《The Hero's Doppelganger [ONESHOT?]》 Prologue - Farewell "I''m sorry... You''ll have to let me go, Dogma" "NO! ... You can''t, we''re blood siblings aren''t we? Even if I am a monster, we agreed that our pact means we''d have to face any challenge we face, no matter how world-breaking it is, we face it together!" "We''re bound by the empire remember? at least if you can live on... then we can''t have a free-spirit like you running to your death" "I''M GOING WITH YOU TO FACE HELL NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY!" "Lilith... let him rest." "Understood. I hope you''ll finally realize your identity Dogma-san while we''re away." "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" "Deep Sleep~" "..." "Warp him to the nearest dungeon entrance at the edge of Bristol" "... Badlands huh?" "The empire won''t seize him there. It''s neutral territory, at best they''ll think of him dead along with all of us." "The slave contract that they bound on us just after we became SSS ranks, they spiked our drinks during the celebration, I still wonder how they managed that though..." "We couldn''t sense it no matter how vigilant we were, luckily Dogma still wasn''t with us back then." "Well no use crying over spilled milk, we''re all here anyway, let''s just finish our last job and create a better world for him." "Are you sure we have no other way to go about this? What about Iris?" "We can''t... as we are right now, I bet we can''t even put a scratch on that fucker." "... Sacrificial Forced Reincarnation..." The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "A new start for that pain in the ass. Levels, status, abilities and even memories. A total reboot of the body and soul, I''m glad you made this spell Merlin." "I just hope when we''re gone, the demon king won''t be influenced by Underground anymore. Ancient bastards." "Then we tag on him a warp rune before we sic him." "Now now Frampt... don''t say that as if it''s just a walk in the park..." "Don''t worry, what''s another challenge? We''re all on death''s door anyways right? Might as well make sure our evil right here would be in capable hands." "So we''re all in agreement?" "Lilith, Succubus Queen, Rank SSS and Carnival Witch" "I''m here master~" "Merlin, Spell Lord, Rank SSS and Arc-Magus" "I''m here. Ya know I''m not getting any younger." "Frampt, Plasma Dragon, Rank SSS and Light Fury" "YOSH! I''ll always have your back!" "... and I, Ophelia, Hero, Rank SSS adventurer and Monster Tamer, shall subdue the Rank X Demon King, I hope Grandineur shall have fulfilling next life." "... You''re laughing at a time like this?" "Nothing, I just had a thought of young Dogma accidentally coming across the reincarnated demon king and being friends with him" "U-uhm... don''t joke around like that, you know you''re still an oracle, I hope that''s not a divination." "Hmmm~ I wonder..." """Dogma, please be safe.""" Chapter 1 - The Intro My name is Dogma and I am a doppelg?nger, I know that usually you''d experience a hero in the making to narrate this story, but no, you only have me to keep you company. Yes I know that I''m no average guy, pervert, skirt-chaser, harem attractor, chuunibyou, handsome young guy or anyone you can reinforce into a hero. In all honesty, I don''t even know who I am, where I came from or what my age is, all I know is what I look like, whenever I stare at my reflection in the water, all I see is just a silhouette of a person all covered in murky black mist; you''d see how my hair looks like, how my body proportions are, what shape my clothes are, but that''s it, you won''t recognize anything else. I look just like a video game character that hasn''t been unlocked yet, as for all these references I''ve been mentioning? I don''t even know where I pull out all of this from, I just know that I can use it normally whenever I speak, it feels natural and somehow I can''t explain it even if it somehow fits the situation. For now, the word ''KNOW'' is a total mystery for me. Ironic right? but that''s just how it is. Let''s start off with what I am exactly. I am a doppelg?nger, well a doppelg?nger is an offspring between a demon and a human turned monster, we tend to copy out other people''s appearances as well as their abilities. How? Well to be more accurate, we are able to copy from a person by giving them what we call a Doppelg?nger''s Kiss, yes, it means what it says, now if you think that''s not too bad, right? You''re wrong. What if, you miraculously know what your gender is, I for one, think that I am guy, pathetic for a gender neutral monster right? but that''s my case as of now, In other words, I can''t go off smooching dudes for their OP UBER DANK ULTIMA SKILLZ even if they''re the feminine all-out bishounen type, Yeesh! I''m pretty sure some of you would even go all-out crazy fangirl over yaoi, BUT YOU WON''T CATCH ME