Copper panted in broken, ragged gasps, the breath of someone who had walked to the edge of life itself.
He slowly pulled himself up after the earth-shattering blow, his tall frame now bent and crooked like a wounded beast, shoulders trembling from pain and exhaustion.
The usually handsome face was now cracked with sweat and dust, dry lips unable to utter even a single curse.
Countless cuts slashed across his body, slicing through even his steel chestplate, revealing torn skin that bled, not blood, but glowing ruby dust, as if his insides were the remains of a shattered gemstone mine.
Copper went still.
His gaze stopped on Ren, still kneeling on one knee, as if nailed to the ground by an invisible force.
Scattered coins around him glinted like mocking witnesses to failure, while Ren himself resembled nothing more than a wandering knight, once shouting for justice, now silent among the ashes of ideals.
He watched, for a long time.
Then opened his inventory. A swift, practiced motion. His hand grasped an HP potion.
But... he froze.
Didn't drink it.
His eyes shifted toward the door... where the mirrored-faced knight still strode with pride, like destiny clad in gold armor.
Then the gaze returned to Ren.
And in that split second, in that glance, a decision was made. No words. No expression. Just a silence sharpened like a blade being honed in the back of his mind.
"You got any potions left? I'm out…"
Copper's voice was low, but steady. A hoarse sound, carved from pain and survival.
Ren didn't reply right away.
He simply looked up slowly at him, eyes no longer suspicious, no longer wary. Just a silence... longer than it needed to be. As if weighing something not of the present, but from another layer of memory.
Then, without a word, Ren pushed himself upright, so slowly that the creak of bones beneath bruised skin could almost be heard.
The inventory opened in front of him.
Only two small HP potions remained.
Each one... a life. A choice. A trade.
He stared at them for a few seconds, then, without hesitation, tossed one toward Copper.
No blame. No judgmental look. No questions about the past.
Just a pure act from someone giving the last of what they had, to survive together.
Copper caught it.
He didn't say thank you.
Only looked down at the potion in his hand, as if a storm was spiraling to the depths inside him, while his face remained quiet, eyes dark and bottomless, betraying no clear emotion, gratitude, shame... or something else.
With a sigh, Copper raised the potion and drained it. The blazing ruby wounds began to close slowly, and his labored breathing started to steady.
His gaze changed.
No longer the weary look of someone who'd crawled through hell, but the sharp glint of a warrior who had wrestled death before, the beta tester... was back.
"I think... I'm starting to understand a bit of its movement patterns."
The voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight.
Copper opened his inventory again. A metallic clink rang out as he equipped a round steel shield, old, but sharp, a type not commonly seen on the lower floors.
"Its style… isn't like the usual chaotic monsters. It's more like an NPC, or humanoid boss from higher levels. Or more precisely... it understands killing and how to win."
He squinted slightly, tightening his grip on the shield handle.
"The most dangerous enemies… aren't the ones that overpower you. They're the ones who can learn, adapt, and change after just minutes of fighting."
"They turn veteran fighters, those who can take down bosses with tactics and tricks, into easy prey."
Copper sighed again, this time, like a confession.
"Me… I'm just someone who survived with stats and gear. Nothing more."
Silence.
His eyes slowly passed over Ren, then turned to the golden mirror knight still standing before the door, motionless like a divine statue. But with every breath of wind brushing off its body, it became clear… death waited with every tick of time.
"We can't beat it the normal way."
"To break through its defense… we have to disable all four arms."
"Alright... I'll deal with the four blades. You just focus on cutting them down."
Before the words even finished, Copper shot forward like a burning arrow. His body tore through the air, metal armor glinting in the dim, dust-filled room.
Ahead, the knight remained still, silent as stone. But the moment Copper entered its blade range, the golden light around it blurred, like a flame torn apart by an unnatural gust.
A blink.
The knight vanished from its original spot, reappearing behind Copper like a phantom stepping out of a mirror.
The four swords carved a freezing arc through the air, each blade following the last like interlocking gears in motion, no gaps, no openings, only deadly precision.
"Damn it…!"
Copper gritted his teeth, spinning in an instant, both hands gripping the shield tightly.
Clang!
The impact rang out like a death knell. The force from all four swords descending at once sent tremors through his entire body, his knees buckling slightly into the floor, the shield trembling as though it were about to crack.
A brief moment, but Copper didn't waste it.
He lowered his body, centered his weight, then lunged forward, slamming the shield with all his strength straight into the monster's chest.
