Chapter 116: Chapter 116
‘Why am I over there?’
That was the very first thought that crossed Shan’s mind the moment he saw his opponent.
For everything (physique, equipment, and appearance) was an exact match to his.
Yet upon looking closely, there was one clear difference.
Magic patterns glowed across his face, the only part exposed due to the raised visor.
They appeared to be of the same kind carved into the hydra’s body in the past.
“A monster…”
The moment he blurted out that word without thinking, another Shan charged, leveling the Red Oath.
A body weight of around seventy kilograms, including the lightweight full plate armor, was driven through the stomp of his foot, traveling up his body and focusing precisely into the tip of the blade.
Clang! Magic swords collided in the middle of the pitch-black ruins, scattering sparks.
“Ugh!?”
“Where did he go…?”
“Over there! Illuminate below the pillar!”
In the deep dark, the golden-armored knights moved at speeds beyond human limits using their enhanced leg strength.
Leaping off surrounding walls and pillars, or grabbing ceiling obstacles with free hands to hang suspended: it was a three-dimensional battle entirely impossible for an ordinary human.
Thanks to that, the people around could not even properly watch the duel unfolding between the two Shans.
They could only sense the shadows cast by the magic lamp’s light flitting rapidly to and fro.
Parrying the enemy’s attacks, Shan involuntarily let out an exclamation of admiration.
‘He really is completely identical to me…’
Strength, speed, technique, creativity, and even the intensity and control of Fighting Spirit.
The opponent’s combat capabilities were not lagging behind his in the slightest.
No, it would be more accurate to describe him as perfectly identical, as if copied outright.
When fighting Marquis Abel in the past, Shan had marveled at how an ordinary human, different from himself, could grow so strong.
Yet in the end, the Marquis was one step below Shan.
Even amid the fierce combat, he had inwardly felt that he held the upper hand and could smoothly crush him as long as there were no interruptions.
Unlike that, the opponent he was fighting now was truly a possessor of abilities perfectly identical to Shan’s.
A threatening adversary who would crush him to death the moment he was driven into a disadvantage by a single mistake…
While continuously picturing his next move, the opponent for some reason released his left hand from the sword and thrust it forward.
Along with that, for the first time in a while, the Necklace of Vigilance warned of an intense crisis.
“Ugh!”
At the exact moment he instinctively leaned to the side, a bluish-gray beam of light shot from the wrist, tearing open his armor and grazing above his collarbone.
Had he not dodged quickly, his throat would have been pierced on the spot, killing him.
‘Thousand Shapes!’
To think that even an Altoan relic made of solid True Silver would be completely duplicated!
Surprise aside, Shan had no time to waste and pulled out Thousand Shapes to confront his opponent.
Having spent a non-trivial amount of time researching this weapon on his own, he knew full well that facing a user of that weapon with ordinary magical arms offered no chance of victory.
The two Thousand Shapes incessantly altered their forms into swords, spears, soft swords, and snakes.
Sometimes clashing, sometimes yielding limply, and sometimes coiling around the opponent’s torso like vines.
Combined with direct arm swings and acceleration via transformation, the weapons’ speed exceeded even Shan’s cognitive abilities.
Swish! A shiver ran down his spine as a soft sword extending over three meters in an instant narrowly passed by his eyes.
Now, instead of clearly perceiving attacks and deliberating counters to dodge as usual, he had to rely on intuition and experience to predict and react like ordinary warriors.
The upside was that he was not the only one finding it difficult to handle attacks utilizing Thousand Shapes.
That fake was likewise unable to properly perceive Shan’s attacks, dodging half on pure guesswork.
The golden armors of the two knights tore, stained red with streaming blood.
“Haa, haa…”
Thousand Shapes in his left hand, and the Red Oath in his right.
Holding weapons in both hands, constantly shifting the form of one while assisting with the sword in the other, felt as though his brain might burst.
Exhausted from extreme tension and frantic motion, Shan rapidly inhaled and exhaled to catch his breath.
Fortunately, the opponent seemed equally fatigued, as he did not charge in.
Right then, a warm power settled into his body from behind, filling his depleted stamina.
Asha, who had caught up late, had distinguished ally from enemy and cast a powerful Blessing of Vitality on him.
