As Red’s breath cleared, the scene revealed was just as expected.
One of the summoned spirits had thrown itself to save the Deviant, taking the blow from my Cursed Blade in her stead.
Paralysis spread, and the spirit’s body, growing ever more rigid, crumpled to the ground, only to be shoved aside by the Deviant’s hand.
Seeing her treat the spirit that had just risked itself for her in such a way made my brow furrow.
‘What a filthy feeling.’
Maybe it was because the spirit looked exactly like one I once took in—my disgust doubled.
“Where did you go?!”
Perhaps thinking I was still floating somewhere in the air, the Deviant threw back her head and looked skyward.
Hidden in shadow form, I silently emerged right behind her.
At the same moment, I reached out and clamped my hand over her mouth.
Then I forced something into her mouth.
“Ugh, gah!”
It was a modified skill, compressing Black Mist into a dense mass, small enough to fit in a fist.
Startled by my sudden appearance and the forceful intrusion into her mouth, the Deviant struggled fiercely.
Because of that, the Shackles of Darkness were starting to unravel.
Still, the Deviant was bound for now, unable to do anything against my attack.
The spirits charging in to save the Deviant were being blocked by others—spirits that looked exactly like them.
I lowered my head slightly and whispered in a low voice into the Deviant’s ear.
“Hey, do you know who wins when two people have equal strength?”
“……!”
“The one with more experience.”
Bound once again by the Shackles of Darkness she had just broken free from, she glared with wide eyes.
‘Up until now, all she’s done is slaughter monsters easily.’
As the Deviant broke free from the Shackles of Darkness again, I melted into shadow form.
Her rage-twisted face vanished in the blink of an eye as she looked down at the ground.
It seemed she had used shadow form as well, just like I did.
I immediately summoned Bisharp, and as soon as I exited shadow form, I leaped onto his back and took flight.
Not to be outdone, I saw the Deviant chasing right after me.
[Master! Let me take out that fake!]
Grinding his teeth, Bisharp glanced back and shouted furiously.
I shot a glance at the face of the spirit identical to Bisharp and replied,
“When I jump off, turn around and attack right away.”
After whispering that into his ear, I immediately jumped off Bisharp’s back.
It was a considerable height, so the Deviant, unable to follow me instantly, stared at me with wide eyes.
Just then, Red swooped in at high speed and caught me.
If we hadn’t fought together many times in the dungeon, it would’ve been hard for our coordination to be so perfect.
Even without me saying a word, Red instinctively flew in the direction of the Deviant.
While the Bisharps were locked in combat, she teetered dangerously on her back, biting her lower lip.
Her complexion was already starting to pale.
The Deviant seemed to hesitate for a moment, then hurled herself downward just as I had done.
I saw the fake Red, having seen what we did, flying toward her to give her a ride.
But there was no way I’d let things go as she wished.
“Get that one.”
Just like Bisharp, Red was desperate to catch her fake and gleefully charged toward the fake Red.
[Kiaaak!]
Red opened her jaws, clamping down on the fake’s neck, and slammed it into the dome’s translucent wall.
“Kyaaaa!”
A sharp scream from the Deviant echoed from behind.
I didn’t miss the moment Red smashed the fake into the wall and leaped through the barrier.
[Skill, ‘Shadow Form,’ is being cast.]
Turning instantly into shadow, I rushed toward where the Deviant was falling.
I had expected one of the spirits to throw themselves to save her, so as I moved, I prepared my next attack.
“Sahin!”
On the Deviant’s side, Sahin leapt up with agile movement, caught her in midair, and landed below.
Seeing the grateful expression on the Deviant’s face and the fake Sahin was intensely unpleasant.
‘No matter how many times I see it, it pisses me off.’
Each time I saw spirits identical to mine risking themselves for the Deviant, my mood soured.
Recalling Sahin’s abilities, I tried to think of a way the fake would be unable to counter me properly.
At that moment, I noticed an invisible spirit moving among the battling ones.
‘Tebeo!’
Tebeo, a monster specializing in hallucinations, was so huge that summoning it for this kind of battle was usually impractical.
Maybe that’s why the Deviant hadn’t summoned Tebeo either.
‘She probably never considered calling it out unless she had a truly large space. Instead of using Tebeo’s hallucination skill, it would be faster to just kill directly.’
