Chapter 899: Weighing
Translator: Sean88888 Editor: TheAlliance
When the clone rushed down the snowy mountain and set foot on the meadow at the foot of the mountain, Sheyan suddenly shook and split in two. This was the effect of the 'Rank 6 copying scroll (marked)' given by Franklin.
[Tear this scroll and use it on a target to produce an illusion of the target. The illusion will have 100% of the target's HP and 30% of the target's attack power]
The illusion could not use any abilities or items but looked exactly like Sheyan.
The clone looked distracted for a moment. He seemed to be looking for something in his personal space. After that, he too divided into two, obviously using the scroll as well, keeping up with the man-to-man coverage. For the clone who had temporarily lost his logical thinking, imitating Sheyan's behaviour was undoubtedly the safest thing to do.
At the moment, Sheyan had no way of telling which one was the true body of the clone. He did not know whether the guy relentlessly chasing after him was the real clone or the illusion. Sheyan could determine it from his attack power or wait until he used skills.
This was also the reason Sheyan did not carry any weapons, because the clone could likely have pretty significant attack power even without weapons! This was almost unbearable for Sheyan, whose HP was far inferior to the enemy. Therefore, it was also a top priority for him to weaken the attack power of the clone as much as possible.
The relationship between Sheyan and the clone was also very complicated. Such a tactic also meant that Sheyan's attack power would drop terribly, but fortunately the clone did not have the 'Stronghold' talent, or else...this battle would not even be necessary.
Soon, the clone that chased after Sheyan had closed the distance by a considerable amount. The distance that Sheyan had painstakingly built was already gone.
Sheyan had entered the range of 'Hornrage', so the clone wasted no time in activating this ability which would enable him to quickly approach his target. The clone rammed into Sheyan's back like a crazy buffalo.
Sheyan was stagger for a few steps, then rolled violently. He fell into a stunned state. The Strength of the clone was not enough for crushing effect, but it was still far above his, so he suffered the maximum stun duration. Good thing there was the effect reduction from 'Stronghold', so it didn't last for too long.
Sheyan, who fell face down, found his brain in chaos. He completely lost control of his body. Ironically, the fresh smell of the meadow and mud entered his nostrils, rejuvenating his spirit.
No doubt that the one attacking Sheyan was the real clone. The fact that he was able to use a skill was proof.
Sheyan kept a close eye on the battle log. When the battle log showed: [You suffered an enemy attack, your HP is reduced by 23 points], Sheyan could finally breathe easy.
According to his plan, as long as the damage done by each attack from the clone did not exceed 50 points, everything was under control!
After Sheyan recovered from the stun, he immediately rolled towards the battle on the other side. Of course, because the clone was faster than Sheyan, he was constantly chasing after Sheyan and constantly attacking Sheyan. He only targeted Sheyan's legs.
However, Sheyan happened to also possess the 'Hornrage' ability, and at the moment, the two illusions created by Franklin's ability were also fully immersed in battle with no attention to spare for him.
Sheyan immediately activated 'Hornrage' the moment he was within range! He charged towards the clone's illusion at a high speed, thus escaping from the continuous beating administered by the clone.
When Sheyan was hit by 'Hornrage' previously, the thing he was most worried about did not happen. He could confirm that the clone did not have the 'Beast of Corrosion' ability! Otherwise, when he got close, he would have unhesitantly launched this terrifying ability on Sheyan!
But this was quite normal.
Sheyan's acquisition of the 'Pestilence Monarch' was only made possible due to various coincidences aligning together. Some key items were even products of multiple mutations. The fact that the realm was acquiring strange, unknown objects for analysis and research showed that they were not omnipotent. Either there was no way for the realm to completely copy the 'Beast of Corrosion' ability onto the one-time use clone, or the cost of completely copying the ability was too high. This was understandable.
Although Sheyan had escaped the attacking range of the clone, the clone still relied on his superior speed to unrelentingly chase after Sheyan.
But at that moment, Sheyan raised his hand and smashed a bottle on the ground! It was an oval-shaped crystal bottle, containing none other than a curse-mix!
The bottle broke with a crack and a large amount of smoke rose to cover a hundred square meters in an instant! The damaging shockwave swept past, rooting the clone in place!
