I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 70

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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70
Three hours had passed since they left the Main Base for Enemy Territory.
Pitter-patter.
The clear sky had darkened with clouds, and rain began to fall in thin, steady streams.
‘Another Artificial Rain.’
Beyond the curtain of rainfall, the shapes of the Lizardmen emerged into view.
Their own numbers weren’t insignificant, but the enemy looked to number at least a hundred. This wasn’t good.
In raw count, their side had more bodies, but when you factored in natural strength and weight class, the disadvantage was obvious.
‘Should have whittled them down more in that forest back then.’
Regret, no matter how quick it came, always arrived too late.
The battlefield they’d arrived at—less by agreement than by mutual default—was a stretch of open plain, the kind rarely found across all the Great Forest.
The Lizardmen had avoided the thick brush; the Goblins had steered clear of the marsh. This was what remained.
Behind him, countless Goblins stood silent, gripping nothing but their weapons.
Gone was the bravado of moments before departure; now there was only the visible strain of tension.
In films, this was where a commander usually stepped forward and said something. Reality offered no such ritual.
Everyone already knew.
In moments, many of those standing before them would be dead.
And among them might be themselves.
There was no need to voice what everyone understood.
The weight of it was seeping into his own chest.
‘…At first glance, none of them look particularly threatening.’
Which meant something extraordinary was bound to emerge at any moment.
‘Then I suppose it’s time.’
Already at the front line of the battlefield, he stepped forward one pace further.
They couldn’t simply stand catching their breath forever.
And thinking about it, if anyone had to say something here, it should be him.
“You know I’m not one to hesitate here, right? Let’s go. Time to discipline those lizard bastards.”
He’d left Snig behind in Bigo, afraid he might catch a stray blade and die—no interpreter in tow.
But this time, action spoke faster than words.
Because he was already drawing the Nocturne and charging at the enemy.
“Kyruruuu—!”
The Goblins answered first, following him forward, and soon the Lizardmen rushed to meet them.
“Shaaaack—!”
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Over a thousand warriors combined struck the earth in unison, and the entire Grove trembled as though a small earthquake had passed through it.
And then.
Crash—!
Goblin and Lizardman.
A war staking the fate of two races had begun.
* * *
All around, in every direction, the clash of steel and screams filled the battlefield.
“Kaaaah!”
“Shaaak!”
Blades struck shields, spears and arrows sought scales and hide.
Yet in all that chaos, Roga and Garak recognized each other with perfect clarity.
“That one is mine! No one else lay a hand on him!”
Garak turned toward Roga, his face twisted into something like a smile.
From the opposite side, Roga had already turned toward his brother. His expression was different.
“So you managed to survive after all, little brother.”
“Brother…!”
“That craven Roga, looking like this now. I suppose he’s finally earned the name of warrior. Impressive, isn’t it?”
What would he say next time they met? Should he ask if it wasn’t too late to turn back together, to face judgment and beg for mercy?
Would his brother listen if he asked? And if he didn’t? What then? Would he have to cut him down? Could he even do it?
Thoughts chained one to another, a spiral that had tormented Roga until now.
He’d wanted desperately to meet his brother again, but when the moment came, he couldn’t grasp what he should say.
Yet the instant he faced his brother, Roga’s doubts shattered. In that moment of confrontation, he found his answer.
“Clan Traitor Garak. I will end you with these hands.”
The younger brother Roga vanished from that place.
In his place stood only a warrior, a red marking inscribed upon his chest, his own path held within himself.
“‘You’ to your brother? What, a few scars and a mark or two and you think you can match me? Fine then—let me teach you your place.”
The brothers rushed at each other almost simultaneously, neither waiting for the other to move first.
Clang!
Their attacks collided in midair, each aimed at the other’s life, sending sparks flying.
‘Tch…!’
Garak pressed his relentless barrage forward without a shred of hesitation, as if genuinely intent on killing his own brother.
Roga managed to block the strikes, but only barely—with each parry, he was forced back another step.
Since leaving Si Hyeon’s side and escorting Naru home, Roga had faced death more than once.
After earning the Red Marking on his chest—a debt he was repaying in his brother’s stead—he had ventured into every treacherous place he could find, fighting enemies and rescuing his kinfolk with his own two feet.
The Roga who had once trailed behind Si Hyeon like a shadow and the Roga of now shared only a name; they were goblins so transformed that they seemed almost different creatures.
And yet the gap in raw power remained.
For all the real combat experience Roga had gained in recent days, it still fell short of bridging the chasm between him and Garak.
Of course, Roga was not simply taking the beating.
“Ha!”
Using his small, nimble frame to his advantage, Roga burrowed into his opponent’s guard.
Roga landed a clean strike with his signature technique, one that even Garak could not entirely avoid.
Slash!
A long cut opened across Garak’s forearm.
Garak glanced at the wound with what looked like surprise, then smiled toward his younger brother.
“Well now. Impressive. A creature who couldn’t catch a single insect in all his days, and in mere days you’ve become this…? What a waste, burying such talent under that docile nature of yours.”
“Seems you’ve got plenty of breath left to brag despite a few scratches on your arm. This is just the beginning. We’re only getting started.”
“That’s the spirit! That’s how it should be!”
Garak’s assault resumed, fiercer than before.
Until now, luck had been on Roga’s side, but this time he could not defend against everything.
