Chapter 209: Corner

The blood of the last Shepherd who could summon the old knight spread across the ground, gently reaching and touching Cillian’s shoes.

“…”

Yet staring down at the corpse didn’t make his heart flutter, as he had expected it to.

No emotions.

It had been like this for quite some time now. The changes within his body still felt rather unfamiliar, as if various emotions were being forced into him.

Perhaps it was these foreign emotions that made it so terrifying to have them inside him.

Yet Cillian didn’t reject them.

In fact, even though he tried to deny it, Cillian knew he would definitely need these foreign emotions inside him to face opponents like this.

[A scent of Death is within you.]

Glancing at the scent of Death that had appeared and was blatantly showing itself, Cillian waited for a while, thinking that it would say something else.

Yet nothing happened.

But the screen didn’t disappear.

[A scent of Death is within you.]

It was still there.

When Cillian saw that it remained at the corner of his eyes, merely watching everything from somewhere, he immediately searched the bodies of those he had killed to see if there were any flags.

And he had to do it fast.

‘No flag.’

Cillian thought inwardly before he started running away.

The three people he had fought didn’t seem to be the ringleaders of this attack. As he searched for the Receiving Area, he continued reducing the number of Aster’s enemies along the way.

Since he had already put quite some distance between himself and the others, the noises coming from where their class was fighting most of the Black Shepherds had already faded into the distance, leaving only the sound of his calm breathing on his current journey.

His steps and actions were carefully measured to avoid making any sound at all.

Well, at least that’s how Cillian felt, since the stitched crosses over his mouth, ears, and one eye still hadn’t disappeared.

Based on the information that had passed through about the ability Stitched Senses, it would take a dozen or so minutes before they fully disappeared.

‘Aster. Trace my voice and find me. I think I’ve ventured deeper into the towers. However, I still haven’t found the Receiving Area.’

This was the problem Cillian was unable to find a solution to at the moment.

Finding their opponent’s flag bearer was one thing, but finding the Receiving Area, where he assumed some of the Shepherds were staying, was another.

If Cillian thought carefully about the Shepherds’ movements, they could only choose one of two routes.

One was to attack their class from the start and snatch both him and Aster, while the other was to wait at the Receiving Area, where the supposed flag bearer should be staying.

‘I’m not some grand strategist, but there’s no way the opponent’s flag bearer is part of the vanguard that attacked us. Those guys’ mission should only be to slaughter us and capture the main character and me.’

However, this should have been something the Shepherds had done from the start. It was the right course of action if Cillian were the one leading those bastards.

That’s why Cillian found it suspicious that they had done nothing for the past several days, only attacking on the last day.

‘I found it suspicious at first. I was wondering what kind of mind games they were pulling, but is this it? Is the reason they’re attacking us now because… we’re not really their main objective? Are we only here to mask their true objective? Is it related to something happening in Xesie, the current war in the Dwarven Kingdom… or the entire world?’

Aster being killed and having his Singularity retrieved, along with capturing Cillian in the process, might not have been their main objective for launching this attack in the first place.

It might have only been one of the things they needed to accomplish. If that failed, then it could only mean they had successfully completed the other missions given to them by their group.

‘Ah, am I getting inside the heads of these bastards?’

If he was right, the reason he had been contained in the versioned battlefield for an entire week was that they were operating something outside, something that required Cillian Sparrow, the cause of two of their failed operations, not to interfere in any way whatsoever.

‘Either I’m going crazy, or my thoughts are right. The Shepherds are starting to pay attention to me, and they aren’t allowed to mess up whatever they’re planning outside.’

Even with that conclusion in mind, Cillian knew what he needed to do right now.

‘We need to get out of here as fast as possible. I can think about everything else later, the moment I get out of here.’

Cillian then saw that he was approaching the end of the corridor, where he would eventually have to make a turn.

He was fully confident that he would be able to spot anyone in the tower as long as he kept his Nearby Flag Presence activated and they were within its influence, something he boasted about so much because of how effective it was.

That was until he reached the corner and made a turn.

But the moment he did, his face twisted into a disgusted frown.

“!”

Cillian couldn’t deny that Nearby Flag Presence was a helpful ability, but just like the rest of the abilities he currently possessed, it also had its limitations.

It had three, and one of its limitations, which was something Cillian had already seen, was the fact that he didn’t know who possessed the flags.

The second limitation was that they were humanoid figures or acted like humans, but couldn’t exactly be called ‘living’ beings.

Still, they were alive.

For example, the summons and Mouthful Eye didn’t possess any flags, even though they could be categorized as living beings.

But the third one…

The third one was a possibility that Cillian had hardly considered because it had never happened to him before… until now.

Standing at the corner was a Black Shepherd who had come to a halt, seemingly about to take the same turn Cillian had just made.

The Shepherd was wearing the same robe that Cillian had seen before, but this particular Shepherd carried a normal-looking lamp in his hand.

However, unlike the people he had fought, who had tried so hard to conceal their faces, this Shepherd didn’t hide his features.

“Oh?”

The lips of the Black Shepherd with slightly blondish hair slowly twisted into a wide, unsettling grin, revealing uneven teeth beneath cracked lips, while his wild eyes gleamed with the excitement of someone eager to kill.

‘This guy didn’t have a flag…’

Cillian thought inwardly, his mind racing.

It only meant that the Death Flag above his head wasn’t influencing the person in front of him.

And it could only mean one thing.

This guy was the most dangerous person Cillian could have encountered at this moment.

He felt his back becoming drenched in sweat.

One thing instantly came to Cillian’s mind.

‘This guy is strong…’

Cillian felt his own Death Flag screaming at him.

But he wasn’t able to move. He couldn’t, not when he felt that one wrong step in this encounter at this corner would immediately end his life.

This guy, without any flag, moved his lamp closer to Cillian before suddenly speaking.

“Cillian Sparrow?”

The worst thing that could’ve happened immediately slapped Cillian in the face.

Even though there was no way this Black Shepherd wouldn’t have been briefed about his facial features by his group, Cillian had hoped that even the slightest chance existed that he wouldn’t be recognized.

Yet that could only remain wishful thinking right now.

[Cillian, use your Critical Trigger now!]

[A scent of Death within you is giggling.]

The appearance of his Death Flag System showed up in the corner of his eyes, while the scent of Death that had remained quiet until earlier changed its text into something else, going back to its usual antics.

‘Ah, fuck, ah, fuck.’

He could feel it.

One wrong move was all it took.

Cillian would get killed.

That’s why Cillian chose to believe.

An ability that he had been keeping in check because of how dangerous it sounded from its description alone, especially since it was the most recent ability he had acquired.

He hadn’t been able to use it even once, unwilling to risk feeling the pain from the notes and warnings the system had shown him.

Now, he was going to attempt it.

He would see it for the first time.

‘I’ll find my way out of here no matter what. That’s why…’

That’s why he would risk it.

[A scent of Death within you is looking forward to it.]

Ignoring the message from the scent of Death that pestered him whenever it got the chance, Cillian took a mouthful before muttering the ability in his head.

‘Critical Trigger.’

A single notification popped up in front of Cillian as the ticking of a machine seemed to ring inside his head.

[Critical Trigger is activating!]

Tick—!

Cillian blinked once, and what came next was… disappointment.

Tock—!

Nothing had changed, or at least nothing that seemed to be what Cillian wanted to happen in his current situation.

Then, the Black Shepherd spoke.

“I heard that Cillian Sparrow is a loudmouth. Judging by your face, you’re the guy they were looking for. To confirm, can I see your scar somewhere on your face?”

[Mental load increased by 15%.]

And Cillian felt his head splitting apart.