The Devil's Cage

The black leather armguard"s concentrated and layered crocodile scale opened up completely and an extremely small crocodile mirage was shaking its body in the middle of the profound patterns; it opened its greedy mouth as if it was eating.

Soon, the big crocodile head withered like a dried husk in the desert and the crocodile mirage on the armguard grew bigger. It even temporarily left the armguard and climbed to Kieran"s palm, widened its big mouth filled with sharp teeth, and gobbling down the withered crocodile head.

It wasn"t until the head was completely eaten that the crocodile mirage went back to the armguard in satisfaction.

The gloomy s.h.i.+ne flashed several times on [Primus Arm] before it slowly calmed down yet the attributes that were displayed in Kieran"s vision had changed without him noticing.

[Name: Primus Arm]

[Type: Protective Gear (Left Armguard)]

[Rarity: Above Legendary]

[Defense: Extreme]

[Attributes: 1. Primus Scale II; 2. Primus Crunch II; 3. Primus Greed II]

[Special Effects: None]

[Prerequisites: None]

[Remarks: The Pope of the Church of Dawn wished to keep the millennium treasure safe, so he bred a special breed of giant crocodile called Primus. Primus was reinforced with alchemy, which made it even stronger, but it was robbed of its senses in the process, making it impossible for anyone to control it. As a result, it became the last straw that crushed the Church of Dawn. That was a thing of the past but now, it is in your possession, it helped you overcome hurdles multiple times because you trusted it! So now, it chose to trust you!]

...

[Primus Scale II: When the skill is active, a force field barrier with Extreme defense will appear, Lasts 5 seconds, 2/day]

[Primus Crunch II: When the skill is active, it grants the user the strength and sharpness of Primus itself. Your left hand will be transformed into a sword with Powerful attack and defense Lasts 10 seconds, 2/day]

[Primus Greed II: When using Primus Crunch, the Lifesteal Effect is activated, recovers 20% of Damage dealt as HP]

…...

Unexpected enhancement!

The same surprise happened when Kieran used [Half-dead Gaze] to kill Ironjaw Croc, he didn"t think it was his body that exploded, not his head, nor did he think the head that was left behind would enhance [Primus Arm].

"Is it because he possessed similar crocodile blood that was mutated?" Kieran wondered in his heart and he couldn"t help but curl his lips into a smirk.

[Primus Arm] had a special place in his heart and was special to him.

It was not just his first Legendary equipment, just like the remarks said, [Primus Arm] helped him overcome hurdles countless times.

Without [Primus Arm], something unfortunate might have occurred to Kieran in the few earliest dungeons; Kieran trusted [Primus Arm] from the bottom of his heart.

However…

Following the increased dungeon entries, the difficulty would increase and the enemies he faced would be stronger, especially with his way of excavating dungeons, his enemies would be a few times stronger than normal dungeon levels. Given such circ.u.mstances, the time for [Primus Arm] to s.h.i.+ne will undoubtedly come to an end.

If new equipment that could replace [Primus Arm] in terms of defensive capabilities appeared…

Kieran didn"t know what kind of choice he would make.

Keep it?

Replace it?

It would be no doubt a hard choice to make, or even a painful choice.

For a person like Kieran, the equipment that fought by his side for so long was one of his partners as well.

Two sides of a coin: one was his partner, one was the dungeon world that would only get harder and more dangerous.

Similar to walking on a high-wire hanging off a cliff, once he stepped on the wire, Kieran could only advance or step down.

Beneath him was the deep dark abyss, a slight misstep and he would be crushed.

In front of him were cold mountain winds, sharp enough to slice his flesh.

While behind him…

Did he ever have a path of retreat?

This whole thing was a path of no return, but wasn"t it exactly this that made the partners who walked the path with him more important?

Kieran lifted his right hand and softly touched the leather surface of [Primus Arm].

"Nice," Kieran muttered to himself.

All matters were easily solved after that last scene from the absorption.

Despite [Primus Arm] not being able to face off against enemies of the higher order, Kieran had found a way to upgrade his equipment.

Maybe this way had all sorts of limitations, had all sorts of difficulty which he had to overcome but…

As long as there was a way, there would be hope and it would be good enough.

All he had to do now was to work harder.

His truest feelings emanated his own unique wave of ripples; [Primus Arm] shook.

The crocodile mirage that was hiding in the leather armguard raised its head, opened its mouth wide and silently roared as if it reacted to Kieran"s feelings.

[Lionheart] felt the feeling as well.

The golden lion slightly opened its eyes for a while. Although it shut its eyes and slumbered again, the golden lion delivered the feeling to every other existence that it could reach.

"Wait!"

"Hold on!"

"Soon!"

"It will come soon!"

Following the delivered feelings, the voice was getting clearer; the other equipment shook together as well.

[Mardos" Lair], magma was boiling, the spider was jumping around, ready to devour G.o.ds.

[Wild Soul], in the borderless wildlands, the rhino charged, conquering one fortress after another.

[Ring of the Serpent King], underneath the thick ground, the golden snakes danced as life came to a cycle.

[Rudenmoren Skin], waves towered over mountains, the sea serpent was wreaking havoc, toppling s.h.i.+ps and causing tsunamis.

[Wolf Remnant Feast], at the end of a cliff, the lone white wolf howled at the moon, commanding everything beneath its ranks.

One after another, wave after wave, call after call.

Some were obvious, some were dark and shy, some were distorted and hard to understand.

All of the equipment used their own ways to react to his feelings, including [Arrogant Word] which was still in a blank, ignorant state, following only its basic instinct.

The blade vibrated, the will of the greatsword was unyielding.

The drums were like thunder, the horns were like swords.

Cold glares s.h.i.+ned in every direction, blood burst and splattered everywhere.

The decayed body stood up again.

Even with only the hilt, the broken greatsword still wanted to press forward with an indomitable will!

Kill!

Kill! Kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Killing intent and a sense of unwillingness made the blade vibrated fiercely.

Unlike the slumbering lion, a seed of another kind was slowly sprouting.

Slow but sure to grow into a towering tree that would pierce the sky.

Kieran raised a confused brow as he felt something, he looked around with vigilance yet nothing came into sight.

"What happened?

Kieran wondered in suspicion but soon enough, his attention was caught by the system notification.

[Eliminated Ironjaw Croc, Slither Bone, Predator, acquired Below Average recognition…]

[Main mission is completed, leave the dungeon?Yes/No]