The third trial is over.
I forgot the existence of Rojina-san and Guildmaster and simply fought normally.
I stood out, but I had no choice. It wasn’t an opponent that I could take easy, and Rojina-san had let me challenge the trials. I can’t help but let lose since I can’t use magic and I can’t afford to lose.
The problem is the fourth and fifth rounds. If they get any stronger, I’ll have to exert myself even more than I already had.
I guess I’ll just have to ask them to keep it a secret for me after this is over.
For now, I’ll just enjoy this trial. So, what’s next?
As I waited for the next trial, the soil rose up and stretched vertically.
It was smaller than I expected. I was expecting a larger monster to appear. The soil gradually took shape.
……Humanoid?
It seemed as tall as I am. It stood on two legs and have two arms. Its head was covered with a strange hood. That looked strangely familiar. I rubbed my eyes and looked again.
First, the feet. It was wearing big shoes that I had seen before somewhere. I compared them to my own feet. They looked awfully similar. Then, I raised my eyes and looked at its torso. A fat, chubby belly. I put my hand to my stomach and rubbed it. It’s dreadfully similar.
Next, I looked at its shoulder that extended from the torso to its hands. Both its left and right hands have a familiar animal face. I looked at my own hands. My bear puppets have the same face. Its bear puppets also have a knife in each mouth, just like my bear puppets.
Finally, I turned my gaze above. Its head has a hood. And on the hood, is a cute little bear face.
In conclusion, no matter how you look at it, it’s me, isn’t it?
[Rojina-san, Am I going to fight myself now?] Yuna
[I don’t know. It’s my first time seeing it, too. Guildmaster probably knows more about it.] Rojina
[I don’t know either. I have neither seen nor heard of anyone fighting against themselves in the trials.] Guildmaster
Rojina-san and Guildmaster don’t seem to know about it either.
Even though it’s made of soil and magic, it doesn’t feel good to have another me. And when it’s finished, it will look just like me. Even the color would be exactly the same. I don’t like the idea of fighting against myself.
Occasionally, there is a tough challenge in a game or manga that the main character needs to surpass. They have to fight an opponent who looks exactly like them and win against it. Fighting against yourself can make you grow, I guess. Just saying.
In the first place, how much of me did it copied? My armor was God-tier cheat armor. I don’t think it can copy it as it is. After all, it’s a God-tier armor. In addition, it has been enhanced with magic power. So it’s not easy to completely imitate it.
If it copied all of my powers, it would be the strongest and worst opponent I’ll ever have.
When I look at my copy, it started to move slowly. I feel uncomfortable even calling it a copy of me in my head. I’m going to name it <Fake>.
Fake-me slowly holds up the knife that its bear puppet is biting. The moment I thought it would make its move, Fake-me started running towards me.
First, let me find out how much it’s imitating me.
It moves fast. It closed the gap between us in an instant. Fake-me thrusts out the knife in its right hand. I dodged to the right. As soon as I do that, the knife in its left hand comes at me. I blocked it with Swaying Bear Knife and jumped backwards.
Surprisingly, it might be troublesome to deal with a dual-wielding opponent.
If it has one weapon, I only have to watch out for just one weapon. But since it has two weapons, I have to watch out for two, that’s when things get messy.
Then, in order to measure my strength, we slashed and strike at each other several times. We swung our knives at each other. We evaded each other’s attack. We were dressed in such a way that it looks difficult for us to move, but we were dodging each other’s attacks at the last second.
How can you move like that? Was it your footwork, your knife handling, your bear costume?
Although I feel that if I complain about Fake-me, it will come back to me like a boomerang, so I will moderate the bad words that I throw at Fake-me.
But this might be the most troublesome opponent I’ve ever fought.
I wonder if it’s imitating my movements. I’ve never actually seen my own movements, so I don’t know how I look when I’m fighting. But if it’s copying my movements, then it’s going to be a pain in the ass.
It may have gathered information on my movements from the past three trials. The magic circle is analyzing my body, perhaps.
I hope it doesn’t know my weight or my three sizes.
The battle between me and Fake-me continues.
Stab, dodge. Slash, dodge. When I avoided Fake-me’s knife, it attacked me in an unexpected way. A bear’s hind paw flew at me from the side.
[Cho!] Yuna
I dodged at the last second before I get hit in the stomach. Then, I stepped back to escape.
[Hey, isn’t kicking a foul!] Yuna
I shouted at Fake-me. Of course, I got no response. So, I changed who I complained to.
[Rojina-san, Guildmaster. Why can’t I use kick but they can?] Yuna
[Even if you ask me that.] Guildmaster
[If it’s a humanoid, then it will kick, I see.] Rojina
[Isn’t it unfair that it’s fine if it’s them but not me?] Yuna
[I’m not saying it’s no good. I just don’t know. It’s supposed to be a test for the weapons after all.] Guildmaster
I know it is to test the weapons. Still, I think it’s unfair that my copy can use the kick and I can’t. Or is it okay for me to use it all this time? But I don’t want it to end the moment I use it. It’s not fair.
But is it too much to ask for a handicap against a copy of yourself?
If I were to use magic, it would be beyond unfair, it would be a foul. But fortunately, I have not used any magic so far.
As I’m thinking about what to do, Fake-me raised its right arm. Then it swung its arm down.
I quickly dodged to the right. But it threw a knife at me.
[Cho!] Yuna
When I tried to complain, I saw a new knife in Fake-me’s right hand.
Isn’t that a foul play?
Fake-me threw a bunch of knives left and right. While throwing knives is not cowardly, the fact that they regenerate is cheating. I only got two. And if I threw them, that would be the end it.
The more distance I make between us, the more disadvantageous it becomes for me who have only two knives. So I’ve been trying to dodge the knives while closing the distance between me and Fake-me.
Then we exchanged a few close-range blows.
I blocked, parried, and slashed the knives. Sometimes, I stabbed it. Fighting against myself is trickier than I thought it would be. It feels as if my movements are being read and even when I think I’ve landed a hit, It gets blocked.
Fake-me swung down its knife. I caught its arm with my right arm before it can fully be swung down. I got an opening on its torso. So I thrust the bear knife in my other hand. But Fake-me dodged even that.
On the contrary, Fake-me slashed at me with the knife in its left hand. This time, it was me who dodged it.
Then we distanced ourselves from each other.
[Fu ~] Yuna
I exhaled quietly. Fake-me is expressionless. Could it be that it has unlimited energy? That’s right. It’s moving with magic power, right? I’m not sure if that means It’ll keep moving until its magic power runs out.
I looked at Fake-me.
Yeah, I got the gist of it.
I didn’t know fighting myself could be so frustrating.
After the fight, I found out that Fake-me copied my power from the three trials. It seems that it can’t show more power than that. Still, it was enough of a threat.
But I’m done playing around. I strengthened my body and poured as much magic power as I can into my Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear Knives.
I put all my strength into my legs. Then, with the fastest movement in these four trials, I quickly closed the gap between me and Fake-me. Fake-me timed it just right and tried to swing its knife down. I caught it with my Hugging Bear Knife and I swung my Swaying Bear Knife sideways. Fake-me tried to catch it with its own knife, but its knife got cut. Originally it’s just soil hardened by magic power. So if I slash it with my Swaying Bear Knife that has more magic power than that, my knife will win.
Then, moving faster than Fake-me, I slashed Fake-me’s chubby belly.
It doesn’t feel so good to slash something that looks exactly like you.
Fake-me was slashed with my knife and then it crumbled.
