It was a mess. There were two of each of them, and everyone was starting to doubt who was the real one and who wasn’t. The worst part was that they all shared their memories!

William tried to ask a few things that only Rena would know, like the time they explored the floating island, yet both of them knew! It was the same with Burt as well.

But for William? Well, that wasn’t the case. He talked to himself and realized the other William didn’t know anything about Earth, or that he was a summoned hero, and everything related to that.

The other William also didn’t talk with Asura. The sword was there, hanging on his waist, but it was not the same sword.

“Who or what is making these clones?” William pondered.

For him, it didn’t matter if he could tell the other William was fake or not. Of course, he was, as it wasn’t him! What he wanted to know was which Rena was the real one and how they could leave that place.

“Wait here, I need to talk with the other William in private,” William said. “I’ll be right back.”

The only clue he had, and the only thing certain for him, was that the other William was a fake one, so the best thing to do was go and ask him what he knew—if he knew anything at all.

They walked back into the forest. William wanted them to be alone.

“Why are you doing this?” the other William said. “Are you the fake one trying to kill me or something?”

He wasn’t looking scared or anything like that. It was a good act. William was someone powerful, so the fake William couldn’t just act like a coward and expect people to believe him.

The fact this other William also had all of his memories—excluding the ones from Earth and a few others—made him wonder exactly how he had those memories.

Perhaps something was reading his mind? That wasn’t so far-fetched considering the world he was in. But if that was the case, then it was certainly a powerful thing, or else William would have sensed it.

Anyway, William stared at the other William with cold intent. “Let me cut the crap. I know you’re a fake one, so can you tell me how you do it? What the fuck is happening?”

The other William didn’t flinch. “Bullshit,” he said. “I just came back from the forest and found all of you there.”

With a sigh, William said, “There are some memories of mine that you can’t read. Why is that?”

It was the first time the other William changed his expression to one of surprise.

“You’re just making things up now, I see,” the other William said, laughing. “I’ll just go back now. This is a waste of time.”

Seeing how talking was no longer working, William resorted to something more… physical. He grabbed the man by the arm, using his tremendously high strength to keep him in place.

But then came another surprise. William knew that this William was a fake one. But what he didn’t know was the fact this other William had a similar level of strength! It wasn’t a copy just of appearance and memory, but strength as well!

The other William fought back, grabbing William’s hand and moving it aside. “So you want to fight. Let’s do it, then. But I don’t think this is a smart idea for you.”

“So you also have a decent level of strength,” William said, “but there’s no way it can be the same as mine. You are, after all, just a clone.”

William activated his Hero’s Limit and his Demonic Transformation simultaneously.

That would cost him a lot if he maintained it for a long period, but he didn’t plan to. What he wanted was to teach that fake William a lesson and then get the answers he needed.

His strength soared, increasing dramatically, surprising the fake William! That thing certainly didn’t know those special abilities William had. The demonic transformation came from his bloodline—which was impossible to clone—and the other skill was because he was one of the summoned heroes!

William knew that the clone didn’t know about Earth or that he was a summoned hero, so he guessed it also didn’t have knowledge of that skill.

With his improved attributes, William didn’t even need his weapon. He punched the fake one in the gut.

The fake William fell to his knees. William didn’t stop. He punched him again, and again, and again, not stopping for a single second.

The clone could take a beating, but it wasn’t that resistant. Eventually, the clone couldn’t even move. He was all beaten up, his entire body covered in blood. His fingers, ribs, and hands were broken. It was a mess.

“So, what are you?” William asked. “Can you tell me that or do you want to keep suffering?”

The fake William couldn’t maintain the appearances anymore. It started changing forms, turning into different types of people. It was like the creature was switching up its identity.

Eventually, it became a plain bald man. William laughed. It was sure as hell funny that the real appearance of that creature was just a bald man.

“So you’re just a random bald guy?” William asked.

The man, who could barely speak, gathered his strength to say a few things. “We are shape-shifters. This forest is our home, and humans are our main source of food…”

William had never expected that to be the case. “What about us walking away and returning to the same cabin, and even the time looking similar?”

That was the doubt that had been creeping into his head for a long time. William wanted to know how that whole rewind thing worked.

He thought it was powerful magic, perhaps similar to his own portal skill that allowed him to go back in the past, but when the shape-shifter explained it, well, it wasn’t that great at all.

“It’s just an illusory formation that messes with your senses so you think you got teleported or something… As for the rewind in time, it’s also just an illusion. We always keep watching you to know where to be or what to do. Like, we even changed the location of a few things inside the cabin to make you fully believe you were going back in time or something.”

Although the answer to his questions wasn’t some really powerful time magic, William was still surprised by the work those shape-shifters did. It wasn’t easy to do something like that and ensure everyone would believe it.

“Really… So how the hell do we even keep moving forward? I don’t want to stay here forever,” William asked.

Now that the shape-shifters were found, they didn’t want to fight or keep them there anymore. Apparently, for them to eat someone, they needed to keep the person trapped in that area for a long time.

William didn’t care if others would someday come to that same place and suffer at the hands of those creatures. He just wanted to leave.

“If someone can’t survive this, then they shouldn’t be here in the first place,” he thought.

The shape-shifter begged for his life and the lives of his friends. “I’ll deactivate the illusory formation so you and your friends can leave, but please, don’t kill us.”

It turned out easier than William expected. He returned to where Rena and Burt were with the beaten-up bald shape-shifter. When the other shape-shifters saw that, they stopped their act and turned into their real appearances.

Rena and Burt looked puzzled, having no idea what the hell was going on. William just gestured for them to follow him. “I’ll explain on the way. Come on.”

He didn’t want to waste more of his time in that place. On the way out of that area, he explained what he had learned from the bald man he had just beaten up.

“These creatures are so smart,” she said. “We should be more careful in the future.”

“Agreed,” William said.

The magical creatures they were finding were getting smarter. It was no longer a good idea to see them as just stupid creatures. They needed to see them as smarter than humans—some of them were.

Anyway, they kept walking through the mud road, and they didn’t appear back in the cabin, so the illusory formation the shape-shifter talked about was deactivated. William was afraid that they might try to trick him again.

“It feels nice to finally make some progress,” William said, breathing deeply as he finally saw what was waiting them after the mud road.

What waited them was… another road. This one at least was made of stone. There was also a sign there indicating that the forest was dangerous and that people shouldn’t go there.

The sign was there to warn people about the shape-shifters. But because William, Rena and Burt got teleported right in the middle of that forest, they hadn’t seen the sign.

It was finally time to keep moving forward. William’s mind couldn’t stop thinking about the demon island. Were his friends alive and well?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep