The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player - Chapter 178

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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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The Maxed-Out Player’s 100th Return – Episode 178
178. Doppelgänger
A boss called Doppelgänger dwells in the Labyrinth Forest.
Its attack power isn’t particularly strong, but it’s a troublesome creature.
‘Of course, that’s only true for those facing it for the first time.’
However, Ryu Min had faced and killed Doppelgänger countless times.
It was so weak that I didn’t even need to remember how many times I’d slain it.
‘With the Red Moon plus Moonlight Island combo, it was a boss I could conquer with ease.’
That said, I had no intention of killing Doppelgänger myself.
“You’re the one who should kill Doppelgänger.”
“M-me?”
I explained the strategy for confronting Doppelgänger to Ju Sung-tak, who followed behind me.
Since it was a simple strategy, he could easily nod in agreement.
“Understand? If you just do as I say, you’ll be able to capture it without any problems.”
“Yes. Don’t worry, sir. I won’t disappoint you.”
“I hope so.”
That was when it happened.
A monster appeared before Ryu Min for the first time.
Squelch, squelch—
It was a venomous slime, the kind that commonly appeared in the Labyrinth Forest.
It was also evidence that we were drawing closer to Doppelgänger’s habitat.
“Since I’m yielding the boss, I’ll take care of this one.”
To earn even a few points, Ryu Min drew his scythe.
Slash—!
I cut it in half before it could spray its venom.
Squelch, squelch—
Instead, the slime multiplied into two creatures.
‘As expected, physical attacks are ineffective.’
Slimes were creatures that multiplied the more you cut them.
Troublesome as it was, I had no choice but to use magic.
Crackle, crackle—
I held my scythe in one hand and conjured electricity in the other.
“Discharge.”
Crackle, crackle, crackle—!
One slime struck directly by the electrical current incinerated without a trace.
Slimes were creatures immune to physical attacks but suffered fatal damage from magical attacks.
However, defeating just one yielded no message.
[You have defeated the Venomous Slime!]
[Experience +0.09%]
[Gold +300]
[Points +30]
Only after capturing both creatures did the reward finally arrive.
‘So doubling the number doesn’t double the experience—that’s what this means.’
If it worked that way, I could have sat in one spot, split slimes endlessly, and drained every last reward.
“Let’s move. We should arrive soon.”
“Yes, Master.”
Even as I hunted slimes, I periodically used Clairvoyance to monitor the pursuing groups behind me.
First, I checked on the Chinese.
‘Tracking and area reconnaissance aren’t working—they’re all panicking.’
Once you enter the Labyrinth Forest, your connection to the outside world is severed.
When the path shifts, tracking becomes impossible and signals cut out.
‘Looks like they lost the Korean guide and now they’re completely lost.’
If they stray more than five meters from each other, they become separated in an instant.
Since all paths connect like a cube, they might eventually meet again, but it’ll take quite some time.
‘I should memorize their locations. I’ll need the Chinese to help me catch the Doppelgänger.’
I grinned and shifted my perspective.
The Chinese weren’t the only ones lost and panicked.
Ma Gyeong-rok’s group was in the same situation.
I could see An Sang-chul in a panic as the signal cut out after they entered pursuing Black Scythe.
‘That’s why you shouldn’t blindly follow someone into a place you don’t understand.’
Even as I mentally chided them, I smiled with satisfaction as things progressed according to plan.
‘I wonder if Christine is doing alright?’
Checking on her, she was still waiting at her original location without moving, waiting for the rest of her group.
As a result, her followers had grown from two to ten.
‘She must think a larger group is safer… but it’s pointless. The Despair Cult will summon forces just as strong.’
Switching to the perspective of John Delgado, the necromancer, I could see it clearly.
He had decided to kill Christine.
‘While Christine waits for her followers, he’ll gather his own disciples and ambush her all at once.’
That would be my moment to intervene.
Acting now, when there’s no real danger, would lack justification and get me branded as a lunatic.
