Chapter 112

Editors: Ytho, LaidBackGuy

“… Would that be okay?”

Jang Deuksu looked a little reluctant . It was the same for Chwigeol . It didn’t sit right with him either . Whatever the reason, it was never right to do such a thing .

“It is impossible for just the three of us to stop Wijihoyeon . ”

“I know . But…”

“We failed . Someone has to get out alive to report it . ”

Chwigeol’s voice was low . There was a mixture of shame and reproach in it, but he could not completely hide the hint of a selfish desire to live .

“I can’t let Baek Sogo die . I also cannot die . For… For the Wandering sect . ”

He knew that it was only an excuse . In the end, he was just running away because he was afraid of dying . Chwigeol glanced at Crimson Elder’s corpse lying on the ground . Even the cruelest of people would beg him before they died, saying that they didn’t want to die .

He didn’t want to die . They were all the same . After all, they only had one life .

“How about you?”

“I . . don’t want to die . I am ashamed but I still want to live . ”

“What’s the point of trying to save face after coming this far?”

Jang muttered with a dejected voice . His remark was met with a dry smile from Chwigeol . Jang Deuksu reached into his sleeves and took out a scroll that had been rolled up inside .

“Our luck was good . ”

It was the scroll that was on Crimson Elder . Seeing the flesh smeared on it, it seemed like she had acquired it by killing one of the dungeon’s Doppelgangers . He analyzed the magic engraved on the scroll using Baek Sogo’s artifacts .

‘Escape from the dungeon . ’

If used, the engraved magic would enable them to escape from the dungeon immediately, and the number of people that could use it together was three . Crimson Elder didn’t know what magic was inscribed on the scroll before dying .

“I’m sure Baek Sogo will resent you for that…”

“I will take responsibility . ”

Replied Chwigeol . He sat with his back against the wall and looked at Baek Sogo lying down in front . He would have had to go to rescue Lee Sungmin with Baek Sogo, but Chwigeol took Baek Sogo by surprise and knocked her unconscious .

‘If anyone, please resent me . ’

He sincerely thought, recalling Lee Sungmin, whom he met briefly . However, he still unsealed the scroll .

[Please specify the names of people using it . ]

Replying to the voice in his head, Chwigeol said the names of Jang Deuksu and Baek Sogo .

* * *

It hurt .

When he felt the pain, Lee Sungmin was already rolling down the floor . He couldn’t afford to analyze what kind of attack it was . Heoju yelled inside Lee Sungmin’s mind .

[Be alert! The attacks keep coming!]

Lee Sungmin immediately straightened up . The Doppelganger lifted its foot and hit the floor . The floor of flesh shook like a wave, and a huge force hit Lee Sungmin . Lee Sungmin clenched his teeth and jumped out of the way .

Kwaaaang!

The attack destroyed the place he had been standing in just a moment ago .

[What do we do? Uh, what should I do?]

Rubia fretted nervously . He did not know . Lee Sungmin hurriedly swung the spear .

Kkwaang!

The force of the Doppelganger’s attack hit Lee Sungmin’s spear . His left wrist that was holding the spear twisted and throbbed, making his arm go numb .

‘My hand… !’

The energy didn’t circulate . He pressed on against his body’s will . He held the centre of the spear in his right hand and turned the spear once . Spear intent and Spearhead, the two hit the Doppelganger one after another .

The Doppelganger’s face was indifferent . It was incomparable to the original, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a monster . Not using the Black Dragon meant that Doppelganger, or rather, Wijihoyeon saw him as an opponent . In other words, it meant the Doppelganger had been simply playing with him until now, and only now saw him as an enemy now and planned on sincerely eliminating him .

It was a terrible misfortune for Lee Sungmin . His attacks were easily blocked by the Doppelganger . The Doppelganger, with a black Defense Aura surrounding its body, looked like the reincarnation of a demon that would destroy everything in its path even if it was not Wijihoyeon .

The outstretched hand looked big . It shook its wrist slightly, creating several afterimages . Side? Front? Huh? Where did it go?

[From the center, ten steps to the right, seven steps to the left… ]

Heoju said quickly, but it was still too slow . The Doppelganger’s attack was too fast to understand and respond to after listening . Rather than intercepting the attacks one by one, he turned the spear to block the whole, and as a result it was too late . Lee Sungmin flew backwards, vomiting blood .

[What a hassle . ]

Heoju grumbled .

“What to do… What to do … If you die here, I won’t be able to see my master…”

Rubia muttered inside his consciousness .

