39. Survivors (2)

The clone is dressed, but only in pants.

[Cloning skill level increased].

[Clone Strengthening skill level increased].

And the level of the Cloning skill increased in tandem with the summoning of the clone.

"Aaahhhh! I've leveled up my cloning skill."

Sangwoo boasted happily.

However, Woohyun Kim pointed at his clone and screamed.

"Hey, put some clothes on him!"

Wearing only pants, Sangwoo's clone revealed his bulging upper body muscles.

Woohyun Kim was embarrassed and flustered by the sight.

"It's too bad I can only copy one outfit. Maybe I'll just copy a T-shirt in the future."

"You're a pervert."

"What the hell, it's only us boys. Oh, right. You're into guys. I've set your heart on fire again. Hmph."

"I'm not gay!"

The two argued.

Actually, Sangwoo's Cloning skill gained new features after reaching level 10.

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-[Cloning/Casting (Lv.12)]: Consumes energy to summon a clone that looks exactly like you. The number you can summon increases with level. Your summoned clone is connected (linked) to the user.

-Currently summonable: 12

-Cooldown: 20 hours 45 minutes

-Copies 1 piece of equipment from your main body.

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He could now copy equipment.

Sangwoo could choose which equipment was copied.

Thanks to this, he could now create clones with some clothes on.

Of course, if it was a normal outfit with a separate top and bottom, it would be just one part of it.

'I'm most comfortable summoning in my battlesuit.'

A battlesuit with a joined top and bottom is treated as a single piece of equipment and summoned together.

However, the copied equipment didn't last forever and would disappear when the clone was unsummoned.

As he leveled up, something else changed: the cooldown would decrease more quickly.

Originally, the cooldown reduction of the ability decreased by 15 minutes per level, but after level 10, it decreased by 30 minutes.

'If I keep this up, I'll be able to drastically reduce the cooldown before level 50, and then I'll be able to...'

As long as he had enough mana, he would be able to summon an infinite number of copies, so he wouldn't have to drag them around as much as he did now.

Sangwoo was working hard for that day.

"Come on, No. 3, finish the potion and let's move."

He poisoned his clones.

Sangwoo fed them nearly 400 bottles of potions.

After feeding the potions to No. 3 and the newly summoned No. 2, he gathered up the remaining potions.

"'Woohyun, I'm leaving. I'll get the ingredients soon. It should be good."

"Hurry up and leave. Don't come back if you can't get the ingredients."

After saying goodbye to Woohyun Kim, he left the office.

Now it was time to meet with Director Wontae Park.

Sangwoo headed to the Cainus Guild with Junmo Kang.

The Cainus Guild building is also in Gangnam, so it didn't take long to get there.

As they entered the huge guild building, Sangwoo was overwhelmed.

"It's bigger every time I see it. It must be the third largest in Korea."

"Haha, Mr. Hunter will have dozens of buildings like that sooner or later."

"Aww, that's a nice dream. It feels good, haha."

Sangwoo smirked.

"I'm not kidding."

Junmo Kang looked serious.

After all, a Hunter who had become a C-class Hunter in just six months, and a Hunter who could freely use clones that were more powerful than most Hunters, was not a common sight.

He believed that he could grow into a one-man guild.

Like an S-class Hunter.

'You will reach the top, I'll definitely follow you.'

Junmo Kang was going to do everything in his power to help Sangwoo succeed.

Of course, Sangwoo didn't take his words seriously.

They arrived at the office of Director Wontae Park.

"Welcome, Mr. Kang, and Mr. Sangwoo."

"Yes, hello. Mr. Chairman."

"How have you been, Mr. Park?"

Park shook his head and laughed at Sangwoo's greeting.

"I'm about to lose 500 billion won, so how can I sleep? I just laugh, hahaha."

"Eh, it's still a long way off, I'm just working hard. By the way, you can take the clone over there."

Sangwoo pointed to No.11 next to him.

"Forget about sending a clone, it's a routine thing. Instead, I think I need to get in touch with Yuna this time, so why don't you go on a business trip yourself?"

Sangwoo had been busy with work, so the only time he had traveled to Iceland himself was the first time.

Since then, he's only been able to give him a clone and controlled it from afar.

