The Devil’s Cage

After noticing Kieran’s gaze, with a previous encounter under his belt, Paladia rolled aside and hid behind Kieran without a second thought.

He scaredly stood up for a peek after that.

When he first saw Scarlet the red skull, Paladia was trembling in fear, and now, he saw the scarlet red figure again.

The scarlet red skull was a nightmare to the young Herder of Gemstone Sector because of that day changing scene. It left a very deep impression and it was safe to consider that it toppled his world view and logic.

The modern education given to the Herders opted out of the so-called Gods.

In fact, in this modern age, most of the mystical side would not acknowledge the existence of Gods, assuming that Gods were powerful individuals deified by people.

However, the more they denied it, the scarier the red skull felt to Paladia.

A foe that could be considered a God was something unimaginable for Paladia, who had always set his opponents around normal people or monsters slightly stronger than the usual.

A foe that could compete with God?

Paladia never even dreamt about it!

He thought himself bold and braver than the others by standing straight and not kneeling down in front of the red skull.

Though more importantly, Kieran was in front of him.

If he was alone, it would be impossible for him to even stay conscious.

Paladia had acknowledged himself as Kieran’s captive, so wherever Kieran went, he went too.

Reasonable, right?

While Paladia was thinking about the messy thoughts seriously, he carefully shrunk his body behind Kieran, hiding himself completely from the red skull.

Kieran felt Paladia’s little action, but he did not care.

His attention was on the red skull.

It wasn’t the first meeting but the first time meeting face to face.

The skeleton’s clothing choices were still as profound as always, its hands twisting the prayer beads endlessly as it walked closely, probably a habit of many years.

There was no flesh and blood on every piece of bone on its body but it was very read, which made it very strange looking.

The soul fire in its eye sockets was burning firmly, and although small, it felt like two steadily burning torches to Kieran and deeper inside its skull stayed some unknown power.

Kieran didn’t further pry into the unknown, at least not now.

He had to make Scarlet place its attention on Victor, so he looked into the soul fire frankly.

“Anything?” Kieran asked.

“Nothing in particular, I’m just curious about you, Royan. You are Royan, right? Sir Daliphen introduced me earlier, and although the language of your kind and Ring City originated from the same line, the subtle differences between the two caused some changes. According to what we speak in Ring City, I should call you Yan Luo,” Scarlet said with a smile.

The skull face couldn’t have shown a real smile and its hoarse voice had no obvious humour, but it was similar to what it wanted to deliver, as if Scarlet was expressing its goodwill.

“As you wish,” Kieran said without care.

Royan, Yan Luo, it was just a name, like how he named himself 2567.

Now matter what people called him, he was still Kieran to himself.

As for the alleged goodwill from Scarlet?

Not even a ghost would believe it.

Kieran knew exactly what Scarlet was doing here and he obviously didn’t want to play alone.

“You come for them?” Kieran turned around and purposely pointed at the carts.

“No, no no. Those are just trivial things. Although Ring City was robbed, we are not a stingy ally, we do not have the face to ask for the spoils that we lost during the previous battle. If I really do, the three sires would hang me to dry outside Ring City… Oh right, the city is destroyed.”

Scarlet waved its skeletal hands repeatedly, the soul fire in its eye sockets flickering.

It wasn’t just observing Kieran but the others within his proximity.

Kieran seemed normal, the two monsters and the human trio behind him also seemed normal.

‘I was overreacting! All this young man did was coincidentally stumble upon the treasures, everything is still Victor’s fault!

VICTOR MUST DIE!’

The thought of Victor fooling itself and causing Ring City’s destruction made Scarlet’s soul fire flicker quicker and fiercer.

A distorted hatred emanated from the deepest of its soul.

Kieran clearly sensed all of those but he pretended to not see it and sighed.

“I am sorry about that. We’ve never thought Victor would use us as bait to steal Ring City’s wealth. We are considered the lucky ones, many others died without knowing the cause,” Kieran said with a sense of sorrow hidden in between the lines.

The sense of sorrow caused Scarlet to resonate with him.

