The Devil's Cage

A cold wine bottle was smashed hard against Lawless’ head.

The bottle was smashed into pieces, but the force contained in it made Lawless stagger.

"Are you awake now? I wouldn’t mind throwing you another one!"

Rachel was already standing in front of Lawless. After she threw away the remaining parts of the bottle, she raised her head up to him.

The system blur made the others unable to see her gaze clearly, but not Lawless.

After that gaze, his killing intent vanished into thin air.

"I’m sorry, Rachel! I forgot my manners!" Lawless apologized in a sincere tone, not just to Rachel, but to all the other veterans present as well.

"That bottle is on the house, but all others will be on you! I know you don’t have enough points, so I’ll put them on your tab as usual!"

After lecturing him, Rachel slowly went back to the bar and resumed cleaning glasses.

Lawless looked at her, his mouth moving a little, but in the end he said nothing.

It seemed like some words could not escape his mouth.

After a long sigh, Lawless turned towards Kieran, Hanses and the other veterans.

"Sorry, guys. I..."

"What happened?" Hanses interrupted him before he could finish. Kieran had his eyes on him as well.

It was the first time he had seen Lawless act like that. It had not felt like mere agitation, but true rage, rage strong enough to kill someone.

Kieran was in shock over Lawless’ killing intent and the odd things that had followed.

How many people had Lawless killed in order to accumulate such a powerful killing intent?

Or in other words, how powerful would Lawless need to be for his killing intent to cause something so unusual?

"Much too powerful!" Kieran thought silently in awe after a slight comparison.

He had never considered himself fortunate, but if he could access a Special Dungeon, then so could Lawless as a veteran.

Hanses was the best example. Although that Special Dungeon had been a heavy punishment, during their discussion, Lawless had not seemed to be a stranger to Special Dungeons.

During [Prison on the Island], he had said that this had been his eighth dungeon at the time, and that had been just a normal dungeon count. If a Special Dungeon was added in the mix...

"He must have at least ten dungeon runs, or even more than I can imagine!" Kieran guessed silently while paying attention to what Lawless had to say.

"The bastard that had been spying on us came back online! He teamed up with the killers for an ambush and killed one of our men! Coll was also badly hurt and taken as hostage!" Lawless said in a serious tone before showing them a screenshot.

The screenshot showed a scrawny player covered in blood, hanging in mid-air. His limbs were all curled in different directions, and he seemed to be unconscious.

Kieran frowned. He had seen Coll before.

Back at Shameiken Square, he had been the one who had controlled the robot dog.

"Who sent this?" Kieran asked.

He was certain it had not been Coll, considering that he was in that hideous condition. He could not have been able to sent a screenshot to Lawless or ask for help.

"The sender’s nickname is Nightingale. Anyone know him?" Lawless asked everyone present.

The veterans exchanged looks, some frowning in thought, but none of them recalled that name.

Kieran was still a relative newbie, so he could not have known the player. He still did whatever he could though. He inspected the screenshot carefully.

"The screenshot must have been taken by the kidnapper. It’s from Nightingale’s perspective. The room has plenty of light. The sunshine is coming from above, so judging by the sun’s position, there must have been a huge window in the room. The screenshot doesn’t reflect any color from the exterior, but considering that light, it should not be a flat area. It must be a tall structure with no obstacles around! There’s no extra furniture in the room, just some dirty bottles and cigarette buds... Huh?"

Kieran suddenly squinted over the screenshot.

About a dozen of the cigarette buds had lipstick marks on them.

"A woman?" Kieran was shocked. He continued to inspect the trash in the room.

It seemed like he had discovered more clues.

"Judging by the different shapes, it must have been two different types of wine!" Kieran guessed. To make sure, he took the screenshot over to Rachel and showed her.

"If this was the real world, I could have told you what kind of wine this is, or what it’s made of, but in the game you never know what’s inside a bottle!" Rachel said in a slightly irritated tone after a quick glance.

"Okay, thank you!" Kieran went back to Lawless, shrugging helplessly. "I think we should go to the scene for a more thorough search! Maybe we’ll find something there!" he suggested.

