The Devil’s Cage

The quick clunk of a sword dropping on the ground echoed like an iron bell throughout Edatine Castle city gate.

Everyone was utterly stupefied as they stared at Bloody Mary’s body.

‘W-What is this? Is he killing himself? But why? Is it because he doesn’t want to put that young warrior in a difficult spot? I-It’s impossible! They are enemies! Why would he be so considerate of his enemy? Impossible! IMPOSSIBLE!’

Messy thoughts gushed into everyone’s mind like the rising tide. Whether it was shock, fear, or disbelief, their gazes were glued to the body on the ground, including the young warrior’s captain.

As a matter of fact, the captain was utterly astonished by Bloody Mary’s action but he responded very quickly.

Chang!

The sword was drawn and a layer of radiance, belonging to the God of War, covered it. It was swung out like a powerful gale.

Within a breath’s time, Bloody Mary’s body got shredded into pieces.

‘If you have a death wish, I’ll grant it to you!’

The captain laughed coldly in his heart.

Sufficient amount of experience in life coupled with countless missions and solid belief in God of War turned the captain into a cold-hearted person.

He wouldn’t care, neither would he overthink.

All he needed to do was follow the priest’s order and carry out the will of God of War: kill the enemy before him.

Nothing would change, even if this enemy seemed to be an undead.

He knew very well the so-called undying was nothing but trickery and illusion!

Other than the almighty God of War he worshipped, no one could escape death!

As long as the ‘death’ reached a certain limit, the so-called undying would be exposed as a joke.

Coincidentally, War God Temple has such a specific spell among their myriads of mystical means.

Coupled with his powerful sword technique, the pagans that fell under his sword could never be ‘revived’!

The captain was utterly confident in his sword. He turned around and sheathed his sword.

He looked at the young member of his squad behind him, his brows unconsciously furrowed together.

The captain looked highly at the young Gino in his squad.

Clean background, outstanding talents, with sufficient training and cultivation, he would be a qualified armed deacon. He could even be a solid choice to be promoted to an armed priest after that, through specific trainings

Unfortunately, he was still too young! He was blinded by the illusion before his eyes!

The captain sighed deeply in his heart.

“Gino, do not let…”

The captain prepared some words to lecture his young subordinate but he saw the blank Gino get frightened all of a sudden at something behind him. The others in the area shared a similar reaction too.

Right away, the experienced captain took a step forward along with his motion and performed a roundhouse swing with the sword.

It was a complete act of battle instinct.

Whenever there was someone behind, continuing to move forward would surely get him ambushed, so the backward swing would prove to be a miraculous act. Even if the swing did not severely harm the ambusher, it would disrupt their pace, snatching the initiative away from them.

But the captain missed his swing, there was no one ambushing him from behind.

More precisely, Bloody Mary, resurrected once again, stood at the spot and looked at the captain with smiles.

If it was any other time, the situation would be extremely awkward for the captain but not now. The captain saw Bloody Mary standing back up in front of him, so embarrassment was absent, all he had was shock on his face.

‘HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! Why is my blade with the divine energy buff ineffective against him?’

The doubts in the captain’s heart did not slow him down at all. He swung his sword once more and chanted the name of the God of War.

“Almighty lord, make my blade sharper! Almighty lord, make my will stronger! The will of my lord is where my blade points!”

Amid his loud chants, the captain’s sword shone with the radiance of God of War again. He once again sliced Bloody Mary into pieces, this time into much smaller chunks.

Then, he widened his eyes at the chunks of body on the ground. White light amassed on top of the body and brought Bloody Mary back to life.

Bloody Mary was as clean as before, its smile was as warm as before. Its smile had not changed, and would not change, just because he was killed multiple times over.

It was like the sun that rose from the east every morning. No matter what you did, it would still shine on you and bring you warmth and light.

The thought was shared among everyone who witnessed Bloody Mary’s miraculous resurrections.

‘This is the Mist religious sect?’

The old marquis gasped. Despite the vast knowledge in him, he too was astonished by the repeated resurrections that happened before his eyes.

It was obvious that the ‘resurrection’ means had surpassed everything that he knew off.

More importantly, the people who saw the resurrections already had a firm impression of the Mist religious sect!

Look at their eyes! Their eyes showed fear and disbelief, yet many of them showed admiration!

That’s right! Admiration! The old marquis was utterly sure of those gazes, he had seen too many similar gazes in people before.

He was also certain that if this ‘man’, who had resurrected multiple times in front of these fools, waved at them, they would kneel down and wag their tails like obedient pets.

Dangerous! The Mist was much more dangerous than God of War and Lady Calamity!

They must be stopped!

The old marquis intuitively thought of the Mist believers in the slum area of Lower Seventh Ring.

Maybe it was time for him to bring the plan forward.

Thinking about activating the trump card that he had other plans for earlier than planned, the old marquis squinted his eyes in grievance.

If he had a choice, he would not want to use this trump card.

