Chapter 115: Five Seconds
Most of the Shepherds’ attention shifted toward the path where they were almost certain Troy’s voice was coming from.
All of them stole glances between Troy and the Troy from afar.
The Troy from afar continued screaming.
"Be careful, all of you! He’s only waiting for me to come there to finish us all!"
’What the fuck is it trying to say now?!’
Troy was beyond angry, feeling wrongly accused of being... not himself. He had never been so furious in his entire life about someone impersonating him.
He was about to scream back when everything instantly clicked for Troy.
The true person behind the voice. The reason why the other six were dead, unable to distinguish between friend and foe.
’He can copy voices too?! Cillian—"
Before Troy could even convince his group that it was Cillian talking to them from the path, he was stopped by his similar voice.
"Benson!"
Benson, the guy who could manifest stones on every part of his body and had been with Troy throughout their journey inside, jolted awake.
"That guy has been tricking you from the start! He copied an ability that allowed him to move freely across long distances! I don’t know how he did it, but he switched places with me halfway through! Benson! This was a deliberate plan! He did everything from the start to gather all of you! He’s only waiting for me to finish us all!"
Troy retorted to his own voice. Well, at least he tried until his voice spoke again, sounding as if he were in pain.
"Ugh! Agh! Shit, I’m in pain! Help me, guys! That Cillian Sparrow will kill you any second now that he’s been discovered! He will kill you!"
Troy wanted to speak right away, but the growing suspicion of the group continued to dawn on him. Even Benson, who had stayed with him throughout their time inside Hensel alongside the now-dead Oer, wanted to argue and prove that he was the real Troy.
However, Cillian could indeed copy faces. What they were seeing right now might have been Cillian simply pretending to be Troy.
But what they didn’t know was that Cillian could also copy voices, something Troy had only discovered just now, making it difficult for him to convince the group that he had just discovered it right now.
It’s not like he could just say, "It’s Cillian. He can also copy voices!" when Troy hadn’t delivered this kind of information when they gathered around the entrance.
’What is he trying to do now?!’
Troy couldn’t understand Cillian’s motive behind pretending to be him while not showing himself, but he had to be quick in clearing the allegations that he was the fake.
That’s why Troy quickly thought of a solution that immediately came to his mind.
’There’s no way his copy ability is that absurd. There must be a limitation to it, which is that he needs to look at the person himself. I told him I have a Record ability and made him realize I have another that lets me transmit information through the robes since Oer’s robe was gone when I inspected his corpse. But he hasn’t seen me do it!’
There might have been other ways to prove that Troy was the real one, but he had to do it quickly now and not let everyone be provoked by Cillian’s antics.
Troy tightly clenched the robe around him and shouted at it to bring everyone back to focus.
-"It’s me, you bastards! Cillian Sparrow hasn’t copied this ability since I haven’t shown it to him. Focus!"
The nine Shepherds clutched their heads, including Troy. It was a taxing payment for being an Improper Ruiner while using his ability, but it was enough proof, and the statement matched what Troy had told them when they gathered around the entrance.
And all of them looked toward the path where Cillian, who was using a different face and had used Faceless for the third time, was running toward them with a gleeful smile.
’Five seconds!’
Cillian shouted inside his mind while calculating that small window of time, the moment someone could feel when Troy used his ability and transmitted information.
He calculated that the five seconds were the initial pain someone would feel, and that the pain would slowly subside after that.
But that time window frame was all Cillian needed.
’It’s too far though, fuck!’
A problem had already arisen when Cillian found out that he would only manage to cross twenty meters, even while using Gale within his feet to move as fast as possible.
Troy’s group was on the thirty-meter mark.
’I guess I can’t just leave here, huh?!’
Cillian gritted his teeth before activating tons of abilities from his mimic. He started to feel the pain, almost akin to the time back at the Academy when he used the Sword of Wrath.
"Light Arrow! Green Vines! Bone Claw!"
Three arrows in a yellowish form manifested in thin air. Long, green vines started extending from Cillian’s soles as they reached toward the group. Two of his hands started sprouting claws from their knuckles, almost akin to Wolverine.
This happened in a span of two seconds.
He shot the three light arrows towards the heads of the three nearby shepherds he could target. However, only one of them got hit after the two were protected by an Artifact that protected their lives.
The one who got hit was Benson.
[Death Flags x9]
"Tsk!"
Seeing that there were still eight more left, Cillian used the smoke screens he had gathered from the Shepherds, tightly clenching them in his hand before immediately throwing them toward the group that had slowly regained their senses, even though the pain was still subsiding.
Five seconds had already passed.
"Cillian Sparrow!"
Troy raised his sword as she shouted before he was met with thick smoke that surrounded their group. Everyone had already activated their Ruiner abilities, anticipating an attack coming from Cillian. Some had already covered the entrance to prevent him from escaping the place.
"Nearby Flag Presence."
Cillian muttered under his breath before entering the smoke and making his way toward the nearest flag.
Using the manifested claws on his hand, something Cillian had copied from his last victim, Cillian moved toward the Shepherd and released green vines from his sole, trying to trap his victim tightly.
One slash and three arrows.
Cillian’s claw attack was easily blocked by the Shepherd after a gust of wind threw him off balance, allowing him to break free from the green vines surrounding him. However, the same could not be said for his light arrows.
[Light Arrows[Three]: [0:42]]
Cillian immediately shot the light arrows from the Shepherd’s head twice before targeting his heart. Even if his first attack failed, and even if his second attempt failed as well, Cillian calmly assessed the situation and used his third mimicked ability, Light Arrows, to finish the job.
The Shepherd who had fallen down after trying to fight Cillian inside the smoke for a few seconds died. He was unable to follow through against Cillian’s consecutive attacks, even though he had fended off the previous two.
[Death Flags x8]
"He’s on the left!"
Cillian merely ignored the dead Shepherd and focused on the one who had shouted earlier. Using Nearby Flag Presence, he located him and muttered under his breath.
"Mimicry. Buddy."