A cold sweat ran down his face. June's eyes squinted as his thoughts branched out, like lightning across a circuit board— there were too many, too fast.
'Am I seeing things? No…'
There were 3 different 'Worfs' approaching him at that moment, from different directions. Each one of them is carrying a large Warhammer in their right hand.
'Ah, so you've finally decided to summon your memory.'
There was a strange hum resounding in his ear. June could feel that his heart rate and breathing were getting faster; this predicament wasn't good.
"I did not get paid enough to deal with this."
June whispered to himself in a humorous tone to calm himself down. It was a white lie, of course; in reality, the pay was ridiculous.
A small sigh left his mouth as he jumped backwards into the shadows and climbed up on one of the surrounding trees.
It was too risky to engage directly with the Pandavars' enforcer right now. After all, June doesn't know what he's dealing with currently.
There were 3 Awakened Worf coming at him, but how? This was one of the countless mysteries that dwelt in his mind. If not dealt with, it could mean the end of him.
One of the Worf dashes over to where he was at a moment ago. Two hands clutching the enormous war hammer, as he begins to chamber it down to the ground.
The force that was released from the hammer was enough for even the gravity around them to buckle, destroying the surrounding trees.
Normally, June would've been astonished by the power that came from Worf's strike. However, at that moment, he was focusing on something elsel.
The way Worf swung down the warhammer is slower than his barehanded strikes from before. It was even more telegraphed as well, perhaps due to the weight of the hammer or that he wasn't particularly skilled with such weapons.
After the dust cleared, with an animalistic shriek, the Pandavar's enforcer straightened up and looked around.
It was then that June felt the wind around him, started to vibrate. Eventually, it formed from sounds into a coherent sentence.
"Are you hiding? Coward, come out here and face me!"
June took in a deep breath before he threw one of the coiled dragon daggers towards the enforcer, piercing his shoulder once again.
However, it was just then that Corsair turned back and saw another Worf, who had managed to sneak up on him while he was preoccupied with the other.
'Shit!'
In a flash, he instinctively jumped out from the branch that he was standing on to dodge the incoming blow.
However, now he was in the open once again. June could see all 3 copies of the enforcer, now staring directly at him, as he activated his awakened ability to ease down his fall and land on both feet.
From his left, he could see that another Worf was rushing towards him. Gripping tightly on the hammer handle, with the intent to crush whoever is in its path.
However, since he had managed to see it coming from a mile away, June managed to avoid the swing with ease.
Just as he was about to throw a counter strike towards the enforcer's torso, June suddenly saw another Worf appearing behind him.
'Where did he come from?'
Cancelling his counter attempt, June uses the momentum of his body to roll out of the way of another strike that would have taken off his head.
The man with the demon mask quickly looked back as he saw the first Worf coming at him with both hands clutched tightly on the warhammer.
With all his might, June side-stepped out of the way to avoid yet another powerful attack.
The ground beneath him splintered as he tried to regain balance.
Though at that moment, there was only one major question on his mind.
'Something's off… How could I not see that Worf coming?'
June glared at the 3 Worf with a troubled expression in his eyes, before letting out a sigh and resuming a classic combat-ready position.
If it weren't for the demon mask that rested neatly on his face, then a small grin could've been seen. After all, June could finally see a path for victory, as the swing was getting slower and slower than before.
Letting out a sinister growl, the Enforcer, all 3 of them, rushes over to June.
The first swung the hammer from the left side, the second from the right, and the third smashed down from the air. As if it were akin to a meteor crashing down, resulting in an explosion.
Swiftly, he managed to weave out of the way for most of the strike and jumped out of the way of the last one. Though the resulting explosion blew June away a few meters from impact.
Activating his awakened ability once again to ease his fall, June realizes something he learned from that brief exchange. It was only a small, minute detail that he had only managed to catch due to his dormant ability. Two out of the three Worf's seemed strange. It was that their figure was incomplete in certain manners, certain areas of their body, such as the tail was blurry.
'I see, so it's a mind-hex or illusion then?'
June thought to himself, as he stood up from the ground, both hands still holding tightly on the [Sable Heart]. Staring directly at the three enforcers who were rapidly approaching him.
Yes, now that he understands how it works, he could see which one in front of him is an illusion and which one is the real Worf.
"Is that all you got, Worf? I honestly expected more from you."
June said in a nonchalant demeanor, trying to enrage the Pandavar's enforcer. Soon, the wind around him started to vibrate once again:
"How arrogant. You truly are courting death!"
With that, Worf let out a loud roar that breached the boundaries of heaven itself.
'Courting death? That's such a weird phrase.'
June thought to himself as he shook his head, before rushing towards the Enforcer.
One of the enforcers in front of him dashed over in his direction, with the intent to squish the Corsair with the large war hammer memory in its hand. Yet, instead of dodging the swing like before, he simply ignored the attack, as it phased through him.
It was an illusion that posed no real threat to him after all.
It seems like the real one is currently chambering up another hammer strike, though it's taking more time than before.
'Huh?'
As he was moving closer to the Awakened enforcer, he suddenly heard a strange sound. It was like a combination of bones getting broken and muscles getting torn apart, coming from the transformed Awakened in front.
Seeing the hammer strike coming, June quickly dismissed the twin daggers [Sable Heart] and summoned [Sleeping Malice] once again.
As the hammer went down, June swiftly dashed out of the trajectory of the war hammer, before activating and deactivating his awakened ability. So that he won't get blown away too far.
He struggled to remain on his feet for a second due to the energy released from the hammer. Though after the dust dissipated, he could see something strange.
'What the…'
Worf was struggling to pick up his warhammer once again.
Taking this new opportunity at hand, June lunged towards the enforcer, with the transcendent memory in hand, and sliced off the Awakened's head.
And for the second time that starry night, the sweet sound of the spell whispered into his ears again.
[You have slain an awakened human, Worf.]