Chapter 30: Vampire Doppelganger!
It was hard to tell if the figure was a man or a woman due to the darkness covering it.
But Shiva could feel the stare of that being. It was the stare of a predator, threatening to rip him apart.
"Gr...gr..."
Low growls came out of the being's mouth as it slowly walked forward, revealing its form before Shiva.
"You have appeared!"
There, in front of Shiva, stood an exact replica of himself. It had the same eyes, same ears, same clothes, and even a flail exactly similar to that of the Echo's Retribution in its hand.
Seeing it, Shiva was not even a bit surprised, but rather his eyes showed an expression of relief.
Of course, he would be relieved. After all, the being in front of him was his second apostle from his past life.
"Aghora, fight him."
Shiva knew exactly the capabilities and the skills of the doppelganger that had appeared in front of him.
It was no secret - the doppelganger possessed all the abilities of the ones whose form it had taken, from skills to stats and weapons. It was capable of copying each and every small detail of its opponents.
But the being in front of Shiva was not a normal doppelganger.
"I want to see how my first summon will fare against the elder species."
In the tower, there were innumerable species and races that thrived and climbed the floors. Humans, elves, dwarves, fairies, hobbits, halflings, and many more.
But even among them, there were some races that were far superior in their blood, origin, potential, and innate strength - the Elder Races.
However, currently, most of the elder races were almost at the brink of extinction, due to their feud with the dragons. The Elder species were strong, but they were foolish to pick a fight with the dragons, pushing them to the brink of extinction.
And the being in front of Shiva belonged to one such elder species - the Vampire Doppelgangers.
A powerful race of vampires, who could not only transform into someone else but could also use one of the feared types of magic - Blood magic!
Shiva wanted to see if his first summon, the Corruption Giant, could match the elder species, and he was quite interested to see how the doppelganger would use its skills against the giant, so he commanded the giant to fight the doppelganger.
The giant walked to the front, standing tall against the doppelganger.
The doppelganger looked at the giant and, a second later, its attention turned to the pile of corpses lying around.
"<Grrr...GRrrrr>"
The doppelganger muttered something incomprehensible, and as a result, the corpses of Agemos and the fire wolves stood up, their skin shed and only skeletons remaining.
"Deal with those."
Shiva commanded his skeletons. Although the doppelganger could use his skills, its summons were not as powerful as his. Not to mention, the Agemos without skin were useless, and the fire wolves could only do so much against the agile pair of mantis.
Nevertheless, not waiting for its opponent, the giant ran, with an excited smile on its face, two of its hands clasped together to smash the fake Shiva. It oddly seemed very excited to do so.
'I am overthinking or this giant is more excited to crush my face?'
Shiva had such a thought, but then he concentrated on the battle.
The doppelganger growled at the incoming giant, and suddenly, skeleton hands rose from the ground, holding onto Aghora's legs.
Aghora was thrown off balance and couldn't control itself, but instead of falling to the ground, the giant used its other two hands to land itself and push back from the ground, standing up in less than a second.
But by that time, the spiked head of the Echo's Retribution was already in front of its face.
"Graahhhhhh!!!"
The giant let out a loud roar filled with pain, while a blazing skull appeared on the doppelganger's hand.
The giant sensed the threat and instantly grabbed a nearby corpse in one of its hands and threw it in the direction of the air projectile. The corpse met the blazing skull lobbed at it and resulting in an explosion.
After the dust of the explosion cleared, the giant could not sense the doppelganger - it was as if it had disappeared into thin air.
"Grrrrrr"
The giant let out a growl, standing still and heightening its senses.
All of a sudden, the doppelganger appeared behind the giant with a piece of sharp bone in its hand and used 'Backstab' on it.
The backstab worked, but the doppelganger seemed too weak to pierce deep into the giant's head. Using that chance, the giant swung its fist, and they met with the doppelganger, sending it hurling back!
"Grahhhhhhhhh!!!"
The Corruption Giant roared in victory as it banged its chest using its four arms.
On the other side, Shiva's skeletons had already done a number on the doppelganger's summons and were about to destroy them all.
Dust settled over where the doppelganger had fallen, and when it cleared, what came into Shiva's view was the doppelganger standing still with its hands outstretched and no subtle expression on its face, despite the blood dripping down its face.
A red aura was being emitted by it, and it was concentrating on the pile of orc corpses.
"<Grraa...>"
The doppelganger used some skill that Shiva had, and in the next second, its summons which was fighting against Shiva's skeletons burst into pieces.
"It always intrigues me no matter how many times I see it," Shiva mumbled, watching the wounds on the doppelganger disappear.
It was making use of his new skill <Feast for the Dead>, even though Shiva himself had only recently acquired the skill and didn't particularly know how to use it efficiently, the doppelganger was doing just that.
But that wasn't it!
"<Grrr...>"
It used another skill and soon, the orc corpses that it was looking at shed their skin and stood up. A red aura surrounded them and all of them started to merge together.
And in front of Shiva and his summons, a huge skeleton monster stood, almost the size of the Corruption Giant, its eyes ignited with a red flame.
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Forsaken by the Gods, I made a contract with the Demon King
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone