The Devil's Cage

Words started to pile up before Kieran"s eyes as he traveled through the blinding light and gravity was lost .

[Entering Party Dungeon!]

[Special Dungeon: Party]

[Party Members: 2]

[Party leader 2567 that initiated the special dungeon has 5 dungeon entry count; Party member Starbeck has 6 dungeon entry count]

[Calculating Special Dungeon difficulty…]

[Party member has dungeon entry count that surpa.s.s the Special Dungeon…]

[Difficulty confirmed: 5th dungeon]

[Background: You have entered Naveya City and are involved in huge unexpected trouble but this is just the start…]

[Main Mission: You need to be in Naveya City for 4 weeks and make sure you and your party member"s ident.i.ties aren"t exposed; remaining time: 0/28]

[Acquired temporary language pack, Disappears upon exiting the dungeon . ]

[Clothing, backpack, weapons, and other items remain unchanged, Temporarily altered appearance, Returns to normal upon exiting the dungeon]

[Detected firearms and grenade do not match the dungeon period, power decrease 90% . When you entered the dungeon, you will be compensated with corresponding skills . (Compensated skills can"t be leveled up and will disappear upon exit of the dungeon]

[Note 1: This is a special dungeon and because you have reach I rank, you can not fail the main mission . Once you fail, it"s game over!]

[Note 2: Party member"s main mission and punishment (if fail) will be determined by their own dungeon entry count . ]

. . .

As the blinding light faded, Kieran appeared in a broken small house .

There was a big hole on top of the roof, allowing a direct view of the two full moons hanging in the sky .

One was greenish white and the other was eerily purple .

The drastically contrasting moonlight s.h.i.+ned through the hole into the house . Starbeck who Kieran advised to use some items to suppress his presence quickly did so while Kieran himself stepped into the shadows like water returning to the sea .

Transcendence and above [Undercover] with the addition of [Dark Movement Technique] allowed Kieran"s hiding techniques to go through drastic changes despite the latter only being at the Basic level .

Kieran was sensing his surroundings .

When he noticed that the dangerous presence that pressured him last time wasn"t here, he was relieved from the bottom of his heart; he then waved at Starbeck .

Kieran did carefully read through "Introduction to Naveya City", "a.n.a.lytics of the temples developments in Naveya City", and "Distributions of underground factions of Naveya City", so he was very clear on where the dangerous presence originated from .

The temples!

One of the 25 temples of various sizes that was scattered throughout Naveya City .

But of course, for Kieran at his current power level, that dangerous presence back then was really nothing, still, Kieran had to be careful because the G.o.ds that were wors.h.i.+ped in the temples did not go into slumber nor go away but…

They really existed!

Divine miracles would come from the G.o.ds occasionally as well .

Kieran knew what it mean: real G.o.ds!

After the battle with Ancilanco, Kieran had a deeper understanding of the so-called "G.o.ds", the divine beings .

A G.o.d without its divine position, a broken divinity and a flickering divine flame in addition to suffering consecutively from repulsion still possessed powers similar to a high-ranker .

So what would a G.o.d with its divine position, complete divinity, and a blazing divine flame be like?

The simple of thought of it caused Kieran to frown . That was why Kieran brought Starbeck together into this dungeon and not the Fire Raven, despite the Fire Raven having quite the supportive abilities .

The reason was the Fire Raven"s outlook and its praiseworthy abilities were all too eye-catching .

Kieran knew what was the biggest disadvantage he has in the current dungeon world: ident.i.ty!

His ident.i.ty could not afford being searched or investigated, any simple investigation would expose him as an outsider .

Kieran had no need to doubt the priest in the temples and their means; anyone related to G.o.ds could no longer be explained by common sense .

Look at the main mission: [You need to be in Naveya City for 4 weeks and make sure you and your party member"s ident.i.ties are not exposed] .

It might seem extremely easy but the fact that it was a 5th dungeon difficulty, it was enough for Kieran to be more careful than ever .

"Follow me!"

Kieran then carefully pushed open the broken house"s door .

There was nothing noteworthy inside the broken house though; no furniture, no decorations, and not only was the roof broken, the floor was as well .

The humid and tough ground beneath the wooden flooring notified Kieran that there was no underground bas.e.m.e.nt in there .

Starbeck carefully followed behind Kieran, keeping as quiet as possible .

Truth be told, after Starbeck learned from Kieran that there were G.o.ds in this dungeon world, the mimosa was frightened to his core . He even tried to suggest finding other ways to prevent his upcoming death because of the limit but when he realized Kieran"s aura had changed and he picked up the sulfuric stench, he was smart enough to obey .

