Chapter 180 - Doppelgänger (5)

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The doppelgänger charged, kicking off the ground after unleashing its battle cry.

Now I understood how that apprentice knight had felt when he fled the arena without a thought for his dignity.

So that was what I looked like...

'No wonder he ran.'

With its Threat stat boosted by [Wild Outburst], merely looking at it gave me goose bumps. Combined with that enormous frame, its presence was almost violently intimidating.

First, I needed to match its size.

「The character has cast [Gigantification].」

「The character has cast [Wild Outburst].」

We were at eye level in an instant. I braced my lower abdomen and shouted with all my might.

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!!"

The original battle cry. No mere doppelgänger could match it.

Covering my upper body with my shield, I dashed forward. The doppelgänger did the same.

Our shields met with a deafening crash like two dump trucks colliding.

KRAAASH!

As expected of a doppelgänger, there was no difference in our strength. Our next moves matched perfectly, too.

「The character has cast [Swing].」

「The doppelgänger has cast [Swing].」

Our maces crossed in perfect mirror images.

KRAAASH!

Another explosive crash shook the ground.

What was this, a fight between giant monsters?

At this rate, we could fight all day without settling anything. But there was one crucial difference between us.

My teammates.

'Getting lucky with your team is a skill, too.'

Magical support arrived without me having to give an order, mostly curses with relatively short casting times. Within seconds, the other me had its Strength, Agility, Physical Resistance, and other stats reduced.

Flustered, the doppelgänger stammered at me.

"Y-your... mom!!"

Huh? A your-mom insult? Now?

The unexpected line made my mind go blank for a moment.

CRASH!

By the time I snapped out of it, the doppelgänger's mace was pressed against my shield. A fraction slower, and it would have buried itself in my head.

"You crazy doppelgänger bastard!"

I quickly collected myself and fought back. Apparently, it had even copied my habit of fighting dirtier the worse things got...

I really couldn't let my guard down against this opponent.

Myself.

WHOOSH!

While it blocked Mister Bear's bolt with its shield, I brought my mace down on its shoulder. A fountain of blood spurted from its mouth.

'Did it bite its tongue?'

What an old trick.

It was one of the moves I'd anticipated, so dodging wasn't a problem. After all, it was exactly the sort of thing I would do.

Especially if I were losing.

HISSSS.

The acidic blood splattered uselessly onto the ground and bubbled. Misha let out an impressed exclamation.

"Wow, how does it act exactly like you, nyah?"

What was she talking about?

"Stop watching and help already."

"All right, nyah."

Misha and Aynar joined the front line. To save time, I grabbed its mace and locked my arms around it from behind.

With it restrained, all they had to do was drive a sword into its head.

"KIEEEEEEEEEK!!!"

Wearing my face, the doppelgänger let out a shriek like nails on a chalkboard. Misha flinched and froze.

It didn't last long. But just as she readjusted her stance and thrust her sword...

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!!"

A battle cry erupted behind us.

It wasn't Aynar's. Deep as her voice was, it still sounded different from an actual man's.

"Bjorn!!! There are three Bjorns now!!!"

Seriously, why were they only copying me?

* * *

The second doppelgänger had already used [Gigantification]. Covering its upper body with its shield, it charged like a beast and broke our formation.

I called it the (True) Shield Charge.

"Don't try to block it! Dodge!"

Taking my heartfelt advice, Misha and Aynar fell back without complaint.

It was a shame we hadn't finished this one off yet... but what could I do?

This was my punishment for absorbing an Ogre Essence and becoming a damage-dealing tank.

「The doppelgänger has cast [Swing].」

Aynar blocked its mace with her greatsword and was sent flying backward. It was rampaging like Lu Bu himself.

I wondered whether I should intervene now, but...

"Mr. Jandel, keep handling that one! We'll take care of this one ourselves!"

For now, I decided to follow Raven's orders. Surely they wouldn't lose four against one.

I focused solely on keeping my original doppelgänger occupied.

