“Are you dead?”
“Not right now.”
With the Wings of Light spread out, I entered the Space of the Mirror.
Originally, I had planned to head straight to deal with the Demon Race, but seeing so many users preserved like this, I couldn’t just go.
In terms of danger, preservation is far more dangerous than space.
I poked the knight’s clone, which was skewered by the Holy of Destruction, with my spear.
“Well, since he was struck while casting a technique and gave up regeneration, it’s going to take at least several years to fully recover. You could say he’s effectively subdued.”
“How did you get here? You were supposed to be dealing with the Emperor…”
“I just took care of some things and came right down. It seems the situation is urgent.”
And true to my expectations, the situation was indeed urgent.
The knight was on the verge of being taken down by a fake.
There must be quite a few users and residents who have already been taken down.
“Thanks to that, I left the broadcast behind, but the raid must take priority. I’ve even set up a backup camera outside in preparation for this.”
“…Um. By any chance.”
“Since everything is connected spatially, we need to eliminate them as quickly as possible. Go ahead, speak.”
“Is there no fake of Lady Lily?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
The knight asked.
Why there’s no fake of me.
Magic can’t utilize the Holy, so it was imperfectly summoned and disappeared, but that’s not what he was asking.
‘There’s already a history.’
“You must have encountered a doppelganger… or rather a copycat before, right? I remember you fought fiercely back then.”
In the early days after my return.
I was assigned by Leo to investigate a dungeon, and during that process, I met the copycat Tia.
At that time, Tia was cornered and copied a powerful being known as ‘Lily.’
The copied Lily not only had overwhelming physical prowess but also used my techniques, even the ‘Sacred Transformation.’
If you know what the technique of Sacred Transformation means, that’s just absurd.
Furthermore, copycats or doppelgangers were far inferior to demons with the powers of preservation.
I nodded as if it were natural.
“That’s because the tiers are different.”
“…?”
“At that time, I was just a rookie who couldn’t even use the Holy. My physical abilities and the power I had were nothing compared to now.”
I was weak back then.
So weak that I might barely be at 1% of my prime.
Of course, I’m still weak now, but I’ve regained some strength, so there’s no comparison to back then.
‘Even if it were the demon itself and not a test subject.’
It was impossible to clone me now.
“Besides, the Holy is linked with magic and the Extreme Holy. No matter how much a demon tries, they can’t just copy the Holy like that.”
“Castle. No matter how much you’re a Demon Race, you can’t just copy the Holy.”
“Then Lady Lily is practically invincible, huh? A boss related to cloning that can’t be cloned.”
“For now, that’s the case.”
“Unless a higher ‘rank’ than me appears.”
“I won’t be preserved.”
I swung my spear, tearing apart the unstable ‘space’ caused by the Kraken.
The Knight flinched, but it wasn’t a reckless opening of space; it was working with an already unstable area.
As ‘space’ assisted in ‘preservation’, this level of rupture isn’t a major problem.
“With so many ruptures outside, it might be better to put the raid on hold and focus on taking care of that.”
“Hey, wasn’t this side more urgent?”
“That’s true.”
“Then shouldn’t we deal with the fakes together? Whatever they are, getting caught by fakes means we probably won’t be able to log in again.”
Users are beings protected by the System.
They receive protection that is almost invincible physically and mentally, thus there are penalties tied to logging in.
Especially in a boss raid like this, dying once can lead to a very long resurrection cooldown or a ban from accessing the boss raid area.
“So for now, you should get out. It’s a very dangerous place.”
“I’m only in this situation because I got caught by a fake, but I can handle the other users’ fakes just fine. There are more than a couple of us… I can take care of a few—”
“That’s not the problem.”
“…Huh?”
“Even if you defeat the clones, they will reappear over time. Furthermore, if you lose, the restraints are lifted, making it all the more troublesome.”
The Knight’s body floats.
Being pushed exactly in the direction of my hand, the Knight flies beyond the rupture.
A white shield sticks closely to the Knight.
“I hope we can talk about that shield later. It’s a friend of mine.”
Bam!
“Ugh! W-Where am I?”
“Alliance Leader!”
“Knight!”
“…Are you all safe?”
The Knight looked around at the gathered Guild Masters.
There were still quite a few Guild Masters missing, but it seemed a decent number had returned.
‘About 30% survived?’
“Yes. Suddenly a spear of light came down—”
“The fakes just shattered! Was it Lady Lily?”
“Is this really alright? If it weren’t for Lady Lily, I think everyone else would have been in trouble.”
“…First of all, that seems to be the case. Everyone looks fine.”
