In the Clone Lab, everyone was confused by the sudden change of setting. If they could tolerate Jibblinplip's interior before, now it was the opposite. They felt so disgusted that they wanted to hurl. Everyone felt like throwing up. Something like a part of a brain and lumps of gigantic tissues filled the surroundings, all of which were alive and beating.
Surprisingly, there were still players who were more curious than grossed out — one of them was Dimitri. As a man, his tolerance toward this kind of thing was light years ahead of the girls who were hurling their guts out on the side.
"What is this?"
Dimitri was especially interested in the twisted lump of flesh, going as far as to reach out and touch it. It felt slimy and squishy to the hands. He only knew that he wasn't supposed to touch them when Sebastian's voice rang across the room.
"Let's hurry and not waste time here. No matter what, don't ever touch those lumps," said the centaur.
Unfortunately, the warning had come too late. The lump of flesh thumped and contracted ten times faster than before, going faster and faster until it burst and sprayed acid.
Dimitri leaped on time thanks to his good reflexes, but the next thing he saw alerted him. The scattered, torn, green tissues and acidic liquid littered on the ground transformed into a man with identical features as him.
"What the hell–!"
Dimitri's curse was overshadowed by everyone's piercing screams that soon followed. In just a matter of seconds, the place was overrun by Ooze clones attempting to consume their counterparts in a frenzy.
The players panicked and scattered to run away. Those who were strong-willed fought against their clones, only to be defeated after being surrounded by other clones who had finished dealing with their original counterparts.
Dimitri was among the ones who ran for their life instead of facing their clone. With a sword in hand, he cut the clones blocking his way and used his skill to push himself further forward. On the contrary, other players either got pushed aside or got ambushed by multiple clones from all sides.
Turning left, Dimitri found himself at a dead end. When he turned around, planning to retrace his step, it was too late. His clone was already in front of him, silently looking at him with its round eyes without pupils.
Dimitri clicked his tongue. "Have it your way, then." Fortunately, his clone was not holding any weapon. Using [Monocle] he knew their ATP were the same. Fortunately, his equipment wasn't cloned as well, so he had a huge advantage over it.
"I'll show you not to mess with me!" Dimitri spat and was about to unleash his skill when his surroundings suddenly turned foggy, and statics crackled in the air. Before he knew it, he was paralyzed, and a notification kept flashing on his face.
[Player Ren attacked you!]
[You have been paralyzed!]
REN?!
Dimitri gasped. His eyes immediately shifted behind his clone and found the object of his dilemma.
"Ah, sorry!" hollered Ren with a fake concerned voice and an even faker surprised expression across his face. "I was aiming for your clone, but my aiming skills are a little rusty. Anyway, good luck!"
Trotting after he threw that Dud, who would believe that it was an accident? Was it payback from before?
Dimitri gritted his teeth when his clone opened its lips, tearing its own body to fit him in its mouth, and engulfed him with one big chomp.
Dimitri shouted at the top of his lungs while he was being eaten.
"REEEN!"
Ren's name echoed in the room, but the silver-eyed man didn't seem to hear anything. He even had a smile on his face as they raced towards the exit.
"Don't you have some pity?" Ragnar asked with a sigh.
"What?" Ren responded. "He pushed one of our teammates into the sinkhole. If I let just anybody do that, World Conqueror's prestige would decrease. Our group isn't one to be messed with."
Ragnar rolled his eyes and asked with a flat tone, "What if it had been me pushed into the sinkhole?"
'I'll let you die,' thought Ren, but he sweetly smiled at Ragnar. "Of course, I'll pull you up."
Ragnar didn't believe those words even for a second. Ren would definitely leave him behind. There was not a single time when the latter had saved him. Come to think of it, all of his roles so far were being the other party's cannon fodder.
'Maybe I should push him when the opportunity presents itself?' Ragnar entertained that idea. However, what stole his attention next was Silvia and Sumeri running for their lives. Pamela's and Lucia's clones were after them, and it was safe to assume that those girls didn't make it alive.
Ragnar and Silvia's eyes met in that split second. Silvia's mesmerizing eyes of blue asked for his help. Weighing his options, Ragnar thought for a moment. If he helped Silvia, his identity would be exposed, but if he let her die, he wouldn't hear the end of it.
In the end, Ragnar chose to let her be, and the latter gritted her teeth in frustration.
'Raagnaarr!' Silvia screamed in her mind. That fiancé of hers was too cold for her liking!
Even though he was far from Silvia, Ragnar could still feel her piercing glares and curses in her head. But his face remained deadpan, and he didn't feel any ounce of guilt for what he did. Silvia will be fine. Besides, he was confident that she would keep his secret no matter what.
Another thing, it was not like Golden Phoenix would get wiped out if they were killed here. They still had hundreds of members or so waiting for them on the surface.
And it was also one less competitor.
Most of the clones chasing them were clones of players since the armies' clones were wiped out by their might. Ren, Evie, and Ragnar's ATP were already in the hundreds, so they were not easily engulfed by other players' clones that only had ATP reaching about fifty each.
( . . . continuation are in NOTES)
