He was walking through a dark forest in the direction in which the double disappeared from the Altar of Shadows, endlessly. He moved his feet through the stiff air. As for the formation, I was in front and the rest followed me a few meters behind. It was far from a normal formation, but... Well, what are you going to do? This was the life of a transport tank.
«Prepare for battle!»
The moment I felt a presence from the front, dozens of doppelgangers untouched by the magic of the sphere of light revealed their shapes. This was the change that occurred at the beginning of the fourth chapter. After the doppelganger seal was removed, the number of clones in the field increased exponentially.
«Enemy... enemy of the Empire...!»
«...¡Matadlos!»
They were no longer transformed into our images; that is, until we find the main body. I did not know why. This was an overlooked part of the game. I was sure there was some hidden background to this phenomenon if I looked, but now was not the time to think about it.
[You have activated Jump].
Before the distance narrowed further, I lunged forward and landed in the middle of them.
¡Kwaaaaa!
Just as I landed, the ground shook and the special Reverse terrain effect occurred. Dozens of doppelgangers flew into the air at once.
¡Crunch!
First I hit one like he was brandishing a baseball bat and threw Wild Blast.
«¡Behell-ahhhhhhh!»
My threat level tripled. Doppelgangers in the shape of soldiers pounced on me like mad beasts. As long as they were monsters, they couldn't ignore my provocation. «By... the Empire...!»
Doubles had no skills, but were difficult enemies because their default stats were high. As could be deduced from how the shield soldier resisted my mace, each of his stats was at least superior to Ainar's. Furthermore, the fact that our formation consisted of a variety of fighters with arrows, spears, swords, magic, crossbows, and shields contributed to increasing the difficulty of the battle.
¡Crunch! ¡Crunch!
However, although we blocked what needed to be blocked, we never prevented an attack. Avoiding it didn't make sense in the first place. Enemies were all around us. All I could do was get hit like a tank and wait for support from my companions.
[Arua Raven has cast rank 5 Lightning attack magic].
Soon, the long-awaited spell was completed. The lightning reached a vast range.
[Kailman Parteian has cast rank 5 auxiliary magic Enhancement Spell.]
Thanks to Parteian's help, the power was twice as high as usual. I paused so as not to be swept away by the spell.
¡Bum, bum, bum!
Lightning with the same power as a natural disaster only lasted about five seconds, but it was enough to leave the doubles corps in a state of partial destruction.
After all, battle is the best type of hunting.
The remaining monsters were shot down by my companions, who were waiting from behind. A battle ended like this.
The blunt warrior murmured as he removed the blood from his weapon: «Parteian, will Miss Sarman be okay? I can't stop worrying».
«You saw it too. The doubles do not approach the altar. As long as it doesn't come out, it will be fine».
«I can't help but wonder if we should have brought her...»
The warrior with blunt weapons was still worried about the female guide, who had been left behind. But I couldn't do anything. Using a guide against the characteristics of a double might not be impossible, but that was only for a disposable letter. If she had come as a subject to be protected, the loss would have far outweighed the gain.
«It's enough. Miss Sarman agreed. If we fail, everyone will die anyway».
Reading my face, Parteian ended the conversation there and I resumed scanning without saying anything. Nothing good would come of wasting time.
¡Ddddddd!
After that, as we continued to fight several more battles and advance through the dark forest, a slight vibration transmitted from beneath our feet. It meant that the stamp unlocking rate had reached 20%. Since it rose 1% every ten minutes, it was about time.
«Mr. Yandel, can we go a little faster?»
«Clear.» I increased my speed as if I were being chased by time. «We have already arrived».
We finally reached the target point, the sinkhole we hadn't noticed as we wandered through the forest looking for the middle bosses. If we went down here, the battle against the boss would begin. But before that, let's start with this.
«Let's look in the nearby area first». Under Raven's instructions, we go around the sinkhole looking for something. It didn't take us long. «As expected, it's just like the book. He said there was probably one hidden near the entrance».
There was a white tombstone that made a creepy sound. In the game it was called the Seal Stone, but it alone could not be considered the hidden piece. It appeared throughout the forest once the fourth chapter had begun.
«Same as in the book?», Partean asked. Information about the sealing stone was learned naturally through the Memory of Sacrifice, which was created on the Altar of Shadows after the end of the third chapter. However, the information only said that it had to be found and activated. «There was none of that in the memoirs».
«Not in the memoirs, but in another book». Raven did not answer Parteian's question in detail and put her hand on the sealing stone.
¡Shaaaaa!
A black light shot into the sky in the shape of a pillar.
[The Seal Stone has been activated. Seal unlock percentage: 10%].
With this, the stamp unlocking percentage of double was reduced by 10%. Of course, if it went according to our strategy this number wouldn't be too significant, but since it was on the way there was no reason to skip it.
«So this is all we can prepare here».
Soon, we returned to the sinkhole again.
«Are you all ready?»
It was time to fight the battle boss.
***
[You have entered the Extortionist's Hideout.]
A boss battle was the flower of the crack. However, the boss fight in the Doppelganger Forest proceeded in a slightly unusual format. First of all, the expedition had to be divided in two. One team must fight the boss, while the other must find the sealing stone located in the forest littered with doppelganger soldiers and manage the seal unlock rate. This was also the standard strategy described in the Memory of Sacrifice.
