-Clank.
I heard footsteps in the darkness.
It was the sound of iron against iron. At the same time, a foul smell of blood wafted through the air.
It was the smell of the corpses of the enemies he had just cut down.
A red glow rose from the darkness.
The moment he saw it, he realized that his fears had been realized.
“What is that, Guardian?”
Balud questioned the Guardian's appearance.
At least compared to the Guardians he knew of, the one that had just appeared was quite unusual.
Usually, given that the Guardians were some sort of being beyond humanity, they were often large and frightening in appearance.But the one that appeared now was only human-sized.
Not only that, it looked human.
“Don't let your guard down. He's the strongest of them all.”
“What do you mean?”
“That guy is modeled after me.”
All eyes turned to him at Osian's shocking words.
“Have you forgotten what the stone tablet said? It said we would be put through a test. That test was that if many people gathered together, the strongest warrior would turn against them.”
“You can't mean.......”
Illua's mouth dropped open as she recalled the tablet's contents.
“You mean the guardian of the ruins will mimic the strongest?”
“If only it were just an imitation.”
Osian wondered slightly why he had just remembered that now.
The Ruins Guardian that had appeared now was unforgettably famous for someone who had played the game, a mutant doppelganger.
Of the countless boss monsters he'd faced in the game, none had been as tricky as this one.
It mimics you based on your information and data.
A normal doppelganger would be a sub-par version of the real thing but he was different.
‘A variant doppelganger is a special entity that is different from a normal doppelganger and is called a mutant. That's why he's a boss monster.’
It uses your information to shape itself.
If you're a wizard, it becomes a wizard.
If you're a knight, it becomes a knight.
If you're a warlock, it becomes a warlock.
And now the mutant doppelganger gained the power of the strongest man to ever enter these ruins, Osian.
“Wait, that's not so easy to swallow. If it copied the strongest person, shouldn't it be copying me?”
“What are you talking about? Of course it should copy me, the wizard!”
Balud and Terence jumped up at the mention of imitating Osian.
“Now it’s not the time to say that!”
Thalia pointed out impatiently. Why did men have to argue about who was the best in a place like this?
Meanwhile, the Guardian, now fully formed, stood before the group.
A knight clad in black armor with a fiery glow at every seam.
A reddish glow shone through the slits of the helmet on his face, and a strand of pure white hair cascaded down the nape of his neck.
Most importantly, the knight's body shape resembled that of a woman.
It didn't just look like one, it was actually a woman.
Osian's expression stiffened.
A peculiar intuition that sensed danger sounded a frantic alarm in his brain.
The black knight raised the sword in his hand.
The blade was pitch black, as if the hilt had been immersed in darkness. It looked as if it had been carved from obsidian.
The black knight's eye glow intensified as he held the sword.
-Boom!
The sword was imbued with starlight.
It wasn't the pure white starlight that Osian used, but a dark red color that was eerie to look at.
[Killing Star Sword]
It shot out for about three meters and struck the wall of the ruins.
The walls of the ruins were unable to withstand the high heat, turning scarlet red and melting away.
“So, this is what happens.”
He's a 'variant' doppelganger.
Unlike a normal doppelganger, which is a pure imitation of itself, this one is twisted.
The only thing it mimics is your job.
Everything else is 'reversed'.
Since Osian was a black-haired male, he became a white-haired female.
The most important thing to note is that the “reverse” implementation also includes skills.
A prime example of this is when facing a priest class.
Priests usually sport colorful, light- and gold-oriented effects, using blessings, prayers, and holy power.
However, the mutant doppelgangers are the opposite.
They radiate a grim black aura, unleashing curses, despair, and untold destruction.
The same goes for Paladins. When a Mutant Doppelganger turns into a Paladin, they deal in sinister blood energy rather than divine power.
Seeing a playable character that mimics them, but does so in a completely different way, players have collectively dubbed them “class reversals.”
“Stand down!”
Osian shouted, drawing his sword.
Starlight, a mixture of white and azure, erupted from the tip of the blade.
Immediately, the Guardian swung his sword.
-Kwah!
Black flesh and white holy light collided, sending a huge shockwave of light around them.
The ground cracked beneath Osian and the Guardian's feet, and the aftermath alone caused some of the explorers to lose their balance and fall backwards.
“I am your opponent.”
Osian blasted starlight from his eyes.
The Guardian's red eyes glared at him. At this moment, the Guardian sensed who his most dangerous foe was.
Osian deflected the Guardian's sword, gripped the hilt with both hands, and swung wildly.
The guardian didn't lose and held his sword horizontally in defense.
-Kwang!
Another explosion sounded. Ossian tried to press down, but realized that it wasn't working as he had hoped.
'I see. His stats are the same as mine.’
Strength, agility, and endurance were the same.
But when it came to skills, there was no equivalence. In fact, the skills used by the mutant doppelganger were stronger than those of the original.
It was only natural. It's a boss monster, after all.
No matter how strong the user was, its pure specs were bound to be higher.
'I didn't realize that I entered the ruins from the back door instead of the front like in the game.’
The tablet gave me a hint, but that only made it harder to figure out.
Yeah. Those were all meaningless excuses. Honestly, it didn't change anything.
Do you think they'd give up if they knew there was a mutant doppelganger here?
The people who would have gotten in would have gotten in, and the mutant doppelganger would have changed to a different class.
‘In-game, he was so strong that players had to use tricks to hunt him down.’
The solution was simple: take off all your gear before entering the boss room.