“I will find this criminal and deliver him to the three kings, they will tear him to a million pieces!” Scarlet said fiercely.

“Of course. If you need any help, come for me at Ai City, I will try to help,” Kieran nodded and said seriously.

“Great! I will go there if I have a need!” Scarlet said in a seemingly happy tone.

In the upcoming few minutes, Kieran and Scarlet talked about Victor and the conversation intensified quickly. Even until both of them had to part ways, Scarlet still hadn’t truly finished expressing its comments about Victor.

“When I catch Victor and execute him, I will surely tell you, Yan Luo.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Scarlet.”

The conversation ended and Scarlet left.

Paladia heaved a breath of relief after he saw the red skull walk away.

“I would suggest that you don’t meet this pile of bones that much, it’s very…strange,” Paladia said softly. He actually wanted to use the word ‘scary’ but he felt embarrassed when he noticed the others around him, that was why he changed the word.

“At least we have a common enemy now,” Kieran replied without showing any reaction.

The people and monsters at the scene were not made clear about Kieran’s true plan, that was why they came back to the camp with him.

Like Black, the ex-gatekeeper, who had vanished when the group came back from the underground, and similar to Du, who had returned in advance with the contents in the secret vault of the three kings.

Kieran would never leave such a big opening for his enemies, even though he knew his men had tight lips.

No one knew what kind of powers Scarlet had under that skull. At least during the conversation, Kieran was very certain that Scarlet has some searching and detecting abilities.

More importantly, Scarlet still hadn’t given up.

Kieran glanced over the spot where Scarlet stood with the edge of his eyes, seeing a tiny maggot hidden in the grass.

“Royan, where do you think Victor is now?” Paladia changed the topic after some thoughts.

“I don’t know, but no matter where he is, he must die!” Kieran said in a heavy tone.

Paladia did not argue with that, even Lucan nodded repeatedly at the words.

“Traitor! Unforgivable!” Lucan had zero tolerance towards traitors.

“But if that traitor had planned all this so meticulously, he must have a backup plan or an escape route! It will be hard to find him, he might even have vanished completely,” Paladia said while touching his chin.

He put himself in Victor’s shoes while guessing, sure that Victor must have found the best escape plan, otherwise he would not have taken the risk.

Everyone went quiet, even Lucan knew Paladia was telling the truth.

“If I can’t find him for a year, I’ll go on for another 10 years! I will find that traitor, even if it takes forever!” Lucan said seriously after thinking for a bit.

The straight and honest Lucan had an unyielding and tensile personality, he would face any kind of trouble dauntlessly.

Lumor, the protector of the Northern Woods, tapped his son’s shoulder, for he was gratified.

“Don’t worry, the Herders are not as weak as you think, we still have the Inhumans! Many families are behind each and every one of them, their powers might not be anything during normal times but when they team up, it will be something substantial. Victor cannot outrun us!” Lumor said each and every word clearly and with confidence.

The confidence instantly spread to Lucan and Paladia.

Paladia even walked up to ask more questions. It seemed like the Herder from Gemstone Sector had developed quite the interest in Victor, or more accurately, the treasures Victor stole.

Kieran didn’t intervene, sitting there and listening while his eyes subtly watched that tiny maggot.

…

“We will find Victor first, even if you have all kinds of terrain advantageous!”

Scarlet said while eavesdropping on Kieran and the others through that little maggot.

It was very certain now that the young man, Yan Luo or Royan, had nothing to do with Ring City’s destruction.

Though Scarlet wasn’t concerned about the Herders locating Victor before them, because they had what the Herders didn’t: King Qi.

King Qi was slightly hurt because of the repulsion earlier, but when he had a large amount of blood and flesh as ingredients, locating Victor was fairly easy.

With that thought in its skull, Scarlet returned to Ring City.

When it went through the outer ring, the inner ring of the city already in ruins, the hatred in Scarlet towards Victor intensified

After he entered the King City and saw that empty vault, the hatred almost materialized.

Victor must die!

Scarlet reminded itself again, then hastened its steps. It was eager to track down Victor for revenge.

“Your Majesties.”