Sensing that the situation had turned unfavorable, the other Shan turned on his heel and fled.
Even that sharp battle instinct was identical to his.
Shan immediately pursued him.
Because he wished to eliminate that immensely dangerous foe right then and there if possible.
In truth, even setting that aside, he wanted to fight more.
Was this not a clash against a true rival encountered for the first time in his life?
His brain shivered softly at the fresh stimulation.
The fake Shan tried to give him the slip, moving adeptly back and forth as though familiar with the terrain inside the ruins.
Yet with his stamina recovering thanks to Asha’s blessing, Shan smoothly closed the distance.
Just as a mere few meters remained between them, the fleeing fake suddenly kicked a metal rod leaning against a wall.
Along with that, just like moments earlier, a sharp intuition struck Shan’s mind.
Warning him that remaining in this spot would mean death.
As he quickly stepped back several paces, the ceiling collapsed, raining down hundreds of kilograms of iron blocks with a crash.
It seemed that the rod earlier had been barely propping up the wall.
‘A trap…’
Even this trick was similar to the methods he favored.
While Shan paused, the fake disappeared beyond the pile of fallen metal.
*
After gazing beyond the empty corridor for a few seconds, Shan decided to give up the chase and return to his companions.
He judged that it was reckless to charge alone after an opponent who possessed equal combat capabilities, was skilled in the local layout, and had likely set numerous traps.
Returning to the clearing, the companions who had gathered first raised their weapons in alarm.
Shan raised both hands to those taking a wary stance against him, indicating he had no intent to fight.
“It is I.”
“Your Grace the Duke… is it really you?”
“It seems to be him. The fake had strange tattoos on his face.”
The one who said so and lowered his weapon first was Lug.
Having received intensive healing from the priests, his shoulder, which had been spouting blood from the effect of the Red Oath, seemed to have recovered before long.
Of course, a hole still remained in his armor.
Seeing Shan’s exposed figure, Roden hastily brought him over and pulled him down into a seat.
“Let’s treat you first. Leave it like this, and you’ll die.”
True to his words, Shan was bloodied all over, scratched and stabbed in various places by Thousand Shapes.
Though he could endure it reasonably well thanks to the Blessing of Vitality, treatment was necessary.
After collapsing his ruined armor into a breastplate form and receiving healing from the priests, they conversed about the enemy that had appeared earlier.
Fortunately, a middle-aged priest named Cauvan roughly knew its identity.
“It is likely a doppelganger.”
“A doppelganger? That’s new to me…”
“It is understandable that you haven’t heard of it. I am seeing it for the first time as well. It is an ancient monster mentioned only in passing in extremely old texts.”
According to legend, their specialty was to mimic the form of the living to draw near before springing an ambush.
Lug nodded and testified that the creature’s habit had indeed been exactly like that.
“When the monster disguised as Your Grace approached, Donat stepped forward to greet him first and was attacked. If I had stepped forward first, I would have been hit…”
Donat was a page traveling with Lug, and the first victim of the doppelganger’s raid.
His corpse was laid to rest on one side of the open space where they gathered.
“May the Goddess hold him in Her embrace.”
After praying briefly for the deceased boy, they discussed countermeasures in earnest.
“First of all, it seems to lack the ability to speak like a human. Had it possessed that, we would have been caught completely off guard.”
“It also seems we can recognize it by the tattoos on its body.”
“Still, just in case, establishing a password would be wise. What would be good?”
“How about ‘Hasra’? It is a word a mere monster could never know.”
Although oral legends suggested it merely copied forms and abilities, they decided on a password in advance just in case.
Udin the mage let out a sigh and spoke.
“In truth, under normal circumstances, it shouldn’t be such a dangerous enemy.”
No matter which royal knight’s form it transformed into, if two fellow knights attacked together or squires joined in, gaining the upper hand would not be hard.
Unless it mingled by mimicking a normal human, it was nothing more than a minor monster that even an ordinary group of explorers could easily repel.
For it was inherently difficult for a single hand to block many hands.
The problem was that the creature had assumed the form of Shan Barendil, humanity’s strongest knight.
Even Lug, who was overwhelmingly the strongest among the royal knights excluding Shan, could hold out for barely a minute against him.
Considering that even this applied when Shan was not using Thousand Shapes…
“Come to think of it, what on earth was that magic tool used by that fellow and Your Grace…?”