MAKING-OUT WITH A GUY AS LONG AS I''M ALIVE! Now the Doppelganger''s Kiss isn''t exactly the only way for us to copy crap, but as for how it works is, our censored lips, to be honest are able to extract information through this kind of contact, I agree that this is a sure-fire way to get what you want but this isn''t how I roll. I am a Doppelg?nger that denies his own calling, what I am supposed to do is to by and means stealthily copy/steal the person''s appearance and characteristics that I want, afterwards, we then hunt them down to assume their identity. That''s exactly how we get our humanity, but my race is known to be the greedy and malicious type, we will always want to be someone better as well as to be someone who is known and never to be nobody. We are the race that is rejected by both human and demonkind, fallen under the ranks of monsters then left to boil in emotion and envy. ... and yet... That''s not my case though, I, who was born in the middle of nowhere, fed by strangers then discarded, to feel nothing, to have nothing, to remember nothing, as well as to want nothing, I didn''t know what to do, what to say, what to look up to, and so I wandered around aimlessly, scraping for food which is what I believe to be what I needed. Surprisingly, one day, I found out that I didn''t need to eat, somehow I was able to go about normally without any food or drink, although I didn''t have anything to consume, I noticed that something else was fueling me. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I wanted to take a rest so I stopped walking and went to find shade under a huge apple tree a few meters away from the next town, I sat down and leaned back at the wide and sturdy trunk, leaving my eyes to slowly close, and then darkness. I felt something weird passing through me... No. More like going into me, it felt like a breeze was blowing against my skin, and yet I knew it wasn''t, something was off about it, the longer this feeling stayed, the less my fatigue grew, my wounds ached less and the calmer I became. I wanted this feeling to last, so I called out and wished more to gather. The calming breeze then increased into a beating wind, swirling around my body like a tornado, the reinvigorating feeling warped, as parts of my body started to throb all over, unbelievable pain coursed and pulsed, I wanted to wake up from this nightmare, but no matter how much I wanted to, I stayed in this trance. "WHAT''S HAPPENING!?" I heard a rather feminine voice filled with panic rang in my ears, somehow it felt quite seductive to hear, making me have mixed feelings since doppelgangers can''t feel any emotions until they''ve stolen an identity. "Everything''s wilted! The tree''s starting to decay as well!, what''s the cause of this!?", this time the voice had ancient rustic tone, it felt like it held that word ''KNOW'' that was always a mystery to me. "I see a shroud coming from the base of the tree!, it feels like the mana''s being gathered hungrily by whoever''s covered in that darkness!", a beast like shout pointed out rather menacingly. "Come on! let''s pull the plug on that sucker!" the last one I heard had quite a british accent, playful but ladylike at the same time. The darkness of my closed eyes was now painted red, I could feel my skin now bubbling and blistering from, the wind now felt like piercing needles, sewing in and out of my very pores, I felt like my head was going to pop from all the pain and pressure. "We must move quickly before he starts swelling up because of mana overload!" the ladylike voice beckoned out to the others, "What do you want us to do? We can only kill him before he starts to explode taking the town with him!", the feral beast gnashed out in reply, "I''VE GOT AN IDEA!" the ancient voice blurted out excitedly ""What is it!?"" "We can compress the gathering mana into a mana core inside of this being!" "Wait!, compress it into a mana core?, isn''t that dangerous!?, you know just one wrong move during the process and he''s a goner." The seductive voice finally interjected. "We don''t have any other choice, he''ll die without a single change if we don''t!" "EVERYONE LET''S ALL FOLLOW MERLIN''S PLAN AND SUPPORT HIM" the lady like voice lost it''s grace and released a heavy pressure from the sheer volume ""YOSH!"", leaving the rest to agree without anymore remarks. "I SWEAR ON MY NAME AND TITLES, THAT I, OPHELIA, RANK SSS ADVENTURER AND MONSTER TAMER, I''LL SAVE YOU AND THIS TOWN WITHOUT ANY CASUALTIES!" And then I blacked out. Chapter 2 - Awakening ... Now why would I dream about her of all times... She''s already gone dammit. Back then was the first time I actually met her. I accidentally learned how to absorb mana from the surrounding and caused it to go unstable and greedily suck out the life from nearby plants... ...then she arrived with other people and aided me in