Chapter 323 Doppelgängers' Queen.

"What is it...what kind of skill?!" Barade asked out loud.

"Sigh, it's the fusion of a divine law [the three-dimensional seal] that consists in reaching his target regardless of the distance and his own spell that crystallizes his attributes into an offensive attack," Nicco explained with sparkling eyes.

"But how can he cast a divine law without the need for incantation?" Fyora asked.

"It's simple; any divine mage who has reached the pinnacle of his rank will be able to achieve this kind of feat." She added casually.

Concerning Brave and the other two, they had strange expressions, lack of better words to explain their current expressions.

"My lord, is it possible to cast a divine law without incantation while simultaneously using such a complex spell?" Zanac whispered to Brave.

"Tsk, you already know the answer, so why are you disconcerting me with this stupid question?" Brave scolded Zanac with rabid eyes.

"... I apologize for my rudeness."

"Sigh, it's nothing; it's just me who got carried away for nothing. In reality, casting a divine law without incantation is not an impossible feat to achieve. But the divine mages of the highest ranks can't combine a divine law with another magical spell without incantation." He sighed and finally answered the question of his subordinate, who was in the same rank as him.

"King Brave is right; I don't even know what kind of concentration you have to accomplish such a feat. But this is one more reason to keep your rage under control. Since this guy is not only a high-ranking divine mage but heʼs also as strong as we are, probably more than us. So I ask you not to do anything reckless against him to spoil our efforts." Elaydja made this reminder when he saw Brave's hateful look.

"I know, I know all that, FUCK! So stop boring me with these stories." Brave grinned his teeth while retorting these words!

"Sigh, then so much the better. He didn't even bother to attack us despite the bold actions of my subordinate. That means we will always have a chance to end this war before it's too late. What worries me is, will our messengers arrive in time to prevent King Artaros from attacking the elves' kingdom? If ever King Artaros and our generals, who are accompanied by their squads, commit massacres, then--

"Don't worry; they will arrive on time!" Brave stopped Elaydja before his words didn't bring them more bad luck than they had now!

...

At the same time, the battle of Alvine continued with fervor and excitement.

After halving their numbers by killing one of the doppelgangers and sealing the four, he focused on the others.

But just at that moment, he frowned, noticing the first doppelganger he had killed with his flame spear reappearing.

'Sigh, I knew it couldn't be so simple. But at least it helped me confirm one of my theories. As these bastards exist thanks to the array, it's therefore impossible for them to disappear for good after killing them. Their goals are to exhaust their opponent before killing him once exhausted.' He mumbled to himself while creating a dark flame scythe in his hand.

"Since you want to exhaust me so much, I just have to make sure not to waste more energy while instantly sealing you all without killing you." He retorted while rushing toward the six doppelgängers with intrepid and bloodthirsty eyes.

Seeing Alvine prioritize melee, the six doppelgängers also showed their weapons and attacked him.

"Now, look for the array that maintains the existence of these bastards." He murmured to his flames, which were divided into several tiny flames and scattered in opposite directions.

'Huh? Is it even able to understand such a complex order? Decidedly, this flame is becoming more and more interesting.' He continued while reaping toward the doppelganger who reached him first.

-Clang!!

Following this loud friction at the contact of his weapon and that of the doppelganger, Alvine's scythe remodeled, and its blade became elastic and whistled towards the doppelganger's head!

-!

Seeing Alvine's vicious attack, the doppelganger tried to escape him.

[Mana Chains!]

Alvine murmured before the doppelganger moved away from him.

-Swhhoo!!

Instantly, golden chains immobilized the movements of the doppelganger. But before Alvine went to the end of his actions, the other doppelgängers besieged him simultaneously, forcing him to distance himself.

But strangely, he didn't let his prey escape from his claws; he dragged it with him like when Darka dragged his gigantesque sword behind him.

And noticing its agitation and resistance to wanting to stay at all costs with its own, Alvine's smile became more erratic as he whispered for himself.

[One!]

-!!

Hearing Alvine pronounce this number, the doppelganger no longer tried to stay away from him; on the contrary, its eyes became blood garnet, followed by an enormous and gigantic lightning spear that appeared in his hand and pursued Alvine like a rabid dog!

"Haha! And now, you don't want to let me go while you struggled in my claws to get away from me as if I were a scourge. Finally, no matter your skills or speed, it was impossible for you to reach me!" He replied while using all his speed to move away from the doppelganger instantly he had just marked.

[Frost's Pearl!]

He then mumbled, teleporting his pearl under the doppelgänger's feet he had just targeted with his divine law.

Unlike other skills, laws only need to be activated once to continue using them for long periods. What a divine law takes to stay active will depend on its user. But on average, it'll remain active for at least thirty minutes after casting it for the first time.

-Freeze!!

The next moment, the doppelganger turned into an ice sculpture.

But simultaneously, the other doppelgangers suddenly stopped with empty eyes.

