You Don't Have Stuff Like This at Home, Do You?

Before leaving the cavern, I approached the knight commander and laid out the plan ahead.

"Not escape—you're saying we go deeper?"

"There's a fortress my kids and I built on the lower floors. Wait there until we take down the Doppelganger Lord."

"...We'll fight with you."

"We'd be glad to have you."

The average combat power in this world was pitifully low, but a knight commander who could wield aura ranked among the strongest assets even in our Legion.

Aside from me, Poppy, and Lucy, he's probably the toughest we've got.

The Doppelganger Lord had cloned Poppy into a monster. It had reverted to a black silhouette now, but the wounds carved by the commander's aura still marked its body.

"All units, move out!"

"Yes, sir!"

Leaving the reclamation party behind, I took the lead toward the fourth underground floor.

The main objective of the tenth floor had been escaping these ruins, but...

Two lesser gods now occupied the ruins. One specialized in building armies; the other excelled at direct combat. Which to handle first needed no debate.

"So the Doppelganger Lord is on the lowest floor?"

"Time to go smash some trash!"

"Woof!"

The Doppelganger Lord was an enemy never discovered on Earth. Naturally I had no idea how to clear it—but I had reliable friends who always knew the answer when asked.

The Doppelganger Lord kept spawning fresh clones equal to our Legion's numbers. Our greatest strength—sheer volume—had been perfectly countered. The cloned Void Hounds were far weaker than ours, of course, but...

The Void Flowers had been reassuring allies when they were on our side. Now the only ones in our Legion who could even react to their attacks were me—using Mana Conversion—and Poppy.

Since the enemy had cloned the Void Flowers, punching through the first and second underground floors they controlled was worse than forcing a path through the fifth.

"If we just kill the Doppelganger Lord, we can mass-produce every Legion unit except the Void Hounds... Better to fight on our home ground than theirs, right?"

While we refined the plan, we reached the stairs leading down to the fourth underground floor.

"Oh God..."

"What in the world..."

The knight commander and the cardinal froze at the bottom of the stairs, mouths hanging open.

"Well? Feel safer now?"

A massive Void Pond sat near the entrance to the fourth floor. The Doppelganger corpses we had just brought were dropping one after another into the pool. Nearby, countless Void Flowers lay in ambush. At every fork leading deeper into the floor, Void Monkeys had stacked throwing stones and stood ready for battle.

"Woof!"

"Eek!"

The moment the reclamation party stepped onto the fourth floor, cleverly hidden Void Hounds leapt out and startled everyone.

"Come inside. We'll handle the defense."

Past the entrance, even more of the Legion had already taken position. Around every corner, Void Flowers camouflaged as stone greeted us. Void Hounds and Void Monkeys tucked behind rocks waved.

"We've completely taken the fourth floor. Anyone staying behind can rest in the center."

The system window showed hundreds of newly entered monsters in the dungeon, yet...

"Our specialty is defense more than offense."

No matter how many came, they would never break through this place.

"The fifth underground floor ends in a chamber with a giant altar, right?"

"According to the records, yes. One room—but as wide as the plaza of the imperial capital."

We reviewed the plan one last time at the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

"I'll say it again: do not push ahead."

"Understood."

The third-floor sweep had revealed the patterns of the cloned Void Flowers. They had copied the supersonic tentacle strikes, but not the environmental camouflage that let them blend into their surroundings.

We descended the stairs into a vast plaza. In the center rose a pyramid-shaped altar framed by towering pillars. Cloned Void Flowers perched atop those pillars, tentacles twitching.

"Ukki!"

Void Monkeys hurled stones and burst the cloned flowers.

"There's space behind the pillars! Watch for flowers hiding there!"

I had expected the fifth floor to be packed with monsters. Instead, aside from the occasional cloned Void Flower, the cavern was empty.

"Fifth floor clear! Woohoo!"

"...Lucy, where did you learn to talk like that?"

"I saw it on Hunt Gallery!"

Once their positions were known and they had no supporting troops, the Void Flowers were hardly a threat. Just as Lucy said, our Legion secured the fifth floor in moments.

"Where's the Doppelganger Lord? Don't tell me the system was wrong..."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

As the Legion descended, they had scoured every corner of each floor. The only path from the depths to the surface was the one we now controlled. A stealthy escape was impossible.

"Haram! There's something here!"

The cardinal, examining the altar with us, shouted from the summit. At the peak of the pyramid-shaped altar, a long ladder stretched downward—just wide enough for one person.

"Ahem. Someone will have to go first."

"The structure's too tight for the Void Hounds. I'll—"

"Ukki!"

An elite Void Monkey shoved the knight commander aside and stepped forward.

"Ukkiik! Kigikk!!"

"The first one down will be in the greatest danger. Here, we should—"

"Dying for nothing would waste the points... No—lives are precious. Fall back. I've got a better idea."

I herded the thrashing elite Void Monkey and the others away.

"No reason to walk into their trap, is there?"

