The Devil's Cage

Words appeared like a reverse waterfall on Kieran’s vision.

The contents of the words, however, surprised Kieran after he carefully read through them.

[Name: Bloody Mary]

[Type: High Demon (Hetero-form)]

[Rarity: Above Rare]

[Attack: Strong]

[Defense: Strong]

[Attributes: 1. Illusion; 2. Phantasm Body; 3. Hand Blade; 4. Blood Suck; 5. Quick Regeneration.]

[Effect: 1. Form Change; 2. Mystical Knowledge (Master); 3. Noble Knowledge (Master)]

[Prerequisite: Willingness to submit]

[Remark: A High Demon that was born from the Blood Queen Tiara due to an accident.]

…

[Illusion: Create Illusion that requires authentications no lower than C+ Spirit, B+ Intuition (If the target fails once, they will suffer Strong mental impact; IF the target fails twice, they will suffer Powerful mental impact)]

[Phantasm Body: Transform body to phantasmal form, immune to physical attack, +1 while in Undercover]

[Hand Blade: Hands are as sharp as a blade, attack rank +1 (Cannot exceed Extreme rank)]

[Blood Suck: Consume the blood of living beings to regenerate injuries and Stamina rapidly, cleanses debuffs.]

[Quick Regeneration: Consume a certain amount of Stamina to restore HP quickly; consume more to regenerate limbs.]

…

[Form Change: Able to change into anyone (possesses own abilities), or change into a Blood Tiara (When contractor wears the Blood Tiara, able to choose one attribute from Bloody Mary as a skill)]

[Mystical Knowledge (Master): Familiar with much mystical knowledge]

[Noble Knowledge (Master): Familiar with the knowledge that nobles have to master]

[Note: Slave Contract doesn’t require points to summon]

…

After Kieran saw the Hetero-form, he knew Bloody Mary was hiding something, but after going through the attributes in details, he was indeed surprised.

Demons were no doubt troublesome things.

According to the books in Nikorei’s place, even a powerful shaman might face a disastrous defeat when going up against an unfamiliar demon if he couldn’t grasp its traits.

However!

The book didn’t say a demon could possess this many attributes.

When Kieran first formed the contract with the demon, Bloody Mary only showed a certain level of hand-to-hand combat, it didn’t show attributes like [Hand Blade], it also didn’t show [Quick Regeneration] and even hid its [Phantasm Body] with normal undercover techniques.

Bloody Mary was hiding from the start.

Recalling how Bloody Mary fought with its suicidal style, although Kieran held responsibility for giving it such orders, its suicidal way of fighting could easily be prevented if it wanted to, given how many abilities it possessed.

“Interesting,” Kieran said softly and looked at the High Demon.

“Hiding is the best protection. I need to protect myself.”

“That’s before, but now!”

“My lord, I am here to serve you.”

Bloody Mary said as it bowed like a knight.

The High Demon lost the panic and fear from a moment ago because it knew after forming the Slave Contract, given how Kieran made the best use of everything, he would not hold Bloody Mary responsible anymore.

Of course, only if Bloody Mary tossed away all small thoughts.

As a matter of fact, it did.

Slave and enslave were only slightly words, but the meaning behind them was heaven and earth apart.

When being enslaved by someone, one could still argue about fairness.

But after becoming a true slave, fairness was taken away.

Everything, including its thoughts, belonged to Kieran now. Before this, Bloody Mary might still hide some thoughts deep in its heart, but now, it wasn’t possible anymore.

When Kieran suffered a destructive attack, Bloody Mary would perish with him as well, but if it were the other way around, Kieran would not suffer at all.

Its situation was probably the worst it could be in but… at least it was better than dying, correct?

Bloody Mary possessed intellect no lower than regular humans, as long as a living being had intelligence, it would instinctively fear death.

Kieran was no exception, neither was Bloody Mary.

“My lord, what are we going to do next?”

Bloody Mary asked attentively.

Since Bloody Mary placed everything on Kieran, including its life, it knew what it must do.

“Take all of the valuable things away,” Kieran said.

“All of them?”

“Understood.”

Bloody Mary jolted for a while before bowing and carried out its orders.

It searched the entire lair of the House of K as though it was scraping layers of rare-earth.

Of course, it would run into obstacles, but common Blood Kins were no match for Bloody Mary.

But Bloody Mary didn’t kill any of those Blood Kin who tried to stop it, it was because of Kieran’s orders.

As for why Kieran wanted to keep these Blood Kins alive?

Bloody Mary instantly understood why when it saw Smith quietly appear inside the premises.

It nodded at Smith and continued its task.

Smith saw the High Demon who shared the exact face with Monster Hunter D, he was astonished, but it didn’t stop his movements.

Compared to the rusty movements last night, Smith was a lot steadier this time.

He ditched the hesitation in his eyes when he looked at the Blood Kins.

Smith had a clear view of the disastrous situation outside Stove-grilled Fish.

Streets destroyed, buildings crumbled, soft weeping all over the scene, everything that he saw fueled his rage and made him shiver.

He was afraid that he would become one of them. He was more afraid to see the scene that he dreaded the most.

Some things were enough after experiencing it once, any more than once would be despair.

That was why Smith needed the power, he needed the power to reject what he dreaded.

60 of the Blood Kins in the House of K were turned into dried corpses one after another.

No matter how they wailed, Smith didn’t show mercy, just like how the Blood Kins treated humans before.

When the last Blood Kin had its blood drained, Smith’s aura suddenly grew stronger, his muscles rapidly expand and boosted him from a thin young man to a huge man, as big as a Ghoul.

But a moment later, Smith reverted to his original form, except for his clothes.

Smith simply picked up some clothes and wore them before returning to the banquet hall.

“Sir,” Smith bowed.

“Not bad,” Kieran commented.

His comment was appropriate. Inside Kieran’s impression, Smith was the first person to grow from a slightly strong existence to a power level almost on par with an early Advance Rank player, other than the not so reliable crystal-gazer, Tanya.

“Let’s go. We must settle somethings within tonight.” Kieran then walked outside.

Bloody Mary, who carried a big bag of items, followed behind together with Smith.

When the three of them vanished from sight, the lair was set ablaze.

Fire rushed up to the night sky and swiftly tainted the area red.

Some who looked towards the fire, their faces turned sour, while some laughed.

“Everything is within expectations.”

“Isn’t, Lord Wisher.”

A pleasant voice of a man sounded in a room, but no one answered him.