'Ugh, this is so annoying. Why is it so damn tough?'

The curses gave me a huge advantage, but ending the fight quickly enough to help the others was another matter. Damage-dealing or not, I was still a tank.

It was much like pitting two trolls against each other: the fight would never end.

'Might as well watch, then.'

Half resigned, I switched to spectator mode.

Honestly, it was fascinating.

"Damn it, why won't my sword go in, nyah?!"

"That's Bjorn for you!! A great warrior!!!"

It was overwhelming both melee damage dealers on its own.

Mister Bear's ranged support? Not even bolts fired with the insane draw weight of his oversized crossbow could penetrate its shield.

Raven's magic fared little better.

FWOOOOSH!

A Flame Barrage poured forth as the melee duo retreated. The timing was so perfect that even the doppelgänger couldn't evade it and was engulfed in flames.

But...

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!"

The other me charged straight through the fire, swinging its mace.

She'd picked the wrong spell. Fire Tolerance was my highest resistance after Physical Resistance, and I'd already gotten my Mana resistance build reasonably well established.

"... I never imagined he was this strong."

Mister Bear let out something that wasn't quite a groan. He'd fought alongside me all this time, but facing me himself apparently felt very different.

Raven felt the same way.

"Why is someone like this still rank six?!"

Because from rank five onward, you had to build up your Guild merit score.

My teammates were getting beaten up, yet somehow I could feel myself puffing up with pride.

I'd really gotten strong.

"Mr. Jandel, don't just watch. Say something! Don't you have any weaknesses?"

I wouldn't call them weaknesses, but there were things they could exploit. A guide to fighting Bjorn Jandel, if you will.

Still wrestling with the doppelgänger I was keeping occupied, I gave them the essentials.

"Misha, Aynar! Don't slash! Only thrust!"

[Iron Leather] quadrupled Physical Resistance against slashing attacks. Against opponents of a similar level, that effectively amounted to immunity.

"Avman, aim exclusively for the legs!"

My lower body was also more vulnerable than my upper body. I hadn't bought armor for it yet. My arms were bare, too, but covering my upper body with my shield was easy.

"Immobilize it first, then? This really is like hunting a giant monster."

"Right. It has no regeneration, so don't try to kill it in one go. Wear it down. Raven, use lightning magic, not fire!"

Cold stopped bleeding, while many wind and earth spells counted as physical damage. Lightning, on the other hand, dealt elemental damage, with plenty of spells focused on penetration and burst damage. It was the best choice.

'... I'm actually telling my teammates how to fight me.'

It felt strange.

Still, my advice seemed to work. The battle gradually turned in their favor, and the doppelgänger dropped to its knees with seven crossbow bolts sticking out of its legs.

"... An absolute monster."

"Agreed, nyah. I never want to fight him again."

Even with victory assured, my teammates shuddered in revulsion. Listening to them made even me feel a guilty twinge.

A large part of their reaction came from the fact that the doppelgänger had copied my temperament, too.

It fought like a complete lunatic.

"Look at it. It's still trying to stand. What kind of person does that?"

When it bled, it sprayed blood. When both hands were occupied, it bit. If an opportunity to trade blows arose, it spotted it unerringly and charged in, sacrificing bone to take flesh.

It did absolutely anything to survive, and it was still at it.

"Mi... sha..."

The doppelgänger gazed at Misha with pleading eyes. Unable to win in a fight, it was making one last attempt on another front.

I chuckled despite myself.

Come on, you idiot. You think that'll work—

"H-huh?"

"I... l-like... you..."

"R-really, nyah?"

Oh. It did work...

A despicable move exploiting Misha's feelings.

Tightening my hold around my own doppelgänger's neck, I heaved a deep sigh.

"Haa... What are you hesitating for?! Kill it already!"

"W-wait! I have a question, nyah!"

Flustered, Misha waved her hands, then looked seriously at the doppelgänger and asked it one question.

