The Devil’s Cage

Without new information, Kieran’s speculations ended with a question mark.

He shook his head slightly and discarded the unsolved questions from his mind before turning his eyes further away.

Following the advancing steps, the duo was closing in on 122th Williamson Path. Likewise, the Guardian’s members were also coming into sight as the distance closed.

There were two people standing at the left and right respectively.

Both of them were in similar outfits as well: full body mantles.

Their looks might seem suspicious and mysterious in other places but it was a common sight in the big city.

The first thing the players that walked the big city learned to do was conceal themselves, despite the system blurring out their faces.

When Kieran saw the two Guardian members, the two saw him and Karles as well.

The two of the Guardians turned around in unison as if they were one. They stared at Kieran and Karles; Karles was shaken as he cried out in shock softly.

“Sh*t! It’s the Prifen Brothers! Both of them are Agility high-rankers and very skilled in combination attacks! They joined the Guardians very early on and are one of the strongest!”

“Damn it! How the hell did I attract these two on my tail!?”

Karles words had unconcealable shock but his actions were not slow at all.

He drew his sword out and entered his battle stance, heightening his focus to the impending battle.

Although he had a contract with Kieran, it didn’t mean he would stay and do nothing.

Or in other words, how could Karles stay behind and do nothing when the matter involved his own life?

However, the scene that happened next shook Karles and stunned him on the spot.

“Bird of Death?”

The Prifen on the left, the elder brother spoke first.

“Um. Bird of Death.”

The younger brother on the right answered.

After a second of silence, the brothers turned around and left quickly.

They exited using extreme speed! Both of them seemed to display the maximum potential of an Agility high-ranker’s speed; they vanished from sight within a breath’s time.

“This…this…”

Karles looked at the direction the Prifen Brothers went off and was having a difficult time finding words.

The Prifen Brothers that Karles regarded as a formidable enemy escaped in front of Kieran?!

After a few seconds, Karles regained his senses and looked at Kieran. His eyes had unconcealable astonishment.

“Not only the common players but even the high-rankers also dare not clash face to face with you?”

“The Bird of Death eh? Sounds scarier than rumor has it,” Karles sighed.

Without further pausing, he quickly ran back to his room.

Never had Karles missed his room more than at this particular moment since he was being hunted down. Still, he didn’t forget the person, the partner that made all this possible.

“Nice working with you! I’ll be looking forward to the next time in the future!”

Karles said before he vanished on the spot, leaving Kieran with a scowling face.

Prifen Brothers leaving in a hurry made Kieran feel that something wasn’t right.

He didn’t really think that his title would have scared away ghost and gods.

Two high-rankers against the Bird of Death and they left without even a test?

They even gave up on getting the extremely huge benefits right before their eyes?

This wasn’t really the style of the players.

Most of the players would try despite knowing the danger unless the strength gap was too huge to the point it struck despair in them.

However, Prifen Brothers were different from the rookie players.

Both of them were high-rankers, Kieran was a high-ranker.

As far as the public was concerned, Kieran just entered the higher order not too long ago and under normal circumstances, even if the Prifen Brothers knew some of his “achievements”, they still wouldn’t leave him like this.

“Something is wrong! There must be something that I don’t know of or missed!”

Kieran frowned.

He scanned the surroundings but found nothing.

Other than the Holy Mercy members that passed by from time to time, there were no other players around; there was also nothing noteworthy around.

It seemed like the Guardians didn’t send any others or lay more traps other than the Prifen Brothers but Kieran’s worries grew stronger as seconds turned into minutes.

As if an invisible enemy was hiding around him, wielding an icy cold dagger and lightly slicing his skin. The dagger wouldn’t harm him nor make him bleed him the sensation was very real.

The icy feeling would have easily pushed a weak-willed man to the brink.

Kieran had an unyielding will but still extremely uneasy with the feeling.

He twisted his neck a little and adjusted his breath to calm himself down.

Kieran wanted to double check the surroundings but before he could do so, the PM tab was lit up.

It was Karles!

After three rushed pings, Karles’ message window appeared before Kieran.

Karles: HELP! HELP!

Karles: CAREFUL!

Karles: Be careful of…

Despite only looking at the messages, Kieran felt the sense of urgency from Karles.

2567: What’s wrong!?

[Player in communication is dead.]

…

Kieran was flabbergasted!

IMPOSSIBLE!

It was the first reaction that he had in his mind.

‘Players cannot be harmed in their rooms’.

It had almost become the ironclad rules that all players knew yet someone went against it!

Matters of breaking the rules made Kieran scowled, he even felt cold at his back.

Kieran couldn’t imagine what the big city would become if the “safe house” that players deemed absolutely safe wasn’t that safe anymore.

More importantly… how did they do it?

Flabbergasted, Kieran swiftly double checked the surroundings again yet was fruitless once more.

After another glance at 122th Williamson, Kieran turned around and left.

He couldn’t do anything since he wasn’t granted entrance to the room and even if he could, it was already useless.

Since Karles was dead, everything would be refreshed and the traces would be gone.

…

During any time of the day, Harvest Inn would always have some lone wolves lingering around.

Some were drinking.

Some were chatting.

Some a bit of both.

There were also some who watched others drink and chat.

In simple, even if the inn was full, all were welcome, especially frequent visitors.

So, when Kieran walked in, the lone wolves raised their cup at him as a sign of respect.

Kieran nodded slightly before walking towards the bar counter.

“Seems like you’re in a rush? Kind of rare of you. How about an ice cold lemon tea?”

Rachel asked with a smile.

Kieran didn’t respond, instead, he messaged her.

2567: Is there any way to kill a player in their room?

…

Rachel’s hand which was wiping the glasses shook.