"GROOOOAAARRR!!!"

"Good heavens..."

"Oh God..."

Poppy had already grown larger after hitting level fifty. Activating Gigantification on top of that made its head nearly scrape the ceiling.

—CRASH!

"Miss Haram?!"

"I'm fine—just wait. And watch out for falling debris."

Poppy, now larger than the pyramid altar itself, began demolishing it. The long ladder was exposed as the towering structure steadily shrank.

—BOOM!

—CRASH!

—KRA-KOOM!!!

"I-if the ruins collapse at this rate..."

The knight commander's face went pale at the thunderous noise and shaking.

"Hunt Gallery says structures are invincible!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Lucy, that's a different difficulty. This is reality—it's different."

"Really? But I won't die even if it collapses!"

"Just because you won't die doesn't mean... Anyway, I'm not wrecking it completely, so don't worry."

Poppy was erasing the massive altar, yet even that structure was tiny compared to the chamber as a whole.

"And... the enemy wouldn't want to be crushed either, so they built it sturdy, right?"

"...You saved our lives. We'll follow your lead."

Even a lesser god wouldn't survive being buried under tons of rock deep underground. If they valued their lives, they had reinforced it well.

After a short while the soaring altar was flattened, revealing a gaping hole beneath. The long ladder did not reach any floor—it simply vanished into darkness.

"The ladder's a trap."

"I'll light the way."

Saintess Lucia stepped forward from a short distance. A bright orb rose above her palm.

"Please illuminate the path."

The orb left her hand and drifted into the hole. Before long it reached the bottom.

"Shallower than I thought... Huh?"

Within the circle of light stood a child in a white hoodie. The moment the light approached, the child fled back into the dark. Far too small to be my clone. Every gaze swung toward Lucy.

"Huh? That's me!"

"So the Doppelganger Lord really is down there... Wait—"

—RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE...

A massive tremor suddenly seized the fifth floor.

"Crap, did Poppy smash too hard?"

"Ruins collapsing! We're fucked! Woohoo!"

"Lucy, you need to quit Hunt Gallery."

"No way! It's the joy of my life!"

While Lucy spouted nonsense, the cracks spreading across the fifth-floor floor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠grew wider.

"Brace for freefall!"

"Protect your heads!"

—CRRRRAAASH!!!

The floor of the fifth underground level gave way, and we plummeted.

"Is everyone all right?!"

"Stay alert!"

I scanned the surroundings while opening the system window.

Fortunately the drop hadn't been that high. No new deaths since we entered the fifth floor. Looking up, I could still see the walls of the fifth floor we had just left.

"Roughly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seven or eight meters?"

High enough to kill an ordinary person, but the knights and holy knights who had joined the Doppelganger Lord raid were all elites. A few had fractured ankles or been pinned under fallen pillars, yet the Saintess raced about healing the wounded.

"Escape route... sealed, then."

The stairs that had connected to the fourth floor now floated eight meters overhead. Given time, Poppy's Gigantification could get us out, but...

"Walking straight into a death trap—humans really are stupid."

A woman who looked exactly like me strode toward us.

"Ugh, don't say crap like that with my face."

"You've got some nice abilities. You can even hide like th—"

The Doppelganger Lord, which had been cloaking itself with a stealth skill, reappeared.

"Huh?"

"Having trash-tier stealth actually helps for once? Wait—Detector's detection skill is EX-rank?"

I was briefly startled that Detector had pierced SSS-rank stealth, but that wasn't the priority right now.

"Knights! Battle formation!"

"Use every holy relic you have!"

An enemy army materialized beside the Doppelganger Lord—cloned Void Hounds and Void Monkeys, trolls, orcs, every kind of monster. They surrounded us where we had fallen.

"Right... it can clone the monsters that entered the upper floors too."

And right beside the Doppelganger Lord stood a colossal beast.

"GROOOAAR..."

"Woof!"

A clone of the lesser god Basilisk blocked our path.

"Haram! A lesser god cloning another lesser god is cheating!"

"It can't use the Basilisk's poison or petrification. It's basically just a shell..."

The Doppelganger Lord smiled at me.

"Even that is still broken."

"Thanks for the excellent body! I've never had a vessel this strong that wasn't even a lesser god!"

Originally the Doppelganger Lord traded personal combat power for the ability to create powerful subordinates. This time it had stolen my abilities and gained real strength.

"Satisfied with just that?"

I looked at the Doppelganger Lord wearing my face and recalled the intel I had already gathered.

I opened the status window I had left untouched even after clearing the ninth floor.

"Well? Want to copy this too?"

"Huh?"

The Doppelganger Lord tilted its head, sensing the shift in my presence. I didn't stop there. I pulled the holy relics I had stashed in my hoodie pocket.

"You don't have stuff like this at home, do you?"

"..."

"If you don't, then you get hit."

"Basilisk! Kill them!"

"GROOOAARRR!!"

"Poppy—go."

"KWAANG!"

Time to finish the tenth-floor boss stage.