"Legendary element!" the Harken duplicate exhaled in undisguised amazement, his voice drier than usual.
He looked down at the body he mimicked: bare torso, sturdy, harmoniously muscled like a steel sculpture by a master artisan. Perfect form hid boundless power.
But not just physical might stunned him. The strange mental state shook the duplicate more.
Every thought, motion, heartbeat—under total control. He ruled his own mind.
The world appeared anew.
The dark dungeon brightened like day. Shadows receded, revealing vast distances. Every detail etched into his brain without chaos. He seemed to glimpse the world's true essence.
Simultaneously, he learned the supernatural class and power level of his imitation target.
"So you're a battle mage... merely third level!"
Harken was speechless. He couldn't imagine a third-level mage wielding such power.
Normally, a third-level superhuman with four or five elements was strong.
This youth Reyn had seven soul elements! Not just many—each astounding.
One Legendary, one Excellent, rest at least Rare. Even basic "Power" enhanced to fifth level!
Even as mid-rank legendary superhuman, Harken—having Mimicried countless people—never felt such power.
The magical sensation intoxicated.
Envy stirred in his soul!
Harken eyed Reyn, surprise mixing with greed.
He must kill this young battle mage! Claim his soul for long-term mimicry, not time-limited.
Harken's thoughts raced, ordered by Will of Truth.
He didn't rush. Smirking, he said:
"Reyn, I've got you figured. You're so young, potential limitless. Pity to die pointlessly. Surrender, and I'll spare you. Join Shadow Blade."
Reyn instantly saw through—buying time.
"You called me Blasphemer," he said, feigning hesitation, as if reluctant to feud with Shadow Blade.
Harken's face shifted slightly.
He'd sensed Discord Seal on Reyn and blurted it mid-fight. Reyn hadn't forgotten.
"My lord is generous and merciful," Harken said with feigned sincerity. "Commit a feat in his glory, and if I plead for you, Discord Seal won't bar you."
"Pf... Ha-ha-ha!" Reyn burst laughing.
Deceiver Loxi, known for pettiness, called generous and merciful? Like a bad joke.
If Loxi was generous, all Ellunes brimmed with saints.
Reyn wanted to keep acting but couldn't hold back.
Soul Eye confirmed: Harken copied only soul elements, not the mutated phone.
Mimicry was Excellent element, Trickster's key to Legendary rank. It mimicked soul elements but not otherworldly artifacts.
The mutated phone wasn't an element—just an Earth device.
Anyway, copied phone or not, Reyn wouldn't truce. He resolved to kill him!
Harken's face darkened.
Fanatically loyal to Loxi, Reyn's mockery was grave insult.
"The Lord's greatness brooks no blasphemy! Die!"
With the shout, Harken attacked.
His bizarre shortsword elongated into a long blade.
Mimicry allowed partial weapon form changes for accuracy, but limited. Shortswords to hammers? Too vast; forced mimicry yielded useless shell, unable to unleash potential.
Harken couldn't wield hammers. To kill Reyn fastest, he shifted to familiar longsword.
In swift lunge, the sword bloomed myriad spectral blades, enveloping ahead.
Shots thundered.
Zoltan fired armor-piercing from spiritual rifle. Bullets flattened on Harken's body, leaving fingertip white marks.
In a blink, Harken was before Reyn.
Reyn seemed frozen, reacting late. At the last instant, as sword thrust to impale, Reyn shifted—swaying perfectly to dodge.
Pivoting on left leg, he swung the battle hammer forcefully.
Boom!
Deafening blast—hammer hit Harken's chest dead-on. The duplicate flew back, smashing into a temple-outskirts building wall. Impact collapsed half the wall, burying him in rubble.
Reyn, landing the strike successfully, smirked confidently.
Mimicry wasn't omnipotent. Harken copied physical power and soul elements, but not combat experience. Even with Will of Truth aid, flaws remained.
That Charge—Harken could only go straight, no trajectory shifts.
Power never hinged on elements alone. Mastery, experience, optimal application decided. Like a child suddenly in a strongman's body—training needed to adapt.
If Harken fought with native Trickster abilities, Reyn would struggle more.