stopping it, although one of them preferred to just kill me and be over it. For some reason, she defended me. she vowed to save both me and the town. Me? A complete nobody to anyone? Now why is that? And why would the only people by my side actually have to disappear... While I blacked out, I was probably half awake by then, but I felt something touch my lips... I remember checking out my status back then the moment I became conscious, A two skill were somehow added into my list, I didn''t know why,... My skills were only supposed to have the Doppelganger''s Kiss and one the other one that was full of question marks, any other may only be obtained through copying. Flash Movement and Raijin Claw Flash movement was basically an enhancement skill, causing a short burst of extreme speed, though you can only move in a straight line until you land, that is if you can stick the landing. On the other hand, Raijin Claw was an offensive skill, causing one of the caster''s hand and arms to be clad with crackling lightning, its form honestly resembled that of a dragon''s claw. I didn''t know what was wrong but I''m pretty sure these two skills aren''t something a doppelg?nger like me should possess, how exactly did I even get this? I thought the condition was a full blown kiss and we''d obtain appearance and abilities, and yet when I took at a look at myself, It was still the same old murky mist around a silhouette. Did... Did Ophelia Kiss me back then?... "Psst... Hey... Wake up", a rather cutesy voice reached my ears, *Boing~*, "Come on!... Wake up!.. Mister Mist Man!...", that voice again, this time his tone grew louder, *Boing~ Boing~* The moment I opened my eyes, I saw an eerily metallic silver slime moving back a few inches before bumping at me once again. *Boing~ Boing~ Boing~* "Oh!... You''re awake!?... That''s Great!", so the cutesy voice belonged to him?/her?, but how did this one learn to speak?, if I were to describe this slime at the moment, I''d say he looked like a metallic silver colored mochi bun, the surface of the slime rippled and wobbled as he bounced rhythmically to its own beat. "Who are you?", I managed to say, my voice echoed out similar to a young man still in his adolescence, a bit high yet still clear and steady. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "My name is Ik... I mean Ichor. Call me Ichor. I went into this dungeon and stumbled upon you just near the entrance." "... dungeon?" "WAIT? YOU DON''T KNOW WHAT A DUNGEON IS?" the slime''s body erratically wobbled causing small tendrils to pulsate from his body out of shock. "No... to be honest, so far I''ve only been wandering around with some humans until uuug-guuuuu~..." I couldn''t help but start to cry, from thinking about what happened "Oh! Uh.... Uhmmm--- It''s Okay!... You don''t have to tell me about that!... Come on!... I''ll explain to you everything about dungeons!" From what I can gather from his lectures were that dungeons are apparently instanced zones with powerful monsters and treasures. Typically a dungeon will involve navigating through a zone filled with enemies, with boss and named enemies used to guard a specific stairway, floor, safe zone or the dungeon corr itself. The dungeon core is basically its heart and soul, the hivemind of the overall dungeon monster population within it, so if one were to break the core, the dungeon then be deemed cleared then its corridors would then implode in itself, that''s why it''s advisable for adventurers to carry around warp crystals or are versed in runes before trying to conquer one, since to be honest we can all agree that why should a dungeon leave a reward to those enemies who break its core? better to purge them than to have them grow stronger. Many dungeons require prerequisites to be fulfilled before they can be entered. Though there are some dungeons that don''t have the power to separate conquering adventurers into instance, they''re all categorized as low level dungeons. And that ends the slime''s lecture. "Wow.. that''s a lot of information to process." I catch my head in my hands in defeat, I''m inside a dungeon? why am I here? I was supposed to be in front of the demon king''s castle with the Hero and my other senpais. Where did they go? "I know right? Luckily the entrance room of this dungeon is a safe zone so we have all day to discuss and become friends!" "Friends?" "... Well... Yeah? Can''t we be friends?" "A Doppelg?nger and a Slime?" "Is there anything wrong about that?" "... pffft, No. I''ll gladly be your friend" With a loud Boing~ the slime jumped up like a bullet, hitting the ceiling causing him to bounce back down and the same thing happened, it took quite a while before he managed to stop the bouncing before he finally asked me with tear-like mucus as if he was crying in joy. "So how did you end up in this place in the first place anyway?"