Chapter 137: I Have 45% Luck Boost Bitch
[0:15:35]
"Kuak—!"
Cillian suddenly found himself able to move after the grueling struggle of being held down by Carlos.
Thud—!
He dropped to his knees, struggling to stabilize his breathing. The way the White Shepherd had died was something he hadn’t expected, but in the end, all that mattered was that he was alive.
’Wait... my plot armor is fucking here...!’
Cillian clenched his fist tightly before pointing toward where Aster was being restrained by several Black Shepherds, only to find that Oliver had already disappeared from in front of him.
Cillian looked toward where Oliver had reappeared and saw him kill two Black Shepherds at once before snatching Aster away from those enemies.
The only reason Carlos was lying on the ground while Cillian was still alive was that this dead White Shepherd’s attention had been focused entirely on him.
Carlos was caught off guard by Oliver’s sudden appearance, as the Ruiner emerged out of nowhere and smashed his metal bat into his head.
And then Cillian saw it.
The official members from the guilds kept dropping through the holes and tried to overpower the Black Shepherds stationed on the dome. Even though the Shepherds had slightly increased firepower from their Pieces alone, it couldn’t match the strength of the three times larger force consisting of Ruiners, Sorcerers, and Swordsmen from the guilds.
Rumble—!
His gaze swept across the battlefield before settling on Carlos, a look of disgust on his face and a small smile of victory forming on his lips.
"I have... 45% luck boost bitch."
Just as he said that, Oliver appeared right beside Cillian while carrying the unconscious Aster, bringing another unconscious unknown victim that Arthur kidnapped from Hensel. He got minor injuries from taking Aster away from the Shepherds, and he used the backup reinforcement to distract his enemies.
Then Oliver carried Cillian to the edge of the dome using his Ruiner powers, stepping through the air as he jumped around.
[Mimicry Activated]
[Mimicry Success]
’You’ve got to be shitting me. Success when everything’s already over? Aren’t you a bit too much, Faceless?’
Cillian mused inwardly and tried to talk to his Faceless, which obviously didn’t reply. It might have been because he was exhausted from everything that had happened that he ended up like this, talking to his power.
’Air Jump, huh.’
Air Jump was a simple name for a Piece belonging to the strongest Ruiner, Oliver. It was something Cillian had already seen him use, but being able to copy it would prove useful later.
’Or I might’ve to use now. Who knows, really.’
Cillian thought with a broken laugh before seeing Oliver leave them behind to rescue the other survivors who had managed to survive the fall that was scattered around the place.
Then, Cillian watched the chaos unfolding in front of him, where there was an abundance of abilities he could openly copy.
However, it seemed that at this distance from the center of the shrine, Cillian discovered another limitation of his Faceless.
[Mimicry Failed]
’So I can still use it, but this distance is quite too far for copying.’
His gaze shifted toward the Hidden One, who continued to transform.
’They should be enough to handle this, right?’
Cillian rested his back against the wall before secretly retrieving the pacifier from his Inventory and putting it in his mouth.
After a few seconds, Oliver appeared, carrying unconscious people while leaving behind those who hadn’t survived the fall. He occasionally made faces, his expression filled with regret at not being able to save all of them.
Eventually, Cillian saw Oliver bringing his family over to him after he signaled the strongest Ruiner to bring them closer.
’Thank god I’m not too late...’
They were safe. They had sustained injuries similar to the rest of the survivors, but it seemed Aster had done his best to keep everyone safe.
More people came. Kash, Willow, Ivy, and Melissa were there. The injuries they sustained were all caused by the fall and not from the Shepherds.
’Aster lost because he couldn’t go all out. He’s too focused on protecting everyone. Hah, obviously, there’s no way this munchkin would lose in these close quarters with so many people surrounding him when he could just spam the hell out of his Swords. But thinking like that isn’t enough. A loss is a loss. Just because the circumstances weren’t in someone’s favor doesn’t change the fact that they lost.’
Cillian was able to recognize his shortcomings in this fight. In fact, there were many of them, but as he reflected on them, he began thinking of solutions that would help him in the future.
One of them is his Faceless.
If Cillian didn’t have any reserved storage abilities from another Ruiner, he was pretty much useless. Until he was able to copy abilities, only then he could have some value.
’I have to add another Piece soon. One that can buy me time until I can copy other people’s abilities. My main force is still Faceless. The [One] Piece I’ll be acquiring should complement Faceless. If it doesn’t, it should at least be good enough—’
Cillian then saw one Black Shepherd turn his gaze toward the poor group that could jump at him at any moment, forcing him to stop thinking about his plans. This individual began running toward them, only to be struck by Oliver’s metal bat before he could reach them.
It seemed he was planning to use the group as bait, but Oliver watched their situation like a hawk every second, ready to smash every head that might come to their group.
Then, Oliver left once more after confirming that the dazed Cillian was fine. On the other hand, Cillian could only watch everything unfold as if this kind of chaos were a daily occurrence inside the dome.
’Please don’t scare me like that. Geez.’
Cillian felt his heart leap when he saw the Black Shepherd, only to let out a sigh of relief moments later. He was about to use Oliver’s Air Jump to try and defeat the Shepherd somehow.
[0:10:00]
’Ten minutes left...’
Cillian pondered inwardly as his one-hour luck boost was running out as he glanced at its timer. The negative effects that would follow it were sure to come.
Feeling that he was abusing the pacifier’s ability a bit too much, while also feeling that he had regained some vitality, Cillian removed it after noticing a slight ache coming from his head.
"I wonder what misshapen would I encounter—"
Baaaaaaaaaaang—!
All of a sudden, a flash of lightning came hurtling down from above.
Baaaaaang—!
Baaaaaang—!
Then, a few more came crashing down, making Cillian focus up and immediately stand as he looked toward where the thunderclaps were coming from.
The underground dome had several holes above it where the lightning had entered as the openings continued to expand, and it started to show the skies of the above world. Then, these thunderbolts continued raining down, striking dozens of people who had come to help them.
The Hidden One’s true form revealed itself to everyone who could see it. The rumbling they had been hearing earlier was coming from that thing.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"Avoid the thunderbolts!"
"A-Andrew died!"
The Hidden One’s white hand slowly rose into the air before immediately putting it down, leaving the people below helpless as some could only endure the strikes of its lightning that directly hit them.
"You mortals are dead!"
The Hidden One shouted as he used the thunder strikes that created an opening from above before he ascended towards the huge hole by using it as an escape route from below.
"Cillian!"
While the chaos was happening, Cillian saw Scott approaching him with a haggard expression, having just survived the clash.
’How do you know that it’s me—’
"It’s your smell! I’m also a Ruiner! Ah fuck, it doesn’t matter!"
Scott grabbed Cillian’s shoulders.
"That thing... that ’God’... How do we stop it?"
Scott’s face was scrunched up, as one of the lenses of his glasses was cracked after a few lightning strikes that had managed to hit him, though thankfully not fatally. That was probably the reason why some of them had survived, because the thunder strikes weren’t lethal enough that could one shot them. Unless they were hit too many times, that is.
However, that was completely unrelated to why Scott called Cillian.
This kid.
Scott had expectations for Cillian, who had managed to find out Arthur’s true goals, and expected that he had somehow found a solution if the ’God’ had indeed been successfully summoned.
But...
"I..."
Yet his face hardened when Cillian gave him a disappointing answer.
"I don’t know..."