[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 14 – Theodore kills Theodore

Theodore had not expected to be in this type of battle, but now that he was, he felt ready to give it his all. Very quickly, the clone lunged at him, moving similarly to Theodore when he wanted to get past someone's defenses.

Since it would be incredibly foolish to do otherwise, Theodore confronted it head on. He was aware of who he was and how he fought, so it would be detrimental to him as a whole if he didn't confront the attack directly.

The clone appeared to be as cautious as Theodore, which was more than enough information to lead him to believe that the clone was capable of doing anything Theodore could do which was concerning but strangely enough Theodore was excited.

The clone struggled for the upper hand as magic javelins clashed in the air. Theodore discovered after a few encounters that it frequently targets his upper ribs first. Which made him think whether he was leaving that area open, and it also caused him to consider whether he often started with such an attack like that as well, and when he thought back to it... When he stepped in too forcefully with his left foot, he always left his upper rib exposed, which, now that he thinks about it, was a beginner error he was making. In a single exchange he had discovered two things he did and that made him smile.

Theodore was not aware that he did this but now he thought back to why he never corrected this mistake and realized it was because no one had ever punished him for it. But now, though, this clone has helped him with this. So he smiled and corrected his mistake and in the second exchange he baited the rib opening.

Unsurprisingly, the clone went for it just as he thought it would and stepped in too forcefully with its left foot. He knew exactly how to counter it, launching a spear of ice through the slime. It pierced the rib and nearly reached the center, but Theodore frowned since it seemed that it wouldn't go any farther because it was dissolved before it could.

Looks like it has the same dissolving ability as the Slime King…

So, were they extensions of the Slime King, and would the Slime King suffer harm if they were harmed? There was only one way to find out.

In any case, Theodore pressed his advantage, trapped his slime clone, and battled as if he was making notes and testing things while gauging his own limitations by seeing them reflected back at him. And it was working. By watching the clone, he was not only learning a lot about how he battled, but he was also learning how to overcome his shortcomings and bad habits. Granted, that revealed new vulnerabilities that he was unaware of for now, but they could always be addressed one at a time.

Theodore and everyone else in the room were startled as the chamber began to tremble a little and a huge explosion noise sounded from the left. Some of them glanced automatically, but regrettably, it left them vulnerable to attacks by their clones, which led to a few people either suffering severe injuries or outright dying. Thankfully, the others recovered fast enough to resume fighting right away, changing the course of the conflict.

While this was going on, Theodore made sure his [Mana Shield] was up and that he was pumping a lot of mana into the shield as well as all the elemental attacks and [Mana Bolts] he was showering on his clone. Once Theodore was sure that he could actually afford this moment of distraction, he looked at the source of the loud explosion.

There, at the far end of the chamber, the left wall of the chamber was completely gone. It was simply annihilated and that was a mild way to put what he was seeing. There was nothing left but a smoking crater on the wall, as if the world itself had caved in from a singular blow. What's more, Roland sat near the wall leisurely, one of his knees up with his hand resting atop it. Theodore could see Roland's sword jabbed into the stone beside him and he sat there calmly looking at Theodore.

What's the most shocking, he looked as if he had just finished a light spar, not as if he had obliterated two clones at once and with such ease at that.

Roland waved at him.

Theodore wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn't because he respected Roland. There were not many people he knew who could do something like Roland could do and that's what made him terrifying.

But enough gawking.

His clone was still alive after all and he couldn't just ignore Roland's show… Theodore had to reply in kind.

Compressed air javelins whizzed through the chamber as Theodore and his slimy clone fought. Theodore found it fascinating how the clone mimicked his every action, summoning air, water, and ice javelins. On collision, elemental spells exploded, causing shockwaves to travel across the cavern and rattling the stalactites above.

In order to avoid the clone's onslaught, Theodore spun on his heel and launched three water spears in a spiral. The clone used summoned ice to deflect two of them, but the third lightly struck its shoulder, rupturing the outer layer of slime and causing a brief disruption of its shape.

However, it immediately struck back.

Theodore was mid-pivot when a lance of sharpened ice screamed toward his thigh, puncturing just above the knee. The pain was instantaneous. He sank into a defensive roll, gritting his teeth and stumbled back. He was forced to throw up a mana barrier mid-roll after another barrage of spikes.

His shield cracked under the impact of those spikes. One more hit like that and it would shatter so to make sure it doesn't he erected a second barrier directly behind the damaged one to ensure it wouldn't break from another blow like that. Theodore took a deep breath, put a palm over his wounded leg, and applied [Healing Touch].

