Chapter 180

[Isabella Entweder vs Isabella Entweder]

[Map: Solitaire Village]

[Isabella Entweder has joined your team.]

[Capture the base and secure a strategic position.]

“My true name is Isabella Entweder. Please kill my doppelgänger.”

A noble voice echoed towards the one hundred heavily armed knights.

“That is precisely why I hired you.”

* * *

Isabella Entweder was an arrogant woman.

The source of her arrogance stemmed from her exceptional magical talent; she was the foremost genius in Solitaire Village.

By the age of ten, she had laid the foundation for earth magic and, by twelve, had grasped the principles of fire magic.

And as she turned twenty and then thirty, Isabella became a renowned adventurer, famous enough that no one was unaware of her violet hair.

Ascending to the position of the leader of a guild, Isabella Entweder hired a hundred mercenaries and declared a small war.

The target was none other than Isabella Entweder, who shared her name. The other Isabella was also a genius hailing from Solitaire Village.

The one notable difference was that her doppelgänger was not a magician but a swordsman.

Clang-!

The swords crossed.

Even in this brief standoff, screams echoed from all directions.

I adjusted my grip on the sword and stepped back, resuming my tactical search against the enemy Isabella.

I was trapped in the midst of an army with only a healer. If I could just hold out a little longer, Kariri would soon come to rescue us with her companions.

“I can’t believe you’d send an NPC alone to zone C.”

The enemy had crafted their strategy cleverly.

The allocation of personnel for the first capture had a significant impact on the game’s victory or defeat.

Of course, it was a game where reversals frequently occurred, but the side that secured two capture points early would hold the initiative for the next five minutes.

Therefore, sending a low-impact, agile healer as a scout had always been a valid strategy.

However, the opponent had accurately predicted where I would go and, by sending an NPC, had perfectly countered me.

Even if I abandoned this spot to join the center, the enemy would likely crowd around zone B.

“That strategy was quite good, as long as a one-on-one with an NPC isn’t possible in the early game.”

Statistically, winning a one-on-one against an NPC in the limited time was nearly impossible. But prolonging the fight was a different story.

“Where are you looking away from?!”

The wave-edged Flamberge rushed towards my left side.

I swiftly deflected the sword with my short Scyabona and immediately aimed a diagonal strike at her neck.

Isabella’s reflexes were certainly impressive.

I did not waver under her relentless attacks, maintaining my stance as I parried her strikes in turn.

“That’s the end of your struggles!”

The information that the swordsman version of Isabella fought roughly like street thugs suddenly came to mind.

She intended to lift the Flamberge high above her head and bring it crashing down onto me.

Without taking my eyes off her, I focused entirely on the trajectory of her sword.

From the moment our blades clashed, I couldn’t afford to look away. Years of honed experience had ingrained this instinct into me.

Barely avoiding the attack, the two-handed sword just barely skimmed past the side of my head.

Despite its weight, Isabella wielded it with remarkable freedom.

Her motions were fluid and light, as if she were handling a wooden training sword, yet the earth was gouged beneath her blows, indicating that each hit was delivered with true power.

“You’re nothing but a lackey clinging to your doppelgänger! Die here!”

From her perspective, our team’s Isabella was the doppelgänger.

Holding the Flamberge with both hands, she suddenly supported the blade with her left hand and extended her right fist towards me. It was aimed at my head.

She had managed to stabilize a two-handed sword with just one hand.

Her relatively freer right arm sliced through the air, speeding towards me.

A confident smile flashed across her face, filled with the certainty of victory.

I didn’t like the look in her eyes or her smile.

I had to remind her that until the result was clear, nothing was certain.

Raising my left arm, I assumed a guard position above my head.

I completely dropped the sword I had been holding.

“…!”

“If you’re going to do a grappling move, you should’ve properly discarded your sword.”

The obsession with not detaching the sword from my body had led to this point. What use was it to demonstrate the skill of wielding a two-handed sword with just one hand?

In hand-to-hand combat, fighting without both arms only meant using a dull weapon against an opponent.

I grabbed her sleeve with my right hand and pulled her arm inward.

By the time I tried to retrieve the Flamberge, my speed wouldn’t allow it.

Twisting her wrist, I pushed my upper body forward.

I tripped her leading leg, and with that, I spun her around.

“Ugh…!”

In the fraction of a second our eyes met in mid-air, her expression reflected disbelief at the impending fall.

Thud!

She spun mid-air, unable to execute a proper roll, and crashed heavily onto the ground.

A cloud of dust rose around the woman. Her armored body groaned under the impact.

Without a moment’s pause, I stomped down on the handle of the sword, sending it flying upwards.

I swung the Scyabona back into the water with force.

Swish-

There was no resistance as I struck the flesh.

Isabella rolled on the ground, trying to evade my stabbing sword, but in truth, I had no reason to rush.

With certainty, I took advantage of the moment she became unbalanced and stabbed my blade into her thigh.

She curled up, making a desperate attempt to avoid a vital spot, even trying to push me away.

“Don’t get up.”

