Chapter 228 – Witch Hunt (3)

Edora’s head rolled on the floor.

Plop—

Yeon-woo remained calm in a situation that anyone else would freak out in. Edora’s head stopped next to some pebbles.

Edora’s body was still standing. Blood didn’t spurt from her head. Just then, Edora’s eyes came to life, and she smiled.

“Oraboni. That’s not fair. Striking a weak girl like me with a sword. I didn’t know you were like this. I’m disappointed.”

With those words, her body and head scattered into the fog, and a new form appeared in its place.

Black mask and black clothes with Vigrid. It was like Yeon-woo’s reflection in water.

However, the aura from him was different. Rather than being pleasant, it was vicious.

“A doppelganger?”

“So you know me? Most people don’t.”

The doppelganger was busy giggling. As it did, Yeon-woo’s eyes darkened.

A doppelganger was a monster that imitated others. Because it doesn’t have its own mind, it continued to mimic others, hoping to become complete by killing who it copied.

However, it also had the desire to become stronger, so it couldn’t stay as one being for too long.

So Vieira used this aspect of the doppelgangers, saying that she could make fun experiments using this.

Vieira Dune did all kinds of experiments to collect doppelgangers. What she mainly tested was ‘learning.’ Doppelgangers usually lost all collected data when they switched over to a new personality. It was to prevent the confusion between identities.

However, Vieira Dune continued to store this data.

The reason why a doppelganger continued to change was to have its own identity, and she collected the recorded data to use it in another way.

If it worked, the doppelganger would be able to continue growing while absorbing the abilities of others.

That being seemed to fit the description in the diary.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

‘It’s a test subject.’

Even after it changed from Edora to himself, the being didn’t change much. Rather, it was exuding the aura of having multiple souls. Yeon-woo glanced around at the corpses around him.

Their faces were all filled with shock and confusion. They had already been overwhelmed from the Ghost World Formation, but it seemed like it had become worse after meeting a doppelganger.

‘How many of them are there?’

There would probably be plenty of Vieira Dune’s test subjects around the Brocken Castle.

If beings like this were around, it wouldn’t be easy to enter the castle in the center. A lot of clans would suffer from this.

It was amusing. He had expected Vieira Dune to have done all kinds of things to protect the castle, but nothing like this. He had definitely made the right decision to make all the clans move.

“What are you thinking about?! You dare to be distracted in front of me?”

The doppelganger frowned, its pride hurt. As it did, it spread its wings of fire and started to spew out a wave of heat. It had the same property and movements as Yeon-woo. It had mimicked him in that short time.

Kwang!

The doppelganger kicked up into the sky, flying towards Yeon-woo.

But Yeon-woo just smirked.

“Shanon.”

Checheche—

Suddenly, Yeon-woo’s shadow stretched out, and Shanon appeared with his sword breaker.

Clang!

The doppelganger’s sword was futilely blocked by Shanon. The sword breaker, wrapped in darkness, didn’t move an inch.

Just when the doppelganger’s eyes widened in disbelief—

[What should I do?]

“Capture him. There’s a lot to find out.”

[Sure. Hehe!]

Shanon laughed lightly, swinging the sword breaker. Clang. With the pure sound of metal, the doppelganger’s sword was easily swept away. Shanon rapidly closed the distance between them, stretching his left hand out to grab its collar, and pinned it to the ground.

Kwang!

The ground sunk.

The doppelganger struggled to escape, but because of the sword breaker that landed on its chest right after, it was fixed to the ground like a skewer.

“H, How?”

[That’s all you amount to. Isn’t it?]

Even if a doppelganger had copying abilities, there were limits. The only reason why the doppelganger had reigned as the strongest was because of the Ghost World Formation.

However, Yeon-woo wasn’t affected in the slightest by it. The doppelganger couldn’t even copy his powers, so of course it would fall behind.

