The Devil's Cage

The possibility of acquiring a Skill Book had sparked Kieran’s interest, but he had not forgotten his original goal.

He used a rope to tie the invader onto a chair, and then got a mug of cold water from the bathroom and splashed it onto his face.

The cold water woke the invader up in an instant. His mouth was stuffed with the cover he had been wearing, so he could not scream. He could only make awkward sounds.

Considering they were not in the middle of nowhere, Kieran did not want to attract the attention of the neighbours.

The invader opened his eyes wide and looked at Kieran blankly.

Kieran did not explain why he had knocked him out.

"Who else is with you? Where are the others?" he got straight to the point.

Then he took the dagger and pressed it against the invader’s left pointing finger, cutting a line into it. He had left the invader’s hands purposely untied so he could use his interrogation method on him. After Kieran had cut the finger, he removed the gag from the invader’s mouth.

"You f*..."

Before he could say a word, Kieran stuffed the gag back into his mouth and cut off the man’s finger.

"Ughh!"

The invader sobbed from the pain.

"Who else is with you?"

Kieran waited for his sobbing to stop and then removed the gag once more. At the same time, he moved his dagger to the man’s middle finger.

"Bas..."

Wrong answer. Kieran cut off the man’s middle finger.

The uncooperative attitude of the invader and his constant cursing irritated Kieran, who immediately cut off his remaining three fingers.

The invader was twitching in pain, his sweat pouring out like rain.

Kieran had no intention of stopping, though. He just moved the dagger to the man’s right hand.

After his first interrogation, he was well aware of how to deal with these kind of bastards. They might be all threatening looks, but they were faint at heart.

"Last chance, mate! Want to talk now?"

Kieran once again removed the gag and looked at the invader coldly.

"I’ll talk!"

The pain was still lingering in his hand, but it was Kieran’s cold stare that broke him down.

Just as he had expected.

The invader was not as tough as he looked. Otherwise, he would not have disturbed Sister Mony and treated her so disrespectfully.

The kind, merciful old lady had not elaborated on her previous meetings with these scoundrels, but Kieran knew he had to do something about it.

This was not because he wanted to appeal to Sister Mony and Guntherson. He just felt like he had to.

That was why he had chosen to deal with these bastards in a more direct way and not fake his cooperation to bait them out, although that would have been much easier.

"What’s your name?"

"Swarko!"

"How many more of you are there?"

"Two!"

"What are their names?"

"Lushan and Evan!"

"Where are they?"

"Lushan is at 6 Celler Street! I don’t know about Evan!"

"Where did you get the information about the Church of Dawn?"

"From Evan!"

"Evan?"

"Yes, it was him! He contacted me and Lushan and said that he had discovered a treasure!"

.......

Kieran’s sharp dagger and the lingering pain made the Swarko spill everything.

Kieran asked the questions over and over again, changing them repeatedly to confirm the reliability of Swarko’s answers.

He had already drawn a conclusion.

First, he had confirmed that these three men had been the spies. Swarko there and that Lushan guy, who were both working under Evan.

Second, that Evan guy sounded very mysterious. There was no direct contact between the three of them. They only communicated through letters, using fake addresses.

Third, this Evan must have contacted other people other than Swarko and Lushan too, although whom these others were, Swarko had no idea. He was only partnered with Lushan.

"Evan?" Kieran uttered the name in a low voice.

Swarko’s words had not painted a full picture of Evan. The man was obviously careful, vigilant and greedy. He could be a woman too, for all they knew.

"I’ve told you everything I know!"

Kieran nodded and stabbed Swarko in the throat with his dagger.

Swarko was taken by surprise. He looked at Kieran incredulously. He did not understand why he would want to kill him.

Why not confirm his story first and then kill him? That was usually how these things went.

Swarko fell into the eternal abyss of darkness, his questions remaining unanswered.

After Swarko’s death, a faint white glow Skill Book wrapped in a piece of cloth appeared in front of Kieran.

He did not pick it up. Instead, he turned his eyes to the door, which had been pushed open.

Guntherson entered, carrying a body.

He did not bother hiding his footsteps. That strong, huge body of his and the big body on his shoulder made the floor in Kieran’s apartment squeak.

"Lushan?" Kieran asked as he looked at Guntherson and the body on his shoulder.

"Yeah, one of the two!" Guntherson nodded, dropping Lushan beside Swarko.

Judging by the heavy drop of the body, Guntherson felt no mercy for the men.

Kieran shrugged. When he had suggested that they lure the spies out, Guntherson had offered his aid, keeping it a secret from Sister Mony.

Kieran had been more than happy to accept his offer. He had hoped for a powerful ally like Guntherson, but it seemed that he had underestimated Guntherson’s power.

Considering his huge body, Kieran had thought that his strongest point would be his unimaginable strength and unique technique, but after Guntherson’s offer, Kieran had realized that his strongest point was going undercover.

Despite Kieran’s E+ Rank Intuition and the fact that he knew Guntherson would be hiding in the shadows, he still had not been able to sense his presence.

If Guntherson had not revealed himself from time to time, Kieran would not have expected his arrival. That’s why he had killed Swarko without a second thought.

Kieran did not need to leave to confirm the story. Guntherson’s arrival had confirmed it.

Swarko had not noticed his presence either.

Guntherson looked at Kieran’s odd expression.

"You’re curious about my undercover expertise?"

"Yes!" Kieran nodded.

"In order to become a Guardian, one must understand the darkness. Only when you understand your enemy, can you crush them!" Guntherson said softly, his tone hinting that it made sense for him to act like that.

Kieran was learning even more about Guntherson’s past from his manner.

Conspiracy, assassination, blood...

Sister Mony and Guntherson’s generation was much more cruel than he had originally thought.

Kieran sighed and turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Did you find anything useful at their hiding spot?" he asked.

Guntherson revealed two sticks of homemade explosives that Kieran was very familiar with.

"Yes, these! I found almost a hundred of these in those bastards’ place! They were planning to blow up St. Paolo School!"

While he inspected the explosives, Kieran realized that they were similar to the ones that Shuberg had used.

Almost identical, actually.

Kieran could not help but frown at the realization.

He had come up with a wild guess. Shuberg’s bold engagement with the police was to allow his connections to bring the military into the city. The person behind this did not want to cause a riot or take over the city. They wanted to use the military’s power to search for the treasure of the Church of Dawn under the pretense of locating Shuberg!

His guess was that the person behind this was in the same gang as Swarko.

As Kieran looked at the explosives that were so similar to the ones used the night before, he could not help but squint.

"What happened?" Guntherson asked Kieran, frowning.

"I think I’ve discovered something big! But I’ll need to confirm it first!"

Kieran did not tell Guntherson his guess right away. Just as he’d said, he still needed to confirm his theory.

After all, his theory was based on the similar homemade explosives, and there was no guarantee that their similarity was not just a coincidence.

"Sir Guntherson, could you please watch this place for me for a while?"

"Of course! But I’ll need to get back to the school before dawn, or else Mony will start suspecting something. If she knew that I’d broken my vow, I’m afraid that I might lose the night guard’s position and get expelled from the school!" Guntherson did not refuse, but he reminded Kieran of the time limit.

"Worry not, I’ll be back very soon!" Kieran assured Guntherson.