Chapter 816

What the hell was going on?

The Doppelganger couldn’t help being baffled. Dying the moment it came back to life was one thing. It had even expected to put up little resistance.

Its limbs had been bound, and Jin Taekyung was stronger than any human it had ever seen.

But there was one thing it couldn’t understand.

What is this?

He wasn’t getting tired. He just wasn’t.

More precisely, whenever he seemed to be tiring, he was suddenly fine again. Even the Doppelganger, sick to death of experiencing death, was starting to curse.

“What kind of fucking bastard is this……?”

Slice!

Before it could finish, a flash of light. A spearhead, driven with precise force and speed, cut across its Adam’s apple.

One life faded, and another life and its memories—absorbed long ago—filled the empty space.

What kind of bullshit is this?

The Doppelganger came back to life after a brief moment of pain, its eyelids twitching. A spearhead was already flying toward it.

Whoosh!

A lightning-fast strike.

But this time, the Doppelganger had no intention of going down so easily.

A moment ago, it had been a middling B-rank Hunter. With this resurrection, it was a genuine A-rank Hunter.

One of the top twenty rankers in France, no less.

Jean the Swift.

Recalling the nickname from the memories it had absorbed, the Doppelganger stepped onto the ground with feet that felt unusually light.

Swish.

A breeze skimmed past its chest by a hair’s breadth.

Its form wavered like a heat haze, then appeared several meters¹ back. A relaxed smile spread across its lips. It had dodged without difficulty.

“From here on, things won’t be so ea—”

Shwhack! Thunk!

A streak of Finger Qi pierced the space between its eyes. Having died without putting up a fight after all, the Doppelganger blinked as it came back to life.

Huh? That’s not right.

It hadn’t even seen what hit it. At least Jin Taekyung had stopped attacking for a moment, for some reason.

“Huh? What was that just now?”

At the sight of him asking in apparent surprise, the Doppelganger felt sure of itself.

Of course. That last hit must’ve been pure luck.

From its perspective, the conclusion was only natural.

The Hunter whose life it had just used had ranked among the best in his country. An assassin-type Hunter whose speed had earned him the name Jean the Swift. If he’d decided to dodge from the start, even Michael Silbert would have found him a nuisance.

No matter how special Jin Taekyung is, he can’t be that far above Michael Silbert.

But the Doppelganger had no idea what Jin Taekyung’s question had really meant.

Jean Pierre? Who’s this guy, and why is he worth so much EXP?

He’d never heard the name. The Hunter world might be small, but he couldn’t know every foreign Hunter by name unless they were famous worldwide.

Anyway, thank you. Rest in peace.

Jin Taekyung offered his thanks and condolences to the Hunter who’d been absorbed, then raised his lowered spearhead.

That was enough respect for the dead. What he needed to do next was already clear.

Before even more people were sacrificed, he had to copy the EXP—no, completely erase the Doppelganger.

“No time to waste. Let’s get one more death in.”

Thrust! Crack!

“Gah……!”

With a final cry, another flame of life went out.

The Doppelganger had died more than two hundred times in less than ten minutes. Unease began to show in its eyes.

This can’t go on. I underestimated him.

The Doppelganger had greedily devoured countless lives. For more than thirty years, it had absorbed human souls, memories, and powers across the world, becoming something close to immortal.

Its ability was unique even among the countless kinds of monsters in the Demon Realm.

But the Doppelganger knew exactly where its limits lay.

I’m not completely immortal, and I can’t combine the powers I’ve absorbed into one.

A fire dies when it runs out of wood. Thousands of different fragments could be joined together, but they could never become a single whole.

It was an extraordinary ability. But not when measured against the rare few born to wield absolute power.

Like the one who had sent it to this world.

Until every part of the plan is complete, I must never come face-to-face with the target.

Whump!

Its vision went black. Another death—how many now?—cut off the voice echoing in its mind.

Cough.

The Doppelganger came back to life in pain, regret passing over its face.

I should never have gotten close to him.

The reason for its failure was clear.

For more than thirty years, the Doppelganger had enjoyed a freedom it had never known before. After Cheon Taemin disappeared, it had manipulated the world from the shadows.

That freedom and power had gone to its head.

In the Demon Realm, it had been bound to someone else. Here, it was a king in all but name, able to accomplish anything it set its mind to.

The more arrogant the Doppelganger became, the less weight it gave to its orders—and the heavier its own complacency grew.

Michael Silbert?

Even he was only a servant and a tool. His obedience was commendable enough, but when the time came, he would be discarded like any piece that had served its purpose.

The plan had taken a long time to prepare. Now it was only one step from completion.

And yet……

Damn it.

Slice.

Something hot cut across its chest. Pain it still couldn’t get used to seized its whole body.

Hoo.

As death gave way to life again, the Doppelganger let out the breath that had been cut short.

