The Devil’s Cage

Silence!

After White shouted at Victor, the battlefield went silent.

The monsters, royal guards, and Scarlet the red skull all placed their doubtful gazes on Victor.

Victor was startled but managed to keep calm.

He had no idea why White accused him but he had to explain himself.

“What the hell are you talking—”

“Aaagh!”

Before Victor could even finish talking, White, who was fierce and dutiful only a moment ago, was sent flying backwards as though a speeding truck had knocked into it.

Bang!

Karoom!

White crashed into the gate of Mou City Sector.

The sturdy iron gate collapsed after a heavy bang.

The sudden blow was so heavy that it made White look like a flying piece of paper.

White paused for a moment after it crashed into the gate, but after the gate collapsed, a second blow sent it flying away again.

As there were no more gates behind it, the flimsy White then fell straight into the moat. After a quick splash, its body was nowhere to be found.

The other monsters watched White fall into the moat, knowing very well what was inside those deep, scary waters.

Those fearsome monsters would not spare anything that fell!

White had surely met his end!

All the monsters that saw the scene followed the same train of thought, and at the same time, their gazes on Victor grew more hostile and ferocious.

Victor just killed the witness!

If he could simply dispose of the white gatekeeper as he pleased, his next target would be them!

“RUN!”

The leader of the royal guards couldn’t care less about the other monsters anymore as it stepped back and shouted at its colleague before crushing the token hidden in its pocket.

The token was an item the royal guards used to contact the three kings inside King City, and it also had a function to store some messages. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the captain to tell the kings what happened.

Victor caused the explosions and destroyed Ring City!

That simple message was sent out after the token was crushed.

Everything happened so suddenly, Victor never anticipated that things would go down this way, but since it did, he had to amend it.

He couldn’t afford to let the monsters disrupt his plan anymore; he had to leave immediately!

If the three kings came forth and stopped him, everything he worked for would be in vain; therefore, none of the monsters on the scene could escape!

Victor waved his hand and released a gray mist into the area. The monsters caught in the mist dissolved into a pile of goo right away.

Scarlet didn’t move at all, but the soul fire in its eye sockets flickered.

“Killing the witness, eh? It’s so like you,” it said in a heavy tone.

It knew its collaborator had ulterior motives, but it never expected Victor to be so bold as to blow up the whole city.

Or rather, Victor’s original plan was to blow up Ring City!

What reviving his wife?

What grudge with the humans and monsters in the outside world?

Everything was fake! An outright lie!

He was still the fair and just Judge Victor that the outside humans and monsters got to know, and for the sake of the outside world, he placed his honor on the line just so he could destroy Ring City!

He must have decided to destroy Ring City ever since he discovered how potentially dangerous it could be.

“You are very good at keeping secrets!”

Scarlet thought it had seen through everything, and the soul fire in its eyes burned bright and fierce.

It was rage!

It’s true that it had some unpleasant feelings for the three kings, but not Ring City!

From a certain perspective, Scarlet cared more about Ring City than most things, and now the city was in ruins! It was ruined by the hands of its collaborator!

Its hatred for Victor instantly exceeded the hatred for the three kings.

Wung!

The blood on the ground shook and then flew up into the sky, transforming into myriads of blood arrows before raining down on Victor.

Victor didn’t say anything, as he knew any explanations in this kind of sensitive timing would do him no good.

He waved his hand and covered himself with the gray mist.

The bloody arrow rain rained down into the gray mist and then everything went silent.

The gray mist slowly dispersed, along with the bloody arrows and Victor.

“Hmph! Did you really think you could escape?!” Scarlet coldly grunted. It transformed into a red light and then vanished.

The whole area outside Mou City Sector was emptied out all of a sudden, everything quiet.

Meanwhile, in a secluded area a few kilometers along the city gate, the moat of the city splashed and something came out of the water.

White swam out and climbed up to the surface.

It looked further away at the Mou City Sector gate, which hid behind the shadow casted by the cliff. It then turned around and caressed the fish-like monster in the water that sent it to shore, saying softly, “I don’t think I will be back anymore, so take care of yourself!”

