CHAPTER 178 – Doppelganger
There was a boss called a doppelganger living in the Labyrinth Forest.
Its attack power wasn’t that strong, but it was a troublesome bastard.
‘Of course, only for someone facing it for the first time.’
But Ryu Min had fought doppelgangers countless times—and killed them.
It was such a weak piece of trash that he didn’t even need to remember how many times he’d killed it.
‘The Crimson Moon + Moonlight Slaughter combo made it an easy clear.’
That said, he had no intention of killing the doppelganger himself.
“You have to be the one to kill the doppelganger.”
“M-me?”
He told Joo Seong-tak, who was following behind, the plan they’d use when dealing with the doppelganger.
It was a simple plan, so the guy could nod easily.
“You get it, right? If you just do exactly what I tell you, you’ll be able to take it down without any issues.”
“Yes. Don’t worry, Master. I won’t do anything that disappoints you.”
“Let’s hope so.”
That was when it happened.
For the first time, a monster appeared in front of Ryu Min.
Squirm, squirm—
It was a venomous slime, a monster that appeared often in the Labyrinth Forest.
And it was also proof they’d gotten closer to the doppelganger’s habitat.
“I’ll let you have the boss, but I’ll kill this one.”
To earn even a little bit of points, Ryu Min stepped forward with his scythe.
Slash—!
He cut it in half before it could spray venom, but—
Squirm, squirm—
Instead, the slime split and increased into two.
‘As expected. Physical attacks don’t work.’
The more you cut them, the more they multiply—that was what slimes were.
Annoying, but he had no choice except to use magic.
Crackle, crackle—
He held the scythe in one hand and raised electricity in the other.
“Discharge.”
Bzzzzzt—!
One slime took the lightning head-on and burned away into nothing.
Slimes were immune to physical attacks, but they took fatal damage from magic.
But with just one, no message appeared.
[You have defeated a Venomous Slime!]
[EXP +0.09%]
[Gold +300]
[Points +30]
Only after he killed both did the reward come in.
‘So even if it splits into two, the EXP doesn’t double.’
If that were possible, he’d just sit in one spot and keep making slimes split, milking rewards endlessly.
“Let’s go. Looks like we’ll arrive soon.”
“Yes, Master.”
Even while killing slimes, Ryu Min occasionally used Clairvoyance to monitor the group chasing him.
The first ones he checked were the Chinese.
‘Since tracking and surrounding detection don’t work, they’re all panicking.’
Once you enter the labyrinth, your connection to the outside world gets cut off.
If the path shifts, it shows as tracking impossible, and it says no signal can be found.
‘Looks like they lost the Korean guy who was guiding them, so now they’re stuck and can’t go forward or back.’
If you’re not within five meters of each other, you become a separated family in the blink of an eye.
All the paths connect like a cube, so they might meet again someday, but it would take a long time.
‘I should memorize their positions. I’ll need the Chinese guys’ help to kill the doppelganger, too.’
With a faint grin, Ryu Min shifted his viewpoint.
It wasn’t only the Chinese who were lost and flustered.
Ma Kyung-rok’s group was the same.
He could see An Sang-cheol panicking after coming in to track the Black Scythe, only for the signal to cut off.
‘That’s why you shouldn’t blindly follow into some place you don’t know.’
Even as he mentally scolded them, Ryu Min smiled in satisfaction because things were going according to plan.
‘Still… I wonder if Christine is okay.’
When he checked, she still hadn’t moved from the place she’d started—waiting for her party.
As a result, the followers she had went from two to ten.
‘Looks like she decided more people means safer… but it’s pointless. The Despair Church will gather forces in the same way.’
Switching to the perspective of the necromancer, John Delgado, made it clear.
That bastard had made up his mind to kill Christine.
‘While Christine waits for her followers, he’ll gather his own believers, then ambush them all at once.’
That would be the timing for Ryu Min to step in.
If he stepped in at a moment that wasn’t truly dangerous like now, there’d be no justification—he’d just get treated like a lunatic.