But mimicry gave Reyn the edge to destroy this incarnation.
Rumble! Rubble scattered.
Harken rose from ruins. Chest caved, blood trickled from mouth corner.
Reyn's power exceeded fourteen thousand pounds. Dragon Power peaked hammer blow at thirty thousand. Even second-level Steel Body couldn't withstand; Harken was wounded instantly.
Yet injured, Harken oddly thrilled.
First time feeling such defense. His true mid-rank Legendary body? Reduced to pulp. Here, mere light wound!
Zoltan, witnessing, was speechless.
"Reyn, your body's invincible!" he exclaimed, eyeing his friend reproachfully. They'd adventured long, yet he'd underestimated Reyn's defense. His spiritual rifle? Useless.
Stowing rifle, Zoltan unshouldered double-headed battle Axe, prepping melee.
Reyn buffed Zoltan with Dragon Power, warning:
"Beware his spells, especially Reynbow Ray. Hit by it, big trouble."
"Got it," Zoltan nodded. He'd seen its power; chill ran his spine.
As they talked, Harken burst from ruins, charging again.
Reyn met him. Same Charge, faster, arcing trajectory. Hammer swung from side.
Harken dodged hammer but not clash.
Bam!
Ear-splitting roar, like colliding locomotives.
Ground quaked, air exploded shockwave, dust clouds rose.
Harken couldn't commit full force, disadvantaged. Hurled seven-eight steps, Will of Truth barely kept balance.
Reyn retreated two steps, Charged anew.
Lightning-quick dash.
Harken couldn't evade. Kick buckled knee, then hammer crashed head.
Boom! Harken floored. Stars swam; heavy body cratered ground deep.
He immediately rolled to the side, but at that moment Zoltan arrived.
Dwarves are born warriors. After training, most of them master Charge. Even if their Charge wasn't as fast or long as Reyn's, it was more than enough for combat.
Zoltan leaped from the other side and brought his double-sided Axe down on Harken.
Clang! Sparks flew.
The Axe struck several times. The powerful blows kept Harken from rising, but they didn't cause serious harm—only shallow scratches on his sturdy body.
Zoltan's hands went numb from the recoil, and he roared in frustration.
"Get back!" Reyn shouted.
Before his words could fade, a rainbow beam materialized in the air.
Zoltan reacted like lightning: he ducked and rolled aside. The beam passed just over his head, slicing off a tuft of red hair from his mohawk.
He ran a hand over his hairstyle, feeling cold sweat on his back.
Reyn took two steps forward, closing in on Harken, who was just trying to rise after his roll. The hammer whistled horizontally through the air, ready to strike its target, but... Whoosh! The blow hit empty space.
Harken had used Charge to evade the attack.
"Damn it!" Reyn cursed, but he wasn't cursing Harken—he was cursing himself.
It was all his own "doing."
An ordinary opponent would have exploded like a watermelon from such a hammer blow to the head. But this one had only taken a wound, and thanks to Truthful Will, he hadn't even been stunned and had instantly escaped.
Damn it all, how hard was it to fight this guy!
Cursing to himself, Reyn also activated Charge and gave chase.
Halfway through the distance, he saw that Harken had no intention of stopping or turning back. So Reyn activated Reynbow Beam himself—a bright beam shot from his finger straight at Harken's back.
A ghostly dragon head descended on Harken—he had just managed to cast Dragon Force on himself in time.
He let the Reynbow Beam hit his back. The layer of ghostly dragon scales that appeared weakened the spell's power. In the end, only a coin-sized wound about two centimeters deep remained on his back. Blood gushed out, but it wasn't fatal.
Finishing his Charge, Harken spun around sharply.
Reyn brought the hammer down on him from above.
But Harken was ready. His eyes were fixed on the hammer. Without any tricks, he simply thrust out his hand to intercept the hammer's head. Ignoring the flash of icy power, he was knocked off his feet again by the blow.
However, this time the hammer first struck his arm, missing the head, and hit the shoulder.
Before falling, Harken clamped onto the hammer's handle with a death grip, pulling Reyn into a struggle and trying to wrench the weapon away.
Without the hammer, Reyn couldn't unleash his maximum power—his combat strength would drop significantly, and it would be hard to break through second-level Steel Body's defense.
