[ Clone 25 has slain x1 Shadow Guardian, EXP + ]

[ Clone 27 has sustained severe wounds ]

[ Clone 27 has been killed ]

[ Clone 28 has been killed ]

"What."

Marlon reacted instantly to the string of messages that appeared before his eyes.

Judging by how closely they popped up one after another, he immediately deduced that the other group was facing a very serious threat.

"The other group is in trouble," he said.

He quickly alerted his teammates.

Caleb and Clarissa were confused by his sudden conclusion.

"I can tell because of the clones I sent with them," Marlon explained, clearing their doubts at once.

Realization dawned on them, and worried expressions quickly formed on their faces.

Caleb was especially concerned, as he was quite close to Kelvin and Joshua.

"Should we go and find them?" he asked.

Marlon shook his head.

"I will be leaving for a while. Caleb, you will be the new leader of this group."

Although Caleb would have preferred to go with him to rescue his friends, he still accepted the responsibility.

After making sure everything was settled, Marlon activated SWAP.

Under the watchful eyes of his teammates, a black vortex formed beneath his feet, and a powerful gust of wind swept through the area, kicking dust into the air.

A second later, the vortex vanished and the wind died down, leaving Marlon standing in the same spot as before.

However, when Caleb and Clarissa noticed the vacant look on his face, they quickly realized the truth.

The real Marlon was gone, and one of his clones now stood in his place.

====

Black mist poured out of the black spring, carrying a foul stench and an ominous presence.

Chaos erupted around the spring.

The battle between the shadow creatures and the clones continued without pause.

The other hunters were completely out of commission.

Sandra had managed to stand back up after the first damage she received and rejoined the fight, but she was struck down again, this time far more brutally, suffering life threatening injuries across her body.

She was a B-rank enhancer, a class designed to strengthen teammates rather than fight on the front lines.

Enhancers were naturally weak, but as an anomaly who could cast enhancements on herself, Sandra was far stronger than most enhancers of the same rank.

However, her uniqueness ended there.

Her strength, agility, and defense were barely above that of an average C-rank hunter.

Aside from her, Joshua had been knocked unconscious from the very beginning.

Kelvin was still standing, but the pain wracking his body made it almost impossible for him to focus, let alone use his blazing arrows properly.

As a result, the three of them were forced to rely entirely on the clones.

But at this moment, after witnessing two of the clones being slaughtered with ease by the strange shadow creatures, their remaining hope began to fade.

Meanwhile, the clones continued to fight.

They did not feel fear, nor pain, only the steady reduction of stamina that slowed their movements and weakened their attacks.

For that reason, even after being knocked down, they continued to rise again and again, unbothered by the concept of death.

"This is very bad."

Sandra muttered to herself as she watched the battle unfolding before her eyes.

Right under her watch, one of the clones was killed and evaporated into nothingness, reducing the number of remaining clones to just three.

She had almost given up hope when she suddenly noticed one of the clones standing still.

But it was not the inactivity that caught her attention.

It was the black vortex that appeared beneath it, along with the violent wind disturbance that flared around its body.

She watched closely.

Then she noticed something strange as the clone tilted its head slightly, scanning the surroundings.

"Odd."

Something about that clone felt different.

It was as though…

"Hey, Sandra."

Before she could finish the thought, the clone suddenly waved at her and showed a small smile.

"Marlon!"

She barked, losing her usual reserved demeanor as waves of relief washed over her.

Hope returned.

"Hm."

Marlon stood at a distance, calmly observing the shadow creatures pummeling his clones.

He noticed that the clones were completely unfazed by ordinary physical attacks such as the titan punch.

Only those that managed to land a divine punch were able to slay their opponents.

And based on his observations so far, his clones clearly had a cooldown when it came to using divine punch.

He also noticed that once their stamina dropped below a certain level, they relied solely on titan punch.

"Well, luckily the real me does not have a cooldown."

He muttered to himself.

Almost as if his words had triggered something, more than a dozen shadow creatures suddenly surged toward him.

"MARLON! They're just like the Guardian in that cave! Normal attacks don't work on them!"

Seeing the creatures charging at him, Kelvin shouted a warning at the top of his lungs.

"I know that already."

Marlon whispered, digging his feet firmly into the ground as he activated divine punch.

Then he blasted forward.

With his fist wrapped in divine energy, his attack became a physical strike laced with magic, the exact weakness of his opponents.

As his punches landed, the shadow creatures were torn apart, turning into smoke before vanishing completely.

In less than twenty seconds of nonstop combat, the group that attacked him was wiped out.

Noticing this, the remaining shadow creatures abandoned the clones and swarmed toward Marlon instead.

But that only worked in his favor.

One by one, he slaughtered all of them in under two minutes.

[ You have cleared the shadow unit ]

[ You have unlocked one out of the three keys required to unlock the boss tomb ]

As the final shadow vanished, notifications followed.

At the same time, the black spring slowly returned to its original color, and the dark mist gradually dispersed.

The surroundings reverted to their former beautiful state.

Hovering a few inches above the spring was a golden key.

Marlon retrieved it and stored it together with the first key they had found.

Now, only one more key was needed to unlock the boss tomb.

====

Marlon used SWAP once again and returned to his group.

Before leaving Sandra and the others behind, he made sure they were in perfect condition, even going as far as giving them his healing potion.

Caleb and Clarissa were stunned when they saw him return.

They immediately surrounded him with questions, but Marlon patiently and meticulously explained how his skill worked, just as he had done earlier with Sandra.

Once that was settled, the team proceeded deeper into the forest.

After engaging two more waves of enemies and carefully inspecting every area that seemed out of place, they finally arrived at an even stranger location.

It was another cave formed from black rock, similar to the one they had encountered earlier.

However, this one was much larger and shaped like the head of a wolf, its open mouth serving as the cave's entrance.

Still, it was neither the size nor the shape that made it stand out.

It was the portal positioned directly in front of it.

Pitch black in color, it blended perfectly with the surrounding rock.

One glance was enough to tell that something mysterious lay beyond it.

Having already found two keys, they immediately deduced that the final one was inside.

"We should check it out," Caleb suggested.

"No."

Marlon cut him off immediately and turned to face them both.

"Only me and my clones will enter. This will prevent casualties and allow me to focus fully on the fight."

The two of them fell into brief internal contemplation before nodding in agreement.

At this point, they no longer judged reason through age.

Marlon was strong, far stronger than they could ever hope to be.

With a nod from Marlon and a simple signal, he and his clone stepped into the portal.

The surreal sensation of interdimensional travel washed over them, and in the next moment, they found themselves in a new environment.

"Hm."

Marlon's eyes narrowed as he scanned his surroundings.

A frown formed on his face as he realized where they were.

Behind them stood tall trees identical to the ones they had seen throughout the forest, as well as those behind the cave entrance earlier.

Even stranger, the same cave stood before them again, except this time, there was no portal at its mouth.

Marlon could not comprehend the physics of this place, but sensing the ominous aura pouring from the cave, he concluded that the answers lay within.

Without fear, he stepped inside.

The interior was dark, but eclipse vision allowed both him and his clone to see clearly.

The cave's hallway was long and tunnel-like, taking over a minute to traverse before they reached the main hall.

Marlon sent his clones in first, positioning them at strategic points before stepping inside himself.

The moment he entered, his eyes furrowed.

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