The Devil's Cage

Using his C Rank Intuition, Kieran could feel a sharp glare pass over him quickly.

It was not from some common John Doe. The glare had a slight sense of malicious intent to it.

Although it was just a flash, it was enough to make Kieran shiver like a slimy venomous snake had crawled over his back.

Kieran unconsciously grabbed his [Python-W2].

He had already been ambushed once when he had been on his way back to 13th Wallway Street. It would not come as a surprise if an ambush was waiting for him once he stepped out now.

After all, there was a bounty on his head.

Kieran leaned his back against the door. The system asked him whether he wanted to return to the room or not.

He needed to make sure he could get inside his room if anything happened. Only then would he be able to carefully inspect his surroundings.

Kieran still remembered how powerful the Hellfire’s cannon power was. He was uncertain whether other players owned any similar weapons.

He had to be careful just in case though.

"Huh?" As Kieran inspected his surroundings, he frowned.

There was no one around, even after he scanned the whole area from a couple of secure spots.

He could not see anyone.

"Could it be some kind of animal?" Kieran recalled the bird that had been sent by the killer players to spy on him.

He quickly changed his search settings and found something.

It was an eagle with sharp claws.

Although there were many types of animals in the underground game, even stray dogs and cats, the options were limited to urban animals. There were no wild or predatory animals.

That eagle was a predatory animal though.

Kieran raised his gun without a second thought, but the eagle had exceptional intelligence.

The moment Kieran raised his gun at it, it ascended higher in the sky.

Meanwhile, it threw a ball of paper down using its claws.

Kieran shrugged and stared helplessly at the eagle as it disappeared in the sky.

He wanted to fire, but the eagle was too fast and it seemed to have some kind of evading ability.

Even with his Musou Level [Firearm Weapon, Light Firearm], Kieran could not get a lock on it.

"It can’t be a common eagle!"

Kieran guessed that this was not the first time the eagle spied on its prey. His eyes focused on the ball of paper.

After using his Master Level [Medical and Medicinal Knowledge] and [Mystical Knowledge] to make sure the paper was not poisoned or able to trigger any kind of magical trap, he picked it up and opened it.

It was a red smiley face. The bright red color was fresh blood and it still reeked like it.

The smiley was simple, drawn with the index or middle finger using fresh blood. A giant circle formed the face, and the eyes were two arcs. The mouth was a sharp V-shape.

The bright red color made it look spooky.

"What kind of symbol is this?"

Kieran frowned as he searched for answers among the knowledge and memories in his mind.

He had never seen anything like it before. Even after another round of inspecting his surroundings, he still found nothing and no one related to it.

After a fruitless search, he boarded the train towards the Harvest Inn. His mind was busy thinking throughout the whole journey. He only focused again when he reached the Harvest Inn.

Lawless and Hanses waved at him, and he replied with a slight nod.

"Here, 2567! It’s Hanses’ treat! I’ve asked Rachel to bring the most expensive gourmet meal and wine! We will eat and drink like kings!" Lawless said delightedly.

"Can I take back what I said? For real, I’m already regretting my decision!"

Hanses had a bitter expression on his face as he looked at Kieran.

"Of course… not!"

Kieran purposely prolonged his sentence to leave a thin ray of hope for Hanses before he stomped on it with his last word.

Lawless burst into laughter, while Hanses turned even more gloomy. He kept sighing continuously.

"What great friends I have! Really! I’m so fortunate!" Hanses said, covering his chest with his hand and wobbly walking over to the bar, where Rachel was.

"Do you accept labor as a payment method? My two friends and I are willing to work for food! One of them is as strong as a bull, and the other is as smart as a rabbit, but I am better than both of them! Would you be willing to hire us?" Hanses begged Rachel with a puppy-eyed expression.

"I run a small business, so any form of payment is accepted! If you don’t have enough Points to pay, you can pay with one of your hands! My morbid menu is lacking a human hand right now,"

Rachel said coldly, mocking Hanses. Her expression made it seem like it was not a joke though.

Hanses went back to his seat with a pale face and waited for the food to be served.

"Rachel is joking, right?" Kieran asked Lawless as he sneaked a peek at her.

"You think?" Lawless pointed at Hanses’ pale face.

"For real? She would actually use human parts as ingredients? What the…"

"How’s your left hand?" Lawless switched the topic quickly by interrupting Kieran.

"Oh, the system healed me up quite good from the looks of it. My left hand was almost gone, but it’s not even Moderately Wounded now!" Kieran commented.

"No need to doubt the system’s features! Lucky for you, your palm was still somewhat intact. If you’d lost the whole thing, it would have cost you a hefty sum! The more you lose, the more you have to pay up! If you lost one of your arms completely, you’d need at least 50,000 Points to get it back!" Lawless said, pointing at Kieran’s arm.

Kieran rolled his eyes at him before he continued, "Oh yeah, you told me to try not to rely too much on firearms. What did you mean?"

