The Devil’s Cage

The blast from the hunting rifle caused the door in front of Kieran to explode.

As the wood bits flew outwards, a body without its upper torso was sent flying backward as it crashed into the opposite wall. Despite losing its upper body, the vicious looking lower body still had scales and thick hair around it, when the light was shed over, it was giving out a luster similar to a metallic substance.

Still, the scales were not enough to protect it from [Winchester Hunting Rifle]’s Powerful attack, let alone the attribute [Heavy Firepower Strike] that would maximize the damage potential of the bullet; [Ammunition Favour] from the rifle also granted it an extra +1 attack buff.

The bullets with Extreme attack were transformed into pellets instead.

It would have dented a real metal plate, let alone metal-like scales.

Kieran didn’t even care about why the owner of the sweet voice behind the door would produce this much contrast. Other than this dungeon world lurking with fiends and half-fiends, the malicious intent behind the door alone was enough to let Kieran know what he should do.

After picking up the Magic rank item that came afloat from the remaining half of the body, Kieran didn’t straighten up his body but he went along with the motion and rammed past the wall in front of him.

At the next moment…

Dak, Dak, Dak, Dak, Dak Dak!

Under the sonata of machine guns fire, the room that Kieran was in before was shot into a sieve and the shooter didn’t plan to just stop there.

After more than a hundred bullets poured down like a storm, a missile followed right behind.

KABOOM!

The unknown motel beside the highway was blown up to the sky.

“Hahahahaha! The bounty is mine!”

There was a muscular and robust person who was obviously a half-fiend was standing in front of the motel ruins, laughing out presumptuously with a heavy machine gun and a rocket launcher in both his hands respectively.

Then a longsword flew out from the shadows beside him.

Puk!

The half-fiend laughing with his wide-open mouth had his throat pierced and half of his head cut off by a slash from [Dandelion Pierce].

Blood gushed up to the sky.

Kieran slowly walked out from the shadows. He picked up another Magic rank item from the half-fiend before checking the traces on the ground.

Even without [Tracking], Kieran could tell both the attackers who decided to strike almost in unison came from… Forest City!

The discovery made Kieran smile as he ruminated over his thoughts.

“My whereabouts are completely exposed? My path of return is also blocked. Which means, most people know that I am heading towards Forest City to avoid Perforation Sting’s pursuit. Which also means, there is someone or something hostile to Perforation Sting in Forest City, the extremely dreaded kind!”

“There is only one existence that fits these criteria: the second divine target that Perforation Sting failed to slay!!”

Kieran quickly came up with a conclusion based on the information at hand.

However, the conclusion didn’t alter his plan of returning to Flame City.

Compared to Forest City which was rather unfamiliar, Kieran was already used to Flame City. Other than that, Kieran didn’t believe Perforation Sting would give up their plan to target Great Swamp.

Although Kieran accidentally ruined the first plan, it was just the first of many.

Perforation Sting did have the painful experience in failing to slay a God, they wouldn’t have missed out on a backup plan this time; it was what a mature organization would do.

Of course, Kieran had more evidence on his hand: the two attackers that he just killed.

These two half-fiends weren’t affiliated with Perforation Sting, they were just bounty hunters.

As for who set the bounty on him?

Other than Perforation Sting, Kieran couldn’t think of any others.

However, why didn’t Perforation Sting send one of their own and instead decided to go with the bounty route?

The only explanation: they couldn’t spare any manpower at the moment!.

Perforation Sting must have diverted all their attention to targeting Great Swamp and couldn’t care less about Kieran, dispensable person.

Kieran displayed extraordinary strength when he evenly barely eked out a victory against Ren, one of the 21 Fiend Exorcists, what did it symbolize?

Fiend Exorcist was two ranks higher than Fiend Hunter, but they were still under Funeral Society’s jurisdiction.

So, what was Funeral Society’s role in his divine war?

Mediator.

They dared not offend Great Swamp personally, nor would they truly offend Perforation Sting.

Likewise, either Great Swamp or Perforation Sting, both of them had a sense of contempt towards Funeral Society.

Therefore, in Perforation Sting’s point of view, they could simply just dismiss Kieran, a small character.

Of course, the simple dismissal wasn’t limited to the bounty rewards like this. Kieran was confident that when Perforation Sting was finished with Great Swamp, they would come back for him.

After all, Perforation Sting must have hated the God in Forest City to their core as well.

In simple words, if a small character like Kieran avoided the bounty hunters’ attack, he would have died in the crossfire between Perforation Sting and the God in Forest City as well.

The “thorn in their side” that the main mission described wasn’t just for fun, so Kieran knew exactly what he must do.

Kieran strode over to the cars that the attackers drove here and picked the one with more gas; he opened the door right after that.

After Fire Raven and Frost Wolf pup went into the car, he started the engine.

As the engine roared, the car drove onto No. 12 Highway and headed towards Flame City.

Kieran didn’t clean up the battlefield behind him though.

The moment he entered the dungeon, all the people in the motel were killed by the scaley half-fiend. The heavy stench of blood in the place couldn’t have escaped Kieran’s nose.

Now, the first and the second half-fiends were dead.

Under the dazzling sunshine, the blood on the ground was shining brightly.

The heavy bloody stench flew away with the dusty wind, carrying the stench miles away.

The humans, fiends, and half-fiends noticed that something unusual happened at the motel.

The pursuers that arrived at the motel ruins shortly after Kieran left slightly checked the place before driving their respective vehicles towards Flame City.

As time went by, the pursuers that ought to turn around didn’t decrease, instead, the numbers grew larger.

Because of the tension of the timing, the pursuers didn’t plan to conceal their presence either.

So, it was natural that the unusual situation entered Funeral Society’s radar.

“Sir Fiend Hunter, some wanted men and half-fiends are making an unusual move.”

One of the Funeral Society members ran into the office with a report in his hand.

Ditko, with straight spikey hair and a pair of aviator glasses, threw the files about Perforation Sting that he went through countless times on the desk before he jumped over the desk with one hand and grabbed the newest report from the member.

“Fire Brothers, Bearman, and Hair Fiend…”

“Bunch of troubling bastards!”

“Pay close attention to their movements, I want to know every step they take!” Ditko said.

“Yes, sir!”

The member bowed before he ran out of the office.

Ditko sat back into his seat and waited.

“What are these bastards doing by gathering up? Could it be… 2567?!”

Ditko suddenly jumped out of the seat again when a sudden thought came to his mind.

He dashed outside as he was eager to know the latest news but when he got it, he was stunned on the spot.