Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Nightmare Dungeon (3)
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“Thank you. I’ll put it to good use. And I’ll definitely get stronger.”
Song Hana flashed a bright smile as she accepted Padrón’s Sword, the Nightmare Earrings, and the Solar Blessing.
“I’ll definitely repay this debt.”
The Fist Emperor muttered the words as if vowing to himself, taking hold of the Nightmare Necklace, the Lunar Blessing, and the Stellar Blessing.
“Yeah, yeah. Get even stronger with those. You two can do it.”
“Got it! I’ll make sure to live up to your faith in me, Hyun-soo!”
“Me too! I’ll make sure you never regret giving us these gifts!”
With their motivation surging, Song Hana and the Fist Emperor cheerfully headed off together for a sparring match.
‘Then I should learn mine too.’
Kang Hyun-soo slipped the Nightmare Ring onto his finger.
And gripped the Book of Immortality.
[Would you like to acquire Book of Immortality – EX-Rank?]
[Yes] [No]
‘Of course I’m acquiring it.’
Kang Hyun-soo selected Yes.
[You have acquired Book of Immortality – EX-Rank.]
He had obtained the Immortal’s main skill, the Book of Immortality.
‘The options are great.’
The Book of Immortality wasn’t just a simple recovery skill.
‘Even if my head gets blown off or my heart explodes, I won’t die.’
It was practically the same as becoming immortal.
And crucially.
[You can revive from death once.]
[Upon revival, the Book of Immortality disappears.]
‘This is the best part.’
It wasn’t called immortality for nothing.
‘I probably won’t ever need to use it.’
In any case, wasn’t it like securing an extra life?
On top of that, for Kang Hyun-soo.
‘I have the Eternal Holy Flame.’
The Eternal Holy Flame and the Book of Immortality.
If these two overlapped?
He’d gain self-recovery strong enough to heal even a severed limb in an instant.
‘Alright, next up.’
Shadow of the Moon.
[Would you like to acquire Shadow of the Moon – EX-Rank?]
[Yes] [No]
A message appeared.
Kang Hyun-soo naturally selected Yes.
[You have acquired Shadow of the Moon – EX-Rank.]
‘It transcends the limits of stealth skills.’
This was less a stealth skill and more.
‘A spatial skill, that’s what it is.’
When activating Shadow of the Moon?
Vitality, mana, presence, even breathing.
Nothing would show on the surface.
As if the caster had been hidden in another space entirely.
‘Even physical or skill attacks won’t deal damage.’
It was essentially invincible until the skill was released.
The downside was.
‘I can’t attack enemies either.’
Enemies couldn’t see or attack Kang Hyun-soo.
He could see them, but.
He couldn’t attack until releasing the skill.
‘Plus, for a stealth skill, the cooldown is pretty long.’
Even at EX-Rank, it had a 12-hour cooldown.
The silver lining?
‘Once activated, it maintains without extra mana cost.’
It felt less like stealth and more like temporarily shifting the caster to another space.
‘Doesn’t matter what category it falls under.’
Now, he could go anywhere he set his mind to.
‘Even sneak into the emperor of the Rokto Empire’s bedroom.’
On top of that, Shadow of the Moon synergized perfectly with the summoner-class job One-Woman Legion.
‘What if I hide in Shadow of the Moon and just send out summons to fight?’
Kang Hyun-soo could level up infinitely from within Shadow of the Moon.
And if he reformed destroyed summons via legion composition?
Enemies would face the worst scenario: fighting an invisible foe.
‘Not that I need to hide my body specifically.’
Shadow of the Moon would have been a perfect skill for Ivan Yamelikonen, who was called the One-Man Army before the regression.
‘With Shadow of the Moon, he wouldn’t have died so pointlessly.’
However.
For the current Kang Hyun-soo.
‘It’s a big help, but not something I absolutely need.’
Unlike Ivan Yamelikonen, called the One-Man Army before the regression.
Kang Hyun-soo didn’t need to hide in Shadow of the Moon just because combat broke out.
Stepping onto the battlefield himself brought even greater gains.
Because.
Kang Hyun-soo himself.
Was the strongest force, surpassing even his summons.
* * *
‘It’s about to start now.’
After the Dragon Karas led the dragonkin monsters through the dimensional gate.
The Demon King’s army had stayed quiet for quite a while.
But now, that long silence was about to break.
‘The Doppelganger Legion will start their invasion soon.’
The invasion route was the Terra Kingdom.
‘Countries under the Rokto Empire’s sphere of influence were hit especially hard.’
Among Atlantis’s superpowers, the reason the Rokto Empire fell first.
‘Civil war was the final blow, but it was also because they suffered the most invasions and their national power was depleted.’
But the main thread had already been twisted by Kang Hyun-soo’s hand.
He’d early eliminated the Cabal Guild, which would grow into a massive tumor.
He’d muzzled the troublemaking Zhonghua Guild.
He’d greatly reduced the Mulan Kingdom’s damage during the Dragon Karas invasion.
And finally, he’d turned Dark Queen Cecilia, the instigator of the Rokto Empire’s civil war, into one of his limbs.
‘If I can block the damage to the Terra Kingdom well, it’ll be perfect.’
Unlike the dragonkin monsters led by Karas, the Doppelganger Legion didn’t attack head-on.
‘They hid in the shadows and moved stealthily.’
Doppelgangers were demons capable of perfectly copying a target player’s appearance, voice, speech patterns, and even skills.
‘Well, just the surface level, though.’
They couldn’t copy the target player’s stats.
Skills only mimicked the appearance.
‘The power was completely different.’
However.
‘They could still make the exterior convincingly real.’
