The Devil’s Cage - Chapter 1012

Chapter 1012: Investigate

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The news about Supreme Road and Burning Dawn spread like wildfire in Dawn City.

The important figures that gathered in front of the Burning Family’s mansion were too obvious, nothing could conceal them from the intentional gazes.

More so, the Burning Family had no intention of hiding the news either.

Therefore, soon enough, the legends about Kieran were floating around Dawn City.

Legends, not rumors.

Whether it was the one man rivaling ten thousand or one man sieging a city, it was unbelievable for these people who had lived in peace for most of their lives.

Other than hearing the extraordinary feats from myths and legends, no one had really seen or heard it in person.

Plus Kieran’s previous identity as the Burning Family’s peasant son added many more veils of mystery to the topic.

The bloodline of the Burning Family was no secret among the higher ranks of Dawn City.

The reincarnated Devil, the son of devil…

The names were spread around on a small scale at first but soon, following the more detailed intel from Supreme Road, a lot more people acknowledged the titles.

After all, if Kieran wasn’t the devil, why would he be so ruthless against his enemies?

All of the high ranks in Golden City were dead and the captives that survived his onslaught were no more than a tenth of the original number.

As for the civilian casualties?

Sorry, in the hearts of these important figures, the civilian casualties weren’t something included in their calculations. They only cared about themselves or someone that shared their ranks.

‘2567 has gone the opposite way of noble etiquette.’

Such a saying soon got gained acknowledgment from the high ranks in Dawn City.

On top of that, the high ranks were perfecting the saying, in hopes to borrow the words to gain themselves more visible benefits.

It was true that 2567’s influence was in Supreme Road and Burning Dawn’s camp but the Burning Family itself was situated in Dawn City.

Soon, a respectable old noble was elected from the bunch. He was holding a pile of “book of responsibility and crimes” as he was heading towards the Burning Family.

He was prepared to seek responsibility from 2567 and the Burning Marquis.

But…

The old noble and the ones that followed him into the mansion didn’t come out anymore, only a series of agonizing cries could be heard in the ears of the observers.

Everyone was dumbstruck by the scene.

They couldn’t imagine even the Burning Marquis neglecting noble etiquette.

The nobles looked at the mansion in fear and when they picked up the faint sulfuric smell, their bodies couldn’t help but shiver.

However, a lot more of them were enraged.

They started to team up against the Burning Marquis. Some did it voluntarily, some added fuel to the fire from the dark.

The nobles that volunteered were filled with righteous indignation while those who stirred the situation further laughed in the dark, waiting for a good show.

Even the common citizens and businessmen that lived in Dawn City knew that the Burning Marquis was in trouble but just as the crowd was paying attention to the Burning Marquis’ mansion, a fierce battle broke out somewhere else.

The battle broke out inside the mansion of the Grand Duke of Dawn.

The sudden battle destroyed half of the Grand Duke’s mansion but regarding what happened, no one knew.

The battle occurred suddenly but it ended even faster; it ended within a few breath’s time.

If it wasn’t for the Grand Duke’s mansion being destroyed and left in a desolate state, no one would believe the mansion was under attack.

The unusual behavior of the Burning Marquis.

The Grand Duke of Dawn being under attack.

Dawn City which was already brewing something in the dark became more and more unpredictable, strange.

“The Grand Duke’s mansion was under attack?”

Kieran arrived in Dawn City a couple of hours ago and was muttering softly to himself in the shadows.

A few hours obviously wasn’t enough for Kieran to get a clear picture of the whole Dawn City but it wasn’t hard for him to probe for some useful information, especially when he wasn’t short of gold coins.

Aside from his own stories, Kieran paid most attention to the attack on the Grand Duke’s mansion.

Just when the Burning Family was about to turn into a target for all, Dawn Family was under attack.

Other than Kieran who originally didn’t believe in coincidences, even those who believed would notice something wasn’t right.

Unlike the Burning Family, although the Dawn Family was also one of the founders of Burning Dawn, their bloodline was destined to be easier for the public to accept.

Plus Grand Duke of Dawn did reach an accord with the imperial household back in the day, Saint Cyanda didn’t further place them in a hard spot.

Of course, it also turned the relationship between two families colder than ice.