‘No! It’s still not time yet!’ The old marquis quickly denied his thought due to the fact that the trump card of his was for one time use only.

Using it other than the critical moment would be too wasteful!

The situation now was far from being critical.

As for being discovered?

It’s true that the Mist was a God, but not all Gods were omniscient. More so, not even God of War and Lady Calamity noticed it, so how could the Mist?

If it wasn’t for the overall situation, the old marquis had many ways to destroy the two big… no, it should be two big and one small religious sects.

The old marquis did not feel frustrated at losing the heart to use his trump card.

If this way couldn’t work, use another.

As the ‘Mist’ confronted the ‘God of War’, the old marquis quietly put up a sign behind him, signaling the spy from the royal court that hid among the civilians.

The spy caught the sign quickly, feigning surprise and saying loudly, “Ignoring the sharpness of blades, is this a blessing from His Majesty Mist?”

The loud voice spread throughout the city gate as everyone was silenced by the scene.

The astonished captain immediately reacted to the voice that he heard.

Ignore the sharpness of blade? Then what about the others, like fire!

With that thought in mind and the sword in his right hand, the captain grabbed a black ball the size of a quail egg with his left hand and fired it at Bloody Mary.

Before the black ball even landed on the Superior Demon, it already had a general idea what the captain was trying to do by reading the extreme emotions from his mind.

Fire! Blazing fire!

Though Bloody Mary had no intentions of dodging.

If it still was its old self during the early days, it was of course afraid of fire.

However, following its multiple level ups and reaching rank II in the end, the fire attacks that were deadly to its former self could only damage it for 60% of the damage. 60% of the damage was not a big deal for Bloody Mary due to its [Quick Regeneration].

It was also that attribute that allowed Bloody Mary to withstand the slashes buffed with the power of God of War earlier.

Of course, it hurt like hell, but for the boss, everything would be worth it.

From a certain perspective, the fire before its eyes was exactly what it wanted and needed for the sake of a smoother progress in the upcoming plan.

Bang!

The black ball hit Bloody Mary’s body.

Kaboom!

Blazing fire burst up into the sky, it engulfed Bloody Mary whole in an instant.

‘Dead? Is he finally dead?’ The captain glued his eyes at the blazing fire, as did the other viewers, but not the members of Mist religious sect.

They looked at the blazing fire with a calm expression.

How could mere fire harm the bishop of Mist?

They hadn’t forgotten their religious creed: ‘fire is our lord’s weapon, it is also a technique that we should learn to use.’

…

The old marquis who had been watching the religious sect members saw the expression on their faces. He couldn’t help but furrow his brows before twitching uncontrollably.

He saw the Mist’s emblem in front of the member’s chests: it was a burning gold coin with a number 7 carved in the middle.

A bad feeling rose from the bottom of the old marquis’ heart.

A moment later…

“Oh the supreme lord! Please hear our prayers, we will carry out your will, bow to your greatness and bear your name, you will shed your light on the world and everything we have is a gift from you…”

Prayers came from the blazing fire. Bloody Mary slowly walked out of the fire, unharmed.

This time around, the watching civilians couldn’t help but kneel on the ground out of awe.

The repeated unconceivable scenes, or phenomenons, impacted their logic and world view.

Several among the civilians had a weaker mental defense, Bloody Mary naturally caught them with its sharp instinct. They were then focused by Bloody Mary.

It didn’t need all of them, a few would be enough.

Humans are always blinded by their own eyes, they follow like sheep when someone leads the way, everything becoming simpler.

It was human nature after all.

The outcome was as Bloody Mary’ expected. When an influential civilian knelt down, the others fell like dominos, a chain reaction starting.

Groups of people started to kneel down, both civilians and merchants.

The soldiers and nobles were still hesitating.

The captain who tried to burn Bloody Mary looked extremely ugly, knowing what the situation had turned into and what it represented.

The Mist was shaking the roots of War God Temple!

“You will be punished by the divine!” shouted the captain.

He then knelt down on one knee and lowered his head, his sword placed in front of his forehead and prayers coming from his mouth.

Behind him, other than the young warrior Gino, all the elite warriors from War God Temple followed their captain, kneeling down and praying.

Promptly, a dark cloud formed in the sky.

Lightning rumbled in the dark cloud. Bolts of thunder that looked like gigantic silver serpents danced and swirled around frenziedly.

Bloody Mary smiled from the bottom of its heart when the scene happened.

This was the moment that it had been waiting for.

It put its hands together and slowly knelt down.

The other Mist religious sect believers knelt down together, including Rogart. The bear-like young man tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, but even kneeling down, his huge body made him stand out from the crowd.

Though no one paid attention to the bear-like young man anymore.

They were captivated by the prayers before them.

When the prayers from the believers sounded, an area of mist amassed from all directions.

Kieran felt the calling in his heart. He put down the cookie smeared with honey and butter and took [Lord of Mist] out from his pocket.

Bloody Mary had prepared the stage for him, and now, it was time for him to perform.

The Lord of Mist, appearing on stage!