asking how the had Devourer appeared because based on the book “Naveyan History”, when Naveya City was formed, the Devourer had already been sealed by Hero Algor.

In simple words, if the seal hadn’t been broken, the Devourer wouldn’t have appeared.

Among every single soul in Naveya City, other than the so-called ‘followers’ of the Devourer, no one had reason to break the seal, but now that Kieran saw the word ‘ascend God’, he realized the reasons were actually there.

Only a mortal could ascend to God, and what mortal in the world didn’t want to become one?

Especially the servants of Gods that worked in the temple for their entire life; should they get the chance to ascend to Godship, they would not let it go. Even if they had to betray the God they served and believed in, it would be worth it!

“That is why things went down in Hunter Temple. It wasn’t the Hunter himself, but the ‘followers’…”

As Kieran pondered upon the question, his brows unconsciously tightened again. He suddenly recalled what the God of Knowledge had said during their first meeting: ‘history is hidden by the cunning hunter’.

The Hunter was indeed a real hunter before he ascend to Godship.

Therefore, it was natural that most of his believers were skilled hunters!

A rather coincidental point was his believers might have betrayed and abandoned him.

“Is this related to them?” Kieran unconsciously thought of the archpriest of Hunter Temple, Krecko, and the priest, Herasu.

If the duo were really behind all of this, Kieran had to praise them for doing an excellent job.

Not only did the duo cut off communication with the Hunter, the other Gods of Naveya were also caught in this mess.

On top of that, the duo had brought enough refugees from Naveya to the south, the hidden Hunter Temple in the forest, at least by the looks of it.

As for what their real intentions were? Kieran wasn’t sure, because… the God of Lightning!

The God of Lightning had been missing since the start of the series of events.

From the moment the Devourer appeared to when it was accidentally injured, the God of Lightning hadn’t shown himself at all. It was recently that a believer of Lightning Temple came into the scene and was somehow related to the plague.

Kieran had totally no idea what the God of Lightning wanted to achieve.

“What is your real goal?

Unconsciously, Kieran’s fingers tapped on the wooden table softly. It was his little habit whenever he was thinking.

Meanwhile, Gluttony had been showing an apologetic face beside Kieran, carefully watching the scene. When Gluttony noticed Kieran wasn’t angry, he was smart enough to walk into the shadows in the corner.

The paper drenched in saliva was placed on the table quietly.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes to hours.

When the sun rose, horse gallops sounded outside Gordor Land. Kieran heaved a long breath and stood up from his chair. He couldn’t stay here forever but that didn’t mean he was ready to leave the place.

Pride then walked out from the shadow in the corner. Kieran said with a smile, “I’ll have to leave things in your hands for a while.”

“Leave it to me,” Pride nodded softly.

Then, Kieran stepped back into the shadow, vanishing, while Pride took his place and opened the door.

Mizelle, who had been waiting outside the door, played along and bowed respectfully.

“Your Majesty,” Mizelle greeted Pride.

DONG!

Behind Mizelle was a group of black riders. They raised the sword in their hands, beat their chest plates and greeted Pride in a loud, unified voice.

“YOUR MAJESTY!”

The voices from the black riders were as powerful as the waves, the people who had been watching the scene frightened instantly.

In Yort Fields, especially in Gordor, the people had never seen such smart and sharp elite soldiers. Even Luphus shared the same frightened expression.

The riders before his eyes reminded him of a certain rumour.

“Is this ‘them’? Impossible! The fiercest bandits that roamed Smochker Hills are under his Majesty’s command?”

When the outrageous thought appeared in his mind, Luphus immediately discarded it from his head. Then, the ‘wise man’ saw ‘Kieran’ walked over, he felt a little different but the ‘wise man’ knew he shouldn’t ask so much. Luphus then opened the carriage door for ‘Kieran’.

The group of black riders escorted the wagon out of Gordor Land, and when the group almost left, many voices sounded.

“Your Majesty Ryan, thank you for everything you’ve done for us!”

“We will never forget it!”

…

Many voices of gratitude came from the town entrance.

Elderly scholars, young men with harps on their backs, young ladies in pretty dresses, and innocent children with the purest expressions.

All of them gathered at the town entrance, voicing their gratitude loudly and bowing respectfully at the leaving wagon.

The wagon and the riders didn’t stop. The townspeople stood still and saw them off quietly.

In the townspeople’s point of view, it was a normal scene because they were sending off a demigod.

Gods were proud beings, they do not belong in the mortal realm, not even a demigod.

However, some of the children showed disappointment.

They remembered clearly the smiling face that had walked past them a few days ago, curing the plague that had tortured them.

The wagon and the black riders rode on, almost out of sight of the townspeople.

Then, an area of soft white brilliance shone from all directions of the town.

It was warm and comfortable.

Cheers came from the children right away, their innocent minds thinking it was the best reaction from the demigod.

In fact, it should be the best.

Bathing under the soft brilliance, even the elderly scholars felt energetic. They thanked the mercy of his Majesty, and likewise, they would not simply neglect such mercy given to them.

Every single one of the townspeople bowed at the leaving group again.

“May you shine like the stars in the sky, everlasting and bright.”

“May you shine like the light of dawn, bringing light and warmth to the land.”

“May you be kind like the afternoon breeze, comfortable and forgiving of the people.”

…

The words of blessing echoing in his ears, he felt the little fire in his mind jump a few times and Kieran couldn’t help but lift the corner of his mouth into a smile.

His last minute effort of drawing the [Seal of Dawn] wasn’t wasted. He turned around to Gluttony, who was helping him with last minute setups.

“Can you still locate the taste?” Kieran asked.

“Can!” Gluttony nodded.

The smile on Kieran’s face instantly grew brighter.

Under the beautiful song of praise, the two figures swiftly vanished.