"You’ve never been into a dungeon with firearm restrictions?" Lawless answered with another question.

"Yeah, man! Firearms and grenades are not compatible with dungeons from different time periods. There’s a 50% decrease in attacking power, handgun reloading takes an extra second, and sniper reloading takes an extra 30 seconds! There’s all sorts of restrictions, it’s a pain in my neck!" Kieran replied, talking about his experience during [The Failed Great Detective].

"I really don’t know whether you should consider yourself lucky or unlucky!"

Lawless and Hanses laughed.

"What do you mean?" Kieran was surprised.

"When your firearm weapon’s attacking power reduction passes the 50% mark, the system compensates you with a skill similar to your firearm weapon skill level! You need to prepare the equipment in advance though!"

"The skill might be related to Sharp Weapons or other types of basic skills. The system is quite generous. It lists all available skills for you to choose from, it’s just that… there’s no compensation for the equipment!" Lawless said.

"Does that mean I need to buy extra sharp weapons and similar equipment?" Kieran frowned.

"Yes! The next thing you should do is expand your backpack!" Lawless said with a laugh.

Kieran interpreted his reaction as Lawless taking pleasure in his misfortune.

"You’re a lone wolf, so you might want to consider every possibility. You need to master at least one kind of sharp weapon skill, because you never know what you might come across!"

"I acquired a laser weapon in a dungeon once, but during the next dungeon, I was sent back to a middle-age colosseum! I immediately turned my laser weapon into a piece of metal! You won’t know how I felt unless you’ve been through a similar situation! Just when I was about to go on a killing spree, all I had was a sword! The game really f*cked me in the ass!" Hanses shared his experience with Kieran.

"Well then, how much do you think these two pieces of equipment are worth? The [Piercing Spear] is broken, Lawless, but you can get some compensation when you sell the [Sharp Stinger]. Is that okay?"

Kieran sent the [Rose Thorn] and the [Monolith Armor] over to them.

Lawless nodded before drawing in a cold breath when he saw the [Rose Thorn] and the [Monolith Armor].

"No problem! Wow, two Rare pieces of equipment? You can bundle these two up together!"

Hanses started acting weird all of a sudden.

"You killed the Grand Duke and his consultant Ferlin?" he asked.

Kieran nodded in reply.

"Lawless, help me! I’m dying! Why am I even treating you to this meal?"

Hanses leaned over against Lawless. He looked like he was running out of breath, but Lawless pushed him away.

"It should be 2567 paying for the meal! He really got a big reward, man! Two Rare pieces of equipment! That's enough to let those other bastards bring out their good stuff as well!"

"If you’re not running short on Points or Skill Points, I suggest you barter it off in exchange for other equipment or advanced Skill Books!" Hanses said after looking at Lawless in disgust.

"Yeah! Bartering with others is a good option!" Lawless agreed with Hanses’ suggestion.

The two of them could not make that decision by themselves though, so they stared at Kieran quietly, waiting for him to reply.

"Whatever you guys say!"

Kieran would never take the two veterans’ advice for granted.

After he gave the green light, they both immediately contacted their friends.

Then Rachel came over with delicious food and wine.

There was lemon-grilled salmon, grilled geese sausages, sturgeon sandwiches, swiss cake rolls, oxtail cream soup, and almost a dozen other dishes.

Each time Rachel placed a dish down, Hanses’ face turned a little paler.

When she finally brought a bottle of wine the size of a child, Hanses’ face lost all traces of blood.

"My home-brewed specialty, the Hercules! That will be 3,900 Points rounded up!" Rachel said, her gaze sweeping over Hanses’ hand. Suddenly, a long chef knife appeared in her hand.

"Ho… Hold on, lady! I’ll pay!" Hanses begged her.

Kieran was speechless over the price of the meal, but when he saw the attributes of the foods and wine, he understood why it was so expensive.

The best example was the [Grilled Geese Sausage]s and the [Hercules] wine.

The first one could restore up to 50% of one’s HP within 5 seconds, and the second one was able to recover 50% of one’s Stamina and provide +1 Strength in 3 seconds.

If eating all of it would not take time or cause a Drunk Debuff, Kieran would have wanted to take back a whole bag of food in the dungeon.

It was satisfying enough to taste everything at the inn though.

Every dish was delicious. It was a feast for his taste buds, every bite causing him goosebumps.

Kieran enjoyed his meal, and so did Lawless and Hanses.

More and more veteran players entered the inn as the trio savored their food.

Just as Kieran was ready to start his mini auction for the [Rose Thorn] and the [Monolith Armor], Lawless suddenly received a PM and stood up.

His face was like ice, and his killing intent erupted around him, a strong wind blasting out.

Some of the tables and chairs were blown away. A few of the veterans got scared and backed off a couple of steps at Lawless’ sudden outrage.

His fearsome aura made him look like a fierce beast rather than a human.

Translator's Thoughts

Dess Dess

The true strength of Lawless is soon to debut