It was a scene that Saint Cyanda imperial household was delighted to see.

Throughout the hundred years, the Imperials would aid the Dawn Family to pressure Burning Family.

Even though Dawn Family laid low most of the time, they would also appear during appropriate times and the imperial household would push them to the stage, performing one act after another.

Therefore, although the Dawn Family might not have enough forces or children, they were the ones with the most honorable position in Dawn City.

When such a family was attacked, it bore an unusual meaning.

“Who attacked Dawn Family?”

“Or… why?”

Kieran pondered upon the question while his eyes were looking at an inn further away.

When he saw the city guards swiftly gather in front of the inn, he frowned.

He wasn’t angry about the innkeeper snitching on him though, he knew the innkeeper would before he even asked.

What surprised Kieran was the speed of the city guards’ arrival: it was faster than he expected.

What this scene revealed to Kieran was the news he didn’t want to see.

One needed to know, such quick response time shouldn’t be a trait of the city guards.

“Much more frightening and scarier than I imagined? Any movements will attract the attention from all sides?”

Kieran merged into the shadows completely with furrowed brows as he headed towards his destination.

Despite the situation being much worse than anticipated, he didn’t plan on altering his plans.

…

Hundreds of city guards were guarding the surroundings of the ruins, which was the mansion of Dawn.

The city guards were in groups, patrolling the premises or standing guard, performing their duties to shoo away curious citizens.

Meanwhile, inside the mansion ruins, a couple of figures were shuttling back and forth.

The figures were the members of Dawn Family.

They had white leather armor, white longswords with white sheaths at their waist and the “rising sun” emblem on their chest; it was very easy for others to tell them apart.

These figures had explanatory rage on their face, they didn’t spare the slightest details or traces.

Likewise, it was because of their presence that the imperial and nobles’ secret agents bore no results on the attack.

However, the secret agents would not just give up like that.

Many pairs of eyes were watching the ruins in the dark, sizing up the actions of the Dawn Family members.

As time went along, the watchful eyes didn’t decrease at all, instead, a lot more had joined them; Kieran included.

However, unlike the hiding secret agents, with above Transcendence [Undercover] and [Dark Movement Technique]’s effect, Kieran used the spots where light and shadow intertwined and walked into the ruins.

He then found something unexpected.

Comments (7)

• 
  

  Killer_Looks

  Welp, the virus strikes again…

• 
  

  Killer_Looks

  First the investigaon!

• 
  

  PatientZero

  Am I perchance . . .first?

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Chapter 1013: Infiltrate

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Explosive traces!

Explosive traces that went off from the inside!

Under Kieran’s Transcendence [Tracking] sight, few traces would be able to escape his eyes, let alone the explosive kind which were too obvious.

However, what concerned Kieran was the traces underneath the explosive ones.

Kieran evaded the Dawn Family members and carefully approached the explosion area.

When he was close enough, Kieran clearly saw traces of rippling unlike the explosive ones; it was a “point” that sunk in.

Obviously, the “point” wasn’t complete on its own and it must have been destroyed because of the explosion but it didn’t stop Kieran from using the “point” to identify the intact traces; the “point” was too familiar to him.

Whenever Kieran charged forward, he relied on the tip of his foot to push himself and gain momentum, it would leave behind half a footprint on the ground; the half footprint would include the “point” as well.

While the half a footprint before Kieran was left during the explosion, which meant the person who left the print exerted a tremendous amount of force through the foot and the concentration of force from the foot was unimaginable.

The tremendous force would no doubt grant the person corresponding explosive speed and the concentration of force would not just boost the person’s speed but also reduce the sound.

The [Dark Movement Technique] had some similar skills as well.

Despite Kieran having not truly mastered it, it was enough for him to paint the picture in his mind.

A figure silently infiltrated the Grand Duke’s mansion and hid in the shadows, patiently waiting for the target to appear.

The moment the target appeared, the culprit leaped out; fast and vicious along with their concealed presence.

However, even if the culprit did as such, when real danger fell upon the target, the target reacted correspondingly as well.

The target counterattacked in the fiercest way possible, hence the explosion.

