The Devil's Cage

"Noooo!" the leader cried out in vain.

The tensile spider web was much stronger than he had expected. It was impossible for them to get out, even though they struggled hard. Not only were they trapped inside the spider web, but the spider web’s toxins were also corroding their crumbling bodies, until they became the very thing that crushed them.

The people inside the web could only watch Kieran helplessly as they fell further and further away.

Bang!

A huge explosion occurred as the web fell to the ground. The explosion, which had a 30-meter blast radius, turned everything within that distance into ashes.

Even a couple of layers of the ground were blasted away. When the dust settled down, a five-meter deep crater had been formed at the blast point.

A layer of strange, unsettling energy was branded on the ground.

Although Kieran could sense that something was wrong with his intuition, when he retreated swiftly from the blast’s range and saw the strange energy, he could not help but draw in a cold breath.

Even though he could withstand an explosion in his Devil form, the strange energy produced by the explosion gave him an extremely dangerous feeling.

"What is this?" Kieran was scanning the strange energy curiously.

His level of [Mystical Knowledge] did not allow him to identify the energy, but Rosland could.

"This is a curse! After the Shepherds were eliminated by her Majesty, they lost the pride and glory of their former days, which had been equal to the major five. All they had left was their sneakiness! If they really wanted to declare a war against the West Coast mystical realm, they should not have stepped away from the battle and watched. Instead, they should have joined the forces that resisted the East Coast attack!" the old man muttered, showing his disdain.

When he saw the wide area of shattered bones and the strange energy branded on the ground, he grunted. His cold grunt expressed his contempt for the Shepherds.

"They didn’t know I existed though! Rei and the Shepherd’s grudge sealed their own fates. That invitation is proof enough!" Kieran said slowly.

Rosland wanted to speak his mind, but the next moment, he got distracted.

Kieran’s Devil form was fading away, his fiery wings, sharp spiral horns and magmar body slowly disintegrating into the air.

"The power of the lineage?" Rosland wondered silently.

It took less than a second for Kieran to return to his human form, but the sudden weakening of his power forced him to relax for a while.

"Power is so addicting!"

Kieran let out a heavy sigh as he felt his power level dropping. He was not one of those fanatics that sought absolute power by giving up everything else. That very moment though, he kind of understood them. Being powerful was amazing.

The intoxicating feeling of wielding absolute power and having authority over people’s lives was alluring, but Kieran knew that if he became power-hungry, he would get turned into a puppet controlled by his own greed.

He wanted to become stronger, so he needed to control that power instead of having it order him around.

Kieran had quietly savored the transformation when he had activated [Devil Transformation]. The feeling of wanting for nothing more was still fresh in his mind.

Even so, the Devil form only lasted for one minute and required a Golden Skill Point to be activated. If he did not savor the moment or try to explore its potential, it would be lost on him.

His rewards were marvelous as well. Two Legendary items, one Rare item and dozens of different Magical Rank items.

The two Legendary items alone were worth spending one Golden Skill Point for.

Even though he was still savoring his transformation into Devil form, once he thought about the Legendary items, he was eager to check what he had gotten.

He did not forget that there was still another matter to attend to though.

"Bury the bodies," Kieran told Rosland.

The charred bodies that had forcefully risen from the dead thanks to [Blasphemous Whisper] had fallen back to the ground after the [Devil Transformation] duration was up.

The bodies had crumbled into even more pieces compared to their initial deaths.

The charred bodies had been crushed to bits, turning into blood and meat and splashing all over the place.

"Your mercy will be remembered in people’s minds!" Rosland said in a respectful manner.

"What? They’ll remember me killing them and crushing them to bits?" Kieran mocked himself.

He was not in the mood for flattery.

He turned his eyes to the East Coast mystic who called himself Philly. He was the sole survivor of the group.

"What do you command, master?" Philly ran over to Kieran with a fawning smile, greeting him politely.

"I want you to take a message back to the East Coast mystical realm," Kieran said after a while.

"Go ahead, master!" Philly bowed down, ready to hear Kieran’s message.

"I will govern according to Nikorei’s will. The [Fantos Manuscript] is still in my hands. Anyone who is not afraid to die can come and get it."

Not waiting for Philly’s reply, Kieran turned around and headed into the darkness.

Philly remained stunned on the spot, staring blankly at the place Kieran had disappeared.

"Mr. Landsky, what did my master’s message mean?"

Philly turned to Rosland after a while. He hadn’t understood what Kieran’s words meant.

There were two reasons Philly and his group had travelled to the West Coast.

One, to destroy the West Coast mystical realm while Nikorei was not around.

Two, to search for the missing [Fantos Manuscript].

Truth be told, in regards to their benefits, the latter was far more important than the former.

In other words, if Philly did deliver that message back to the East Coast, he was afraid that a third of the continent’s mystics would swarm the place like bees.

The Sunshine Mary’s treasure was no secret among certain organizations of the East Coast.

It would be nothing but tremendous trouble, and Philly knew that no one liked to cause trouble for themselves. He was hesitant. He did not know what his next course of action would be.

"Just follow the orders of the Bird of Death. Tell them to come for it if they aren’t afraid to die!" Rosland said loud and clear, pointing to the bodies around the area.

Philly scanned over the bodies, instantly recalling the image of the fiery devil sweeping his group away. Instinctively, a shiver ran down his body. He suddenly remembered how powerful Kieran was.

No one wanted trouble for themselves indeed. Certain matters might seem unsolvable in some people’s eyes, but not to powerful people.

Philly smiled bitterly.

...

The night was quiet.

The car attendants finally got to work. They worked together with some other personnel that had arrived at the scene, cleaning the docks from the corpses and the big crater and removing the cursed energy.

It was a complicated process, but it was none of Kieran’s business.

Kieran didn’t go back to 1st Black Street yet. He was really eager to check out his loot.

He temporarily stopped by Rosland’s place and counted his loot from the previous battle.