The Devil's Cage

Kieran squinted his eyes when the longsword sprung up and hissed like a snake.

Viper Sect?

Kieran was utterly surprised.

He had some knowledge about the various sects in the dungeon world from that "World of Sect" book which was one of the special rewards that he had gotten from the previous dungeon and it was one of the few that was actually useful in his opinion.

After going through the book, Kieran knew Viper Sect was eliminated 10 years ago in the dungeon world by one of their own, the crowned genius of Viper Sect, Folly. The whole viper sect was eliminated, including hundreds of disciples that couldn’t escape their demise.

It was because of that achievement, Folly succeeded in becoming Jeanne’s adviser and slowly promoted to his late military officer post.

Yet now the eliminated sect has re-emerged again?

Doubts and surprises filled his heart but it didn’t delay his movements. Kieran didn’t back off with Mary in his arms, instead, he kicked out and landed precisely on the longsword’s blade with the tip of his feet.

Chang!

The longsword that just sprung out like a poisonous viper hissing its tongue was struck down at the ground as though it was hit on its weak spot but the attacks didn’t stop.

Hisses sounded again as a few more flying knives perforated the tent.

This time around, their target wasn’t only Mary but Kieran included.

The flying knives though were ineffective against Kieran, similar to the longsword.

After mastering [Viper Kick] and [Sword Skill, Myriad Viper], he knew too well how the Viper Sect fought. Aside from the displayed techniques, the illusory techniques that tricked one’s senses were the essence of the Viper Sect’s techniques.

With SSS+ Spirit attribute, the only thing he wasn’t afraid of was, in fact, illusory techniques.

Pak Pak Pak!

Kieran raised his right leg and dished out repeated kicks.

The flying knives were knocked down altogether in one move.

The assassin that came like the wind was ready to retreat without hesitating after realizing his attacks were all ineffective against Kieran. Persistence was not the style of assassination but just as the assassin wanted to retreat, a supernatural darkness clouded the surrounding.

Surprisingly, even with his vision robbed, the assassin’s movement speed wasn’t reduced at all.

"He relies on memories and hearing to determine the retreat route?"

Kieran noticed the scene and started to gain interest in that assassin, because of his origins and also the techniques displayed.

So when the assassin dashed out of the supernatural darkness range, Kieran dished out his right hand and grabbed the assassin from the back of his neck, dragging him back in.

The assassin instinctively tried to resist the capture and in fact, he did when he knew he would be captured. The moment the assassin was grabbed by his neck, he already launched out a kick at Kieran.

[Viper Kick]!

Snake hisses sounded along with the kick and it was as freaky as ever. The kicking stance had completely disobeyed the human structure and was dished out at Kieran’s throat as the kick came from the back of the assassin.

The assassin’s kick was at least Master level.

Kieran commented on the incoming kick since he already mastered Grand Master level [Viper Kick] and he too launched his own [Viper Kick] as a reply.

Ssssss!

A loud hiss came from Kieran’s [Viper Kick] causing the assassin to be astonished. Kieran didn’t just counter him with a technique of his own sect but it was also because he was induced with [Fear] from [Viper Kick, Viper Hiss].

The supernatural darkness faded right after.

Kieran dragged the assassin back into the tent and sized him up carefully.

A young man in his early twenties, the face of a commoner with a body in a clean black outfit.

His hands were full of calluses and had a pair of sharp vicious eyes that could scare off other people. The young man was in a trance at that moment though.

Soldier’s footsteps were approaching outside the tent.

The supernatural darkness might be able to escape other’s sight under the night sky but the tearing noise of the tent was very loud.

"My lord! What happened?"

The soldiers stopped outside the tent and asked in utter respect.

After witnessing Kieran battled the Prairies troops, Warren soldiers had peaked their respect and reverence for Kieran, far higher than anyone else of the same rank.

Kieran was a stranger to them but they felt like they had to obey him and carry out his order without fail.

"Nothing!"

Kieran’s voice sounded from inside the tent. The soldiers gathered then quickly scattered back to their post and continued their duties.

While inside the tent, Kieran let Mary down after she recovered from the fright.

The girl who was blushing hard held Kieran’s hand softly and recalled what had happened.

"Thank you." She said softly.

A gratitude to Kieran because he didn’t allow the soldiers to barge into the tent. As the next in line to the throne, it was very inappropriate for others to see her in an ugly position, especially on the battlefield.

However, the girl was slightly disappointed in her heart at the same time as well. She was hoping that others would see how close she was with Kieran.

Her conflicted emotions caused her to become slightly grumpy and coincidentally, there was a perfect target before her to vent her emotions.

Mary drew out her short sword and stabbed it directly through the assassin’s palm, pinning him down on the ground.

"Aaarh!

The pain from his hand woke him up from his [Fear] effect. He wanted to retract his hand instinctively but the cold blade went through his hand plus the sharpness of the edge made it extremely dangerous for him to do so.

"Aaaargh!"

Another scream of pain sounded.

"If you wish to save your palm from being crippled, best you stay still! And if you wish to stay alive, you better be honest and start talking why do you want to kill me?" Mary said in a cold tone.

"Hmph!"

The young assassin stubbornly grunted coldly, expressing his disdain to the young girl.

The girl then replied to his attitude with the most straightforward answer.

She took out another dagger from her boots and stabbed it into the assassin’s thigh.

Half of the dagger went into his thigh, although it avoided the main arteries, blood still gushed out and quickly soaked his pants red.

"Speak!" Mary yelled at him.

The young assassin didn’t grunt anymore but he didn’t say anything else either.

Mary then pulled out the dagger and stabbed it down once more.

She repeated the action for a couple a times before Kieran stepped in.

"Wait!" Kieran stopped her.

It wasn’t mercy that made him do that. Kieran was very clear about the distribution of factions, those who he categorized in the enemy faction would never receive any mercy from him.

Aside from that, the assassin didn’t only try to kill Mary but him as well, undoubtedly he was an enemy but this enemy might still be useful in some ways.

"He might really die if you keep stabbing him like this. I still have something to ask him."

Kieran explained to the confused mary.

She instantly blushed again. This time around, it wasn’t because of her shyness but embarrassed instead. She did have the intentions to probe more information out of the assassin but it turned out to be a venting of emotions.

"I’ll get the doctor then!"

Mary reacted to Kieran’s words and quickly left the tent after saying.

Kieran and the assassin were left in the tent.

Kieran knew the assassin was in a weakened state yet he displayed a stern manner but when Kieran raised his left hand, the stern young assassin’s expression turned upside down.

"The witch’s ring!" He cried.