“Just… Shut up . ”

Lee Sungmin refocused while breathing . His legs were tingling .

[You ungrateful bastard . If I hadn’t blocked that attack for you, you would have been blown away just then . ]

Indeed . He thought it was surprising how he managed to hold on, given the brutality of that attack .

‘Why did you do it then?’

[If you die here, I’ll be in trouble too . I can’t drag out your bloody remains . And there is something I want to ask you . ]

Heoju replied . Lee Sungmin stood up while staggering . Doppelganger blinked as if startled by him .

[So much time has passed . But that woman you sent back is not coming back . ]

‘I know . ’

He was not a fool . He knew that he had sent Baek Sogo to bring Chwigeol and Jang Deuksu, but she had not yet returned . He knew that a lot of time had passed . He knew that nobody would come for him even if he waited any longer .

Did Baek Sogo betray him? That thought… he didn’t want to think of that even if it was true .

[Aren’t you resentful? Don’t you regret it? If you hadn’t come here, you wouldn’t have to die on behalf of that bitch . I honestly don’t understand . Didn’t you already die once?]

He didn’t even have a moment to gather his thoughts . The Doppelganger attacked again . He stretched out his right hand . Palm or fist? Or maybe, the edge of his palm? He fortified it with Spear force . Lee Sungmin rotated the spear in his right hand .

(T/N: ‘edge of his palm’ is like the same movement used in taekwondo or karate to split bricks or break a board)

Kagagagak!

Their respective forces clashed against each other . It was Lee Sungmin who was pushed back . He changed his form without supporting his inclined body . At the same time, he rotated the spear using Skill Stealing from bottom to top .

It did not work . The Doppelganger moved away, perfectly escaping Lee Sungmin’s range of attack .

[Since you’ve experienced it, you should know it well . How sudden and futile death is . You don’t think you’ll be able to go back again this time as well?]

‘Of course not . ’

He answered and ran immediately, moving into the footwork of the Two-step Calamitous End . As the Spear force exploded, he performed the Nine Dragon Spirit move of the Nine Heavenly Spears technique . The edge of the spear force swept across the front, carrying a clear killing intent .

The Black Dragon, it had been using as a defense, was put down . The Doppelganger went forward without any defense . It had only used its right hand . The Doppelganger mimicking Wijihoyeon was at such a level . It acknowledged him and took off the Black Dragon . However, it did not use a cow-hunting knife to catch a mere chicken . Only the right hand moved .

[Tell me . Are you regretting it? Do you resent that wench?]

‘I-‘

He spat out . His Nine Dragon Spirit attack was dissolved by the Doppelganger . The Doppelganger leapt onto the scattered shards of his Spear force .

‘I do not regret it, nor do I resent her . In the first place… If I hadn’t met her, I would have died eight years ago . ’

He had entered Mush’s mountain recklessly . With excessive confidence in himself, that he could do it all alone . Had Baek Sogo not helped him back then, he would have died on the mountain .

‘I was saved by Baek Sogo . While staying with her, I thought I wouldn’t let her die . That’s why I came here and chose to stay back . ’

[Have you fallen for the bitch?]

‘That’s bullshit . ’

[Hahaha!]

Heoju laughed out loud merrily . Rubia was still fretfully muttering, and the Doppelganger’s attacks were raining down fiercely .

[How touching . I can’t let you die, so let me help you a little . ]

Heoju offered proudly . Lee Sungmin didn’t pay him any attention . The situation was bad . Wijihoyeon’s Doppelganger had begun to use her martial arts in earnest, Wijihoyeon had turned into a monster far beyond Lee Sungmin’s capabilities . After 9 years of separation . Was this how far she had gone in 9 years? Lee Sungmin smiled .

‘Even if you use up all your life force, you wouldn’t be an opponent for it . It’s probably too late to run away . Shall we run forward?’

[You can’t run away from that kind of an opponent . ]

‘It’s hard to win . I must have told you already . I don’t want to die . ’

[You don’t have to die . ]

Heoju laughed out loud . Flames rose from the armor that covered Lee Sungmin’s body . Lee Sungmin was surprised and took a few steps back unconsciously .

[It’s easy to draw strength if you have a medium!]

Heoju said with a smile . The flames from the armor surrounded Lee Sungmin’s body, but he did not feel any heat from it .

‘You… What are you doing?’