‘Of course, before that, I need to kill the doppelganger and get out of here.’
Seeing the slimes appear less frequently, it looked like they were almost there.
The doppelganger’s habitat was close.
That was when it happened.
“Is anyone there? Someone, please help me!”
A thin, clear voice came from beyond the trees.
When he walked toward the sound, a woman was leaning against a tree, panting.
“H-huff, huff… someone, please hel— Ah!”
The woman brightened when she saw Ryu Min and Joo Seong-tak.
“I—I’m saved! There were people besides me!”
The woman, dressed like a Player, tried to push herself up in relief, but let out a groan and collapsed back down.
“Agh… e-excuse me, please help me. I can’t stand up. I hurt my ankle…”
“What happened?”
“I got attacked by a slime. My foot hurts so much I can’t move.”
When Ryu Min glanced down, her ankle was swollen blue, like she’d been hit with venom.
“Hm. Yeah. I can see why you can’t move.”
“It hurts so much… h-hic…”
“So what do you want me to do about it?”
Maybe she sensed how indifferent he was, because urgency rose on the woman’s face.
“P-please take me out of here. Please. I’ll do anything you ask. Anything. Okay?”
“Anything?”
“Yes! Anything. I-I’m embarrassed to say it, but if you want to relieve your lust, I could even—”
“Forget that. If you have any items, can you give me everything you’ve got?”
“Items? Of course!”
The woman opened her inventory and took out items.
A few unique materials and high-grade mana stones.
“I’ll give you these for now. I’ll give you the rest after you save me. How about it?”
“Sounds good.”
He answered like that, but Ryu Min didn’t even spare the items a glance.
He simply walked toward the woman with his scythe in hand.
“What are you—”
And before she could even react, he took her head.
Thunk—!
Her head, still wearing a shocked expression, rolled across the ground.
It was the kind of sudden murder that might make someone flinch, but Joo Seong-tak was calm.
Because Ryu Min had already warned him.
-Doppelgangers steal the appearance and memories of the person they kill, then trick other humans who enter the labyrinth. Usually they say they got hit by a slime and ask you to help them up, then possess you and kill you.
Since he’d heard it ahead of time, the moment he saw the woman, Joo Seong-tak could realize it.
She was the boss of this place—the doppelganger.
Fssss—
The woman’s body scattered like powder and vanished.
The items that had fallen to the ground vanished too.
All of it was fake.
Only the Player’s appearance and memories were real.
Sssssk—
Black smoke rose from the spot where the corpse disappeared, taking on a human shape.
[How did you know? My acting was perfect.]
Watching it spit fluent Korean, Ryu Min openly sneered.
“A monster trying to talk to humans. What a joke.”
[Monster? Aren’t you humans the real monsters, trespassing into someone else’s territory?]
“Quit the bullshit and come at me. You monster bastard.”
[Such a foul-mouthed human.]
Just then, a quest window appeared in front of Ryu Min.
<Sub Quest – Reveal the Doppelganger’s True Identity>
└Condition ▶ Break the doppelganger’s trap and face its true form
[You have completed the sub quest!]
[Points +2,000]
<Sub Quest – Feed the Doppelganger>
└Condition ▶ Watch the doppelganger kill other prey
└Prey the doppelganger has killed (0/10)
<Sub Quest – Kill the Doppelganger>
└Condition ▶ Kill the doppelganger yourself
It seemed the sub quests appeared for Joo Seong-tak as well, because he was staring into empty space.
“Joo Seong-tak.”
“Yes?”
“Run.”
Leaving only that, Ryu Min kicked off the ground and sprinted.
Recalling the plan, Joo Seong-tak quickly ran after his master.
[Where are you going, human!]
The doppelganger’s shadowy figure flew through the air.
Even while chasing, it mocked him at the sight of them suddenly running away.
[You told me to come at you, and now you’re changing your mind? Where did that confidence from a moment ago go, human!]
Ryu Min didn’t reply—he was too busy running through the labyrinth.