"Agreed!" Hanses was the first to support him.

"Okay then! The two of you come with me. The others can stay back and try to find out more about this Nightingale!" Lawless said immediately.

As soon as he finished talking, everyone started to move out.

Naturally, Kieran was on the inspection team.

However, considering there might be an ambush, a trap, or all sorts of dangers waiting for them, Lawless handpicked the rest of the team.

Even though the veterans present were some of the best solo players around, they had a rather steep growth system. Some were better at attacking, some at defending themselves, and some were full-support players.

Lawless picked three more players, including Hanses, based on what they were good at.

...

The five of them, including Kieran, disembarked the train.

Raven, who was good at support and reconnaissance, immediately went to work.

"Meow!"

"Woof"

He suddenly started mimicking the sounds of cats and dogs.

After a few moments, a dozen stray cats and dogs gathered around him.

When Raven took out a handful of dog and cat food, the little animals started to move out.

Although Raven had introduced himself on the train, when Kieran saw it with his own eyes, he was in awe.

"Raven is one of the Chosen Ones! If it was not for his loner nature and shy personality, he might have been scouted by the big guilds!" Hanses explained to Kieran.

"The Chosen Ones? Wow, that’s really something!" Kieran said.

The Chosen Ones was what common players called the players with higher Spirit stats, who could use Spirit-related skills.

Kieran had heard this before from Lawless when he had been researching the [Half-Dead’s Gaze].

This was the first time he was seeing a real Chosen One though.

After the stray dogs and cats scattered away, birds started gathering on the street.

Raven communicated with the birds and fed them some food as well.

Soon, the birds scattered away too.

After 10 minutes, all the birds, dogs and cats returned.

"Clear!" Raven said, his voice rough. This was not because he had a sore throat. It was actually because he spoke very rarely. Kieran suddenly understood why people described him as a loner.

"I’ll go first!" Hanses said.

A giant shield as tall as he was appeared as he stood in front of the team.

Hanses was good at defensive measures. Kieran knew this from the last dungeon.

Because of the special restrictions of the previous dungeon though, this was the first time he was actually seeing Hanses act as a shield defender.

Ramont, who specialized in attacking, was on Hanses’ left, and Kieran was on his right. Raven was in the middle, and Lawless was covering their backs.

The five of them advanced forward in formation.

Even though Raven had said that the area was safe, it was better to be safe than sorry.

They didn’t let their guard down until they reached the scene of the crime.

Hanses and Ramont were on guard duty, while Kieran, Raven and Lawless went to inspect the scene.

The dead bodies were gone because of the game system rules, but there were still some traces of fighting and blood stains left behind.

It was a small alleyway, and outside it was the main road the five of them had come through. Inside the alleyway was a tight T-junction.

It was the place where the killer who had spied on Kieran had gone offline.

Blood was splashed all over the wall facing the main road, as if it had been sprayed on it.

At the right side of the T-junction, there was a slight crash mark.

Kieran activated his [Tracking] after a quick glance at both spots. Instantly, everything became clear.

"The killer came back online and attracted Coll and the other player’s attention, who had been keeping watch in the area. The other man must have been visible, while Coll must have been in the shadows."

"The killers hiding in the dark ambushed them. The other player was killed instantly with a slash across the throat, but Coll was hit hard on the back of his head. He must have crashed his head against the front wall!"

"Three of the culprits left easily and removed all traces that they were here! They moved fast and remained hidden. Other than some unknown corresponding skills, they must have had quite the teamwork as well. Based on their fast movements, they must known each other not only in the game, but in real life as well! Otherwise, they couldn’t have performed so well!"

Kieran frowned slightly over what he had discovered.

He knew very well what the situation would be like if the killers had a connection in real life as well.

Not only would the difficulty of finding them increase, but their actions and cooperation would also be much stronger and better-paced.

"I wonder how many of those players know each other in real life... Are these three special or not?"

Kieran furrowed his brow even harder.

"Something’s up!" Raven suddenly said.