His words made quite sense, and no one got any more objections at this point. "Fine, let's do it then… Don't tell me you don't have enough materials for all of us!" Ibra spoke up on behalf of everyone here, and William simply smiled.
"Let's wait for others first," William looked at the sky, "we got around two hours before the darkness would prevail and deepen. After that, we will move away from here."
"Ah, I forgot to tell you where that dude was when we fought him…" one of the silver members was about to point towards a direction, but William shook his head, stopping him in the middle of his actions.
"No use, that dude is quite slippery, never stands at one place for long, never sticks for a single spot forever. And it had lots of copies out there, so knowing the places of few won't help," William slowly said, "let's just pray we won't meet any of its clones when we get out."
"And what if we did?" Sara asked, seemingly thinking about the worst.
"Then let me solo handle it," William paused, took out his map and stretched it on the ground, "we are here. And we will move out from that direction."
"Wait, why will we take this way?" Lang asked, interrupting William in the middle of his words.
"Because I and Ibra caused lots of ruckus back in the opposite direction," William motioned his head towards the totally opposite direction before adding, "and that spot must have attracted many of these troublesome dudes by now. A big fight will erupt this night between them over there, and that means the opposite direction is the safest to tread through."
"Oh… So, you didn't just wander around aimlessly back then? Good to hear that you got a plan back then," Ibra spoke in mockery, referring to how scary and crazy that time was.
"I told you about this before, but it seems you have a fish memory or something."
"Tsk! You don't know how much I hope to cut that tongue of yours and keep you silent forever!"
William simply ignored this useless comment, and kept speaking, "dealing with this monster will be quite troublesome for me. It may take me a long time before finally running away. If we meet it, you'll all lead everyone away, not stay behind, and we will meet at this point, fifty kilometres to the north…"
William moved his finger around the map, showing everyone the route, they should take if they got separated.
"Won't you need our help? My help?" Ibra spoke, not believing that William was going to face such a scary monster alone without asking for help.
"No offence dude, but anyone staying behind, even you, will end up being a burden and liability for me," William's answer was direct, harsh, and decisive.
"Tsk!" Ibra of course didn't like such an answer, but he had nothing to say. In the entire team, only William was well aware of all the ins and outs of this monster. And so, he was the only one able to give out such judgement, no matter how Ibra didn't like it.
"Are you sure you won't need any of us?" Sara felt more worried than bothered by the direct rejection William gave to Ibra.
At least Ibra was at gold grade, the strongest one in the entire team, one of the strongest disciples in the entire academy for sure.
"I'm going to be fine alone," William repeated his rejection in different words, "now, let's make sure we don't miss anything out. Have you cooked and salted the meat or what?"
"Oh… About that…" Lang looked at everyone around, and William didn't need to hear anymore.
"Don't blame them, blame it all on yourself," Ibra said, making William roll his eyes in response.
"Once you found a nice spot to hide at, just start cooking," William paused, "don't do it at night."
"Of course, we aren't that stupid," Sara said as if this was something granted and known by all.
"They seem to be finished," just as Sara said her words, Peter pointed towards the distance, where the team members were returning in haste.
"Let's make sure everyone is healed, well rested, and ready to move out," William spread out his orders, ordering everyone to start camping here for now.
They still got two hours till they'd move. And William kept himself alone, thinking about the upcoming dilemma he had to face.
"The odds of meeting that dude's troublesome illusions are quite high," William knew that this monster might not be using its full strength yet, but that didn't mean it didn't spread enough clones to watch every corner in the region.
He even doubted that his earlier fight was getting watched by this dude. And luckily, he and Ibra returned back before this dude would act. Or else things would have gone south back then.
The hardest part was that annoying mimicking ability of that monster. William could face a clone that could use any technique, any element, without limitations.
"But each clone had to use a single technique or an element at any given time," he started to think about how he should handle this troublesome foe.
The main reason behind declining any help was that by adding more to his side, that monster would end up gaining more techniques and elements if he managed to kill anyone on his side.
And William knew his limits. He'd be totally busy dealing with the clones and had no time to worry about protecting others.
William would fire himself at foot if he let them accompany him. So, he refused any help, despite desperately needing it.
"The gears can't be copied by this monster," William started to see the monster under the light of its weaknesses. If that was considered a weakness, then William could exploit it to the fullest.
"Let's see… The arrows are a good way to deal with these copies. But alone I won't be able to handle them properly as these copies are very fast in moving around…"
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