The Devil’s Cage - Chapter 196

Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

Add to favorites

Chapter 196

Kieran looked at the hole with a furrowed brow . The pursuer had disappeared inside it a couple of seconds ago .

The hole before Kieran and the sudden explosion caused by the sniper showed that their enemies had been well-prepared .

Everything had been planned ahead of time, from the meeting with the Hellfire sniper to the man’s explosive demise .

"Why did he do it? Why would the sniper kill himself?"

Doubts were clamouring in Kieran’s mind .

Had the sniper been ordered to meet with Kieran?

That one was not that hard to guess . The moment the sniper had been caught, he must have gotten punished . He had already taken a desperate gamble . It was easy to control someone in his position .

"So what was this arrangement for?" Kieran said under his breath in confusion .

Lawless and his friends also shared the same expression .

None of the veterans were idiots . They all had noticed that something was off .

Their doubts did not stop them from exploring the hole in front of them though .

A scrawny guy holding an LED remote control guided a puppy-like robot down the hole .

The LED screen projected what the robot saw inside the hole .

When the robot discovered a dozen red explosives underneath, everyone, including Kieran, drew in a cold breath .

If one of them had gone blindly into the hole…

"I think they’re motion-sensitive explosives… Sh*t! Back off!" the scrawny guy yelled after examining the visual through the remote .

Everyone quickly turned away and sprinted out of the square .

Boom!

As soon as Kieran stepped out of Shameiken Square, the whole place was blasted to the sky in a thunderous explosion .

The tremendous shockwave sent him rolling on the ground .

"HOLY F*CK! MY DOG! THOSE ASSES! Don’t let me catch you, or you will feel the wrath of my 2,000 volt lightning gun!" the scrawny guy that controlled the puppy-robot shouted furiously all around the blazing square when he got up again .

The other veterans, who were covered in ashes, were also shouting in outrage .

A couple of them were chasing a guy, but he slipped away and they almost fell into a trap . That alone insulted their status as veterans in the game . It infuriated them even more than trying to take their lives .

Amidst all the cursing and scolding, Kieran noticed that Lawless seemed a little absent-minded .

"What’s wrong?" he asked .

"Just a little something . So do you want me to help you sell the equipment you got from Shielder and Correy? I’m quite looking forward to the 5% commision!" Lawless replied with an awkward laugh .

"I’ll leave it to you then," Kieran answered straightforwardly .

He noticed that Lawless was trying to divert the subject . His excuse was very poor-crafted .

5% commision was what the service charge at the bazaar was, and Lawless was not a greedy man .

Kieran was certain that Lawless had noticed something unusual during the incident, but he did not press the subject any further .

If Lawless had made enough effort to come up with an excuse to avoid the subject, then it had to be hard for him to talk about .

It was meaningless for Kieran to pursue it . It would only cause estrangement between them .

After the explosion, Lawless went on to introduce all the other veterans that had turned up for the little meeting .

Kieran rejected the offer to have another drink back at the Harvest Inn and left soon after .

His plan to study had already been delayed by the sudden incident . He didn’t want to put it off any longer .

. . .

During the next two weeks, Kieran exchanged daily messages with Lawless, asking about new information on the Killer Organization, and spent the rest of his time in his lobby room .

Without proper guidance though, he got a similar notification every time he finished a book .

[Alchemy experience has increased a little after reading…]

[Astrology experience has increased a little after reading…]

. . .

Every book only resulted in a small increase of experience . There was no notification that indicated a huge increase of experience, like when Kieran had a proper lesson with a highly skilled individual .

"Seems like I need to spend more time on this," Kieran said softly .

His original plan had been to level up [Astrology] and [Alchemy] to a Basic Level before entering the next dungeon, but judging by his progress, this did not seem possible anymore .

The next day was the day he would be entering the team dungeon .

Kieran took a deep breath and placed his book down .

Although he was frustrated that he could not follow his original plan, this did not prevent him from moving forward with his other plans .

His frustration was just affecting the next step of his plan because he had failed to complete the previous one .

Kieran checked his remaining Points and Skill Points .

