The Devil’s Cage - Chapter 258

Chapter 258

The match ignited the red phosphorus .

The flame burned swiftly . When the fire reached the skeleton pit that had been splashed with kerosene by Kieran, the small flames turned into a raging, dancing fire .

Thick smoke rose up high in the sky, forming a big dark cloud .

Herbert and Pierre were softly saying a prayer for the dead .

Even the big guy was standing aside respectfully .

The huge fire burned for almost two hours . After the flames dimmed down, Kieran picked up a shovel . He wasn’t going to fill the pit . He was just going to bury the unburned bones he had collected from it .

They might still be dug up by an animal for dinner, but they had done whatever they could .

Pierre, the big guy, and Herbert joined him for the digging . The group kept burying bones until the sky turned dark .

"I swear I will never have a Bizel steak1 again!" Pierre, who was resting beside the campfire, said in a serious tone .

"I think I won’t have ribs for a very long time! I never really had any before though!" Kieran followed up with a joke of his own .

The steak Pierre had mentioned was a local dungeon delicacy, so of course Kieran had never had it before . Herbert started describing the steak in great detail .

"Bizel steak, huh? The part where the bones are attached, that tender and juicy meat, is known as the best part of the cow . Especially the red juice . It really increases one’s appetite…"

"Ugh! Stop, Herbert! You’re making me sick to my stomach!" Pierre yelled with a disgusted look before Herbert could finish teasing him .

Kieran could not take it either . Thanks to Herbert’s description, he had remembered the bloody bones inside the pit .

Kieran quickly pushed the thought out of his head . He did not want such memories to affect the taste of his food . He immediately changed the topic .

"So when do we start, Herbert?" he asked .

"Right now, of course!"

Herbert finished his meal and stood up right away . Holding a kerosene lamp in his hand, he ventured towards the uncharted area of the inner city . Kieran, Pierre and the big guy followed closely .

"According to Neegor traditions, most of the nobles, knights and royalty resided in the inner city . Commoners like businessmen, no matter how rich they were, could not enter this part of the city! Truth be told, the Neegor Dynasty had a very strict hierarchy system . If a commoner wanted to advance to a noble level, there was almost no other way to do it other than by having great achievements on the battlefield . A person would have to kill at least 30 enemies, one of them a commander, in order to achieve that!"

When the group reached a field filled with holes, Herbert explained what was before them .

"This has to be the inner part of the city . The inner city buildings had a higher architecture than common houses in the slums . As time passed though, the buildings sank into the ground, merging together and becoming one . Although I hate that those gold diggers destroyed historical artifacts, I have to thank them because they saved us a lot of time . "

Herbert raised his kerosene lamp, picked a hole and went down straightaway .

It turned out not to be a random hole though . As Kieran followed him into the hole, he confirmed his theory .

After walking through a narrow passageway with steep slopes filled with dust, they saw a wide space appear before them .

There was no need to bend over, as the air did not feel stuffy . The underground space was much wider and better ventilated than they’d imagined .

"This must be the mansion of a nobleman . The room we entered must have been his chambers . Let’s go over there and see what he has in his study!" Herbert said as he walked towards it .

He sounded extremely confident, as if the place he was in was not ancient historical remains from 1,500 years ago, but his own backyard . He was familiar with every corner and nook of the house .

Starting from the noble mansion before them, the group spent a whole week exploring Isogu City .

Other than during meals and resting time, Kieran was behind Herbert all the time, listening to his explanations about the place .

Kieran was observing the place with a sense of vigilance, in case there was any potential danger . He knew what was best for him very well .

He actually hadn’t known a single thing about the history of Isogu City or the Neegor Dynasty before the expedition . If it wasn’t for Herbert’s explanations, he could not even have identified what was he looking at .

From Kieran’s perspective, everything he saw was pretty much the same . Stones and dirt, and some broken household utensils .

Kieran could not process that with his limited knowledge, but that did not make him sad .

He knew what level he was at . Honestly speaking, even the gold diggers back at the campsite had known more than Kieran about the place before they’d died .

Otherwise, Kieran would not have followed Herbert around . Herbert was a real professional .

The best proof of that was Kieran’s vision, where notifications about the exploration kept popping up non stop .

Although it was not as much as 1%, as when he’d first entered Isogu City, during that week, [+0 . 1%] and [+0 . 2%] notifications would pop up from time to time as Kieran followed Herbert around .

When his completion rate reached 15%, Kieran was delighted . Another 5% to go before he completed his Main Mission .

However, during the past two days, the notifications had grown fewer and fewer . Kieran knew that if he wanted to increase his exploration percentage within a short period, he would need a big discovery . Following the holes dug by the gold diggers would not do anymore .

Truth be told, Herbert was doing the same . Every time he left a hole dug by the gold diggers, he would take down notes .

Kieran could not understand his notes . There were lines and numbers on them though, so he knew that Herbert was trying to locate the weapon .

It was not an easy task though . If it was, the guardians or the Night Race would have found it already . They would not have waited for Herbert to do it for them .

Kieran did not rush Herbert . He just waited quietly .

So did Pierre, although he was waiting for the Night Monsters instead .

Within a week’s time, Pierre had found some things from the gold diggers’ campsite that he thought might be useful, such as flintlock pistols, a big amount of bullets, swords, knives, and bundles of explosives .

The use of the explosives was self-explanatory back then .

…

During the night, a campfire was burning at the inner part of Isogu City . Everyone was stuffing food into their mouths .

Pierre was tidying up the weapons again, Herbert was using the light coming from the fire, writing down notes that only he and his students could read .

Kieran was in the shadows, scanning his surroundings . He needed to be prepared, even if it was just for the night watch,

The day before, Kieran had picked up a spying gaze more than once . The malicious gaze had been as sharp as a sword .

"Can’t wait anymore?" Kieran guessed .

The Night Race was less patient than he had imagined, but that was good news for him .

It meant that the monsters were unable to act rampantly . They experienced anxiety too .

Why would the Night Race feel anxious though?

Maybe it was because of the guardians of Isogu City or some other hostile forces .

No matter what the answer was, it was good news for Kieran, who was fighting alone .

Soon, he got some more good news .

Herbert, who was sitting next to the campfire, suddenly stood up . He looked quite tired after all that research, but his eyes looked happy .

He signaled at Kieran and Pierre carefully, without making a sound .

Herbert was worried that the Night Race might possess superhuman senses, so a deal had been made between the group .

That signal had only one meaning .

He had found it!

The weapon had been found!

TL Note

Bizel Steak: Local dungeon specialty