At Lug’s question, everyone’s attention shifted to Shan.
Since he had already shown its usage, feigning ignorance would be laughable, so Shan reverted the True Silver sword he had kept as a bracelet back to its original form.
“It is an ancient Altoan relic obtained from the ruined city we saw above earlier. As you can see, it is made of solid True Silver and has the ability to change according to the user’s will.”
“Oh…”
“Goodness, True Silver of that size.”
At his explanation, everyone present was astonished.
Sir Abras, a royal knight, nodded.
“Indeed, it was worth keeping hidden as a trump card without revealing it to others.”
Aside from the fact that it was now fine for Shan to boast of possessing such an item, Thousand Shapes was a weapon far more potent when kept secret.
Even in the past, had the nightmare Yure known Shan possessed such a weapon, he would have sought a better method instead of sealing off the banquet hall with high vampires alone.
“Are there no other separate functions?”
“None that I know of, at least.”
Although it possessed lethal effectiveness against wicked beings like vampires and ghosts due to True Silver’s unique nature, this was not something to mention right away.
For the doppelganger showed no reaction to priest purification magic and even freely wielded the replicated Thousand Shapes.
Afterward, they deliberated on how to hunt down the doppelganger.
“How about Your Grace stepping outside for a moment? If it transforms into one of us, it shouldn’t be difficult to deal with.”
“We must account for the worst case. If Your Grace is absent and that monster can still mimic Your Grace, we are finished.”
“Ah, come to think of it…”
Since the creature had appeared out of nowhere mimicking Shan without ever meeting him directly, there was no guarantee it would lose that form just because he stepped outside.
Being hunted in the pitch-black depths of the ruins by Shan appearing out of nowhere was a terrifying thought to imagine.
The conclusion reached after lengthy deliberation was for everyone to move together centered around Shan, map the internal terrain, and corner the creature.
At any rate, they possessed the advantage of superior numbers.
As their discussion wound down, Shan called out to Roden, who had been quiet for some time.
“Roden.”
“Hmm?”
“Switch places with Sir Colun.”
At the instruction to trade places with the man guarding the camp outside the ruins, the others looked at Shan with surprised expressions.
Wondering why he would go so far, given that while Roden was somewhat lacking in technique, his unique Herculean strength made him quite a reliable asset.
Yet Shan could by no means leave Roden here.
Because he knew Roden was even more helpless than priests or mages against enemies armed with blades.
After a moment of silence, Roden let out a heavy sigh and nodded.
He could not endanger everyone over his own stubbornness.
*
“A monster with fighting power equal to the Lord Protector!?”
Colun, who was outside the ruins, gaped in astonishment at the report from his returning companions.
But only for a moment; he soon nodded and bellowed boisterously.
“Very well, let’s give it a try. Though I fall short of the Lord Protector, I too am someone who has made quite a name in martial arts!”
“For your information, in a one-on-one duel, Baron Satru (that was Lug’s title) could not last a minute and nearly died.”
“I must absolutely never leave the Lord Protector’s side, then.”
Knowing full well the extent of Lug’s skill, Colun recoiled in alarm, dampening the valiant posture that had looked ready to charge at any second.
The saving grace was that, broadly speaking, this ruin was close to a single straight passage.
Although there were rooms and corridors for various purposes to the left and right, it was not a intricately twisted structure, so as long as they held the central corridor, set up alarm magic, and explored step by step, they did not have to worry about the monster sneaking past them to slip out of the ruins.
After taking a rest, the exploration team resumed probing the ruins step by step once more.
Moving much slower and more cautiously than before as they kept watch for the doppelganger that could appear at any moment.
Still, thanks to their previous exploration, they had managed to cover roughly half of the total area.
“So, what on earth was this place meant for?”
Lug asked in wonder as he looked around.
In his eyes, this facility was truly peculiar.
Building such a grand facility underground was strange enough, but the purpose of the objects inside eluded his imagination entirely.
The one who answered him was Udin the mage.
“It was likely a testing site.”
“A testing site?”
“Yes. The mages’… likely something related to monsters. The central corridor being designed in such a huge structure must also be to contain and bring in giant monsters.”
Although he had not fully deciphered all the documents seized so far, based on what little he had read, Udin shared his assessment.
