Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Magic Enchantment
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After enduring the second night, everyone had come to realize one unbreakable rule.
The X mark on their chest was the sign of a fugitive, and all fugitives were doppelgangers— a fact that had become common knowledge by now.
There had never been a single exception.
And the doppelgangers were rapidly gaining intelligence.
At this point, even a conversation couldn't distinguish who was human and who was a doppelganger.
If not for the marks on their chests, everyone would have been plunged into chaos.
So.
"Doppelgangers... we kill them."
Lee Hyuk-soo's eyes sank like abyssal voids.
There was no way he had seen wrong.
...The 'Prophet' standing before him right now was a doppelganger.
And doppelgangers that took on human form only completed themselves after killing the human they had copied.
In other words, that doppelganger had killed the Prophet.
No, wait.
Maybe the Prophet was still alive.
It took an hour for a doppelganger to finish copying.
If an hour hadn't passed yet...
Flash!
A greatsword streaked past his ear at blinding speed.
It was a brutal thrust, but a split-second slower reaction would have severed his neck.
'...As expected.'
Park Chan-woo inwardly clicked his tongue.
He had anticipated this reaction to some extent.
He couldn't hide the mark on his chest, so naturally, Lee Hyuk-soo would mistake him for a doppelganger.
He had thought that, but the response was far more intense than expected.
No questions asked.
He hadn't imagined an attack without even a word of conversation.
Sizzle!
As Lee Hyuk-soo swung the Greatsword of the Lion King in a diagonal slash, black energy enveloped the surroundings.
Haaaaah!
Skull-like shapes lurked within the black energy.
Dodging the greatsword did nothing; the black energy pursued Park Chan-woo relentlessly.
Park Chan-woo hurriedly backpedaled to create distance, but the black energy didn't let up.
An intense aura of death.
The problem was that it wasn't just an aura he could sense.
'No way?'
Park Chan-woo furrowed his brow.
The magic Lee Hyuk-soo had just used felt strangely familiar.
'Magic no human should be able to wield?'
But it was absolutely the type of magic no human could use.
To be precise, no living human.
That magic belonged to the dead.
And not just any dead, but...
'How does he know the King of the Dead's magic?'
The King of the Dead!
It was one of his death magics: 'Shadow Asphyxiation'.
A powerful spell that asphyxiated and killed anything it touched with black energy. Far superior to ordinary death magic, with a very specific mechanism.
It combined physical and magical effects, impossible to block with normal methods.
'Neither Poong-shil's Flower of Life nor devouring death would work.'
Countering composite-effect magic was notoriously tricky.
In this situation, evasion was the only option.
At least its speed wasn't too fast—that was a small mercy.
But how could Lee Hyuk-soo use the 'King of the Dead's magic'?
'...Did I make him equip the King of the Dead set?'
On the first night.
In the battle against Andariel, the upper demon and Game Master, as 'Water-Loving Knight', Park Chan-woo had forced Lee Hyuk-soo to buy and equip the 'King of the Dead set'.
It seemed that starting with gear linked to the King of the Dead had granted him the 'King of the Dead' class.
'I need to block it once, at least.'
The King of the Dead's magic was impossible to block with ordinary means.
But Park Chan-woo wasn't an ordinary mage.
Shing!
He quickly pulled a hand axe from his inventory and gripped it.
The two hand axes he had used in his spar with Im Chang-yeol of the Seoul Alliance.
He had kept one in his inventory.
Not an Abyss weapon, so useless against monsters, but his opponent was Lee Hyuk-soo—a human.
"...A hand axe?"
Lee Hyuk-soo, watching, tilted his head slightly.
The Prophet he knew was a mage.
One who toyed with demons and laid waste to entire fields with wide-area magic—an Archmage.
A being like the epitome of magic, suddenly wielding a hand axe?
'Definitely a doppelganger.'
If it had copied others, it was entirely possible.
Strong doppelgangers often used completely different skill sets.
Of course, this was Lee Hyuk-soo's misconception.
He had no idea Park Chan-woo was a Magic Swordsman.
"Heavenly Punishment."
As the King of the Dead's 'Shadow Asphyxiation' closed in, Park Chan-woo opened his mouth while gripping the hand axe.
Kaboom!
In an instant, lightning struck from the sky.
But it didn't hit the encroaching shadow of death, nor Lee Hyuk-soo.
Crackle!
An overwhelmingly intense lightning surged around the hand axe.
A thunderous energy capable of shattering the world swirled around it.
The Magic Swordsman's special ability had activated.
It wasn't just about wielding sword and magic.
"Enchanting a weapon with magic...?"
A Magic Swordsman could imbue their weapon with magic.
But Lee Hyuk-soo's voice, watching the scene, was filled with doubt.
It was something he'd never seen before.
Even after the Abyss appeared and many mages emerged, none used magic this way.
Not even monsters that used magic.
A feat impossible for ordinary mages.
