chapter 40
40
doppelganger
Monsters in the dungeon are constantly reproduced.
This is thanks to the surplus energy created by a generator called the Dungeon Core.
Unlike wild monsters, it has the disadvantage of losing its energy source and dying quickly if it goes out of the dungeon, but it is still good as a guard dog.
“Kung! Keak!”
Sure enough, the dungeon’s guard monster was indeed a canine monster.
“I’m coming!”
A nun’s uniform that runs away while stepping on the ground. In contrast to the elegant beauty of the pure white uniform, the clunky heater shield cut the air.
Goong!
The impact force of the heater shield crushes pieces of meat just by hitting it.
The heaviness of the shield itself was probably most effective due to Ophelia’s leg power, which accelerated the attack.
Ophelia’s sword flashes as it penetrates the middle of the group with her shield.
The sword imbued with a vivid aura cut through the monsters around it without any hesitation.
“Miss Ophelia! Don’t get too ahead of yourself!”
“I know!”
After breaking through the formation with one breakthrough, Ophelia immediately retreated and tried to protect the party.
The monsters came to their senses and attacked Ray and his group, but once they lost their momentum, their ability to break through was not great.
“Kung!”
“Hmm! Where!”
The monsters attempted to break through from the front, but were unable to penetrate Ophelia’s huge shield and presence. In the end, they chose a detour, but Aaron and Ray attacked them as if they had been waiting.
“Cow!”
Monsters that are dealt with faithfully. In particular, the Helsinga Vision crossbow fired by Ray from behind Ophelia’s shield accurately pierced the monsters between the eyes.
“Don’t hesitate and boldly destroy it! I will heal you!”
Jenny swung the halberd with both hands and struck down the monster while checking for injuries to the party members. At that time, a pile of dirt fell from the ceiling.
“Sister! Back!”
What appeared from the ceiling was a monster with an elongated snout like a mole.
Those that pop out from under the ground, from walls, and from the ceiling like to surprise party members while they are busy dealing with monsters.
“Kyaak!”
A mole monster that throws itself with the force of falling from the ceiling.
Henry kicks the guy who was trying to attack Jenny in the air.
“Bye!”
Wow! And the monster was lying down with its neck broken.
“Surprise. Well done, little brother Henry.”
“It’s popping out from all sorts of places.”
Dungeons are the homes of monsters.
Their responses were so diverse that it was impossible to judge just by looking at the terrain.
There is no one-pattern strategy commonly seen in games.
“Wait! Let’s take a break!”
The attack force of the religious nation stops in unison at the command of the engineering commander.
Ray and the others also stood in line with them and waited on the spot.
“Father Anderson.”
“It’s okay Ray, Sir Felix.”
Paladin Felic, who was trying to be polite to the young bride, gave her a strange look and then spoke about his business.
“I want to use Leader Amelia’s staff. Right now, I want to save the healers’ holy power.”
“Of course, Sister Jenny.”
“Yes, I was waiting.”
Jenny took out the cane she was carrying on her back.
The snake staff of Amelia, leader of the Church’s Healers, is a holy relic that exerts healing power without the caster’s holy power or authority.
Soon, the healing energy imbued with her power spread everywhere, forming an enchanting curtain of light.
“I’ve seen it a few times, but it’s amazing. It heals over 30 people in a wide area.”
The staff of the healer leader, Amelia, was truly an incredible holy relic.
As long as they entered the tent, all injuries were healed, so even if there were 100 people instead of 30, it could be treated sufficiently.
“The problem is that no matter how low the output is, this is the minimum.”
“Captain Amelia usually works as a military healer.”
Indeed, if you become the leader of a healing corps, will your scale be extraordinary?
It seems like he has to do this to work as a military healer.
Ray and Jenny, who had installed Amelia’s staff like a totem, reviewed the battle with the party members.
“The Auror Blade is amazing. It cuts through the monster’s tough leather like a piece of paper.”
