Chapter 116: Monster
The atmosphere inside the smoke screens was tense. It had only been a few seconds since they appeared, but Cillian was already nowhere to be found inside. Their abilities were already activated, yet they didn’t dare attack just yet, lest they hurt one of their teammates.
"He’s on the left!"
One of the Shepherds, who had just activated his detection ability while pulling out a bow, nocked an arrow and aimed it toward the direction where he saw Cillian had just killed one of the Shepherds. The other Shepherds with projectile attacks or items followed his lead and aimed their attacks toward the left.
Just as he was about to shoot his arrow, the shepherd saw Cillian looking towards him before summoning an iron golem.
[[Buddy[Two] Hop]: [0:45]]
And it hopped, throwing everyone off balance.
Rumble—!
Cillian dashed towards the person who had just shouted within the smoke and immediately used his vines to capture the shepherd.
Whoosh—!
Yet before Cillian could reach this particular shepherd, while ignoring the other two shepherds he passed, an arrow pierced through his left shoulder.
’Fuck!’
Ignoring the pain that could be strongly felt in his shoulder, Cillian gritted his teeth and reached toward the Shepherd who was the cause of his pain.
He would’ve targeted this first if he had known that this Shepherd had a detection ability, but alas, he could only accept being hurt by him.
Whoosh—!
This shepherd, adept at using a bow, had already nocked another and shot it towards Cillian. However, Cillian was already aware of this guy’s action and managed to dodge the arrow aimed at his head at the nick of time, merely hitting the ceiling above.
"Help—"
The Shepherd tried to scream for help, yet Cillian had already caught him, and his Light Arrows had already shot toward the shepherd’s eyes.
"—me!"
That was the last thing the Shepherd had said before his throat was sliced by Cillian’s Bone Claw, ending his suffering.
[Death Flags x7]
Cillian bled through the corner of his lips before shouting in a suppressed voice.
"Hop...!"
Afraid that the other six Shepherds had heard the desperate scream, Cillian tried to use the Iron Golem to throw everyone’s balance off yet again.
It hopped, but this time, a barrage of attacks came his way as a few Shepherds dashed toward his direction, guessing where he was through the smoke screen.
Removing the arrow from his shoulder, Cillian adjusted his position and grabbed his blade from his inventory, which had become duller from excessive use, before encountering the first shepherd who closed the distance first.
He was carrying a sword, and it was burning with a fiery red flame.
[Mimicry Activated]
[Mimicry Failed]
The shepherd drew a strike, which Cillian easily evaded.
Cillian counterattacked by using Green Vines to corner the Shepherd, yet he skillfully deflected them with his swordplay. However, another attack came as the Light Arrows shot through the air, only managing to hit the Shepherd once in the waist.
Another shepherd reached toward Cillian and tried to strike him from behind, but his Buddy had already positioned itself to intercept the attack and began attacking the shepherd who wanted to join the fray.
Cillian isolated the fight between him and the swordsman while dodging the stray projectiles within the smoke.
[Sleight of Hand]
A few seconds of fighting ensued. Even though Cillian was at a disadvantage for meeting a good swordsman, he used his Sleight of Hand to make up for his skills.
The swordsman was a skilled person, but that’s just it.
’He’s not as good as Aster.’
Cillian mused inwardly before using one Light Arrow to kill the swordsman after he was unable to defend against the consecutive attacks coming from him.
[Death Flags x6]
The shepherd was already injured to begin with, but he held on, and that’s pretty much the thing he can do before being overwhelmed by Cillian.
Cillian manifested another three Light Arrows before shooting them towards the busy shepherd fighting the already worn-out Buddy, immediately stopping the stalemate happening between them.
The shepherd got hit on the sides before she was crushed by Buddy, who hopped towards her head, turning her into a mush of blood.
[Death Flags x5]
’Four more left...’
Cillian drew a short, exhausted breath and looked at the timer of his mimicked abilities through the screens.
[Light Arrows[Three]: [0:09]]
[Green Vines[Four]: [0:23]]
[Bone Claw[One]: [0:03]]
[Buddy[Two]: [Hop][0: 30]]
[Troy’s Voice: [0:00]]
Feeling the blood trickle down from his shoulder where an arrow had pierced him, Cillian clicked his tongue and moved to target another nearby shepherd using the system’s ability. The mimicked Bone Claw had run out of time, returning the knuckles of his hand to normal.
Cillian repositioned himself within the smoke screen.
Just as it happened, Cillian noticed three shepherds seemingly rushing towards him as if sure where he was, even though he repositioned every time. One of them still remained at the entrance guarding it.
A sudden thought about their confident action made Cillian frown.
’Troy must’ve decided to come together at once and used his ability again. Tsk, I wasn’t wearing the robe until the last minute, when Troy informed everyone that it was the real him.’
Cillian mused inwardly before readying himself for the incoming one-versus-three battle, something he was unsure he could win. As much as possible, he didn’t want to fight them head-on without having an advantage from the start.
In just a few seconds, they would reach him.
"Heh."
A small smile escaped his lips.
Cillian changed his face for the fourth time, causing his nose to bleed. He immediately wiped it away before dashing toward one of the three pursuers.
He was making a gamble.
He wanted to see if this would pay off now that everything was calling for a desperate solution.
In just a second, Cillian reached one of the pursuers, and they soon met face to face. A surprised look appeared on the Shepherd’s face as he met someone familiar.
"Troy?"
The Shepherd, who stopped for a moment and thought they had encountered each other instead of cornering Cillian, looked at this ’Troy’ before it was too late. The Light Arrows struck his heart, head, and throat.
[Light Arrows[Three]: [0:00]]
The Shepherd staggered back as he looked down and saw the Light Arrows disappear from his body, but it was already too late to react.
He was just caught off guard for a second. Cillian, using Troy’s face as a decoy to force a reaction, took advantage of that brief moment and attacked without giving him a chance to retaliate.
He couldn’t even manage to get his Artifact working to protect himself, just like earlier when he survived the same light arrows.
The Shepherd looked toward Cillian’s emotionless expression as he saw a Fireball manifest in Cillian’s hand while he was turning around.
’What a... monster.’
[Death Flags x4]