Wuuu!

A horn-like whimper came from the water; it was from the monster of the moat.

It looked exactly like a monster, but it had no equivalent intellect and it felt more real. It was the only friend White had that it could talk to for the past hundred years. With the addition of the consistent ‘feeding’, White was actually very close to the monster in the moat.

“Go now.” White waved and bid farewell to its only friend. Its goodbyes were also meant for itself, its old self.

The whimper sounded again, and a while later, it slowly swam off.

White couldn’t bring its friend along, and its friend knew it couldn’t follow.

Parting ways was the best and only option for them both.

White saw its friend off and then prepared itself to go back to Kieran.

It knew that even if the three kings were held up by the powerful ones from the outside world, it wouldn’t be able to stall them for long. It had to hurry up and help Kieran carry out the plan to its fullest.

However, after a step, White stopped, realizing that it stood out too much with its white body.

It spun around and transformed the white into black. Its clothes, hat and hair all became painted in black.

White—no, Black—then vanished into the shadows.

…

“VICTOR! DAMN IT!”

When King Liao received the message from his royal guard captain, he was infuriated and shouted out in rage, but that granted its opponent a chance to land a punch on his face.

Bang!

King Liao was sent flying backwards, and he crashed into the building.

His dark golden armor was blanketed with dust and even his crown tilted a bit, but King Liao didn’t care. He wanted to go back to Ring City and rip that bastard, who blew up his city, into a million pieces.

Also that skull head Scarlet! If it wasn’t for its bewitching words, his fellow kings wouldn’t have fallen for the misdirection and his city would still be safe from the explosions.

However, even though King Liao wanted to escape the current battle, his opponent would not allow him to do so.

A three-meter tall and buff shirtless man with a white bear rug over his head and arms as robust as marble pillars stood in front of King Liao.

His eyes were bigger than a cow’s as he stared straight at King Liao.

“I heard that you bastards are trying to kidnap my son?”

The man’s words were heavy, each word sounding like a clap of thunder.

As he spoke, he raised his gigantic palm and slammed it down on King Liao.

Fung!

The palm generated a strong wind like a typhoon ravaging the sand and stones in the area, and it blew directly at King Liao.

King Liao was further infuriated.

Roar!

“Damn it!”

Another loud roar later, the fur on King Liao rapidly grew long and thick. The black fur instantly covered his body, and his ears turned sharp; his face bulged forward and sharp fangs sprung out of his mouth.

A second later, King Liao had transformed from a human to a standing werewolf.

His height and physique instantly skyrocketed, making him as tall as his three-meter tall opponent, but he might be falling short in terms of strength.

BANG!

His claws and the tall man’s palm clashed.

A stronger gale blasted out into all directions upon contact. It blew the sand and dust away, and shook the tall man’s beard and King Liao’s fur.

The tall and buff man staggered backwards after the clash.

“F*ck off!” King Liao coldly grunted after gaining the upper hand, but the buff man laughed out loud in reply.

“Hahahaha! This is great! It has been a while since I got this serious! And you, furry assh*le! Who are you telling to f*ck off?”

The last part became a thunderous shout. A white grizzly bear as strong as a tank appeared in front of King Liao with glimmering layers on it and swung its paw forward ferociously.

There was no technique involved, only brute strength.

As pure strength gathered in the bear’s paw, it became so heavy and strong that the air whistles were suppressed by its intense presence.

King Liao, in his werewolf form, saw the paw strike in shock. His eyes shrunk and he backed away, trying not to go toe to toe with the paw.

The white bear paw smashed into the ground.

Kakrrroooom!

The land trembled, and a 10 meter wide, two meter deep crater was created upon impact. The white bear looked up and showed a ferocious smile. “You dare kidnap my son and tell me to f*ck off? Stay where you are if you are a man!”

Another loud grizzly roar later, the white bear pounced at its foe.

King Liao hesitated for a second before turning around and running while clenching his teeth in bitterness.

