The Devil's Cage

[Entering Single Player Special Dungeon]

[Difficulty: Fifth Dungeon]

[Background: The Prairies men attack was not the end, they gazed at Warren like a pack of hungry wolves but the rumor of the Devil terrified them from advancing. They are preparing some special way to deal with the Devil...]

[Main Mission: Protect the capital of Warren, Riverdale, from falling.]

[Temporary language pack, Disappears upon exiting the dungeon.]

[Clothing, backpack, weapons, and other items remain unchanged, Temporarily altered appearance, Returns to normal upon exiting the dungeon.]

[Detected firearms and grenades, did not match the dungeon period, power decrease by 90%. When you enter the dungeon, you will be compensated with corresponding skills. (Compensated skills could not be leveled up and will disappear upon exit of the dungeon]

[Hint: This is your fifth official dungeon. You can fail the Main Mission, but you will have to pay 600 Points as a penalty and your highest attributes will drop by 2 levels. If your points are insufficient, the system will deduct from your equipment. If your equipment is insufficient, you will fail.]

...

When the blinding light faded, Kieran found himself in an unfamiliar room.

It was wooden made and utterly messy.

The chairs and tables were all over the place, even the bed was emptied of a mattress.

Kieran walked towards the door.

The corridor, living hall, kitchen and the rooms on the second floor shared the same messy scene.

Any valuables around the house were absent in sight. All that was left was the heavy things that the owner couldn’t bring along when they left.

This house wasn’t an exception though.

Kieran then opened up the window and saw a fleeing group of citizens plus the clamors that happened around them.

Horse wagons, mules, and carts were moving. Husbands bringing along wives, children together with parents, each family gathered around their valuables and slowly moved towards the end of the street.

How many people were fleeing though?

The whole street was black under Kieran’s sight as it was filled with people and their valuables.

Each of them shared a panic, terrified face. The children would cry from time to time, the mothers would try to comfort them with a soft voice but were unable to hide the sorrow on their faces.

The husbands were holding sticks in their hands, acting as a weapon and only that could assure them with a sense of security and comfort.

The elderly parents were whispering with their heads down, it seemed like they were trying to ease up the burden of the current crisis with their extensive life experience but it was useless.

When countless people gathered, fear spread easily and quickly.

Everyone wished to leave the city that was once prosperous and wealthy, no other thoughts will come into their mind.

Even though the few remaining city guards were giving their best effort in keeping the order, the whole crowd moved in a very slow pace.

"The fog of war eh..." Kieran mumbled to himself and his eyes were locked on to one man within the city guards.

The man was one of the natives that he knew from the last dungeon, Bosco the private consultant of King James VIII.

A body of brown linen clothes among a bunch of armored armed guards, Bosco was very eye-catching even without the egret feathered cap to distinguish himself as a noble from the common citizens.

His face was tired and voice was rough but still writing at a fast pace on the paper in his hand.

"Hurry! Hurry! We must send off another batch of refugees before dark!" He ordered the guards around.

"Yes, sir!"

The guards replied one after another and quickly scattered into the streets of Riverdale.

Bosco and one of his followers were left behind.

Right after that, one of the commoners walked over to Bosco, saluted respectfully with his hat off and bowed body.

"Good day my dear sir!"

The man was speaking in a common tone but he couldn’t hide the terror on his face. The horror on his face was a few times denser and heavier than the other fleeing refugees.

Bosco too noticed the peculiarity.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Dead man! A dead man lies in that alley!" The commoner tried his best in uttering the incident.

"Curse it! Those outlaws still won’t stay quiet! Or was it someone else trying to reap benefits during times of trouble?" Bosco clenched his teeth.

It wasn’t the first case in the recent days though, everytime Bosco and his men would retrieve a couple of dead bodies with no valuables on them.

As for the culprit?

Nowhere to be found.

After Lightning Fortress was almost destroyed, the troops of the invaders from the north were marching down to the capital. Riverdale had fallen into a state of panic, everyone was busy escaping, fleeing with their lives, including the nobles and officers.

In fact, they were the ones who fled Riverdale in the earliest batch because they received the news first hand and just because of that, it struck the commoners with even more fear.

As fear lingered in human’s heart, crimes were bound to happen.

"Lead the way," Bosco said to the commoner.

The commoner turned around right away and headed to the other end of the stuffy street. Bosco and his follower followed tightly behind.

After going through the street and over a small alley, Bosco halted his steps when he realized he was going deeper into a secluded area.

He quickly realized something was wrong since he wasn’t an idiot himself.

The place was too secluded!

The place had deviated from the sure path towards the city gates by a lot. No one would linger around here even during peaceful times, let alone the war was upon them.

The ones who gathered there were the gang members.

"Hold on!" Bosco halted his follower behind with a cautious sign.

Chang!

The follower quickly drew out the sword from his waist but before he could put up a stance, an arrow fired out from the shadow sending him to the ground with an agonizing cry.

The agonizing cry went dimmer as the follower died.

Bosco was shocked. He quickly picked up the sword on the ground.

He hadn’t time to check or save his follower though because another man had walked out from the shadows and was gazing at him with malicious intent.

The man together with the commoner were laughing coldly at Bosco.

Bosco started to step back slowly but two more men jumped behind him and blocked his retreating path.

He was surrounded!

"Who are you, people? The Daggers? Or the Broken Fingers? Who..."

Bosco was uttering the gangs that once hid in the dark corners of Riverdale as his heart was spinning quickly.

He didn’t want to die silently in a small alley like this, because of his unfinished orders and also for his wife and two daughters.

The thugs didn’t seem to want to waste time at all though.

Before Bosco finished his words, the commoner drew out a dagger and dashed out at Bosco.

The cold glare of the dagger shook Bosco and caused him to swing the sword in his hand in a messy flurry.

No doubt, the messy swings wouldn’t be of use in protecting himself.

The commoner disarmed Bosco’s sword easily with his dagger and thrust the dagger straight into Bosco’s heart.

"I’m finished!"

Death’s presence came to his face, suffocating Bosco at the moment.

He was stunned completely and all possible reaction was lost.

Bosco had fallen into despair.

Gwak!

A sudden crow’s call sounded and...

Buuush!

Flames burned high!