CHAPTER 179 – The Doppelganger’s Reward
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‘Black… Scythe?’
Shizkang stared carefully at the man claiming to be the Black Scythe.
‘He’s holding a scythe like the nickname, and he’s a Korean player.’
But since it was the first time seeing him in person, he couldn’t help being suspicious.
“You’re the Black Scythe?”
“Yeah. You followed me all the way here to find me, didn’t you. Or am I wrong?”
“How do you know that—”
Shizkang stopped mid-sentence and whipped his head around.
“Shizkang-nim! Kyaaaah!”
Because right behind him, his subordinates were dying in a desperate situation.
“Hey, you Pangz bastard! Move the hell out of the way!”
“Stop talking and come at me. Why are you just standing there? Scared?”
The other guy taunted him, but Shizkang couldn’t recklessly rush in.
‘If that guy is really the Black Scythe…’
Could he take him one-on-one?
Against a level 90 Black Scythe?
That possibility kept him from charging carelessly.
Crrr-ack—
With the sound of a neck snapping as the last thing, the area fell silent.
When Shizkang looked back, all his subordinates were already dead, and the black form was smiling like a human.
‘Damn it. I wasted time for nothing…!’
Because of that bastard.
Shizkang’s gaze returned to the man blocking him.
Now there were no choices left.
No place to retreat.
If there were enemies in front and behind, the only option was to break through one side.
He had to gamble.
‘If I’m gambling on one side, then I’ll target that bastard claiming to be the Black Scythe.’
He might not actually be the real Black Scythe.
He might be weak, unexpectedly.
Having chosen his target, Shizkang’s eyes flashed.
He had to kill that “Black Scythe” and break through this crisis right now.
‘Bloody Grip!’
The moment he reached out, a giant hand drenched in blood seized the Black Scythe.
‘Got him! It’s over!’
He thought the guy would dodge, but he got caught.
‘Now if I just pull him in, I’ll smash his head—’
Shizkang’s thought cut off.
Because the Bloody Grip stayed still, holding the enemy.
‘What? Why is it just standing—’
Looking closely, it wasn’t standing still.
The hand was trembling, straining with all its might to drag the target in.
As if the skill description—dragging the target toward you—was a joke.
‘What’s going on? Why isn’t the skill working… Ah!’
Come to think of it, there had been cases before where he couldn’t pull someone in.
Targets with high Strength would resist, breaking free with sheer force.
‘Don’t tell me that bastard is enduring my skill with Strength?’
Seeing the Black Scythe not budge even one step while grabbed by the giant hand, Shizkang was shocked.
“How high is your Strength, for it to—”
When the time limit ended and the hand naturally vanished, the Black Scythe let out a short snort of laughter.
“And you’re shocked by this? This body hasn’t even gotten Bless.”
“Bless? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Still sneering, the Black Scythe put his scythe away into his inventory.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you a little hope.”
“What?”
“I won’t use any weapon or any skill. Come at me as much as you want.”
‘That bastard…’
Not only was he blocking him from escaping—he was mocking him.
If a man’s pride didn’t get hurt in this situation, he wasn’t a man.
“Fine. I’ll kill you like you asked.”
The blade turned red.
The Berserker’s level 40 skill, Blood Aura.
The more blood was scattered around, the deeper and stronger that aura became—an aura with cutting power that could slice steel like tofu.
A powerful Berserker buff skill that, so to speak, ignored the enemy’s defense.
But—
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
It was only useful if you could actually hit the enemy.
‘Fuck, why won’t it hit? Why the hell not?!’
He swung his sword like a madman, but the Black Scythe dodged everything.
His movements were fluid and flexible, like he was reading the sword’s path in advance.
“Blood Aura is good. It’s a downgrade of the aura Dark Knights have, but still, it’s usable. But if you can’t even land a hit, isn’t it worthless?”
“Quit yapping and shut up, you bastard!”
“I think you’re the one who needs to shut up.”
The Black Scythe made only one attack.