And Harken would get a chance to stall for time calmly.
Reyn hadn't expected this move. He yanked the hammer several times but couldn't pull it free right away.
Harken seized the moment to close the distance. One hand gripped his longsword, the other the hammer's handle. With nothing to attack with, he simply headbutted.
Boom!
The blow landed squarely on Reyn's chin. Amid the sparks, his head snapped back involuntarily.
But he didn't let it slide and immediately countered with his own headbutt.
They grappled, trying to rip the hammer from each other, while exchanging the wildest blows. But second-level Steel Body's defense was too strong—both remained virtually unharmed.
Zoltan, who had caught up, saw only a tangle of two Reyns.
It looked like a clash of two humanoid monsters. Wherever they went, the ground was stamped with their footprints, walls crumbled, dust billowed like a pillar—as if an earthquake had started.
"This..."
Zoltan stared wide-eyed, barely able to tell which Reyn was real and which was fake.
He hastily backed away to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
In the chaos, an idea struck Reyn. With a mental command, he activated the enchantment on his dragon leather belt—Storage Hand triggered, and the hammer vanished from both opponents' hands.
Harken froze for a moment.
"Get lost!"
Reyn kicked Harken to the ground, activated the enchantment again—the hammer reappeared in his hand. He immediately raised it for a strike.
Boom!
Stone chips scattered in all directions—the hammer punched a hole in the ground.
Harken, using the second's delay while Reyn retrieved the hammer, leaped to his feet and used Charge again to break the distance. Anyone else wouldn't have reacted so fast, but Truthful Will gave him absolute control over his body and a degree of precognition, letting him rarely end up in a fully passive position in battle.
Reyn felt a headache coming on. Finally, he was feeling on his own skin just how much of a pain in the ass he himself could be.
He stopped, a wave of dejection washing over him.
Harken, finishing his Charge, glanced back. Seeing Reyn wasn't pursuing, he hesitated for a moment but then kept running.
He decided to retreat first. Wait for his other clones to arrive and then attack together.
"Reyn, chase him!" Zoltan shouted, rocketing past him in Charge.
Reyn understood Harken's plan. His heart sank. He immediately gave chase.
There had to be a cooldown between Charges. They couldn't be used continuously, or the strain on the body would build up, and after a few times, it would start breaking down from the damage.
An ordinary superhuman needed at least ten seconds before the next Charge.
But Harken was in an simulated body—it wasn't his real one—so he had no fear of overloads and just charged ahead headlong.
Though Reyn's Charge range was longer and his stamina lasted a long time—he could pull off two or three without a break no problem—after the third, each subsequent one got harder. His body began to ache, and the distance closed.
Reyn couldn't catch Harken right away, but he didn't fall behind either.
In less than half a minute, Harken reached the edge of the Throne Hall Dungeon and was about to vanish into one of the stone tunnels.
Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the tunnel.
A figure emerged from the darkness. Gray hair, two swords on his back, a vertical scar over his left eye—it was the legendary Demon Hunter, Roger.
Harken stopped, his expression changing slightly.
Reyn and Zoltan soon caught up too. Seeing Roger, Reyn was delighted.
Zoltan hesitated, unsure if this was the real Roger. But Reyn didn't doubt for a second and shouted loudly:
"Master Roger, this is Harken's clone!"
Roger drew his steel sword but didn't rush to attack. He looked at the Reyn who had spoken.
Clearly, he trusted neither of them.
Reyn got it immediately. He needed to say something only the real Reyn would know to prove his identity. He shouted a name:
"Delaersha!"
Hearing that, Roger cast aside all doubts.
A terrifying aura emanated from him. His pupils filled completely with blackness, as if a demon had possessed him. The steel sword "Wolf Fang" burst into bright flames. Roger's figure shot forward at a speed almost imperceptible to the eye, and in an instant, he was before Harken.
Reyn was seeing Roger fight at full power for the first time.
He mentally activated Soul Eye to examine Roger. To his surprise, there was no backlash—now he could see Roger's soul without harm to himself.
"Demon Hunter of the twelfth level... Superior element 'Demon Devouring and Mutation'!"