Copy Master
‘...Why is she suddenly looking at me with that expression?’
Ha Yuseong, who had been leaning on my shoulder and breathing heavily, was now staring up at my face intently from some point on.
Her eyes, which were usually half-closed like she couldn't be bothered with the world, now glistened strangely moist and sparkling.
And because of mana exhaustion, her face even felt strangely hot to the touch.
‘...Did I push her too hard?’
Well, she'd just unleashed max-output spells five times in a row for the first time in her life.
Even guns need their barrels cooled after prolonged firing, but I'd gotten too carried away with training the newbie.
I lightly reached out and touched Yuseong's forehead.
"Yuseong, you've got a pretty high fever. You feeling okay?"
"Hiiik…!"
The moment my hand touched her forehead, Yuseong's shoulders jerked violently.
She widened her eyes like a startled rabbit, flinched, then quickly averted her gaze as her ears turned bright red.
"…N-nooo. J-just a liiittle hooot…."
"Really? If you're feeling sick or anything's off, tell me right away. Don't push yourself."
I felt bad enough for overworking her—if she got sick because of me, I'd feel terrible.
"Stay here and catch your breath for a bit. I'll handle the boss."
"The booss…?"
"Yeah, the boss."
I replied curtly and carefully set Yuseong down on the flattened ground, where she'd been leaning heavily on my shoulder.
It was a pile of ash scorched black by the aftermath of the disaster, but the faint warmth from the geothermal heat made it a decent spot to rest her weary body.
"But… it's still the booss. You sure you're okaaay going alooone…?"
Yuseong cautiously grabbed the hem of my sleeve as she asked, her worry-filled eyes trembling slightly.
"You've already blasted through the entire map from the 1st floor with five straight nukes. As the party's main DPS, you've more than earned your keep."
"Stillll…."
"The cleanup's on me. So just rest up quietly."
At my confident answer, Yuseong's lips quivered before she finally nodded reluctantly.
"……Yeeah. Be carefuuul."
Feeling her soft, fluffy gaze on my back, I slowly stood up.
Alright then. Time to check out the 1st floor boss.
Stepping through the massive entrance of the boss room into the interior, cool, damp air hit my skin—completely different from the scorching ash heap outside.
Filling my vision was a vast clearing where massive rocks intertwined grotesquely to form a nest.
And coiled in the center was an overwhelmingly massive reptile.
A giant snake at least several dozen meters long.
"Shaaaaaaa!"
With a chilling roar, cold yellow vertical pupils flashed toward me, the intruder.
‘1st floor boss, Basilisk.’
Despite its grandiose, mythical name, it wasn't all that tough a boss.
In the original game, this guy's role was basically a sandbag.
Placed in the mid-early game from the academy professor's perspective to showcase just how vicious this unregistered dungeon was for players.
‘The real cruelty of this 1st floor isn't the boss's specs themselves.’
Before reaching the boss room, the map was designed with malicious jungle terrain full of ambushing mutated monsters, forcing a grueling war of attrition.
A normal party would be worn ragged, out of stamina and mana, long before reaching the snake pit.
‘But our excellent party main DPS neatly incinerated that tedious process.’
Thanks to Yuseong turning everything to ash, our resource drain was practically zero.
Naturally, my stamina and condition were in perfect, untouched shape.
‘Couldn't lose even if I tried.’
"Its patterns to watch out for… at most, the venom breath."
I mentally reviewed them as I reached out my hand.
Shing— From the opened subspace pouch slicing through the air, I drew a long sword gleaming with cool silver.
"Time to cook some snake stew."
"Kyaaaaak!"
In response to my taunt, the Basilisk reared up its upper body, exuding ferocious killing intent.
Its thick neck began to bulge.
The fixed pattern signaling phase 1 start: venom condensation.
Soon, a thick green venom sprayed from its gaping maw in a fan shape.
Tsssh—!
The rocks it touched bubbled and melted instantly—a vicious AoE attack.
‘No way even I could parry a gaseous breath like that.’
I kicked off the ground without hesitation and leaped lightly into the air.
Deadly even on a graze, but with its trajectory known in advance, dodging was child's play.
As I easily evaded, it coiled its body like a spring in rage.
And then.
Boom—! Shattering the ground, the dozens-of-meters-long serpent body charged in a straight line.
Mad speed and mass like a high-speed train barreling down.
‘Perk: God's Dynamic Vision.’
I focused all my nerves on my eyes.
The moment the perk activated, the insanely charging motion slowed to a bizarre crawl in taut tension.
Instead of dodging, I shoved the flat of my sword precisely into its oncoming massive snout.
Claaaang—!!
A eardrum-shattering explosion.
The impact that should've pulverized me ricocheted perfectly off the blade's angle.
"Kiiiiiik?!"
From one swing of an ant-sized human's sword, dozens of tons veered off absurdly and slammed into the ground.
I could vividly see its yellow pupils fill with shock.
I didn't miss that split-second stagger.
Slash—!
A silver trajectory slithered across the Basilisk's face.
‘Copy: Kang Dongsu's lightning.’
Lightning crackled mercilessly along the slashed edge.
Crackle—!
No mana for aura, so I'd sub in others' skills for power.
