CHAPTER 29: REFLECTION

"What the fuck?! Four bosses instead of one?" Rowan hissed. "Is the dungeon trying deliberately to kill us?"

Wade’s heart was pounding in his chest as his mind quickly calculated the possibilities.

If the bosses were reflections of them, that means they were just as powerful as the originals.

Everybody would have to face their own reflection. And that brought up a question in his mind.

’Am I strong enough to face my own reflection?’

If they were equally skilled, did that cancel each other out? Or was his reflection more powerful than he was because it was a boss?

The Sebastian reflection raised his hand, and even the air in the room seemed to pause. Then he dropped it, and the attacks resumed.

Wade took a step forward, meeting the lunging wraith with a sword to the neck. The wraith tanked the hit, his sword bouncing off its skin.

Wade dropped to the floor, kicking into the wraith’s knees. They shattered into shards of glass, sending the wraith to the floor.

With wide eyes, he stabbed it, the wraith shattering into pieces.

He glanced at the others, a grin appearing on his face, ready to proclaim the weakness he just discovered, but what he saw was enough to make him hold his tongue.

The rest of the party were fighting, killing the wraiths with a single hit. He was the only one who needed more than one hit to kill a wraith.

His perception screamed at him and he dropped to the floor, sweeping his sword in an arc.

He shattered the legs of the two attacking wraiths, his sword destroying them. And so, he continued, using his newfound method, destroying the legs, then killing the wraiths.

He fought, not keeping track of how many wraiths he killed. All he knew was that in that moment, he became their grim reaper.

His perception screamed behind him, and he turned, his sword descending towards it.

There was a loud clang as two swords collided with each other, sparks spraying into the air.

Wade’s eyes widened at the figure before him. It was his reflection.

And in that moment, he was brought back to reality. He finally noticed the noise around the room, weapons bashing into each other.

His reflection stood before him, their swords locked.

With a snarl, he shoved, and they both stumbled back, the reflection having shoved at the same time.

He took that opportunity to glance around the room.

Sebastian was busy battling his reflection next to the pool of water, they are back to shattering the floor around them.

Rowan was nowhere to be found, but his reflection was also missing.

As for Ingrid, Wade was surprised to see her battling in hand to hand combat with her reflection, both of them pulling off acrobatic moves that wouldn’t look out of place in a movie.

He turned back to his reflection, a bit unnerved to see such a vicious expression on his own face.

The reflection snarled, launching itself at him. Wade skipped back, baiting it closer. The reflection remained cautious, not falling for the trap.

Wade blocked a few of its attacks, before surging forward. The reflection grinned, spearing its sword towards Wade.

Wade cast basic ward, slamming the barrier into the reflection. The reflection stumbled back, losing its footing.

Wade dropped down, his sword flashing at the falling reflection.

The reflection twisted its torso, catching Wade’s strike on its breastplate. Wade’s sword shrieked as it skittered over the surface of the armor, before spearing into the reflection’s left shoulder.

At that moment, Wade noticed the grin on the reflection’s face. His eyes widened and he created another barrier, the reflection’s sword banging against it.

He leapt back, unable to finish the reflection off.

The reflection surged to its feet, lunging at Wade. Wade created another barrier, but the reflection created its own barrier, both barriers crashing into each other and dissipating into nothingness.

Wade blinked, taken aback, but the reflection seemed to have expected it, its sword flashing as it speared towards Wade.

Wade’s body moved, his instincts working before his mind could catch up.

He stepped into the attack, the sword scratching his armor and bouncing off. Dropping his sword, he bashed his elbow into the reflection’s face, its nose breaking with a crack.

The reflection stumbled back, black blood spraying from its nose.

Wade stepped forward with it, unwilling to create distance between them. He pressed his advantage, creating another barrier and bashing it into the face of the reflection.

The reflection’s head snapped back, its grip on its sword loosening as its body fell to the floor.

Wade snatched the falling sword out of the air, turned it and stabbed down at the face of the reflection.

The reflection rolled to the side, the sword striking stone. Wade followed after it, and the reflection summoned a barrier, blocking it from view.

Wade surged forward, summoning his own barrier, and that was when he realized it. He was out of mana.

He skipped back as the barrier dropped, the reflection attacking him with his dropped sword.

He parried the strike but another one descended. He blocked. Again. Again. And again. Then his sword was knocked out of his hands.

The reflection grinned, pointing its sword at the unarmed Wade.

It pulled its sword back for the final blow, and Wade dropped, his leg swinging in an arc, taking out the leg of the reflection.

As the reflection fell, he picked up his sword from the floor, and loped its head off. The reflection shattered into glass shards, leaving behind a skill stone.

Wade fell to his knees, picking up the skill stone. The stone glowed a soft white, its surface a mirror.

The skill description appeared before him.

[Double Image]

[Allows the user to create an illusory clone with no substance, which can be controlled, and used to distract, confuse, or draw attacks.]

[Requirements: 30 Constitution. 30 Agility.]

[Cost: 10 Mana per use]

The message was quickly replaced by a new one.

Ding!

[Congratulations! Bosses defeated and dungeon cleared!]

[Exit Stone generated.]

[Congratulations! You have slain: Mirror Wraith(x49)]

[Congratulations! You have slain: Reflection]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Level: 3↑]

[+5 stat points]

Wade exhaled, placing the skill stone into his inventory.

He’d done it. He’d survived his first dungeon.