Furthermore, Shannon was a Death Noble – stronger than most monsters. His level was different from a mere doppelganger.

[I hope you last longer, buddy.]

Shanon laughed darkly, splitting the doppelganger in half.

“Keaacckk!”

The doppelganger shouted in pain. But Shanon just laughed maniacally and swiped at the being.

The doppelganger’s body continued to restore itself, but Shanon repeatedly ripped it up. Meanwhile, Yeon-woo gave orders to Boo to set up a barrier so the witches couldn’t observe them.

[Hahahaha!]

Shanon’s lunatic laughter became louder. His demonic energy slowly crept into the skin of the being, amplifying the pain. Usually, being able to heal itself was a blessing to monsters, but it was nothing more than a curse right now.

[Haha!]

‘I think his personality changed a bit.’

Yeon-woo was deep in thought as he watched Shanon. Even though Shanon seemed flippant, he actually had a serious side to him.

He had never seen Shanon like this before. Had he changed after becoming a Death Noble? If it was a change for the worse, he would have to interfere. But nothing was certain yet, so he decided to observe further.

“Please…..!”

The doppelganger eventually surrendered.

[Tsk. What the heck? It was just getting fun. Can’t you take it a bit more? Haa.]

Brrr—

At this moment, Shanon seemed crueler than his owner in the doppelganger’s eyes. It looked at Yeon-woo with pleading eyes.

Yeon-woo uncrossed his arms and slowly approached it.

* * *

Yeon-woo learned a lot from the doppelganger. The ‘Seal of Restraints’ was on it in case of betrayal, but that was easily taken care of by Boo.

When the last of its binds were untied, the doppelganger told them everything so he could die as fast as possible.

It knew quite a lot, from how the canyons were formed, the weaknesses of the Ghost World Formation, methods to escape the fog and find your way, to information about Walpurgisnacht.

It was only a test subject, but it had seen many things during the time it lived in the Brocken Castle.

However, that was all it knew. It didn’t know about the details.

“So you don’t know how to break the Ghost World Formation?”

“B, Because Pataya is in charge of the territory, I, I don’t know…..so please…..!”

It didn’t look like a doppelganger anymore in its condition. Its body was ruined like a broken doll. All it could do was open its mouth. It begged to be killed now that it had spoken about everything, but—

“Wait.”

Yeon-woo cut him off.

“W, What…..”

“You said Pataya, right? Is she around here?”

“Y, Yes!”

The doppelganger instinctively knew this was how it could die comfortably, and it quickly shouted before Yeon-woo could change his mind.

“B, Because there are so many intruders! She said it was an e, emergency! Pataya’s in change of getting rid of as many intruders as possible using the Ghost World Formation!”

“Is she watching us right now?”

“She’s probably b, busy focusing on the Elohim right now!”

“Is that so?”

Yeon-woo stroked his chin.

Like D’arc and Margaret, Pataya was one of the first witches who created Walpurgisnacht.

Her ability was clairvoyance. Usually, she watched things through her crystal and supported those on the front lines.

It seemed like that was the case this time as well.

Yeon-woo had confirmed that Ione and the rest of the Elohim had entered the Ghost World Formation. Pataya would definitely have her plate full taking care of them. It meant that it was the perfect time to attack her from behind.

“Where is she?”

Thankfully, the doppelganger was linked with Pataya, and it knew her general location.

When there wasn’t anything more to learn, Yeon-woo turned to speak to Shanon.

“I’m going to use it for Sesha to test, so tie it up and put it inside Intrenian.”

Sesha was absorbed with research about alchemy these days. She would like this if it was given to her as a present.

[Hehehe. I’ll even decorate it nicely with a ribbon.]

“W, Wait! You said you would kill me if…..!”

The doppelganger shouted with a pale face. However, Yeon-woo just smirked.

“When did I say that?”

“Shit! You son of a bitch! You! You won’t be comfortable in death…..!”