Gene-curse cloud!
Not only did the clone, who rushed into the smoke, have all his attributes reduced by 6 points, he was also stunned for 3 seconds. The movement speed of enemies would also be reduced by 40% in the cloud! Thanks to the final teachings of Saruman, the gene-curse cloud now lasted for fifteen minutes.
When the clone was still stunned, Sheyan let out the dark gold leech. The moment this disgusting creature appeared, it squirmed towards the clone. Sheyan also controlled his illusion to join in on the attack on the clone in order to trigger 'Saruman's Gaze'. (TN note: When an enemy in the curse cloud receives an attack, there is a chance of triggering 'Saruman's Gaze'. Saruman's phantom will materialise to inflict 50% additional damage on the enemy, and stun the enemy for 1 second.)
The clone would be affected by both the dark gold leech and the gene-curse cloud. The dark gold leech could reduce movement speed by 50%, while the gene-curse cloud reduced movement speed by 40%. The two effects were perfectly stacked, which meant that the clone would have its movement speed reduced by 90%!!
No one knew him better than himself. That was why Sheyan clearly understood that the sustained reduction in movement speed was a powerful threat to himself. He had almost no way of handling it. After Sheyan had distanced himself for about 50 meters, he stopped, took out some raw materials, and continued mixing!
The clone would normally cover a distance of 50 meters in three to four seconds, at most. However, in the case of being forced to slow down by 90%, and with 'Hornrage' in cooldown, he would need at least thirty to forty seconds to cover this distance.
The clone remained dull and expressionless as he watched Sheyan dexterously mix dozens of ingredients together to rapidly produce one mix after another. He moved extremely slowly towards Sheyan, one step at a time.
The phantom of Saruman could be seen from time to time in the gene-curse cloud, raising his cane and laughing . This was the result of Sheyan's illusion and the dark gold leech continuously triggering 'Saruman's Gaze'.
However, although the dark gold leech could crawl along with the clone, the gene-curse cloud could not move. The clone may be slowed down and was walking really slowly, but he was soon going to escape from the gene-curse cloud....
But so what? Now, Sheyan had the absolute advantage in speed over the clone. When he saw that the clone was about to come out of the cloud, he would immediately run past ten meters in front of the clone to once again enter the gene-curse cloud.
Seeing this situation, the clone was caught in a dilemma. He had no long-range attacks. If he wanted to attack Sheyan, he would have to re-enter the gene-curse cloud, but after entering, he would be slowed down by 90%. He couldn't even touch Sheyan's hair.
The clone had two choices. The first choice was to run away! It must be noted that as long as he did not die in this battle, Sheyan would be the one to die. If the clone ran away Sheyan would definitely be in distress.
Only, in Sheyan's opinion, if the clone could really produce such thoughts, this mission would be way too insane. There would almost be no chance of winning, unless a tall cliff was created when the world was shaped, and when the clone was still in a daze, give it the good ol' "This is Sparta" -- but would the realm tolerate such an obvious bug?
Fortunately, it seemed that the realm did not intend to force Sheyan to a dead end. After all, the objective of the realm was to evolve, not to kill the contestants, so it did not instill the order for the clone to immediately run away if he faced with difficulties.
The clone made the second choice.
He also summoned his own dark gold leech which squirmed towards Sheyan!
In the case where both of them were attacked by the dark gold leeches, the clone would definitely suffer the bigger loss.
For example, let's say his movement speed was 200 points, and Sheyan's was 120 points. After they were each reduced by 50%, the clone would have 100 points shaved off, while Sheyan only 60 points. However, Sheyan would lose his absolute advantage in speed; it would be impossible to leisurely prepare the mixes anymore.
The response of the clone was within Sheyan's prediction!
The HP of the dark gold leech was exactly 20,000 with 0 defense. Sheyan pounced on the dark gold leech summoned by the clone, while simultaneously directing his own illusion and dark gold leech to focus fire on the clone's summoned creature!
The attacks from the three of them frequently triggered 'Saruman's Gaze'. The dark gold leech had zero defense, which was equivalent to receiving true damage for each attack. On average, they could cause 100 points of damage on the 0 defense dark gold leech every second. It would only take two hundred seconds to kill the dark gold leech!