‘But first, I need to catch the Doppelgänger and escape this place.’
The frequency of slime appearances was decreasing—we were almost there.
The Doppelgänger’s habitat was close.
That’s when it happened.
“Is anyone there? Someone, please help me!”
A thin, high-pitched voice called out from beyond the forest.
Walking toward the sound, I found a woman leaning against a tree, breathing heavily.
“Huff, huff… someone please… oh!”
The woman’s face lit up when she saw Ju Sung-tak and me.
“I, I’m alive! There are other people besides me!”
A woman dressed as a Player tried to rise with joy, but let out a groan and collapsed back down.
“Ugh… p-please, help me. I can’t get up. My ankle is injured….”
“What happened?”
“I was attacked by a slime. My foot hurts so much I can’t move.”
The woman’s ankle, glimpsed from the side, was swollen blue as if poisoned.
“Hmm. You certainly can’t move.”
“It hurts so much, sob.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
Sensing Ryu Min’s lukewarm response, urgency flooded the woman’s face.
“P-please, just take me out of here. I’m begging you. I’ll do anything you ask. Okay?”
“Anything?”
“Yes! Anything. I-I’m embarrassed to say, but if you want to… satisfy your desires, I could….”
“Never mind that. Do you have any items you can give me?”
“Items? Of course!”
The woman opened her inventory and pulled out items.
Several unique materials and high-grade mana stones.
“I’ll give you these for now. The rest after you save me. How’s that?”
“Fine.”
I said that, but I didn’t even glance at the items.
I simply approached the woman with my scythe in hand.
“What are you….”
Before she could react, I severed her neck.
Thud—!
Her head, wearing a shocked expression, rolled across the ground.
Ju Sung-tak could have flinched at such sudden murder, but he remained unmoved.
He had already been warned by Ryu Min beforehand.
—The Doppelgänger steals the appearance and memories of those it kills and uses them to deceive other humans entering the Labyrinth Forest. It typically claims to have been attacked by a slime and asks for help, then possesses and kills its victim.
Having heard this explanation in advance, Ju Sung-tak recognized the truth the moment he saw the woman.
That creature was the boss of this place—the Doppelgänger.
Whoooosh—
The woman’s body scattered like powder and vanished.
The items lying on the ground disappeared as well.
Everything had been fake.
Only the Player’s appearance and memories were genuine.
Creeeep—
Black smoke rose from where the corpse had been, taking on a human form.
[How did you know? My disguise was perfect.]
Watching the creature speak fluent Korean, I laughed outright.
“A monster trying to converse with humans. How pathetic.”
[A monster? Aren’t you humans the true monsters, invading another’s domain?]
“Stop spouting nonsense and come at me. You monster bastard.”
[What a foul-mouthed human.]
At that moment, a Quest window materialized before Ryu Min’s eyes.
【Sub Quest – Expose the Doppelgänger’s True Identity】
└Condition ▶ Dismantle the Doppelgänger’s trap and face its true form
[Sub Quest completed!]
[Points +2,000]
【Sub Quest – Feed the Doppelgänger】
└Condition ▶ Watch the Doppelgänger kill other prey
└Current prey eliminated by Doppelgänger (0/10)
【Sub Quest – Slay the Doppelgänger】
└Condition ▶ Directly kill the Doppelgänger
Ju Sung-tak stared into empty space, apparently seeing the same Sub Quest.
“Ju Sung-tak.”
“Yes?”
“Run.”
With only those words, Ryu Min kicked off the ground and bolted forward.
Ju Sung-tak, grasping the strategy, swiftly followed his master.
[Where do you think you’re going, human!]
The Doppelgänger’s shadow streaked across the air toward them.
Seeing them suddenly flee, the Doppelgänger gave chase while sneering.
[You said to come at you first, but now you’ve changed your mind? Where’s that bravado from before, human!]
Ryu Min had no time for retorts—he was too busy running through the Labyrinth Forest.
[Stop right there! Do you really think you can escape in my domain!]
