Chapter 139: Traveler
Scott felt rather powerless at this point. He was the type of individual who used his head more rather than his physical strength.
Maybe if he had somehow known this was going to happen, maybe he would’ve planned a bit more instead of standing around like a stump, relying on some kid to do a job that should’ve fallen to adults like him.
A lot of maybes.
Suddenly, Scott saw Cillian move forward before stopping, his eyes fixed somewhere in the air.
Scott tried to follow his gaze, but there was nothing there. Then, after a brief moment, he saw Cillian’s eyes freeze.
The air around him changed.
[0:05:00]
"Sparrow?"
Scott was confused.
His actions didn’t make sense.
He thought that Cillian was just going to rest, which was something he was inclined to do at this point because of the accumulated injuries all over his body. Yet, Cillian was still moving, even limping.
The bloodstains on his shirt had already dried up, and the exhaustion on his face was plain to see. For goodness’ sake, the blade from Hidden One earlier was still stuck in his side.
Even so, a small smile began to form on Cillian’s lips.
’I can do it?’
Removing the pacifier from his mouth, Cillian looked at his side where the blade was still stuck on his side before clenching his hand at the grip and removing it in one go. A soft groan escaped his lips.
Just as he was about to use the same blade to cut some of his already torn and bloodied clothes, Cillian saw Scott hand him a bandage, enough to cover himself.
"Here, Sparrow."
Scott didn’t know why, but he could finally see the change in Cillian.
His eyes looked determined.
Throwing the blade to the side, Cillian received it and began wrapping the bandage around his body with a slightly pained expression as he spoke.
"Sir Oliver. Grab every piece of equipment the Shepherd was trying to use earlier. You’ll have to do it quickly. Also, can you grab my Artifact with the eye you saw when we first met? It’s fine if you can’t find it, but you have to grab the equipment I’m talking about. Ah, right. You have a way to get back up, don’t you?"
When Oliver saw that Cillian was starting to speak and seemed rather eager, unlike what he was trying to show earlier, he immediately began talking.
"You’re right. I have a way to go up."
Oliver answered the second question.
"I don’t know about the equipment you’re talking about since I was just busy smashing the heads of those Shepherds, but I’ll definitely get what you’re asking for. There’s no guarantee about that Artifact, though."
He then answered the earlier order as well, but the response was rather unsatisfactory. Still, he wasn’t done yet and continued.
"A question, though. How... are you even going to walk or run at this point? Why won’t you just tell us what to do?"
Cillian couldn’t help but retort right away.
"Hey, old man! I’m already helping you enough! Of course, I’m the one getting a piggyback ride from... you?"
Cillian looked over at Scott, who found that his role had been reduced to nothing more than cargo. Yet, he was willing to accept it if it would help their current situation.
"Come."
Scott willingly offered himself, which made Cillian’s lips rise into a slightly wider smile before he walked toward Scott’s back.
Just as Cillian got onto Scott’s back, Oliver walked forward before ’sliding’ his hand through the air. At the same time, he ’dragged’ both of them along while taking a huge breath inward.
Then, the three of them found themselves back in the outside world above the Ancient Ruin, right at the entrance where the Hidden One had forcibly created a huge hole to escape.
"I’ll be back."
Oliver created another version of himself using another ability. He ’slid’ his hand through the air again while taking another huge breath, then jumped inside the ’window’ that brought him back to the Ancient Ruin where the open shrine was located, ’dragging’ his other self along with him.
Watching Oliver leave, only then did Cillian shift his focus back toward the distant view, where the large white shadow with a broken halo above its head was wreaking havoc with its usual thunder strikes beneath a raging thunderstorm.
’I thought he was escaping but... he’s just wreaking havoc?’
"How... are we going to defeat it?"
Cillian then heard Scott ask a question that made him stop questioning himself before calmly assessing the situation and giving enough explanation.
"When you guys weren’t there below, the Shepherds had a way to capture or kill that ’God’ using their equipment. They didn’t use it while Arthur was still transforming, hence, they were indeed planning on killing it after it had fully transformed. That’s why I think there’s a way to kill it, and we need whatever equipment they were about to use."
As to whatever it was, Cillian had no idea whatsoever. It might’ve already been destroyed by the thunder strikes for all he knew.
However, the Shepherds wouldn’t have been so confident about this operation if they didn’t have a guaranteed way to kill a ’God,’ especially since they were the ones who started this thing in the first place.
The question would be how?
After a few seconds, Oliver finished scavenging the equipment that Cillian had requested him to retrieve and appeared right beside them. His other self immediately disappeared.
There was no talk between them. Oliver immediately ’slid’ his hand through the air before a ’window’ manifested, and he ’dragged’ both of them inside.
[0:04:00]
Soon, they were falling through the sky while looking down at the rampaging Hidden One moving through Viola.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Scott screamed at the top of his lungs, finding the situation unexpected, before seeing Oliver and Cillian remain silent as if nothing fazed them any longer.
Well, Cillian had already fallen twice today, while Oliver, who was familiar with his own power, wasn’t going to let this surprise him any longer. It made Scott quiet down and stick to his role as cargo.
Then, the three of them looked through the items in Oliver’s hands.
"It’s an Artifact."
What appeared within Oliver’s hands were broken shards of glass that Cillian could see. It didn’t seem to be like the other Artifacts that appeared as one whole. Rather, this particular Artifact seemed to be separated into multiple parts, as if that was its intended function.
There were eight broken shards of glass in total in his hands.
"I think we need eight people to make this work. As for how, we’ll definitely know once we have all eight."
Oliver calmly stated, which made Cillian nod. He had also thought of the same thing before finding another problem with that statement.
"We need 5 more people."
Scott immediately spotted the problem, which made Oliver form a deeper frown than ever before as the corner of his lips began to bleed.
Cillian then took the seven broken shards from Oliver before grabbing one shard and checking it through his Inventory to see what the broken piece was all about while listening to Oliver speak.
"You young ins are sure love to abuse this old man."
Oliver sighed and added.
"I know some people in Viola who might be able to help us. Get ready. We’re going to where they are right now."
Oliver clicked his tongue before ’sliding’ his hand, which opened a ’window,’ as he ’dragged’ Cillian and Scott inside. The moment they entered, Oliver dragged another person inside, who was the most surprised of them all. It was akin to a nighttime kidnapping in the middle of a chaotic situation.
"What?!"
Soon, they started falling through the sky again as Cillian looked at the familiar person with a frown.
"Cale?"
The one who introduced himself as a low-ranking soldier appeared right behind them as they fell from the sky while getting closer to where Hidden One was rampaging.
"Master Oli?!"
"Long time no see, Guildmaster Cale."
Cillian tilted his head.
’Guild master? This guy?’
Cale appeared very battered, the same as them. He, who seemed to be handling the situation outside of the Ancient Ruins by targeting the loose Black Shepherds, was visibly exhausted and found the situation weird.
"You need my help, sir?"
However, Cale was quick to realize that something was wrong, which made Oliver smile and nod.
"I’m going to drag the others now. We’ll definitely need everyone’s help."
"Understood."
Finding something he shouldn’t have discovered because of their hasty actions, Cillian sighed and saw Oliver create another one of those windows after sliding his hand through the air, dragging them inside.
Scott merely watched these interactions, all while still figuring out who Oliver was.