The Devil's Cage

Paul appeared out of thin air, just like his huge bear had. It was raining heavily, so there was no sign of his arrival at the scene. No footsteps, or breathing sounds, not even a smell.

Paul appeared like a formless ghost, although he was more dangerous than one.

After forming a couple of hand signs and chanting a series of incantations, a cone-shaped flame appeared out of thin air between his palms.

The flame spread out within seconds and engulfed Kieran completely.

The bright, burning flame created light in the dark night. Before the raindrops could even go near the flame, they instantly evaporated.

In a second, the flame was extinguished and the area was filled with steam, a sudden cloud of it blocking everyone’s view.

Paul was camouflaged by the steam, but his vision was blocked as well. However, Paul did not seem the least bit nervous. Everything was going according to his plan.

From the battle of his pet with Kieran, to Kieran being blown away into mid-air by the explosion shockwave. Kieran was defenseless in mid-air, so Paul came out and burned him into ashes.

Everything had gone as planned. Paul was like the perfect hunter, laying down traps and waiting for his prey to fall in them.

If there was a difference in Paul’s plan, it was that the prey he’d been waiting for had been a different one. His original target had not been Kieran, but another man. In fact, his initial plan and everything he had done had been to lure out that man, whose fear was still instilled in Paul’s heart.

However, his original target had not showed up after all.

Maybe he had been hurt badly and died from his wounds three years ago, or maybe he had already left the city altogether. There were too many possibilities.

Still, without the appearance of his original target and the trouble he would bring, Paul and his mentor’s plan was bound to succeed.

This was what Paul had believed. And yet...

A strong, hard punch with a lightning trailing behind it hit Paul below the chin. The immense force sent Paul’s feet flying from the ground, and the concussion on his chin made his vision blurry. However, he was still able to recognize the man who had attacked him.

It was Kieran!

Paul had believed that he’d be a pile of ashes by now, yet Kieran had appeared before him and sucker punched him.

The sucker punch had shocked Paul more than the fact that Kieran was alive and kicking.

The power of lightning? How could there be another sorcerer in the city?

The numbness and stinging sensation from the lighting punch proved that it was real. Paul’s confident expression turned incredulous, but this was just the start.

Just as Paul was about to defend himself against the power of lightning, a bright red shadow of a kick appeared near his head.

Its incredible speed did not even allow him to react, and the strength of the kick had yet again exceeded his expectations. What concerned Paul the most though was the line of fire produced from the kick, the fire burning on Kieran’s legs.

How was this possible? Paul could not understand how Kieran had managed to pull it of. The lightning before might have been long prepared, but how could the kick have happened so quick?

Soon enough though, the question that baffled Paul became the least of his worries.

Bam!

The heavy kick was like an iron whip lashing out at Paul’s head. A loud sound sent his body spinning in mid-air as a clear sound was heard from Paul’s skull.

Kieran had no intention of stopping though.

After the first kick, he followed up with a second one. As one leg landed on the ground, another one was already kicking Paul, creating an endless chain of kicks. The shadow from Kieran’s kicks was scarlet red because of the fire on his boots, and his kicks went even faster, as if they’d been multiplied from one to ten kicks in an instant. The series of fiery red flames and shadows engulfed Paul completely, burning him to ashes.

[Hand-to-Hand Combat, Grand Master of Kicks] plus [Barsical Kick] had granted Kieran temporary Strength and Agility that had reached C Rank. Both attributes had temporarily exceeded the strongest human power possible by two ranks, and the addition of the [Iron Flaming Boots] had allowed Kieran to unleash a series of deadly attacks.

[Flaming Kicks: Lethal Attack, Inflicts 150 Damage to Target HP, (75 Hand-to-Hand Combat (Grand Master)X2), Extra Fire Damage from attacks Inflicts 2 Burns to Target, 152 True Damage Inflicted to Target HP...]

[Flaming Kicks: Lethal Attack, Inflicts 150 Damage to Target HP, (75 Hand-to-Hand Combat (Grand Master)X2), Extra Fire Damage from attacks Inflicts 2 Burns to Target, 152 True Damage Inflicted to Target HP...]

...

The battle notifications kept spamming Kieran’s vision until Paul was dead.

A loud roar was suddenly heard from behind him though. The huge bear had sensed that its master was dying and had charged recklessly towards Kieran.

Kieran headed straight for Paul’s body, not minding the huge bear coming at him. He was aiming for the Green Skill Book that had suddenly appeared by Paul’s deformed body.

Just as Kieran managed to grab the Skill Book, the huge bear crashed hard against him.

A heavy, loud noise sent Kieran flying like a kite without a string. With [Primus Scale]’s protection though, things were not as bad as they looked, just like during Paul’s previous flame attack.

The barrier protected Kieran from harm. [Primus Scale] was as good as its description stated, creating a window for Kieran to counterattack.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kieran adjusted his body mid-air, picked up the [MI-02] and fired between the bear’s eyes and nose.

The bear could not counter the attack after charging at Kieran in such a rush. Three of Kieran’s shots landed on the bear’s weak spots.

[Shooting: Lethal Attack, Inflicts 150 Damage to Target HP, (75 Firearm Weapon (Light Firearm)(Grand Master) X2), Target has Medium Tensile Armor, Beginner Iron Skin Skill, Resisted 40 Damage, 110 True Damage Inflicted, Target’s eyes are hurt, Target is blinded by the attack...]

[Shooting: Lethal Attack, Inflicts 150 Damage to Target HP, (75 Firearm Weapon (Light Firearm)(Grand Master) X2), Target has Medium Tensile Armor, Beginner Iron Skin Skill, Resisted 40 Damage, 110 True Damage Inflicted, Target’s nose is hurt, Target loses sense of smell...]

...

The huge bear, which was already hurt from its previous fight with Kieran, now fell to the ground with a long howl. It was not completely dead though.

Its huge body granted it an extremely high HP, but its life was hanging by a thread after the attacks.

Kieran followed up with a kick on the bear’s head, robbing it of any signs of life.

Surprised, Kieran saw a green piece of equipment fall off the huge bear’s body.

Together with Paul’s Green Skill Book, the tamed and the tamer duo had provided Kieran with a Magical Rank Skill Book and Equipment.

Kieran felt relieved after the whole fight. If it wasn’t for [Primus Arm], he would have been killed by Paul’s flame attack. Instead, he had used the steam to his advantage to hide from Paul and counterattack with his Grand Master [Undercover].

Kieran wanted to check his rewards out of instinct, but Mr. Big shouted loudly from behind him.

"TRAITOR!"

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

Earlier chapter today! Are you enjoying this arc? Let me know in the comments!