The Devil’s Cage

The representative of Kate Trading Company was sent flying by the kick and crashed into his two guards.

The powerful impact sent the representative and the guards behind him rolling on the ground, even dragging down two more merchants from Edatine Castle along the way.

The group crashed and fell all over the place.

Painful moans followed but it stopped right away because the [Dark Shining Musket] in Kieran’s hand was fired and sparks flew.

Bang!

After charging for one second, [Dark Shining Musket] fired out a total of 6 air bullets, which was the maximum number of shots that could be fired out at once.

The air bullets had a Powerful rank attack and were able to cause a burst shot of 120° range in front of Kieran, which instantly blanketed and perforated any kind of living being in front of him.

From the kick to the firing of the musket, the duration was just a little over a second.

The crowd at the scene didn’t even react to the attack.

A few seconds after the shot subsided, screams of shock only came.

“K-Killing!”

“Who are you?”

“Why did you shoot him?”

“Put down your musket!”

The shouts continued, one after another.

The guards who ran back from afar drew their swords and muskets and pointed them at Kieran.

Borl, who was beside Kieran, pulled out his musket as a reply to the guards, not having any intention to step back.

Borl had no idea why Kieran shot the representative, but that didn’t stop him from choosing to stand by Kieran.

He assumed it right and as a matter of fact, it really was the correct choice to make.

The next moment, sizzling sounds came from the bodies that Kieran just kicked and shot.

The bodies should be lifeless yet they engorged rapidly and transformed into two to three meters tall gray-skinned and gray-haired monsters with sharp fangs.

Though the original traits on the body did not change, neither did the wounds on their body.

Death had enveloped them.

“What happened?!”

“Why did the sirs…”

Cries of shock came again, but this time, all the guards lowered their weapons. They were confused and looked at Kieran with a questioning gaze, hoping for a reasonable answer.

Kieran diverted the gaze back to the other representatives who were in the midst of the negotiation earlier.

Those merchant representatives stepped back in fear when Kieran’s eyes scanned over them.

They did not forget how Kieran attacked without saying anything, but after taking a step backwards, an agonizing cry came.

“Aaaaargh!”

The first representative with the cloth hat and big cotton coat was screaming painfully.

What followed was a scene that frightened everyone.

The representative’s body started to disappear!

Starting from his limbs, chunks of his body started to disappear into the void, like he was being chewed on by some invisible monster.

Chunk by chunk, the crowd even heard blood being drunk and bones being munched on.

“S-Save me!”

He felt death was over his head, crying and pleading for help but his tongue started to disappear!

After the tongue, his head was swiftly eaten.

Soon, his limbs and his head had all disappeared into the void, leaving behind a torso that fell on the ground.

The crowd was as pale as paper as they all looked at the bloody torso, horrified.

“What the hell happened?” The leader of the guards from Kate Trading Company couldn’t hold back his question, but no one had an answer for him due to the fact that more painful screams appeared!

Those merchants who paid the fees earlier fell to the ground and rolled around in pain.

They were also being eaten by the invisible monster, but the part that was being eaten and how fast they were being eaten varied.

Some were eaten starting from the hand, some from the legs, and some survived after their hands and legs were eaten but some lost half of their torso before they were done.

It was natural that the latter couldn’t survive, and as for the former, agonizing screams continued.

“Men, help them stop the bleeding!”

“Hurry up!”

The leader of the guards shouted and waved to his man.

He then walked to Kieran and Borl.

After a quick size up and analysis of who was the person in charge, the leader of the guards bowed to Kieran.

“Please forgive our rashness earlier, my good sir. I am the leader of the guards of my merchant group, Kagu. If it’s possible, can you tell me what happened here?”

The leader named Kagu asked in a very polite and courteous way.

Since Kagu was the leader of security of Kate Trading Company, who’d ensured the safety of the merchant group throughout the main route connecting Edatine and Mozaar, his abilities were undoubted, but more importantly, he was able to read the situation and improvise very quickly.

Kagu had escorted convoys through the dangerous routes for more than a decade, having seen too much and experienced a lot.

Using his experience as guidance, Kagu already knew what he should do when dealing with the unknown.

Sometimes, being a little bit well-mannered wasn’t actually a bad thing.

“Some evil pagans got mixed up with the others and they used their own traits to create a contract with them. Every one of them signed the contract out of their own willingness.”

Kieran simply briefed Kagu about the situation before he headed to the forest beside the main route.

Borl wanted to follow, but Kieran was too fast. He lost Kieran’s figure at the second step he took.

Shaking his head helplessly, Borl turned back around to Kagu.

“You are Mr. Borl, right?”

“Can you fill me up with the details? Or, how we should prevent this kind of thing from happening again?” Kagu swiftly and precisely uttered Borl’s name.

Deep in his heart, Kagu thought of the precise and detailed information about Borl.

A merchant making his living at the outskirts of Mozaar, possessing decent strength, very brave, always thinking out of the box yet never causing trouble on his own. He was a safe ‘customer’.

As the leader of the guards for Kate Trading Company, Kagu knew everything about who joined the convoy, or more importantly, who he should pay attention to.

Borl wasn’t surprised at all.

If Kagu didn’t have at least this level of perception, Borl had to reconsider and doubt what he relied on to reach his current position.

His face? Impossible.

Kagu might have looked okay when he was young but since he spent a big portion of his life traveling the dangerous merchant routes, the marks of age had accumulated on his face. He was already half bald, his shiny head was reflecting the moonlight.

No matter how good looking he used to be, once he started losing his looks, it was beyond redemption.

It didn’t just make him look old, it made him look like a disgusting pervert. He might as well have shaved his head and gone fully bald.

Touching his thick hair, Borl slowly said, “I’m still not sure about what happened, but we are safe for now, we have Sir Colin with us.”

Borl was very confident.

“Sir Colin?” Kagu hesitated with furrowed brows.

“Trust me, being out here in the wild, nowhere is safer than being around Sir Colin!” Borl emphasized.

Kagu seemed convinced, nodding and then turning around to prep his men and comfort the others.

However, right after he turned around, Kagu slightly tilted his head down and showed a sinister and eerie smile, muttering quietly.

“Is that so?”

Only he could hear what he said, so he did not worry about being heard. Yet after the little mutter, a faint and calm answer came from behind him.

“It is.”