Chapter 102 : Chapter 102

Chapter 102 - Who are you (2)

‘It must be hard for her to accept.’

Artier couldn’t shake his uneasy expression even as he chased after Jeina.

Even he thought that what he had just said was quite harsh.

Nevertheless, he had no choice.

She was the most vulnerable person in this kind of situation.

“Don’t follow me!”

Jeina was terrified to see Artier sticking to her like a ghost no matter how much she ran.

With her stats, she couldn’t shake off Artier who was determined to run.

“It’s dangerous to get separated here.”

“Go away, Artier! I’m going to find Ben.”

“Then do that.”

“What?”

“Why?”

“You’re not going to stop me?”

Jeina’s question was reasonable.

Of course, Artier had a plan.

‘Jeina will only believe it when she sees it with her own two eyes.’

And Artier also sympathized with Jeina’s words to some extent.

He couldn’t confirm that Ben was a Doppelganger just because he had acted out of character here.

If it’s not 100%, never believe blindly.

This saying was even circulated among the users of <Cross Destiny>.

“There’s also the possibility that he’s under the influence of a parasitic monster or mind control magic.”

“Artier……”

“But promise me. If it’s revealed that he’s a Doppelganger, you’ll let go of any lingering feelings.”

Jeina stared at the hand Artier held out for a long time.

She seemed to be hesitating, but Artier couldn’t compromise any further.

“……Alright.”

In the end, Jeina answered in a weak voice.

Artier immediately grabbed her arm and looked around widely.

“If we meet up with Collie, we can increase our numbers, but he’s a bit far away right now.”

“Can’t you just summon him?”

“Reinard and Bow are with Collie.”

At this point, the only ones Artier could trust were Collie, whose soul was connected to him through a contract, and Jeina, whom he had confirmed himself.

If he summoned Collie here, he wouldn’t be able to trust the other two.

“So for now, let’s walk as much as possible to meet up. It’s that way.”

Artier moved forward, following Collie’s faint presence.

While holding onto her arm.

“W-wait! Are you going to keep going like this?”

“I can’t help it. I can’t move behind you.”

“What if I stand in front?”

“Then Jeina won’t be able to see me.”

“What if we tie ourselves with a rope?”

“Do you have one?”

When Artier asked, Jeina quietly looked away from him.

Unfortunately, Jeina was in charge of food, so she didn’t have camping supplies like ropes.

“Then let’s go.”

“Wait! You always carry all sorts of things with you!”

“I have one, but I wonder if it’s usable.”

“What do you mean?”

Artier sighed and opened his inventory.

Seeing the rope that appeared, Jeina immediately screamed.

“Ugh! How did you manage this?”

Mud, sand, dust, and blood.

No matter how you put it, the rope was far from being in a usable state.

“……I didn’t think I’d need to tie someone’s hands.”

He said that, but there was another reason.

‘I’ve never even used a rope in the game.’

Camping was skipped by the system, and most things were handled with telekinesis.

There was almost no reason for a player to use a rope in this game.

That’s why even Artier, who maintained all sorts of items, had forgotten to manage the rope and left it neglected.

“Should I tie it?”

“Hmm, wait a moment.”

Jeina took the rope and placed it between her thumb and forefinger.

“Hup!”

When she exerted force, dust and sand fell off.

“Huh?”

Surprisingly, she had scraped off all the dirt from the rope with her fingers.

“Let’s tie it now!”

“Ah……”

“Is it still dirty? Should I wash it with water?”

“That should be enough.”

A sufficiently strong physical ability is indistinguishable from magic.

Artier was able to learn such a lesson.

***

A little later.

Artier, who was continuing through the cave, suddenly retracted the leg he was extending.

There was already something in the spot where he was about to step.

“This is……”

A bone, and a human one at that.

Jeina frowned but knelt down to examine it.

“This looks a bit strange.”

“I know……”

The two, looking at the skeleton, spoke at the same time.

“It’s full of evil energy, but it’s not an undead, right?”

“A recent corpse has nothing but bones?”

What are you talking about?

The two looked at each other.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Literally, it met the conditions to become an undead, but it didn’t.”

Artier had been dealing with undead while wandering through abandoned cemeteries for the past month.

Perhaps because of that, he knew which of the neatly arranged skeletons would suddenly stand up.

“Normally, this skeleton should have stood up and attacked us as soon as we approached. But it didn’t.”

“Ew… what’s that? I don’t like it…”

“What did Jeina mean?”

“Ah, there was a little bit of flesh attached to the corpse.”

Where Jeina pointed, there was indeed a small piece of flesh that still looked fresh.

“This person died not long ago. But there’s no flesh or muscle, only bones?”

“Died not long ago, only bones left, full of evil energy, but didn’t become undead…?”

Muttering, Artier soon realized something.

“This person is a black magician. That’s why it was full of evil energy but didn’t become an undead. Because they already had a high resistance to black magic.”

“But then, who in the world flayed all the flesh off this black magician?”

“We’ll probably find out if we go beyond this.”

