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Chapter 482: The Butcher [8]

Thud!

Thud! Thud!

Heavy silence fell over the surroundings.

All eyes remained locked towards the sound as it grew closer and closer.

There was no panic in the room.

Everyone remained focused, alert, and ready to respond to anything outside of their expectations.

“Not yet. Remain calm. Not yet.”

Despite the current situation, Catherine remained smiling. Her eyes were narrow, and her tone was serious, but despite it all, the smile never faded. It was perhaps such a smile that brought a sense of calm to the group as they all waited patiently for whatever was coming.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

It was extremely close now.

Everyone also started to feel it, the ground shaking as the ’presence’ was now upon them.

And soon—

“Brace!!”

BANG!

The wall in the distance shattered, dust erupting upward as one of the group members thrust their hands forward, forming an enormous shield around them to block the flying debris.Even so, a cloud of dust still managed to slip through, rising around them and blurring their vision for a moment.

“Careful! I sense multiple! Coming fast…!”

A shout followed a moment later, Marcus pointing towards several points within the smoke as several red dots appeared in his vision. Standing next to him, Elias took a step forward and brought his hand forward, pieces of a gun materializing from thin air as they quickly assembled into one he shot the moment it formed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Despite the dust, his shots were pinpoint accurate.

The sound of flesh being torn and blood sputtering echoed throughout, and yet…

THUD! THUD!

Whatever was headed their way didn’t slow down.

In fact, it only picked up its speed as Andreas had no choice but to step forward, smacking his gauntlets together as he let out a low grunt before rushing towards the dust.

BANG!

His body soon drove into the intruder as he grunted. Subsequently, his body glowed a bright yellow hue as his muscles expanded alongside his frame. His strength exploded, and whatever was trying to pass was quickly stopped.

That was also the moment when everyone managed to catch sight of what was charging a team.

“A… pig?”

“…Huh?”

“A pig? Wait… isn’t that the masked butcher?”

“What?”

For the first time, Catherine’s smile wavered as she looked at the creature Andreas held back.

’A masked butcher? Isn’t that an anomaly that is supposed to come way later? How come it’s here? It’s supposed to appear way later into the Gate. And how come it’s rushing towards us? They aren’t supposed to leave their rooms.’

But as if that wasn’t enough…

BANG! BANG!

“Ukh!”

“Hold it! There’s more coming!”

“Hold it! Wait… isn’t this a masked butcher? What the fuck!?”

“Wait, what?”

More appeared, and chaos erupted.

Even Catherine was shocked to see more appear, their masks a different animal as they rushed their group with all their might.

’…This doesn’t really make sense. While they’re indeed strong, they’re usually bound to the deeper areas. For them to appear now, it’s obvious that something has gone wrong with the Gate.’

Catherine’s shock merely lasted a few seconds. Beyond the shock was a calm analysis of the current situation.

’The studies and descriptions have said that the busked butchers never seem to leave their own place. The only way they do that is if they’re chasing someone. Could they be chasing someone?’

Lifting her head, Catherine gave them a good look, but as she did, her brows knit tigther tightly.

Although she couldn’t read their thoughts because of their weird heads, she could read their body language. It was there that she noticed something peculiar.

’…They’re not actually attacking anyone. In fact, it seems more like they’re just trying to get past us.’

The realization hit her quickly as her smile thinned even further.

But why were they trying to get past them?

Was there something beyond them? What was the reason for their actions?

“It looks like I’ll have to step in this time.”

Closing her eyes, Chaterine connected her mind to her nodes. A series of lattices formed across her vision as she connected each path to another, several nodes connecting at once, and as she soon opened her eyes, her emerald green eyes flickered as her body began to split.

There was a certain reason why Catherine was regarded as the ace of the Branch Guild, and not only that, the Guild.

It was because of her Decree.

One that only a small margin of the population had.

The [Mimic] Decree.

Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!

One after another, figures resembling her began to split away from her main body as even more masked butchers started to appear. For now, the group appeared to be doing fine, but she could tell that the number of butchers was still growing.

Not from any special skills, but from the vibration on the ground.

Spurt!

As another clone formed, she mumbled a direct order.

