The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1249

Chapter 1247
Cake Maker
Leaving Eivass, Lily moved perfectly and silently in the shadows.
She was not like Chloe back then, who exaggeratedly turned into a moving shadow and burrowed into darkness. After completely losing the protection of her body, her concealment ability would greatly improve, but she would also become more fragile.
Lily had witnessed Eivass, seated in a wheelchair, severely wound Chloe, who had reached the peak of the Fourth Tier, with just a normal handgun.
—Naturally, she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
If a Fifth Tier mage with the Vision of Truth observed her, they would see a faint, semi-transparent humanoid silhouette.
Lily appeared and disappeared as silently as a ghost, like a Flash with no cooldown.
She wasn’t walking but constantly teleporting back and forth within the shadows. After leaving Eivass, Lily protected herself in this manner. With this skill, she could even quickly cross certain barriers, traveling back and forth in a very short time.
Compared to the movement methods of Shadow Demons and Chloe, this was undoubtedly more strenuous and would leave a distinct fluctuation of Power from the Path, potentially even allowing an Extraordinary with Path Adaptation to sense it directly.
Following the traces Haina left behind, Lily pursued her.
If Selene hadn’t separated from Lily’s body, as a werewolf, she would only need to smell Haina’s scent to precisely locate her. But now, it wasn’t that simple.
Fortunately, Haina had communicated with Lily in advance when she left, secretly leaving marks at intervals, which made it convenient for Lily to track her.
This might sound unflattering: as a Fifth Tier Extraordinary, she was so timid, even planning how to escape if she couldn’t win before the fight even began, which made her seem lacking in confidence. But now that Haina had become an adapter, this caution was only natural.
Compared to the Path of Authority, she seemed to fit the style of the Path Adaptation better.
Perhaps because part of her soul’s essence belonged to Lancelot, Haina was not that loyal herself. Although her adaptability on the Path of Authority was strong, there was always something subtly wrong.
Or maybe it was because Haina had become a strong individual for too short a time, and her circle was too high-level. This caused Haina to not truly have a clear understanding of how powerful she had become.
But this was also a good thing, Lily thought.
—Just like now.
“…Knight… Avalon…”
“Fake…”
“Impossible for me… I cannot forget…”
“But only…”
Faint whispers reached Lily’s ears, like muffled conversations heard underwater.
In her shadow vision, everything was dark. It was as if the entire world had been processed with a negative filter, with shadows becoming white and brightly lit areas becoming black. Everyone’s skin turned black, with only the color of their pupils differing. The color of their pupils was not a pure negative, but the Path color of each individual.
Depending on the strength and depth of each person’s soul and Path, different intensities of flame would burn in their pupils. There would also be visible Path fluctuations emanating from their cracked skin—on the back of their hands, their cheeks, or their collarbones, for example.
Lily faintly heard Haina’s voice and saw her silhouette.
She was cursing fiercely, seemingly already in conflict with someone.
Her eyes lit up, and she plunged into that space.
—Lily hadn’t killed anyone in a long time.
Ever since she had first tasted blood in her life… she couldn’t forget that soft, wet sensation. Her happiest moments were actually when, after Eivass’s self-division, she, under the guise of the Pope’s follower, accompanied “Honey Badger” to assassinate dissidents.
Only when facing Eivass and Isabel would she try her best to appear gentle, polite, and intellectual.
This was to make herself seem professional and worthy of her Master. It was the only way she could avoid appearing too much like a madwoman or a monster.
This was also the main reason she disliked Selene.
Selene’s existence was a constant reminder. It continuously reminded her that her own frenzied and base nature as a killer, as the Son of the Beast, had nowhere to hide.
She constantly suppressed the rapidly growing desire of love within her heart, yet outwardly, she showed no abnormality. She appeared as a perfect and elegant maid, taciturn, capable, and reliable. But in reality, only Lily herself knew how active her desires were and what kind of frenzied bloodlust she harbored.
If not for her consideration of Eivass’s opinion, she would even want to try the taste of human flesh.
This entwined around her heart, this twisted desire that constantly impacted her morality, always made Lily feel abnormally inferior.
From another perspective, after Selene separated from her mind, Lily’s own desires and impulses became much calmer, almost like a normal person, able to enjoy a leisurely afternoon tea without thinking about anything.
—But seeing that willful “other self,” who showed no concealment of her own frenzied desires, so easily gained the acknowledgment, acceptance, and forgiveness of Eivass and Isabel… this made Lily feel a sense of jealousy.
Jealousy of herself.
Was it only because Selene was a split-off from the “Pure Path of Love” that her madness could be forgiven and tolerated?
Then what was the point of her own past patience and self-restraint?
Was the reason people forgave and indulged her also related to herself?
Could it be because people felt good about her and recognized her that she was able to be so willful?
—It felt like a good child who strictly disciplined herself and worked hard, hoping to gain parental attention and approval, seeing a bad child who threw tantrums and acted unreasonably but was still forgiven by her parents.
It was even absurd enough to make one laugh.
And now, Lily, personally liberated by Eivass’s command. . . was like such a good child, who was allowed to go to an internet café to play games with her parents’ permission.
An unbearable excitement, mixed with the sense of freedom from being recognized and released, surged into her heart.
Hurry.
Lily prayed in her heart, anticipating. She opened her eyes wide, tilted her head back, and her gray pupils gradually began to bleed a hint of scarlet, like a hemorrhage.
Let me help you, let me save you.
“Let me…”
Lily whispered softly, rambling like a dream.
And at this moment.
Haina stood opposite a man, holding a silver-white long sword.
A pile of corpses lay at their feet.
Their blood flowed on the ground, yet Haina had no bloodstains on her body or face.
She had already drawn the blade from its sheath. At this moment, crackling lightning flowed along Haina’s sword, turning the dense silver electricity into a lightsaber.
A strange smell of burning filled the air. Silver-white lightning flowed within Haina’s pupils and the strands of her hair.
She was so angry that her hair stood on end—literally.
And before her was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. Or rather, he was the only one left alive.
He didn’t look like Aziz, who immediately gave off a shrewd villain aura.
This man possessed a颓丧 (tui sang – dejected, dispirited) aura of a middle-aged office worker, mixed with an undisguised pervertedness.
He had a beard, and his skin was brown. His eyes were slightly squinted, almost reduced to slits. Combined with his slightly rounded face, he had an air of simple honesty and reliability. He looked like a hardworking, dedicated, and hospitable good person.
The clothes he wore were even more ridiculous—he wore a hat with a pom-pom like Santa Claus. His clothes also looked like a thick, fluffy pajama. Such attire was too strange for the hot weather in Avalon. Even more bizarrely, his clothes were pink from his hat to his pajamas. If not for the clothes being too well-fitting, they would look like cartoon pajamas stolen from some little girl.
And facing the imposing Haina, the “Cake Maker’s” reaction was exceptionally innocent—