The Devil’s Cage

Bang! Bang!

As Kieran threw off his vest, the traitor fired back.

The man’s line of vision was blocked. He could not see Kieran clearly and he was firing off balance because he had to dodge the incoming vest. However, that did not stop him from landing two shots in Kieran’s leg. He had his rich experience in the battlefield and his background as a veteran soldier to thank for that.

After injecting the [Painkiller], Kieran was not feeling pain anymore. He rolled out from his spot as if he had not been shot at all.

“You wasted a good opportunity! Do you know that?”

The traitor watched Kieran keep his distance from him and leap away as if he had not been injured in the first place. He knew damn well why that was, and his urge to kill Kieran grew even more.

It was the [Painkiller] he had given him.

Kieran had used his own [Painkiller] against him, which kind of insulted the traitor in a way.

He really wished he could just blow Kieran’s head off, but there was the mission to consider.

The traitor decided to teach Kieran a lesson.

He would show Kieran that he was the captive, and at the same time show off his power and authority in the situation.

He was an interrogation expert after all.

He knew at least a hundred different ways to interrogate a hostage.

Just as he was thinking what he should do to him, he saw a strange smile form on Kieran’s face.

Something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut.

He looked down and saw the [U-II] grenade.

Instinctively, he moved to dodge it, but it was already too late.

BOOM!

The explosion enveloped the traitor completely.

Even Kieran felt the shockwave, and he was watching it unfold from a distance.

Luckily, it was just a shockwave of wind. There was no debris.

The traitor was not as lucky, though.

He had been at the center of the explosion, and the [U-II] engulfed him completely, making him explode into pieces. He looked even worse than Hank had when he had shot him.

[Shooting: Inflicts 20 Damage to HP…]

[Shooting: Inflicts 20 Damage to HP…]

[Moderately Wounded State…]

[Lower Body has been Crippled…]

[Painkiller Buff in Effect, counters Moderately Wounded and Crippled State…]

[Explosion: Inflicts 150 Damage to Target HP. Target dies…]

Looking at the battle log, Kieran felt glad that the [Painkiller] had been effective. If it hadn’t been for it, he could not have executed his plan and remained in one piece too.

He might have been caught in the explosion himself.

A stroke of bad luck in combination with his remaining 40 HP might have resulted in a GAME OVER for him.

“Damn, I’m a lucky son of a bitch!” he exclaimed before turning his attention back to the battle log.

“150 HP?”

Kieran was stunned by the amount of HP the traitor had.

Everyone, from the first men he had encountered to the rebel squad, had had an HP of 100. There had been no exceptions until now. That included himself.

The traitor though appeared to have an 150 HP.

“Is it because he had a stronger physique? Or because he was an elite soldier?” he wondered.

Before he could continue his line of thought, he was interrupted by another notification.

[Successfully eliminated enemy using Firearms (Light Firearm)(Entry Level) Skill…]

[Skill: Firearm (Light Firearm) (Basic -> Entry Level)]

[Name: Firearm (Light Firearm) (Entry Level)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Constitution, Intuition]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: You know how to use a handgun, rifle, revolver, assault rifle, submachine gun and sniper rifle, increases damage by 20%]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Strength F, Constitution F, Intuition F+]

[Remarks: You know how to use light firearms. You’re as good as an army veteran!]

….

[Skill: Firearm (Light Firearm) Skill Up, Related Attributes Leveling Up…]

[Strength: F -> F+]

[Constitution: F-> F+]

[Intuition: Capped for this specific skill at current level]

A refreshing warm feeling started to fill Kieran’s body as further firearm knowledge was transferred into his brain. The warmth made the information spread even faster.

Most importantly, his HP value had risen.

While there had originally been 40 HP left, now thanks to his [Constitution] leveling up it had increased to 60.

“My [Constitution] leveling up added 20 to Max HP?”

“Just as I expected, attributes and skills are related after all!”

“But is this a newbie dungeon advantage? Or is that how skills normally level up?”

He frowned as he pondered all these questions.

He figured that it might be a newbie advantage, because if this was really how skills leveled up, then it was way too simple. Achieving such a goal should be just as hard as defeating that traitor.

After all, Kieran had less experience and power than the man.

If it had not been for his luck and the fact that the traitor had wanted something from him, he would have been dead by now.

It had indeed been too simple.

Players, no matter the game, were the most creative and adventurous kind of people.

Had the traitor been strong?

Very much so.

If Kieran had fought with him in hand-to-hand combat, he would never have won.

But he had used the time he’d been given to come up with a plan to trick him.

It might have taken some time, but Kieran had not minded. It was give and take, and he had exchanged his time in return for skill and attribute upgrades.

So did every player, Kieran believed.

Given the circumstances, leveling up one’s skills by eliminating a higher skilled person could only be a newbie advantage.

If not, then the game makers were not doing a very good job.

Things were not totally hopeless for Kieran, though.

He would not give up, just like he hadn’t when he’d tried to gain more skills from the captive thug and his plan had not worked out.

His hopes had been renewed now.

“Eliminate higher skilled people to level up, huh?” Kieran mumbled, clenching his fist.

He had came up with a new idea, but now was not the time to test it.

His priority was to heal himself as fast as possible.

Although his upgraded [Firearm (Light Firearm)] Skill had raised his [Attributes] as well, it still did not change the fact that his HP was low.

Once the [Painkiller] wore off, he would be in big trouble.

He needed to bring his HP to a reasonable level before the [Painkiller]’s effect subsided.

He approached the traitor’s corpse to inspect it.

The man’s body might be beyond repair, but that did not mean that there would be no rewards on it.

As a matter a fact, when Kieran flipped the body over, he discovered something.

It was a purple book the size of a human palm that seemed to glow faintly.

“A Skill Book?” Kieran said out loud.

Obviously, within the 100% realism game, the game system was still working like normal.

Kieran picked up the book.

[New Skill Available: Tracking]

[Do you wish to learn it?]

“Yes!”

He agreed without a second thought.

[New Skill: Tracking]

[Name: Tracking (Basic)]

[Related Attributes: Intuition]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effects: You can observe your surroundings for tracks and clues to track down your target!]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Intuition F+]

[Remarks: You’re still no better than a search dog.]

In an instant, the familiar feeling of knowledge being transferred filled Kieran’s body once again.

When the process was completed, Kieran opened his eyes wide. He noticed that everything looked different. He could now pick up details that he had missed before and everything seemed a lot clearer.

Footprints on the ground appeared in white color. The color of blood became brighter and the explosion looked like a black cloud.

In the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal. When Kieran focused again, the scene in front of him changed once more.

“A active skill?” he thought to himself.

However, a stinging sensation reminded him that the [Painkiller] was already wearing off.

He quickly grabbed the traitor’s pack and headed towards the spot where he had hidden all the canned food.

The corpse held no more loot except for the [Tracking] Skill Book.

The one thing that Kieran was missing was his makeshift rifle that had been destroyed during the explosion. The loss made him kind of sad.

Kieran would have protected the gun if he could have done so without causing further injury to himself.

That’s when he remembered that he had killed the rebel squad’s sniper. There could very well be a real sniper rifle on the man’s corpse.

When his [Firearm (Light Firearm)] Skill had gone up, his need for a gun had increased along with it.

He knew perfectly well that when facing an immense numbers of rebel soldiers, a sniper rifle would be more effective than anything else. Not to mention that it would make him feel a lot safer.

Plus, after all the changes he had made to his plan, he was going to need a sniper rifle even more.

“General Zennings, hmm?” he mumbled the man’s name.

Obviously, the General was a Boss that could raise his rating even more than Zarukhar could.