Irium

"My last plan may not have worked out perfectly, but it still had some effect." I say.

While I couldn"t take care of all Cyclops with that strategy, I did make rocks penetrate the feet of half of them. Fortunately, those are the ones that are using tree trunks as weapons. This is why I have been able to get away and not become their target. Their feet probably hurt like h.e.l.l and chasing me is really hard for them for that reason.

If we were in the normal conditions though, they probably wouldn"t even be standing now because of the pain. The reason they are still able to chase me is because they are mindless slaves of these wizards around us.

"Hah!"

The problem with my last plan was that I was missing the forest for trees. I had realized that the Cyclops were the immediate threat and made a plan to take them out but didn"t account in it what these wizards maybe capable of doing.

So, this time, I am going to incorporate them.

"What are you gonna do?" Sung Li asks as he stands back up on his feet and runs his eyes on the enemies at every side.

I casually answer, "Sacrifice you!"

As soon as he heard that, he looks back in shock and gets even more shocked as he does not see the ally he had had for this entire time. I am nowhere in his sight, or at least that"s what he thinks. Who he sees in front of him is a wizard standing a little closer than every other wizard. This wizard is wearing a dark robe and a hat like every other wizard around and has a pretty ugly face. Therefore, there is no way for him to tell that this wizard is me.

Yes, as mentioned before, this is the first move I stole from them – the ability to change my appearance. Because of this though, not only is Sung Li confused but,

"W-which one!?" Even the Cyclops are asking questions like that to the wizards as they just can"t figure where I am.

Think about it, if a cat suddenly turned into a dog and mixed in with other dogs, would you be able to tell it apart. That"s how it is for the Cyclops right now. That said though, the wizards obviously can tell me apart. They are probably masters at using this move by now and so there is no way I can fool them. And – I don"t need to.

"My brethren," I say in a chaotic voice as I point to Sung Li, "kill this man in front of you!"

Confused and irritated at these developments, Sung Li attacks me. This was a chance I had to take and so I did, and thankfully, it paid off. I avoid his attack in time but that attack is able to take out a few wizards not very far from me. I use the little time-frame I get to run into the crowd of wizards and let them become my meat shields against that enraged idiot.

I can hear him yelling as he slices through every single wizard he comes across. After gaining enough distance from him, I touch the ground and stay there for a mere 2 seconds before I start running off again. The wizards try to stop me but are unable to because of their rather weak physical attributes. Sung Li keeps slicing off wizards left and right and will probably become a target of some of their attacks and die.

Or at least, that"s how the wizards would think it will go. In that 2 second touching of the ground, I had turned the gravels in the ground into my puppets.

As soon as my I spot a wizard ready to take out Sung Li with an attack, I make them rush over to those wizards and hitting them with speed fast enough to do as much as damage as arrows would. Sung Li, in his anger, does not even notice and continues to slash through the wizards. The Cyclops then stops gawking and start attacking Sung Li as I am nowhere to be found. That is when 5-6 Cyclops that had stopped a little away from the ground I had turned into my weapon step on that area and I use my ability to take care of their feet. They start crying in agony, drawing all attention and giving me enough time to get into the forest.

The wizards start following me but once I change my appearance back to normal, I become able to run through the forest much better than they can with their robes on.

This way, I find myself in a position where I just have to lose the trail of these wizards and I would be safe. At the same time, Sung Li would be dying a very worthless death back then. What else can I expect when I abandoned him?

I am sure those are the thoughts that are running through the heads of those wizards chasing me.

In my rush to get away from them, I trip over an overgrown root of a tree and fall. I try my best to get back up but because of the rush, I end up falling again and they catch up to me.

"Well, look what do we have here?" One of the wizards says.

I roll over and get my back on a tree as I look at them.

"Abandoning your friend wasn"t such a bad idea. Too bad you still couldn"t escape." As if mocking me, the wizard says so.

"…" When I don"t reply though, he sighs and asks,

"Any last words before we kill you?" He and others who were following me have their spell ready and I can"t escape even if I want to. So, they are confidently asking that.

"If you are going to give the chance, then tell me something." I ask. "I was never able to steal an important piece of information from you guys. I couldn"t find out what you call this ability that allows one to change their appearance."

Listening to that, the wizard sighs and answers, "It"s called Image."

"I see." I say – and smile, "Thanks! Now die!"

Sharp rocks in the shape of needles come out of the ground and attack all of them. They all fall back and their spells fail. The needles don"t stop there though. By penetrating their hearts, they make sure to finish them; I make sure to finish them.

Did those idiots actually think I was going to abandon Sung Li and run off? Did they actually think I just "happened" to trip and fall just now? Did they actually think they would win?

Don"t make me laugh!

*****