Chapter 544: Island of Devil’s Maw (49)
Translator: Lonelytree
The Cage of Despair was placed right inside the giant hole at the centre of the crystalline maze. This was a very space, it was right between the Island of Devil’s Maw’s reverse isle and normal isle. The time flow between these two isles were inverted but at this place, it was an amalgamation of positive and negative, and time flowed both ways. At that moment, standing at the bottom of the hole looking up, one could see the sky of the normal isle… there was a blood moon that was mixed with some purple mist and the surrounding crystals were shining weakly so it was not completely dark.
Bang bang bang—
Suddenly the sound of multiple Geppos came from above. A red shadow leaped through the air like wind and was careening downwards. Several seconds later, the figure landed with both of his feet and shattered a large piece of crystals. Feng Bujue at that moment was already covered in blood and his gaze was as unforgiving as the coldest winter.
“You sure are a quick runner…” Soon, a large figure slowly floated down from the sky. The person who arrived was none other than the ‘executioner’. At that moment, Executioner was holding Ambitionist by his hair, dangling him in his hand. Ambitionist temporary was not dead, but he had lost his power of resistance, he did not even have the energy to reach into his inventory to take any potion…
With regards to Pegasus… the man unfortunately was unable to survive.
“hah… or perhaps, your reflex is surprisingly fast…” Executioner said as he stopped above 3 metres off the ground. He swung his arm and casually dropped the dying ambitionist to the ground. “Facing my ambush, you were able to evade with such extreme actions… that was indeed out of my expectation.”
“Your method of attack surely does not reflect your power level…” Feng Bujue replied coldly as he glanced at Ambitionist from the corner of his eyes. Brother Jue did not rush forward to rescue Ambitionist because he understood that the man tossed Ambitionist down was mostly likely he was trying to use his teammate as a bait to lure him over…
“Why? Are you trying to say that I am a cunning person?” Executioner scoffed. “ha ha… That is just laughable, you said that a strong individual cannot choose to strike from a person’s behind?”
“Hmm, you have point there.” Feng Bujue to his surprise, agreed. “But you better remember what you have said today…”
“Feng… Bu…. Jue!” Suddenly a roar came from behind Brother Jue. This familiar voice carried with it endless anger and hatred. Feng Bujue instantly took a few steps to the side and used the corner of his eyes to glance at the source of the voice… In the shadows, he saw a large crystalline cage. The ‘cage’ appeared to be an oval-shaped rattan ball but it was weaved from crystal. The inside was hollow and inside the cage was trapped a monster with a pair of large horns.
…
“Sam Montier?” Feng bujue ventured a guess.
“Ah—” What he got in reply was a roar. Before the roar faded away, Sam Montier already charged forward to ram into the side of the cage. He reached one of his arms out from the gap and lashed his sharp claws at Brother Jue, “I have been waiting for today for so long already… there is no way you are running away today!”
“Oh? Now this is interesting.” Floating in mid air, Executioner observed this interaction like an audience at the cinema. “Could it be that…” he turned to face Brother Jue, “…you are Feng Bujue?”
“Correct, I am sorry but I have not gotten your name…” Feng Bujue replied casually.
“Executioner.” Executioner smoothed the large beard under his nose and said proudly. “I am the main designer of the Island of Devil’s Maw and its maintenance worker.” He chuckled. “So what do you think? Has my work… left a deep impression on you?”
“Hmph…” Feng Bujue scoffed with condescension, “Do you know who you are speaking to? How would you dare to flaunt your artistry before a great artist like myself…” He placed his hands into his pocket and purposely paced casually about. “Ever since I was eight, the only skill that I have been working on until today, the only skill that I am proud of is my creative ability. From how I see it… this island that you have designed is no better than a grave for imagination.” Brother Jue looked tauntingly at Executioner and continued to explain, “To deprive a creature who favours the talk of sins to miss out on that; to turn a creature that desire immortality into an immortal tree; to toss a pure soul who desire the epitome of beauty into a dirty swamp… these kind of lowly tricks… ha ha… it is clear that they are the works of someone who wrongly views themselves as a sadist. They are definitely not an artist.” He scratched his chin and continued to say, “And those lazy creatures, they are nothing more than a mutation of animals and plants, aren’t they? Can’t you come up with something better?”
“You bastard…” The seed of anger slowly grew in Executioner’s heart, his face was plainly wrought in fury. Feng Bujue’s few sentences had successfully hit on Executioner’s nerves.
“Even though I have not met the other inmates on the island but I could have generally guessed their condition.” Brother Jue’s mockery was far from over and he was only just beginning, “What other unimaginative idea can you come up with? Trapping a person whose body will keep on growing inside a small room? Make someone who has a sweet tooth only can have savory food every day?” He used his finger to lightly tap on his forehead, “From how I see it, with your level of talent, if you really want to create an impressive creation, I fear there is only one method… and that is to undergo a surgery to excise your prefrontal lobe.”
“What kind of dust mite are you!” Executioner roared angrily, “A human being who has not seen the world… also dares to critique my creation…”
“Do not bring up the right of artistic criticism.” Feng Bujue raised his voice to cut the man off, “Even in your universe, I have encountered someone who was much better at this than you are… I wonder if you have heard of a puppet by the name of Billy, he is at least 100 times more talented than you are.”
“What… did you… just say…” Executioner gritted his teeth so hard that his teeth was about to break. His fury was about to burst into the sky and he hissed the sentence word by word.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…” A great echo of laughter came from the other side, turns out it was Sam Montier inside the cage who was laughing, “Feng Bujue…. Throughout the whole universe, I am afraid there is no one who will be better at mocking someone… ha ha ha ha…”
“Hmm, what is this?” Brother Jue was as calm as ever, he astutely captured something from the interaction of these two persons (for the sake of the smoothness of the story, we shall assume these two are humans for the moment), “There is some kind of hidden history… between Billy and the Executioner?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha… I would not say it is anything hidden.” If anything, it is more like an open secret which a lot of people already knows…”
“Shut it, Sam Montier!” The executioner yelled at the direction of the cage.
“Hmph… There is no need to raise your voice, you little nobody…” Sam Montier said snidely, “This cage of despair is not even your creation, it is the product of the Master of Time and you are nothing more than a key keeper….” He leaned his face close to the edge of the cage. A pair of earthy yellow eyes glowed with actual threat. “…who do you think you are to dare to order me around?”
Executioner’s face was twisted from shame and anger. But he was not in the place to explode… because he knew that Sam Montier was about to break out from his enclosure soon.
“he… he he he he he…” Suddenly, the Executioner laughed, it was not a laughter from extremely anger but he was laughing wickedly, “Even though you have been captured as an inmate, your personality has not changed at all…” He said as he lowered from the sky. “And you…” He turned to Brother Jue, “As a mere human, you dare to critique me?” Executioner landed on the ground and shrugged. “But it does not matter… how you two view me, after all, today, I am just a passer-by…” he raised his hand to point at Feng Bujue, “Feng Bujue, haven’t you and your teammates have been finding a way to ‘unlock the cage of despair? He he he he…” he laughed a few more times. “I have already helped you open it, no need to thank me.”
Hearing that, Brother Jue’s expression shifted slightly. While Executioner continued, “The blood that sticks to your body… the blood in the veins of the kid who was wearing the Saint Seiya outfit, that is the key to open the cage.”
Crack—
As he finished, the cage that trapped Sam Montier gave off a very unsettling sound, it sounded like something tough breaking open…
“he is the disciple of Tureus, the God of Truth, right…” The Executioner continued to explain. “he he… when his blood… drips onto this space, the seal will be broken.”
Pi pat pi pat…
After the first crack, it was followed by a series of chain reaction. In just several seconds, the crystalline cage that previously held Sam Montier had crumbled and shattered on the ground in pieces. Obviously after the seal was loosen, the crystalline cage turned back into a normal cage… the earlier slams from Sam Montier was enough for the cage to start cracking.
“Current quest completed. Main quest updated.
“Current quest completed. Main quest updated.”
This continuous and repeated hints meant that Brother Jue had completed two missions at the same time. Once he opened the quest tab, he could see that, other than ‘searching for the way to open the cage’ and under that, there was a new quest, which was ‘unlock the seal on the cage’ and the latter practically was done the moment it popped up.
“Qie…” Feng Bujue grumbled under his breath. “This new quest sure is surprisingly easy…”
Actually it was not easy at all…