From his hand, light blazed and soaked into the wound. The flesh knitted back together, muscles grew back, and the wound healed in front of his eyes. The ache subsided, then disappeared entirely. His mind refocused like a sword being honed on stone, and his mobility returned in a matter of seconds.

In order for his [Healing Touch] to heal him without requiring him to touch anything, he needed to level it up.

He hurried forward, sprang into the air, and hurled an ice javelin at the clone's head. The clone dodged left, but Theodore had anticipated the clone's leftward dodge. With a quick movement of his fingers, the frozen javelin detonated in midair, sending a concussive blast of ice that hit the clone making it crash to the ground.

As it recovered, the clone released a pulse of arcing, razor-thin water whips. One cut along Theodore's shoulder, while another grazed his ribcage. However, he had already closed the distance. He stepped forcefully with his good leg, aware that it used to open his upper rib. He was mirrored by the clone once more as it fell for the opening Theodore had deliberately given it. It made the same old mistake.

Theodore did not hesitate this time.

Knowing exactly where the slime's core would suddenly slide into alignment, he rammed a spear of compressed air into the aperture. Before the slime could completely disintegrate, the air javelin broke through its barriers with a drill-like spin, but then it got dissolved. He reinforced the blow with a second javelin of ice.

The clone stumbled. Its shape faltered. Its form became momentarily unsteady.

"I've learned all I need to." Theodore said, getting ready to end it.

Only… After he saw the slimy version of himself, he realized that something had changed, and the explanation was straightforward. It had stopped attacking. It had ceased its motion and began to pour colossal amounts of mana into two things.

One was its [Mana Shield] and the other…

Theodore narrowed his eyes.

The other was the orb of doom.

The ball, which appeared to be the size of an egg and was twitching in place, was small and dense, floating just above its hand. The air refused approaching it as reality throbbed about around it like a ripple in water.

Theodore sighed.

Of course it would do that. Of course he would do that. After all… If you can't win, cheat and blow everything up. So he raised his hand.

"Fine."

The air condensed far more quickly than the clone's attempt had been. It compressed more, then more. Pressure piled on top of pressure until light curved around the form. He squeezed it till he could hear it whimpering against the outside world. His version of the orb of doom hovered above his palm and it was slightly larger than it had been in the initial version and it was also slightly more stable.

But it was in no way inferior to the first version, in fact it was stronger and better.

He grabbed the air, formed a pressure burst beneath his feet, and launched himself back and up. Then he launched the orb of doom simultaneously with the clone. Halfway between them the two orbs collided. The silence lasted only a moment.

It detonated.

The clone's orb shattered because it wasn't strong enough. Theodore's version pierced right through the clone's, crushing its orb of doom in an instant. The problem was that all that energy had to go somewhere, and since it had been intercepted, it could only go to the sides.

So… two blasts of energy burst from the sides like a pulsar emitting powerful beams of energy and particles from their magnetic poles, forming fissures in the ground.

He could tell, in that split second, that the clone hadn't even caught up to his old version of the orb, much less this new one. Which was disappointing.

His orb hit the slime clone.

The core inside the thing blinked out.

One moment, it was there, and then the next, half its body disappeared. It didn't just melt, it appeared to have simply vanished. Then, as the residue struck everything behind the clone, the chamber's back wall exploded. A crack that resembled a slash from a god's sword carved itself into the floor, slicing through slime and stone like paper. It was so powerful that the ground trembled, debris flew, and dust roared up.

Then there was silence.

The fissure was significantly larger than the damage caused by the clone's attempt at the orb of doom.

"What the hell was that?!"

"He's not human, that's not a human!"

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

While the more intelligent members of the White Fang Guild realized they couldn't run, the irrational ones were already attempting to do so, and they were shouting over one another in panic and despair. One of them turned just in time to be gutted by a slime version of himself. Another screamed as a hand dragged him by the ankle toward the throne where the Slime King waited.

It ate the body as if it were candy.

A person dropped their sword.

"I'M DONE! I'M DONE FIGHTING THIS!"

Another attempted to flee but was impaled by his own clone, which calmly lifted him and tossed the body toward the King like garbage.

Theodore, in the meantime, was already looking for the next threat.

His clone was breaking down since it was no longer functioning without a core. Other clones were nearby, but none were worth his time. He watched one of the White Fang swordsmen swing wildly at his own duplicate, crying and cursing.

"Help us!" he yelled at Theodore.

Sighing, Theodore moved.

***

The law required Patreon plug:

Patreon - /itsnectar