Week 17 Raid Exam (2)

"It feels like it has been quite a while since we set foot on the surface floors," Ko Hyun-woo observed, looking around at our surroundings.

Ever since the midterms, the vast majority of students had dived exclusively into the Underground Floors, driven by the fact that even F-rank depths dropped random boxes. Unless the administration forced our hands like they were doing this week, everyone would have continued descending endlessly into the depths.

I glanced between Ko Hyun-woo and Seo Ye-in before speaking up. "Let's head right in."

"This humble one is prepared whenever you are."

"Depart."

The instant we stepped onto the teleportation circle, our vision shifted in a blur, revealing a narrow passageway stretching ahead. Weathered bricks formed the walls, ceiling, and floor, while flickering torches mounted along the stonework illuminated the corridor. At the far end, a fork branching left and right caught the eye.

As we walked toward it, Ko Hyun-woo posed a question. "Kim Hyung, do you intend to stop by the place called the Control Room?"

"Might as well grab the bonus points while we're at it."

"In that case, what if we split up?"

The primary objective was to retrieve the box from the Cheese Room and escape. Neutralizing the Control Room was merely a supplementary bonus. With two separate goals, splitting our party—one side securing the Cheese Room while the other neutralized the Control ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Room before escaping separately—would certainly be far more efficient on paper.

However, I shook my head.

"Let's stick together. Being hyper-efficient doesn't give us any extra credit, and this doubles as a preliminary scouting run for the final exams."

"Mmm, there is truth in your words."

Seo Cheong-yong had emphasized repeatedly that a similar dungeon would appear during the finals. In all likelihood, it wouldn't just be 'similar'—it would be a strictly superior version. Factoring that in, gaining firsthand experience took precedence over shaving a few minutes off our clear time.

With our course decided, we pressed forward through the labyrinth. Traps began to crop up here and there, but to Seo Ye-in and me, mechanisms of this caliber were child's play. I watched to see how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ko Hyun-woo would manage, and surprisingly, he evaded them with practiced ease.

He offered an abashed grin. "I suffered quite an ordeal alongside Lady Han last week."

"Sounds like you stepped on your fair share of traps."

"To be frank, that was precisely the case. Still, thanks to that trial, my discerning eye has sharpened considerably. Could one not call it a blessing in disguise?"

Last week's PvP arena had been a labyrinth packed with traps amidst a chaotic Three-Way Battle—an utter disaster from start to finish. Lacking any expertise in trap mechanisms or mechanical formations, the team of Ko Hyun-woo and Han Somi had undoubtedly been forced to tank every hazard with their bare bodies.

Wait, isn't that why she was so mad at him?

The thought crossed my mind for a fleeting second, but I decided not to pry. When the time came, the truth would reveal itself naturally.

Presently, Ko Hyun-woo, who was walking point, slowed his pace and pointed toward the stone floor. Faint, barely perceptible tripwires and pressure plates lay arranged in a tidy line.

"Let us leap across."

"Sounds good."

We bounded over the traps one by one. But the moment Seo Ye-in landed, she tilted her head curiously and glanced back over her shoulder.

"……?"

Wondering what had caught her attention, I followed her gaze. A translucent human silhouette was protruding halfway out of the stone wall. As soon as our eyes met, the creature chuckled at us.

"Hee-hee-hee!"

"A Poltergeist."

A ghost-type monster whose defining characteristic was the ability to exert physical force despite possessing a spectral body.

Seo Ye-in stared intently at the apparition before asking me, "Strong?"

"Take a shot and find out."

Seo Ye-in immediately let loose a burst of mana bullets in its direction.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

The Poltergeist attempted to drift and weave through the air to dodge the incoming barrage, but within seconds it was riddled with holes. Emitting a piercing shriek—kyeek!—it dissolved into thin air.

Seo Ye-in stared at the empty space for a beat before muttering, "Weak."

"They usually are."

It was never a monster known for raw combat prowess in the first place. Granted, it had collapsed rather pathetically, but the fact that this was a Replica Dungeon undoubtedly played a major role; monster durability was calibrated downward for training purposes. The fact that Seo Ye-in's mana bullets had ascended to B-rank certainly contributed as well.

Watching the scene unfold, Ko Hyun-woo remarked, "A variety I have not encountered before. I wonder what purpose such creatures serve."

"You'll see as we go."

Sure enough, advancing a little farther brought another Poltergeist dropping down from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the ceiling.

"Hee-hee-hee!"

Curious to see what it would do, neither Ko Hyun-woo nor Seo Ye-in made a move to strike. Seizing the opening, the entity thrust its translucent hand straight into the stone wall, followed by the audible click of mechanical gears engaging.

It had triggered a trap.

A hatch in the ceiling swung open, and an iron boulder the size of a grown man crashed down with a heavy thud. It immediately began careening toward us with terrifying momentum.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

Facing down the rolling iron sphere, Ko Hyun-woo nodded knowingly. "Indeed. So that is how they operate."

"There's a reason they're stationed in this dungeon."

Poltergeists could phase through solid walls and exert physical force. In other words, they were capable of activating every single trap installed throughout the entire complex.

"I understand completely. Now, allow me to halt it."

Ko Hyun-woo drew his golden incantation sword and leveled it forward. A gentle breeze coiled softly around the tip of the blade.

Whirrrr—

The instant the boulder made contact with the sword's tip, the monstrous momentum was neutralized as if by magic, bringing the colossal sphere to a dead halt.

Watching the display, the Poltergeist continued to snicker as if finding it hilarious—

"Hee-hee—"

Slash!

—only to be cleaved in two by a crescent of sword qi sent flying from Ko Hyun-woo's blade.

"It seems best to eliminate them the instant they show themselves."

"Definitely saves us the headache."

From then on, the moment even the shadow of a Poltergeist flickered into view, we unleashed a barrage of attacks. While we managed to strike down the majority, the craftier ones slipped inside the walls or ceilings before we could land a hit, staying just out of reach. Whoever designed the Cheese Trap must have positioned them with precisely this irritating tactic in mind.

As we pressed deeper through the maze, something glaringly out of place entered our field of vision: a door of vivid, cheese-yellow hue. It clashed absurdly with the surrounding aesthetic of a crumbling ancient castle.

"That appears to be the Cheese Room," Ko Hyun-woo observed.

"Spot on."

Stepping inside revealed that everything from the furniture to the wall decorations was cheese-themed. It practically screamed, 'Behold, this is the Cheese Room! You have arrived at the right place!'

Right in the center sat a chest fashioned after a wedge of cheese—the very same box Seo Cheong-yong had displayed during the raid lecture.

"It is so blatantly overt that it almost arouses suspicion," Ko Hyun-woo murmured.

"No need to overthink it."

Because that was precisely how the dungeon was meant to work.

Without hesitation, I picked up the Cheese Box.

The moment my hands grasped it, a formless ripple seemed to propagate outwards with us at its epicenter.

Wuuuung—

From every direction came a chaotic din—gears grinding, wood and iron interlocking, and the distinct hum of magical triggers firing off simultaneously.

Ko Hyun-woo looked around with curious eyes and let out a light chuckle. "We have sprung the trap, it seems."

"The real run starts now."

With the Cheese Box secured, our next destination was the Control Room. The path leading there would be more than twice as treacherous as before, now that the labyrinth had armed itself to the teeth with additional traps.

Sure enough, the instant we stepped out of the Cheese Room, what greeted our eyes was:

"Hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee!"

A swarm of Poltergeists flitting about far more frantically than before.

The moment they tapped here and prodded there, traps triggered in rapid succession. Floor sections collapsed into pits, and colossal axe blades swung back and forth like pendulums. Along one wall, an azure magic circle flared to life before raining down a volley of icicles.

Fsshh-fsshh-fsshh!

Having anticipated this, I cast Wind Barrier over Ko Hyun-woo and Seo Ye-in. The incoming icicles deflected cleanly off the swirling currents.

Slash!

Ko Hyun-woo immediately whipped a blade aura diagonally through the offending Poltergeist, bisecting it on the spot.

"I was told additional traps would activate, but I did not anticipate these creatures becoming so hyperactive."

"Getting out quickly is our best bet."

"Hee-hee! Hee-hee!"

