Reforged Chapter 40: Ancestral Mirror Image Technique (Part 2)

"Did we really deserve Master Marcus to go to such lengths for us?" they thought. "It's unexpected that he's clearly a mage, but he possesses the heart of a warrior! Heaven on the left, warriors on the right, he's too brave! Too fearless!"

In the midst of the encircling gnoll onslaught, Duke could only cast one Pyroblast before he fell...

Following that, the mercenaries began to feel an overwhelming sense of strangeness.

Duke got back up...

"F*** you, Hogger!" he cursed.

Another Pyroblast!

Duke fell again... This time, he was directly cleaved in two by an axe – dismembered!

Duke got up... again...

"I'll destroy your gnoll ancestors for generations!"

Time and time again... Amid Hogger's fierce counterattacks, Duke fell repeatedly, only to rise again unscathed, doing nothing but cursing and pelting the giant Hogger with fireballs.

Even a fool could see that although Hogger was brave and tenacious, the flames on him never ceased; they only grew larger.

Hogger's wounds accumulated.

His roar wasn't as resounding anymore. His gnoll minions didn't respond to his commands as quickly. Even his movements seemed sluggish.

Even if his rationality had been diminished by something, he realized that he was in grave danger.

Gradually, Duke could cast a Pyroblast, followed by an instant-cast Pyroblast, before finally being struck down.

All the tears in the mercenaries' eyes had dried up... They felt like they had been played by this mysterious young mage, and yet, they hadn't.

After all, Duke had asked them to run from the beginning.

Wasn't Duke fighting to protect them, despite being a burden?

As a mage with so many life-saving skills, shouldn't it be no problem for him to escape alone?

Even though Duke's tragic falls and subsequent phoenix-like revivals could become their tales over drinks in taverns, they noticed something off.

The ordinary gnoll had scattered, hiding far away, watching their boss fight the seemingly immortal Duke with reverence.

Meanwhile, Marco solemnly instructed his men, "We cannot speak a word of what we've seen today, not even in hell... If I'm not mistaken, this involves a very, very important secret of Duke Marcus. If we're lucky, we'll be his retainers for life."

Everyone shuddered and nodded in agreement.

Such a bizarre ability was unheard of. Wasn't it common for those who accidentally discovered the secrets of powerful figures to be silenced?

Being able to serve without being killed was a great fortune.

Elsewhere, with his injuries piling up, Hogger's life force was nearing its end.

"Magic Penetrating Light Kill Cannon—" Duke shouted some incomprehensible technique name, stepping on Hogger's dangling left arm and then onto his shoulder with not-so-agile movements. He then theatrically inserted two fingers into Hogger's eye sockets.

A point-blank instant-cast Pyroblast!

"Ow-ow—" Unlike his initial confident howling, Hogger's final wail of anguish was filled with resentment and frustration.

However, the cry was cut short, as Hogger's massive head became filled with rapidly expanding flames from within.

In just a second, Hogger's enormous skull exploded like a shattered watermelon.

The gnoll who were watching from afar were immediately frightened and scattered in all directions.

Gnolls who had been watching the battle from a distance scattered in fear.

Duke, standing proudly atop Hogger's massive chest, basked in the bloody aftermath, though he didn't feel much sense of accomplishment.

In the game Duke played before crossing over, Hogger was just an elite level 11 monster. Even with the surprising nickname of "Newbie Killer," it was ultimately just an insignificant creature.

Unexpectedly, Duke had to die and resurrect 11 times just to kill Hogger once. The thought filled him with a sense of despair as if he had been played for a fool.

However, Duke, who finally had a chance to check the system prompt, was suddenly taken aback.

"Congratulations on successfully killing the demonized elite monster, Hogger! You have thwarted an assassination attempt by a demon under Sargeras. Since Hogger contains traces of demonic essence, you might gain unexpected rewards if you take its head to a holy person in Stormwind City."

"You have acquired the design schematics for the Skinning Battleaxe, which even low-intelligence creatures can craft."

"Because you successfully killed Hogger, which killed you 11 times, your humanity has slightly recovered. Your current Soul Power is 87, your integrity is at 72%, and you are now a Rank 5 Earth Mage!"

Duke practically jumped up, immediately questioning the system spirit in his mental world.

"Hey! What the hell is this? Why do I only have 72% integrity left?!"

"Because you were killed by a demon, which is the easiest way to corrupt a human soul. In short, when you're killed by demons or their ilk, your integrity drops faster!"

Duke almost choked on his own saliva.

He hated demons the most!

Unknowingly, Duke's ferocious expression terrified Marco and his companions.

Recalling what Marco had said, they fearfully followed him, kneeling before Hogger's enormous corpse and bowing their heads, not even daring to look up at Duke.

Marco spoke: "Thank you, Lord Markus, for saving us. We have nothing to repay you with, so we hope to contribute our humble lives to your great cause."

"Oh?" Duke, awakened from his daze by the voice, suddenly became interested: "Why?"

Duke initially asked why Marco would say such a thing. Marco, seeing the murderous Duke at that moment, clearly misunderstood, thinking Duke was asking why they should be spared.

"We... we're grateful that you saved us, but we've seen your secret of immortality... We don't want to die, so we're willing to serve you for the rest of our lives."

Duke was taken aback, and for some reason, he thought of how Arelia had rationalized and deceived herself when she first discovered his secret. Duke suddenly burst into laughter.

"I appreciate your willingness to serve me..."

As Duke said this, it was clear that Marco and his companions breathed a sigh of relief, their expressions like they had just walked a lap around the gates of hell.

Duke's next words made their hearts jump back into their throats.

"However, I cannot accept your loyalty for that reason!"

Marco immediately panicked: "Lord Markus, we..."

Duke raised his hand to stop Marco from continuing, walked over to him, picked up Marco's sword, and slashed his own neck with it.

"Ah!?" The mercenaries all cried out in shock.

From such a close distance, they saw blood spurt from Duke's neck before he fell to the ground... dead!

"My God! What did Lord Markus do?"

Before they could recover from their surprise, Duke's body astonishingly turned into a faint stream of light and disappeared. Almost without any transition, Duke stood unharmed just a couple of steps away from where his body had been.

"See? It's just a kind of magic. To be precise, it's my family's ancestral talent called 'Mirror Image'! Every mage family has its own legacy. Some families excel at elemental magic, while others are skilled in the arcane. I'm just an inheritor from a declining mage family. This isn't some earth-shattering secret that warrants killing to keep quiet. Of course, this is also one of my trump cards, and I don't want you all spreading it around."

Duke's explanation genuinely put the mercenaries at ease.

Ah! It's mysterious magic! We common folk who don't know magic have really learned something new.

As they appeared relieved, Duke felt a painful twinge in his heart.

Damn it, I lost more integrity just to show off!

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