"Krrooooaaargh!!"
Face torn and struck by lightning, it roared in agony.
Rumble—!
Five house-sized rocks from its nest floated up on mana, defying gravity.
Like loaded shells, they rained down on me in unison.
Whoosh!— I twisted to deflect the first rock, ducking to smoothly evade the second's path.
But evasion ended there.
I gripped my sword tight and charged the third, fourth, and fifth.
Clang—!
Just before collision, I whipped my waist to slash upward at an angle from below.
The sharp blade precisely struck the third rock's side, its crushing momentum sliding futilely off to veer away.
I used that rebound to spin like a top.
Kaang! Boom—!!
Centrifugal force amplified the silver arc, smashing the bases of the incoming fourth and fifth rocks in succession. Perfect timing, flawless angle.
The three massive boulders ricocheted back along their paths, hurtling toward the Basilisk.
"Shaaaaak!"
Seeing the rocks reverse on it, it whipped its massive tail like a lash.
Crack!!
The three rebounding rocks shattered to dust on impact.
But the problem came next. Its tail, unbroken momentum ripping through thick dust, charged me ferociously.
A savage trajectory that'd pulverize the ground.
But like with Eunha, I timed my stomp perfectly and leaped into the air.
"Hup."
With a light grunt, I rose as the merciless tail grazed perilously beneath my feet.
Savoring the chill wind pressure pleasantly, I rode gravity down to land lightly on its massive crown.
"Kishaaaak?!"
As it thrashed wildly to shake off the intruder on its head.
Thud—!
I gripped the sword two-handed and mercilessly plunged it into the center of its crown.
Its tough skull and scales let the blade sink only halfway.
‘...Strength stat's still a bit low.’
If it wouldn't go in, I'd force it.
Released the hilt, clenched my right fist.
In my mind flashed that guy's brutish form with its peerless destructive power.
‘Copy: Kwak Taesan's fist.’
Crunch—!
Kwak Taesan's signature brutish, heavy strength overlaid my fist perfectly.
I hammered that overwhelming force down like a blacksmith's mallet onto the half-embedded hilt.
Kabooooom—!!!! A dull thud of compressed mass erupted, cracking its massive skull with a resounding split that echoed through the nest.
"Kyaaaaak!!!"
In pained scream, its colossal body convulsed madly.
I yanked the deep-embedded sword free and kicked off its thrashing head to land lightly on the ground.
Splurt—! Crimson blood fountained from the withdrawn blade.
The critically wounded Basilisk wailed bloodily, then grotesquely swelled its neck, gaping its maw wide.
A pattern only after massive damage: not the earlier breath, but pure black ultra-venom, denser by far.
Tsssssh—!!!
A waterfall of bone-melting venom surged to engulf me whole.
Gaseous spread breaths needed dodging, but this compressed liquid cannon was different.
I lowered my stance, raising the silver blade at precise angle to the oncoming jet of inky venom.
Clang—!
The venom stream hit the flat and traced a geometric arc, ricocheting futilely.
"Kiiiiiik?!"
The perfectly parried venom stream reversed into its own raging maw.
Sizzle—!
Even as its maker, no perfect internal immunity— it writhed in agony, rolling on the ground.
I smiled coldly at the flailing beast and extended my off-hand forward.
"Now it's my turn."
The perk God's Dynamic Vision's copy effect isn't just wishing for it.
A clear activation condition I'd realized parrying countless attacks over the past three days.
Parrying an enemy's attack while the vision holds. Only then does copy trigger.
Perfectly parried its strongest ultimate ages ago—condition long met.
‘Copy: Basilisk's ultra-venom breath.’
Its venom properties and skill structure flooded my mind perfectly replicated.
Soon, the same compressed black venom condensed before my palm.
"Ki, kiaaaak…!"
The horrific sight of its deadliest weapon forming at a human's fingertip. Even in pain, shock and terror filled its pupils.
‘Not that I'll go easy out of pity.’
I unleashed my palm without hesitation.
Kwaaaaa—!!!! Overwhelming venom tsunami engulfed its massive face.
Siiiiizzle—!!!
Not even a death cry escaped, crushed by the venom.
Tough scales and skull melted formlessly with gruesome sounds.
"Whew."
Clean work.
A-grade hunter-tier lethal venom on direct hit.
‘Without the perk, I'd have parried that thing endlessly to wear it down.’
Definitely a broken perk fitting the horrific HP 1 penalty.
Thud—!
Its headless body collapsed limply.
Ownerless corpse crumbled to gray ash, leaving a gleaming trophy in the dust.
I approached slowly and picked the artifact from the ashes.
‘Alright then.’
In the original game, this dungeon was a professor-perspective tutorial, so post-boss drops weren't detailed.
A confirmed hidden piece from the unregistered dungeon's 1st floor boss.
‘Let's see just how broken this item is.’
I pulled out my smartphone and opened the academy's official terminal app.
Ding—!
◈ Mark & Teleport: Mark a target/location. Teleport to mark (cooldown: 1 min, synergizes with Subspace Pouch)
◈ Physical Resist / Poison Passive
And the moment I checked the screen.
"……Holy shit."
I couldn't help but blurt out a curse.
‘This was the drop from here?’