I walked through the dark forest in the direction where the Double had disappeared from the Altar of Shadows.

—…

I moved my legs in the frozen air. As for the formation, I was in front, and the others were a few meters behind. It was far from normal, but... What can you do? Such is the life of a tank porter.

"Get ready for battle!"

As soon as I sensed the presence of people in front, dozens of Doubles emerged from the darkness that the magic of the light sphere could not reach. This was the change that took place at the beginning of Chapter 4. After the seal of the Double was removed, the number of Doubles on the field increased exponentially.

"The enemy... enemy of the Empire...!

—... Kill them!

They will no longer turn into us. At least until we meet the main body. I didn't know why. That was the part of the game I missed. I was sure that if I searched, I could find some hidden background to this phenomenon, but now was not the time to think about it.

[You cast [Jump]].

Without waiting for the distance to shrink further, I rushed forward and landed in the middle of them.

*Baaam!*

The moment I landed, the ground trembled, and there was a special effect of the terrain [Recoil]. Dozens of Doubles were thrown into the air at once.

*Crunch!*

I hit one of them with a mace like I was brandishing a baseball bat and used [Wild Splash].

'Behellaaa

My threat level tripled. The doppelgängers in the uniforms of soldiers rushed at me like mad animals. As long as they were monsters, they couldn't ignore my provocation.

"For... Empire...!

The doppelgängers did not possess any special skills, but were nonetheless difficult enemies as their standard stats were high. As could be judged by the way the soldier with the shield confronted my mace, each of them was at least at the level of Einar. In addition, the difficulty of the battle was increased by the fact that our formation consisted of fighters with spears, swords, magic, crossbows and shields.

*Хруст! Хруст!*

However, even though we blocked what should be blocked, we never dodged the attack. And it was pointless to avoid it.

Enemies surrounded us everywhere. All I could do was fight like a tank and wait for the support of my teammates.

[Arua Raven cast a 5th tier offensive spell [Lightning]].

Soon, the long-awaited spell was completed. Lightning struck a large area.

[Kylman Partean cast a 5th rank auxiliary spell [Spell Amplification]].

Thanks to Partean's support, the spell's power was twice as strong as usual. I paused so as not to fall under the spell.

*Boom, boom, boom!*

The lightning, which was as powerful as a natural disaster, lasted only about five seconds, but it was enough to take down half of the Doubles' formation.

After all, hunting is a battle for prey.

The remaining monsters were destroyed by my comrades who were waiting for me from behind. Thus ended one battle.

The Stupid Warrior, wiping the blood from the weapon, muttered:

"Mr. Partean, will Miss Sarman be all right?" I'm worried.

"You've seen it too. Doubles do not approach the altar. As long as she doesn't come out, she'll be fine.

"I can't stop wondering if we shouldn't have just taken her with us...

The warrior with the blunt weapon continued to worry about the female guide left behind. But I had no choice.

Using Conduit against Twin's stats might not be impossible, but it would be a one-time card.

If we had to defend it as well, it would do more harm than good.

"That's enough. Miss Sarman agreed. If we fail, everyone will die anyway.

Partean looked at me and ended the conversation. Without saying anything, I continued the expedition. Nothing good will come out of a waste of time.

*Ddddddd!*

After that, we fought a few more battles and continued to advance through the dark forest when a slight vibration was heard under our feet. This meant that the seal unlock rate reached 20%. Since it increased by 1% every 10 minutes, the time had come.

"Mr. Yandel, can we go a little faster?"

— Of course.

I sped up, as if in a race against time.

"We're there.

Finally, we have reached the goal - a funnel that we did not notice when wandering through the forest in search of intermediate bosses. Now all that remains is to go down there, and the boss battle will begin. But before that, something needs to be done.

"Let's search the surrounding area first.

Under Raven's guidance, we went around the funnel looking for something. It didn't take long.

— As it was written in the book. One thing was definitely hidden near the entrance.

There was a white tombstone that made a terrible sound. In the game, it was called the Sealing Stone, but it could not be considered a hidden item on its own. They appeared all over the forest as soon as Chapter 4 began.

"Like in the book?" Partean asked.

The information about the Sealing Stone was naturally obtained from the Memoirs of Sacrifice, which appeared on the Altar of Shadows after the end of Chapter 3. However, it only said that it needed to be found and activated.

"There was nothing like that in the Memoirs.

"Not in the Memoirs, but in another book," Raven did not answer Parthean's question in detail and put her hand on the Sealing Stone.

*Shaaaa!*

A pillar of black light soared into the sky.

[Sealing Stone activated. Seal Unlock: 10%].

Thus, the percentage of unlocking the seal of the Double has decreased by 10%. Of course, it won't matter much if we stick to our strategy, but since we've been passing by, there's no reason to miss it.

"Then that's all we can do.

Soon we returned to the crater again.

"Are you all ready?"

It's time to fight the boss.

***

[You have entered the Usurper's lair].

***

The fight with the Rift boss was the icing on the cake. However, the boss fight in the Forest of Doubles took place in a somewhat unusual format.

At first, the expedition was to be divided into two parts.

One team must fight the boss, and the other team must find the Sealing Stones in the forest infested with Double Soldiers and lower the percentage of seal unlocked. Such a standard strategy is described in the Memoirs of Sacrifice.

The concept is very annoying.