He didn"t know Kieran"s plan, not even what he wanted to do next . All he could do was s.h.i.+ver and follow behind Kieran .

Fortunately, although they ran into two groups of fully armed patrolling soldiers, such common patrolling soldiers even with their torch raised couldn"t see through the hiding effect from Starbeck"s item .

After moving forward for another ten plus minutes, Starbeck realized the terrain had switched from dirt to pebbles . The surface of the pebbled ground even became clean, not filled with mud, puddles, or garbage anymore .

When a small house made entirely out of stone appeared, Kieran finally halted .

"This is where we are heading?" 2567, you seem to be very familiar with this place . "

Starbeck thought in his mind while he kept Kieran"s back within his sight .

As for asking him directly, the mimosa didn"t have the guts to do so .

Just like that, when Kieran signaled him to walk over, despite Starbeck"s heart being scared, he still followed his orders and went over as his body s.h.i.+vered .

Kieran took a glance at him; his heart was at a complete loss for commenting on Starbeck .

Kieran even noticed when his gaze landed directly at Starbeck, Starbeck trembled even harder .

"If I say he is as cowardly as a mouse, I might be insulting the mouse instead…" Kieran couldn"t help but shake his head .

If there was any other possible option, he definitely wouldn"t party up with this coward but reality would not bend based on a single person"s will .

Others couldn"t alter the eventsthat had already happened, neither could Kieran .

All he did was take a deep breath to regulate his own emotions .

Then, Kieran knocked on the stone door .

Dok Dok, Dok .

It wasn"t a casual knock but a rhythmic one .

The stone-made door produced heavy thuds following the knocks, even though it was a quiet night, the sound couldn"t reach far .

It seemed like the stone door was specially treated . Even though the look of the door has no difference from any other, its specialized material allowed it to absorb sound . Unless one were to be very close when the knocking happened, it was as good as silent .

After knocking, Kieran stood before the stone door, waiting patiently and after a while, a door was opened up .

It wasn"t the stone door before him though but the door from the other two-storey civilian house behind him .

A hunchback, one-eyed old man with a hood over his head that covered most of his face appeared behind the door and waved at Kieran and Starbeck .

"Come in! You know the rules, don"t cause any trouble! Otherwise, you will regret that you came into this world!"

After the seemingly violent threat, the old man moved aside and revealed the path inside his house .

Kieran dragged Starbeck who was frozen by the threat along and went inside .