Thud—!
It was a simple jab.
But it was a strike beyond human limits—so fast it was unavoidable, faster than a bullet.
“Kuh—huhk!”
Shizkang sprayed out what had been in his mouth like corn along with blood, then rolled on the ground like a fool.
His jaw had practically dislocated, and his mind went hazy like he’d been beaten dozens of times.
‘W-what kind of jab…’
The strength was unbelievable for this to happen from a single jab.
“Khuh… y-you ba—stard…”
“Even if you lose all your teeth, you still have strength left to curse?”
“I’ll… kill you…”
He realized the difference in power, but he didn’t bend his pride.
He was an executive of the gang—its face.
If he bent his pride, it would be the same as shaming the gang itself.
“This isn’t the time to be showing pride.”
“Wh—at?”
[Enjoy my meal. Heeheehee.]
The moment Shizkang turned his head, the doppelganger seeped into his body.
He thought, too late, that he’d messed up—but it was already over.
“Kuh— kuh!”
Regardless of his will, Shizkang strangled himself with his own hands, and with a grinding crack, he died in less than ten seconds.
<Sub Quest – Feed the Doppelganger>
└Condition ▶ Watch the doppelganger kill other prey
└Prey the doppelganger has killed (10/10)
[You have completed the sub quest!]
[Points +10,000]
After confirming the reward, Ryu Min lifted one corner of his mouth.
A huge amount of points had come in.
It was more than double what he’d gotten from directly murdering the Chinese players.
‘Joo Seong-tak probably got the reward too.’
Now the only thing left was to kill the doppelganger.
[Heeheeheehee! So delicious. Human memories are so delicious!]
Right then, the doppelganger—appearing as a black form—stared at Ryu Min.
[You. You threw prey to me on purpose, didn’t you?]
“…”
[Why did you do it? You thought if you did that, I’d feel good and spare you?]
“You’re misunderstanding something.”
Crackle, crackle—
Ryu Min grinned, gathering electricity at his fingertips.
“The one who should be begging to be spared isn’t me. It’s you.”
[Hmph. Still acting tough…]
“Charging.”
Bzzzzzt—!
The fired current struck the doppelganger’s body.
[Kyaaaaaaah!]
With horrific pain, the doppelganger was blasted back dozens of meters and rolled across the ground like a scrap of paper.
“You thought I didn’t know? That magic damage is poison to a spirit-type monster like you?”
[Keuugh… keeehk…]
“Or did you look down on me because you thought I didn’t have magic? Either way, it doesn’t matter. You’re about to die.”
[Keuugh… keuuuh…]
‘Well, damn. Looking at its condition, it looks like it’ll die any second.’
He’d deliberately aimed off to avoid killing it, and it was still like this.
‘Min Juri’s buff isn’t even on me, so I thought the damage would be lower… but this is surprising.’
Either way, he couldn’t let it die by his own hand like this.
Not when it could die by Joo Seong-tak’s hand.
“Start.”
“Yes, Master.”
At Ryu Min’s command, Joo Seong-tak used Corpse Explosion.
It was a skill that required corpses, but there was no issue.
Because around the spot where the doppelganger had been blasted back, there were ten corpses.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
Ma Kyung-rok and An Sang-cheol flinched at the sudden boom.
“What was that sound?”
“It sounded like something exploding…”
Judging by the scale, it was firepower that could burn the entire forest down.
“With an explosion like that, shouldn’t we be seeing flames?”
“That’s what I’m saying. It’s just dark… I can’t see anything.”
No matter how they thought about it, it was a truly strange forest.
Tracking and detection didn’t work, and the more you walked, the more it felt like you were circling the same path.
Like a Möbius strip.
“Manager An. Where do you think that sound came from?”
“It sounded so vivid, like it happened right next to us.”
“Right? That’s what it sounded like to me too.”
Then why could they see nothing except trees?
“Hoo… nothing we can do. We just keep walking. Follow closely so you don’t get lost.”