[Hahaha! You’re speaking informally to me even though I didn’t give you my permission . Well, it doesn’t matter . I’m a little fond of you . ]

The Doppelganger ran . Its powerful moves pierced through Lee Sungmin’s Nine Dragon Spirit and crushed his Two-step Calamitous End . A huge wave of force hit Lee Sungmin, and the flames blazed upward all around him before he had a chance to respond .

[Look! This is what a real monster looks like!]

Heoju roared out with a proud voice .

Kkwaaaang!

Their powers collided . The Doppelganger’s force disappeared as if it hadn’t existed in the first place . The flames charged ahead without being pushed back . The Doppelganger hurriedly raised both hands . Blood-red spheres took form between its palms placed in front of its chest and flew forward as if they’d been thrown .

Ahhhhhhh!

Space itself shook as the two different forces collided . Lee Sungmin staggered and stepped back .

‘What the hell… !’

[You dimwit! It is part of my power . If you fight alone, you’ll die at the hands of that half-baked goods!]

‘Are you helping me… ?’

[Yes! I can’t let you die! But this is not very efficient . I’ll lend you my strength . So, use it as you please . ]

Just as he said that . The rising flames scattered and penetrated into Lee Sungmin’s body . At that moment, he understood . That time, what he saw in the sleeping forest was not a simple flame . It wasn’t the flames that pushed back Wijihoyeon’s attacks just now . It was the huge power supplied by Heoju .

(T/N: it’s actually still the Doppelganger . Lee Sungmin shifted to thinking of the Doppelganger as Wijihoyeon’s avatar instead ever since it got real with him)

[Here’s the thing . Usually, a human being would not be able to handle it . But you can handle it . Your heart looks more like it belongs to a ghost than a human . ]

Heoju’s powers invaded his body, and his heart swallowed it up . Lee Sungmin panted breathlessly . His exhaustion and struggles all disappeared . The throbbing pain went away . The broken ribs and wrists? They moved perfectly again .

As it entered his heart, Lee Sungmin understood the nature of this power . It was neither martial arts nor magic . It was a simple and savage force that could only bring destruction, a foreign and unusual force that normal humans could not handle . The abilities and inner forces that normally couldn’t coexist, now existed in the body of Lee Sungmin . The forces entangled but did not mix . It flowed inside his body alongside those forces, like oil and water . Lee Sungmin felt like his meridians were being torn apart .

[Endure!]

Heoju shouted out . The Doppelganger ran . He rose from a plaything to an enemy and now a rival . The Doppelganger began to expand its power . It split itself into 5 identical clones and attacked him from all sides . Each of them was as powerful as the original . Lee Sungmin clenched his jaw and moved the spear .

Lightning Strike .

The new lightning attack, which was unleashed with a mixture of inner force and martial arts, could not be compared to one he previously used . The clones were destroyed amidst a series of explosions . Among them, the main body escaped through a gap .

[Behind you!]

Heoju announced the location . But Lee Sungmin was already aware of it . His senses had sharpened greatly . Lee Sungmin turned his body around while suppressing a pained sound . He couldn’t swing the spear . The blast he had just unleashed had used up a tremendous amount of power, and Lee Sungmin’s arms couldn’t handle the power after performing the move and his bones were shattered .

However, Lee Sungmin knew that it was not a big deal . The shattered arm was already fixing itself rapidly . But there was another problem . The Doppelganger had moved behind his back, and was aiming both fists at his chest .

Shadowless . Lee Sungmin’s body disappeared from the spot . He was propelled forward before he could even blink . Lee Sungmin controlled himself, surprised at the alarming speed . One step, followed by another . Two-step Calamitous End . He unleashed his Spear force, now carrying a mixture of inner force and martial arts . The Doppelganger hurriedly raised its hands in defense against the attack coming at it from the side . However, it could not resist the attack completely . The Doppelganger’s body was pushed back .

In the meantime, Lee Sungmin’s bones had fully healed . He swallowed his breath and started performing the Nine Heavenly Spears technique .

Lightning Annihilation of the Nine Heavenly Spears techniques .

The attack exploded soundlessly with unimaginable speed . It was close to the ideal attack that killed Ghost Blade, the same attack Lee Sungmin desperately tried to recreate to the level he had seen in his subconscious . In the world of his subconscious, he had done it over and over again, but he had been unable to redo it with his body when he returned to reality .

But not now . His body that was assisted by Heoju’s power made it possible to move further, and unveil Lightning Annihilation with extreme speed .

What he aimed for was the chest .

Lee Sungmin’s spear pierced through the center of the Doppelganger’s chest .

TLDR: plot armour strikes back