The Devil's Cage

The book cover was yellowish but the pictures on it were very lively.

"What is this!?"

Kieran saw the picture of the dragon-snake like creature and quickly lifted up the book.

In fact, when Kieran started his investigation through the books, he was ready to start off with the obvious pillar creatures and also Saint Brilliant High School.

No doubt those lead him to a dead end.

Saint Brilliant High School was nothing but a normal high school, no valuable information was written in the books about it.

As for those sculpture creatures, it wasn’t possible for Kieran to identify them if he didn’t carefully read through the books but he didn’t have that much time on his hands.

So, he was prepared to approach the matter in a more direct way.

Asking.

The population in Flame City was definitely not at the least number within the whole dungeon world, though before he even began to ask, he gained a surprising find.

"The Great Swamp?"

Kieran raised a brow when he saw the strange name. He continued flipping through the books but what made him speechless was, other than the mention of the name itself, there was only another term describing it as one of the Grand Fiend bloodlines in recent ancient times.

Nothing more than that was found, but Kieran didn’t give up.

Knowing a name was better than nothing at all.

At least he could climb the vines, in search for more leads on the name.

He took up the books and trying to find more related records about the name.

Yet, disappointment struck him again, all the books in the room hadn’t written down anything about the Great Swamp, let alone finding a detailed description.

"Are the details in some even more secretive books?" Kieran muttered softly.

The books before Kieran was all of Lee’s collection, which he was quite certain of it but at the same time, it also determined that the books weren’t too much of a value or high level.

Even though Lee was responsible for the whole branch office of the Funeral Society in the district, with his attitude and character, all he required in his books would be the needs to help him climb up higher in the ranks.

The books in the room were just tools for Lee to better grasp his current position in the society.

Using Lee’s perspective as a starting point, it would be natural that his book collections were limited. Though judging from Kieran’s limited experience in the current dungeon world, even if Lee wanted to acquire more high-level books, it wasn’t really possible for him.

The more secretive the knowledge in the books, the higher the value.

The saying was applicable in almost every instance. With how Lee behaved and presented himself, he was far from able to approach such books.

The person-in-charge of the Funeral Society branch office.

The title might sound decent, but seeing how Lee treated even a common Fiend Hunter with utmost reverence and respect, it was safe to say that without the title, he was just a high-level receptionist.

Though, Lee did possess a certain level of capabilities.

Kieran commented on him a second time when he brought news that the millionaire who lost his portrait wanted to meet.

After a quick tidy up, Lee brought in a middle-aged man into Kieran’s room.

"This is Sir Artitelgar."

"This here is Master Bird of Death."

Lee introduced both parties and quickly left the room, leaving the meeting to Kieran.

The moment the door was shut, the well dressed middle-aged man that seemed very energetic with a small mustache was eyeing Kieran with a judging glare.

His gaze wasn’t sharp by any means but seemed to be hiding something.

Soon enough, the millionaire’s eyes were placed on the icebox with [Merman’s Meat] in it and before Kieran could utter a word, he quickly said, "Name your price, I can accept any price as long as it’s not too absurd. I can even look past the fact that you stole Artitelgar’s Portrait."

Kieran couldn’t hold back and laughed when he heard the seemingly generous but actually harsh words.

"If you didn’t appear before my room and assumed that I stole Artitelgar’s Portrait, it’s understandable. But when you appeared before me and still acted like this... Are you trying to suppress the price for [Merman’s Meat]? Or some perhaps its some other agenda?"

Kieran walked to the sofa and sat down.

He leaned back comfortably and said with a calm tone but he didn’t invite the man to sit.

In fact, the only furniture that could be treated as a chair in the room other than the sofa was the bed.

The bed though was filled with books and Kieran had taken the sofa for himself.

It was very bad manners treating a guest during normal times but was the middle-aged man a guest to begin with?

Aside from his attitude, the sole blind accusation of theft from him was enough to disgust Kieran.

Before this meeting, Kieran already had a hint about the man’s relationship with the Funeral Society and when he appeared in Kieran’s room, it verified Kieran’s theory as well.

Regarding such a relationship, wouldn’t the millionaire be ignorant about fiends and the underworld hidden from plain sight?

The answer, no.

Since the man already knew the existence of the fiends yet he presented such an attitude to Kieran, then his methods were something worth pondering over.

"What are you saying? Is your tone questioning me?" The man laughed coldly.

Then, the man strode towards the ice box with [Merman’s Meat] inside, acting like the deal will continue after he got his hands on the goods.

It was very dangerous to take something from a stingy scrooge’s pocket without asking for permission.

Kieran squinted his eyes.

A cold glare flashed over.

A moment ago, Kieran was sitting on the sofa and the next moment, Kieran appeared before Artitelgar. Before he could react to Kieran, a kick was launched at him.

Fuung! Bang Bang!

The air-breaking whistle sounded as Artitelgar flew away as if he was hit by a truck. He crashed through the door and smashed into the wall behind, embedding himself deep inside.

Surprisingly, after such a heavy hit, Artitelgar was not heavily wounded, all he suffered was some chafed skin.

Though Kieran wasn’t at his full strength but the outcome was as astonishing.

A half-fiend!

Artitelgar’s identity was clear but Kieran wasn’t too concerned about him as he knew what his priorities were.

He placed the ice box with [Merman’s Meat] into [Crimson Ghost Stomach] and took the Pawn Fire Raven egg away before walking towards Artitelgar who was struggling to get up.

"Did your parents ever teach you that you should never touch people’s things? And, listening to some one-sided statement and you still haven’t gone bankrupt? Your millionaire status is a big joke! Or are you actually an imposter?"

Kieran added another kick to "Artitelgar", causing him to fall to the ground again as he spoke.

Then, Kieran’s gaze turned towards the stairs.

A figure was slowly coming down, a heavy one as well. It caused the wooden stairs to squeak sharply when its heavy weight walked over.

Tsk Gak, Tsk Gak!

When the figure stood up at the stairs, it was like a piece of wall blocked Kieran’s path.

"Hand over the [Merman’s Meat]!"

A heavy voice sounded from the figure’s mouth and his actions were much faster than his words.

Fuuu!

His ferocious body leaned forward, raising his robust arms at Kieran, trying to strangle Kieran.

Though, at the next moment, his huge body was frozen on spot.

The icy frost was covering his face and plummeted the temperature in the basement living room.

However, the drop in temperature was like a signal, a signal for an explosion.

KABOOM!

Flames and shockwaves ravaged the basement.

Kieran was engulfed wholly by the sudden burst of flames.