The Devil’s Cage

The soldier who was apprehended didn’t even care about the sharp dagger at his neck, allowing it to slice the neck open before throwing himself to Walloon.

“Be careful sir!”

The sudden changes astonished everyone; Walloon’s aide cried out in shock.

Riley gave chase again, the dagger in his hand was swung in a flurry, slashing wound after wound on the soldier’s back.

But, it was completely useless.

The soldier kept on throwing himself at Walloon as if he had lost his sense of pain.

Everyone was anxious as they looked at the vicious soldier with a cut on his neck and multiple wounds on his back getting closer and closer to Walloon.

Sou!

Another arrow was fired with air-breaking sound.

Blu’s arrow was precisely shot at the soldier’s chest and pierced through it.

However, similar to the cut on his neck, the lethal shot on his chest didn’t kill the soldier.

Instead, it made him growl loudly as the pain struck him.

Thick fur started to grow at his limbs and his human finger started to transform into wolf claws.

The claws were exceptionally sharp and keen.

“Wolf plague?!”

Walloon’s heart sank when he saw the changes.

As a major of Burning Dawn, he knew what happened to his militia recently. In fact, he was involved in some of the operations as well.

Therefore, Walloon knew he couldn’t rely on others anymore at this particular moment.

All he had was himself.

Huu!

Walloon took a deep breath. His bloated tummy was slightly sucked in as his fist was clenched tightly; the muscles on his strong arms were tightened. It made the middle-aged man full of facial hair look full of power and energy.

However, before Walloon launched his punch, Snacker cut in front of him.

The dual blader looked at the half-man half-wolf monster before him with a cold arrogant look. He pretended to draw his swords slowly but was actually a quick draw.

The cold glare shone from the dual blader’s two swords as the cold arrogant look on his face presented him with an extra imposing manner.

Even Snacker’s friends, Blu, and Riley were slightly stunned. They had never seen the dual blader in this mode before, let alone the others around them.

At that moment, everyone was looking at the dual blader with eyes of anticipation. They want to see how the dual blader killed the monster.

“Heh, frightened by my serious mode? I’ve said it before, only I am reliable around here!”

The dual blader thought as he felt the gazes of anticipation from the people.

Despite the thought, his movements were not slow at all as he planned to kill off the monster with a clear cut.

However, just as Snacker wanted to dish out a cross slash, a shadow cut in before him.

The crow mantle fluttered under the sunlight and air-breaking sounds followed the figure’s movements.

Then…

The monster was kicked away.

After a series of bone crackings and muscles tearing, the infected soldier had no more signs of life when he was still flying in mid-air.

Perhaps the infected ones didn’t have the lethal weak spots that common people had and they lost most of their senses of pain as well. Despite the great increase in strength and speed, the half-man half-wolf monster still had a limit on their body.

Just like the single blow from Kieran which had the force of completely destroying their body, the monsters would never be able to endure it and live.

Everyone In the crowd fell into silence as they looked at the fallen monster.

Then, loud cheers happened.

“Long live Lord 2567!”

“Long live Lord 2567!”

…

The cheers were deafening to a certain extent but the dual blader, Snacker stood in his spot with an absent mind, as if he had lost his soul.

“Wait! Shouldn’t it be me who makes the killing move? Shouldn’t it be me who kills the monster in the coolest way possible?”

Snacker mumbled to himself.

Blu who jumped down from the roof frowned when he saw his comrade in that lost state. He felt he was obliged to comfort Snacker, so did Riley.

“A warrior’s honor is not just the cheers before you but also the steadiness in your heart.”

“A warrior’s merit is not just the scars on your body but also the tenacity in your heart.”

Both of them voiced out words of comfort in unison but Snacker who heard them felt even more depressed.

“I don’t want scars! I don’t was steadiness! I don’t want tenacity! I want cheers!”

“I knew it, I shouldn’t have left Dawn City! If I didn’t leave, I wouldn’t end up with you two dimwits and if I didn’t team up with the both of you, I would still that well-known, well-received swordsman from Dawn City…”

Depressed Snacker dragged his swords into a corner, squatted down and mumbled to himself non-stop.

Blu and Riley who were used to their friend’s behavior didn’t feel surprised, they continued to comfort him with their own way.

“Don’t fret it, Snacker!”

“Just now, everyone was paying attention to Lord 2567, not you. So you don’t need to worry anyone saw you in this lousy form.”

“Yeah. Ugly or embarrassed, no one saw! You are still you, you are still that famous Dual Blader, Snacker.”

Relentless words of comfort echoed in Snacker’s eyes.

“Hahahaha. I am a mushroom. I am a mushroom. I am a mushroom…”

Snacker smirked and he released himself habitually.

Just like Blu said, no one was watching, when Kieran appeared, he caught all the attention.

Despite a short three days, he had become a legend in Shatterstone Town.

Everyone was curious about the legend and of course, everyone kept their curiosity at hold about the legend’s battle records since everyone knew the people from the Burning Family were not Mr. Nice Guys.

“Thank you for your help.” Walloon looked at Kieran with gratitude.

Although he had made up his mind, Walloon knew that the odds were against him if he fought the monster barehanded and without armor. Even if he won in the end, it would be a clutch victory.

Therefore, his gratitude was from the bottom of his heart.

“You’re welcome. You are the envoy from Burning Dawn?”

Kieran shook his head and asked. He didn’t care about the gratitude since he wanted to know more about the situation.

“Yes. It’s my pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Sheriff 2567.”

As long as one wasn’t deaf, one would easily know Kieran’s position from the cheers just now, Walloon was no exception either.

The major from Burning Dawn performed a military salutation before he continued with an exclaimed tone, “When Envoy Aisphany guaranteed us that Sir 2567 can help us to cure the wolf plague, we were still having second thoughts but after the scene just now, it tells us that what Envoy Aisphany told us was true.”

“This is great! The guys will be saved!”

Walloon’s eyes turned red as he spoke.

Kieran was sure if there wasn’t a lot of people around them, the bearded man with a bloated tummy would really cry out loud.

However, Kieran would not comfort him, instead, he was more concerned about the content of his words.

“What did you say? Cure the wolf plague?” Kieran asked again in order to confirm what he heard.

“Yes.”

Walloon nodded before he lowered his voice to the point only both of them could hear, “Envoy Aisphany said, the royal family knew everything that happened on Supreme Road, that is why she and you, sir, were sent here to investigate both openly and secretly respectively while curing those who were infected with the wolf plague.”

“She was on the open side to attract enemies’ attention while you are the secret one, investigating and curing the wolf plague!”