Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: The First Gift (3)
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When Kang Hyun-soo tried to use the Replica skill again against Dragon King Lee Ji-yong.
“Save the guild master!”
Members of Dragon Tiger Guild began rushing in one after another.
“Eliminate these bandits of unknown origin!”
On top of that, even the regular army of Terra Kingdom, which managed security in the great city of Besperseil, charged in.
‘I guess it’s time for me to go.’
He had no intention of killing innocent people.
‘Besides, there’s no need.’
Starting a brawl for no reason would just hold him back.
Most of them were players in the 300-400 level range.
But their numbers were enormous.
If the fight dragged on?
High-level players from mid-sized guilds or high-level players from Terra Kingdom’s army would likely join in.
‘My goal’s already achieved anyway.’
As Kang Hyun-soo tried to slip away.
“You bastard, where do you think you’re going!”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong, who had been crouching until now, lunged at Kang Hyun-soo.
‘What an idiot.’
Moving would cancel the three-fold defense boost effect.
If Kang Hyun-soo hadn’t known the weakness of Dragon Transformation, one of Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s main skills?
He would have chosen defense over attack.
No point in launching attacks that wouldn’t land properly.
It would be more efficient to block Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s attacks and escape during that time.
But unfortunately, thanks to the Replica skill activating perfectly, Kang Hyun-soo, who had replicated the Dragon Transformation skill in just one try.
Whoosh!
Chose attack over defense.
The sword Kang Hyun-soo swung flew toward Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s neck.
“Urk!”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong twisted his body and protected his neck with his arm.
He couldn’t sever the neck because of that.
Slash!
But he managed to cut off one arm.
“Aaagh!”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong screamed and clutched the stump of his severed arm.
Whoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo swung his sword again.
Slice!
But the three-fold defense boost option activated again.
It only left a shallow wound.
‘If I had plenty of time, I could eliminate him easily by stacking Beast Transformation.’
Unfortunately, there was no time now.
If he stacked Beast Transformation again?
The Dragon Scale Armor would change to fit his body shape, leading to the misunderstanding that Kang Hyun-soo was a beastkin.
‘Skills like Mountain Lord Descent are extremely rare.’
From Terra Kingdom’s perspective?
They would think Dragon Tiger Guild’s terrorist attack was backed by Muran Kingdom.
If the situation turned out that way?
‘The already tense relations between Terra Kingdom and Muran Kingdom would worsen.’
In the worst case.
War could break out.
‘I need to avoid that risk.’
Now that he’d confirmed Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s abilities.
‘No need to take him out right here in Dragon Tiger Guild’s headquarters.’
Best to ambush him when he went out hunting.
-Retreat.
At Kang Hyun-soo’s command, the summons scattered in all directions at once.
“They’re running!”
“Catch that guy!”
Dragon Tiger Guild members and Terra Kingdom’s regular army pursued Kang Hyun-soo and the summons.
But.
Shooo!
There was no way they could catch summons that vanished like smoke the moment they escaped the pursuers’ sight.
“Where’d they go?”
“They definitely came into this alley.”
“You check that way, I’ll go this way.”
“Got it.”
Dragon Tiger Guild members and Terra Kingdom’s regular army combed through the alleys like crazy.
But there was no way to find summons that had been unsummoned.
‘Now it’s my turn.’
Kang Hyun-soo activated Moon’s Shadow, the EX-Rank skill he’d obtained after clearing Nightmare Dungeon.
Swoosh!
Kang Hyun-soo’s body melted into the air and vanished.
“They definitely came this way?”
“It’s a dead end.”
“They might’ve climbed the wall. Let’s check.”
Dragon Tiger Guild members and Terra Kingdom’s regular army, arriving late, uselessly climbed the wall.
‘Impressive.’
He’d tested Moon’s Shadow before for practice.
But this was the first real combat use.
The effect was truly astonishing.
‘They have no idea at all.’
Not only that—one of Dragon Tiger Guild’s members even passed right through Kang Hyun-soo’s body.
‘As expected of a spatial skill.’
Kang Hyun-soo smiled and leisurely strolled out of the encirclement.
‘I wonder if it succeeded?’
He’d bought enough time, so it should have.
But you never know.
-Did it succeed?
Kang Hyun-soo asked Doppelganger No. 1, recently promoted to battalion commander.
-Yes, my lord. It succeeded.
-Can they all play their roles properly?
-Of course.
He got confirmation.
‘Still a bit uneasy.’
In this raid, Kang Hyun-soo had targeted the high-ranking executives.
And he’d deployed doppelgangers to impersonate the dead executives.
‘Making doppelgangers into summons is handy like this.’
Summons revert to their original forms upon death.
At a glance?
It looked like the dead had come back to life.
But up close?
They lacked the unique vitality of living people.
They also gave off an artificial, statue-like feel, making realistic impersonation impossible.
But.
‘Doppelgangers are different.’
Maybe because they were born to mimic others?
Whether battalion commander, company commander, platoon leader, or squad leader, the doppelgangers looked exactly like living people.
The problem was.
‘Their intelligence is low.’
Even the highest-intelligence battalion commanders.
‘They do what they’re told well, but that’s it.’
They didn’t think to act on their own initiative.
Their immediate adaptability was poor.
If battalion commanders were like that, what about company commanders, platoon leaders, and squad leaders with even lower intelligence?
‘The saving grace is that doppelgangers have the Memory Absorption skill.’
Memory Absorption was a skill that absorbed remnants of mana from a dead opponent, taking in some of their memories from life.