Yet another Poltergeist emerged from the masonry. But before it could even lay a phantom finger on a trigger, Seo Ye-in's assault rifle spat azure fire.

"Stop spawning."

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Before long, we halted before an exceedingly suspicious door. Emblazoned across the wood was a sign:

With my eyes fixed on the sign, I asked Ko Hyun-woo, "Looks like the Control Room, doesn't it?"

"It certainly appears that way."

At the very least, this dungeon didn't play deceptive tricks with its doors. Perhaps the designers felt the gauntlet of traps on the way here was more than enough trickery.

Next, I turned to Seo Ye-in. "Who am I?"

"Authorized."

"Who are you?"

"Authorized."

"Very good."

I yanked the door open and strolled inside.

Much like the Cheese Room, the Control Room was straightforward. Right in the center of the spacious chamber stood an upright lever. Pulling that lever down would deactivate every trap in the surrounding sector.

Of course, there's no way they'd just let us pull it freely.

As the central nerve center of the dungeon, it was guaranteed to have a formidable sentinel stationed here.

Right on cue, thick plumes of dark energy billowed up near the lever, congealing into a humanoid form. Another ghost-type monster, just like the Poltergeists. The key difference was that this one possessed formidable combat strength, its sole directive being the elimination of intruders.

In the next instant, I felt the creature fix its gaze squarely upon me.

Of all people, it had to pick me.

While I clicked my tongue internally, the entity's form morphed drastically. Pitch-black hair, a sharp gaze bordering on sinister, and the uniform of Dragonslaying Academy.

It was a spitting image of me.

"A Doppelganger."

A monster that mirrored its opponent's appearance and abilities in battle.

Ko Hyun-woo looked back and forth between me and the fake Kim Ho in awe. "My word, it is identical to Kim Hyung down to the finest detail."

"……?"

Seo Ye-in glanced back and forth between the real Ho and the fake Ho, and then back again. Pointing a finger at the imposter, she uttered:

"Doppelgang-Ho."

"You really have a knack for nicknames. First Gray Kim Ho, now this."

"……."

At my compliment, Seo Ye-in flashed a quiet V-sign with two fingers.

Ko Hyun-woo, on the other hand, maintained a serious expression. "Should we consider this equivalent to facing Kim Hyung himself?"

"It'll probably be a bit easier than fighting me."

A Doppelganger copied skills and traits at the same time it stole its target's appearance. Naturally, copying every single thing from top to bottom was impossible, and several constraints applied.

"First off, it can't copy equipment."

While I wielded the Sapling and wore the Dark Cloud Bracelet and Cloud Tread, Doppelgang-Ho stood barehanded, wearing ordinary academy loafers. If you played 'spot the difference,' the visual discrepancies were surprisingly obvious.

"Its skills and traits will also be significantly downgraded."

Another crucial restriction was that the number of skills and traits a Doppelganger could duplicate depended on its own rank, which also capped the maximum rank of those copied abilities.

An F-rank Doppelganger could copy one skill and one trait, capped at F-rank. A C-rank Doppelganger could copy four skills and four traits, capped at C-rank, and so forth.

Ko Hyun-woo asked again, "Then what is the grade of this fake Kim Hyung?"

"E-rank."

If we had encountered it in the original Cheese Trap, it would have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been C-rank, but this was a Replica Dungeon. It had likely copied two of my skills and two of my traits, each capped at E-rank.

"Even so, don't let your guard down."

I was a walking armory swaddled in broken skills and overpowered traits. Even capped at E-rank, depending on what it managed to siphon, it had ample potential to catch us off guard. Ko Hyun-woo and Seo Ye-in could easily be rendered combat ineffective in a single strike.

Taking my warning to heart, both of them assumed serious battle stances.

"……."

"……."

A tense standoff lingered for several moments. Then, Doppelgang-Ho abruptly clenched one fist.

Dark crimson flames flared and raged over its knuckles.

I couldn't help but let out a deep groan.

"Aw, man... of all things, it had to copy that?"

Guess I'll have to make sure the exam replay stays private.

The moment the fake thrust its fist forward, a roaring tempest of flames surged straight toward us.

KABOOM—!