Emotionless Swordsmanship Genius

Chapter 34: Miguel Mercenary Corps (3)

“Everyone, focus and surround the doppelgangers!” Erect shouted, snapping his mercenaries back to their senses. They quickly scattered and formed a loose perimeter around the hulking monster. From a distance, Karon and Shong continued to observe the battle.

“Hmm.” Karon pulled a piece of herb from his pouch, chewing thoughtfully.

The enemy they faced was no ordinary doppelgangers—it was a monstrous doppelgangers with a powerful aura. Even the most skilled mercenaries were at a disadvantage against such a foe, especially now that they were spreading themselves thin to encircle it. Their formation left gaps, making them easy targets for the doppelgangers to pick off one by one.

Krrrrrr!

As the mercenaries tightened the circle, the doppelgangers lunged toward one side with terrifying speed.

“Hold the line! Attack from the other side!” Erect barked, as his men scrambled to block the charging doppelgangers with their shields while the other side moved to strike.

Despite Karon’s expectations, the mercenaries showed some skill in handling the situation. However, their choice of target was unfortunate.

Thunk!

“Urgh!”

One of the spearmen who had gotten too close was impaled by the doppelgangers’s barbed tail, and within seconds, his body shriveled up as all his fluids were drained.

Thud!

The sight of the desiccated body hitting the ground made the rest of the mercenaries falter. Sweat dripped from their brows, and their hands trembled as fear took root.

The doppelgangers’s tail was constantly twitching, likely using it to sense its surroundings. It had no blind spots.

Things were even worse at the front line.

Clang! Shrrrk!

“Argh!”

The doppelgangers swung its bladed arms, slicing through the reinforced shields like they were paper. Several mercenaries were sent flying with just one swipe.

The formation crumbled quickly, and once the ranks broke, chaos ensued.

“Damn it! Linwood!” Erect shouted, drawing his greatsword from his back and charging in.

Linwood, attacking from the side, tried to distract the doppelgangers, giving Erect a chance to strike. Erect aimed his greatsword at the doppelganger’s thigh, hoping to slow it down and buy time for a retreat.

Whoosh!

Thud!

The greatsword struck, but instead of cutting deep, it barely left a mark, bouncing off the doppelganger’s tough hide.

Erect’s hands throbbed painfully from the recoil, as if he had struck a steel pillar. The doppelganger’s skin was far harder than he had anticipated.

The doppelgangers quickly retaliated, swatting Linwood aside with its tail before turning its attention to Erect. With its bladed arms raised, it prepared to strike him down.

Erect barely managed to block the blow with his greatsword, but the impact was so strong that he was sent flying, crashing into a nearby boulder.

“Ugh…” Erect groaned, struggling to get back on his feet. But as he stood, he saw the doppelgangers leaping high into the air, ready to come crashing down on him.

There was no escape. All of his strength, all of their strategies—none of it mattered against this monster. Despair set in.

As the doppelgangers’s bladed arms came down, Erect squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the end.

But the impact never came.

Confused, he opened his eyes slightly, only to see the doppelgangers walking past him, ignoring him entirely. It was as if something else had caught its attention.

Struggling to his feet, Erect rejoined his men, who were also watching the doppelgangers in silence. They couldn’t abandon their wounded comrades, so fleeing wasn’t an option.

The doppelgangers had turned toward the campfire where Karon’s black sword lay. It seemed drawn to the sword’s aura.

Krrrrrr?

The doppelgangers stopped in front of the fire, tilting its head in curiosity as it extended one of its bladed arms toward the sword.

Incredibly, the bladed arm transformed into fingers, as if the doppelgangers were attempting to grasp the sword.

Just as it was about to touch the hilt—

Swish!

The black sword, as if alive, darted between the doppelganger’s legs and flew back into Karon’s hand.

The mercenaries, who had been watching in stunned silence, now covered their mouths, wide-eyed and speechless.

“Good instincts,” Karon murmured to himself.

Since encountering the mercenaries, Karon had absorbed most of the sword’s dark energy into his body, leaving only a trace within the sword itself. He had done this to avoid drawing attention or causing any of the mercenaries to become ensnared by the sword’s aura.

But the doppelgangers had sensed that small remnant and been lured in.

Krrrrrk!

The doppelgangers turned toward Karon, its head making an unsettling grinding sound as it tilted, and began lumbering toward him with heavy, deliberate steps.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It closed the distance quickly, towering over Karon in no time. Its arms, once again sharpened into blades, crossed in an X-shaped slash aimed directly at him.

But the blades struck only an afterimage. Karon was already gone.

In a flash, a dark red streak of light sliced across the doppelganger’s leg as Karon moved with blinding speed.

The strike barely grazed the surface of the doppelganger’s calf. For an ordinary opponent, it would have been enough to sever the leg entirely, but this doppelganger’s hide was unbelievably tough.

Even the black sword, capable of cutting through steel, couldn’t penetrate deeply. This revealed just how formidable the doppelganger’s defenses were.

Karon’s swift movements had been repeated several times now, but despite his relentless attacks, the doppelgangers showed no signs of slowing down. Each cut left only shallow marks on the monster’s tough exterior, nothing close to a decisive blow.

The mercenaries couldn’t even follow Karon’s speed, watching in awe as he seemed to vanish and reappear, as if teleporting around the battlefield.

Krrrchhh!

Karon slid to a stop, dragging his feet against the ground. He hadn’t expected the doppelganger’s hide to be this tough, nor did he anticipate that it could detect the energy from his black sword, the Heukdo. It was one of the most difficult foes he had faced so far.

