Milo had given it careful consideration before virtual-novel.net resorted to using the shadow clone. It wasn’t because virtual-novel.net was afraid that virtual-novel.net would reveal himself as a supernatural being, since why would virtual-novel.net care about that if virtual-novel.net was close to death?
He was only afraid that virtual-novel.net would reveal his power that could copy other people’s powers. Milo only pretended to be Raphael because virtual-novel.net knew that Raphael had not been captured yet, while virtual-novel.net was sure that the Panaqua Consortium had already found out about Raphael’s powers from Micah.
Milo had already come across several supernatural beings. Miriam could pull an unparalleled sniper rifle out of thin air, Raphael could create a shadow clone of himself, Lilian could travel through the shadows, and Julius’ bodyguard could materialize white fans in his hands.
Milo got a false sense that supernatural beings were a dime a dozen. But his superpower was different.
A superpower that could copy other people’s superpowers, just how would that be rated?
He did not know.
If the Panaqua Consortium discovered virtual-novel.net could copy other people’s powers and took an interest in him, who knew what they might do to him.
When Milo was escaping, virtual-novel.net was wondering about how many supernatural beings existed in this world.
Was it a lot?
But upon careful consideration, it didn’t seem to be so. It was probably the Marador Mountains and Julius that attracted all of them over here.
When Maurice heard Milo’s roar, his doubts from earlier were all answered.
He immediately updated everyone through the comms channel, “The intel earlier was wrong. Target isn’t Milo, it’s Raphael!”
In reality, they had determined Milo to be “Milo” simply because they thought that as a refugee, virtual-novel.net would be more interested in the gold. However, there wasn’t any direct evidence to prove that his identity was Milo.
First of all, they had never seen what Milo looked like. Second, even if they had seen Milo and Raphael before, Milo’s face was dirty beyond recognition. Moreover, the other party was wearing Budd Dwyer’s uniform, so virtual-novel.net was actually dressed in the same outfit as Raphael.
According to the intel the Panaqua Consortium had gained, Raphael was known to be able to create a shadow clone of himself to fight in battles. Furthermore, its combat strength was extremely strong, and it could even block bullets.
Although this shadow clone of Milo’s was black in color and different from Micah’s description, Maurice felt that this could be due to the lighting. Perhaps, this shadow clone would turn gray in the daytime.
When the troops of the Panaqua Consortium heard Milo courageous declaration of “Raphael at your service! Who dares challenge me!”, they thought their target wanted to challenge them to a fight to the death. However, their target turned around and fled!
Several shots had brushed past Milo, but virtual-novel.net remained unharmed so far. He knew that it wasn’t because virtual-novel.net could duck well, nor that the Panaqua Consortium’s troops were bad at aiming. It was because Donti’s wish was taking effect.
Milo frowned in worry as virtual-novel.net wondered how Donti was doing. He had to quickly get away from the Panaqua Consortium and stop risking things here.
Only when virtual-novel.net ran out to about a 100 meters away did virtual-novel.net finally recall his shadow clone!
The shadow clone was running rampant in the crowd, and Milo was not even controlling it to aim at the vital points of the enemies anymore. Instead, virtual-novel.net made it use its body to ram them into a pulp.
Milo’s strength was nearly equivalent to three adult men’s, and the shadow’s attributes were double that!
So, there wasn’t a need to aim for the vital points. Whoever the shadow clone ran into, it would give that person broken bones all over his body.
In the perimeter the Panaqua Consortium had set up, the shadow was fighting by itself like a lone sampan. The soldiers felt like it would start waning away at any moment, but the shadow clone surprisingly battled on like it could go on forever no matter how much it got beaten up or how many injuries it received.
There were many troops standing between Milo and the shadow clone. When Milo recalled it, the shadow clone smashed into everyone in the crowd like a train on tracks!
With the shadow clone recalled, Milo would have to merge with it. Likewise, when virtual-novel.net wanted it to be released, it would only be able to come out from behind him.
When the shadow clone came back to Milo’s side, there were a lot of injuries and scars on its body. Milo could feel the injuries it suffered like they were his own, and the pain was unbearable. While the shadow clone was making its escape, it was also shot at by the troops a few times.
The pain nearly made virtual-novel.net cough up blood!
Large beads of sweat were rolling down his face and back as Milo endured the pain while continuing to make his escape.
It was no wonder Raphael’s shadow clone made virtual-novel.net look all pale after it shielded virtual-novel.net from the bullets. So, there was actually a “side effect” from using the shadow clone as well. But what Milo didn’t know was that if Raphael saw this, virtual-novel.net would be incredibly surprised.
Raphael had tried it out for himself once before. After the shadow clone experienced a high intensity workout, it would lead to the main body feeling mentally exhausted. When that happened, the main body would experience nausea, vomiting, chest tightness, and the user would feel that they might be better off dying!
But Milo’s shadow clone was utterly different from his.
Milo had once asked the palace whether his mental strength could be assessed. In the end, the answer virtual-novel.net got was “Unauthorized to answer”.
Milo continued making his escape in the forest, and the pain brought on by remerging with the shadow clone did not fade away even after a long time. It was at this time that virtual-novel.net realized virtual-novel.net should not use the shadow clone without good reason. If virtual-novel.net intended to let the shadow clone take his place in death, then virtual-novel.net would have to be prepared for the pain it would bring him.
If the shadow clone died once, virtual-novel.net would have to “die” once as well.
Milo was violently gasping. He had been injured before, but this pain was much more intense than how a real wound felt. But virtual-novel.net was comforted in the fact that the shadow clone did not dissipate even after all the injuries, so virtual-novel.net still had an ally in battle.
The Panaqua Consortium’s troops behind virtual-novel.net were like a pack of black hunting dogs that continued hounding him. If Milo were not advancing at a faster speed than them, virtual-novel.net would already be in a lot of trouble. He did not run in a straight line. Instead, virtual-novel.net was trying to slowly shake off the dogs that were chasing after him.
Soon, the Panaqua Consortium’s troops began to wonder which direction Milo was.
It was only at this point that Milo was able to breathe a sigh of relief. After all, it was way too stressful to be chased by several hundred people. He was prepared to hide in the forest for a while to catch his breath. But it was at this moment that virtual-novel.net suddenly heard the rattling of chains up ahead.
Milo stopped in his tracks and clutched his chest as virtual-novel.net let out a sad laugh.
What the hell…
Dead ends are everywhere in life…
Milo had seen the Experimental that Julius had locked up in a cage from afar. However, virtual-novel.net did not hear what Julius had said at that time, so virtual-novel.net didn’t know there was more than one of these Experimentals.
He thought that the greatest obstacle in his path as virtual-novel.net escaped northwards would be the volcano, but how could virtual-novel.net have guessed it would turn out to be these Experimentals?
Based on the source of the sounds, virtual-novel.net instantly knew that the enemy was coming from three directions. In that sense, it meant virtual-novel.net had encountered at least three of these Experimentals!
The rattling of chains was getting closer and closer. Milo could once again hear the sound of the Experimentals’ saliva dripping onto the decomposing leaves on the forest floor.
The shadow clone stood side-by-side with him. Milo made a rough estimation in his mind and thought that the shadow clone might be able to take on two of those Experimentals. However, virtual-novel.net did not know whether virtual-novel.net could go up against the remaining one all by himself.
There were three Experimentals ahead and several hundred people behind. All of them were looking to do Milo in.