Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Invasion of the Doppelganger Legion
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‘Thank goodness we have Shadow Queen Cecilia.’
Kang Hyun-soo let out a sigh of relief after safely entering the Terra Kingdom.
In truth, there was one minor issue preventing Kang Hyun-soo’s group from entering the Terra Kingdom.
It was their honorary noble titles from the Mulan Kingdom.
They carried considerable influence in other countries.
‘But in the Terra Kingdom, which is hostile to the Mulan Kingdom, they’re more of a liability.’
When it came to the Terra Kingdom, their status as free citizens of the Rokto Empire was far more useful than honorary Mulan nobility.
The one who resolved this problem was Shadow Queen Cecilia, who had taken control of the Shadow Guard.
‘I never knew there was a technique called a double seal.’
A double seal was a method of layering one seal over another.
Shadow Guards, who operated in the darkness, often held dual identities.
‘With two identities but only one seal, problems were bound to arise.’
The double seal had been developed to address exactly that.
A public identity and a hidden one.
By adjusting the amount of mana injected, they could reveal whichever identity suited the situation—a cutting-edge technique.
And that wasn’t all.
‘I didn’t expect her to grant me an official noble title from the Rokto Empire.’
Shadow Queen Cecilia had gifted Kang Hyun-soo a new seal along with a Rokto Empire noble title.
Titles like that could only be bestowed by kings or counts and higher nobles in each country.
Which meant.
‘Cecilia has turned a count or higher-ranking noble into her puppet.’
Emperor Rodius I of the Rokto Empire had about a year left to live.
‘She’s steadily preparing to seize the throne.’
When the Marazia River flood that Kang Hyun-soo had foreseen occurred, Emperor Rodius I moved.
‘To oust Grand Duke Orpheus.’
But it wasn’t easy.
The Five Grand Dukes checked each other.
‘But when it comes to opposing the emperor, they move as one.’
As a result, the Rokto Empire was currently in turmoil due to the standoff between the emperor and the Five Grand Dukes.
The nobles were divided into the emperor’s faction and the Five Grand Dukes’ faction.
Neutral Rokto Empire nobles were scrambling to decide which side to back.
‘Cecilia exploited that gap perfectly.’
Using the massive funds and forces Kang Hyun-soo had provided.
She gathered the neutrals.
‘And formed the neutral faction.’
As a half-blood, she couldn’t reveal her identity publicly.
‘But she’s the head of the neutral faction.’
In less than two years, Cecilia had risen to lead one of the Rokto Empire’s three major factions.
‘The problem is that even with the emperor stepping in personally, dealing with Grand Duke Orpheus isn’t easy.’
If the emperor weren’t so old.
The process could have been faster.
But given his advanced age and poor health.
‘Power has leaked away.’
If the crown prince, who would inherit the throne, were at least competent.
Some of that leaking power might have flowed to him.
‘But the crown prince is a hopeless wastrel.’
As a result, many in the emperor’s faction defected to the neutrals.
And Shadow Queen Cecilia absorbed that power.
‘I’ll have to handle it personally later.’
The wastrel crown prince and Grand Duke Orpheus.
If he bundled them together and eliminated them.
‘Cecilia could sit on the Rokto Empire’s throne.’
If Cecilia, Kang Hyun-soo’s puppet, became emperor of the Rokto Empire.
‘She could deploy the empire’s full forces intact against the Demon King’s army.’
It would be a huge boon for all humanity.
But first.
‘I need to save the Terra Kingdom.’
And settle some old scores from before his regression, as a bonus.
* * *
‘I never thought I’d see this sight again.’
Kang Hyun-soo gazed at the great city of Verokkoto in the Terra Kingdom with eyes full of nostalgia.
‘So many things happened here.’
The great city of Verokkoto was an object of love and hate for Kang Hyun-soo.
‘It’s peaceful now.’
In Kang Hyun-soo’s last memories, the great city of Verokkoto was nothing but a deserted ruin uninhabited by people.
The great city of Verokkoto was where the Balhae Guild’s guild house stood.
Before his regression, Kang Hyun-soo had spent quite a long time there, active until he left the Balhae Guild.
It was a place full of memories.
‘And full of bitter grudges.’
But in the end, it was just one of many cities that fell after failing to stop the Doppelganger Legion’s invasion.
“Is this Verokkoto? The atmosphere feels pretty rough.”
The Fist Emperor looked around and commented.
“Yeah.”
Song Ha-na agreed.
“Let’s secure lodging first.”
Kang Hyun-soo led the group toward an inn.
His outward expression was calm.
But inside, his mind was complicated.
It wasn’t just because he was back in Verokkoto.
‘It’s sooner than I expected.’
As far as Kang Hyun-soo remembered, this was right around when the Doppelganger Legion’s invasion was just beginning.
They should naturally be in the midst of infiltrating human society.
Yet.
‘Conflicts have already broken out.’
That meant the Doppelganger Legion’s invasion timeline was earlier than before his regression.
‘Well, it makes sense.’
About three years had passed since Kang Hyun-soo arrived in the Atlantis dimension.
‘I haven’t been sitting idle.’
From the Demon King’s army’s perspective, their embedded spy, the Cabal Guild, had been crushed, and Dragon Karas’s invasion had failed without results.
So?
‘They might advance their next plan.’
Events like this would happen more and more frequently from now on.
‘The main storyline won’t change.’
But minor shifts, like invasions happening earlier, were inevitable.
‘I need to grow stronger as much as possible.’
Kang Hyun-soo had grown at an incomparable pace to before his regression.
