The Devil’s Cage

“Secret bazaar”.

Open only once a month.

No matter which it was, it allowed Kieran to think of Broker.

“A year ago, the secret bazaar appeared around Shatterstone Town. It regularly sells potions and equipment that’s uncommon to the common market so it attracts a lot of merchants, mercenaries, bandits, and robbers around Supreme Road. Sometimes, it will have one or two precious treasures on sale as well!”

“No matter how I look that it, this secret bazaar is exactly like the one back in the game. Broker placed an obvious “landmark” near Shatterstone Town and sent this “Modi” to destroy the town… The level of coincidence…”

Kieran muttered in his heart while his eyes squinted.

He picked up the smell of a conspiracy since he never believed in coincidences.

Therefore, he needed more precise and detailed information regarding this “secret bazaar”.

He wanted to know what Broker was up to.

Of course, it might be also a trap specifically targeted at the latecomers. That was the reason why Kieran wanted Old Peeker with him on the trip.

…

With two baskets and a bundle of fresh grass, Old Peeker was having a hard time traveling on the badlands. The reddish, sturdy and irregular road caused endless pain to his feet.

However, the hotel owner dared not voice his dissatisfaction.

Not only because Kieran was behind him, but also because it was a custom the locals had to follow.

All the locals knew Supreme Road formed by the Celestial, Fenrir, by walking through the path of the iron bramble because Fenrir took pity of the people suffering from sickness, plague, and famine.

As the Celestial Fenrir walked, his blood was flowing along the iron bramble. The iron bramble that swords and knives couldn’t cut, a fire that couldn’t burn started to melt away and eventually melted into nothing.

What vanished along with the iron bramble was the sickness, plague, and famine that terrorized the mortal realm and of course, Celestial Fenrir himself.

Legend had it, Celestial Fenrir exhausted the last bit of his divine power and his body turned into the reddish badlands. The badlands were barren and had nothing but sturdy rocks.

Still, the people thanked Celestial Fenrir by naming the barren badlands Supreme Road and honored Celestial Fenrir as the Supreme God.

However, there were also those who showed disdain and mocked Fenrir. Whenever they would go through Supreme Road, they would be cursed.

Old Peeker who was born in a town near Supreme Road knew the power of the curse deeply, he dared not even show the least disrespect or insult to Fenrir.

Kieran too knew the legend from his simple memories but he was different from Old Peeker who showed fear and reverence.

He only maintained the simplest respect for the Celestial Fenrir because of his power.

Kieran saw a real God before and not all of them were fair.

The Gods even fell short compared to righteous human beings in a certain aspect, at least a righteous man wouldn’t betray his friends.

Kieran didn’t really know how righteous the legendary Fenrir was but he was quite reluctant to believe the acts of sacrificing himself to protect others.

Therefore, Kieran was showing respect purely for Fenrir’s strength.

The strong should be respected.

Kieran was behind Old Peeker the whole journey. The two of them finally stopped in the afternoon.

“My lord, it’s just ahead of us.”

Old Peeker pointed at a hill farther away.

From the looks of it, the mentioned hill was no different from those along the way but Kieran’s senses picked up something deeper in the hills.

More precisely, there was something deep underground there, a very uncomfortable presence as if he was standing beside a cliff at night without any support and leaned down for a look.

Other than the darkness, it was the infinite abyss that had taken him aback.

Kieran was sizing up the place with squinted eyes.

Old Peeker beside him then took out the water bottle and rations. They were necessities for travelers.

The water bottle was big as it contained enough water; the rations were mixed with some wheat skin to make it drier for easier keeping.

“My lord, do you want some?” Old Peeker asked with the rations and water in his hands.

Kieran shook his head.

Just when Old Peeker thought Kieran was not eating, he saw Kieran took out his own water bottle and rations.

The water bottle looked delicate and when the cap was twisted open, a faint aroma followed. It seemed like Kieran’s water was added with honey.

The ration was actually white bread mixed with raisins.

However, the most shocking thing for Old Peeker was the ham that Kieran took out from his bag.

Seeing how Kieran sliced the ham with his knife and made a sandwich with the white bread, Old Peeker couldn’t help but gulp from time to time.

He suddenly felt that his rations which he still considered to be okay a moment ago became hard to swallow, especially the wheat skin that even got stuck in his throat.

His water became tasteless and even had a fishy smell to it.

Old Peeker dared not ask for food from Kieran because when he had the thought in his mind, he was greeted by Kieran’s glare.

Kieran’s glare was pressuring and it almost suffocated Old Peeker.

The hotel owner even started to see things like an ancient beast slowly chewing its lunch.

He couldn’t ask for it! Or else he would be killed!

No, no, he would be eaten!

The information from the illusion was clearly received by Old Peeker.

For the next half an hour, Old Peeker didn’t just shiver non-stop, he dared not even breath loudly because he was afraid to disturb Kieran’s eating.

Old Peeker had never seen a person so protective of his food like Kieran, only some wild animals would do that.

Of course, Old Peeker dared not even utter a single sliver of his thoughts and his lunch was destined to be torturous.

When he saw Kieran put away his water bottle, Old Peeker was finally relieved. He anxiously placed all the necessities on his back and continued the journey faster than before.

Soon, the duo reached the hill.

Old Peeker was searching with his head down and when he found a palm-sized stone, his face showed delight.

“I’ve found it, my lord!”

Old Peeker pushed the stone hard.

Kak!

The spring contraption opened up a secret door in front of the hill.

The secret door wasn’t closed, it was already opened when it appeared.

A thick black mist that could even cover sunlight was sprayed out of the secret door and Old Peeker was enshrouded right away while standing in front.

Kieran, however, dodged the black mist the moment it was sprayed out but the black mist didn’t give up on its target. It chased after Kieran like cancer.

“My lord, don’t resist it! It is the necessary procedure of entering the secret bazaar! Only when the black mist enshrouds us will the rooster’s crow disperse the darkness and dawn will be upon us!”

Old Peeker reminded Kieran loudly while he was inside the black mist.

It wasn’t the first reminder though, Old Peeker had reminded Kieran multiple times along the way here.

However, similar to the first time, Kieran didn’t want to end up being inside the black mist.

Stepping into Broker’s procedure without a proper plan was not wise and as long as Kieran was still sane, he would never do it.

Moreover… the dawn that Old Peeker mention, wasn’t it already in his hands?