I thought I was the only one who had taken care of myself, but it seems everyone was moving around more than I expected.
It’s a bit disappointing that major rankers like Neris haven’t returned, but I think this is the best they could do to respond quickly.
Just this much should be enough for a quick response, don’t you think?
It seems like more than a few people have fallen victim to cloning.
“First, let’s pause the raid for a while and handle the rifts before assessing the situation. Since we have the Empire’s cooperation, we have plenty of time.”
“Uh, aren’t we going right away?”
“Isn’t Lady Lily dealing with demons? I think we can go down a bit more…”
“No, we’re going up.”
There must be a reason Lady Lily insisted on forcing us out.
‘Whatever it is, I hope you resolve it.’
“Alright! Let’s move up quickly!”
“Ughhhhh!!”
“Try to block it!”
“How am I supposed to block? I’ve already used all my sharks!!”
“Ugh, useless bunch!”
A giant doll, larger than a hundred-meter-tall building, took a step, while black whirlpools and blades sprang up everywhere.
Meanwhile, in the sky, hundreds of shark-shaped magic beings were looming ominously.
Using cognitive disruption magic, I floated in mid-air, watching the rookies below as they fled from the numerous attacks.
“They’re dodging better than I expected.”
The rookies’ level was on par with or even surpassing that of Black, who is absent of the Black Destroyer.
They’ve only appeared in the world for less than a year, but they’ve already become this skilled.
Of course, considering secret rankers or those with lower ranks in the ranking battles, their actual rank would probably be around 20th to 30th place.
‘They’re good at both catching fakes quickly and avoiding attacks…’
“Block it properly, will you!”
“Hey! Up! Block up! What’s the support doing?!”
“Ugh! Are you all planning to ditch me?! Do you want to die, both of you?”
“……”
The atmosphere isn’t great.
I really wonder how the three of them are managing to stick together.
They looked anxious when we first met, but seeing them together now, it seems worse.
Boom boom boom…!
As they were fleeing without a care, another doll stretched its legs in front of them.
With no way out, they were cornered.
“Front! Front!”
“Gah! Shark! Block it!”
“Ghost Swarm!”
“…Hundred Thousand Explosive Blade.”
Kwahhh!!
However, the trio’s coordinated attack formed a perfect harmony, allowing them to pierce through the doll’s leg and manage their escape.
“But this actually fits well.”
It’s strange.
Though they can’t stand each other and are desperate to eat each other alive, their teamwork is on point.
I watched their dynamic movements with interest, while expanding my sensing range.
I expanded the sensing area while looking down.
‘…As expected. Is this all there is?’
I dealt with all the fakes operating in this vicinity.
The users who were already consumed lost their bodies and logged out, while the residents managed to retain only their souls and were resurrected outside the rift.
Fortunately, the preservation power wasn’t high in the magic’s shame, making it possible.
I moved as quickly as possible, but the number rescued was less than I expected.
‘At most, only about 40%. Neris was taken long ago, and too many other key rankers were consumed.’
Now, only those three remain nearby…
‘There should be one more. Where could it be?’
Currently, there are a total of four attacking the rookies.
Among them, the locations of the three imitating rookies are confirmed, but I have no idea where that ‘Doll Sorcerer’ is.
It doesn’t show up at all on my holy detection.
“I’m gonna die! Really gonna die!”
“Ah, come on!”
“Use your technique at least once while you’re talking!”
“Where’s the little doll in the middle of this?! Has it been taken already?”
“Didn’t it use the doll’s mount?! Why isn’t it doing what it usually does?”
Swoosh.
Boom!
“Is there even time to blame anyone…?”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
The sky darkened by magic.
In that sky, I soared, casting light, with my hand gripping the White Guardian for the first time in a while, swinging the hammer.
Wham!!!
The head of the doll, larger than a building, flew off.
From the neck area, the sorcerer, who was fainting, rose up with a massive magic surging above.
BoomBoomBoomBoomBoom!!!
“That’s why it felt strange not to detect anything.”
“Li, Lily?!”
“What’s this about, Lily?”
“How did you get here?”
The three approached, looking like they were alive at my sudden appearance.
But I blocked their advance with the hammer and summoned the Kraken’s Spear.
“There was a reason strong users disappeared first.”
“What, what?”
“Step back. You’ll die.”
A thrilling energy I hadn’t felt in a long time returned.
The clash of holy and magic continued, and the fainted Doll Sorcerer rose like a doll caught on a string.
“Ah. Ahh. It’s been a while since I’ve used a human body. It feels awkward.”
Thud!
“So you’re ‘her’?”
A demon race.
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