But that was thanks to his pre-regression experience and knowledge.
The further time progressed.
‘The more the information will diverge.’
The main storyline might even twist.
‘While the environment still allows me to use my pre-regression info, I need to max out my growth.’
He also needed to reprocess that old info to fit the changed current situation.
‘Cecilia’s expanding her intel network, so it should be feasible.’
Information was key.
If he steadily gathered it.
‘Even if the butterfly effect twists the current situation, I can still make full use of the pre-regression info.’
The order, timing, and locations of invasions might shift.
But the invading demons themselves wouldn’t change.
If he detected the signs in advance.
‘I can stop them easily.’
The current situation was the same.
Just the timing pulled forward a bit.
He was a little late to the party.
But he could handle it.
‘Tensions are rising between the Terra Kingdom’s major guilds.’
The cause was ongoing clashes in the hunting grounds.
The great city of Verokkoto and its surrounding hunting grounds were practically Balhae Guild territory.
But the Balhae Guild was different from the Zhonghua Guild.
They didn’t control the hunting grounds or charge usage fees.
However, Balhae Guild members subtly held priority on the better spots.
From other guilds’ perspectives.
They had complaints, but not enough to openly challenge the Balhae Guild.
The Balhae Guild just had priority on good spots.
Members of other guilds could still hunt there.
‘If they rebelled over “unfairness,” only the mid-tier guilds would suffer.’
The Atlantis dimension was a world where might made right.
Hunting grounds especially were ruled by the law of the jungle.
If a minor quarrel escalated to war.
‘Mid-tier guilds would just get massacred unilaterally.’
Compared to other mega guilds, the Balhae Guild was a relatively merciful ruler.
That’s why peace had reigned in Verokkoto’s hunting grounds for so long.
But.
‘That peace has shattered.’
Conflicts had erupted between the Balhae Guild and other guilds over hunting ground priority.
If the instigators were just some minor mid-tier guild.
The clash wouldn’t have happened, or it would’ve been settled quickly by force.
But the ones picking fights with the Balhae Guild were another of Terra Kingdom’s mega guilds: the Goryeo Guild.
From the Balhae Guild’s view, the Goryeo Guild was clearly provoking them.
The funny part was.
‘The Goryeo Guild thinks the Balhae Guild is the one provoking them.’
It was all.
‘The Doppelgangers’ scheme.’
In the end, war would break out.
‘And the Goryeo Guild would collapse.’
Even the victorious Balhae Guild would suffer devastating losses, with membership halved or worse.
‘I have to stop the war.’
Guild wars.
Especially the one between Balhae and Goryeo Guilds would be the spark that topples the Terra Kingdom.
‘If the Terra Kingdom had remained intact.’
It would have been a tremendous force during the all-out war with the Demon King’s army.
* * *
The next morning.
Kang Hyun-soo’s group headed to the hunting grounds.
But hunting wasn’t the real goal.
‘I need to catch the moment of conflict.’
Right now, it was just bumping into each other and storming off in anger.
‘Soon, there’ll be disappearances.’
Then the Balhae and Goryeo Guilds would suspect each other.
‘The Doppelgangers will turn that suspicion into certainty.’
And the mega guild war would ignite.
‘The sooner I grab their tail, the better.’
The Doppelganger Legion wasn’t active just in Verokkoto.
‘They’re sowing seeds of discord across the entire Terra Kingdom.’
Targets could be guilds vs. guilds, guilds vs. nobles, or nobles vs. the king.
‘The biggest explosion will be the Balhae-Goryeo clash.’
If he stopped this one and used it to publicly expose the Doppelgangers.
‘He could prevent their schemes.’
Since they could be easily identified with silver, it might even be dealt with bloodlessly.
If the Doppelganger Legion’s invasion was thwarted.
‘He could upgrade his achievements.’
The achievement from the Dragon Karas raid grew when.
‘Eliminating demon nobles or thwarting Demon King’s army invasions.’
The Doppelganger Legion’s strength—low combat power but vast numbers—wasn’t in force.
Only mimicry and sowing discord.
To Kang Hyun-soo, who knew the countermeasures.
‘The Doppelganger Legion was just tasty prey.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s group arrived at a high-level hunting ground and split up.
“Make sure to stop it.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Don’t worry. We’ll stop it for sure.”
“Leave it to us!”
Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor replied with confident expressions before departing.
Kang Hyun-soo would cover the Balhae Guild’s area.
Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor would handle the Goryeo Guild’s area.
If nothing happened.
They’d regroup here and withdraw.
‘Then let’s get started.’
Kang Hyun-soo passed the time hunting.
He ran into other players occasionally.
But they were mostly Balhae Guild or mid-tier guild members.
No Goryeo Guild players.
How much time passed?
As the sun in mid-sky began to set, darkness gradually fell.
Yet.
The hunting ground remained quiet.
‘Nothing today?’
As Kang Hyun-soo was about to tell Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor to withdraw.
Kwaaaang!
A massive explosion rang out.
“You dare ignore the Balhae Guild!”
“Ignore? I was just stating facts! What, hit a nerve?”
He heard the angry voices of two people.
-They’ve appeared. What about your side?
Kang Hyun-soo asked Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor via telepathy.
-Nothing yet.
-Should we join you?
-No, keep waiting. If they showed here, high chance on your side too.
-Got it.
-Will do.
After hearing Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor’s replies, Kang Hyun-soo headed toward the noise.
Moments later.
Arriving at the clash site, Kang Hyun-soo witnessed a fight between a Balhae Guild player party and a Goryeo Guild player party.