Chapter 179
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: Doppelgänger's Reward
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‘Black…… Scythe?’
Shizukan scrutinized the man who called himself Black Scythe.
‘He’s holding a scythe just like his nickname says, and he’s a Korean player.’
But since he’d never seen him in person before, he couldn’t help but harbor some doubts.
“You’re Black Scythe?”
“Yeah. You chased me all the way here to find me, right? Or am I wrong?”
“How did you…….”
Shizukan trailed off and whipped his head around.
“Shizukan-nim! Kuaaaak!”
Right behind him, his subordinates were dying in desperate screams.
“Hey, you bastard! Get out of my way!”
“Don’t just talk—come at me if you dare. Why are you standing there? Scared?”
The opponent sneered at him, but Shizukan couldn’t charge in recklessly.
‘If that guy really is Black Scythe…….’
Could he take him on one-on-one?
Against Black Scythe, who was level 90?
That assumption was exactly why he couldn’t rush in carelessly.
Crack, crunch—
With the sound of necks twisting as the last noise, the surroundings fell quiet.
When Shizukan turned around, his subordinates were all dead, and the black figure was smiling like a human.
‘Damn it. I wasted time for nothing……!’
It was all that bastard’s fault.
Shizukan’s gaze turned to the man blocking his path.
Now there were no choices left.
No place to retreat.
With enemies on both sides, he had no option but to break through one.
He had to gamble on it.
‘If I have to pick one, I’ll go for that bastard claiming to be Black Scythe.’
He might not actually be Black Scythe.
He could turn out to be unexpectedly weak.
Shizukan’s eyes flashed as he locked onto his target.
He had to kill Black Scythe or whatever he was and break through this crisis right now.
‘Bloodstained Grasp!’
As he thrust out his hand, a giant hand stained with blood seized Black Scythe.
‘Got him! It’s over!’
He’d expected him to dodge, but he was caught.
‘Now if he just gets pulled in, I’ll smash his head…….’
Shizukan’s thoughts cut off abruptly.
The bloodstained hand hung motionless, still gripping the enemy.
‘What the? Why isn’t it moving…….’
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t motionless.
The hand was trembling, straining with all its might to pull the opponent in.
Utterly failing the skill’s description of dragging the target closer.
‘What’s going on? Why isn’t the skill working…… Ah!’
Come to think of it, there had been times before when he couldn’t pull enemies in.
Opponents with high Strength stats would resist, breaking free with their own power even mid-pull.
‘No way that bastard is tanking my skill with raw Strength?’
Shizukan was stunned as he watched Black Scythe stand firm, not budging an inch despite being gripped by the giant hand.
“How much Strength does he even have…….”
The hand naturally dissipated from timeout, and Black Scythe let out a faint scoff.
“You’re surprised over this? And you don’t even have a Blessing.”
“Blessing? What bullshit is that?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Black Scythe sneered and stored his scythe in his inventory.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you a little hope.”
“What?”
“No weapons, no skills. Come at me with everything you’ve got.”
‘This bastard…….’
Not content with blocking his escape, now he was mocking him.
A man couldn’t let his pride take a hit in a situation like this.
“Fine, I’ll grant your wish and kill you.”
His blade glowed red.
Blood Aura, the Berserker’s level 40 skill.
This aura grew darker and stronger the more blood was scattered around, boasting cutting power that could slice steel like tofu.
The Berserker’s powerful buff skill that ignored enemy defenses.
But.
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
It was only useful if he could actually land a hit.
‘Fuck, why won’t it connect? What the hell!’
He swung his sword like a madman, but Black Scythe dodged every strike.
His movements flowed smoothly like water, as if he could predict every move in advance.
“Blood Aura’s pretty good. It’s a downgraded version of the Dark Knight’s aura, but hey, it’s decent in its own way. Doesn’t matter if you can’t hit with it, though, right?”
“Shut your damn mouth, you bastard!”
“You’re the one who needs to shut up.”
With that, Black Scythe unleashed exactly one attack.
Thwack—!
It was a simple jab.
But faster than a bullet, an inhuman strike that was impossible to avoid.
“Keheok!”
Shizukan spat out the corn kernels in his mouth along with blood and rolled messily on the ground.
His jaw felt unhinged, his mind reeling as if he’d taken dozens of blows.
‘W-what kind of jab…….’
The power was unbelievable for just one jab to leave him like this.
“Krgh, you…… you son of a…….”
“Even with all your teeth knocked out, you’ve still got the strength to curse?”
“I’ll…… kil(l)…… you…….”
He realized the gap in their power, but he wouldn’t bend his pride.
He was a Black Society executive, a face of the organization.
Bowing his head would be as good as insulting the Black Society.
“This isn’t the time to act all high and mighty.”
“Huh?”
[I’ll dig in. Keeheeek.]
The moment Shizukan turned, the doppelgänger seeped into his body.
He realized too late inside, but it was already over.
“Gack, gack!”
Regardless of his will, Shizukan’s hands strangled his own neck. With crunching sounds, he died in less than ten seconds.
[Sub Quest – Feed the Doppelgänger]
└Condition ▶ Watch the doppelgänger kill other prey
└Prey killed by the current doppelgänger (10/10)
[You have completed the sub quest!]
[Points +10,000]
Confirming the reward, Ryu Min’s lips curved up.
A hefty amount of points had come in.
Twice as many as when he’d killed the Chinese players himself.
‘Joo Seong-tak must have gotten the reward too.’
Now all that was left was to take down the doppelgänger.
[Keeheeek! So delicious—human memories are so delicious!]
Just then, the doppelgänger appeared as a black figure and stared at Ryu Min.
[You. You deliberately tossed me that prey, didn’t you?]
“…….”
