The Devil's Cage

The night sky turned darker out of a sudden.

The moon vanished and the stars were shrouded.

A nebulous darkness with a slight glint engulfed the whole Small Path Square and soon enough, the Black Robes players realized something has gone awry.

Even Black Robe with the grey glimmer muttered to himself softly, "Black Hell Banning?"

His voice was filled with doubts though because Banning had died in front of countless others.

Yet after his death, why would the Black Hell appear again?

"Could it be..."

The sudden realization that plunged into his heart causing him to yelled loudly, "Retreat! Now!"

The loud hoarse yell echoed in the ears of the other Black Robes player and right after that, all the players quickly retreated from the area.

Black Hell Banning was dead but his signature wide area of effect attack hadn’t been forgotten.

Following the sudden black veil that appeared above the crowd’s head, it jogged their memory once more.

All the players turned around and scattered away messily, they wished they had another pair of legs to run faster but it was already too late.

The moment the black veil was formed, the ending had been decided.

[Reverse Scar] might take a long time to cast but once its channeling was complete, the attack would follow in an instant.

Negative energy rumbled violently under the black veil.

Waves and waves of spirits poured down like a storm with agonizing wails that would shake one’s heart and the spirits enveloped each and every one of the Black Robes players.

The negative energy accumulated rapidly around Small Path Square which was turned into a hideous battlefield. The whole place was invaded by the energy in an instant.

The trees around withered, hard stones cracked and broke into rubble.

The life force that lingered around Small Path Square was flowing away quickly.

When the darkness ravaged the area to a certain limit, a scarlet red lightning followed from above. It was like a real lightning strike from the sky, striking down all over the square and swallowed everyone within range with its merciless blast of thunder.

Without the existence of the [Creature of Desire] that disturbed its lightning flow, [Reverse Scar]’s [Whisper of Evil] wrecked havoc all over.

The flying insects under the night sky were all blasted to ash, the Black Robes players disintegrated into light particles after being struck by lightning.

Only a handful of them survived the merciless strike but still suffered the heavy damage and were wobbling at the brink of dying.

The two times authentication of [Whisper of Evil] would require the target’s Constitution and Spirit to reach A rank.

Constitution aside, Spirit itself was very hard to raise. It wasn’t possible if the target wasn’t a Chosen One but it was the outcome that Kieran sought.

Before the dense negative energy dispersed, Kieran took in a deep breath, savoring the atmosphere around him and saw the notifications that followed.

[Dense negative energy field, player acquired temporarily boost, Strength +1...]

[Dense negative energy field, player acquired temporarily boost, Constitution +1...]

Although it wasn’t as absurd as the boosts back in Ciaran City, it was still a delightful surprise to Kieran. He swung out [Arrogant Word] hard and its blade edge brought up a fierce wind ahead, ravaging the target that he has been waiting for, Black Robe himself in his greyish glimmer.

Wunng!

The fierce wind tore apart the space in the surroundings as it was blasted at Black Robe’s mantle but he didn’t even flinch or budge and the fierce wind felt like it was nothing.

To be exact, he was standing still in his spot, frustrated and it caused his body to quiver.

"When did you notice? Before you even arrived at Donaville Street? Or even earlier than that? Yes, that should be it! Even after getting the news, you didn’t rush here the first moment, you must have realized something was fishy..."

[Arrogant Word] was thrust through Black Robe’s body. The greatsword crushed almost all of his organs when it went through his body but yet Black Robe remained still as he continued his questions to Kieran.

Kieran, however, didn’t have the habit of replying his enemy. He quickly rotated [Arrogant Word] and split his target in half.

But Black Robe still wasn’t dead!

His head together with his shoulder plus all four of his limbs scattered around the square, twitching ceaselessly.

Fuuu!

Kieran frowned upon the freaky scene as the blazing fireball burned fiercely his left hand.

"TELL ME! I DEMAND TO KNOW!"

He neglected the burning from [Devil Flame] and kept growling out of his dismembered body.

Until the very last moment of his life, he shouted out in an even frenzied manner.

"Curse you! I CURSE YOU!"

After that discomfort shout, the gray glimmer around his body started to flicker rapidly.

Even [Devil Flame] which could take life away didn’t inflict any damage on the gray glimmer. It floated right through the flames and trying to latch on Kieran’s body.

Kieran quickly dodged backward but the gray flickering glimmer followed him like cancer, unwilling to let go of his tail.

Fortunately, the floating speed of the gray flickering glimmer was slow enough, similar to a common walking person. It could not have harmed Kieran with his speed, yet his instinct told him better not to get in contact with the glimmer, otherwise, the outcome might be unimaginable.

Right after the gray flickering glimmer floated away from the dismembered body, Black Robe who should already be dead finally died off but...

His body didn’t disintegrate like the others but instead, it withered and rot away.

"What the!?" Kieran squinted his eyes.

Clap Clap Clap!

A slow clap sounded right after that.

Another pitch black Black Robe emerged from the small alley aside. The remaining members quickly gathered over the person and even saluted to him.

The person ignored his men’s salutations and walked towards Kieran.

He only stopped when he was less than 10 meters away from Kieran.

"Broker has always reminded me to be careful of you, telling me you are one difficult person to deal with but now from the looks of it... you are not as marvelous as the rumors, ain’t it?"

"The curse of the curse dispeller will not fade. Unless you return to your room right away, otherwise, IT will chase you to the end of the world. Of course, don’t even think of stepping out of your room if you want to live. After all, this curse was cast with his own life, and it might be very, very difficult to dispel!" The person said with a ridiculing tone.

"Black Robe?" Kieran asked.

"Um. You..."

Black Robe admitted his identity and before he could utter more, Kieran was already dashing towards him.

[Arrogant Word] was swung down from high up, slashing downwards with full force. The pressure from the blade wind even shoveled the rubles beside Black Robe away from him.

Black Robe’s words were interrupted but it felt more like suppressed down by that full force swing.

However, just as the greatsword’s blade was about to reach its target, Black Robe reached out his hands suddenly and blasted countless insects from the sleeves of his robe. Not only the swarm of insects blocked [Arrogant Word]’s slash, it enveloped Kieran completely as well.

The full force slash was forced to a stop without any resistance.

"I’m just lying. You really think I would be frightened by such petty attack? Oh right, you have quite a special body right? Broker warned me to deliver a fatal blow with items of blessing!"

Black Robe then took out a small, aged dagger from his sleeve.

The dagger looked rusted through but when it was drawn out, it expelled the negative energy around it and a layer of white shine covered the dagger’s body.

When Black Robe thrust out the dagger, a faint hymn even sounded from the dagger.

The rust on the dagger was then completely removed and leaving it with nothing but a bright shining sharpness!

Bush!

The dagger was plunged deep into Kieran’s heart, piercing through the defense of [Armor of Excellence].

"Ugh!... Argh!"

Black Robe wanted to laugh but before he could, the expression on his face changed furiously.