<h4>Chapter 1755: Coward As A Mice, Hoika</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion
Holuff gazed upon the ck burning me and then at Pride, who walked towards him. He wanted to say something but Pride didn’t care, the cardinal sin walking past Holuff and going back into Kieran’s room before shutting the door.
Looking at the shut door, Holuff scratched his head, thest few strands on his head waving as his fingers fiddled around.
What?
Holuff was confused, he couldn’t understand ‘Kieran”s action and the meaning behind it.
‘Kieran’ saved him and then ignored him?
Even when they met each other during other times, they would greet each other in a friendly way.
What caused the strange reaction today?
‘Could it be... he is hinting something at me?’
Holuff frowned after the thought popped up. He gripped his battleaxe tightly and started to search around carefully.
The other one who frowned was Hoika.
He had the exact look, with thick hair, long eyes, high cheekbones, and thin lips, that irehore, who had just died in the ck me, did. He would strike others as a harsh person with a single nce.
In fact, not just his looks, even his expression and countenance were very simr.
Hoika and irehore almost looked identical. If they were to stand together, they could be twins... No! Not twins, clones!
Hoika sat in a room, using his fingers to rub his swollen painful temples in hopes of easing the uneasy tension but it was useless.
His head was getting more and more painful by the second, like he was cut by an axe.
The excruciating pain made him inhale with his mouth repeatedly.
In the end, his shaking hands took a spare potion out from his inner pocket of his coat.
If it was possible, he wouldn’t want to use this potion. Not just because it was thest one that he brought, this potion would also inflict irreversible damage to his body. His strength would greatly decrease in a short period of time after consumption.
However, he hesitated for less than a second when the headache gued him again. Hoika uncorked the potion and drained every drop in a single gulp.
Right after the refreshing potion entered his mouth, it started to quickly ease his headache.
Hu!
Hoika heaved a long breath of relief, but his rxed brows furrowed together again shortly after that.
There were many secret spells within Silent Night Secret Society yet Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon was still one of the most precious ones.
The power that came with its sess was enough to make anyone envious.
Of course, what shunned people away was the absurd difficulty and the consequences: the pain of splitting the soul!
Many who cultivated Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon failed, killed off by the immense pain.
Hoika relied on the special potion to be the only one who sessfully cultivated Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon in Silent Night Secret Society in the past hundred years.
Then, irehore was born!
In short, irehore was Hoika’s shadow that he divided out.
irehore was like any other normal human being. Despite being a shadow, he had quite the intellect and possessed his own personality. He even possessed the same strength and power as his host. Other than being unable to cultivate Hazy Moon Shifting Shadow, he would live like anyone else.
Of course, this ‘shadow’ waspletely under Hoika’s control.
The strongest point of Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon was as the shadow grew stronger, it could provide feedback to the host. For example, even if the host hadn’t learned a certain technique or spell, as long as the ‘shadow’ had managed to learn it, the host would eventually know it as well.
So it was natural that whatever the shadow saw and felt, the host could see and feel the same via the power of Hazy Moon Shifting Shadow.
That was the reason why Hoika felt weird.
Why would his shadow feel so furious before he died?
And that feeling of disdain, when did it appear?
One thing worth taking note was that the behaviour and reaction waspletely different from Hoika during normal times.
The shadow came from himself, that’s why Hoika knew irehore very well.
The shadow might be a little intimidating at times but against the unknown Snake Sect, he should be vignt against it. Even though he disyed a ‘proud’ side, it would just be a disguise, not truly from his heart.
However, the pride and arrogance the shadow disyed earlier was authentic.
‘Am I affected?
That target has the ability to instruct people’s emotions and from there control people’s minds?’
Hoika’s heart throbbed.
Hoika knew some insider news from inside the organization, so he was at 120% cautious against the unknown Snake Sect.
Otherwise he wouldn’t have waited three days to make his move during the battle between the Mist and the projection of God of War. He even sent his strongest shadow to test the water.
Yet, things were not good!
The more he thought, the more he worried. Hoika stood up, wanting to leave the city.
Being careful at all times was his life motto.
