章 49: Rank E Dungeon (3)
Seeing the doppelganger retreat, I did not relent and chased after the Hidden Boss. While it was running away, I caught sight of the familiar green glow of medical ninjutsu it was casting on the broken index finger. That was something I could not allow.
Activating [Whirlwind Step] and [Flash Step] all at once, I immediately streaked across the remaining distance and reappeared next to the retreating doppelganger. However, and I could not stress this enough, the doppelganger seemed to be able to predict my every movement as the green glow of medical ninjutsu immediately halted the moment I vanished from its sight.
It already knew I would not give it the opportunity to continue healing itself and would endeavour to prevent it from doing so. Thus, the Healing Hands jutsu it had started using was just a bait to lure me into range. In truth, the doppelganger was ready for such an action, and its hands had already formed the last handseal for the jutsu it was about to use.
""Katon: Moerute no Jutsu! (Burning Hands)"" Both of us yelled out together, as thick sheet of flames erupted out of our outstretch palms, colliding in mid-air before dissipating and sending waves of hot air in the vicinity.
The moment I activated [Flash Step] my enhanced dynamic vision already caught sight of the doppelganger releasing the Healing Hands technique and going into the first handseal of Burning Hands. While I sped forward, I too was forming the exact same handseals at the exact same speed, thus allowing me to launch the fire jutsu at roughly the same time as the doppelganger.
Both of us were of one mind as we each threw ourselves through the lingering embers of our katon jutsu at each other. It swiped at me with [Shinkyoken], fingers out stretched into a claw, while I countered with a hardened fist of my own. My other arm, holding on to Kotetsu no Ryuu, made to stab the doppelganger through its heart.
When fist met claw, especially one with a broken finger, the result was no mystery. However, instead of going through with the attack, the doppelganger instead twisted its outstretch hand and instead gripped my wrist. With its other hand, it was able to deflect my blade my parrying it on its flat side.
The doppelganger pulled me at my wrist in an attempt to disrupt my balance and centre of gravity, before thrusting its other hand at my neck. Though I could see what the creature was trying to do with painful detail and clarity, there was little I could do in response with my other hand busy holding on to my katana.
Thus, I was forced to release my sword, the tight, close quarters combat rendering the weapon more a hindrance than a threat. With my now freed hand, I was able to stab four fingers into the doppelganger's side while rocketing my forehead at my enemy's out stretched fingers.
Our [Shinkyoken] skill was still only at level 2, barely enough to pierce through inch thick ply wood without chakra enhancement. On the other hand, a human's forehead is the hardest part of all our bones. With both appendages reinforced with chakra, there was no way fragile fingers could even make a dent to the forehead of a skull.
"GRAAAHHHH!!"
I let out a battle cry as my forehead crashed into the outstretched fingers, and while the thin layer of skin on my forehead was ripped apart from the knife like fingers, the doppelganger's digits were brutally flattened against the unyielding barrier of bone.
[-533 HP]
Blood poured furiously out of my messed up forehead, immediately flowing down my face and leaving it drenched with the crimson fluid. However, all of the doppelganger's fingers on its left hand were shattered into broken pieces with the exception of a single thumb.
The Hidden Boss gave no audible expression of pain, even though I could see its expression trembling from the severe injuries it had received in the exchange. It made to let go of my wrist and retreat, given the four puncture wounds from its side as well as the shattered fingers, however I was no fool. This was the perfect opportunity to finish it and I would not relent.
While it released its grip on my wrist, my hand rushed forward to grasp its withdrawing arm while my other fingers viciously dug deeper into its side before finding a grip on something hard and solid within its torso.
With a cruel smile, I tightened that grip and pulled. There was resistance at first, as the blood from the doppelganger gushed out and drenched my hand, but with a sickening crack, I tore out its lowest rib bone from the grievous wound I left the creature.
The doppelganger folded in either pain or shock, at the brutal removal of one of its ribs. Raising the blood soaked arm, I slammed down on the back of its cranium with the sharp end of the rib bone. It stabbed deep in to the back of the doppelganger's head, buried halfway in. Seeing that it was not yet dead, I slammed a palm on the other end of the rib bone, sending it deeper into the doppelganger's skull.
Yet, despite the savagery of what I thought was to be my finishing blow, there was no explosion of black smoke nor any notification messages that indicated the fight was over. That was when I remembered the skill I had received upon defeating the Hidden Boss of the previous dungeon – [Undying Rage]. It was a skill that prevented HP from dropping below 1 for 5 seconds. Which meant there was still 5 seconds, an eternity in a fast paced fight between two shinobi, that the doppelganger could still act before falling.
I leapt backwards; hands held out in the ready. I just had to hold him off for another 4 seconds. The rib bone plunged into the back of its head was consistently dealing massive amounts of damage, so the moment the duration of the skill was up, fight would be over. Thus I had no need to take any unnecessary risks.
The doppelganger shakily stood up before vanishing and reappearing in front of me, its hands and feet launching into a flurry of blows. I could sense the desperation of a cornered animal, one that realized it was either do or die and would give no quarter. Every attack of the doppelganger was filled with deadly intent that disregarded its own safety.
