Chapter 117: One Versus Two
[Green Vines[Four]: [0:14]]
[Buddy[Two] [Hop]: [0:21]]
"Fireball."
Now that he only had two abilities left, and with Light Arrows gone as his main attack for the time being, Cillian knew this was the perfect opportunity to make use of his spell kit.
After conjuring the Fireball, Cillian looked at the two approaching Death Flags while paying little yet important attention to the shepherd who remained at the entrance, guarding it as if his or her life depended on it.
Then, after assessing that the shepherd guarding the entrance would remain there instead of joining the fight, Cillian threw his Fireball at the farther of the two nearby Death Flags before dashing toward the other, hoping to use Troy’s face to catch his approaching opponent off guard.
Alas, he was wrong, as the individual he had met was no other than the dude he had copied his face from.
"You!"
Troy’s anger flared the moment he saw a face uncannily identical to his own, as though he were staring into a mirror.
He grew even more annoyed when his other self smirked mockingly at him.
[Mimicry Activated]
"Cillian Sparrow!"
[Mimicry Successful]
Troy slashed his sword downward before gripping it tightly and swinging sideways, but Cillian neatly dodged both of his attacks.
Whoosh—!
Troy grabbed an Artifact from his pocket before throwing it toward Cillian, who deflected it with his blade. In that same moment, Cillian then willed Buddy, who was nearby, to move, causing the Green Vines around his soles to shift as well.
However, just as Cillian flung the Artifact away, it shone brightly before blinding him, causing him to stagger for a moment. Troy suffered the same fate, as he was also affected by the negative effects of activating the ability
It was a double-edged sword, affecting both the attacker and the target of the attack. However, this was exactly what Troy was aiming for, as he wasn’t the only one attacking Cillian.
There were at least two of them, something he thought at first.
[Nearby Flag Presence]
’Fuck, my head keeps ringing! That bastard used that attack knowing it would put me at a disadvantage! He did this because he thought I’d need a few more seconds before my senses returned!’
Many thoughts raced through Cillian’s mind before he willed Buddy to move and protect him while he tried to recover his senses.
It indeed took a moment for him to return to his normal senses, as the shepherd he had thrown the Fireball at earlier was coming.
And she was coming fast.
Whoosh—!
Cillian’s Buddy, who was already worn out from fighting a shepherd one-on-one earlier, a battle that was on the verge of ending if not for Cillian’s interruption, met its demise after being struck by the shepherd’s spear.
It was about to hop forward and follow Cillian’s orders, but it was already too late, as the shepherd had quickly closed the distance between them.
[Buddy[Two][Hop]: Stopped]
Now that Buddy had been destroyed, Cillian was left defenseless, with no way to tank the incoming attack while he was still trying to adjust his mind.
Hence, Cillian made a desperate move and spread the Green Vines around, knowing they only had a few seconds left before they disappeared.
He spread the Green Vines toward the ceiling and formed them into walls, but the shepherd merely used her spear to cut through the intertwined vines and reach Cillian inside.
Slash—!
[Mimicry Activated]
[Mimicry Failed]
Cillian finally managed to regain his composure before seeing the incoming spear aimed at his other shoulder, which he simply dodged by stepping to the side.
The shepherd wasn’t finished yet, as she followed up with small adjustments to her spear, continuing the first attack by targeting Cillian’s gaps.
Those small spear adjustments had forced Cillian to react quickly as well, slightly stepping back whenever the spear shifted. Even so, one attack grazed his abdomen.
"Ugh...!"
Cillian ignored the pain and stepped back, using footwork that was clumsy yet effective. He managed to pull it off, ensuring the earlier attack remained the only successful one by slowly adjusting his movements.
[Green Vines[Four]: [0:00]]
The green vines from the mimicked ability withered away into nothingness. Cillian had run out of abilities to use.
Whoosh—!
[Death Flags x4]
Cillian saw Troy dashing toward him with a sword gripped tightly in his hand. The moment Troy reached him, Cillian stored the dull blade back into his inventory and pulled out his sword from it to block the attack.
[Sleight of Hand]
Clang—!
Cillian immediately deflected Troy’s sword upward before conjuring a Fireball spell and aiming it at him. Then, he returned the sword to his inventory and grabbed the dull blade to block the incoming spear from the earlier shepherd.
[Sleight of Hand]
[Mental Load increased by 5%]
Bleeding from his nose as pain pierced through his head, Cillian, who had successfully blocked the spear-wielding shepherd’s attack, conjured another Fireball and aimed it at her before returning the dull blade to his inventory and grabbing his sword again.
Then, Cillian shifted his attention to Troy after buying himself a few seconds to create distance from the spear-wielding shepherd and engaged him in combat.
Troy was overpowering him through sheer strength alone, probably because Cillian was becoming tired or because of his little knowledge regarding swordsmanship.
Troy was winning over him.
But it didn’t matter.
Cillian conjured yet another Fireball and shot it toward Troy before creating a Water Wall. He then used it to form a barrier between them.
Cillian then stored the nearly broken sword in his inventory and brought out the dull blade, which was also on the verge of breaking once again.
Cillian then engaged in another fight with the spear-user shepherd. It was no different from before, as the shepherd noticed that Cillian was only delaying the inevitable by exhausting himself.
The two shepherds understood their role after forcing Cillian to become this exhausted, having him exert himself by pushing his actions a bit too much.
This type of situation happened again during the next two relentless fights that Cillian forced himself to endure.
However, they just continued pressing him down, waiting for him to make a mistake.
The shepherd, using her spear, continued to overwhelm Cillian with her relentless strikes. She was also the same shepherd who had survived the Light Arrow attack earlier.
She noticed Cillian conjuring yet another Fireball and thought he was about to switch targets as Troy appeared at the corner of the other Water Wall.
The Fireball got released from his hand.
Whoosh—!
The shepherd, using her spear, merely dodged it with ease until she found something different in the sequence of attacks that Cillian had just used.
Cillian grabbed another item from his inventory!
It was an Artifact that he had stolen from one of his academy opponents!
[Name: You’re Blind So What?]
Pointing the pointy end of the wand towards the shepherd using the spear, Cillian shouted with a dangerous smirk.
"Blindness!"
A sudden surge of darkness spread around the spear-user shepherd as she found herself unable to see.
No, she was seeing something, but it was just pure darkness.
Whoosh—!
A dull blade came hurtling toward her, but the Artifact activated again, shielding her from the impact. However, it had a cooldown, which Cillian had already probed, knowing that this woman was one of the two out of the three who survived the Light Arrows from earlier.
There’s no way an Artifact would always protect the user. There had to be some limitations, and Cillian used that matter perfectly.
Whoosh—!
"Gale."
Cillian dashed forward as the dull blade he had thrown landed on the ground. He then pulled the sword from his inventory and pierced the shepherd’s heart, using the Gale Wind spell to close the distance faster.