[Stop right there! Do you think you can escape from my zone!]
‘Yeah.’
He wanted to answer that way, but held back.
He’d provoked it enough—now he needed to lure the doppelganger.
‘To be honest, the doppelganger is slow. Slow as hell.’
It floated around, but not enough to catch up with a Player’s sprint.
If he really wanted, shaking it off would be nothing.
But he deliberately adjusted his speed so it felt like it might catch him—then wouldn’t—barely.
Because he had to clear the quest where he fed the doppelganger.
‘Soon, it’ll be time for the labyrinth’s positions to shift. I need to lure it to that section.’
Checking the location, Ryu Min stopped with Joo Seong-tak in front of a certain tree.
[What is it? You ran around like a rat, and now you finally gave up!]
The doppelganger, snickering, came within five meters.
“Huh?”
“W-what is this?”
The labyrinth’s positions changed.
And at the same time—
“Where did you suddenly come from?”
In the blink of an eye, they ran into new people.
It was none other than the gang group.
As everyone froze in shock, only the doppelganger’s form stretched its mouth into a long grin.
[Hooh? What a gift. More prey all of a sudden. Heehee.]
When Ryu Min lured it to the place where the Chinese were, the doppelganger, as expected, was delighted.
[Then I’ll enjoy my meal!]
Shizkang panicked.
Fine—two Asian guys appearing in front of him out of nowhere, he could almost ignore that.
The real problem was—
“Aaaah! Save me!”
Crunch— crunch— crack!
His subordinates were dying.
To an unidentified monster in a black form.
“S-Shizkang-niiiim!”
The black form seeped into one subordinate as if absorbing into him, and then his whole body twisted as the sound of bones snapping rang out.
Crack— crack—
“Kyaaaah! Aaaah!”
The scream didn’t last long.
In barely five seconds, the subordinate died with his limbs bent at grotesque angles, and the black form slipped out of him like a soul.
Then it latched onto another subordinate and twisted his limbs a full 360 degrees the same way.
Crrr-ack—
“Guh—k! Kuh!”
‘Fuuuuucking hell.’
In an instant, three subordinates were dead.
Just looking at it, it was obvious that black form was the cause.
‘What the hell is that?’
Even if he didn’t know exactly what it was, it looked like some ghost-like thing that killed people.
First, he had to handle this urgent situation.
“What are you idiots staring at?! That black form is the cause! Kill it, now!”
At Shizkang’s command, the subordinates snapped out of it and aimed their swords at the subordinate the black form was attached to.
But—
“H-hey! Guys! What’s wrong with you?! It’s me! Me! Chenfu!”
The moment they heard familiar Chinese and saw their comrade frantically waving his hands, the subordinates couldn’t bring themselves to swing their swords.
But they had no idea that split-second hesitation would decide life and death.
Stab—! Stab—!
“Guhh…!”
“Kuhk…!”
Chenfu, without hesitation, skewered his comrades’ throats with his sword—and now he wore a greasy smile.
“Heh heh, you idiots. Falling for acting this simple. Humans really are all weak as hell, aren’t they?”
“W-what is that guy?”
“H-he was a monster?”
“Die, you monster!”
The comrades stabbed at Chenfu, who had revealed his true nature.
In an instant, Chenfu became a pincushion and his head drooped—but the doppelganger didn’t die. It moved into another body.
“Heehee, you’re going to kill me? Then try killing me.”
As the unidentified monster kept switching bodies and slaughtering his men, Shizkang’s face went pale.
“H-how are we supposed to kill that? It’s not taking any damage at all!”
Deciding there was no chance, Shizkang tried to run—
That was when it happened.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Ryu Min blocked his path, scythe in hand.
“Who the hell are you?! Move!”
“Aren’t you the one who came looking for me?”
“Who are you, you bastard?!”
“Can’t tell just by looking?”
Ryu Min smiled, swinging the scythe slung over his shoulder.
“It’s me. The Black Scythe.”