Ch.180175 – Beyond the Heavens

[Isabella Entweder vs Isabella Entweder]

[Map: Solitaire Village]

[Isabella Entweder has joined your team.]

[Capture strategic points to secure advantageous positions.]

“My true name is Isabella Entweder. Please kill my doppelganger.”

The proud voice rang out toward one hundred heavily armored knights.

“That is why I hired you all.”

* * *

Isabella Entweder was an arrogant woman.

The source of her arrogance came from her exceptional magical talent; she was the greatest prodigy in Solitaire Village.

At the age of ten, she had mastered the basics of earth magic, and by twelve, she had grasped the principles of fire magic.

By her twenties and thirties, Isabella had made a name for herself as a famous adventurer, to the point where everyone recognized her purple hair.

Having risen to the position of guild leader, Isabella Entweder hired one hundred mercenaries and declared a small war.

Her target was Isabella Entweder, who shared her name. She too was the greatest prodigy from Solitaire Village.

The one difference was that her doppelganger wasn’t a mage, but a sword wielder.

Clang-!

Swords crossed.

Even in this brief standoff, screams erupted from all directions.

I readjusted my grip on my sword and stepped back to continue my reconnaissance battle with the enemy Isabella.

A healer trapped alone among an army. If I can hold out a little longer, Kariri will lead my companions to rescue me.

“I can’t believe you actually sent an NPC alone to area C.”

The enemies had cleverly planned their strategy.

The initial distribution of personnel for capture points greatly contributes to the outcome of the game.

Of course, even though reversals happen frequently, whoever captures two points first will firmly hold the initiative for the next five minutes.

That’s why sending a healer with low influence but quick mobility alone as a scout has always been an effective strategy.

But the opponent had precisely predicted where I would go, and perfectly countered by sending an NPC.

Even if I abandon this place and join the center, the enemies are likely all gathered in area B.

“Your strategy was quite good. Only if one-on-one with an NPC were impossible.”

Stat-wise, it’s nearly impossible to win one-on-one against an NPC within the time limit. But if it’s just about stalling, that’s a different story.

“Where are you looking?!”

A flamberge with a wavy blade rushed toward my left side.

I deflected the sword with my short schiavona, then immediately swung diagonally toward her nape.

Isabella had quite good reflexes.

I didn’t flinch from her aggressive attacks, steadily parrying her sword strikes while maintaining a firm stance.

“Your struggle ends here!”

I suddenly recalled information that the swordswoman version of Isabella fought crudely like a street thug.

She raised her flamberge high above her head, intending to bring it down on my head.

I kept my eyes fixed on the trajectory of the sword without looking away.

From the moment swords clash, you must never take your eyes off the blade. This experience, honed over decades, was ingrained as instinct.

I barely dodged the attack. The two-handed sword grazed past the side of my head.

Despite the weight of the sword, Isabella wielded it with surprising freedom.

Her movements were as light as if handling a wooden practice sword, but judging by how the ground was being torn up, each strike carried real power.

“Lackey clinging to a doppelganger! Die here!”

From her perspective, our team’s Isabella was the doppelganger.

She had been holding the flamberge with both hands. Suddenly, she supported the sword with only her left hand and extended her other fist. It was aimed at my head.

She was supporting the recoil of a two-handed sword with just one hand.

Her relatively freed right arm sliced through the air toward me.

A confident smile flashed across her face, anticipating victory.

I didn’t like that look in her eyes or her smile.

I needed to remind her that nothing is certain until the outcome is shown.

I raised my left arm to guard my head.

I completely dropped the sword I had been holding.

“…!”

“If you’re going to switch to hand-to-hand combat, you should have fully committed to dropping your sword.”

Her obsession with not separating from her sword. What’s the point of showing off the skill of controlling a two-handed sword with one hand?

After all, she could only use one hand anyway.

And in hand-to-hand combat, fighting without both arms is like fighting with a sword that’s dull on both sides.

With my right hand, I grabbed her sleeve and pulled her arm toward me.

Even if she tried to bring the flamberge back, she wouldn’t be fast enough.

I twisted her wrist and pushed my upper body forward.

I hooked her leg where her center of gravity was concentrated, and rotated my body in a complete circle.

“Ugh…!”

In the brief moment our eyes met in mid-air, her expression showed disbelief that she was about to hit the ground.

Thud!

Using my back as the pivot point, she floated through the air and fell flat on the ground without properly breaking her fall.

Dust rose around the woman. The armor-covered body let out a groan.

Without time to catch my breath, I stomped on the end of the handle, flipping the sword upward.

I caught the schiavona as it returned to my hand and swung it wide.

Slash-

There was no resistance of cutting flesh.

Isabella tried to avoid the thrusting sword by rolling on the ground, but I was in no hurry.

Decisively, I identified the moment when her reverse movement would be caught, and stabbed the sword into her thigh.

She tried to curl up to avoid vital spots and even attempted to push me away.