“Hehe, is it cool? Would you like me to teach you?”
Twinkle~ Ophelia emits an evil light with her auror blade. Ray wanted to learn if he could, but Aaron stopped him.
“Arthur. Being a knight’s auror requires natural talent, but it is not a power that can be mixed with holy power.”
“Huh! So you’re saying I can’t use my powers?!”
“It will be harder on your stomach than on others.”
“Unbelievable!”
In fact, Ophelia was already strong enough even without powers.
He was stronger than Rayna Aaron, who received the sun’s protection, and the cutting power of his Auror blade was at the level of the lightsaber seen in Pastor Kim’s past life.
“Aaron, don’t Paladins have anything like knights’ aurors?”
Aaron is an aspiring paladin. When Ray asked a question full of curiosity, he grumbled but answered promptly.
“You should learn at least that much. While also experiencing knighthood.”
“I couldn’t go for a few days.”
“Well, first of all, there will be the sun’s protection. This is the most basic condition required to join.”
A proper veteran paladin can demonstrate greater power than a sword expert when receiving the sun’s protection.
There is a downside to not being able to receive that protection at night, but that did not apply to Ray.
“After that, it will be a matter of disposition. There is the life force of the sun and the power of being the representative of the sun.”
One is that it appears to have natural resilience and the skin itself becomes tough, and the second is that it wields a power like blazing heat as a proxy for the power of the sun.
“Is this the flame sword wielded by the Sun Knights at that time?”
“The form is not set, but it will be similar. It is a much more powerful force than an auror.”
“It’s unpleasant, Aaron Yeongsik! Aurors are the most destructive force in this world! Can you not recognize the power of this sparkle?”
sparkle! sparkle!
As the auror in Ophelia’s sword glowed menacingly, Henry was frightened and took a step back.
“Uh, it’s dangerous!”
“Ohhohohohohoho! Of course it is! It’s a dangerous power!”
“Regardless of who is greater… isn’t this dangerous? What if the doppelganger clones Lady Ophelia?”
Everyone agreed with Jenny’s words.
Saints and sword masters are also cloned doppelgängers. Of course, a sword expert advanced knight can duplicate it.
“Basically, we have downgraded the raiders, but it looks like we can’t completely give up our elite forces.”
“If you are a Sword Expert, it is powerful, but it is not something you cannot deal with. Even if it appears as a doppelganger, you can deal with it.”
It may be that he is an outlier like a saint or a sword master who cannot be dealt with, but he was able to deal with even the highest level sword expert.
Above all, since you are not alone here but a group, it is not that difficult if you are at best a monster or a doppelganger with support.
Henry, who was listening to the explanation, raised his hand and asked.
“I have a question!”
“What?”
“There’s not just one doppelganger that appears, right? If we clone a sword master or an adult with the energy of the dungeon core… wouldn’t we be able to clone more people?”
It means quantity over quality.
That is also quite possible.
“That’s right. That’s why we will prioritize those forces that are most likely to be copied.”
For example, Ophelia Violet in front of me.
and Sir Felix of the Knights of the Sun.
“There is no information from the Empire, but there is a high probability that Sword Experts will be cloned there. It seems that they have made separate preparations to deal with Paladins and Sword Experts.”
Paladins and Sword Experts are, in name and reality, the highest class of soldiers on the continent.
As powerful as it is, there are surprisingly many ways to deal with it.
“March again!”
They were confident that what they had prepared would be sufficient.
Of course.
They have been building up tactics and doctrine for hundreds of years, and researching and developing countermeasures.
As far as their ‘common sense’ allows.
***
“Keep marching!”
Just as the Empire had done, the Imperial Army also lowered the strength of its attack force.
I plan to focus on Sword Expert Intermediate and compete based on organizational skills rather than individual strength.
Their strategy was not wrong.