But…
The golden mirror knight merely tilted its body to the side. A movement so clean it was terrifying, precise like a disdainful nod, and it slipped out of the bash as if it had never happened.
A flash of steel behind Copper.
Ren rushed in...almost without thought.
A piercing hiss tore the air behind the knight. Ren's blade, glowing pale blue, swept in like a cold wind slipping through a shattered mirror, aiming directly at the final raised arm.
This time, a slash from hip to shoulder, charged with all the strength he had.
CLANG!!
The blade screamed like hot steel scraped against stone. The hilt in Ren's hands shook violently, but he didn't stop.
At the exact moment the knight stepped back, Copper slammed the shield again, pushing forward, locking its feet, hammering down the assault like a blacksmith forging steel into the mold.
"Hit the same spot again!!" Copper shouted, seeing an opening.
Ren twisted his body, swinging his sword as if slicing through the wind. A bright red fracture split open on the arm, struck twice in the same exact spot.
The knight staggered back, for the first time.
Ren didn't hesitate. He charged, eyes lit with the gleam of someone who no longer believed in survival, only in fighting as the sole purpose of existence.
"Stap!"
The sword skill activated again. His blade blazed bright like a bolt of blue lightning, thrusting straight into the crack, and this time, it didn't stop at the polished golden surface. A faint snapping sound echoed, the slash cut deep into the joint between elbow and mirrored armor.
Metal shattered like eggshells.
With a long scream, squeezing every last trace of fear and forging it into raw resolve, Ren threw all his remaining strength into the blade.
His hands trembled, not from fear, but from exhaustion pushed to the very brink. He gripped the hilt so tightly that his fingers went numb, terrified that if he let go for even a fraction of a second… it would all be lost.
But at that very moment, the monster's remaining three swords surged up like a cyclone of death, spiraling straight toward him.
Ren's eyes widened, no time to dodge…
CLANG!!
A harsh explosion of sound, Copper's steel shield slammed into place in front of Ren like a gate of fate. He had leapt in without hesitation, taking all three strikes onto the shield.
The shield quaked, warped for a moment. Copper gritted his teeth so hard his gums bled, body arched from the force, feet skidding across the gold-strewn floor just to hold his ground for Ren.
That moment…
Ren's blade screamed like the sound of reality being torn apart, its light fracturing into shards as it pierced the joint between the knight's elbow and shoulder.
CRACK!!
A thunderous snap rang through the sealed room.
The first arm was severed, falling to the ground like a pillar of solid weight, slamming into the heap of gold and kicking up a whirlwind of metal dust.
The knight staggered half a step back. Its body shifted, losing balance for the first time.
Copper lifted his head, eyes bloodshot with pressure pounding at his temples."Don't stop… keep going, Ren!!"
Ren said nothing. He clenched his teeth, yanked the sword back, his eyes burning with a light never seen before.
He no longer fought to survive.
He fought to break that mirrored face, the reflection of the weakness he had always tried to overcome.
"NEXT ONE!!" Copper roared, dodging a sweeping slash from the right and countering with an upward shield strike.
The knight remained silent. But its sword movements had slowed. No longer smooth, no longer flawless.
They both understood, without needing to speak, the only chance was now.
The difference with only three arms was shockingly clear. The tempo of its attacks had lost a beat, the once-perfect sword arcs now missing a vital link.
The pressure cracked.
They were no longer suffocating under relentless assault. The enemy's strikes now had openings, their synchronicity broken, and that was all they needed.
Ren braced himself, standing firm, blade sweeping out rhythmically, parrying feints and forcing the creature to spread its focus.
Right then, Copper circled behind, lightning-quick, shield raised to block the remaining arms, just enough to create an opening.
A split-second window.
But to a swordsman, that moment was an entire world.
Ren didn't miss it. His blade slashed down like a lightning strike, a blue arc slicing through the air, plunging into the second elbow joint.
CRACK!!
The sound tore like a tendon snapping in winter's chill, the second arm crumpled, then flew off, smashing into the stone wall, leaving behind a streak of red pixel blood like crushed ruby.
The knight visibly faltered. Its stance unbalanced. The machine-like movements now disrupted, its body losing rhythm like a broken timepiece.
Copper rushed in close, pressing the shield with one hand and sword in the other, pinning the creature into a corner.
"Two left!! Ren, finish it!!" he shouted, voice cracking with the desperation to end it all.
Ren hissed through clenched teeth, dashing in like a storm. His blade traced a crescent moon of steel, aiming straight for the third arm…