“Stay down.”

Thwack-

I kicked her head with a skill-enhanced kick.

Isabella’s body staggered again. It was clearly a temporary knockout.

Her lanky body exposed vital points.

Carotid artery, ribs, solar plexus. Any would be satisfying to pierce.

“Go back to the respawn point.”

I mounted her sprawled body and drove my reverse-gripped sword down with my full weight.

[Critical!]

[Rule the World: Each consecutive hit adds 3% additional damage.]

[Current: 38 stacks]

[6964(1709+5255)]

[Red Team NPC has been killed. Respawn Time: 30s]

The notification that the enemy NPC had lost the duel spread across the entire map.

NPCs don’t know skills, you know. That was the fatal mistake of the enemies who sent an NPC against me.

How could I resist when they kept offering their body without breaking my combo?

Forgetting to farm, I defeated the NPC at level 1.

[Level Up! 1 → 3]

The system must be praising my achievement. My level even jumped up by 2 at once.

Since this was a game world, I wasn’t sweating, but out of habit, I brushed back my hair.

I flashed a quick V-sign at the observer camera broadcasting this scene, then picked up my sword again to defeat the remaining soldiers.

It’s not just my imagination that I, as a healer, use a sword more often than I should.

I shook off what appeared to be blood and moved on. I had only taken the first step toward grasping victory.

* * *

Isabella Entweder thought she had adequately explained why she needed to kill her doppelganger.

The two were fighting over the roots of Yggdrasil.

The last remaining “panacea.”

They were fighting with everything at stake to extend their lives, each defining the other as a doppelganger.

“Do you find my words amusing? I am your employer! You shouldn’t disobey orders so easily!”

Isabella burst out in anger.

However, the blonde woman listening to her continued walking ahead with an indifferent expression.

She was even deliberately ignoring her.

Isabella continued to protest.

In the first operation, she had asked six elite members to split into two groups of three to secure the hill and plains.

But when “NoName,” the party’s only healer, suddenly went to Nariel Swamp, it was exasperating.

“The results were good, weren’t they? Let’s fight well from now on!”

The ice mage “Daltori” tried to mediate the argument.

“Our NoName is such an amazing person. I think it would be fine to trust her a little.”

“Ugh… blegh… oppa, it really doesn’t suit you when you talk like that.”

“Ugh, what kind of concept is this again!”

Simshimman became immersed in role-playing, speaking in an untimely historical drama tone.

Daltori and Brownie’s expressions visibly soured as a bonus.

“This isn’t child’s play. Listen carefully. I’ve staked my entire life on this. For 30 years, I’ve lived in constant anxiety about how to burn that damn doppelganger to death! And now is the time to reap those results.”

Isabella’s eyes blazed. Additionally, flames shot up from her staff, representing her fury.

“She was weak.”

“What?”

NoName’s mocking laugh.

“I’m wondering how you haven’t managed to kill someone so weak until now.”

NoName commented, referring to her defeat of the doppelganger in the swamp.

The atmosphere grew tense again.

Han Yong-cheol tried to stop NoName, thinking there was no need to clash with an allied NPC like this.

“Hey, NoName, what’s wrong with you! Isabella, please give us the next order quickly!”

It was Yong-cheol’s desperate cry for a team victory.

“Don’t listen to her orders. I’ll give all the orders from now on.”

And NoName rebelled against the artificial intelligence.

Sparks flew between the two women.

“Are you defying your employer?”

“Does having the same face make someone a doppelganger?”

“What?”

“Never mind. Yong-cheol, it would be better to give this objective to the enemy. We’ll use that time to grow stronger on the opposite side.”

“What nonsense! You want to leave the enemy alone in such an advantageous situation? You’re actually a spy, aren’t you! A spy sent by the doppelganger! Everyone, don’t be deceived. We should fight right now!”

The algorithm for giving orders or responding to trolls varied by character.

And Isabella was among those with quite a temper.

The NPC strongly insisted that the blonde troublemaker wasn’t an ally, but for some reason, the response was cold.

“Our NoName has another brilliant idea! Isabella, stop being angry and just follow along!”

“It must be another order from the genius of the century! She surely has a plan behind her words.”

Isabella could only be bewildered as she watched the mercenaries turn away coldly.

She had always been praised as the continent’s greatest prodigy and had always lived up to those expectations.

Perhaps that’s why she wasn’t used to this kind of situation.

“But why…? Then what about Daltori?”

“I’m sorry, hehe. But following NoName’s orders has never been wrong so far.”

Even Daltori, who had followed orders best while attacking point B, sided with NoName instead of Isabella.

“NoName is an incredible genius!”

Isabella almost recognized all six members as trolls, but wouldn’t that be even stranger?

In such cases, she had no choice but to concede that she might actually be wrong.

“Well, let’s see then. How confident you really are.”

Isabella, rejoining the group, folded her arms and snorted.