A miracle only a Magic Swordsman could perform.
Slash!
Park Chan-woo swung the hand axe.
The black energy—'Shadow Asphyxiation'—touching the axe was cleaved perfectly in two.
Crack!
It vanished after holding just one spell.
Not an Abyss weapon, and merely a crude hand axe— the result was inevitable.
If anything, blocking the King of the Dead's magic with such a hand axe was impressive.
"..."
Lee Hyuk-soo was at a loss for words.
Shadow Asphyxiation was unblockable.
It was only a matter of time before anything it touched withered away.
And he had blocked it with a single hand axe.
Using a never-before-seen technique called 'Magic Enchantment'.
Could doppelgangers even do that?
"Do I still look like a doppelganger to you, Lee Hyuk-soo?"
Park Chan-woo pierced through Lee Hyuk-soo's thoughts, shrugging his shoulders as he asked.
Fighting further would benefit neither of them.
There was no reply from Lee Hyuk-soo.
"'Shadow Asphyxiation' will take quite a while to reuse anyway. How about we talk in the meantime?"
"...How?"
At the same time, Lee Hyuk-soo's pupils trembled slightly.
The doppelganger knew the exact name of the magic he had used.
It even grasped the long cooldown of 'Shadow Asphyxiation'.
Knowledge he had never shared with anyone.
Beyond mere knowledge, it had mastered how to counter the spell.
Park Chan-woo spoke as if it were no big deal.
"Because I'm not a doppelganger."
A claim of being the real Prophet, not a doppelganger.
It was the truth.
No matter the 'copying', a doppelganger's limit was absorbing the target's knowledge.
Knowledge without experience.
Thus, predicting the future or prophesying with that knowledge was beyond them.
Much less applying it with something like 'Magic Enchantment'.
...Unless it was a 'Doppelganger Lord'.
"...The X mark on your chest is the fugitive's mark."
Lee Hyuk-soo said with effort.
"Correct. I'm a fugitive."
Park Chan-woo admitted it readily.
Lee Hyuk-soo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"All fugitives are doppelgangers."
"Everyone except me, and you're right about that."
"No exceptions."
"Lee Hyuk-soo. Do you think I'd clear the 'second night' with ordinary methods?"
"..."
"If you did, you'd be disappointed."
Lee Hyuk-soo inwardly shook his head.
...He hadn't thought that.
The Prophet had been bizarre from their first meeting.
Entering with special treatment from Game Master Andariel, flipping the game itself, and even killing Andariel in the end.
When the hooded Death God—'Death God of Oaths'—appeared and sliced out Andariel's heart, it had given him chills.
"You're the real 'Prophet', the sole exception in this 'second night'?"
"Only I am the exception. Lee Hyuk-soo."
"..."
The sheer confidence was absurd.
His head throbbed.
That attitude was unmistakably the Prophet.
No mere doppelganger could recognize his magic, let alone its cooldown.
"Is your mother recovering well?"
"...Damn it."
Clunk.
Lee Hyuk-soo sheathed the Greatsword of the Lion King.
After such a conversation, he had no choice but to believe.
But his suspicions weren't fully dispelled.
"Why show up in front of me all of a sudden?"
"There's something you need to help me with."
"Form another party?"
"Yeah."
Park Chan-woo nodded.
To progress the Legendary Quest, he needed one kin party member.
And the most trustworthy party member was Lee Hyuk-soo.
They had partied once before, and he was someone who wouldn't stab him in the back.
That was when it hit him.
'Ah!'
A word flashed through Lee Hyuk-soo's mind.
Lee Hyuk-soo asked.
"...You wouldn't happen to be progressing a Legendary Quest, would you, Prophet?"
"Oh. Sharp as ever."
"Heh..."
Lee Hyuk-soo pressed his forehead with his right hand.
Now he truly had to believe.
A human bearing the 'fugitive's mark' alone.
Someone capable of tackling the publicly announced 'Legendary Quest'—it could only be the Prophet.
'Bizarre' didn't even cover it.
The Prophet was utterly unpredictable.
But why did the Prophet want to team up with him? That remained a mystery.
Lee Hyuk-soo hardened his expression.
He asked in a deadly serious tone.
"Why me, of all people?"
Why him specifically, out of everyone?
If he needed strength, Han Shin would be better.
If a porter, someone easier to handle.
So why him?
He had wondered the same during the first night.
Finally voicing the question,
Park Chan-woo smiled faintly.
"You're like me."
"...I'm like you?"
They were nothing alike.
Appearance, behavior, personality—all different.
But Park Chan-woo was sincere.
"Yeah. You're similar to me."
Similar?
"Where the hell...?"
"Overly suspicious, strong outsider vibes, obsessively drilling into one field, and once you're convinced you're right, you don't give a damn what anyone else says."
"..."
"That's a compliment."
"..."
Lee Hyuk-soo's expression twisted oddly.
No matter how he thought about it, it didn't sound like praise.