‘Yes.’
That’s what I wanted to say, but I held back.
I’d provoked enough. Now I needed to lure the Doppelgänger to the right location.
‘Honestly, the Doppelgänger is slow. Painfully slow.’
It drifted about, but it couldn’t match a player’s running speed.
If I wanted to, shaking it off would be trivial.
But I deliberately kept my pace just barely within its reach, maintaining the illusion of being caught.
I had to complete the Quest to feed the Doppelgänger, after all.
‘Soon the Labyrinth Forest’s layout will shift. I need to lure it to that section.’
Ryu Min checked his position and came to a halt before a tree, Ju Sung-tak stopping beside him.
[What’s this? You were fleeing like a rat, and now you give up!]
The moment the Doppelgänger, cackling, closed to within 5 meters.
“Huh?”
“What, what is this?”
The Labyrinth Forest’s layout shifted.
And at the same time.
“Where did they suddenly come from?”
In the blink of an eye, I found myself face-to-face with new arrivals.
None other than members of the Triad.
While everyone else panicked, only the Doppelgänger’s form stretched its mouth into a grotesque grin.
[Ohoho? What a delightful surprise? Prey multiplies before me. Kekeke.]
I had lured them to where the Chinese were gathered, and as expected, the Doppelgänger was delighted.
[Then I shall feast well!]
* * *
Xi Zikang was bewildered.
Two East Asian men had suddenly materialized before his eyes—that much he could accept.
The problem was.
“Aaaahhh, save me!”
Crack—crack—crunch!
His subordinates were dying.
To an unidentified black monstrosity.
“X-Xi Zikang!”
The black form seeped into one of his men like a shadow, and his entire body convulsed as bones shattered with sickening snaps.
Crunch—crack—
“Gaaahhh! Aaaahhh!”
The screams did not last long.
Within mere seconds, the black form extracted itself from the corpse—limbs grotesquely twisted at impossible angles—like a departing spirit.
It then latched onto another subordinate and twisted his limbs a full 360 degrees with identical brutality.
Splinter—crack—
“Gack! Hack!”
‘Damn it all.’
Three subordinates dead in an instant.
It was obvious that black form was the culprit.
‘What in the world is that thing?’
Though he couldn’t identify it precisely, it appeared to be some kind of death-dealing specter.
He had to address this immediate crisis first.
“Stop standing there like fools! That black form is the cause! Kill it now!”
At Xi Zikang’s command, his men snapped to attention and leveled their blades at the subordinate the black form had possessed.
But then.
“Hey, hey! Why are you doing this? It’s me, me! Chen Fu!”
Hearing their comrade’s familiar Chinese pleas and frantic gestures, the men hesitated to strike.
But they did not realize that this moment of hesitation would determine life and death.
Thrust—thrust—
“Guh… ugh…”
“Hack… hack…!”
Chen Fu, who had mercilessly pierced his comrades’ throats with his blade, now wore a bloodstained smile.
“Kekeke, you idiots. Falling for such a pathetic act. Humans really are all hopelessly weak, aren’t they?”
“W-what is that thing?”
“A m-monster?”
“Die, monster!”
As Chen Fu revealed his true nature, his comrades thrust their blades toward him.
Chen Fu, skewered in an instant, twisted his head—but the Doppelgänger didn’t die, merely transferring to another body.
“Hehehehe, you think you can kill me? Go ahead and try.”
As the mysterious creature continued hopping between bodies, slaughtering subordinates with each transfer, Xi Zikang’s face drained of all color.
‘H-how am I supposed to kill something like that? It’s taking no damage whatsoever!’
Just as Xi Zikang decided the situation was hopeless and turned to flee.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Ryu Min blocked his path, scythe in hand.
“Who the hell are you? Get out of my way!”
“Weren’t you looking for me?”
“Who do you think you are, you bastard?”
“Can’t you tell?”
Ryu Min swung the scythe resting across his shoulder, a smile playing at his lips.
“I’m Black Scythe.”

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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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