Chapter 124: Duped
’Well, fuck.’
This was the same place Cillian had investigated to find the cause of the missing expedition. The same place where the abundance of Guilds filled with Ruiners and ordinary Adventurers near the site of the Ancient Ruin remained there instead of blindly barging forward.
It’s because the existence of White Shepherds had become known, something that probably the entire world hadn’t been aware of.
’I mean, we have a lot of people on our side! Even if they are much more powerful than us, we should be able to overpower them somehow?!’
For Cillian, who was only planning to use these people to barge their way into the Ancient Ruins, they weren’t exactly moving as he thought they would.
They organized themselves by forming a perimeter, leaving the Shepherds cornered within a circular formation. If any Shepherds dared to break through this unbreakable formation they had created, they would instantly die.
But the same strategy might have worked if it weren’t for the fact that the White Shepherds kept warning these people that if they crossed the boundaries they had created, they would not hesitate to retaliate.
It was a deadlock.
’No, no. If those Shepherds are merely waiting, it means no one is supposed to interrupt whatever Arthur was doing in the Ancient Ruins. This is the perfect time to disrupt his plan!’
Cillian looked toward one particular person who might turn the tide simply by being here.
’Old man, time to shine.’
Oliver, who seemed to have gotten the gist of the situation by listening to Cillian’s story earlier while they were running in the direction he pointed, where he told them the cause of this chaos, which Cillian was right about once more, started to squeeze through the Ruiners in front of them.
"Excuse me, yep. Excuse me, this old man is coming through."
Aster, with Cillian behind him, silently followed as Oliver moved far ahead through the abundance of different Guilds from Viola currently present. The two of them remained right behind him but not too near in case the White Shepherds suddenly decided to attack.
Suddenly, Oliver raised his metal bat towards the White Shepherds stationed on the roofs.
"Hey, you lot are making a lot of noise in the world lately. Black Shepherds are something I encountered mostly, but White Shepherds? You guys are something new."
Oliver paused before pointing his bat at one particular White Shepherd, who was being surrounded by a group of both White and Black Shepherds.
The people behind him couldn’t help but gaze at Oliver’s brave attempt to speak with them. They wondered who Oliver was since he was unfamiliar to them, until the White Shepherd he was addressing at spoke.
"What are you going to do about it, Oliver Gasparo?"
Not surprised anymore that even the White Shepherds knew about his existence, Oliver scoffed and retorted.
"Are you seriously asking that?"
Soon, Oliver appeared directly behind the White Shepherd after emerging from the shadows, before using his metal bat to strike the opponent down, who had been leisurely waiting.
Splash—!
’He’s fast!’
Cillian couldn’t help but feel like his eyes were deceiving him when he saw two Olivers. One was standing in front of them, while the other was behind the particular White Shepherd.
However, the surprise didn’t end there, as Cillian couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed after Oliver’s attack ’failed.’
"What?"
Before Oliver could even find satisfaction in killing a White Shepherd, he saw the White Shepherd split in half and turn into mist.
It then started to talk with him in a mocking tone.
"What a bummer. We were hoping to buy as much time as possible. Sadly, this is the only thing we could do."
Seeing the White Shepherd’s mist form disappear, Oliver couldn’t help but frown until darkness spread beneath his feet and toward the nearby Shepherds who were also ’waiting,’ devouring them after a few seconds.
They were all swallowed by the same darkness until their mist forms also looked like ghosts leaving their bodies.
"This..."
Watching the scene from afar, Aster couldn’t help but comment on just how bizarre the powers of the Ruiners truly were.
The fake White Shepherds and the nearby Shepherds around him all disappeared without a trace after being ’killed’ by Oliver. However, the term ’killed’ didn’t seem to fit this situation.
They were tricked.
Even so, the domineering pressure they felt from these mist-like forms was real. If it weren’t for that, the Guilds wouldn’t have been stuck watching their positions like idiots
Or maybe they were meant to do this?
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
Suddenly, the one piggybacking Aster was the one enraged the most.
’Fuck! I would’ve fucking cursed the shit out of these idiots if not for the fact that I would want their help! No one even fucking dared to be brave?! A simple push could’ve made the difference—’
Suddenly, Cillian felt like laughing when he realized something about how these Shepherds were moving. Like him, they were probably taking a risk as well.
’I see. So the Black Shepherds rampaging through Viola was for this. To make everyone question their actions and believe that they had a reason for doing this, which, in fact, they did and... it was all to trick us! We’ve been had... Haha...’
Cillian couldn’t help but chuckle uncontrollably as he saw the other Guild members, who might have been thinking the same thing as he was, begin targeting the fake Shepherds nearby, yet nothing happened.
Just a bunch of mist-like forms scattering around after being ’killed,’ giving the Guild members from Viola who came here a smirk as if to mock how idiotic they were.
In just over two minutes, the fake Shepherds had all been wiped out. Literally, everything else here was just a fake.
’Tsk, I still have to blame these guilds for being chickens. Like, come on!’
Cillian complained inwardly before collecting his thoughts. Now that this ridiculous situation had been resolved, everyone stationed around the perimeter surrounding the Ancient Ruin had started to move.
After being duped by the fake Shepherds for a few minutes, the remaining people nearby started to enter the Ancient Ruin where Arthur was currently summoning the God.