Noticing this phenomenon, Alvine also stopped with frowned eyebrows.

-K-BOOOM!!!

Suddenly, without notice, the other five doppelgangers exploded and including those who were frozen in his ice prison.

"Hmm? What is it?!? Ah, I grasp up. It's not too early." He murmured while looking under him while using his magical perception to see under the artificial clouds.

At the same time, he could see his dark flames fiercely burn a gigantic black pentagram in a crater that was once a lake.

'Ho? So the array was hidden under this artificial lake? It's an ingenious idea, indeed. Attract us to the sky when it was on the ground that we had to look for from the beginning?' He murmured in his thoughts while patiently waiting for these flames to end their work.

After ten more seconds, the shield broke into pieces after the destruction of the heart of the formation, finally leaving Alvine to leave without obstruction.

But before he did anything, he noticed his flames continuing their paths to the black stele that had suddenly appeared in front of them after the destruction of the Doppelgängers and the array itself.

Following this, Alvine no longer questioned himself; he rushed at full speed towards the stele, followed by the others.

And since the stele was only about nine from them, it had only taken about fifteen seconds to closer it. And without even Alvine touching the stele or using his magical energy to activate it, he suddenly lit up with a blinding dark light followed by the appearance of a female silhouette.

-!!

Just seeing her unicorns on the left temple, her long black hair, her purple eyes, and her slightly pointed ears, Alvine and the others directly guessed the girl's identity in front of them.

"What is this crazy woman doing here?!" Alvine murmured in a sober tone.

"You're wrong; it's not me, but the queen of the Doppelgängers." Near that, instantly, Serena's voice resounded less than ten centimeters from Alvine, surprising him to such an extent that he had almost attacked her by instinct.

"What?! You're still not going to ask us to overcome your look-alike, are you?!" He asked, pointing his index finger at the other Serena, who was silent and inexpressive.

"Huh? Did I force you to do anything? You have recovered what you wanted, so why do you always want to continue to move toward certain death? Honestly, it'd suit me if you stopped there. Even if your death will mean nothing, it's not the case for others." She retorted while frowning.

Hearing Serena's proposal, a slight smile appeared on Alvine's lips.

"To see you so agitated gives me more reasons to go to the end and know what awaits me at the end of my journey--

"Death!"

"Hm?"

"What will await you at the end of your way is death!" She replied with seriousness in her eyes.

"Death, huh?" While murmuring these words, Alvine then looked at Nicco.

"Henia, don't let anyone bother me for a while." He then ordered.

*Ugh, master, don't you have a better nickname?*

*It's not important. For now, protect me while I restore my magical energy.*

"Hm? Don't you want me to take care of his case?" She asked with surprised eyes.

"No, we don't know what awaits us after this battle. You must keep your strength for future battles." While pronouncing these words, Alvine softly shook his hand, and dozens of Odins' stones appeared around him.

And before the spiritual stones fell into free fall, he applied his gravitational magic on them, allowing them to remain suspended around him.

After that, he began to empty them of their energies with his usual speed, which left Serena and the other three speechless.

After another thirty seconds, he opened his eyes.

"Master, are you sure it will work for you?"

"Hm? Like other doppelgängers, this queen is probably weaker than her original. And then, as long as she does not master this woman's concepts, it will be easy for me to defeat her."

"... Ahem, even if it's the case, even if its powers are weak compared to its original, it still remains more powerful than any high-ranking divine mage!"

"Sigh; in any case, apart from me, no other candidate is qualified enough to challenge her. And if we try to attack it together, it can multiply with our number. So it is not out of envy that pushes me to face him in a duel but out of necessity."

Then, with this last exchange between him and Henia. He approached the so-called queen of the Doppelgängers.

But when he approached her in less than fifty meters, the same barrier as the previous one formed behind him, thus separating him from the other group members.

-Woooh!!

But when he barely entered the queen's attack zone, she instantly appeared in front of him, as if she had teleported instantly!

!!

As for Alvine, Between his surprise at the speed at that the queen had just risen and his unbelief of being attacked without being prepared, Alvine tried to stop his opponent's attack by protecting himself with his forearms in front of his face.

-Bang!!

Instantly, the Queen's punch hammered his arms, and the impact force pushed him back without him being able to do anything and hit him against the barrier!

-Keukh!!

He clenches his teeth and swallows the blood that had just risen through his throat while enduring the inhuman pain he felt after countering the attack of the queen of the Doppelgängers.

'Fucks! This bitch is more powerful than I imagined.' He swore these words between his clenched teeth while looking at the pitiful state of his arms.

In a single attack, which he had parried with his body strengthened by his magical energy, the bones of his arms still burst into his pulpit and pissed the blood!

But even before he had time to regenerate, the queen's silhouette disappeared in front of him.

And the next moment, Alvine's eyes widened with disbelief.

"Wha- Argh...This bitch!"