The Devil's Cage

Words piled up one row after another.

[Fusion Heart backlash occurred...]

[Constitution authentication failed...]

[Spirit authentication failed...]

[Puppet of Flesh and Blood conversion...]

[Backlash dispelled, conversion failed...]

...

Although he had been through it himself, when Kieran saw the term "Puppet of Flesh and Blood", his heart still shook.

He knew that if it wasn’t for [Lionheart] that triggered [Mardos Arm] to bring him back, he would be a dead man.

Though, Kieran unconsciously looked at his right wrist band and touched the emblem softly.

The spider emblem on it was very lively and felt real, as if the tiny spider would jump out anytime. Other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. But the scene that Kieran witnessed before told him that [Mardos Arm] had more secrets than it showed out.

A lava river appeared just before his eyes. The place he was at was not the sulphuric hell but just a normal dungeon world!

The almost instant kill of the seven demonic complex and the devil lord shocked Kieran beyond belief as well.

Though not only the Hell Fiend Spider from [Mardos Arm] but [Lionheart]’s golden lion, [Primus Arm]’s colossal crocodile and [Wild Soul]’s giant rhino... every one of them seemed to have secrets within.

"If the mirages were not just some skill triggers... Soul remains? Or a cluster of convictions? Or was it some sort of mutation?" Kieran pondered the question in his heart.

He realized his understanding of the underground game was still too limited.

Kieran was in the weird "circle" that the more he knew, the more he discovered how less he knew.

If he were to put his understandings of the underground game in a circle, the inner part would be his knowledges and the outer part would be the unknown. So, the more he knew, the bigger the circle would be, but it would only produce one result.

The more he learned, the less he knew.

While Kieran was still pondering the questions, the notifications kept coming.

[Special main mission completed...]

[Player will leave the dungeon in 10 seconds...]

[Please take whatever items you wish to keep with you.]

[Note: Any items that exceed the maximum weight will be discarded!]

...

"Ten seconds!?"

The sudden shortened period shocked Kieran, but he shrugged at it promptly.

The scorched land before him was absent of equipment; he didn’t need to seize every second to collect loots. All he had to bring was his backpack.

Though, Kieran had another layer of understanding towards the system’s vicious treatment.

"Even the returning time of five minutes could be altered? Isn’t the system certain about this?"

Kieran wondered while touching his chin.

If the return time could be changed and it was not just lowered to 10 seconds, there might be possibilities that it could be lowered to 1 second or even immediate return.

This was a reminder for Kieran to not restrain himself in his own fixed thoughts, or else he himself would suffer the consequences.

Dak Dak Dak!

Just as the timer was almost up, a series of horse gallops sounded.

A white warhorse that seemed familiar appeared in Kieran’s sight. It should be the white warhorse from the silver knight before the palace gate.

Kieran could recognize the horse with a glance, but the current rider?

When there were less than 2 seconds on the timer, Kieran raised his right arm and waved hard, yelling, "Goodbye!"

Then he revealed a smile since he was able to deliver his message with his own mouth.

"Hold on! I..."

Mary who was riding the horse shouted to hold him back, but some things were destined to be inevitable.

When the timer was up, Kieran disappeared into thin air on the spot.

Just that, Mary saw was a different scene.

...

[Fifth dungeon: The Queen’s Shield]

[Dungeon Type: Free Mission]

[Dungeon Difficulty: Lower Medium]

[Main Mission: Locate the missing imperial envoy in 7 days]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating F)]

[Sub Mission 1: Rescue!]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating F → D)]

[Sub Mission 2: Help!]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating D→C)]

[Sub Mission 3: Breakthrough (Perfect Clear)]

[MIssion Completion: 100% (Rating C→A)]

Sub Mission 4: Protect the king! (Perfect Clear)]

[Mission Completion: 100% (Rating A→ SSS)]

[Battle Performance: Very active (Rating SSS → Z)]

[Exploration Performance: Good]

[Special Rating 1: Discovered key mission item, perfect clear of extra main mission: Escort Mary to the imperial city. (Rating Z → ZZZ, Rep + 1)]

[Special Rating 2: Completed special event mission, defeat the Prairies’ vanguard (Rating ZZZ→V, Rep +1)]

[Player final rating: V!]

[Calculating player’s fifth dungeon rewards...]

[Final player fifth dungeon rewards as follow...]

[Points: 80000; Skill Points: 35; Golden Skill Point 5; Golden Attribute Points: 5]

[Acquired special dungeon: The Queen’s Shield II]

[Acquired special reward 1: Practice Dagger]

[Acquired special reward 2: "Words of the Sects"]

...

After the rating calculations were finished, two special items appeared in Kieran’s hand.

One was the "longsword" on Mary’s waist when he first met her, and the other was a book.

Kieran slightly flipped it over; the book was about the hidden sects within the dungeon [The Queen’s Shield].

Although the books he brought back had some introductions to the various sects, but it was not as complete as the system’s book.

However, it couldn’t make up to its low value existence.

A plain equipment without any attributes or effects and an introduction book.

Although Kieran had a couple of experiences before this and he didn’t hold any hope at the special reward, but two special rewards were of such little value. it made Kieran criticize the reward in his heart.

However, he did make one thing clear.

"Following the dungeon clear increase, more special rewards will be given, and by the looks of it, the later the items are received, the more useful it would be?"

Kieran had to question his own guess. After getting items with little value continuously, he really dare not guarantee the next.

Though, through the dungeon clear rating calculation, Kieran noticed one point. Even if he did complete a mission with perfect clear, it would go according to his battle performance or difficulty and produce a different rating, similar to the third sub mission [Breakthrough] and fourth sub mission [Protect the king] in [The Queen’s Shield].

"Maybe because of the continuous mission as well?" Kieran added in that point.

Then, Kieran went on to arrange the books that he brought back and listed out the "Damaged" items. When he was ready to contact Blacksmith for repairs, his message tab pinged.

However, the sender was a stranger named Allen.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

Allen Walker!

faded