Moreover, his mission did not exactly fail, and as a matter of fact, as a pathfinder, he hadpleted his mission.
As for losing his shadow, it was nothing.
All he had to do was recover and cultivate for some time and divide another shadow with the help of the potion.
Although it would make him more reliant on the medication and he’d suffer further damage to his true strength, the pain of splitting his soul was an experience he did not want to try a second time.
Besides, he didn’t want to lose his current position as well!
His shadow had already achieved name and status.
The other thing worth taking note was that his shadow, irehore, was named as the Immortal: no matter how severely wounded, or even dead, all he needed was a short slumber and he would be as lively as a tiger when he woke up.
Therefore, his shadow had acquired quite the position in the society, relying on the special trait.
He even used this trait as a start to form certain forces around him.
As for Hoika, he was still no one.
It was fair to even say that after his shadow, irehore the Immortal, came onto the scene, Hoike was pronounced ‘dead’. Hoike only chose to appear when irehore was caught up in something or unable to show himself, so that he could maintain the title and pride of the Immortal.
Hoika wasn’t unhappy or ufortable with it, quite the opposite, he was delighted.
Doing this would only make him more and more inconspicuous!
In Silent Night Secret Society, being inconspicuous meant being safe!
The society wasn’t a charity house, any misstep would cost him his life.
Survive, let alone thriving, would require not only power, but also vignce, technique, and the ability to improvise!
Therefore, Hoika made up his mind to leave! Immediately!
He couldn’t stay in the city anymore!
Hoika quickly left the temporary base and strode towards the city gates.
The patrol soldiers were nothing for Hoika since he had inherited a powerful hiding technique from his shadow despite his current weak condition.
As for the city walls, they were also nothing. He did not rely on any tools and climbed the walls with his bare hands. Swiftly crossing the city walls, Hoika reached outside the city and ran into the pinewood forest.
Hu!
After he managed to get into the pinewood forest, Hoika heaved a breath of relief.
He was worried that he might get ambushed by Snake Sect along the way, but it seemed like they did not notice him.
“I mean it can’t be helped right? irehore is dead in the eyes of the Snake Sect! Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon is considered a secret even within the society, let alone to an outsider! Even Snake Sect...”
As he muttered to himself, Hoika habitually turned around, wanting to get another look at Sicar before he returned to Edatine Castile but... he saw Kieran instead.
Kieran silently appeared behind him without his knowledge, the mutters instantly stopping.
He widened his eyes in disbelief at Kieran.
“You...”
Bang!”
Before his words even subsided, Hoika was kicked to the ground by Kieran.
The kick was very sudden, fast and fierce.
Hoika clearly heard the bones in his chest crack.
He opened his mouth and wanted to say something but... Crack, Crack. His wrist and ankle were both broken by the following stomps, the words that he wanted to say bing screams when they reached his mouth.
“Aaaargh!”
The painful scream was loud and short, then stopped abruptly because a musket appeared in Kieran’s hand and was pointed at Hoika’s forehead.
Pain made Hoika sweat coldly, the sweat moving along his forehead and entering his eye. The stinging sensation burned his eye, arousing the urge to blink, but he didn’t dare to as he widened his eyes at the young man before him.
He was shocked by the young man’s straightforwardness and fierceness.
He had inherited many experiences of engaging a Demon Hunter from his shadow but even the rudest of them all had never struck his shadow down right away. They’d talk with the shadow, give him enough time to reach, and not a single one of them made a move first before talking, like Kieran had done.
“Don’t shoot! I’m the inspector sent by the Silent Night Secret Society! I know the secrets of the society!”
Hoika spoke quickly and loudly, afraid that if he remained quiet, he would lose his chance to speak.
Kieran didn’t reply, instead sizing up the man in front of him.
‘Something simr to a cloning technique?’ Kieran wondered.
Through Pride’s eyes, he saw Hoika once, or rather, another person with the same look. Countenance-wise, both men werepletely different.
The one Pride ran into, although affected by the cardinal sin, felt more hot-blooded and was obviously a veteran who had killed on the battlefield.
The one before Kieran’s eyes, however, revealed a sense of weakness behind his power.