[Points: 86,500; Skill Points: 21; Golden Skill Points: 3; Golden Attribute Points: 2]

After he had completed two Honor Kills, gotten compensated by the cyber law enforcers, sold the two killers’ equipment, and put together a [Soul Shard] bundle by combining shards from his own stash and the newly acquired ones from the previous dungeon, his Points and Skill Points had reached a considerable amount .

While selling the killers’ equipment, Kieran had favored Skill Points over Points .

"Rare Skills consume Skill Points more than regular ones . Be prepared!" Lawless had advised him as a veteran .

Kieran had no reason to ignore his advice .

In order to boost his confidence before the upcoming dungeon, Hanses had also made a generous contribution .

Kieran was sure that this was because Lawless was the middleman .

If it had just been Hanses and him, it would not have been the same .

Kieran took out the orange Skill Book .

A system notification popped up .

[Discovered Skill Book, Blade Kick]

[Prerequisites met, Learn skill?]

"Yes, please!"

[Learned Skill: Blade Kick]

[Name: Blade Kick (Basic)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: A slashing wave attack from either one of your feet, The damaging wave from the attack authenticated as a weak qi wave, Consumes 100 Stamina, 5-minute cooldown]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Master of Kicks), Strength D-, Agility D-, Constitution D-]

[Remarks: This is a fierce martial art technique . You will need to seize the opportunity to use it!]

. . .

[Strength has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Agility has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Constitution has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

… . .

Kieran read about [Blade Kick] carefully . The effects did not disappoint him . It was just a Basic Level skill, so it was only natural after all .

[Blade Kick] required 500 Points and 2 Skill Points to be upgraded from Basic to Entry .

Lawless’s advice about the high consumption of Skill Points had already been proven right .

Based on the upgrading rules, Kieran could imagine how costly it would be to level [Blade Kick] up to a certain level .

He had already prepared himself for that though, and he leveled up [Blade Kick] without any problems .

[Blade Kick] Basic → Entry → Master .

Upgrading from Entry to Master cost him 3,000 Points and 6 Skill Points .

The cost was almost twice as high as the previous level .

[Name: Blade Kick (Master)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: A slashing wave attack from either one of your feet, The damaging wave from the attack authenticated as an average qi wave, Consumes 150 Stamina, 4-minute cooldown]

[Special Effects: Harder Training (Your Blade Kick attack and Sharp Edge will increase according to your level]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Master of Kicks), Strength D-, Agility D-, Constitution D-]

[Remarks: This is a fierce martial art technique . You will need to seize the opportunity to use it!]

[Strength has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Agility has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Constitution has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

… . .

After upgrading twice, the special effect [Harder Training] increased the attack and sharp edge of the [Blade Kick] to average level .

To Kieran’s knowledge, the average handgun’s attack shared the same power .

Kieran could not help but get excited over the fact when he saw it .

"Is this a Rare Level attacking skill? One qi wave from a kick equals the damage of a normal bullet!"

It was not even the final form of [Blade Kick], but of course upgrading to the next level would require Kieran to increase his Strength, Agility and Constitution as well .

It was not a major problem for him though, as he had the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] as a supporting base .

Everything was progressing smoothly .

Kieran had also discovered something else along with his new skill .

"Attribute points are even more precious than I expected! Even with the Rare attacking skill, there is still a huge limitation on increasing attributes…"

"So does this mean that once I reach a certain level, only Legendary Skills will help attributes grow? Or will even Legendary Skills be unable to do it? Will I have to rely solely on Golden Attribute Points?" Kieran thought silently before eventually shaking his head .

He still had a long way to go to get there from his current level . There was no point in trying to figure it out now . He just needed to keep it in mind .

After taking a deep breath to collect his thoughts, Kieran opened up the upgrading options for the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] .

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art (Entry→ Master), costs 9,000 Points, 3 Golden Skill Points, Yes/No?]

"Yes, please!"

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art has reached Master Level, Choose a Special Effect…]

[A: Strength +1]

[B: Agility +1]

[C: Constitution +1]

[D: Spirit +1]

[E: Intuition +1]

A long list appeared before Kieran for him to choose from . He made a quick decision after a single glance .

"D please!"

The uniqueness of Spirit influenced his choice .