The moment it opened its eyes, someone’s fist filled its vision.

Thwack.

Its vision swam. Only when it came to again did it realize its head had been smashed apart.

It took an involuntary step back and slipped on the brain matter it had spilled moments earlier.

“Internal energy’s wasted on a bastard like you.”

Jin Taekyung’s voice reached its ears. He sounded so calm it was chilling, and the chill stole the Doppelganger’s breath.

A foot slammed down on its chest with tremendous weight and took what little breath remained.

Crack! Crunch! Splatter!

Darkness. Light. Darkness again, without pause.

In fractions of a single second, the Doppelganger died and came back to life several times.

Even freed from its restraints, it fared no better. If anything, a wider variety of deaths and agonies awaited it.

Why? Why the hell?!

It screamed its anger and regret in silence.

Only now did it truly understand its master’s command not to meet the target before the plan was complete.

This man…… is different.

He was unlike any human it had absorbed over the years, or any it had watched from afar, licking its lips while taking care not to draw attention.

No. He didn’t seem human at all.

Just like Cheon Taemin.

Whoom! Boom!

With a heavy rush of air, an open palm struck its chest. The force shattered its bones, and the heat within the blow burned its organs.

Cough.

The Doppelganger spat out dead blood and looked at Jin Taekyung through dimming eyes.

Jin’s face blurred as its vision darkened, but the powerful aura pouring from his body was clearer than anything else in the world.

“The C-Chosen One……”

The words slipped out like a groan. Its head drooped limply.

Jin Taekyung’s fist shot toward it like a mace to deliver another death—then touched its forehead as lightly as a blade of grass.

Tap. Fwoosh!

The wind swept around them, unable to keep up with the speed of his punch. Jin Taekyung’s cold gaze settled on the Doppelganger’s new face.

“What did you just say?”

“……!”

The Doppelganger swallowed. It had let the words slip without meaning to. Its consciousness had grown hazy through the endless deaths and resurrections of those few moments.

“I didn’t say anything……”

“Really?”

Grab. Crack!

Before it could finish, its vision went black.

It had lost count of its deaths. Less than half the countless lives that had filled its body remained.

The Doppelganger opened its eyes amid bedrock shattered along with its skull. Regret had given way to fear.

Fear of death itself.

At this rate…… I’ll be erased.

Its life was not infinite. To survive, it had absorbed the life force of others and burned it like firewood, just as its kin had once done.

And they, too, were erased forever.

There had been a time when the Doppelgangers held sway over the Demon Realm. But after long years and a brutal purge, it alone had survived out of hundreds of its kind.

That was why “Doppelganger” had become the name of a single being—and why it was called “The Final Abyss.”

I can’t—I can’t be erased. I have to survive!

The Doppelganger gritted its teeth and opened its eyes. New life force and mana filled its body, along with the abilities of the human it had absorbed.

Vrrrrm.

Mana gathered around its fist, coating it in a faint aura. The Doppelganger sprang to its feet and drove a punch toward Jin Taekyung’s face.

Whoosh!

The thunderous rush of air came a moment later. A hard, thick palm blocked its fist.

No—it squeezed it.

Crack.

“……!”

Pain nearly wiped its mind blank.

Its fist had been crushed like tofu. And once again, there was no escaping death.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Whoom! Boom!

The world turned upside down. Its consciousness returned with a crash loud enough to burst its eardrums.

The Doppelganger revived in the center of a small crater and immediately kicked off the ground.

Away from Jin Taekyung.

I’ll survive. Somehow!

It had long since forgotten shame. Jin Taekyung was the “Chosen One” its master had spoken of.

The Doppelganger drew out every bit of power this new life had given it and launched itself away.

Pop!

Its blurred form shot through the air.

Or tried to.

As it took its second step, a streak of light flashed toward it.

Slice!

Its headless body slammed into the ground. Several meters¹ away, the Doppelganger came back to life, only for a lightning-fast strike to cleave down over its head.

Fwoosh!

A fountain of blood burst from its body, split in two.

Jin Taekyung didn’t stop. His heated spearhead cut through the air again and again.

Shh-shh-shhk!

A flash of light cut across its tilting body. Its limbs, chopped into dozens of pieces, hit the ground—and immediately began to grow back at a terrifying speed.

“Gyaaaah!”

The Doppelganger roared as it revived amid that gruesome death. Pain still lingered, gnawing at its senses like insects.

If Jin Taekyung had just used up a considerable amount of internal energy with that last strike, the Doppelganger had to sacrifice a dozen or more lives.

Now it understood. To escape Jin Taekyung, it would have to spend even the lives it had been saving.

Fwooooo.

Vast mana poured over both its hands. Looking at a face he seemed to recognize, Jin Taekyung muttered like a groan:

“Siegfried Bassmann?”