“So is the target the Grand Duke of Dawn or the heir?”
Kieran wondered as he felt the positive energy that lingered in the explosion site.

Unlike the Burning Family which had a peasant eldest son and a legitimate second son, Dawn Family had always maintained passing down the legacy through a single heir; each generation Grand Duke would only have a single heir.

It might be a son or a daughter but regardless of which, once born, the Dawn Family would not have another heir during that generation, despite the Grand Duke of Dawn trying his best to alter it before.

It was like a curse and it also formed a special situation in the family: a female Grand Duke would have to find a male that was willing to marry into the family as an adopted son-in-law.

Fortunately, the current generation and the previous heir was male, hence it didn’t result in an embarrassing situation.

However, the situation beforehand was much worse than that.

When he saw the servants, attendants, and guards of the family getting more and more anxious, Kieran silently left.

“Until now, the Grand Duke and his heir didn’t show themselves to control the situation… something bad happened to them? It might very well be that bastard’s handy work! Other than that, there were no remains at the scene… which means that bastard needed the body of the Grand Duke and the heir!”

Kieran speculated in the shadows.

Who was the bastard he was referring to?

Extremus!

Other than him, Kieran couldn’t think of anyone with such a high level of [Undercover] and assassination skills in this current dungeon world.

Perhaps the current dungeon world had some hidden individuals that Kieran didn’t know of, but those people wouldn’t have struck without a reason; Extremus was different!

The player that Kieran dreaded had a reason to make this particular move: the crown!

The writings on that piece of paper were pointing at either the first generation Burning Marquis ofrGrand Duke of Dawn or even both of them together.

One of those two might have gotten the crown but unable to use it, thus resulting in seeking help from the other.

However, the problem didn’t solve itself, or, some mistakes occurred in the process.

So the crown must be hidden in some place and this particular place…

“Would need the bloodline of the Grand Duke to access or enter!”

Kieran squinted his eyes.

He tried his best to be fast but still a step late.

A frustrating feeling appeared naturally but was soon discarded by Kieran. He entered [Tracking]’s vision once more, hoping to find the traces left behind by Extremus; it was useless though.

Other than the explosion trace, the “king of killers” among players didn’t leave anything behind.

It was like Extremus appeared and disappeared out of the void.

It might be inconceivable to natives but for players, it wasn’t that hard, especially for some extremely powerful players.

Kieran was ready to leave since he got nothing.

Staying behind was a waste time. He wanted more help to locate Extremus and coincidentally, he had a helper in Dawn City.

However, just as Kieran was about to leave, a figure appeared and stopped his steps.

The figure was able to ignore the gazes from the surroundings, not just because the figure had an extremely high level undercover techniques but also because of the figure’s natural gifts.

The figure was like a shadow, jumping from one place of darkness to another. His movements were as light as feather and looked like a talented ballet dancer dancing in the shadows.

Other than Kieran, no one noticed the shadowy dancing.

However, Kieran was thinking more about the one behind the shadowy figure and not the figure’s undercover techniques.

“You were attracted here as well?”

Kieran squinted his eyes in deep concentration, trying to control his line of sight to not directly look at the shadowy figure but relied on his superhuman senses to lock the figure down.

The shadowy figure finished his search quickly and just like how he came, he was leaving by jumping from shadow to shadow.

After a few seconds after the shadowy figure Kieran strode and give chase.

Transcendence [Tracking] was enough for Kieran to capture the bits of traces the shadowy figure left behind, thus allowing him to follow the trail without being too close, risking exposure.

The shadowy figure shuttled through a few street blocks; he was stopping and going as if he was waiting for orders.

Around 20 seconds later, the shadowy figure stopped in front of a building.

It was a two story building with a balcony and garden. The building had bricks and wood as fences while the main gate was made of iron bars.

The gate which was freshly painted looked very neat.

The grass and flowers in the garden were well trimmed and bloomed brilliantly.

On top of the cobblestone path leading inside, there were many sets of footprints; from men and women.

Kieran sized up the building carefully. He didn’t rush inside recklessly because he knew if it was really Extremus, the place would be more dangerous than it looked.

After some deep thoughts, Kieran dived into the shadows completely.

A few moments later, Kieran’s arrogant face faintly appeared from the shadow.