Shan inwardly admired his insight.
For Shan knew because he had seen it with his own eyes, whereas this middle-aged mage had reached the truth through sheer reasoning.
That admiration was fleeting, as Shan looked down at his hands with a puzzled expression.
‘I didn’t think of it then, but why didn’t the magic activate when I stabbed that creature’s body?’
What was engraved on the doppelganger’s body was likely memory restoration magic like the hydra’s.
Meaning, thrusting Thousand Shapes into the bastard’s body should have caused him to view its memories.
Yet despite Shan succeeding in scratching and stabbing the creature’s body multiple times with Thousand Shapes, the magic did not trigger.
Of course, it was a fortunate thing.
If it were a massive, sluggish opponent like the hydra, he could afford the risk, but against an enemy moving as nimbly as himself, he could be killed three times over during the split-second opening of peering into memories.
‘Well… there’s probably nothing special to its memories anyway, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.’
Though he was curious, viewing memories spanning thousands of years (even if heavily abridged) was certainly an ordeal that felt like it would drive one mad.
Swallowing his regret while scanning the surroundings, Shan’s eyes widened.
“He’s coming!”
Clang! Along with the shout, a bursting clatter echoed from the sword held in Shan’s hand before anyone noticed.
Only then did the others realize that an object had flown out from the dark.
What dropped after being struck by Shan’s sword was a crude javelin fashioned from metal.
“It seems he decided to attack from a distance since we are bunched together.”
“This won’t be easy…”
Lug let out a tense sigh and gripped his axe tightly.
From then on, the doppelganger in Shan’s form relentlessly shadowed them, springing out from all sorts of locations.
Sometimes it pounced directly, and other times it attempted to drop them into traps crafted through various means.
Unexpectedly, it made no attempt to sneak past them through the central corridor and reach the outside.
Had it tried, they would have immediately pursued it, driven it completely outdoors, and slain it.
“Ugh.”
“Bear with it a moment. I’m pulling it out.”
Since Shan could not fend off every single attack, others suffered damage every now and then.
Sir Colun, participating in Roden’s place, received a light stab to his back, while Shan’s pages Vico and Tavera fell into traps, sustaining severe injuries to their abdomens and legs.
Fortunately, however, several highly skilled priests were among them.
As long as they did not die instantly, they could not only save their lives through healing from Asha and the other priests but also make a full recovery, so they did not lose heart.
“The frequency of the bastard’s attacks is gradually rising.”
“Indeed. I can feel its impatience clear over here.”
Sir Abras said as he tightly gripped his spear.
Having been attacked again and again by Shan’s doppelganger, their tempers were thoroughly inflamed.
To stay ready for battle at any second, they had discarded even things like toilet seats they had previously gathered as a joke.
Exploring like that for several hours.
Looking around vigilantly as they entered, the group opened their eyes wide upon seeing the room’s interior.
“Oh, could this be…?”
“It appears to be a breeding chamber. It seems the end is not far off now.”
A massive chamber with a ceiling over ten meters high, a width of fifty meters, and a length exceeding one hundred meters.
Inside, several large iron cages were set up, all with their entrance sides destroyed.
Shan realized that this was where the hydra had been imprisoned in the past.
Presumably, all the monsters had been locked up here.
What the ancient mages back then were researching here could only be known after examining the records gathered this time, but…
His thoughts were brief; Shan turned his head upon sensing a presence approaching from afar thanks to his senses heightened by the magic device.
Dozens of ghouls shuffled out from deep inside the monster breeding chamber.
“Huh?”
“What, so they stopped showing up because they were all gathered here…”
Indeed, for a facility of this scale, their numbers had been rather few.
He had wondered if they had failed to turn into ghouls and simply rotted away, but perhaps they had all packed into a shelter-like place.
Ordinarily, they would eliminate them by fighting directly to conserve the priests’ stamina, but with such numbers gathered, it was better to lightly cast a miracle once rather than brandishing spears and swords.
As Asha stepped forward and called out the Goddess’s name, a miracle of purification was unleashed, dissolving the ghouls’ bodies.
“Wait…”
Right then, a ghoul at the very front pounced with explosive speed, thrusting a blade toward Asha.
The creature’s appearance transformed into Shan’s in an instant.