Episode 58: Shadow Giant (2)
Episode 58: Shadow Giant (2)
"You... are you real?"
It was the Deputy Guild Leader. She pointed her sword straight at us.
The Supporter who had disappeared earlier was hiding behind her.
"Seems real to me?"
I focused my gaze on her.
No doppelganger vibes emanated from her.
"She's real."
At my words, Seol-hwa took action. As if to show she meant no harm, she spread both hands and stepped forward.
"Then strip. I need to check something."
The Deputy Guild Leader didn't lower her guard.
'So they met after all.'
They'd encountered our doppelgangers.
I quickly concealed myself.
"Understood."
Since only women were present, it might be slightly embarrassing but not impossible.
Rustle.
Seol-hwa removed every piece of clothing.
"Nothing... you're real."
After thoroughly inspecting Seol-hwa's body, the Deputy Guild Leader spoke.
"May I dress now?"
"Go ahead."
With the Deputy Guild Leader's permission, Seol-hwa redressed.
An uncomfortable silence lingered.
The Deputy Guild Leader didn't approach rashly, and Seol-hwa saw no need to close the distance.
The Supporter stared at Seol-hwa fearfully, as if he'd been through some ordeal.
Clearly, they'd encountered our doppelgangers.
I contemplated this bizarre space.
Now that I thought about it, I felt like we'd been circling the same area.
The wall patterns and floor textures remained identical.
'Don't tell me...'
"Huh? Got it."
I instructed Seol-hwa to touch the wall. She immediately complied, pressing against it. Through gaps in her clothing, I attached a clone to the wall. The clone camouflaged perfectly with the wall's color.
"Now move."
I ordered Seol-hwa to put maximum distance between herself and the Deputy Guild Leader.
"What are you doing?"
The Deputy Guild Leader scowled at Seol-hwa's sudden movement.
Seol-hwa ignored her question and faithfully followed my orders.
She sprinted into the darkness until disappearing from view. I then commanded her to return.
"Well? Satisfy your curiosity?"
The Deputy Guild Leader and Supporter waited in identical postures.
I sensed my clone - the one I'd attached to the wall was gone. These were doppelgangers.
"Fakes. Run."
I activated Death's Countdown. Seol-hwa's physical abilities surged.
She rapidly distanced herself from the Deputy Guild Leader.
"Why? Running?"
The Deputy Guild Leader's expression changed as she gave chase.
Her emotionless questioning face looked like something from nightmares.
"Left. Now center."
I tracked my clones. Their positions kept shifting constantly.
As if proving our earlier encounter was a mistake, our positions relative to the Deputy Guild Leader kept changing.
'Space itself is shifting.'
This dungeon was like a cube space - moving cubes to separate party members when possible, then inserting doppelganger copies to sow discord.
Meeting the real Deputy Guild Leader had been sheer luck. Normally impossible in this space.
But limited space and the dungeon's focus on the main force allowed our encounter.
'But there's an absolute shortage of spaces. If I strategize well, I can reach where the real Deputy Guild Leader is.'
I visualized a mental map. Like solving a cube puzzle. The space felt near-infinite, but was actually finite areas constantly shifting to create illusion.
The limit soon approached. In the distance, we spotted the real Deputy Guild Leader and Supporter.
"What were you doing?"
The Deputy Guild Leader asked with a bemused expression. To her, it must've looked like Seol-hwa was running around alone.
"Huff... huff... behind..."
Seol-hwa pointed back. A doppelganger version of the Deputy Guild Leader charged at their position.
"...What's this creepy thing?"
The Deputy Guild Leader grimaced and swung her greatsword.
The doppelganger barely raised its sword but got cleaved in half weapon and all.
'It never got the chance to draw out its full power.'
Apparently they couldn't manifest full strength without eating brains.
Thankfully she hadn't shown her true capabilities while devouring emergency rations.
"What's going on here?"
"Gulp. Well..."
Seol-hwa relayed my discoveries.
The dungeon's structure, why people suddenly disappeared - everything I'd deduced through Seol-hwa.
"Hmm... If you're right, the dungeon core isn't moving?"
The Deputy Guild Leader reached the same conclusion I had. Thank god she's quick.