That allowed them to infiltrate player groups without resistance.
They could even kill a player and calmly impersonate them.
‘That’s why the damage was so severe.’
Doppelgangers were the perfect spies.
‘They went beyond spying—once impersonating a major guild master and taking them out.’
Doppelgangers could perfectly replicate another player’s appearance.
Which meant.
‘It was easy to incite infighting.’
Steal a guild master’s appearance and openly provoke an enemy guild?
Steal a major guild executive or master’s look and assassinate a noble?
‘The reverse was entirely possible too.’
A doppelganger’s combat power wasn’t that high.
Excluding special specimens, most were weaker than top-tier dragonkin like Drakans or Dragonians.
But in terms of threat to human society?
‘More dangerous than even Dragon Karas.’
Blunt invasion with raw power was scary.
But borrowing another’s form to sow discord, incite wars among humans, and make them self-destruct—that was more terrifying.
‘If we can’t stop the Doppelganger Legion’s invasion, the Terra Kingdom falls.’
Guild vs. guild wars.
Noble vs. noble wars.
Guild vs. noble wars.
Civil wars from rebellions.
At first, they seemed like escalated accidental quarrels.
‘But they weren’t.’
Most were manipulated by doppelganger schemes.
‘Even after the Doppelganger Legion’s existence was revealed, the problems didn’t end.’
Political rivals were accused of being doppelgangers and executed for gain all too often.
‘The biggest issue was no way to distinguish demons hiding their demonic energy.’
Not now, nor in the future, was there a way to detect demons masking their aura.
But.
‘There is a way to distinguish doppelgangers among demons.’
It just wouldn’t be known for a long time.
If that method hadn’t been revealed?
‘The Doppelganger Legion’s invasion wouldn’t have ended with just the Terra Kingdom’s fall.’
Far more countries would have collapsed to their schemes.
The solution was simple.
‘Just spread the method early.’
The way to distinguish doppelgangers.
That was.
‘Silver.’
Silver had long been favored by royalty and nobles.
Especially for plates, spoons, forks, chopsticks, cups, etc.
Because silver discolors on contact with poison.
Not all poisons, though.
‘It only reacts to a few, like arsenic.’
The doppelganger’s special trait.
‘Their blood and saliva contain a toxin that reacts to silver.’
The poison mixed in their blood and saliva was one of their powerful weapons, letting weak combat doppelgangers easily subdue unwary foes in disguise.
‘Doppelgangers can only mimic appearances.’
They can’t change their blood.
When a doppelganger’s blood or saliva touches silver?
‘It doesn’t just discolor—it melts the silver outright.’
That’s how you could tell them apart.
Drop a bit of blood or saliva on silver?
You could easily distinguish human from doppelganger.
Human blood and saliva have no effect on silver.
But doppelganger blood and saliva corrode it.
‘If I use this opportunity well, I can take out that bastard Hwang So-uk.’
Hwang So-uk.
The enemy who choked Kang Hyun-soo before the regression, possessor of Skill Enhancement.
‘Other enemies I can deal with slowly.’
But not Hwang So-uk.
‘He gains proper fame thanks to the civil war sparked by the Doppelganger Legion invasion.’
He earns the title Doppelganger Hunter, becomes a named player, and skyrockets in Balhae Guild’s ranks.
By the end of the Doppelganger Legion invasion?
He claims a kingly title and becomes Balhae Guild’s guild master.
If that happens?
Kang Hyun-soo might have to go to war with Balhae Guild just to take him out.
‘Gotta avoid that.’
He didn’t have good feelings toward Balhae Guild.
But no bad ones either.
Balhae members despised and discriminated against him.
But that was Hwang So-uk’s doing.
‘Balhae Guild’s own potential is impressive too.’
They were an elite guild that shone in the war against the Demon King’s army.
Remove Hwang So-uk and Shin So-hee.
‘The guild might shrink in size, but its quality would rise.’
Countless fell or were ousted due to Hwang So-uk’s schemes.
A guy like that.
‘Better to remove him as soon as possible.’
Plus, by now.
‘He’s probably made Skill Enhancement EX-Rank.’
EX-Rank Skill Enhancement was the power that made Hwang So-uk a named player.
If he got lucky?
‘I might snag the EX-Rank Skill Enhancement skillbook.’
Then Kang Hyun-soo could raise skill ranks even faster.
Why?
‘The cooldown drops massively.’
EX-Rank Skill Enhancement’s cooldown was just 3 days.
Meaningless to Hwang So-uk.
At high levels?
Forget 3 days—even leveling once a week was tough.
But for Kang Hyun-soo.
‘3 days is more than enough to hit level 200 from 0.’
His current Replica Skill Enhancement was A-Rank.
‘Only once every two weeks.’
For him, hitting 500 levels over two weeks for one use was worse than hitting 200 and using it five times in the same span—twice the gain.
‘Hitting 200 is easy.’
Even 300 was manageable.
But the infamous wall of 400-500?
Even hunting high-level monsters, level-ups slowed.
‘And getting EX-Rank doesn’t mean I can’t use A-Rank Replica Skill Enhancement.’
For Kang Hyun-soo?
EX-Rank Skill Enhancement was pure profit, no downside.
Just.
‘I’d need insane luck.’
Honestly, among the many skills Hwang So-uk learned.
‘The drop rate for EX-Rank Skill Enhancement skillbook is about 1 in 100.’
But.
‘Worth a shot.’
Compared to lotto odds of 1 in 8,145,060?
‘Plenty high.’
Kang Hyun-soo gathered Song Hana and the Fist Emperor.
And set off for the Terra Kingdom.