“Yes, CEO.”
The two of them could only sigh and continue wandering through the labyrinth with no destination.
Corpse Explosion’s effect was incredible.
Because he detonated ten corpses at once, the doppelganger was erased without leaving even a trace.
Normally, a string of reward messages should be popping up around now, but…
‘Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one who killed it.’
Since the person who took the doppelganger’s last hit was Joo Seong-tak, Ryu Min received no message at all.
He only received 12,000 points from the rewards for revealing its identity and feeding it.
‘Joo Seong-tak probably got 20,000 points as the reward for killing the doppelganger.’
It was a situation where the slave had more points than the master, but Ryu Min didn’t care.
‘Right now, what matters isn’t points. It’s the doppelganger’s item.’
Besides, he knew far more ways to earn points, and he was confident he could take first place.
Even if Joo Seong-tak was ahead, it would only be temporary.
‘There are still 23 hours left. Plenty of time.’
Round 11 wasn’t a 100-meter dash—it was basically a marathon, so there was nothing to worry about.
‘Even if there’s a last-second reversal at the end.’
Looking at Joo Seong-tak, he was staring blankly into the air.
He was probably checking messages.
When Ryu Min briefly read his thoughts, he could tell the item he wanted had dropped.
‘Good. The ring dropped as planned.’
Even though Joo Seong-tak took the boss EXP and points, it was fine.
Now that he was his subordinate, the guy’s growth was basically his growth.
‘In a way, it feels like raising a sub character.’
Since he needed to bring as many comrades as possible into Round 20, there was nothing bad about growing together.
‘I dealt with the Chinese guys who were following me… now, should I look at the rest?’
Using Clairvoyance, Ryu Min turned his eyes to Ma Kyung-rok’s group.
He could see them panicking at the sudden explosion.
‘So the sound of Corpse Explosion reached all the way over there.’
Even if the positions were different, the Labyrinth Forest was connected.
Like there was only a single wall between them.
With an explosion that loud, it wouldn’t be strange to hear it through a wall.
‘After I check the items, I’ll go meet those guys.’
He planned to keep them trapped in the labyrinth, but if he left them alone like this, they might escape in a few hours.
‘And then, just like planned, they’ll start killing people to stack points.’
After wasting time in the labyrinth, they’d be desperate.
It was obvious they’d go around hunting and killing foreign players.
Ma Kyung-rok in Round 11 was always like that.
So he had to stop them.
Only he—the one who knew the future—could stop it.
‘I don’t need to kill them. I just need to make sure they can’t move for a while.’
As he wore a devilish smile, Joo Seong-tak approached.
“Master. These are the items that dropped from the doppelganger.”
Without needing to be told, Joo Seong-tak voluntarily took out the items and offered them up.
[Doppelganger’s Ring]
-Category: Ring
-Grade: Legendary
-Effect: Change Nickname (usable only in the other world)
-Durability: 6,000/6,000
-Use Restriction: Expert grade or higher
-Description: An item that allows you to freely change your nickname in the other world. If you remove the ring, it returns to your original nickname.
‘What I wanted dropped.’
Just as described, it was an item that changed your nickname.
With this, he no longer had to worry about being tracked by others.
‘And I can pretend to be someone else, not the Black Scythe.’
It was practically the same as gaining the authority to change nicknames freely.
‘Now I can change my nickname, not just my face.’
It meant perfect disguise was possible.
‘And that’s not all. A God-grade material dropped too.’
After collecting the materials, Ryu Min smiled in satisfaction.
It really was the right choice to keep Joo Seong-tak alive.
Thanks to his [Rune of Drop], he obtained the item he wanted.
But only for a moment.
Ryu Min quickly wiped the smile away, his expression turning puzzled.
Because Joo Seong-tak took out yet another item from his inventory.
“What’s that?”
“This also dropped from the doppelganger.”
Was there one more besides the ring and the God-grade material?
The moment Ryu Min took the item, his eyes widened in surprise.