The Devil's Cage

Panda Novel

“Yes, this is Snake Sect. We as snakes lurk in the dark,” said Kieran softly.

Dark, as snakes…

Holuff stood there blankly, muttering softly to himself.

No one understood the sentence better than Holuff, the retired Demon Hunter.

Snake.

The reptile probably had zero good images in the eyes of the common people.

It was commonly known as cold-blooded and merciless.

It was used to represent cunning and dark impressions.

Not a single normal person would want anything to do with a snake.

But of the Demon Hunters, some were willing to become them.

They were willing to rest in eternal darkness and never see the day of light again.

Holuff’s body slightly quivered.

The vows that he took in front of his teacher when he became a Demon Hunter rung in his ears again.

‘We don’t belong to the light.

We don’t belong to the dark.

We walk the verge of death, without the praise of honor and without the singing of hymns, all we have is the pride in our heart.’

At this very moment, he got a deeper understanding of the vows he took.

“Don’t belong to the light, don’t belong to the dark, it is because the beliefs in thy heart walks the verge of death. You people are more of a Demon Hunter than I am, a retired old man,” said Holuff with a sense of respect.

He could very well imagine what the comrades from Snake Sect, who infiltrated Silent Night Secret Society, had to face.

Danger was self-explanatory and once exposed, it would be death, but a lot of it was torture.

Going against the belief of the Demon Hunter and being forced to follow the society, it was torture.

It must be worse than death.

Kieran received Holuff’s respectful gaze frankly, slowly shaking his head.

“When we chose to become Demon Hunters, nothing matters anymore. We made our choice long ago. For our family and friends, we will never shrink from any danger,” said Kieran.

It wasn’t a lie, it was the truth.

The truth was the easiest to cause a resonance in others, at least it had worked on Holuff.

Holuff took a deep breath and looked down at the battleaxe in his hand.

He gripped it tightly.

There was still a group of unknown comrades who pressed forward and put their lives at risk, acting as a protective umbrella to Holuff and the other Demon Hunters and sharing his burden as they moved on.

Some people really needed protection because they were just civilians.

‘But… do I really need this?’

Holuff asked himself.

In this particular moment, Holuff felt that his retirement was overly rash.

There was still another group of old men like him, who thought they had done it and sat under the sun everyday to enjoy their retirement.

In reality, there was a group of young men who were doing things which these Demon Hunters should be doing.

Shame rose from the bottom of Holuff’s heart.

There was indeed a retirement option for a Demon Hunter, BUT! Holuff hadn’t reached the age of retirement in the field. He and the other guys were just escaping from reality because of the Black Cataclysm.

Now?

Should they continue escaping reality?

Just look at the young man!

He might seem mature but judging from that countenance of his, how old was he truly?

When Holuff was Kieran’s age, he was still training under his teacher and yet Kieran had already become an independent hunter.

Were there others in the Snack Sect?

Of course there were!

But why allow a young man like him to be independent so early on?

Aside from the fact that this young man possessed outstanding abilities, Holuff was afraid that Snake Sect also suffered a severe loss to the Black Cataclysm. Those experienced veterans were all wiped out, hence a young man like Kieran had to step up to the job.

Snake Sect chose to fight despite the encounter with danger, so why couldn’t Wolf Sect do the same?

Holuff made up his mind in that instant.

He had to tell the other old men that the Demon Hunters are not totally dead yet!

No! The Demon Hunters would never die!

The wolf would always run under the sky in pride, the snake would always be immortal inside darkness!

As long as Snake Sect remained, the Demon Hunters remained!

As once a member of Wolf Sect, he didn’t mind getting more protection from Snake Sect so that the Wolf could run again.

However, it would need some time and some clarification.

Holuff always had a bad feeling and speculation towards the secretive details about the Black Cataclysm.

“I’ll leave you to your Snake Sect business. As for Wolf Sect, we will run again!”

After that, Holuff turned around to his collapsed room, and in his body, an indescribable liveliness erupted. The lethargic feeling was gone.