Whack-

I struck her head with a kick reinforced with an acceleration skill.

Isabella staggered again. Though temporary, it was evidently a knockdown.

Her elongated body exposed several potential weak points.

Carotid arteries, ribs, solar plexus. Hitting any of those would surely satisfy.

“Return to the respawn point.”

I mounted her, leaning my weight onto the reverse grip of my sword and plunged it down.

[Critical!]

[Critical Hit: Each successive blow deals an additional 3% damage.]

[Current: 38 stacks]

[6964(1709+5255)]

[The Red Team NPC has been defeated. Respawn Time: 30s]

A notification resonated across the map, announcing the enemy NPC’s defeat in the duel.

NPCs don’t know skills. That was the miscalculation of those who had sent the NPC to me.

With no interruptions to my combo and continuously closing the distance, how could they endure?

I had forgotten to farm for experience and defeats an NPC in level 1.

[Level Up! 1 → 3]

The system seems to be praising my achievement. I leveled up twice at once.

Even though it was a world within a game, sweat didn’t flow, yet I instinctively brushed my hair back.

I offered a simple peace sign towards the observer camera transmitting this scene and grasped my sword once more to defeat the remaining soldiers.

It seems I wasn’t the only one feeling that the healer was using a sword more often.

I wiped away any presumed blood and changed my position. I had only just taken the first step towards seizing victory.

* * *

Isabella Entweder believed she had sufficiently explained the necessity of killing her doppelgänger.

The two were engaged in a struggle for the roots of Wigrasil.

Now, only one ‘panacea’ remained.

Both were staking everything in a fight to define each other as doppelgängers in order to prolong their own lives.

“But do you think what I’m saying is funny? I’m your employer! You must not disobey orders so easily!”

Isabella shouted in anger.

However, the blonde woman before her continued to walk with a nonchalant expression, deliberately ignoring her.

She continued her protests.

In the initial operation, she had tasked six elite members to split into groups of three to secure the hills and plains.

But it was unbelievable that the party’s only healer, ‘Unspecified Gender’, had suddenly headed for the Naryiel Swamp.

“Well, the results were good! Keep fighting well from here on!”

The ice mage ‘DalTori’ intervened in the fight.

“Our Unspecified Gender is quite the remarkable person, you know? I think you can trust them a bit.”

“Ugh… Ugh! When you say it like that, it really doesn’t fit!”

“What kind of concept is this?!”

The indifferent one became engrossed in role-playing, suddenly speaking in a historical tone.

DalTori and Brownie’s expressions were understandably turning sour in real time.

“This is no child’s play. Listen carefully. I’ve staked my entire life on this. For thirty years, I’ve agonized over how to burn that damned doppelgänger alive! And now is the time to bear that fruit.”

Isabella’s eyes blazed. Flames rose from her staff, echoing her fury.

“How weak.”

“What?”

Unspecified Gender’s mocking laughter.

“I was wondering how such a weak person hasn’t been killed yet.”

Unspecified Gender referenced their triumph over the doppelgänger in the swamp, commenting on it.

The atmosphere grew tense again.

Wondering if there was any need to oppose an ally NPC so harshly, Han Yongcheol tried to intervene.

“Hey, Unspecified Gender! What’s wrong! Isabella, please give the next order quickly!”

It was Yongcheol’s desperate call for victory.

“Don’t listen to that person’s orders! From now on, I’ll handle everything!”

Then Unspecified Gender defied the artificial intelligence.

Sparks flew between the two women.

“Are you saying you’ll go against your employer?”

“Just because we look alike doesn’t mean we’re doppelgängers!”

“What?”

“No. Yongcheol, we should let this object go to the enemy. We should buy ourselves more time for growth on the opposite side.”

“What nonsense is this! You want to just leave the enemy in such a favorable situation? Are you a spy? Are you from the doppelgänger side? Everyone, don’t be deceived. Right now, fighting is the correct choice!”

The algorithms for giving orders or responding to trolls differed by character.

And Isabella was quite high on the anger scale.

That golden-haired girl had shouted against the special NPC vehemently, yet for some reason, the atmosphere remained icy.

“Our Unspecified Gender has yet again come up with this brilliant plan! Isabella, quit being angry and just follow along!”

“Isn’t that our genius issuing orders? I’m sure there’s a well thought-out reason for what is said.”

Seeing the mercenaries turn away callously, Isabella couldn’t help but be bewildered.

She had always been revered as the top genius in the continent, consistently meeting expectations surrounding her.

Perhaps that was why she was unaccustomed to situations like this.

“Why…? Then what about DalTori?”

“I’m sorry, hehe. But I haven’t been wrong following Unspecified Gender’s orders so far.”

Even DalTori, who had been the most compliant while attacking point B, turned to side with Unspecified Gender rather than Isabella.

“Unspecified Gender is a tremendous genius!”

Eventually, Isabella almost viewed all six as saboteurs, but it seemed the latter was the more bizarre stance.

In such a situation, she could only concede that she was indeed wrong.

“Then let’s see how confident you are.”

Rejoining her group, Isabella crossed her arms and smirked.