The Devil's Cage

Starbeck saw the panicked Rorl and High Demon confronting another Server. He automatically wanted to retreat back into the house.

There weren't a lot of battles between players in the big city, but not entirely none either.

Without an effective sanction system, plus the alluring reward of killing others, a lot of players were willing to take the risk.

Therefore, the impromptu battles that happened across the city were quite frequent, to the point that some players who purposely avoided conflict would stumble upon one once in a while.

Starbeck, however, already set up a series of countermeasures, and no doubt the situation before his eyes required him to activate one of them.

Everyone knew the room of a player was the safest place in the entire city, but at the next moment, Starbeck's face changed because the owner of the house who he just bought a bunch of spices from rejected his request to re-enter the house.

Worse, the two new bodyguards he hired were nowhere to be found, and he couldn't even contact them. Starbeck's heart sank.

Fortunately, his background and experience with fighting beside Kieran kept his mind clear. He looked calm enough, but he was actually scared; his mind still understood what he must do.

First, send a message to Kieran.

Second, reach toward the pouch at his waist.

After completing those two steps, Starbeck felt relieved for a while.

Bloody Mary, on the other hand, was in a complete opposite situation from Starbeck.

Holy mother of God! The Server's target wasn't Bloody Mary at all, but Starbeck all along!

When Bloody Mary saw the red figure try to walk around it and head towards Starbeck, the High Demon started to feel scared, and cold sweat drenched its back.

Despite not knowing why the hell Starbeck was at the Pastry House, it knew how important the coward was in its contractor's heart.

If anything happened to Starbeck and Bloody Mary didn't help, despite it coincidentally being around the area…

The sole thought of the possible outcome made Bloody Mary shudder hard.

Without a second thought, Bloody Mary went up and blocked the Server's way.

"We are closing early today, please leave," Bloody Mary said as though it were the owner of the Pastry House.

"Move," Server IV said coldly.

His attention didn't even linger on Bloody Mary, an insignificant person who somehow blocked his way.

Bloody Mary's presence wasn't weak by any means when compared to a normal veteran, but Server IV was a high-ranker; Bloody Mary was not enough to stop him from carrying out his task.

Similar to how veterans looked down on newbies, the high-rankers looked down on veterans as well. The latter might be even more severe in this case.

The stronger one was, the wider the gap of strength in between.

"What did you say? I didn't catch it clearly."

Bloody Mary dug its ear with its right little finger and moved its head forward, trying to make Sever IV repeat what he said.

Server IV launched his attack right away when Bloody Mary stuck its head forward.

His patience was limited, and time was running out. He had no intention or the time to mess with the weak bastard in front of him.

Puk!

A bloody shine wrapped around Server IV's right hand as it plunged into Bloody Mary's head. As he shook his hand, Bloody Mary's twitching 'body' fell to the ground, but when its body fell below Server IV's abdomen, Bloody Mary's right hand moved and launched at Server IV's abdomen like a sharp javelin.

The strike was very precise but… it landed 'in front' of the abdomen instead.

A thin layer of bloody shine blocked Bloody Mary's right hand, but its left hand attack followed up like a shadow.

Bang!

Its left hand had charged up enough and produced a loud bang when it hit the bloody shine. The bloody shine shook but wasn't broken.

Despite the hit being unsuccessful, a faint, pressuring feeling entered Server IV's heart, causing his body to shake unconsciously.

"You bastard!"

A loud shout later, Server IV didn't hold back anymore. The bloody shine around his body radiated brightly and produced spikes like a bloody hedgehog, plunging holes through Bloody Mary's body.

"Aaaaaargh!"

The burning sensation gushed into the deepest part of Bloody Mary's soul, causing it to scream in pain.

Although Bloody Mary was completely immune to normal physical attacks, anything beyond physical attacks would still inflict normal damage on the High Demon. Especially this kind of special power that surpassed commoners' knowledge; the pain inflicted on Bloody Mary was excruciating.

It knew it would have another unforgettable memory after this, but before that—

"HELP!"

Bloody Mary turned its hands into the sharpest blades, slicing and dicing Server IV with the fastest speed. At the same time, it shouted at Rorl, who was standing there blankly.

"Oooh, oh! Right, help!"

After hearing Bloody Mary's shout, Rorl followed his instinct, took in a big breath, and shouted, "HELP!"

His 'help' was loud and long, but Bloody Mary, who was in the middle of a furious attack, almost fainted.

"ATTACK! Take you weapon out and ATTACK!" Bloody Mary was enraged as it shouted again at Rorl.

This time, Rorl finally understood the meaning and reacted properly.

He took out his gun, and with his Master level shooting skills, the bullets were all shot precisely at the figure behind the bloody shining veil.

But… useless!

Normal bullets couldn't even land a scratch on this kind of special protective veil!

"GOD DAMNIT! USE YOUR STRONGEST ATTACK!" Bloody Mary yelled.

"This is my strongest attack!" Rorl replied cowardly.

He was a little embarrassed, but he felt wronged. If he had some useful offensive means, would he end up where he was now?

"Shoot at a single spot!"

Bloody Mary reminded Rorl after being speechless for a moment.

"I'll try…" Rorl replied in a weak tone, as though purposely expressing his weakness.

The bullets that landed on Server IV the first time missed their target twice in a row after that.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Are you two clowns playing games? I have no time to meddle with you stupid idiots!"

A series of sneers later, Server IV moved to erase the two clowns before his eyes once and for all. The bloody shining veil around his body turned denser as he spoke, and anyone could see that Server IV was going with the quick way.

Starbeck saw it, too.

Having had quite some time to buffer and react to the situation, Starbeck shaking hands took out a scroll and used it directly.

The scroll turned into three white lights and enveloped Bloody Mary, Rorl and Starbeck.

Bloody Mary instantly felt power throughout its body. The burning sensation from the cuts vanished, and its attacks got stronger and faster.

Even the useless Rorl noticed that he could aim better.

"Scroll of Blessing? It's useless! A single Scroll of Blessing…"

The disdainful words from Server IV were forced to a stop because Starbeck took out a stack of scrolls before his eyes.

A stack of scrolls… that were almost half the height of a man.