It wasn’t caused by the potion though. Before Hoika drank the potion, Kieran already noticed him and even had the time to inspect him.
Hoika was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, striking Kieran as a sheep wearing a wolf’s skin.
At first Kieran thought the weakness came from the cloning technique of Hoika but when he spoke, Kieran immediately knew Hoika was truly weak.
Of course, in order to make sure the man wasn’t pretending to be weak, Kieran raised his musket higher, his foot going up above the crushed ankle and slowly moving upwards.
At the same time, the hand holding the musket was shaking rhythmically.
In times like this, using [Mesly Ring] would be the best way to determine the truth but even without the ring, Kieran wasn’t all that helpless.
The Mystical Knowledge that he learned came with many little techniques, which would be enough for him to determine whether the man was lying or not.
“Aaaaa! Spare me! I’m afraid of pain! Ask what you want, I’ll tell you everything! I assure you that all the answers are true!”
Tears and snot rolled down Hoika’s face. Under the immense pain, his eyes unconsciously looked at Kieran’s palm and were captivated by the movement, yet his body dared not move an inch, crying repeatedly.
Kieran saw how Hoika reacted, lifting his foot and stopped inflicting pain on the man.
Without Kieran’s foot on him, Hoika did his best to crawl further away from Kieran but after a few inches, he saw the musket in Kieran’s hand.
Hoika then crawled back to the spot right away.
“I am a person who follows the choices of my heart! I love my life! So I will do my best and use my biggest leverage to ensure my survival!”
With snot and tears all over his face, Hoika sounded exceptionally serious.
“What are you to the person who died earlier?” Kieran asked right away.
“He was a shadow I created using Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon. He had my thoughts, memories, and ablitiies but did not know about my existence. I could control him through the dark and learn what he learns and also inheritnguage and memories, plus the real power he acquired. Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon is one of the most precious techniques in Silent Night Secret Society. I identally came across this technique and then relied on medication to cultivate it. After that, I shifted behind the scenes and made my shadow ‘me’, while I became a follower of my shadow.”
Hoika honestly told everything to Kieran, not even choosing to hold back the secrets of Hazy Shadow Shifting Moon.
“The reason the society sent me here was because Luncar discovered the remains of the Demon Hunters and another group, named the Snake Sect, during his ‘pawn’ mission. The councilmen were frightened by the Snake Sect Demon Hunters because during the ck Cataclysm, the Demon Hunters should have been wiped out, yet there were a group of them who escaped. ording to the investigations of the councilman, they should have gotten help from someone. As for the helper, the councilmen searched for it night and day but it was fruitless. They didn’t even know where the helper came from. The appearance of Snake Sect this time allowed the councilmen to confirm that there must be some secrets hidden behind the normal group of Demon hunters, plus...”
Up until this point, Hoika quietly peaked at Kieran.
After he noticed there wasn’t any expression on Kieran’s face, the member of the secret society who cherished his life so much quickly continued, “Plus all of our recent missions, which should have been easy ones, all failed! It was like that time when we wiped out the Demon Hunters, we failed without knowing why! Even those who carried out the mission died! The appearance of Snake Sect made the councilmen believe that Snake Sect ambushed our agents during their mission. So they sent my shadow that bears the title of Immortal.”
Hoika paused after all that, trying to make sure whether or not he missed something.
After some thought, he noticed what he was missing.
“The ‘pawn’ mission is the n that the councilmen set up to empower the Lady. After the ck Cataclysm, many pagans appeared all over thend, all of them yearning for a descension and it made them anxious, trying to achieve it by any means necessary. So after a little guidance, they became the best prey for the councilmen! At first the councilmen were victorious, but as Snake Sect appeared, thingsplicated itself. Based on what I know, all 3 recent descensions failed. My respectful lord of the Snake Sect, is there anything else you want to know? Or are you assuming that I know a little too little? Don’t worry about that my lord, I can be your spy! If you are still worried, I can take a fixed poison pill or you can use the power of the contract on me! As long as you release me, I can do anything for you!”
As he pleaded, Hoika climbed up with difficulty and kowtowed in front of Kieran.