Scarlet bowed after it entered the grand hall but the three kings didn’t care.

King Liao and King Reow were looking at King Qi.

On his throne, King Qi was holding a piece of flesh from Victor.

Tzzzzzt!

The piece of flesh burned like a lighted fuse.

Smoke came shortly after the burning and it was sucked into King Qi’s nose.

When the last bit of smoke was sucked in, the king saw a vision of an asphalt road with thick greens on both sides, a sign on one side clearly stating the location: Roxas State Route 63.

“Roxas State Route 63. He was just there,” King Qi said slowly.

“Sire, leave it to me,” Scarlet replied right away.

The three kings didn’t say no.

Ring City was destroyed, a hundred years of effort all down the drain, but the three kings weren’t ready to completely ditch the destroyed city just yet. Between building a new city on top of the ruins of the old one and searching for a place to rebuild anew, the former was undoubtedly easier.

The three kings had to work on the rebuilding with their own hands, needing the surviving monsters of Ring City to know of their existence, therefore Scarlet had automatically become the best choice to go after Victor.

“It is up to you now, you know what to do, right?” King Reow spoke on behalf of the others.

“Of course! Victor must die!” Scarlet said again

…

While Scarlet was in pursuit of Victor, the Herder and Inhuman camps started to return to the outside world.

Unlike the misty haze when they arrived, the passage to return outside was very stable.

Kieran led the minotaur and horseman inside.

The monster duo pushed the carts forward while looking at the passage in curiosity.

“It’s like a corridor,” Minotaur said.

“That is because you made your living place all sticky and dirty,” Horseman replied.

“At least it’s better than some dark corner filled with fodder!” Minotaur argued.

Horseman wanted to further the argument but its eyes shone in glimmer all of a sudden.

They had arrived at the little mountain where Kieran entered the venue in the first place.

Standing on the higher spot, the two gazed around excitedly.

Unlike the ‘limited’ space of Ring City which had a ‘limit’ around the city, the sky and land of this world was endless, neither of them able to see the end with a single glance.

“From here to there, my territory!” The excited minotaur said.

“Based on what? I saw that place first!” The horseman snorted as replied.

“Bullsh*t! I saw it first!”

The minotaur bumped its forehead against the horseman, but the horseman didn’t want to back off either, and both of them started a contest of strength to determine a winner.

The Herders and Inhumans behind them saw the weird scene, an extra curious glance was given, but nothing more than that.

A fight between monsters?

They had seen too many.

Monsters that served humans and Inhumans existed in the outside world.

However, Daliphen, who also saw the scene, came over.

“Royan, your companions need to go through some procedures. You need to prove their legality and of course, they aren’t allowed to make mistakes. Harming humans without reason will put them on trial,” Daliphen said.

“Em. Follow me,” Kieran called out to the minotaur and horseman who were bumping each other’s forehead.

The two of them cut the little squabbles right away and walked to Kieran obediently.

Daliphen nodded in satisfaction when he saw how tame the two monsters were. He never denied the Herders from getting monsters as companions or followers, but they must know how to behave.

While Daliphen was processing the minotaur and horseman’s documents to prove their legality, back in Leaf Dining, Li Jiajia, who was cutting potatoes, suddenly looked up.

Inside her head, a voice kept repeating itself.

‘Blood, death!

Flame, destruction.

He has arrived!

Run!

RUN!’

…

The voice in her head frightened her, her hand slipped while cutting the potatoes and almost cut her hand.

She got angry and shrieked, “AH! Shut up! I am not a philosopher, not a prophet! My dream is to become a cook! A COOK, understand?!”

Li Jiajia shouted at the voice.

“What’s wrong?”

Her shout automatically attracted Starbeck’s attention.

“Teacher, the voice in my head spoke again, it’s talking about blood, death, flame and destruction, it even kept saying that he has arrived…”

“It’s okay, you just need to get used to it.”

Li Jiajia did not keep a secret from Starbeck.

Starbeck smiled and comforted his student with a warm style.

He then turned around and put on the apron, the smile on his face growing warmer.

He had returned!