There was no tactics, nor strategy involved in the exchange. No patience, traps, feints or counterattacks; it was an all out brawl over life and death.
Even as I stuck a thumb in the eye socket of my mirror image, crushing one of its Sharingan eyes, it seemingly had no effect on the relentless, frenzied assault. It even took that opportunity to lean forward and bite down on my shoulder.
[-401 HP]
I held back a scream as I noticed the other hand of his, a crumpled mess of broken bones and splintered flesh, flying forward. It was using the fractured, sharp ends of its finger bones as a makeshift weapon. With a decisive swing of a knifehand, I cut off its hand at the wrist before stabbing the same hand repeatedly and violently in and out of its chest, desperately trying to get its tightened jaw off my shoulder.
My final blow succeeded in the endeavour, which saw the doppelganger sink its teeth deeper and tearing out a sizable chunk of flesh and muscle from my shoulder.
[-1113 HP]
"FUCK!" I screamed as I felt the searing, excruciating pain that lingered for just that moment before fading away into a dull ache. The doppelganger was launched back before it gave a final stagger and an odd shudder.
The Hidden Boss gave a shrieking death wail before bursting into thick black smoke, signalling its demise. All of the doppelganger's blood that had previously drenched me vanished into thin wafts of black smoke as well, leaving me still covered in my own.
I let out a breath of relief, loosening the tension held so tightly in my body. That was a brutal fight, that unexpectedly leaned towards hand to hand combat more than I had thought it would. I brought up one hand to immediately start treating the bloody bite wound on my shoulder; it was the injury that needed the most attention right now.
However, as I began to heal it, I realized that it was in a better condition than I first expected. Then I remembered the Plastic Vampire Fangs in my mouth gave the ability of lifesteal, recovering HP and thus healing my own injuries whenever I did damage. Every time I stabbed my spearhand in and out of the doppelganger, I was recovering 10 percent of the damage that had been done. An extremely useful item that was unfortunately in the form of an equipment that I would never put on openly.
[+3050 EXP]
[Congratulations you have eliminated the Hidden Boss!]
+ 10 points
+20,000 EXP
[You may select a reward from the list below!]
Skill: Summon Doppelganger
Skill: War Cry
Item: EXP Elixir
[You have levelled up!]
[You have levelled up!]
Nice. The rewards for defeating the Hidden Boss were as generous as before. And without hesitation, I picked the skill [Summon Doppelganger]. If the skill was what I believed it to be, it was worth way more than a paltry EXP elixir and that indeterminate [War Cry] skull. EXP could be earned and I doubted that any skill would be more valuable than summoning the very same Doppelganger I had just fought.
[[Summon Doppelganger] has been added to your skill page!]
[Summon Doppelganger] (Active) LVL: 1
CP Cost: ½ of max CP
Once a week, you can summon a doppelganger that replicates the entirety of the user's stats and skills. However, certain skills cannot be reproduced. It is able to take damage equal to the user's HP, and it only lasts for an hour before vanishing.
Improved proficiency in the ability increases duration of the skill.
As expected, the skill was as broken as I thought it to be. Based on the skill description, I could now summon what was essentially a kage bunshin that did not pop in one hit. Instead, it was able to fight until it died, or until the time limit was up. Having just one of me was deadly enough, having two? The possibilities were endless. Although the fact that certain skills could not be reproduced was slightly concerning, it was still pretty fucking overpowered.
I was of course also fully aware that such an ability had to be used with caution. I had no wish to answer any questions regarding the origins of a jutsu that created a kage bunshin that could fight till death. It was too suspicious a technique to be used openly, and it was something I would reserve for a worst-case-scenario type situation.
Next up, was the glowing purple loot orb that had been drawing my attention the whole time. Grabbing it, the system notification appeared once more.
[Loot gained:
+23996 ryo
Ancient Weapon Fragment (2/6) – Unique
Arcane Ring – Rare
Mask of Madness – Rare]
[Arcane Ring – Grade: Rare]
Durability: 20/20
It is able to store up to 2000 CP. User can then activate it to gain the stored CP within at any time. Requires user to infuse chakra in to the ring to store CP.
[Mask of Madness – Grade: Rare]
Durability 60/60
+10% Physical Damage
+3 STR
+3 VIT
Item Skill: [Berserk] (Active)
CP Cost: -
Once a day increases attack speed and movement speed by 40% and grants 20% lifesteal, but user receives double damage and suffers a 40% penalty to all stats when duration is over. Lasts up to 10 minutes.
The Ancient Weapon Fragment was as expected, something that was worthless until all six was collected. However, the other two items looked to be immensely valuable. The versatility of the ring needn't be said, but the mask was just slightly disconcerting. It's effects were as effective as it was punishing. It was an angry red in colour, resembling an oni mask but even more demonic looking, made of a mixture of wood and metal.
It looked terrifying to behold, a mad creation of a frenzied craftsman. It was yet another article of clothing that I could not wear openly outside of these dungeons, at least not until I gained the independence associated with becoming a higher ranked shinobi.
And with that, my foray into the Rank E dungeon was over. My gains? 4 level ups, 10 stat points, one broken skill and an array of loot of both useful and useless varieties. All in all, a successful and rewarding dungeon run.
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