The Devil's Cage

As he saw Louver and Kieran talk about the surveillance footage, Schmidt quickly walked over.

Before he could reach them though, Louver shrunk back behind Kieran,

"Am I that hateful?" Schmidt asked in astonishment as he stopped.

"Not hateful, but fearsome," Kieran shook his head, correcting Schmidt. He turned around and looked at Louver, who had gone back to mumbling. He could not help but shrug.

"Louver’s condition is even worse than we thought. You better find him a good psychologist soon. In the meantime, you should start dismissing the officers in the station," Kieran said.

"What do you mean?" Schmidt frowned.

"The Heart Taker and Muntle knew each other. The two of them were members of a group named the Drifter Society. Don’t ask me what it is, I’ve only just heard about it from Louver myself. One thing is for sure though. That group includes some very powerful individuals, just as powerful as Nikorei and I. That being said, your investigation about the Heart Taker was just the tip of the iceberg. It was what the group wanted you to know. His secret identity is still a mystery to everyone," Kieran repeated everything Louver had told him earlier fast.

This had already exceeded Kieran’s expectations. He had not expected Muntle and the Heart Taker to be linked through another group.

Muntle had been tasked with searching for potential candidates like Louver, and the Heart Taker was out finding materials like people’s hearts.

Because of the limitations of Louver’s mental state, he had not revealed to Kieran what their end game was. One thing was for sure though. They would not stop until they succeeded.

An inevitable battle was right around the corner.

Kieran took a deep breath and looked at Schmidt.

"You’re saying..."

Schmidt seemed to be making some terrifying guesses as Kieran looked at him seriously.

"It’s exactly what you’re thinking. They won’t just go away easily, and considering that they were able to kill the Heart Taker right inside the station, I don’t think they would mind killing Louver either," Kieran confirmed.

The Heart Taker had been killed by a bunch of formless souls.

After the society had found out that the gunners they had hired had failed in their mission, they would definitely have sent out formless souls or something even stronger than that to kill Louver. The Evil Earth Spirit was a good example.

Kieran might still be unsure about who exactly was targeting him, but after Louver’s revelation, he had gotten a general idea. It was the Drifter Society.

The society had to know Kieran’s identity as Nikorei’s assistant.

That was why they had sent out the Evil Earth Spirit to assassinate Kieran rather than the formless souls.

"They already know about Nikorei, and yet they still decided to target me..." Kieran mumbled to himself.

Although he refused to comment on Nikorei’s self-proclaimed title of ‘the strongest shaman on the West Coast’, her strength was still a force to be reckoned with.

The books in her study proved as much.

Knowledge was power, even more so for a special expert.

Provoking a powerful shaman without a reason was not a wise move on the society’s part. Unless they had another plan in mind.

Kieran instinctively wanted to contact Nikorei, but he suddenly realized he did not have any way to reach her.

She wasn’t back at the house where Kieran was staying.

"Schmidt, do you have any way to contact Nikorei?"

Kieran looked at Schmidt, who was making a phone call, realizing his own mistake.

Schmidt looked back at Kieran oddly.

"Are you sure that you’re Nikorei’s assistant? If you hadn’t been in Nikorei’s house and displayed a certain degree of strength, I might have thought you were a swindler!"

Schmidt covered his phone and stared at Kieran before pulling out a paper and writing down a phone number.

"I just became her assistant two days ago, and on the second day she went on a business trip somewhere far away!"

Kieran opened his arms helplessly before taking the sticky note. Then he picked up the phone and started to dial the number on the piece of paper.

After two beeps, the call got through.

"Schmidt, what’s the matter?"

Nikorei’s voice was heard from the other side of the line. It seemed like Nikorei was familiar with the station’s number.

"It’s not Schmidt, it’s me, 2567! Something has happened..."

Kieran told Nikorei about everything that had transpired from the moment she’d left.

"The Drifter Society?" Even from the other side of the phone, Kieran could sense Nikorei’s doubts on the matter. It seemed like not even Nikorei herself had known about the existence of the Drifter Society.

There were only two possible explanations for that.

The first one was that the society was staying under the radar, and the second one was that they rarely ever mentioned their names to others or in public.

Kieran was leaning more towards the second explanation.

His theory was based on the second dungeon difficulty rather than the fact that he had any proof to support it. Nikorei solidified Kieran’s guess.

"I can see them! They’re heading towards the station as we speak! They will be there in about 20 minutes! I suggest you go back to my house. Although I’m not around, I’ve set up some defensive measures in case anything happened. It should be enough to deal with a third rate faction!" Nikorei said after remaining quiet for a few seconds. She sounded extremely confident about her work.

It was the word ‘see’ that had caught Kieran’s attention though. He could not determine where Nikorei was at currently, but she was definitely not in the city.

She was at least a city away, yet she claimed that she could ‘see’ what was happening there. She had to have the ability to locate her target just by being given a name.

Although Nikorei claimed that the Drifter Society was just some third rate faction, her own strength was incredible.

After that conversation, Kieran was starting to believe that she was indeed the strongest shaman on the West Coast.

"You piece of f*ck and your bunch of sh*tty motherf*ckers! You only care about your own reputation and image! You don’t give a sh*t about other people’s lives!"

Kieran had been about to reply to Nikorei’s suggestion to head back to the house when he was suddenly interrupted by Schmidt, who had started cursing harshly beside him.

"What’s wrong?" Kieran asked.

"That son of a bitch doesn’t want to dismiss the officers! He thinks all this is just some kind of bullsh*t! That piece of sh*t! I’ll stuff my gun up his ass to show him what real bullsh*t is!" Schmidt said before he started cursing out loud again angrily

"Schmidt, 2567, you guys better hurry up! Time is running out!" Nikorei’s warned them from the other side of the phone.

"I get it, I get it! Nikorei, can you give us some more help? Can your power protect us here?" Schmidt asked Nikorei. There was a sense of anticipation in his tone.

"I am the strongest shaman on the West Coast, not God Almighty, you nimbwit!"

Nikorei’s answer made Schmidt punch the desk hard. He turned around and saw his busy colleagues running around the station, clenching his teeth hard.

Out of the blue, a wild thought took form in Schmidt’s mind, and he turned his attention to the fire alarm on the wall.

He knew that if he pressed the alarm and had the station evacuated, the officers opposing him would definitely deem him as ‘mentally unstable’ and use that as an excuse to kick him out of the force he loved so much.

Yet, if he didn’t do it...

Schmidt kept looking at his busy colleagues. None of them were aware of the impending danger about to descend upon the station.

Schmidt took a deep breath.

"I became a policeman to protect people from getting hurt! Even if it costs me my uniform and badge, it will all be worth it if I can protect everyone!"

Schmidt had held on to his principles from the very beginning, and those principles slowly wiped away all his doubts.

He took large steps towards the fire alarm, yet just as he was about to push the button, he was stopped by Kieran.

"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I know the consequences," Schmidt said in a calm tone.

"You know your job, and I know mine. I know you’ve figured out the consequences, but please think about it again. It’s just some third rate faction," Kieran said before taking his backpack and walking out of the station.