The Devil’s Cage

While holding a paper bag and a box, Willis ran out of the car and knocked on the door of 17th Randletine.

Dok, Dok, Dok!

Amidst the rhythmic knocking, Ferris opened the door and unlike how Ferris treated the fake chief officer, cold and rude, Ferris showed a polite smile when he saw Willis.

“Good afternoon Ferris.”

Willis also replied with the same smile.

“Come in, the boss is waiting for you in the study room.”

Ferris moved aside and revealed the corridor behind him leading to the room.

After the corridor and the round living room, Willis entered the study room and saw Kieran who was waiting for him.

“Sorry for the wait.”

Willis stepped up and passed the paper bag to Kieran.

“Not really, it was faster than I expected.”

Kieran said while opening the paper bag.

“Speed is the soldier’s asset.”

“Boss has started his preparations and will be able to gather everyone by this evening. Colossal Arms is also ready and able to join our operation at any time,” Willis said with a smile.

“This evening? Okay then.”

Kieran took a glance at the sun which was slowly setting in the west.

He then shifted his attention to the files and information in his hand.

The files weren’t that many, at most 30 plus pages but the contents of each page were substantial. One could consider the contents to have been traded for blood because all the contents of the files were about Smorewill Street.

Correct!

The chance Kieran was referring to earlier was to take down the entire Smorewill Street Block.

Kieran’s main mission was to acquire minimal recognition from the city within 6 weeks.

Although up to this point, his progress was decent, had he ended the main mission, he would be granted extremely high mission ratings as well.

However, Kieran wouldn’t just give up the chance to acquire even higher ratings.

‘Try his best to excavate every single possible benefit in each dungeon!’

It has become Kieran’s M.O. by now, not just his target in each dungeon world.

Especially when the situation allowed him to, he would never give up the chance since he already tasted the sweeter end of his motto, similar to his collection of Mordin’s sculptures.

Smorewill Street before Kieran’s eyes was like a big fat steak on top of a sizzling pan, its savory fat was simply oozing, giving out an aromatic scent as it sizzled. Add a little cinnamon also with some chili powder and it would have the best of flavors when Kieran put it in his mouth.

Kieran didn’t look down on his opponent because of the thought though, his vigilant personality had determined that he would never act recklessly.

That was why Kieran chose to work with Drexton and Colossal Arms.

Of course, when he saw the contents on the files, he was grateful for his own vigilance.

“Registered supervillains are over 30, precise numbers are still unknown. Common criminals are over 200 hundred, precise numbers also unknown. Other than these notorious bastards, there are also certain armed forces looming in the street with heavy firepower…”

Quantity can incite a qualitative change.

No one knew what would happen if 30 extraordinary individuals got together. On top of that, other than the super criminals, he still had to face the criminals with heavy firepower.

An RPG might not be too much of a problem to Kieran at his current level but what about 10? 20? Or 100 together? Maybe there is some other kind of heavy artillery?

Huuu!

Kieran took a deep breath and continued reading.

The reading session went on for another 10 plus minutes until Kieran memorized the locations and distribution of forces throughout the street; only then did Kieran look up to Willis.

“Is the intel in these files accurate?”

Kieran had to make sure of the validity of the information

“I can’t guarantee it but this is the information we gathered with our best efforts. Who knows what else Smorewill Street is hiding in its dark corners.” Willis shook his head with a bitter smile.

If the information on Smorewill Street was so easy to come by, its denizens wouldn’t have roamed freely for all these years, forming a city within the city.

Dok, Dok, Dok.

Kieran was tapping the handle of his chair as he frowned. He disliked uncertainty but he didn’t like to force others into something beyond their abilities.

“I understand. I’ll do my best to help Drexton when the time comes.”

Kieran nodded and said in a serious tone.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for Alkender and… thank you.”

Willis expressed is gratitude again.

He stood up and bowed to Kieran in a very official manner.

Without Kieran, Willis might still be “deceived” by the scheme of Thousand-faced Man and he might do something that he would regret deeply, like the real chief officer.

Although the real Pudder was fine, the incident caused quite the impact on him.

Those who were shocked that the real Pudder was still alive felt chills on their back because of the incident. Whenever they thought about someone else wearing their face and committing acts they could never accept, it caused them to shiver.

They had a deeper understanding of Thousand-faced Man’s operating style as well.

Thousand-faced Man was able to simply kill off the real Pudder but he didn’t, because he wanted the chief officer to know the truth and live with the horrible fact!

Once he thought about grazing past these horrible experience, Willis was terrified, thus he was more than grateful at Kieran.

Willis then placed the box he brought with him on Kieran’s desk.

“No need for this, Drexton has paid me well enough.” Kieran pointed on the cheque on the desk.

“That is from the boss, this is mine. Besides, it’s nothing valuable, just some of my usual collection. The first generation Old Pappy Soft Drink, orange juice flavored, the second, and the third,” Willis opened the box as he explained.

Despite saying it was nothing valuable, Willis was quite careful when opened it.

Three vastly different styled soft drink bottles with different colors appeared before Kieran.

Kieran was stunned.

[Name: Old Pappy the First]

[Type: Beverage]

[Rarity: Above Legendary]

[Attribute: Old Pappy Raging Roar]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: This is a legendary beverage that Willis collected. It has a special meaning among collectors and it doesn’t have an expiry date. You need to have an extremely high Constitution to drink it, or else prepare yourself to stay on the toilet overnight.]

…

[Old Pappy Raging Roar: Able to increase the critical effect, attack rank by 1 on any skill within the 30-minute duration.]

…

[Name: Old Pappy the Second]

[Type: Beverage]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attribute: Old Pappy Shouting]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: This is a legendary beverage that Willis collected. It has a special meaning among collectors and it doesn’t have an expiry date. You need to have an extremely high Constitution to drink it, or else prepare yourself to stay on the toilet overnight.]

…

[Old Pappy Shouting: Able to increase critical damage by 50% on any attack within the 30-minute duration.]

…

[Name: Old Pappy the Third]

[Type: Beverage]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attribute Old Pappy Growling]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: This is a legendary beverage that Willis collected. It has a special meaning among collectors and it doesn’t have an expiry date. You need to have an extremely high Constitution to drink it, or else prepare yourself to stay on the toilet overnight.]

…

[Old Pappy Growling: Able to increase critical damage by 25% on any attack within the 30-minute duration.]

…

When the attributes of the three soft drinks appeared on Kieran’s vision, he couldn’t have said no now in addition to him never saying no to food and drinks.

“These are more valuable than the cheque and the gold here.”

Kieran accepted the box and said solemnly.

He was looking very serious and sincere because it was indeed more valuable than dungeon world currency but Willis took it as special recognition.

“I’m glad you like it. After this battle is over, I’ll treat you to a beef burger and I promise the burger is the best!”

Willis said with a smile and after Kieran agreed to the suggestion, he left the house.

There were still many things Willis had to attend to, being able to stay at Kieran’s for this long period of time was already special treatment.

After Willis left, Ferris and Odork came over.

“Master, please allow us to fight as well. We will be your sword and shield and charge through the battlefield with you.” Ferris acted as the representative and voiced out their will.

“Mm.”

Kieran nodded, stood up and grabbed the crow mantle from the rack beside him. He put it on after a slight shake.

The setting sun shined its fiery glory through the window and shed light over the black feathered mantle with an ominous presence, tainting it red.

It was as red as blood.

Gawk!

The crow’s crow was ominous.

The blood raven’s crow was… declaring death!