## Chapter 2450 – 2450. Dark Moon
Undead dolls poured out from all directions.
I calmly cast blood magic. A wall of blood rose from the ground, blocking the enemies and pushing them back.
‘Transform.’
The biggest advantage of a liquid is its ease of transformation. Moreover, I am now a True Blood Vampire. Changing the shape of blood is easier than casting a new spell.
I transformed the wall of blood into blades of blood, sweeping away the dolls. Crack. The sound of dolls shattering echoed from all around.
‘…Not good. No matter how I think about it, this is a meaningless war of attrition.’
Blood magic is advantageous in wars of attrition. The more you fight, the more blood is bound to flow. The blood spilled in battle becomes power for a blood mage.
‘These guys are dolls. Made of bones and flesh… but dolls that don’t actually bleed.’
Even when I smash the dolls, no blood flows. What’s being consumed now is only my blood and my mana.
‘I came straight here without any time to replenish my blood, so I don’t have any extra blood packs.’
I have no extra blood, and I can’t replenish my blood through combat. It was the worst possible battlefield for a blood mage.
After some thought, I canceled the Absolute Polymorph spell. I returned to my human form. The blood magic that had surrounded me also disappeared.
‘He already knows my identity anyway. Then there’s no reason to insist on being a vampire. As for how he knows my identity… I can figure that out from now on.’
“Huh?”
“Is the vampire game over?”
“But will anything change?”
The giggling voices of the dolls echoed all around.
With human eyes, not even the darkness could be pierced. It was a stark reminder of how much lower a human’s physical specs were.
But it didn’t matter. I had magic.
[Light]
The most basic magic.
I created a sphere of light in the air. The undead dolls came into view. The broken debris was slowly being restored. In about five minutes, they would be fully restored and come at me again.
‘…Right. Should I test the performance of the Vajra Trust while I’m at it?’
I had already used it when fighting Rahul, but that alone wasn’t enough. Considering I’ll be using it in the future, I need to get more familiar with it by using it a few more times.
[Rent Vajra Trust for 1 hour with 3,000 Inventory Points.]
Once again, 150 million credits flew away in an instant. I quickly shook off the regret. I could earn the money again.
The Vajra Trust floated in the air next to me.
‘First, the physical power.’
Zap.
Electricity crackled between me and the Vajra Trust.
The Vajra Trust moved. It instantly moved to a nearby undead doll, piercing its head and smashing it. Not stopping there, the Vajra Trust attacked other dolls one by one. Its speed was incredibly fast.
Crack! Thwack! Craaack!
The sound of the dolls being smashed so satisfyingly was music to my ears.
‘It’s a bit difficult to control since it’s controlled in a way that’s similar to but different from telekinesis.’
The speed was too fast. Faster than a bullet? No, even faster than that. And it could move in curves, not just straight lines.
Swoosh.
The Vajra Trust grazed my cheek. My cheek felt hot and cool at the same time. I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand and saw blood.
‘This kind of detailed control is difficult. If I were to imbue it with magic and control it automatically… Hmm. I’d need to do a lot of research for that.’
When the Vajra Trust stopped, the surroundings were silent. Not a single doll was intact. Only debris was scattered on the floor, writhing to restore itself.
[Electric Field]
An electric field started from my feet and swept through the remains of the dolls.
‘The reason the dolls restore themselves is because each fragment of the doll contains a spell. If I slightly disrupt that spell with magical power, they won’t be able to restore themselves.’
I stepped forward, crushing the remains of the dolls.
“Eugene Meyer. Honestly, I don’t know why you came here.”
“Do you need the secrets of a black magician?”
“The royal road for a mage is elemental magic. Everyone knows that. It’s better to focus on elemental magic, not black magic.”
A small doll, appearing from who-knows-where, chattered away. I sighed and waved my hand as if shooing away a fly. Zap! The blue lightning that was shot out burst the doll’s body. But a new doll appeared again.
“…How many dolls are there that you’re wasting them like this?”
“There are many dolls. This is Illario’s workshop. It’s a place where dolls that Illario spent his entire life carving are gathered.”
“…Then let me ask differently. Unlike before, there are no attacks. Why?”
“I just realized it’s meaningless. You can’t be dealt with by mediocre dolls.”
“Have you given up? Then I wish you’d come and guide me.”
“I haven’t given up.”
Thud.
I stopped walking forward. I narrowed my eyes and stared ahead.
A seemingly ordinary dark corridor. But I could sense the subtle traces of magic hidden within.
“A magic trap.”
“…Heh. You have a good sense? Even a high-level mage would have a hard time noticing it.”
I took out a reagent from my inventory and scattered it.
A reagent that reveals hidden magic. It wasn’t very expensive. It was just difficult to sprinkle it at the right time.
The hidden magic circle appeared, glowing faintly like a fluorescent substance. I quickly scanned the magic circle.
‘It’s a magic circle I’ve never seen before. In this case, I can just use it directly. It’s not a particularly difficult spell.’
I reproduced the magic circle in the air, limiting its output. Of course, I took out the Dark Hole and activated the magic with dark mana.
A black hand appeared from the magic circle, strongly grasping the air and disappearing.
“…A simple trap magic. If I had carelessly gone inside, my lower body would have been crushed.”
