Cradle of Delusion (2)

One thing became clear to me.

However, it wasn’t yet time to be certain.

Uncertain orders cause confusion in the party.

For now, let’s focus on the enemy in front of us.

It’s not an enemy weak enough to allow for idle thoughts.

My foot stepped deeply into the guardian’s range.

The dual swords swung at high speed.

I dodged one and parried the other at an angle, blade against blade.

Technically, I had the upper hand. Using the guard part of the sword as a lever, I twisted and forcibly opened the defense.

Perhaps due to earlier influence, the upper defense had become solid.

Then I just need to aim for the lower part.

I crouched low and aimed for the instep.

Slipping to the side, I scraped the shin and threw a hidden weapon towards the eye.

Fortunately, apart from the parts covered in armor, its defense seemed humanly vulnerable.

[The paralytic poison effect is ignored due to the enemy’s racial trait.]

As expected, poison doesn’t work?

Well, it would be strange if such an inanimate object were affected by paralytic poison.

A greatsword flying around the boss came swooping in diagonally.

This trajectory seems like a greatsword warrior’s skill… Just before my calf, which couldn’t escape in time, was about to be stabbed.

I rode the shadows towards the dagger I had thrown earlier and regained the rear position.

The spot I stabbed earlier has armor that’s too thick.

But not all parts are that sturdy.

A position avoiding the near-black armor.

That is, just below the nape of the neck.

I aimed for the direction where the sternocleidomastoid muscle would be in a human.

It’s an effective hit.

I intended to scratch the upper body in an X-shape, but the armor caught in the middle, preventing further accumulation of damage.

After retreating to avoid the counterattacking dual swords, I kicked off the ground and closed the distance again.

[A party member is preparing the high-level magic ‘Superheating’.]

[Warning: Move away from the target point. You may receive fatal damage.]

[Caster: Elderin]

“Adaptation rate 36.45%”

“High-level attack magic detected. Deploying forced dispel field.”

[The dungeon’s mana source generates an intense wave.]

[Skills using mana cannot be used.]

[Remaining duration: 9.87 sec]

The magic Elderin was trying to use was forcibly canceled.

It’s like losing a stronghold we were relying on.

In this case, it’s better for me to retreat as well.

Of course, that’s if it lets me go.

The dual swords aiming for my instep get stuck in the floor.

Somehow, I felt a sense of déjà vu from its skill in targeting the lower body.

Instead of pulling out the dual swords, the guardian took out and gripped a new dagger from somewhere.

From lower left to upper right. A thrust from the opposite side.

A low kick to disrupt balance, followed by- a dagger extended from where my sight can’t reach.

I managed to dodge somehow, but I’ve already retreated dozens of meters.

‘This is troublesome. One mistake and it’s over.’

Should I call this fortunate?

A familiar figure appeared behind the guardian.

The kind-faced berserker. It was Uncle Dulgul’s backup.

Great. Let’s receive Uncle’s backup and jump to the ceiling.

Blur the vision once and then charge in again.

─No. This is the wrong answer.

“No. Don’t come, Uncle!”

“…?”

The guardian retrieved its dagger while preparing for the next attack.

The figure that was about to bare its fangs at me disappeared like a lie.

As if being sucked into a shadow.

It was the shadow movement of an assassin- all too familiar to me.

Where it popped out again was the sword it had stuck in the floor earlier.

The guardian, now at the rear, stabbed both sternocleidomastoid muscles of Uncle Dulgul.

The crossing daggers that followed were an attempt I couldn’t achieve.

An X-shaped wound appeared on the broad back, and to finish it off, a dagger went into the side.

That too was what I had intended to do earlier.

[Party member ‘AbujidolgulrokaYou’ has died.]

This confirms it.

The guardian’s AI is imitating me.

With specs far superior to mine.

* * *

It’s truly an unpleasant trick.

The guardian went beyond copying my movements and started to resemble me.

Its large body shrank, swaying long, thin hair.

Of course, the ashen body mimicked my clothes, fluttering.

“Adaptation rate 50.00%”

“2nd class guardian. ‘Uncle’ deployment authorized.”

“Battlefield partition. Initiating extermination of highest risk entity.”

The wide battlefield was divided in two.

A glimpse of the second one. And walls rising to separate me from my party members.

A field with just the two of us was created as more walls were erected to confine me.

The guardian twirled a dagger between its fingers, staring at me with lifeless eyes.

