Chapter 198: Me

[Mental load: 25%]

Cillian blankly stared at the screen from the side while feeling the pain in his head, as if his brain were being squeezed dry from all sides. Even so, it wasn’t as bad as before.

As if he had gained some sort of pain tolerance for these kinds of things, Cillian was able to retain some semblance of rationality rather than becoming impulsive.

Maybe a bit more, considering how he was still able to think during that last Death Flag Probe.

‘It still hurts so much, though. Hah…’

Letting out a tired sigh, Cillian came to realize that he was back in reality. The same room, the same people, and the same position he had been in. The only difference was that he was sweating so much that Darwin even noticed it.

Darwin frowned. He felt that something had happened to Cillian, so he asked rather carefully.

“Are you fine?”

Cillian, whose eyes were tired, slowly looked towards the side before smiling weakly.

“Hanging on.”

After taking a couple of deep breaths to stabilize his chaotic mind, Cillian maintained the weak smile on his lips before asking.

“What did I look like before… we talked? I mean, there’s no way you haven’t noticed my weird antics. So, how much time had passed while I was acting that… weird?”

Cillian already had suspicions about his situation, but he wanted to hear it directly from a person who was seeing it from another perspective.

“Hmm?”

Darwin contemplated Cillian’s words and tried to understand what he meant by “before we talked” and “acting that weird” before answering.

“After what you said about that Death Flag Probe and how you were going to probe it, you suddenly closed your eyes. I don’t know how to describe it exactly…”

Darwin paused to carefully think about how to respond before finally adding.

“Hmm, but to me, and putting it in a way you can understand, you felt alive and dead at the same time, as if you were here in this room but not clearly present. Then, suddenly, you came back. A few minutes had passed since then. Like three to four minutes.”

‘Three to four minutes…’

Cillian reflected inwardly, realizing it was almost the same amount of time that he had spent in the Probe. More or less.

‘I didn’t close my eyes since I merely blinked. Does that mean, from the outside view, I had closed them completely instead of just blinking? Is that what I usually do when I’m activating the Probe? Does it automatically close them? And I’m dead and alive at the same time… That sounds scary for some reason. And surprisingly, Darwin was able to notice it.’

Cillian didn’t know whether to be more surprised by Darwin’s words or by the fact that Darwin was able to tell him all of this, giving him a general idea of what he looked like when using this ability, which confirmed some of his suspicions growing in his mind.

But he wasn’t done yet.

[Do you wish to continue?]

[Yes] [No]

Cillian gave the screen in front of him a glance before answering.

“Yes.”

[Death Flag Probe Activated!]

The same series of screens appeared in front of him until they eventually came to the final list of choices that his Death Flag System asked him to choose from.

[Marked Flags: Aster Densworth, Fergus Viola, Darwin Moose]

[Who do you want to probe the deaths of these people?]

Seeing the same screen but keeping a different target in mind, Cillian answered.

“Aster Densworth.”

[Do you want to probe Aster Densworth’s deaths?]

[Yes] [No]

“Yes.”

[Warning: Your Mental Load is 25%]

‘Couldn’t you show your warning first before even asking me to probe the main character’s deaths?’

Cillian mused inwardly, feeling helpless as he glanced towards Darwin.

“I’ll be back—”

[Death Flag Probe 1# Starting]

Yet before he could even speak, the scenery immediately changed in the blink of an eye. There had been prior warnings and a heads-up, as always.

Cillian became the main character of the novel, amongst the others he had hated.

Only this time, he was already dying.

[Mental load increased by 1%]

‘Fuck!’

Lying on the ground with stab wounds and excessive bleeding, ‘Aster’ looked up and saw Black Shepherds looking down at him as they waited for him to die.

His eyes quivered as his gaze moved across his surroundings to see if this was finally the sewers he was looking for. Yet it wasn’t.

It was bright, with tall structures and columns around him. When he took a closer look, ‘Aster’ saw that they were almost surrounded by what seemed to be towers.