“Wow. You reproduced it after seeing it just once? You’re not even a real black magician? You’re a genius beyond Illario!”
I grabbed the admiring doll and threw it into the magic circle. The magic trap activated, and a black hand popped out and crushed the doll.
“That’s too much!”
A new doll appeared from behind and shouted. I ignored it and moved forward.
The reason I didn’t kill these noisy dolls was because it was meaningless to kill them. Even if I killed them, new dolls would appear and talk to me. It would probably be like this until the end of this workshop. And surprisingly, the words the dolls spewed sometimes contained useful information.
“Illario loved dolls. He wanted to breathe life into them. That’s why he dabbled in necromancy. Putting souls into corpses and putting souls into dolls. There’s not much difference, right?”
“I can see that Illario was a doll lover.”
“That’s too harsh. But it’s true, so I can’t argue.”
“So how long are you going to waste time? It’s already been 30 minutes. There’s a limit to how much I can humor you.”
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t know that you’ve blocked the exit and are making me wander around meaninglessly?”
From the moment I arrived here, I had been scattering electromagnetic waves every 15 seconds.
I could do that much without even using magic. Although the range and accuracy were somewhat lacking, I could still grasp the structure.
“The only reason I’m not destroying this place is because I want Illario’s secret magic intact. It’s not that I can’t do it. Tell me the real way before my patience runs out. If you don’t want to, tell me now. I’ll make my own way.”
I raised my hand. Zap, lightning appeared and writhed. The instantaneous destructive power of lightning-type attributes was well-known. If I used magic with all my power, I could easily smash this kind of structure.
“Hah. Okay, okay. I’ll guide you. Come on. It should be ready by now.”
‘I don’t like it… but I have no choice. It’s for the sake of obtaining the secret magic.’
After obtaining the secret magic, I would smash everything. Even this workshop.
I followed the doll.
‘The path has changed. The structure itself is moving and changing. Is it magic… or is it….’
Magic isn’t the only mystery in this world. Just because the original owner of this place was a black magician doesn’t mean the workshop had to be made entirely of magic.
Guided by the doll, I arrived at a room with a large mirror. My reflection was in the mirror.
As I stood still, my reflection in the mirror reached out towards me. The hand began to emerge from the mirror. Another me, holding the Vajra Trust in his hand, stood in front of me.
“……A doppelganger.”
“Yes. I am you. Eugene Meyer.”
The doppelganger spoke in my voice. I stared at him for a moment, then raised the corners of my mouth.
“Even if you copied my appearance, you couldn’t copy it perfectly.”
“…Don’t you know how dangerous a doppelganger is?”
He asked as if it was absurd.
“I know. A doppelganger copies the target’s knowledge, memories, and power almost perfectly. It kills the original target and takes its place. It’s a gruesome record, but… if doppelgangers were really that dangerous, the world would already belong to them.”
The story of doppelgangers is famous. And as famous as it is, it’s exaggerated.
“If you want to become the real Eugene Meyer… don’t just talk, show me.”
Zzzap!
Lightning burst from the Vajra Trust next to me.
I opened my Astral. I could feel the connection with the Vajra Trust.
‘Let’s see how well you can create a spell.’
I set a target and gave a command. The Vajra Trust instantly calculated the spell and optimized it for immediate materialization.
I just had to use the magic as if I were clicking a button.
‘It handles the annoying and complicated calculations for me.’
The downside was that it couldn’t handle spell formulas I didn’t know. In the end, a tool is just a tool. I was the one who had to plan and finish the magic.
[Lightning Grab]
Refined electricity burst from my hand. The doppelganger swallowed hard as he looked at it.
“What are you doing? Prepare your magic too. If you’re me, you should be able to use this level of magic without difficulty, right?”
“…Damn it. I’m not you! I just changed my appearance to look like you! I can’t do it! Illario! I give up! I can’t do anything to this guy! I can’t even see a part of his memories, so how am I supposed to transform! This guy’s mental barrier is beyond yours. He must have learned some special astral vision… or he’s definitely under some kind of protection!”
The doppelganger glared at the doll next to me and shouted. I swung my hand towards him. The lightning that had been gathered in my hand flew towards him.
“Kaaaaaaah!”
Zzzzzzzap!
The doppelganger fell to the ground with the flashing lightning.
I flicked my finger. The Vajra Trust flew like lightning and pierced his heart.
“Why, why…! I had no intention of fighting you…!”
“It’s extremely unpleasant to see you with my face and hear you speak with my voice. Die here.”
Clang!
The mirror, which I hadn’t even touched, shattered. At the same time, the doppelganger’s body began to melt. The shadowy black liquid soon disappeared as if it had evaporated.
This time, I turned my head to the side and looked at the doll.
“This guy called you Illario. Weren’t you dead?”
“Haha. Things got twisted. That’s right. I am Illario. Or rather, Illario’s thoughts contained in a doll, Illario.”
The doll spoke cheerfully.
The doll’s eyes glowed blue. It was as if it was piercing through me.
“Eugene Meyer. If you want my secret magic… come to where I am. The secret magic you want is at the very bottom.”
Heh heh.
I plunged the Vajra Trust into the doll’s head, which seemed to be mocking me.
“Alright, I’ll go. Make sure you keep the secret magic safe.”