What an insolent thing.

How dare you look at me with those eyes?

“Fine. Let’s do this. I’m curious how much you’ve copied me too.”

How many chances do you get to fight yourself in life?

It should feel strange.

I felt so stifled I wanted to tear out my throat.

The familiar dagger flashes its blade.

The opening aims for the top first.

It’s a trick to obstruct vision with the hand while attacking.

In this game, it usually doesn’t work well because of the difference in build.

But since the opponent is the same size as me, the hand blocking my view was quite annoying.

Anyway, it’s playing the game dirtily, that one.

[You receive the ‘Delusion’ effect.]

[Damage received from the guardian increases in proportion to stacks.]

Debuffs started piling up at the bottom of the interface.

The content seemed to blatantly induce defensive play.

The original gimmick must be for the outside party to accomplish something while I tie this one down.

Perhaps because of this, the status of party members wasn’t updating here, and even chat messages weren’t coming through.

Judging by the fact that I couldn’t hear voices either, it seemed the voice channel was blocked too.

A one-on-one combat state completely cut off from the outside.

It might have been troublesome for someone else, but for me, it was rather fortunate.

Because what it copied was me, of all people.

Assassins are originally much stronger in multi-way battles.

Surprise attacks are more deadly in chaotic battles.

Unlike us where Elderin or Sansae could be targeted, on their side, the assassin itself is the boss.

It was better to settle things with me here.

…Wrong.

My honest feelings weren’t like that.

There’s no need to lie to myself when no one’s watching.

“Adaptation rate 67.54%”

As soon as the distance closed, we both took exactly the same stance.

The daggers in our right hands crossed. Simultaneously twisted wrists shallowly cut each other’s backs of hands.

As droplets of blood scattered in the air, spikes shot up from the floor.

The spikes were avoided with slight posture changes.

Spikes that surged up through armpits, sides of the neck, and between legs barely missed drawing blood by a finger’s width of difference.

In other words, it meant the attack wasn’t over yet.

Both of us seemed to have the same idea as we swung our daggers relentlessly.

As the dagger glanced off, it aimed for the fingers.

The moment the opponent’s gaze turned to the blade tip, I changed targets and kicked at the ankle.

The result was a failure. We ended up clashing shins while having exactly the same thought.

“Argh!”

The rising pain is not ordinary.

It’s unfair indeed. My body isn’t that hard.

Don’t pretend to be me when you’re not even the same.

I feel sick.

My insides are burning like a furnace, like I’m about to spit out black ashes.

The hand using exactly the same grip as mine is unpleasant.

The breath when we briefly faced each other. The eyes that look for the opponent’s opening first even if it seems like a blade will enter their own body.

The sticky obsession seeping from the knife work, so desperate to win.

The trajectory of the ashen dagger gave off an unpleasant smell.

A damp and musty smell like you’d find in a decades-old building.

It was natural since it was born in that dark and cramped space.

Something that should have died crushed.

It writhes, desperately trying to live.

So ugly. Like an insect.

“Disgusting.”

It was like looking at a pest that wouldn’t die even after being stepped on.

Perhaps it was like a viper with one part of its body crushed.

A dying snake, ridiculous in its drooling of horrible venom from its mouth.

Did it think it would become a dragon?

That it could someday become like those shining people up there.

How stupid.

What was so good about me, I wonder.

You knew nothing would change.

You knew that even if you won the tournament, everything would go back to how it was as time passed.

You decided to treat it as if you had a sweet dream.

“Adaptation rate 85.3…? Anomaly detected. Performing recalculation.”

“Adaptation rate 42.6%”

My body moved in an almost instinctive realm.

I pressed down from above to deflect the hand trying to stab my lower abdomen.

The dagger immediately changing its grip. It intends to graze my wrist.

Not yet. I thrust my blade first.

The day I won the Arena.

I ordered a webcam with my own money.

I bought an expensive, good one.

I hoped my face, seen for the first time, wouldn’t be too ugly.

I didn’t spare any expense for one that would show a clear and bright screen.

I groomed my body neatly and cleaned my room in advance.

Yes. If it doesn’t work in the game, I can broadcast in reality.

Fortunately, my body seems to be very pretty.

Maybe Elderin and Sansae’s fuss gave me courage.

When I picked up the box containing the camera, my heart was pounding.

But in the end, I couldn’t take it out.

I didn’t have the courage for that.