The concept is super annoying.
Here, everyone had to trust each other and do their part to make their way. We probably would have sent two or three people from each team and created two different teams to fight the boss, if he hadn't exploited that landmine.
We can't use that method anymore. Now there are only seven of us.
The expedition was cut in half and things went wrong. Our number was not enough to divide the team. So what could we do? Searching through the loot of the dwarf and Hans G's teams, I quickly came up with an answer and gave Raven a clue to lead her to it. Instead of dividing the already small team in two, which would leave us without this or that, the plan was to concentrate all forces in one place. Simply put, it was a strategy for experienced players.
«It can be a little dangerous, will everyone be okay?», he had asked.
«There is no other way».
This is how the foundations of the strategy were laid. The probability of success was 90%. Of course, probability was just a number, so the only way to see if it worked was to try it head-on. When has only Plan A worked in life?
¡Boom!
Like a barbarian, I jumped through the tunnel first to check that it was safe. Then when I made a sign, the rest of the members descended.
«The air is milled ».
The temperature of the cave was cool.
«Kyaaaaargh!» The monsters inside sensed our presence and burst into strange howls.
I chuckled. This was one of the functions of the barbarian: to instill value in the team. «Why are you all frozen? Let's kill them».
When I entered directly without the slightest hesitation, the few intimidated members also came to their senses and followed me.
Walk walk.
After about 90 steps or so, the fog scattered throughout the cave dissipated and the chief's room, a cavity with a huge magic circle drawn in it, was revealed. Stones of Truth were scattered on the floor like toys and something shaped like a person was sitting squatting with his back to the center. We heard the sound of a sob.
«Are you... here to kill me... me too...?». Something turned its head and looked at us. His face was none of ours. He was an ordinary child, if it weren't for his inverted eyes, nose and mouth. «I... have not done... anything wrong...». The boy looked at us as if he felt unfair. Soon, the emotion contained in his eyes transformed into anger. It was a common introduction to a battle against a boss. «I'm like y-!»
I skipped this part before I could say the next line. «Behell-ahhhhh!» It wasn't a good time to use the jump, so I jumped in and brandished my mace.
Hit!
The boy's head was crushed in his sitting position, but the usual feeling in my hand was not there. I felt like I had just hit a punching bag full of water.
«Keeeeeek!» A scream coming from an unidentified place filled the entire cave and the boy turned into black slime.
¡Burbuja, burbuja, burbuja!
The black object repeatedly contracted and expanded into protuberances like sea urchin spines.
Are you starting with me?
When the process was over, another me was there. Imitation: The unique ability of the double that could not be obtained even with essence. However, this was a little different than it was on the field.
«Keeeeeek!» The monster no longer copied my words and actions.
[The unnamed extortionist has launched Swing.]
It did not end with simple imitation; It became stronger than the original. It was easy to think that he had the stats of a rank 5 monster with the stats and abilities of the imitated individual added. There's a reason he was a rank 4 monster.
¡Whooooom!
As a test, I backed away and dodged it. His mace crashed to the ground.
¡Kwaaaaaaclaim!
The mace left a crater and the entire cave shook. It was a force that required at least 200 strength points. When I thought of this as my future self, I almost felt a little proud.
I can stop this without problems.
The statistics I was missing could be covered with items. To ensure that the double wielding the mace indiscriminately could not approach my companions, I stopped him with my shield.
¡Kwa claim!
The sound was not as clear as I expected, and the weight of the shield was greater than I expected. Was it a 50% impact reduction?
«Crow!» Like a dishonorable explorer, I asked for support. A spell flew immediately. Since our opponent was a high-ranking monster, it started with curse magic instead of attack magic.
¡Clang!
It became a little easier to withstand double attacks, but this only fulfilled the first premise of the clear strategy. The first official phase has now begun.
[The unnamed extortionist has launched Self-Replication.]
The doppelganger with my appearance splashed black slime from his body indiscriminately, which landed on the ground. The number of small drops was too high to count.
«Iherno Heindar!» Raven's wand spit out flames that melted the beads, but it was impossible to get rid of them all. The beads dragged insistently across the floor and grouped together. Then, going through a series of transformations, they began to imitate our appearances. «Four in total!» Raven calmly conveyed the information to me.
I quickly made a decision. Since these were clones, they could not have the same performance as the original body. Therefore, the plan was carried out promptly. «Don't listen to me and get rid of them first!» I left the clones to my companions and decided to focus on facing the main body.
« ¡Son todos Hans Chrisisen! »
At Raven's information, my body stiffened on its own.
¿What?
I doubted my ears and even in the middle of the battle, I checked my surroundings. Of course, Raven had not conveyed misinformation.
...Maldite sea.
How could everyone come out like Hans G? Dead or alive, didn't they become one of the fifteen? So what were the chances of this?
Not knowing where my mind was, Raven screamed as if she was conveying good news: «It's a relief that Mr. Yandel is not among the clones! Let's fix it quickly».
It's not that he didn't understand how he felt. Not only was Hans G relatively inferior in combat power among us, but if there were four summoners, the combination also sucked. It certainly turned out well for us.
Hit.
But my heart started beating like crazy.