It was foggy ahead.

The inability to see beyond, no matter how much he concentrated, felt quite familiar.

“It’s a darkness created by magic.”

Without high-level clairvoyance magic, one could not see inside this darkness from the outside.

“Should we just go back?”

“This is the only way to go in this direction…”

In the end, the two entered the darkness.

Thump, thump.

They continued to move forward.

Artier was on high alert, concentrating all his senses on his surroundings.

“……?”

However, there was no ambush, and the only sound they heard was their own.

‘What?’

Artier quietly drew his sword.

This was not something to be happy about for being safe.

His long-standing intuition was telling him that this was actually more dangerous.

“Watch our rear.”

“……”

“Jeina?”

Artier turned his head.

The rope was still connected to his left arm.

Jeina, found by following the rope, was staring straight ahead with a blank expression.

“Jeina.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“What?”

“You’re not Artier… are you?”

Jeina muttered so and then suddenly raised her axe and swung it at Artier’s forehead.

Thwang!

The axe only hit the ground.

Artier’s expression, as he got up from the floor, hardened.

It was because all his comrades had suddenly appeared around him.

‘I was deceived! It’s an illusion!’

The gazes of his comrades were all the same.

The eyes of someone looking at a traitor.

“What did you do to Artier.”

“Give him back… give him back!”

The illusion magic had amplified the small anxieties that Artier held in his subconscious.

They were all fake, but at the same time, they were all real.

Confirming that a mana bullet was flying towards him, Artier immediately ducked his head.

Pow!

“Keuk?!”

But the mana bullet changed direction and hit him directly in the back. A mace and an axe were swung at Artier, who had fallen to the ground.

Kkang! Kkaang!

The weapons were knocked back faster than they had approached.

‘Perfect Counter isn’t activating.’

Artier massaged his throbbing arm and caught his breath.

Something was strange about the illusion.

Evasion was impossible, but blocking was possible. But Parrying wasn’t working.

‘This is disadvantageous for me!’

Jjeong! Jjeong!

Each time he deflected the flying arrows, mana bullets, and weapons, Artier’s entire body shook unsteadily.

His health and mana were decreasing in an instant.

“How are they attacking?”

“What are you looking for!”

Jjejeok!

Artier, who blocked the axe swung by the illusion, was sent flying before stopping with a jolt.

Hastily regaining his balance, Artier looked at his left arm and realized something.

‘I see! The rope is still connected…!’

The rope was pulling him taut.

The real Jeina was heading somewhere.

Grasping the situation, Artier immediately grabbed the rope and pulled it with all his might.

“Ugh?!”

With a scream, the rope fell backward.

As soon as he confirmed that, Artier sheathed his sword and quickly drew it again.

[Activating Flame Cleave (Lv.5).]

Kwang!

As the crescent-shaped flame swept forward, the illusions disappeared in an instant.

They soon reappeared, but in that brief moment, Artier was able to check his surroundings.

And he was able to identify them.

‘They were bugs, right?’

Rustle, rustle. Crunch, crunch.

They were beings formed by a swarm of pure white bugs.

On the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.

Thousands of bugs, positioned everywhere, were now targeting them.

[Lv.7 Darkworm Larva (Tiny)]

“If they’re bugs, it should be easier to deal with than I thought.”

However, the target himself just smirked and sheathed his sword.

“Jeina, I don’t know if you can hear me, but never come in front of me.”

Artier took out an item from his inventory.

Inside a glass bottle sealed with a cork stopper, a churning flame was swirling.

[Alchemist's Flame (Normal) (Consumable)]

Can be used by throwing.

Option: When thrown, creates a flame in a 7m radius that cannot be extinguished by conventional means for 60 seconds.

As he threw it straight ahead, the flame that burst out in an instant engulfed the entire passage.

“Kieeeek!”

The creatures screamed in unison as if they were a single body.

As they fell off, the corpses they had been devouring were revealed.

Just like the one before, only bones remained, except for a small amount of flesh.

‘Four here alone… One of the parties from the Imperial expedition team was completely taken out by these guys.’

Before long, the darkness that had been swirling around them disappeared.

Artier found Jeina lying on the ground and approached her.

“Jeina, are you okay?”

“Ughh… What in the world happened.”

“It was all fake, created by the Darkworms.”

The Darkworms were a type of summoned creature controlled by a Doppelganger.

They used illusion and darkness magic to disrupt their enemies, making it easier for the Doppelganger to infiltrate.

“If we hadn’t tied the rope, one of us would have been replaced.”

“Ugh, my head still hurts because of them.”

“Your head?”

“Yeah. They suddenly slammed me onto the floor. Do they know how to use telekinesis too?”

“Ah……”

Artier quietly averted his gaze.

It was then.

“Who goes there.”

A familiar voice was heard from beyond the flames.

It was Gerard’s voice.

“Identify yourself. Is that you, Artier?”

“Gerard?”

At Jeina’s response, Gerard lightly jumped over the flames and landed in front of them.

His robe and face were covered in dust, as if he had been in a fight.

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