The Devil's Cage

Kieran was certain the man before him knew of him but there wasn’t any memory in his mind of contacting him before this.

He had quite the confidence in his memory though.

Maybe he did see a lot of natives throughout his dungeon runs but a native with a broken thumb and index finger would make quite an impression in Kieran’s mind.

A person like him would be utterly useless in the dungeon world since he relied solely on sharp weapons yet the man displayed himself as a skillful swordsman even with remaining three fingers on his right hand. In addition, his strength was even stronger than the others despite his fingers.

Kieran would never forget such a native if he met one before.

"The Devil!" Broken Finger cried out loud.

The fear that felt so real shook his sanity and he crumbled instantly.

Then, Broken Finger swung the curve scimitar right across his neck.

Puk!

Kieran avoided the splash of blood from the freaky suicide and landed his eyes on the soul that floated out of Broken Finger’s dead body.

"He is one of Prairies men?"

The familiar scene made Keiran dish out a kick at the soul without hesitation.

Although it deviated from his initial plan which was to dominate Broken Finger with [Mesly Ring] and pry out more information, Kieran had limited ways to deal with enemies in the spirit categories, other than killing them off.

Broken Finger’s soul twitched for a while after Kieran’s left kick and was turned into ashes; the wind then carried it away.

However, Kieran frowned because of the ease in killing Broken Finger.

The situation at hand seemed to have exceeded his expectation. He was quite surprised that Broken Finger was able to notice him beforehand.

Kieran had quite the confidence in [Undercover] since it was above Transcendence level right now so he didn’t think it was Broken Finger’s intuition that allowed him to notice Kieran.

Except for one explanation!

"Broken Finger must have shared a special connection with one of his men outside this place other than possessing the secret technique of releasing his soul. He might have even shared a connection with one of the men who fought in Lightning Fortress before and it explained why he could utter the name Devil and looked so terrified when he saw me. If this is not an exception..."

Kieran’s furrowed brows slightly and loosened up because it was a good news for him.

Which was easier for him to deal with, a group of fearless enemies or a group of fearless enemies mixed together with a couple of frightened scaredy cats?

The answer was self-explanatory.

Kieran started to search the place after more thoughts bloomed in his heart, he wanted to search for more information about the Prairies men but he wouldn’t put much hope into it.

He was clear that a spy like Broken Finger that could infiltrate deep into the enemy’s capital would never leave any viable flaws behind and the fact proved as so.

Kieran found a lot of coins and jewels in the place but not a single written record, not even the letters from pigeons delivery.

"They didn’t use pigeons to make communications... So there are other channels?"

Kieran thought in his mind until Bosco brought his men over.

Fire Raven landed on Kieran’s shoulder once again. Kieran touched its head to praise it and it returned an intimate rub on Kieran’s cheek.

Kieran smiled. Fire Raven was to be praised in locating Broken Finger smoothly.

The scouting from high up in the sky was a hard feat even for Kieran himself.

The ability to call out to others was also a plus because it solved the trifling troubles for Kieran. Without the Fire Raven, Kieran would have to run back and forth to bring Bosco and his men there.

"Sir 2567..."

There were bodies all outside the house and Bosco saw Broken Finger’s body when he entered the house.

Bosco’s own strength was nothing stellar and it might even be considered as weak but when he saw the wound on Broken Finger’s neck on the ground, he mind still could simulate what happened before.

The outcome made him gasped.

"Shhh! He took his own life?"

Instantly, Bosco’s eyes at Kieran changed because he couldn’t even imagine what Broken Finger who was notorious for his vicious methods had been through, leading him to a path of self-demise.

There weren’t any traces of interrogation either, it felt like Broken Finger was frightened to death when he saw Kieran.

Bosco could still control himself because of some understanding of Kieran’s person but the city guards behind, not so much.

Every one of them were terrified in an unusual way. It jogged their memory of that horrifying night a few days ago, some of the less brave ones even understood why Broken Finger took his own life.

"He killed himself to release his soul from his body, it might be an escape method or secret technique to kill enemies and his identity should be one of the Prairies men..." Kieran explained.

He explained but didn’t try to remove the misunderstanding or the peculiarity because he never cared how some stranger natives view of him.

He wanted Bosco to take into concern the lead and try to find out how Broken Finger made contact with the outsiders. Other than that, the spies infiltrated Riverdale must be flushed out.

Kieran would not believe that there was only a single spy from the enemies, there must be more hidden within the city.

Right after Kieran’s words subsided, he realized the city guards were unable to conceal their terrified face anymore. The few cowardly ones even started to shiver.

Bosco was looking unusual as well.

"The soul was eliminated as well?" Bosco asked in a dry voice.

"Um!" Kieran nodded and walked outside without further caring about the fear on the city guard’s faces.

The city guards quickly opened up a path for Kieran to pass without even making a sound.

When Kieran left the room, he could clearly hear the voices of relief from the city guards.

He shook his head.

Although he didn’t hold much hope on the city guards, experiencing it twice in a row made Kieran realize it was a wishful thinking to rely on the city guards to protect Riverdale.

Broken Finger might even fight to his last resort against fear but these city guards would only beg for their lives and the enemies would slaughter them effortlessly.

If they continued to behave like that, it was safe to say that they were digging their own graves.

Kieran didn’t stop until he went out from the slums.

10 minutes later, Bosco chased behind Kieran.

"Sir 2567, they are just..."

Bosco wanted to explain why the city guards were so unbearable out of instinct but after he started his sentence, he didn’t know how to continue on.

Regardless of what perspective he looked at it, the city guards had all failed their duty.

"Her Highness is back!"

Bosco eventually switched a topic. He was glad that Her Highness had returned that day with a new batch of military supplies, providing him with an ordinary yet perfect topic.

"Mary?"

Kieran was stunned. His cold face has slightly softened when he heard the news.

The young girl was the one he valued the most in the current dungeon world because of a similar background and sharing a similar fate, despite her being a native.

But, who could really differentiate between the virtual and reality within a dungeon world?