Still, even I had once mistaken the inside of Tebeo’s body for a dungeon, so it was perfect for imprisoning spirits.
If they couldn’t escape the hallucination inside, it was even better.
If even the Deviant got swallowed and succumbed to Tebeo’s illusion, it would be much easier to deal with her.
[Tebeo.]
Without releasing my shadow form, I summoned Tebeo.
[Swallow that fake and the girl.]
Tebeo erupted from the ground, jaws wide, and in an instant swallowed them both.
I thought the Deviant would dodge quickly, but to my surprise, she was caught.
‘A few months of dungeon raiding doesn’t even count as experience.’
Even when the gate had first opened here, it had been the same.
Even Ban Eunhyul, who became S-Rank and top-ranked, and Yeon Ha-yeon, didn’t have impressive combat skills at first.
They had more battle experience from before awakening, so they adapted faster than others, but it still took time to use their new powers freely.
No matter that the Deviant had the same power as I did, this was why she could never beat me.
I’d been through countless battles since my time in the other dimension, but for the Deviant, it was only a matter of months.
‘In many ways, she can’t use the power she’s been given to its fullest.’
It was clear she didn’t really know how to use her powers properly.
She just rushed in with brute force, spammed skills, and used spirits to attack.
She should still have all my memories from before the possession, but she was clumsy in using skills.
Even with the memories, her body hadn’t internalized the experiences.
[What’s happening inside?]
I approached Tebeo, who now occupied about a third of the dome.
Seeing that things were quiet, it seemed like they still had a way to go before escaping.
[I’m showing them hallucinations.]
“Both of them?”
[Yes.]
I nodded and glanced around.
With spirits of equal strength fighting one another, the inside of the dome had turned into utter chaos.
The dragons were ferociously battling their fakes, and the Stones crashed and pounded each other.
Only the fake Sahin, now swallowed by Tebeo, was no longer fighting and stood by my side in dignified silence.
“Aren’t you going to help the others?”
[It’s a matter of pride. Each one wants to beat their own fake, one-on-one, to be satisfied, so I’ll step back.]
“Hmm, is that so.”
[How do you plan to deal with those inside Tebeo?]
As I pondered Sahin’s question, one of the others, who had refrained from chatting for fear of distracting me, sent a message.
[Focus(1): Get rid of them along with Tebeo. That’s the surest way -_-]
As soon as I read the chat, I glanced at Tebeo.
It was true—the quickest way was to eliminate Tebeo along with the Deviant, while she was still trapped in hallucination.
It bothered me to attack Tebeo, who was following my orders and showing the hallucination after swallowing the Deviant and the fake Sahin.
But only up to a point.
Just because I was uncomfortable, I couldn’t miss such an opportunity.
While I hesitated to consider other methods, people outside continued to die.
After just a few seconds of thought, I decided to accept Ban Eunhyul’s advice and stroked Tebeo once.
“Sorry.”
As if it understood my thoughts, a vine from Tebeo’s body wrapped around my hand and gently pushed it away.
That seemed to be the signal to attack.
[Skill, ‘Black Cloud Flight,’ is being cast.]
[Skill, ‘Black Mist,’ is being cast.]
[Skill, ‘Cursed Blade,’ is being cast.]
I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them and began my attack on Tebeo.
It wasn’t long before Tebeo’s body, made of solid earth, began to collapse downward.
Bisharp and Red finished it off with their breath.
Bound tight and lost in hallucination, it was nearly impossible for anyone inside to dodge such an assault.
I walked slowly through the ashes of Tebeo.
When a spirit died, it vanished on the spot, so there was no way to find the fake Sahin.
As Tebeo’s ashes began to dissipate, the space he’d occupied came into view.
I moved, scanning for the Deviant.
That’s when a chill ran down my spine, an ominous feeling wrapping my entire body.
“If the Deviant died, the quest clear window should’ve popped up by now.”
The status window that should’ve appeared still hadn’t.
Before me, Tebeo’s ashes were disappearing, but there was no sign of the Deviant.
This was a battle with the fate of the dimension on the line, but I hadn’t been this tense—I’d been sure of victory.
Swallowing dryly, I braced myself and focused, trying to sense the Deviant’s presence.
Suddenly, I felt something surge up from behind, and an all-too-familiar voice whispered in my ear.
“You didn’t think about resurrection, did you?”
Thunk—a sharp pain pierced my back.
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