“Go.”

Her clones didn’t waste a second. They dashed toward the anomalies, their movements sharp and nimble as they zig-zagged past the others. One reached an anomaly first, leaping up and planting both hands on its shoulders, using the momentum to vault herself onto it. In the same motion, she twisted its head with one clean, brutal motion.

Crack!

The neck snapped back, but the anomaly remained standing.

In fact, it didn’t seem like it even noticed the fact that its head was twisted as it raised its weapon and slashed away.

The clone remained on top of it, taking out a dagger and stabbing it towards its neck.

Spurt!

But even that wasn’t enough to make it stop.

A similar situation appeared to be occurring with the other clones and group members.

While some of the anomalies were taken down, the number coming down was even greater than the number taken down. Catherine stared at all of this with a frown as she created even more clones, trying her best to aid the group, but it was becoming extremely apparent that she couldn’t create clones fast enough.

For a second, she even thought about telling the others to stop and let the anomalies pass, but she was quick to discard such a thought.

…It was already too late for that.

There were too many of them. Each one of them was rushing toward them, their speed and momentum increasing as they began to overwhelm the group.

“Kh…!”

“I can’t hold on much longer!”

“Akh!”

Seeing the situation turn for the worse, Catherine took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

’…This might hurt.’

In the end, after signaling the others with a few quick gestures, her fifth node began to churn, and her clones froze in place. A moment later, their bodies started to swell, forcing the group to rush back while covering for one another.

“Hurry back!”

“She’s doing it!!”

“Cast a shield!”

“I’m doing it!”

All sorts of defensive measures snapped into place at once as the group covered for each other, and just as they finally managed to raise enough protection, one of the clones exploded.

BANG!

A heavy explosion thundered across the surroundings, making the shield shudder under the force. But that wasn’t all.

BANG! BANG!

Even more explosions resounded, each one more extreme than the other, causing the barrier to shake even further.

“…..!”

Standing within the barrier, Catherine’s face paled considerably as a sharp pain invaded her mind.

“Are you okay?”

“Do you—”

“No, it’s fine.”

The others moved in to support her, but she refused, even as more of her clones exploded. With each detonation, her face grew paler, and her legs trembled, yet she stayed on her feet, refusing to let herself fall.

This wasn’t about pride.

It was about being a leader.

A leader couldn’t show weakness in dire situations.

It was also for this reason that she decided to opt for this option despite the pain.

And soon, with the last clone exploding, a heavy silence fell over the surroundings. As the dust finally cleared, it revealed scattered limbs and blood. It was pure carnage, bones strewn across the ground, leaving everyone staring at the sight with cold breaths.

But just when they thought it was over.

Squelch! Squelch!

A peculiar sound echoed, startling the faces of many.

Squelch!

Immediately, all heads turned toward the noise and spotted one of the anomalies. Its body was almost completely gone, and it was using its arms to drag itself across the ground, a long path of red following its movements.

“What…? It’s still moving?”

“…That actually looks quite pitiful. What is it trying to do?”

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering. They weren’t really trying to kill us, no? I’m not the only one who felt that, right?”

“I thought the same.”

“Me too.”

While the group was still marked by confusion, Chaterine’s gaze remained fixed on the anomaly as it crawled further and further away from them. She stared at it desperately trying to drag itself away from them, almost as if in fear.

’Fear…?’

Her eyes blinked slowly as several images flashed back in her mind.

Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!

With her smile fading, Catherine slowly turned her head toward the distance, toward the hole in the wall.

There didn’t appear to be anything beyond the wall, but as she stared at it, Catherine began to feel… something. Something that made her heart freeze. Her mouth soon grew dry, and she stopped blinking altogether, her gaze locked tightly on the ruined wall.

She stood like that for the next couple of seconds, even causing some of her team members to look at her weirdly.

But soon, she heard it.

Step.

The sound of a step.

One that was steadily making its way towards them.

And at the same time, she also caught a glimpse of it.

Of the blood-stained figure standing behind the walls, blood dripping from its knife as its presence swallowed the surroundings.

Of the…

Butcher.

Source: .com, updated by novlove.com