Chapter 7 – Doppelganger

Chapter 7 – Doppelganger

It wasn’t too late.

Although they were buried under the concrete pile due to a strong explosion, the lives of the two women could be saved.

“Please hide here for a moment.”

I whispered to the woman.

“I’ll distract him.”

It was, of course, to reassure the woman.

Then, I moved the concrete debris and headed outside.

Carefully clearing the concrete debris so as not to hurt the two of them, I provoked him with a trivial taunt.

‘Because I was the one who reported him to the police.’

The result.

He was glaring at me with a look full of hatred.

“I’ll kill you!”

In the end, Seo Gwangjin, unable to hide his emotions, charged at me.

He was a simple, easy-to-read guy.

However, I wasn’t without problems either.

‘I’m a little short on mana…’

I had overextended myself by pouring all my mana into creating the Magitech Armor, and then again by expending recovering mana to quickly approach this location.

Furthermore, I had even deployed a Mana Shield to protect myself and the two of them from the explosion, so the lack of mana was unavoidable.

But there was no problem. Seo Gwangjin must have also expended a considerable amount of mana in the recent explosion.

‘That’s not how you use it.’

It wasn’t good to just detonate everything foolishly like Seo Gwangjin. An Explosion Ability user could become incredibly powerful depending on how they used their ability. Of course, I wouldn’t teach him that.

For now, we just had to engage in close combat with no mana. And when it came to close combat, I had my ways.

I casually picked up a steel pipe lying on the ground and held it between him and me.

It was a stance as if wielding a sword.

He flinched at my refined stance, then sneered.

“Just because you’re wearing armor, you’re pretending to have learned swordplay!”

It wasn’t a pretense; I had actually trained in swordplay before the regression, but someone with so little combat experience like him wouldn’t know that.

But what’s the point of telling him?

“Come.”

If I showed him, it would only be for The Man.

“Alright!”

Clang-clang-clang-

Seo Gwangjin approached at high speed.

He had no mana, but it was thanks to the Mutant’s powerful physical abilities.

And The Man, the moment the guy’s swinging grip and my Steel Pipe met, a strong impact reverberated around.

Bang!

I immediately parried the Steel Pipe and plunged it into his shoulder.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Seo Gwangjin gasped, surprised.

‘Not the shoulder.’

The Man, every time we exchanged blows like that, I would poke around The Man’s body, trying to guess the location of the core.

Clang! Clang!

And The Man, when I stabbed his right thigh-

Screech-!

“Ugh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

The guy screamed loudly.

Bingo. Anyway, with my perfectly Castle-equipped abilities, it didn’t really matter where the core was.

Because with overwhelming Firepower, I could simply attack his entire body, and later, with the even more upgraded Observation Probe, I could read the flow of mana and pinpoint the core’s location in an instant.

But for now, The Man, I just silently and persistently stabbed his thigh.

The Man, each time, he would let out a monstrous Castle-like scream as his vital point was gouged.

“Ugh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh!”

“Ugh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!”

***

‘What kind of crazy guy is this!’

Seo Gwangjin trembled, repeatedly feeling the shock of his Loyalty core being attacked throughout his body.

‘This can’t go on!’

He thought he was just a fool in Knight Armor, but after a few exchanges, the man immediately found his weakness and was persistently stabbing only that spot.

At first, he scoffed when the man held a Steel Pipe like a sword, but now he felt fortunate that it was a Steel Pipe.

‘If that were a real sword, I would have died several times already.’

Thinking of death, Seo Gwangjin trembled with fear.

Only the core needed to survive.

Then, he could plan for the future.

‘I’ll shake this guy off somehow!’

Seo Gwangjin exerted such strong force that his entire body’s muscles seemed to necrotize, shaking himself off in an instant and throwing himself forward.

Thudding-

And… he started to run.

‘Monsters, help me!’

Meanwhile, he sent a signal with his remaining mana, drawing nearby Monsters with Fire Manipulation. Since he had so little mana, there wouldn’t be many of them, but he hoped they could at least hold that armored guy back for a bit.

***

Meanwhile, I snorted, watching Seo Gwangjin run away.

“So it comes to this, huh?”

At that moment, the Observation Probe, watching everything nearby from the air, sent a warning that Rake Wolves were approaching from the surroundings.

‘He even drew in Monsters.’

It was just laughable.

Whoosh- Clang!

“Squeak!”

Sending the approaching Rake Wolves away with a single blow, I began to follow Seo Gwangjin.

The Man briefly turned his head to check behind him, and was even more shocked to see that the Rake Wolves were of no help whatsoever.

No, he would never have imagined that they would actually be helping me. My Worker Bugs had been steadily approaching this location, and there were about three of them in the immediate vicinity.

Squish-Squish-

They immediately extracted the Mana Stone from the fresh Rake Wolf corpse and delivered it to me.

“Good, well done.”

“Ding!!”

I fed The Man Mana Stone to the Magitech Armor, instantly boosting the mana recovery rate that was slowly becoming overwhelming.

‘At this rate, a simple form transformation should be possible.’

Then, using the mana that was starting to surge, I began to pour mana into the Steel Pipe I was holding.

Creak-Creak-Creak-

What I was doing now was not the Machine Creation Ability.

It was simply applying the principle of material form transformation when summoning a machine, to change the pipe into the shape I desired.