The power from the bear paw had far surpassed King Liao’s estimation; facing the bear in a contest of strength was unwise. So the only way King Liao could triumph over the bear was with speed and stalling techniques. He would prolong the battle.

Thankfully, there were three kings!

King Reow and King Qi would come back in time to kill that bastard Victor!

When the thought came into his mind, King Liao focused on his battle with the white bear.

…

King Reow was walking slowly along the city on the surface.

After becoming king, he had walked the surface city for multiple times, but he was by no means familiar with the place. He hated this kind of place that was able to merge with the environment and utilize its terrain’s advantages.

Souu!

An air-breaking whistle sounded in his ear, forcing him to a stop.

He tried to move again, but the ground suddenly became sticky mud, or more accurately, the asphalt road melted!

On top of that, a dozen iron bars flew out of the abandoned buildings in the area, surrounded King Reow, and aimed at his weak spots as though the iron bars were javelins.

Dak Dak Dak Dak!

A short old man stepped out from the other side of the street.

He might look like any other elderly, but his ears were sharper and his hairless head had a small black horn.

“Hehehe, you are the king of this place? Quite decent looking, I must say. Coincidentally, I am looking for a concubine.”

The weird-looking old man was smiling and so was King Reow but probably with even more disdain.

“Bugs should hide in the corner. If you come out all of a sudden, I might have the urge to crush you into pieces,” King Reow said.

“Bugs? It’s fine, say whatever you want. When the battle is over, I will cherish you in my arms. But before that, I think I should take some interest!”

The old man put his hands behind him as he spoke and walked closer to King Reow.

He opened his mouth, and his purple tongue licked his lips. Sticky saliva fell on the asphalt ground, corroding a small hole with every drop.

When the old man was in front of King Reow, who was surrounded by the iron bars, he reached out his hand, wanting to touch King Reow.

However, King Reow disappeared!

There were no signs or movements at all. He simply disappeared from the old man’s sight.

The old man was quick, however. He retreated swiftly and the iron bars flew to his side; the pebbles on the road also conjured into layers of barriers in front him.

After setting up his defenses, the old man heaved a sigh of relief.

With his trusted defenses, he had the confidence to take any kind of hit.

“Better than I thought,” the old man spoke confidently, “but the more you resist, the more I—”

Puk!

Before he could finish, he exploded from the inside.

On top of the pile of blood and flesh was King Reow.

His dark golden robe was free of any drop of blood or flesh.

He reached out to his crown and pushed it back in place before heading to his destination to rendezvous with King Qi.

In order to settle the battle quickly, King Qi helped him lure away a troublesome guy.

If it was any other time, King Reow would have been confident that King Qi could deal with his foe, but having suffered the repulsion, King Qi wasn’t in his best form.

Compared to the destroyed Ring City, King Qi was more important.

Of course, Victor must die!

Meanwhile, this same thought bloomed in Scarlet’s mind.

In order to put everything back in place, Scarlet was forced to use a trump card.

When footsteps sounded, Scarlet bowed respectfully to the person who came. “Sire.”

King Qi didn’t show any expression as he came. His face was as cold as ice, but the coldness made his already enchanting looks more attractive.

Scarlet’s soul fire jumped a couple of times before it freed itself from the lethal attraction.

It knew what would happen if it really fell under King Qi’s enchantment.

“My king, Victor must die!”

“It is something that you and I must do!”

“Of course, the mistake starts from me, so I will make it up to you. After you’ve killed Victor, I will split a part of that lord’s legacy with you,” Scarlet lowered its skull and said quickly.

After that, it left without lifting up its skull.

From start to end, King Qi did not say a single word. He watched Scarlet walk away and then headed to another direction. He had to go back to the surface again.

He knew he couldn’t fool King Reow’s perception for long, even if his abilities were special.

The secluded corner quickly quieted down after King Qi and Scarlet left.

A few minutes later, Kieran came out of the shadows. He looked at the directions where the two went off.

King Qi and Scarlet the red skull?

Kieran frowned. Ring City was much more complicated than he imagined, but now wasn’t the time to pay attention to that!

Du was already at the final phase of its digging. In short—treasures!

Wait for me!