The Devil’s Cage

The horse Atrina was riding galloped as fast as it could towards Kieran, and when the horse was still 4 to 5 meters away from Kieran, Atrina had already jumped down from it and ran towards him.

The distances between them shrunk from 5 meters… to 4 meters…. to 3 meters… to 2 meters and eventually 1 meter.

Throughout the process, the surprise on Atrina’s face hadn’t changed, and when both of them were face to face, Kieran clearly saw the overflowing love on her face.

Women, natural actresses.

Kieran somehow thought of the saying, and the woman before him was the award-winning kind.

“R-Ryan!”

Atrina had many things she wanted to tell the man before her, but when the words came to her mouth, they became his name instead.

The excitement in her heart messed up the words she had in mind, she didn’t want to say something inappropriate due to the timing.

Therefore, she turned her words into action. She stepped up and hugged Kieran.

The cold feathered mantle, the hot breathing, everything felt so real, everything before her was real!

The last bit of worry was expelled with a heavy sigh of relief.

She tiptoed, placed her chin over the broad shoulder, and said softly, “it’s great to see you.”

“En. Now hold me tightly, remember to show more worry and anxiety, try to be as natural as possible.”

Kieran used Atrina’s hair to cover his smiling face and whispered to her as soft as possible.

Atrina was shocked, but she quickly recovered. She remembered the ‘relationship’ between them.

It was just a piece of paper with a contract, but so what?

The contract was still valid, the person she hugged was still real, meaning… everything was indeed possible.

As for what Kieran wanted to achieve?

The smart Atrina had a hunch or two; therefore, she chose to play along with him.

When Atrina straightened her body and released Kieran, her face was showing unconcealable anxiety.

“Ryan, are you alright?” asked the Thorn Temple priest while naturally held Kieran in his left arm.

“I’m fine, just a little tired. I want a room to rest, and it would be great if I can get something to eat.”

A smile appeared on Kieran’s face again, he sounded soft and tender, the kindness in his eyes was incredibly attractive to Atrina.

“Follow me.”

Atrina then helped Kieran into Arya Outpost.

Mizelle, Pelker, and the assassins from Emerald Rock, as well as [Dark Shadow Ride], followed tightly behind.

The cheers hadn’t stopped, and when Kieran entered the outpost station, the cheers reached their peak.

“Hero! Ryan!”

“Hero! Ryan!”

The neat and uniform cheers almost reached the sky, every single gaze toward Kieran was full of respect and even had a sense of fanaticism.

Was it weird? Not at all!

When Kieran dished out that slash at the sky-covering Devourer, thus allowing more people to flee Naveya City, he was already qualified to be crowned as a ‘hero.’

And now, he once again saved the people by defeating the army of monsters!

Other than a ‘hero,’ what other title was more suitable to crown him with?

None!

Everyone thought the title ‘hero’ was well deserved.

Under the praise and cheers of the entire Arya Outpost, Kieran entered the military camp and then the house, which belonged to the outpost master—it was an independent wooden building that had both the office and bedroom together.

The arrangements in the house were simple enough. It showed the simplicity of a soldier and the style of an apostle; other than the necessities, everything else was extra.

Kieran sat in the only chair in the room.

“Mizelle, bring a group of men, be on the alert.”

“Pelker, help the stationed soldiers to clean up the battlefield.”

Although Kieran had quickly gone through the securities and surroundings, he was afraid that he had missed out on something. Besides, no one can guarantee whether or not the monsters had something precious that he couldn’t recognize. As a matter of fact, it didn’t need to be extremely valuable, even if it were a decent item, Kieran would never let it go.

Particles of sand eventually accumulate into a towering pile.

In the eyes of a stingy soul, even a copper coin had its irreplaceable, divine use.

“Yes, my lord!”

His followers bowed and went outside.

After everyone left, Kieran stood up and put away [Dark Shadow Ride]. He then turned around to Atrina, who was behind him.

“After you delivered that slash at the Devourer, we all managed to flee Naveya City. But what happened next is unknown to us!”

“The battle of Lady Vanessa and the other Gods had far surpassed our imaginations. We weren’t able to participate, even taking a peak would hurt our eyes!”

“The noise of war ended during dawn on the second day. Then… countless monsters swam up from the stone bridge in the dock district. They attacked and devoured any living souls they saw and took over the entire city. Meanwhile, we lost contact with Lady Vanessa and the other Gods, so everyone gave up on defending.”

“We hastened ourselves to leave the city after that.”

“A day before this, the group split up and went their separate ways. Archpriest Einderson, together with the archpriests from Love and Melody, decided to continue on to the north; Harvest, Mercy, War, and Valiant Temples headed west. The rest of them, with Hunter Temple as their new leader, went back south, supposedly headed towards a secret hidden temple.”

Atrina told everything she knew before Kieran even spoke.

“Love and Melody?” Kieran squinted his eyes.

He couldn’t tell whether or not these two temples really did get their divine message from their respective Gods or whether they harbored some other ulterior motives.

Though, regardless of which, Kieran thought he had to let Einderson know.

As for the temples headed west and Hunter Temple, who headed south?

Kieran wouldn’t care about the former for the time being, but the latter…

“Mizelle,” Kieran called out loudly.

“My lord.” Mizelle came in quickly and bowed.

“Divide your men into three groups: one will send a message to Archpriest Einderson, the other will head further north as fast as possible; send the last group to the south, I want to know the whereabouts of Hunter Temple.”

When Kieran mentioned the north, his voice muffled down. Atrina beside him was sensible enough, she took a few steps back.

After Mizelle had left, Atrina came back up.

“There’s something wrong with Hunter Temple?” she asked.

Atrina wasn’t an idiot, the arrival of the Devourer had said it all.

Among the fleeing ones, more than one had pondered upon the question: why did the Devourer appear?

However, the clues were limited, so no one could figure out the answer.

Kieran’s words, however, gave Atrina a hint.

“Yes.” Kieran nodded.

Given the contracted relationship between them, Kieran had no need to hide certain things from her.

Likewise, it also built up the base of trust between them.

“If it’s Hunter Temple… everything would make sense,” Atrina was in deep thought.

She remembered everything that happened in Hunter Temple, and at the same time, more doubts baffled her and drowned her mind.

“But… there is still something that doesn’t make sense.”

“Why didn’t Lightning Temple react to the situation?”

Atrina looked at Kieran unconsciously. Kieran leaned his body back, finding support for his back before he got ready to explain.