Chapter 109: First Blood
[Death Coin flipped]
[Result: Tails]
[0:58:34]
[Mimicry Activated]
[Mimicry Failed]
Cillian had been passing through the countless rooms of Hensel Hospital for over a minute now. During that time, he kept glancing around towards his back, where the three Black Shepherds were chasing him.
They didn’t shoot any projectiles at him, which reassured Cillian that either their powers were better good for close combat or their range was limited to a certain distance.
That was what Cillian thought based on their current situation. However, if those Shepherds were tricking him, they might suddenly unleash a power that would shoot straight at him.
That was why Cillian kept this possibility at the back of his mind and avoided getting tunnel vision, since he wasn’t the only one hiding weapons.
’I also had to watch out for other Black Shepherds that might come for me.’
There’s an advantage Cillian could use now that he was in this situation, and it is knowing the ins and outs of Hensel Hospital and the structure of the entire hospital itself.
The Runic Gate is connected to paths, and there’s no ’blockage’ here. The only end of this place was the goal of this gate, which is where Hensel managed to clear this place.
Cillian will be fine as long as he isn’t cornered or forced into one of the rooms.
Hopping through the broken cabinet blocking his path, Cillian brushed Mouthful Eye off his shoulder and shouted.
"Wake up, damn it!"
Mouthful Eye, which could perfectly balance itself on Cillian’s shoulder no matter how roughly he ran, only opened its eye and remained unresponsive... at least, that was what Cillian thought for a second before it suddenly woke up.
"Huh... Oh, we’re running—"
Mouthful Eye looked at Cillian, who was pushing himself to run, before shifting his gaze to the back, where he saw the Black Shepherds chasing them.
"Why are you being chased by them?!"
[Mimicry Activated]
[Mimicry Failed]
Clicking his tongue after failing to mimic the abilities that the Ruiners were actively displaying while chasing him, Cillian gritted his teeth and replied.
"I’ll explain later...! Just let me focus on running! I have to tell you first how we’re able to defeat them."
Cillian began whispering to Mouthful Eye about his plan and glanced behind him, only to find that only two Ruiners were left. By the looks of it, the Ruiners who had powers related to invisibility couldn’t be detected by his Possibility Flag’s passive ability. Then, he changed his plan that he had just created once more.
But it doesn’t matter.
"Nearby Flag Presence."
Cillian mused inwardly before taking a huge turn to the left and beginning to set his plan in motion.
...
The Black Shepherds reached the point where Cillian had turned. Once they did, they found the rooms oddly opened, as if someone had deliberately made them that way. Because of that, they couldn’t decide whether Cillian had run away or used the rooms as bait.
They could’ve checked the rooms all together, but doing so would’ve bought Cillian time, allowing him to potentially run away and create some distance from them.
What would be their choice?
However, these Black Shepherds understood what they needed to do without even speaking. The Black Shepherds started running forward, seemingly taking a gamble that Cillian had escaped while making noise to make it appear as though nobody was left in there.
There was complete silence in the area until one of the room’s doors opened slightly without making a sound. The Black Shepherd with the invisibility power entered and checked the room, where the lights were flickering, without any worry, only to find that Cillian wasn’t there.
The invisible shepherd left the room and entered the next three rooms while remaining quiet. He was too confident that Cillian wouldn’t be able to find him because, according to their intel, Cillian might have been a Ruiner, but he didn’t have any kind of detection abilities.
Well, their intel was trash anyway since they weren’t that sure what kind of powers Cillian had. The Runic Book, containing whatever Piece he still had, wasn’t found; that will give them a clue about his powers.
However, there was one thing they had found out.
’But he doesn’t look tired using his Pieces. An ability that can copy and a spatial ability. So, one of them is his [Zero], something even most Ruiners couldn’t get because of how scarce and rare they are? In fact, no Runic Gates that appeared in this world ever contained a [Zero] Piece. As if they just appeared out of nowhere. If so, then this kid is very lucky.’
Every Ruiner wanted a Zero [Piece] among themselves. The higher-ranking Official Ruiners who found out about it too late couldn’t turn back, as they could only aim for higher-sequence Pieces. The same applied to most of the Shepherds.
If there were ever a person who wielded [Zero] amongst the sheeps, the invisible Ruiner couldn’t help but think of the Brown Shepherd.
’I should focus.’
The invisible Shepherd entered the last room among the ten rooms that had been opened. The invisible Shepherd thought that if Cillian was hiding in any of the rooms, it had to be this one.
Hence, he prepared himself for a fight.
The invisible shepherd is very adept at ambushes. His skillset was designed to be that way, adding the fact that he had been successful each time he had done it.
That’s why the Black Shepherds from earlier deliberately ran away while trying to make noise because of this.
The Shepherd entered without making any noise. Yet, like the other rooms, it was abandoned, with flickering lights coming from inside.
’Does that mean he ran away? If so, how fast was he to open the doors when there’s at least a few meters in distance between them?’
A question surfaced in the invisible shepherd’s mind, and he found that his search had been futile, as Cillian was nowhere to be found inside.
He left the room completely disappointed until a frown surfaced on his face when he saw the room in front, which had been closed earlier, open. Thankfully, he hadn’t turned off his powers, but that raised his suspicions because, as far as he remembered, only ten rooms were open.
The eleventh room he was looking at was supposed to be closed.
The invisible shepherd slowly moved forward, readying his blades under his cloak as he ventured inside, fully focused.
[Mimicry Failed]
[Mimicry Failed]
[Mimicry Failed]
The invisible shepherd scanned the hospital room very carefully before finally landing his eyes on the ground, where he found a strange... eye.
[Mimicry Failed]
[Mimicry Failed]
’Hmm? Isn’t this the thing Cillian grabbed earlier?’
Before the invisible Ruiner could react, still confident that he couldn’t be discovered, a sword pierced his chest, causing him to let out a groan and making his invisibility ability disappear.
He glanced behind, only to see the cold eyes of Cillian locking gaze with him.
"Help!"
The not-so-invisible shepherd tried to shout by informing a nearby group that might hear his voice, yet Cillian smirked and called out to him.
"There’s no use in shouting. Nobody will hear you."
The shepherd’s eyes wavered until he saw Cillian grabbing a blade from his inventory before slicing his throat in one go.
[Inventory: 6/10]
Pushing the shepherd away from the ground, Cillian clicked his tongue in annoyance while wiping the blood that splashed through his face.
"I couldn’t mimic his ability. Tsk."