"B-b-but why did you turn me down back then, nyah...? If you like me."

She stared at the ground, embarrassed even as she asked.

"Oh my, oh my!"

Raven's eyes lit up at the sudden romantic drama.

Had that drawn its attention? Instead of answering, the doppelgänger looked at Raven.

"R-Raven..."

"What, me this time? What do you want to—"

"I... like... you..."

"...?"

Raven's face twisted into a bizarre expression at this second confession.

"Um, Mr. Jandel...?"

Self-loathing washed over me.

Just how low could I sink?

"... Ignore it. It's saying that because it wants to live."

"So you're the sort of person who'll confess to anyone if it means surviving, Mr. Jandel?"

Uh, not exactly...

Or was I?

I simply admitted it.

"... Looks that way."

I figured admitting it was better than inviting unnecessary misunderstandings.

But even as we talked, the doppelgänger bastard's gaze was moving elsewhere.

Toward Mister Bear.

"A-Av... maan..."

You crazy doppelgänger bastard!

"I-I like—"

Thankfully, it never finished the sentence. Mister Bear put a crossbow bolt right between its eyes.

THUNK!

The finishing blow that preserved my last shred of dignity.

"Let's pretend I didn't hear that... No, I didn't hear anything."

My friendship with Mister Bear would last forever.

* * *

Our first doppelgänger battle ended. After killing one, we all ganged up on the remaining one and finished it off.

Oh, Misha landed the final blow, by the way.

["Mi... sha...?"]

Cornered, the doppelgänger bastard tried the same trick again, but Misha's mental defenses were fortified with rage.

["Die, you damn barbarian bastard!!!"]

She drove her sword into the face that looked exactly like mine, wearing an expression of relieved stress.

["..."]

I just kept my mouth shut.

Technically, I hadn't done anything wrong... but when something felt off, keeping your mouth shut was always best. At least that way you wouldn't step on a land mine.

One of the survival methods I'd learned while dating my ex-girlfriend.

["Eggfried!! There's no magic crystal!!"]

The doppelgängers dissolved into light along with their equipment, leaving no magic crystals behind. There was only one actual doppelgänger in Doppelgänger Forest: the final boss.

Everything we'd killed so far was merely a lesser copy summoned with [Autoreproduction].

["Let's keep moving, then."]

We continued exploring and hunting doppelgängers. They usually appeared one or two at a time. Once, three appeared together, but that fight was easier than the first.

Because none of them were me.

["Finally, a fork."]

After about half a day of traveling, the straight passages finally ended. The path split into five branches.

That meant we'd finally reached the center.

["We can encounter the other teams from here on, so be careful."]

To elaborate, we could now encounter not only doppelgängers of ourselves, but those of the other teams as well. It was fair to say the difficulty had risen sharply.

Few opponents were more troublesome than enemies you knew nothing about.

'... Please let them be around our level.'

With that thought, I followed the branch Raven chose.

How much time passed after that?

Unfortunately, we couldn't find the hidden-piece room I'd been searching for. Instead, we encountered an unfamiliar explorer.

A slight man standing around 160 centimeters tall.

"State your name. Otherwise, we'll assume you're a doppelgänger and kill you."

At Raven's demand, the man removed his hood.

The distance and darkness made it difficult to make him out clearly, but the moment I saw him, I felt a sense of déjà vu. Along with an inexplicable unease.

'Why?'

As I pondered that, the man opened his mouth.

"...s, Chri... sen..."

The doppelgängers' characteristic halting, idiotic speech.

I'd suspected as much because he was alone, but that confirmed his identity.

"Mr. Jandel, please handle this one alone."

"To analyze it?"

"Yes. We don't know what the real people are like, do we? We should learn what we can in advance. I'll help immediately if you're in danger."

I'd been thinking much the same thing, so I followed her instructions without objection.

All the while, the doppelgänger kept muttering like a broken tape.

"I... am... not... a doppel... gänger..."

I approached slowly, shielding my upper body.