The Devil's Cage

Kieran, who had been waiting for a chance to counterattack, maintained his squatting position and placed his hands on the ground, kicking back with both legs like a horse.

Bam!

The continuous kicks landed on the attacker’s chest and wrist, which was wielding the dagger.

Kieran could tell what weapon the attacker was using by the distance of his attack.

The man’s chest suffered a strong kick from Kieran, and the attacker flew backwards from the force.

Flames were burning his coat, and the air was filled with a faint charred smell.

Burning pain spread from the attacker’s chest to his body, but the pain was incomparable to the fear and shock in his heart.

The man exited his invisible mode and looked at Kieran incredulously.

The moment the police sirens were heard, he launched an attack he had been holding back for a long time.

He thought Kieran would be distracted by the sirens and he’d have the chance to take him out with a lethal hit.

That was why he was shocked when he was sent flying by Kieran’s flaming kicks.

"How... How did you notice?"

The excruciating pain made the attacker stutter.

Kieran had no intention of replying. He just followed up with another kick.

Bang!

He kicked like a thrusting spear, aiming precisely at the attacker’s throat with just the tip of his foot.

The man fell to the ground with a clear neck-breaking sound, robbed of any signs of life.

Nothing fell off his body after he was killed.

Kieran moved over to the dagger the man had been holding.

He already had two captives from the Drifter Society at the house, that was why he had killed this one.

When it came to unknown mystical knowledge, even the slightest carelessness could allow the enemy to retaliate. Kieran would rather stay alive than lose his life during an interrogation.

After all, the best enemies were the dead ones.

[Name: Hatch’s Curse]

[Type: Dagger]

[Rarity: Magical]

[Attack: Common]

[Attributes: Hatred]

[Special Effects: None]

[Able to bring out of the dungeon: Yes]

[Prerequisites: Sharp Weapon Dagger (Master)]

[Remarks: This is an accidental product of Gilfren Hatch’s alchemy practice. He wanted to make another one, but he did not succeed!]

...

[Hatred: After an effective attack, it will deplete the durability of the weapon and cause exponential damage that exceeds the attack of the dagger by far.]

[Hint: The Attack Level is based on the dagger. The strength and technique of the wielder is secondary.]

...

When Kieran picked up the palm-sized, double-edged dagger, the gloomy weapon surprised him.

"So it’s not the Drifter Society, but the Hatch Heresy?"

The description had mentioned the group.

Kieran would never forget the heresy created by the half-dead himself.

Now that Dr. Fenkes had become the new leader of the heresy, Kieran could not ignore it anymore.

The Hatch Heresy was very strange. Most of its members were normal people who had been deceived, and its small number of high-ranking members were nothing more than tricksters.

Nikorei could easily locate them all with her abilities, but not Dr. Fenkes.

"He is hiding from me with some kind of special method!"

This was what Nikorei had said after she had voluntarily helped Kieran locate the Hatch Heresy.

Since Kieran could not rely on Nikorei to locate them and he could not get any information from other low-ranking members, he had to use the most primitive way to get in contact with Fenkes. He had to lure him out.

He had not expected Fenkes to be so violent as to send out a hitman with special abilities, rather than someone to negotiate.

"Is Dr. Fenkes really the hidden key in Gilfren Hatch’s plan?"

Kieran frowned a little as he speculated.

As far as he remembered, Fenkes had been the only person with a kind face on the island, as well as the only old man, and the only one to make a good impression on him.

There were plenty of holes in his theories. If Fenkes was really the key to Gilfren Hatch’s plan, their encounters would not have been that casual.

Fenkes had had too many opportunities to turn the situation around, both during the canteen poisoning incident and later in the infirmary.

"There must be something I’m not aware of!"

Kieran looked at the dagger again as he kept thinking.

He was very curious about the dagger’s [Hatred] attribute. It was the first time Kieran had come across a weapon that could sacrifice its durability to enhance its attacking power.

Although it was a one-time use weapon, the system description was enough to assure Kieran to trust the potential attacking power of the dagger.

As he put the magic dagger away, human figures started appearing all over the place, surrounding the area with their heavy footsteps. Suddenly, a light shone down on Kieran, and he heard someone yell through a loudspeaker, "Freeze! Put your hands up in the air!"

A squad of policemen surrounded Kieran, pointing their guns at him.

Kieran raised his hands up cooperatively.

"Hey, hey, hey... I was only defending myself! These guys were the attackers!" he said.

The policemen did not let their guard down though. Instead, they widened their eyes and focused on Kieran.

After all, he was the only one standing among a bunch of dead and severely injured people. The scene certainly looked suspicious and unusual to ordinary people.

"Hi, everyone! I am the owner of this shop! I can prove that this gentleman here was only defending himself!"

Simones had come out of the room with his hands up as well, trying to prevent any further misunderstandings with the police.

However, as soon as he mentioned self-defense, the policemen turned their guns on him.

"What the... If you guys showed the same zeal against criminals, you’d have cleaned the city up long ago!" Simones said with a shrug.

The confrontation was interrupted when Schmidt walked in on the scene.

Schmidt took a glance at Kieran and Simones before ordering the other policemen, "Stand down, this is a special situation! I’ll take over from here!"

Then he turned his eyes to Kieran.

"If you don’t mind, I would like you to follow me to my new office. You guys can tell me what happened when we get there. I want to know what transpired here!" Schmidt said.

"Fine." Kieran nodded.

...

Kieran was on the third underground floor of the police station.

When he walked out of the elevator, he saw a special sign in front of him.

The words on it were eye-catching, so he read them out instinctively.

"Special Task Force Leader Schmidt?"

"Thanks to those bloody Drifters, I’ve been promoted. These are my new men, dispatched by the director himself."

Schmidt pointed at a bunch of odd-looking people.

Kieran inspected the new men.

There were old men, children and some oddly dressed teenagers.

Although they seemed to be very different from each other, every single one of them had one thing in common. They were mumbling to themselves.

Kieran did not reply, but Simones laughed out loud at the scene.

"I think your director doesn’t know how to differentiate between special individuals!"

"These were the best candidates he could come up with. Fortunately, I don’t have to rely on them most of the time."

Schmidt led Kieran and Simones into his new office helplessly.

It was a decent office, five times bigger than his previous one. Although the decoration was a bit poor, the room was fully equipped.

"Okay, back to business! Tell me what happened back there," Schmidt asked after taking a seat behind his desk.

Kieran did not keep anything to himself except for the Hatch Heresy. He spilled everything out without holding back.

After testifying, Kieran and Simones were escorted out of the station by Schmidt before returning to what was left of the Celestial Garden.

......

"Goddammit!" Simones could not help but curse again when he saw his shop. The mess the attackers had left behind was surrounded by police tape.

Kieran turned his attention to a person behind the police tape. A person whose presence there exceeded even his wildest expectations.