When the door closed, the pa.s.sage to the underground was opened up right after; clamors came from below .. . . . Words started to pile up before Kierans eyes as he traveled through the blinding light and gravity was lost . [Entering Party Dungeon!] [Special Dungeon: Party] [Party Members: 2] [Party leader 2567 that initiated the special dungeon has 5 dungeon entry count; Party member Starbeck has 6 dungeon entry count] [Calculating Special Dungeon difficulty…] [Party member has dungeon entry count that surpa.s.s the Special Dungeon…] [Difficulty confirmed: 5th dungeon] [Background: You have entered Naveya City and are involved in huge unexpected trouble but this is just the start…] [Main Mission: You need to be in Naveya City for 4 weeks and make sure you and your party members ident.i.ties arent exposed; remaining time: 0/28] [Acquired temporary language pack, Disappears upon exiting the dungeon . ] [Clothing, backpack, weapons, and other items remain unchanged, Temporarily altered appearance, Returns to normal upon exiting the dungeon] [Detected firearms and grenade do not match the dungeon period, power decrease 90% . When you entered the dungeon, you will be compensated with corresponding skills . (Compensated skills cant be leveled up and will disappear upon exit of the dungeon] [Note 1: This is a special dungeon and because you have reach I rank, you can not fail the main mission . Once you fail, its game over!] . . [Note 2: Party members main mission and punishment (if fail) will be determined by their own dungeon entry count . ] . As the blinding light faded, Kieran appeared in a broken small house . There was a big hole on top of the roof, allowing a direct view of the two full moons hanging in the sky . One was greenish white and the other was eerily purple . The drastically contrasting moonlight s.h.i.+ned through the hole into the house . Starbeck who Kieran advised to use some items to suppress his presence quickly did so while Kieran himself stepped into the shadows like water returning to the sea . Transcendence and above [Undercover] with the addition of [Dark Movement Technique] allowed Kierans hiding techniques to go through drastic changes despite the latter only being at the Basic level . Kieran was sensing his surroundings . When he noticed that the dangerous presence that pressured him last time wasnt here, he was relieved from the bottom of his heart; he then waved at Starbeck . Kieran did carefully read through Introduction to Naveya City, a.n.a.lytics of the temples developments in Naveya City, and Distributions of underground factions of Naveya City, so he was very clear on where the dangerous presence originated from . The temples! One of the 25 temples of various sizes that was scattered throughout Naveya City . But of course, for Kieran at his current power level, that dangerous presence back then was really nothing, still, Kieran had to be careful because the G.o.ds that were wors.h.i.+ped in the temples did not go into slumber nor go away but… They really existed! Divine miracles would come from the G.o.ds occasionally as well . . . Kieran knew what it mean: real G.o.ds! After the battle with Ancilanco, Kieran had a deeper understanding of the so-called G.o.ds, the divine beings . A G.o.d without its divine position, a broken divinity and a flickering divine flame in addition to suffering consecutively from repulsion still possessed powers similar to a high-ranker . So what would a G.o.d with its divine position, complete divinity, and a blazing divine flame be like? The simple of thought of it caused Kieran to frown . That was why Kieran brought Starbeck together into this dungeon and not the Fire Raven, despite the Fire Raven having quite the supportive abilities . The reason was the Fire Ravens outlook and its praiseworthy abilities were all too eye-catching . Kieran knew what was the biggest disadvantage he has in the current dungeon world: ident.i.ty! His ident.i.ty could not afford being searched or investigated, any simple investigation would expose him as an outsider . Kieran had no need to doubt the priest in the temples and their means; anyone related to G.o.ds could no longer be explained by common sense . Look at the main mission: [You need to be in Naveya City for 4 weeks and make sure you and your party members ident.i.ties are not exposed] . It might seem extremely easy but the fact that it was a 5th dungeon difficulty, it was enough for Kieran to be more careful than ever . Follow me! Kieran then carefully pushed open the broken houses door . There was nothing noteworthy inside the broken house though; no furniture, no decorations, and not only was the roof broken, the floor was as well . The humid and tough ground beneath the wooden flooring notified Kieran that there was no underground bas.e.m.e.nt in there . Starbeck carefully followed behind Kieran, keeping as quiet as possible . Truth be told, after Starbeck learned from Kieran that there were G.o.ds in this dungeon world, the mimosa was frightened to his core . He even tried to suggest finding other ways to prevent his upcoming death because of the limit but when he realized Kierans aura had changed and he picked up the sulfuric stench, he was smart enough to obey . He didnt know Kierans plan, not even what he wanted to do next . All he could do was s.h.i.+ver and follow behind Kieran . Fortunately, although they ran into two groups of fully armed patrolling soldiers, such common patrolling soldiers even with their torch raised couldnt see through the hiding effect from Starbecks item . After moving forward for another ten plus minutes, Starbeck realized the terrain had switched from dirt to pebbles . The surface of the pebbled ground even became clean, not filled with mud, puddles, or garbage anymore . When a small house made entirely out of stone appeared, Kieran finally halted . This is where we are heading? 2567, you seem to be very familiar with this place . Starbeck thought in his mind while he kept Kierans back within his sight . As for asking him directly, the mimosa didnt have the guts to do so . Just like that, when Kieran signaled him to walk over, despite Starbecks heart being scared, he still followed his orders and went over as his body s.h.i.+vered . Kieran took a glance at him; his heart was at a complete loss for commenting on Starbeck . Kieran even noticed when his gaze landed directly at Starbeck, Starbeck trembled even harder . If I say he is as cowardly as a mouse, I might be insulting the mouse instead… Kieran couldnt help but shake his head . If there was any other possible option, he definitely wouldnt party up with this coward but reality would not bend based on a single persons will . Others couldnt alter the eventsthat had already happened, neither could Kieran . All he did was take a deep breath to regulate his own emotions . Then, Kieran knocked on the stone door . Dok Dok, Dok . It wasnt a casual knock but a rhythmic one . The stone-made door produced heavy thuds following the knocks, even though it was a quiet night, the sound couldnt reach far . It seemed like the stone door was specially treated . Even though the look of the door has no difference from any other, its specialized material allowed it to absorb sound . Unless one were to be very close when the knocking happened, it was as good as silent . After knocking, Kieran stood before the stone door, waiting patiently and after a while, a door was opened up . It wasnt the stone door before him though but the door from the other two-storey civilian house behind him . A hunchback, one-eyed old man with a hood over his head that covered most of his face appeared behind the door and waved at Kieran and Starbeck . Come in! You know the rules, dont cause any trouble! Otherwise, you will regret that you came into this world! After the seemingly violent threat, the old man moved aside and revealed the path inside his house . Kieran dragged Starbeck who was frozen by the threat along and went inside . When the door closed, the pa.s.sage to the underground was opened up right after; clamors came from below .