However, that has changed.

Recently, he has been able to read the changes inside Odin's tower through his clone.

The cause of this was a newability of the skill that enhanced the clones.

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[Clone Strengthening/Passive(Lv.31)]: Increases the percentage of your clone's stats mirroring your main body.

-Current mirroring ratio: 65%

-Increases the percentage of experience directed to the main body.

-Increases the clone's judgment.

-Increases your clone's cooperativeness.

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New effects at levels 10, 20, and 30.

Strange things had been happening to Sangwoo since the effect that increases the percentage of experience was added.

He would suddenly see sights he had never seen before while doing certain things, and when he slept and dreamed, he would see scenes that seemed to be someone else's experiences.

When Sangwoo examined the scenes he saw, he realized that they were all places where his clones had been.

In other words, as the proportion of experiences directed to him increased, he was gradually able to make the experiences of his clones his own.

Sangwoo was very happy.

'When I reach the max level of the Clone Strengthening skill, I can think of them, and all their memories will be shared with me.'

Then he could realize his dream of having someone study for his exams for him.

But right now, college is on hold.

For now, it would have to remain a dream.

Of course, at first, Sangwoo's memories of things he didn't do, of his clones getting hurt, and of him brutally killing monsters still haunted him at times.

Fortunately, these days, it's just like playing a game or watching a movie.

It's like watching a horror movie, if you watch it often enough, you get used to it and actually enjoy it.

And the positives outweighed the negatives.

When he was learning martial arts or using skills, he understood how to move from the perspective of his clones.

If there was a difficult move, he would have his clone do it, and the memory would be shared, so when Sangwoo moved, it would be instantly understood.

And that change helped him grow rapidly.

Recently, however, Sangwoo has been seeing strange things.

The Tower of Odin, a frozen land of nothing but ice, snow, and fierce winds.

He dreamed he was in it, where he met a group of humans he had never seen before.

Their coats were clearly marked with the Cainus' Guild mark, and they were near the bunker Sangwoo had his clones set up.

'There are survivors.'

When Sangwoo woke up from the dream, he was certain that the memory was his clone's, and he immediately informed Wontae Park.

After hearing the news, Wontae Park requested that Sangwoo go there himself.

Apparently, he wanted to talk directly to the survivors of the first floor.

Sangwoo opened his mouth.

"That's fine. Will you cover my travel expenses?"

"Haha. Of course I'll give you that much."

"Thank you, and I have a favor to ask."

"What kind of favor?"

"I need to get some good quality skeleton bones, but there are no decent dungeons in Korea, so..."

Sangwoo asked Wontae Park for a favor.

* * *

Planet Tybern.

A huge planet, where humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, dragons, and other races lived in harmony, was greatly damaged by war.

The Kranid, an alien race, had invaded the planet.

Strange creatures, part bug, part animal, they invaded Tybern through portals at some point in the past.

Portals sprang up all over the planet at the same time, and the Kranids emerged from them.

Not only that, but the Kranids brought with them aliens who looked nothing like them.

At first, the fight was easy.

The power of the planet Tybern, with its long history of magical development, was formidable.

But there's no resisting the power of numbers.

One by one, they fell to their knees before the endless stream of enemies.

The first race to fall were the Orcs.

Characteristically warlike and unwilling to back down, they were the first to fall to the Kranid.

The lands of the Orcs were eventually taken over by the Kranid.

It began to become contaminated, covered in a bizarre substance that seemed to take on a life of its own.

The orcs' living quarters were soon covered in a giant nexus, and then more orcs began to emerge from the nexus, transformed into monstrous creatures.

There is only one civilization left standing, the Empire of Eurencia, the last line of defense for the Alliance.

They live in the midst of a vast nexus of dragons that encompasses the entire continent.

And at its borders, a fierce war was raging.

Paaaaah!

A man's fist shattered an area with a radius of 100 meters.

All the monsters and Kranids within the cone were slaughtered.

Leaving nothing but a trail behind him, the man launched himself again.

His next target was a Cyclops trying to throw a huge boulder.

"Slow."

The man was over two meters tall.

He was a massive man for a human, but he seemed too small for the 10-meter cyclops.