Kieran looked at the fat man, not saying anything as it wasn’t necessary for.

Snake Sect had truly appeared and it was enough.

“Broker, another unexpected chess piece appeared in your game and following this particular chess piece, another disappeared chess piece returned to the chessboard, so what would your counterreaction be in your little game?” Kieran curled up his lips slightly.

He was never afraid of his opponent reacting.

There would be traces left behind the footsteps and these traces would be his most needed clues.

As long as he could get his hands on these clues, he could switch to a more active state and then search for the reason why Broker wanted to come into this world.

He was rather curious about why Broker wanted to set up so many things in this world.

Of course, there was still Borl.

When Borl came into his mind, Kieran thought about it for a while before he walked to the room at the side of the courtyard.

It was Borl’s room.

Inside the room, Borl was drinking a cup of tea.

He hoped to use the tea to ease the nervousness in his heart but after two sips, he couldn’t help but stand up and walk around his room. Right after the curfew order was announced in the city, walking around his room aimlessly had become a habit of his.

The other new habit that he cultivated was to hunt for news in the lobby of Anan Hotel.

However, the news that he got made him even more nervous.

Viscount Sicar was confirmed dead!

The sister of the viscount would be the new lord of the land.

‘I wonder how the new lord will expand the whole land?

If it somehow delays the time…’

Borl’s heart skipped a beat when he thought about the potential delay.

One thing worth taking note of was that this delay was related directly to his life.

Otherwise, why would a player like him care about the status of a noble in the game?

More importantly, this would be his crucial turning point!

If he could get to it smoothly, he would have the chance to rise again and probably even chase after ‘his’ footsteps…

Once he thought about the Flaming Devil, Borl thought of the series of events that happened in Sicar recently.

Although he had no solid evidence, his instinct told him that all the things that happened recently had something to do with the Flaming Devil.

It was without a question that Flaming Devil must have gained quite the benefits through all of this.

Borl wasn’t jealous or whatnot, he was just admiring the Flaming Devil.

The admiration of freedom once acquired absolute power.

At the same time, the admiration fueled his courage twice as high!

“The Flaming Devil is my target! Maybe I am still very far away but one day, one day I will reach his level! And when that day comes…”

As the thought popped up in his mind, Borl started to think of that woman that plagued him. Uncontrollable hatred appeared in his heart.

“Maybe you are gone but the city still has what you left behind! They have inherited everything from you and enjoy benefits that far surpass every other player, likewise your hatred!” Borl unconsciously clenched his fist.

He did not act on impulse, calming his mind and thinking of his plan.

Right after that…

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in,” said Borl politely.

Although he did not see who was knocking, he knew only that person would knock.

His bodyguard knew nothing about manners on knocking before entering, despite the fact that he had told him many, many times.

As for the others?

He chose the independent courtyard rooms because he wanted to be at peace. No other customers would drop by and the owner Holuff would choose a better, more appropriate place to have his talk, definitely not here.

Those with malicious intents would never knock.

Kieran entered after he pushed the door open.

Borl stood up.

“Colin,” Borl called Kieran using the alias.

“What is your follow up plan, after you get your dukeship,” asked Kieran.

Since Broker had his eyes on Borl, that meant that Borl must have some use.

Kiean didn’t know anything about that for now but it didn’t mean it did not exist.

“After I get my dukeship, I hope to get more of a reputation and climb higher through the ranks—though my initial thoughts were to reach my current goal, that’s what my basic plan is,” Borl said without hiding anything.

Borl thought it wasn’t necessary to hide from the Flaming Devil.

It wasn’t just because of his power, but Borl knew exactly why Kieran asked as such.

He must have a plan of his own, and the question was to ensure there wasn’t any conflict of interest down the line.

“Very good,” Kieran nodded and said.

It wasn’t to brush Borl off though, it was a true compliment.

A solo player without the heart to achieve anything would get eliminated sooner or later.

It might even turn out worse than grouping up with others, guild-wise or party-wise.