“I already know I can’t go to heaven when I die, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Accck! S, stay away!”

The doppelganger squirmed in Shanon’s hands, but it couldn’t do anything. Yeon-woo called Hanryeong and Rebecca while its screams were ringing out.

“You guys heard, right? Save the others according to what it said.”

[Yes, sir.]

[You’re going by yourself?]

Rebecca asked with a concerned face. The first witches were so powerful that even most rankers didn’t touch them.

But Yeon-woo just grinned and shook his head.

“She’s only skilled in magic; she’s nothing in battle. Also—”

His eyes flashed icily.

“I’m not weak anymore.”

* * *

“Shit…..!”

Pataya pulled her hair out looking at the crystal. Her sisters had always been jealous of her silky hair, but it was tousled badly right now.

It was because of the images in the crystal. The crystal reflected was happening in the canyons. And of course, the canyons were a mess.

Most people were taken care of with the Ghost World Formation and the doppelgangers, but the problem lay with those who weren’t.

The Red Dragon, the Elohim, the Devil Army, the Sea of Time…..all the Large Clans, and several high rankers.

They were after the Red Dragon as well as the Emerald Tablet.

When the quest suddenly popped up, players continued to flow in. It was because the Red Dragon released the coordinates.

Because of that, she was going crazy as the person in charge.

The cores that made up the Ghost World Formation were being destroyed, and all the test subjects and chimeras that were protecting the castle were being massacred.

The young witches and first witches were dying out, and it seemed to be a matter of time before the castle walls would be broken through.

She was blocking them off, but she couldn’t do a 10-person job by herself, so she needed to find another way.

‘Margaret is headed for the Red Dragon and D’arc said she would go for the Sea of Time…..’

Different strategies flashed through her head.

‘The problem is the Elohim.’

For some reason, the Elohim was working harder than the Red Dragon. It was of utmost importance that they were taken care of.

Just when she clenched her teeth, Pataya instinctively looked back in surprise from the uneasiness she felt. She was met with two will o’ the wisps. They were horrendous will o’ the wisps that caused shivers to go down your back just by looking at them. Her face paled.

A dagger flew at her. Puk!

“Kuck!”

She rolled on the floor from the chest-splitting pain. The tablet fell over, and the crystal cracked as it hit the floor.

Yeon-woo was coldly smiling on top of her body, burning the will o’ the wisps above his eyes.

“How…..?”

She had definitely closed this area off with magic. Pataya couldn’t believe it had been broken through. Also, she should’ve felt his presence.

[Extrasensory Perception – Synchronization]

[Shunpo]

Yeon-woo used the two skills to hide his presence. With Boo’s black magic added on top of that, no one would’ve been able to realize he was approaching.

Unless it was a high ranker with impeccable senses, it was impossible to sense him.

“I have a lot to ask, but you probably won’t answer them, right?”

“Just kill me!”

“I will.”

“What?”

Yeon-woo swiped Pataya’s neck with the Magic Bayonet. Pataya’s eyes widened because she didn’t think he would just kill her, but her life ended there.

Then, Yeon-woo absorbed her corpse and soul with the Bathory’s Vampiric Sword.

As he did, most of her vestige came over. There were things about the general situation of Walpurgisnacht, and information about the Brocken Castle and Ananta.

Yeon-woo soon frowned.

‘Ananta is locked underground in the castle?’

So that was why she hadn’t contacted Brahm recently. She was caught by Vieira Dune.

The good thing was that she was still alive. But her condition was critical. They needed to find her fast.

‘Boo. If you learn anything else, let me know right away.’

[Yes. Sir.]

Boo had regained most of his abilities as a witch doctor. Because of that, he could control souls extraordinarily. There was no need to torture them like before.

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo moved to his next prey, as quietly and stealthily as possible.

He couldn’t be caught.

If he continued to go up, he would arrive where Vieira Dune and Ananta were.

Whoosh—