But with a light step, the man flew to the cyclops's head in an instant, popping it with a single punch.

Ssshhhhhhhh!

The Cyclops fell, crushing the other monsters in its path.

The man who had intercepted the Cyclops and leapt higher on the recoil threw his fist at the flying, insect-like Kranids in midair.

Intangible energy poured from his fist.

Despite not being hit directly, the flying monsters that had covered the sky in black were reduced to handfuls of blood.

For a moment, the blue sky which was previously obscured by the monsters was visible.

However, the monsters in front of him were countless, both on the ground and in the air.

It looked like a wave of monsters.

Magic and cannonballs were fired nonstop from behind the boundary to reduce the number of monsters.

Kwagwagwang!

Fireballs and other magical projectiles struck and sent some of the monsters flying, but they were quickly overrun by the monsters coming from behind.

The spells that could not be blocked by Pia were hitting the man's body as well.

Wow!

The man's body emerged from the resulting smoke, but without a single wound.

The man was almost naked from the impacts, but he didn't seem to care.

Who cares about clothes in the middle of a life-or-death war?

However, his bare chest and back were covered in strange tattoos.

A black and red star on his chest and a roaring lion on his back.

That's right.

He was Leogardo, a S-rank Hunter, the strongest man on Earth.

How did he, an Earthling, end up on the planet Tybern?

Putting that question aside, Leogardo moved his hands and feet lightly.

Of course, that wasn't the extent of his movements.

Quang!

Fasasak!

The area of his attack was reduced to nothing but the mangled corpses of the monsters.

It was like a tactical nuclear weapon.

But the monsters, bug-like creatures, and Kranids quickly filled the void.

It was impossible to tell if they numbered in the millions or the tens of millions.

There was no end in sight.

With his lion's mane of hair whirling, Leonardo shouted.

"Is this all there is!?"

With a triumphant shout, Leonardo pushed himself up with all his might.

The force was so great that he soared to a height almost invisible from the ground.

Then, at his peak, a tremendous amount of energy began to condense from his body.

His flesh burned hot, covered in mana.

[Meteor]

He became a meteor and plowed into the ground.

His speed was unbelievable.

The air heated up from the friction of his movement.

The atmosphere, unable to withstand the supersonic speed, screamed.

Then, the 'meteor' slammed into the ground.

Kwaaaaaaaaang-!

The ground shook, and the earth rose up like a tidal wave, stretching out like a wave.

The flying monsters were swept away like fallen leaves by the pressure and high temperature of the atmosphere.

Like a nuclear bomb, everything in Leonardo's immediate vicinity was devastated.

For a brief moment, the ground and sky cleared.

Behind them, he could see the crystalline structures standing strong.

Then, to fill the vacuum that had been created, a tremendous gust of wind whipped up.

Ssshhhhhhhhhh!

Standing in the burning crater, Leonardo is cooling off with the breeze of the storm.

However, it was not enough.

The monsters that weren't caught in the blast radius began to trickle in.

"Come on!"

Leonardo stomped on the ground.

He was sent flying like a bullet again, along with the shattering fragments of the ground.

* * *

After crossing the Valhalla Portal, Sangwoo and the Cainus Guilds entourage arrived at Odin's Tower.

Sangwoo let his clone in.

It wasn't as cold as before, thanks to his increased cold resistance.

The bunker he could see with his Familiar skill seemed to be deserted.

However, shortly after he entered.

The door to one side of the room burst open, and people ran out.

"The delivery man is here."

"Hey, did you bring something delicious today?"

"Hey. Don't play around."

"Well, whatever. He doesn't even look human."

They were the members of the Cainus Guild's Strike team 1, and they were chatting away.

Despite being isolated in a freezing cold space, their complexions didn't look too dark.

Sangwoo had only glimpsed their faces through shared experiences, so it was strange to see them properly through his clone's vision.

Sangwoo used his main body to inform his entourage.

"I've just met with the members of Assault Team 1."

"Really?"

"Wow!"

"Are there any survivors, how many?"

There was a mixture of joy and worry.

"I'll ask them now."

Sangwoo focused back on his clone, No. 11.

"How are you?"

No. 11 spoke to the members of Assault Team 1.