The boss would then appear with no items on, just like the player.
You could put your gear back on at that point, but once you changed, the doppelganger couldn't change back.
That way, it was easy to kill a doppelganger that had no weapons and no skills but in the real world, it's different.
Since there's no boss room, it's likely that the moment you enter a certain part of the ruins, it senses your presence and transforms on its own.
There's no way to know, and even if I did, I couldn't take off all my clothes.
‘So we must fight.’
A cloak of starlight was draped over Osian's shoulders.
Nebula Silk, one of his attributes, was activated.
The Guardian's helmet's eyes lit up when he saw that sight, and he used the same technique.
Only instead of the brilliant starlight of the Osian, it was the starlight of death.
[Black Star Rags]
It was crude enough to rival Osian's, which was adorned with colorful feathers around its neck, but all the more ferocious for it.
-Kwagwagwang!
A white cloak and a black cloak tangled in the air.
Their swords clashed as the two capes moved freely, each trying to block or dodge the other's attacks.
People stepped back, weary of the fight.
This was not a battle they could interfere in.
While they were surprised that Osian was so strong, they were also horrified by the deadly power the Guardian exuded.
“Wake up!”
Terence was the first to come to his senses.
He shouted to his sister, Thalia.
“Thalia, take the people and run!”
“Ha, but......!”
“We're going to die anyway! Come on!”
Terence's judgment was correct. Thalia bit her lip and rallied her people to their feet, then took command of the mages.
Terence stared at the fight between Osian and the Guardian.
He'd never been so in awe of another man fighting but there was a reason they couldn't back down.
“What, you didn't run away?”
“You didn’t either.”
There was one more person who hadn't left. It was Balud.
When Terence asked him why he didn't leave, he adjusted his glasses.
“I have my reasons for staying, and I wouldn't be able to face my men if I returned empty-handed.”
“Hmm. You've got a pretty good head on your shoulders for a criminal.”
“Then you are quite the lecturer on the subject, little wizard.”
Terence and Balud came to an unspoken agreement at this point.
Meanwhile, Osian, who had been pushed back in the struggle, stepped back slightly.
“Hmm. I guess it’s hard to face it head-on.”
Osian narrowed his eyes at the exhilarating sensation in his hands.
They had the same stats but different skill output.
The Wandering Knight's skills were among the best in hand-to-hand combat of any class, but the Mutant Doppelganger's were only half a step above that.
The power of that killing sword, in particular, was such that even the Starlight Sword would have to avoid fighting it head-on.
As Osian backed away slightly, the guardian sheathed his sword and took a stance.
The death star embedded in the sword burned even more intensely.
In the next instant, a wave of coldness engulfed the guardian.
-Zzzzzzzz!
An ice pick erupted from the ground as a wave of coldness swirled around.
It was one of the Barbarian Warrior's skills, [Frost Wave].
It was a skill that could freeze an opponent in an instant, but it was no match for the Guardian.
The black cloak he wore moved on its own, blocking the Frost Wave and the ice picks.
-Pow!
The hard ice picks shattered or melted with a single swipe but these attacks were only to buy time in the first place.
The real thing came next.
“Everyone back off!”
Detonation, a 3-star fire magic chain, activated.
‘That won't be enough, will it?’
As if he could read Osian's thoughts, Terence activated another magic with his left hand as he created fire with his right.
A three-star wind magic.
[Topple squall]
An unexpected upward wind was added to the series of explosions.
The originally powerful explosion instantly grew several times larger, engulfing the entire space.
Puff, puff, puff!
Hot flames exploded, burning the oxygen in the air and scattering heat around.
The magic was so powerful that even Osian had to step back a little further.
‘Two magic at the same time?’
Osian looked at Terence with a questioning gaze.
Terence looked a little exhausted, but not too much so.
'It's one thing to use magic of different attributes, but it's quite another to unleash them simultaneously.’
This much magic at his age, it must be no ordinary talent.
'It can't be him.’
While Osian was thinking that, Terence frowned.
A black shadow stepped out of the searing space, seemingly unconcerned.
“What kind of monster is that, he’s still alive after that?”
Terence laughed. The words came out of his mouth, but his mind was spinning fast, working on his next move.
Terence stomped his foot lightly. The ground beneath the Guardian's feet gave way, and the Guardian's body stumbled off balance.
In the next instant, a bolt of lightning struck the top of the Guardian's head, accompanied by a flash of fire.
-Crackle!
‘From the Gaia School’s earth magic to the Tonan School’s lightning magic?’
That's four attributes he already used. There was no guarantee that he couldn't use more.
‘Him too.’
Osian looked at Terence again.
He had felt extraordinary since the first time he saw him, but he was also a mage with heroic talent.
However, knowing that didn't make him happy.
The guardian who had been struck by lightning had shaken it off and gotten up but that was just the beginning.
-Thrrrr.
The moon rose over the Guardian's head, a full moon that was blue and frosty.
Suddenly, however, one side of the moon began to darken, and then the moon, which had turned into a crescent, began to glow a grim red.
A single drop of blood fell from the red blade onto the Guardian's helmet.
From the drop's point of impact, the Guardian's black armor was instantly stained red.
The design of the sturdy medieval armor was transformed into an ethereal form, like that of a dancer in the southern desert.
The crimson sword he held in one hand was now two red chakrams.
“What the hell is this?”
Terence muttered to himself.
The Guardian, holding the blood-red chakrams, took a stance.
[Lunar Eclipse Sword]
[New Moon Dancer]