Most of these towers were abandoned, half-destroyed, or standing still, watching over his impending death.

‘Towers? Where is this? I don’t remember seeing structures related to towers when I came to Xesie. Or is it not some place within Xesie?’

[Mental load increased by 1%]

‘Aster’ tried to think carefully about this place since it was so unfamiliar that it almost scared him.

Why did Aster’s death point to this place?

Where was this place in the first place?

That’s why ‘Aster’ couldn’t help but ask his killers.

“Where… are we?”

He never hoped that he would get an answer from them… and he was right.

“That’s weird. Why would a dead man talk about something trivial like that?”

One of the Black Shepherds moved forward, brought out his blade from underneath his robe, and knelt down on the ground.

Then, a single strike to the head was all it took to end the probe #1.

[Mental load increased by 2%]

[Death Flag Probe #1 Ended]

[Death Flag Probe #2 Starting]

The next death took place in a room that seemed to be located in an underground basement. Both of his hands rested flatly on the arms of the chair, with both hands unable to move because his palms had been pierced by knives.

His nails had already been torn off, and his hands were tied with rope as he looked at the Black Shepherd in front of him, with other Shepherds standing beside him.

The Black Shepherd leading the operation grabbed the tip of his hair and pulled it upward before asking a question.

“I’m going to say it one more time. What do you know about Cillian Sparrow’s Pieces?”

‘Me?’

‘Aster’ couldn’t help but scoff as a mocking smile appeared on his lips while he stared into the eyes of his supposed killer.

Then, he asked.

“If you tell me where I am, I might as well tell you.”

The way he said it didn’t sound convincing but rather arrogant. It even made the Black Shepherd in question stare at him for a brief moment before chuckling.

The Black Shepherd then spoke in a light tone.

“Now you are sounding… different from earlier. Why are you being cooperative now?”

Soon, his voice turned cold as his eyes narrowed dangerously.

“What changed, Aster Densworth?”

[Mental load increased by 1%]

‘Aster’ knew he wouldn’t be able to find out where this place was even if he asked nicely. He was just testing his luck to see if these people were dumb enough to reveal their current location to him.

But to no avail, his enemies didn’t say anything.

“Okay, let me ask another question yet again. Who gave you the information to get through the situation at the Dwarven Kingdom? Is it your teacher, Traveler Oliver Gasparo?”

Yet, like them, who weren’t giving him any clues about the current situation, ‘Aster’ did the same thing by answering them half-assedly, with his answers being full of nonsense and ridicule towards them.

“Fuck you and your questions. You smell so fucking bad that I might puke from just sitting here. Fucking fuckers—”

As if the Black Shepherd had had enough of his antics, he released a wind spell from his other available hand that cleanly cut his head.

It started falling down, and the last thing that Cillian saw was the confused face of the Black Shepherd, who seemed weirded out by his last actions.

[Mental load increased by 5%]

[Death Flag Probe #2 Ended]

Cillian was hoping to see if the situation would be any different since the sewer that he was looking for was nowhere to be seen just yet.

But because of that, his decision to explore the sewers became even more positive.

Still, three’s the limit.

[Death Flag Probe #3 Starting]

‘The last one. Now, which of you killed the main character—’

Cillian stopped his thoughts.

[Mental load increased by 1%]

No, he forced them to stop.

[Mental load increased by 2%]

Because the scene in front of him wasn’t making any sense.

[Mental load increased by 3%]

‘What the fuck is this?’

[Mental load increased by 4%]

‘Aster’ looked at the person ahead, who used his sword to strike his heart, plunging the blade deeper into his chest.

This particular person looked at him coldly. His eyes were dead.

It was… him.

‘Why… why are you killing ‘me’, me!’

The person ahead of ‘him’ was himself.

His third possible death was Cillian Sparrow himself.

i wnt to write more freaking chaps ?(

?? ? ??

?)