In it, everyone had to trust each other and contribute to the cleansing of the Chasm. Maybe we would have sent 2-3 people from each team and created two different teams, if only this mine hadn't exploded.

But now we can no longer use this method. There are only 7 of us now.

The expedition was cut in half, and everything went awry. Our number was not enough to divide the team. Then what could we do?

Looking through the loot from the dwarf and Hans G teams, I quickly found the answer and gave Raven a clue that led her to the same thing. Instead of dividing an already small team into two, which would not be enough for either, the plan was to concentrate all our forces in one place. Simply put, it was a high-stakes strategy.

"That might be a little dangerous, will everyone be okay?" she asked. There is no other way."

This is how the foundation of the strategy was laid. According to my estimates, the success rate was 90%. Of course, probability is nothing more than a number, so the only way to test whether it works or not is to try it out in practice. And when did life develop only according to plan A?

*Boom!*

As a barbarian, I first jumped into the tunnel to make sure he was safe. Then, when I gave the signal, the rest of the group came down.

"It's cold here.

The temperature in the cave was cool.

"Kyaaaargh!" The monster inside sensed our presence and burst into a terrible howl.

I grinned. This was one of the barbarian's roles: to give team members courage.

"Why are you all frozen?" Come, let's kill him.

As I walked forward without the slightest hesitation, several frightened crew members also came to their senses and followed me.

*Top! Top! Top!*

After about 40 steps, the fog scattered throughout the cave thinned out, and the boss's room opened up - a cavity with a huge magic circle painted on it. On the floor, like toys, the Stones of Truth were scattered, and in the center, squatting, with his back turned, sat something that looked like a man.

Sobbing was heard.

"You... also... here to kill... me...?

Something turned its head and looked at us. His face did not copy any of us. It was an ordinary child. If not for the eyes, nose and mouth, turned upside down, of course.

"I... did not do it... nothing bad...

The child looked at us as if it was unfair. Soon, the emotion in his eyes turned into anger. This was the usual introduction to a boss fight.

"I... same... Like you-..!

I skipped that part before he could say the next sentence.

'Behellaaa

It wasn't the right place to use the [Jump], so I just rushed forward and swung my mace.

*Blow!*

The child's head was crushed right there while he was sitting, but there was no usual sensation in his hand. It felt like I hit a punching bag filled with water.

"Whoeeeeee!"

A scream filled the entire cave out of nowhere, and the child turned into black slime.

*Bulg-bulg-bulg!*

The black substance repeatedly contracted and expanded, turning into bumps similar to the spines of a sea urchin.

Will he really start with me?

When the trial was over, there was another me standing there.

[Mimicry] is a unique skill of the Double, which could not be obtained even through essences. However, everything was somewhat different here than in the field.

"Whoeeeeee!"

The monster no longer copied my words and actions.

[The Nameless Usurper used [Sweep]].

It was not limited to simple imitation, it became stronger than the original. It could be considered that it had the stats of a rank 5 monster, to which the stats and skills of the simulated were added. It wasn't for nothing that it was a rank 4 monster.

*Woouuuh!*

I took a step back and dodged it. His mace plunged into the ground.

*Rumble*

The impact left a crater that caused the entire cave to vibrate. It was a power that I could only exert if I increased my Power by another 200 points. When I thought of it as my future self, I even felt a little proud.

But...

I can stop it, no problem.

What I lacked, I could make up for with the help of objects.

I raised my shield so that the Double, who was randomly waving his mace, could not get close to my teammates.

*Klang!*

The sound wasn't crystal clear as I had hoped, and the weight of the shield was more than I expected. Was it a 50% reduction in impact?

"Raven!"

As a dishonest researcher, I reached for support. Immediately, a spell flew in. Since our opponent was a high-ranking monster, she started with curse magic instead of offensive magic.

*Klang!*

It became a little easier to endure the Double's attacks, but this only fulfilled the first prerequisite for a clear attack strategy.

The official 1st phase has begun.

[The Nameless Usurper used [Self-Replication]].

The doppelgänger with my appearance was randomly spraying black slime from his body, which fell to the floor of the cave. There were so many of them that it was pointless to count them.

- [Icherno Heindar]!

Raven's wand burst into flames, spewing flames that burned slime, but it was impossible to get rid of them all. Slime stubbornly crawled on the floor, huddled in a heap. Then, after going through a series of transformations, they began to imitate our appearance.

"Only four!" Raven calmly informed me.

I quickly thought about the situation. Since they were clones, they couldn't have the same stats as the original body. Thus, the plan was as follows:

"Ignore me and get rid of them first!"

I left the clones to my teammates and decided to focus on the main body.

"They're all Hans Christen!"

After Raven's report, my body tensed by itself.

A what?

I doubted my ears and, even in the heat of battle, decided to check the surroundings. Of course, Raven wasn't joking.

... Bloody hell.

How could they all appear in the form of Hans G? Dead or alive, didn't they turn into one of the 15 people? Then what the hell was the probability of this?

Not knowing what I was thinking, Raven shouted as if to tell me the good news.

"It's a good thing Mr. Yandel isn't among the clones!" Let's get to the bottom of it quickly!

It's not that I didn't understand her feelings.

Not only was Hans G relatively inferior to us in combat power, but four summoners made a combination. Of course, it was good for us. But...

*Tudum!*

My heart began to beat like crazy.