Thrust!
Garak’s blade drove into Roga’s left shoulder.
“Gah!”
“But you’re still not ready for your older brother.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Garak twisted the blade and pulled it free.
Blood poured from Roga’s shoulder in a torrent.
“Hiss! Death comes!”
In that instant, a single Lizardman burst into the duel between the two brothers.
It lunged with its razor-sharp spear toward Roga, who was already staggering backward from his wound.
But the spear point never reached him.
Clang!
“You! Did I not say this one is my opponent!”
“But that one….”
Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Faced with Garak’s fury, the Lizardman flinched and retreated.
‘…He saved me?’
Roga stared at his brother in confusion for a moment.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
Garak charged at him again immediately.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
The assault grew even more vicious than before.
“What are you doing? Where’s that resolve of yours to strike down your brother? All I see is you running!”
Clang! Clang!
Roga could barely deflect the blows, let alone mount a counterattack.
His shoulder throbbed with pain, and his sword hand felt as though it might tear apart at any moment.
Thrust!
This time the blade found his thigh. The instant Roga’s eyes lost track of an incoming strike, Garak’s steel bit deep into his leg.
“I’m sorry, but it seems this is where it ends. Don’t resent me, Roga. You chose this path.”
Garak raised his blade high.
The moment that sword came down, Roga’s life would be forfeit.
Whistle!
An arrow suddenly flew toward Garak.
“Hup!”
As Roga dove clear of the shot, three goblins emerged from the chaos to form a protective circle around him.
“Roga!”

All of them were people who had once been saved by Roga.
“How dare these wretches…!”
Garak unleashed a furious assault, thwarted just as his objective lay within reach, but even Garak couldn’t manage three opponents alone.
Spears and blades, punctuated by arrows that kept whistling through the air.
With Roga and Garak at their center, the Red Marking goblins surged forward, while from the opposite side, Lizardmen poured in.
In an instant, dozens of soldiers tangled together between the two forces.
“Garak! You must fall back! At this rate, we’ll be surrounded!”
Garak’s gaze flickered toward the voice.
“Tch…!”
He carried the burden of command.
He couldn’t abandon it to chase after his brother.
“We’re falling back. Clear a path!”
Under the cover of Lizardman soldiers, Garak retreated, his eyes finding Roga across the chaos.
His younger brother, bleeding freely from shoulder and thigh, gritted his teeth and glared at him with everything he had.
For just a moment—barely a heartbeat—their eyes met.
Garak looked away first.
“Garak! You must head to the left flank immediately. It’s about to collapse!”
“What? Move, now! I’m going!”
“Garak!”
Garak vanished into the distance, leading the Lizardmen across the far side of the battlefield.
Roga called out behind him, but Garak never looked back.
* * *
Ten minutes into the battle. Or had it been twenty?
Whoooosh—!
A downpour unlike anything seen before crashed across the battlefield.
‘Damn it, the rain keeps getting thicker by the minute.’
Just a few minutes ago, it hadn’t been like this.
Rain had fallen from the start of the battle, yes, but then it was only muddy ground and poor visibility.
But as time wore on, the rain intensified until it transformed into a torrential downpour of historic proportions.
Whoooosh—!
The rain fell so hard that visibility dropped to mere meters, and the drops stung where they struck skin.
With rain like this, the other goblins’ situation was painfully obvious without even looking.
“Kyeeek—!”
As expected, a goblin’s death cry pierced through the roar of the downpour.
I wanted to help, but unfortunately, all I could do was cut down the enemies in front of me.
At best, I could move faster, strike harder, kill more—thin their numbers that way.
‘…No, this won’t do.’
No matter how fast I moved, I couldn’t cover the entire battlefield at once.
While I saved one side, someone died on the other.
‘This is no time to splutter through mud and play defense.’
By the time that thought took shape, my body was already in motion.
The target: a Rain Altar somewhere nearby that was generating these storm clouds.
The farther I moved from the battlefield, the screams faded, replaced by the clearer roar of rain alone.
I’d seen a Rain Altar once before.
I remembered its general appearance well enough that I’d recognize it immediately if I found it.
The problem was its exact location.
‘Where is it…!’
I paused and scanned my surroundings.
Whoooosh—!
Nothing but rain in every direction.
Trees, earth, the distant ridge visible through the downpour—all of it blurred beneath the curtain of water.
‘I need higher ground.’
I scaled the scattered trees dotting the grassland in one explosive movement, narrowed my eyes, and searched.
Far off, beyond the grassland and between the groves, something geometric jutted faintly upward through the rain.
Stone pillars arranged too perfectly to be natural formations.
Different from what I’d seen before, but there could be only one reason for something like that to exist here.
“Found it.”
After that, I descended the mud-slicked slope and ran straight ahead.
Not long after, I stood before a stone altar far more massive than the one in my memory.
Pillars arranged in a circle, grooves brimming with rainwater, and dozens of Lizardmen standing guard around it all.
And in the very middle of them was one creature that looked rather odd.
A Lizardman whose scales had faded to such a muted color it was nearly indistinguishable from the wet stones around it.
‘……Could it be? A Chameleon? There was a Chameleon among them?’
One I’d never seen before.
Yet something in me recognized it.
“So it was you. The one who made the rain fall.”
I’d only stepped on its shadow, yet the skill copied itself instantly
Author |
Killing Part
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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