Thunk!
Schluuurrp!

The doppelgangers absorbed another doppelgänger’s corpse, and almost immediately, the wounds on its legs healed. At the same time, its feet transformed, the sharp claws widening and becoming more stable, likely to counter Karon’s swift assaults.

Karon’s frustration grew. This wasn’t going to end at this rate.

Then, the doppelgangers moved first. It attacked aggressively, using not just its arms but also its tail, driving Karon back with a relentless assault. The monster’s widened stance made it faster and more responsive to Karon’s evasive maneuvers.

Kshhh!

Every time Karon tried to close the distance, the doppelganger’s barbed tail lashed out, barely missing him. Its eagerness to capture the Heukdo’s energy was evident—it was fixated on the dark aura of the sword that Karon had briefly unleashed.

Karon felt a surge of annoyance building within him. Focusing all of his senses, he concentrated on his vision. Something strange began to happen. The energy he had gathered shifted toward his eyes, and his pupils slowly darkened to a deep crimson.

Dark red wisps of energy began to radiate from his eyes, leaving trails whenever he moved. His sclera became veined with black, as if his blood had turned into ink.

“If anyone saw me now, they’d think I really was a demon,” Shong thought as he clicked his tongue, watching from a distance. He glanced at the mercenaries, noticing they were all staring at Karon, wide-eyed, as if hypnotized.

Krrrggg!

The monster’s speed increased, but Karon’s movements had become even more remarkable. While the doppelganger’s range of motion was wide, Karon barely moved a step within its reach, effortlessly dodging every strike by mere inches.

“I can see it!”

In Karon’s enhanced vision, the doppelganger’s every movement seemed slow and predictable. Everything was laid bare before him—the vulnerable gaps between its scales, the intricate network of veins that pulsed with energy throughout its body, and most importantly, the concentrated core of power nestled deep within its chest.

But Karon could also feel the strain on his eyes. His body wasn’t capable of sustaining this level of perception for long.

“I have to end this quickly!”

His focus intensified as he watched for an opening. As the doppelgangers raised its arms wide, Karon saw it—a brief parting in the armor-like scales on its chest, revealing the pale, vulnerable flesh beneath.

Without hesitation, Karon darted left, drawing the monster’s right arm in an attempt to strike him.

Thuck!

Karon planted his left foot hard into the ground, propelling himself back to the right at the last second. His muscles screamed in protest, but he gritted his teeth and ignored the pain.

Swish!

The doppelganger’s blade-like arm skimmed his shoulder, leaving a deep gash, but Karon didn’t falter. He had already closed in and thrust the Heukdo directly into the monster’s exposed chest.

Thud!

The blade pierced through the doppelgangers, the dark energy of the sword extending outward, tearing through the doppelganger’s core with a single, clean motion.

Though the act was superhuman, Karon remained as calm as ever.

Kreeeek?!

The monster froze in place, its body trembling as the concentrated energy within its chest unraveled. Karon withdrew the sword, and a torrent of green liquid gushed from the wound.

The doppelganger’s body began to turn ashen, spreading from the chest wound outward. Its flesh dried and cracked, breaking apart like brittle clay. Karon quickly backed away.

He recalled a similar doppelganger from the harbor city that had exploded violently after death.

“Ka-ron!” Shong rushed over, pulling off his cloak and holding it out in case of another blast.

But no explosion came. Instead, as a gentle breeze blew through the clearing, the doppelganger’s body disintegrated into fine dust, scattering into the air. Something small and shiny dropped to the ground where it had stood.

“Huh? It just turned to ash?” Shong muttered, sounding disappointed.

Karon approached the spot where the doppelgangers had crumbled. Shong followed closely behind.

Standing before the ashes, they both peered down at the object left behind.

“There’s something here,” Shong said, shaking off the remaining dust with his cloak.

As the last remnants were swept away, a small black orb remained, etched with strange, arcane patterns.

“No way… Is that an evil orb?!” Shong gasped, covering his mouth and quickly scanning the area to make sure no one had heard him.

Luckily, it seemed the mercenaries were too far away to catch what Shong had said. Meanwhile, Karon bent down and picked up the orb without hesitation.

“Hey! Don’t just grab that with your bare hands!” Shong exclaimed, panicking as Karon inspected the orb, seemingly unfazed by any danger.

Staring blankly at Karon, Shong muttered under his breath, “You really might be a demon…” He then noticed the green liquid from the monster splattered across his cloak.

“Hey! Did you wipe your sword on this? This is a valuable cloak, you know! And what about your shoulder? That’s a pretty nasty wound,” Shong said, holding up the stained cloak and pointing to Karon’s still-bleeding shoulder.

Karon tucked the black orb into his pocket before glancing at the wound on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the mercenaries—including Erect—watched in stunned silence from a distance, their minds reeling.

The Miguel Mercenary Corps had been a well-regarded, respected group across the empire, known for their skills. Yet here they were, moments from being slaughtered by a monster they couldn’t even scratch. And this young man, who had killed the doppelgangers in a single strike, stood before them, calmly bickering with his companion as if nothing had happened.

Erect felt his face flush as he recalled how arrogantly they had treated the two earlier. His head spun, his thoughts a mess.

“What have I done? Who are these people?”

They were clearly no ordinary travelers. In fact, they might be some of the most powerful warriors in the entire empire, if not the continent.

Suddenly, Shong’s voice broke through the haze of his thoughts.

“Hey, do you guys happen to have any bandages?” Shong asked, waving casually.

“Y-yes! We do!” Erect shouted back, snapping to attention.

TL NOTE: Rate us on NOVEL UPDATES