I felt relieved.
"Haha, not bad for a rookie?"
She slapped Seol-hwa's back. Seol-hwa winced - those were strong pats.
"Then... let's smash this damn core and get out of this fucking dungeon."
She clenched her fist, visibly irritated.
"Everyone tie yourselves together. If we bind ourselves with rope, we might prevent spatial shifts."
Rip.
Seol-hwa tore her outer clothes into strips.
Uncertain if this would stop spatial transfers, but we had to try everything.
Through the makeshift ropes, I transferred clones onto their bodies.
In this false space, only my clones could be trusted.
"Alright, let's move."
Preparations complete. Seol-hwa took point, followed by the Supporter, with the Deputy Guild Leader guarding the rear. She tied herself last, completing our formation.
"Straight ahead this time. Next left. No, right."
I navigated flawlessly. Like Hansel dropping breadcrumbs, I used pre-placed clones to predict spatial changes. The dungeon desperately reshuffled spaces, but my clones had already spread everywhere. The dungeon was now in my palm. Soon we encountered the missing main force.
"Senior Yeongho? Everyone?"
The Supporter gasped.
Fellow guild members lay dead on the floor.
"First time seeing corpses? Keep moving!"
The Deputy Guild Leader coldly remarked upon seeing comrades' bodies.
No emotion showed despite having known them longer than Seol-hwa.
"This is what happens if you let your guard down for one second in a dungeon!"
That applies to you too. Understanding the implied meaning, the Supporter bit his lip and moved forward.
"Almost there!"
The goal loomed close. The dungeon desperately tried separating us, but the puzzle kept solving itself. The fallen comrades'...
"We're almost there!"
Seol-hwa echoed my words.
She stepped forward vigorously.
The dungeon core waited at this path's end.
"Here! The core's beyond this!"
Seol-hwa pointed at the passage's end.
"It's a dead end..."
The Supporter weakly protested.
Seol-hwa kept pointing at the wall.
"If there's no path, we make one."
The Deputy Guild Leader stepped forward, cracking her knuckles. She could smash cave walls bare-handed.
"Let's finish this and go home."
With a spirited shout, she swung her fist.
Kuwung.
A massive dent appeared in the wall.
"Haha, definitely a space behind this!"
Smiling triumphantly, she swung again.
This time, a small hole opened. Red light seeped through.
The dungeon core. Destroying it meant escape.
"Bingo. Rookie. You did well."
Grinning, she gripped the hole and strained.
Crack.
The wall fissured. Stones fell away.
Kuwung.
"Let's avenge the dead!"
The wall collapsed. The bare-handed wall-breaker charged inside.
"Guild Leader? What's wrong?"
Isia knelt collapsed before the dungeon core.
Her eyes vacant, completely unconscious.
Before her stood a massive shadow figure.
But neither the Deputy Guild Leader nor Supporter noticed the Black Shadow.
[Humans? I don't know how you reached this place. I thought we had sufficient human data.]
The Black Shadow monologued. Its psychic voice vibrated skulls.
Immense psychic pressure filled the chamber. Approaching recklessly meant death.
"Deputy Guild Leader, grab her."
"Yes!"
Seol-hwa instantly obeyed.
She tackled and pinned down the Deputy Guild Leader.
"What the hell?"
"Stay still. I was told not to approach."
"By who?"
They argued while wrestling.
[Though not a complete body, this should suffice.]
The arrogant shadow released formless energy.
Something far beyond mana - higher-dimensional power.
"Ghk!"
The struggling Deputy Guild Leader collapsed.
"..."
The Supporter couldn't even scream. Isia must've fallen the same way.
"Huh? Deputy Guild Leader Lee Ho-young?"
Only Seol-hwa remained standing.
'Sacred Resistance!'
I realized why. Sacred Resistance - that seemingly useless trait proved its worth.
'Then is that thing the doppelgangers' god?'
Likely the god mentioned by the Captain.
A god. Higher-dimensional and terrifyingly powerful. Victory seemed uncertain.
[What are you? Why aren't you collapsing?]
The Black Shadow sounded flustered. Its reaction made me realize - this was our chance.