Borl obviously understood what Kieran meant, so he nodded in agreement and smiled bitterly.

“At first I set this basic goal because I dared not overextend my strength, but after changing to achieving more, it’s also because I am not willing to settle with the basics. Before this, I kept avoiding the question about what I should do now. At first I thought I ought to overcome the problem at hand and settle the others later, but I missed out the fact that even if I luckily overcame the problems at hand, I might fall into another difficulty in the future. If I don’t get a harvest at least once, I will be stuck in this vicious cycle forever. So… might as well gamble it!”

Up to that point, Borl sounded like he had relieved a great burden, the anxiety and nervousness in his heart vanishing completely in that instant. He sat on the chair in a more relaxed state, his relaxed and comfortable posture huanging a true smile on his face.

“So relaxing. Speaking out is really better. Colin, do you know after I woke up and found out of my situation, I was anxious—I was in front of everyone at first but have now fallen behind almost everybody. The difference in the gap and the danger of losing my life around the corner turned me into someone else. In order to survive, I knelt down and thought of tricks and lousy tactics. I didn’t think I was wrong though. What was wrong with surviving by any means necessary? But the unlucky thing was every time I’d run into you and end up in failure. I almost fell into despair and it was the… you initiated a fair deal with me, which gave me the chance that I sought after so badly. Lawless even helped me with all his heart. The sincerity was real, not fake. I could feel that and suddenly realized I had someone to call a friend. The feeling was great!”

Borl started to talk and nag. He was similar to Lawless in this, somehow even noisier.

Lawless habitually naged and teased, but Borl was released after being repressed for so long.

Fortunately, as Lawless’ friend, Kieran was used to the long stories, not feeling impatient at all. He listened quietly and when Borl finally stopped, he picked up the cup of tea in front of him.

“To Lawless!” said Kieran.

“To Lawless!”

Borl raised his cup without a second thought, and a little clink with Kieran’s cup later, he drained it to the last drop and continued with a laugh, “I promised that guy I’d buy him a drink when I got back. Hope his appetite isn’t growing, otherwise I’d have to work at the inn. The price there is a little expensive.”

Borl shrugged.

The price at Harvest Inn was exceptionally expensive and it was very widely known.

Although it had free beers and beverages at times, the lady owner’s sharp knife would point at those stingy souls, and even though Lawless would stand up to block the knife most of the time, he would go down one day to the wrath of Rachel. Just to be safe, the solo players at Harvest Inn would always prepared three to five spare Points.

Three Points for tea and five Points for beer, it would be enough to water the furious fire burning in the angry lady owner’s head.

“Believe me, Lawless’ appetite is always good. Rather than wiping glasses there, you might as well work harder.”

With Lawless acting as a topic, Kieran replied with a quip.

“I know right, hope we can get through this smoothly,” Borl raised his cup again.

Another clink with Kieran’s cup later, the tea was drained and the cup was placed down.

Kieran then lowered his voice and asked, “The identity of a God of War believer, would it be useful to you?”

The identity of a God of War believer?

Borl was stunned at first before he quickly reacted.

“Yes! Although that God’s glory is a little down right now, in Edatine Castle, the God of War is still the mainstream god. Many of the nobles, including the royalty, worship the God and acquiring the identity of a believer wouldn’t be easy. It’s not something Gold Purton can buy,” Borl said in a sure tone.

As a matter of fact, the reason for hiring Aschenkano as bodyguard was because, other than his fairly decent strength, Borl had his eyes on the foster father behind him, Father Mona.

Though Father Mona wasn’t someone easily moved by Gold Purton, he would help most of the time for the sake of some extra donations.

“If you know a little secret that I just got my hands on, it may be of help. I’ve run into some secret existence in Sicar, they should be the Silent Night Secret Society that Holuff mentioned. They are related to the series of events that happened in the city recently—that father must be very concerned about this particular news. If he can get the news the quickest way possible, I bet he won’t mind helping out,” said Kieran.

Borl’s eyes shimmered in brilliance.

He then nodded without any hesitation and said, “I understand.”