Thanks to Memory Absorption, the doppelgangers could perfectly mimic their targets’ behaviors from life.
The issue was.
‘Whether these guys can act properly based on those memories.’
Real doppelgangers could pull it off effortlessly.
But summon doppelgangers had low intelligence.
‘If they were all battalion commanders, it’d be better.’
Appointing low-combat-power doppelgangers as battalion commanders just for intelligence.
Would mean too much stat loss.
‘I deployed one battalion commander and twenty company commanders—hope they pull it off.’
The most crucial was the role of the sole battalion commander, Doppelganger No. 1.
‘Summons can coordinate organically among themselves.’
Kang Hyun-soo had grouped all doppelgangers under Doppelganger No. 1 into a battalion.
Doppelgangers No. 2 through 21 were all company commanders under Doppelganger No. 1’s orders.
That meant.
‘High-intelligence Doppelganger No. 1 can give orders to Nos. 2 through 21.’
Worst case, if Nos. 2-21 faced a situation requiring high judgment in conversation?
Doppelganger No. 1 could hear the situation and handle the talking instead.
Just like how Kang Hyun-soo had conversed with Demon-Slaying Spear King Jin Gu-pyeong—now his subordinate—via Sword Ghost.
If a problem arose that Doppelganger No. 1’s intelligence couldn’t handle?
‘I’ll step in.’
Kang Hyun-soo could just talk for them.
‘Dragon Tiger Guild won’t run tests to detect doppelgangers, at least.’
If they did tests?
The true nature of mana-based summons would be exposed.
Summons don’t bleed.
But.
A friendly doppelganger wouldn’t infiltrate Dragon Tiger Guild, so the chance of tests was effectively zero.
‘Now it’s your turn to suffer.’
Before regression.
When doppelganger legions caused chaos across Terra Kingdom.
Dragon Tiger Guild publicly claimed they’d suffered massive losses from doppelgangers too.
However.
‘A blatant lie.’
Dragon Tiger Guild had no issues.
They even thrived.
But.
‘This time, it’ll be the opposite.’
Other guilds would be fine.
But Dragon Tiger Guild?
‘I’ll make sure problems pile up.’
With Moon’s Shadow active, Kang Hyun-soo left Dragon Tiger Guild’s base, the great city of Besperseil, and headed for Balhae Guild’s base, the great city of Berokcuto.
* * *
Dragon Tiger Guild, hit by a sudden nighttime raid.
Suffered massive losses: Guild Master Dragon King Lee Ji-yong wounded, executives dead in droves.
Dragon Tiger Guild was one of Terra Kingdom’s three great guilds.
They’d boasted they were the top among them.
Yet they couldn’t even properly defend against a single raid and took huge damage.
The problem was.
“Where the hell did they disappear to!”
All the culprits had escaped.
“Have you investigated all the suspects?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong irritably pressed his trusted subordinate Park Ji-hoon, in charge of the investigation.
“Yes.”
“And the results?”
“No signs of troop movements from Balhae Guild or Goryeo Guild.”
The raiders on Dragon Tiger Guild were few.
But all estimated to be named players.
The top suspects were rivals Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild.
But no named players from Balhae or Goryeo had moved an inch.
“They could’ve used stand-ins.”
“Even if they did, there’s no evidence. And the main skills they used are too different.”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong scowled at Park Ji-hoon’s words.
The one who attacked him was definitely a top-tier named player.
But.
‘No named player in Terra Kingdom uses blood aura as their main power.’
Moreover, that blood aura dispersed mana and blocked wound healing.
‘I’ve never heard of a named player with such a skill.’
If one existed in a neighboring kingdom?
Even if not named.
Word would’ve spread long ago.
‘No, it would’ve spread across all of Atlantis.’
But Dragon King Lee Ji-yong had never heard rumors of a player with such a unique skill.
‘The only possibility.’
Is that the named player who attacked him hadn’t used his main skill to hide his identity.
However.
‘That’s impossible.’
Pushing Dragon King Lee Ji-yong unilaterally without a main skill?
Even a divine-titled player couldn’t do it.
Besides.
‘No one would forgo using such a great skill as their main. Becoming named without it doesn’t make sense.’
That made it even more baffling.
Why did this mystery named player raid Dragon Tiger Guild? Why target him?
‘Did they figure out our secret?’
If so, why not go public instead of a sneak attack?
It was all incomprehensible.
Then.
“Th-there is one suspect who could pull off something like this.”
“What? Who?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s eyes flashed at Park Ji-hoon’s words.
“Demons.”
“What?”
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong asked back with a half-dazed expression.
“Dragon-type monsters obey the guild master absolutely.”
“That’s true.”
“But this time was different.”
Grit!
Dragon King Lee Ji-yong ground his teeth.
Summoning dragon-type monsters.
Controlling the summoned dragon-type monsters.
The power that gifted him the Dragon King title.
Was obtained as a reward from a contract with demons.
Until now, that power hadn’t failed even once.
‘This is the first time.’
“Raiders being demons explains why the dragon-types didn’t follow the guild master’s orders.”
Demons can control monsters.
Dragon-types are monsters, so entirely possible.
“Plus, no unknown powerhouses among players, but demons coming through dimensional gates? Plenty possible.”
At Park Ji-hoon’s speculation.
“What nonsense is that! We’re contracted with demons! They’re allies! Why would they raid me!”
“There could be demons hostile to the ones we’re contracted with.”
“Hmm.”
Park Ji-hoon’s words muddled Dragon King Lee Ji-yong’s mind.