Swoosh-

As a result, the Steel Pipe transformed into a rather plausible One-Handed Sword. While overly complex shapes might be difficult, such a simple shape was entirely possible.

“Good.”

Then I started running after Seo Gwangjin.

* * *

Seo Gwangjin ran steadily.

“Huff, huff.”

He was starting to get out of breath, but he couldn’t stop. If he turned his head, the Armored Knight was right behind him.

“How long is he going to keep following me?!”

The one in armor was faster, but fortunately, the Rake Wolves bought him a few seconds each time, allowing Seo Gwangjin to barely avoid being caught.

However, fortunately for Seo Gwangjin, the Armored Knight seemed to have even lost the Steel Pipe he was holding, and was struggling against the Rake Wolves.

“Good, he must be tired now!”

He was just as tired.

It was when The Man turned his eyes to the Armored Knight one last time, and then looked forward again. A man he had never seen before was blocking The Man’s path, holding a shimmering blue sword.

“W-what is it?”

Of course, Seo Gwangjin was annoyed by the man blocking The Man’s path, but The Man thought this:

‘I shouldn’t fight now. I just need to pass by.’

His life was in danger at the moment.

There was no reason to fight with an irrelevant commoner.

No, The Man thought so.

“What do you mean ‘what is it’, I’m the son of a bitch you’ve been looking for.”

Until he heard The Man’s voice.

Thrust-

A One-Handed Sword pierced the core of The Man’s thigh.

“Ugh!”

Seo Gwangjin heard The Man’s voice and realized that it was the same person as the Armored Knight. But the Armored Knight should have been behind them. He looked back with a confused expression.

‘I wasn’t wrong.’

The Armored Knight was still far behind. He was just now finishing off the Rake Wolves and approaching.

But how did this person get in front of him?

“H-how in the world…”

The Man couldn’t understand this situation.

“Ugh, ugh.”

He was just dying.

* * *

Watching the dying Seo Gwangjin, I searched his core.

Because the Mutants’ Mana Stone was quite large and had high purity. As I skillfully probed his thigh, his Mana Stone revealed its form.

“Ah, there it is.”

A satisfying acquisition.

With this, I would be able to become even stronger.

“The Man, anyway, I can’t believe he’s so good at escaping.”

After chasing him for what felt like an exhausting eternity, I eventually chose to throw my Magitech Armor as a decoy, then personally flank and kill Seo Gwangjin.

Although I took a slight risk, it was better than letting Seo Gwangjin escape. In hindsight, I was glad I had summoned the Magitech Armor.

“Now, there’s one last thing left to do.”

It was a good opportunity to try to recruit a Water Ability User.

***

When I returned to the house where the battle had taken place, the two people were staring blankly at the ruined house with expressions of despair.

“Ah.”

Seeing me return, the two looked at me with a hint of welcome, but they couldn’t quite smooth out their furrowed brows.

Nevertheless, they hadn’t forgotten their basic gratitude.

“Uh, thank you, sir.”

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, young man, it would have been a disaster.”

“Not at all. I heard a loud noise as I was passing by and came to check it out. I’m glad I could help.”

At my reply, the man sighed deeply, then poked the Rake Wolves scattered on the ground with his foot and asked.

“Sir… is the armor part of your ability?”

“Yes. I’m really glad it’s an ability that helps in combat.”

“Ahem, I really envy you… especially in a world like this…”

It must have been a very difficult situation.

It was already a tumultuous area designated as a Redevelopment Zone.

On top of that, monsters appeared and indiscriminately attacked people, and they were also attacked by Looters.

In other words, it was a situation where military power was desperately needed.

That’s why I deliberately talked about my abilities being suitable for combat. People naturally look for a place to lean on when they are in a difficult situation.

Moreover, having lost their home now, it was clear they wouldn’t have anywhere proper to go. To add a bit of conjecture, that’s probably why they remained in the Redevelopment Zone in the first place.

“What are your plans now, both of you?”

“About the Man…”

The Man sighed deeply, as if there was no clever solution.

‘If I’m going to do it, now’s the chance!’

I cautiously began to speak.

“Um… both of you. If you don’t mind…”

?

“I have a temporary place nearby. It’s nothing grand, but I can provide water, food, and a roof.”

“Is that, is that really true?”

“The world is chaotic these days, and I couldn’t just pass you by. You can stay until you find your next residence.”

In other words, it was, ‘Just come.’

The situation was going to continue to worsen anyway.

The people who had experienced the worst of the worst were bound to reach a point where they couldn’t be sure of their survival in no time.

Of course, I wasn’t simply doing charity work.

The sooner I recruited a Water Ability User, the easier it would be.

In other words, in a way, we both needed each other.

“Is that, is that really true?”

“Yes, of course. Would I joke about something like this? Haha.”

The Man, having heard my firm tone, seemed to ponder for a moment. Then he sought agreement from his Daughter, who was listening beside him.

“Um, my dear… Su-a, is it okay?”

“Hmm… It’s embarrassing, but it seems we have no other choice. I’m sorry, but we would appreciate it even if it’s just for a short while.”

‘Yes!’

It hadn’t even been a few days since the Awakening, and I was already quickly gaining a Water Ability User as a companion. It was enough to thank Seo Gwangjin.

Meanwhile, I decided to seal the deal completely.

“There’s no need to apologize. But my temporary residence is… quite humble, so please understand.”

But ‘just for a short while’…

I’m sorry, but that will never happen.