[Why? Thought I’d be so pleased I’d let you live?]
“You’re misunderstanding something.”
Crackle, crackle—
Ryu Min grinned and gathered electricity at his fingertips.
“The one who should be begging for their life isn’t me—it’s you.”
[Hmph, still bluffing…….]
“Charging.”
Zzzap—!
The shot of electricity slammed into the doppelgänger’s body.
[Kiyaaaaak!]
Amid agonizing pain, the doppelgänger was blasted dozens of meters away, tumbling across the ground like confetti.
“You thought I didn’t know? Magic damage is poison to ethereal monsters like you?”
[Kweeeee…….]
“Or did you underestimate me, thinking I had no magic? Eh, doesn’t matter. You’re dead soon anyway.”
[Kweeeee…….]
‘Well, look at that—its status says it’s on the brink of death already.’
He’d deliberately missed the kill shot, and it was still like this.
‘No Min Ju-ri buffs either, so I figured the damage would be lower, but it’s surprisingly effective.’
Either way, he couldn’t let it die by his hand like this.
If it were Joo Seong-tak’s hand, maybe.
“Start.”
“Yes, Master.”
At Ryu Min’s command, Joo Seong-tak used Corpse Explosion.
It was a skill that required corpses, but that wasn’t an issue.
There were ten bodies around where the doppelgänger had been flung.
* * *
Boomboomboomboomboomboom—!
The sudden explosion made Ma Kyung-rok and Ahn Sang-chul jump.
“What was that noise?”
“Sounded like something blew up…….”
Judging by the scale, it had the firepower to burn down the entire forest.
“Shouldn’t we see flames by now?”
“You’d think so. It’s just dark, though—nothing visible.”
The forest was bizarre no matter how he thought about it.
No tracking, no scouting possible, and the more they walked, the more it felt like they were looping the same path.
Like a Möbius strip.
“Manager Ahn. Where did that sound come from?”
“It felt like it was right next to us, crystal clear.”
“Yeah? Me too.”
So why was nothing visible except the trees?
“Whew. No choice, then. We keep walking. Stick close so we don’t get separated.”
“Yes, Representative.”
The two sighed and had no option but to wander aimlessly through the labyrinth.
* * *
The effect of Corpse Explosion was tremendous.
Detonating ten corpses at once obliterated the doppelgänger without a trace.
Normally, reward messages would pop up around now, but……
‘Too bad I wasn’t the one who got the kill.’
Since Joo Seong-tak had landed the finishing blow on the doppelgänger, Ryu Min received no messages.
He’d only gotten 12,000 points from the Reveal Identity and Feed the Doppelgänger quests.
‘Joo Seong-tak must’ve gotten 20,000 points as the boss killer.’
His slave had more points than him right now, but it didn’t matter.
‘The important thing now isn’t points—it’s the doppelgänger’s item.’
Besides, he knew more ways to earn points and was confident he’d come out on top.
Even if Joo Seong-tak pulled ahead, it’d only be temporary.
‘There’s 23 hours left anyway. Plenty of time.’
Round 11 wasn’t a 100-meter dash—it was a marathon. No need to worry.
‘Though there is that last-second reversal at the end.’
Glancing at Joo Seong-tak, he seemed lost in thought, staring into space.
Probably checking messages.
A quick mind read confirmed what Ryu Min wanted: the desired item had dropped.
‘Good. The ring came out as planned.’
Even if Joo Seong-tak took the boss EXP and points, it was fine.
Once his subordinate, the guy’s growth was as good as his own.
‘Feels like leveling an alt character, in a way?’
He needed to bring as many allies as possible to Round 20, so growing together wasn’t bad.
‘I’ve taken care of the Chinese guys following me…… Now for the rest?’
Using Heavenly Insight, Ryu Min turned his gaze to Ma Kyung-rok’s group.
They looked startled by the sudden explosion.
‘Guess the Corpse Explosion reached that far.’
Different locations, but the Labyrinth Forest was all connected.
Like being separated by a single wall.
An explosion that loud would carry over easily.
‘I’ll check the item, then go meet those guys.’
He planned to trap them in the labyrinth, but if left alone, they might escape in a few hours.
‘And as planned, they’ll start killing people to rack up points.’
Desperate after wasting time in the labyrinth.
It was obvious they’d hunt foreign players.
That’s how Ma Kyung-rok always played Round 11.
So he had to stop them.
Only he, who knew the future, could.
‘No need to kill—just keep them immobilized for a while.’
As he smirked devilishly, Joo Seong-tak approached.
“Master. Here’s the item from the doppelgänger.”
He volunteered the items without being asked.
[Doppelgänger’s Ring]
-Classification: Ring
-Grade: Legendary
-Effect: Nickname Change (Otherworld only)
-Durability: 6,000/6,000
-Use Restriction: Expert grade or higher
-Description: An item that lets you change your nickname freely in the Otherworld. Remove the ring to revert to your original nickname.
‘Exactly what I wanted.’
Just as described: an item for changing nicknames.
With this, no more worries about being tracked.
‘Not as Black Scythe—I could impersonate someone else.’
True freedom to swap nicknames at will.
‘Now I can change not just my face, but my nickname too.’
Perfect disguise achieved.
‘And that’s not all. I got God-grade materials on top.’
Pocketing the materials, Ryu Min smiled in satisfaction.
Good call keeping Joo Seong-tak alive.
Thanks to his [Drop Rune], he got the item he wanted.
But the satisfaction was short-lived.
Ryu Min’s smile faded, replaced by a puzzled look.
Wasn’t Joo Seong-tak pulling another item from his inventory?
“What’s that?”
“This came from the doppelgänger too.”
Besides the ring and God-grade materials, there was one more?
Taking the item, Ryu Min’s eyes widened in surprise.