If you bring in a sword master of Cheon Oecheon or a top-level sword expert, you won’t be able to handle the aftermath.
‘I used my brain, but that’s its limit.’
Tsk tsk.
The old wizard Gillingham hid in the Imperial Army’s attack force and taunted them.
This dungeon scans those who invade the dungeon and creates doppelgangers with identical copies of their memories and abilities.
The standard was based on the ‘most powerful character’ under the dungeon’s comprehensive judgment.
In other words, even if the number of people in the raid team is lowered like this, what if there is a wizard hiding in it?
The scan target of the dungeon will inevitably be a wizard with a large amount of energy.
“Is the doppelganger still there?”
“Yes, there has been no further communication from other units.”
“There is a sword expert level knight on the Church side. At most, that female knight would be the same as the leader on our side.”
“There is enough equipment for standby use. No problem.”
You idiots.
This old man is hiding inside you. In addition, although I don’t like it, there is also a wizard named Marian who made a contract with a powerful demon.
If the dungeon scans these two, you will inevitably have to deal with four wizards, including them and the doppelganger wizard.
“Uh, forward! Check the hordes of monsters ahead!”
And Gillingham’s spell, contracted with the demon of ministry, strengthens the ministry of monsters.
If Gillingham had been cloned, he would have probably strengthened the monsters in this dungeon.
‘It’ll start soon.’
Gillingham made eye contact with Marian, who was hiding among the Imperial Army Corps, and nodded.
When the imperial army prepared for battle and marched into the darkness, pointing their torches at them.
“dead body?”
They saw a mountain of monster corpses.
There are dozens of monsters that have been mercilessly chopped up and their bodies destroyed, piled up like a mountain.
“huh?”
Something…is strange.
There would be no other unit that advanced ahead of the imperial army.
Church? no. The countries’ attack teams had different paths.
In the first place, there was no intention to join hands and attack, so it was only natural to avoid unnecessary conflict.
Then who?
Who slaughtered those monsters?
“Say, it’s a person!”
At that time, the imperial soldier in the lead pointed at the mountain of monster corpses.
There, a strange human doll is looking down at them.
A strange style of conquest not seen anywhere else on the continent.
A middle-aged man with sparse gray hair is holding something that looks like a smoking stick in his mouth.
“Doppelganger? No, there wasn’t a person like that among the raiding party?”
The man stared at the imperial army from atop the mountain of monster corpses. And why?
Gillingham and Marian felt a sense of déjà vu, as if they had made eye contact with a man.
“Whoa…”
A man spitting smoke out of his mouth.
He lifted his butt from the mountain of corpses and grabbed his ‘armor’.
What he is holding in one hand is Chamyojema, the evil sword of Jegan Seoak.
Year of the Tiger. The name of the sword is Sainchamsageom (四寅斬邪劍), as it was made in Innyeon, Inwol, Inil, and Insi.
It is a pure yang sword forged through the sum of the Heavenly Ganjiji and the Five Elements to prevent disaster and cut down evil spirits.
The weapon held in the other hand was made into a gun barrel and bullet by melting down the crosses and silver candlesticks from the four major churches of St. Peter, San Giovanni, Santa Maria, and San Paolo in Rome, Vatican City.
A masterpiece that contains its own spiritual protection and blessings and combines the essence of centuries of Vatican tradition and modern technology.
The 12-gauge shotgun blessed by the Vatican’s Four Crusades is sure to be one of the weapons used to fight against monsters.
“Dae, what on earth is that?”
“Ugh, uh······.”
Soldiers who feel an instinctive sense of pressure even when they see objects from a ‘different world’ whose identity they cannot possibly recognize.
They were so overwhelmed that no one could move quickly until the man stood up and prepared for battle.
“Lord, there’s another one coming up.”
The man crossed his sword and gun. No one realized that it was a symbol of some religion. but······.
“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Everyone knew that it was a signal announcing the start of battle.
amen.