Chương 221

"You know all my good habits," Rudra said to the faceless clone.

"Let's see how you handle my bad ones." Rudra gripped Extortion. He didn't drop into his usual efficient stance. He just let the heavy staff hang by his side. He dashed forward. The clone dashed to meet him. Its [Super Sensitivity] was likely reading Rudra's trajectory, preparing the perfect counter for a straightforward rush. Rudra didn't attack. At the very last second, right before they clashed, he cast [Pressure Zone]. A heavy domain of deep water magic slammed down onto the room. But it didn't slow them down.

Because of his [Seeker of the Drowned Truth] title, the water pressure actually boosted his stats by 10%. The clone got the exact same title buff. Its speed instantly spiked. But Rudra expected the sudden change in speed. The clone didn't. The clone miscalculated its own forward momentum, overstepping its perfect spacing by a few inches. Rudra instantly cast [Abyssal Step] and jumped straight backward. It was a completely illogical move. Why give up the advantage?

The clone hesitated, then raised its free hand to punish the retreat. It fired a massive black [Elemental Convergence] right at Rudra's chest. Rudra smiled. He spun Extortion in a rapid circle in front of him. [Atlas's Rebound]. The black flames slammed into the spinning metal. The staff caught the magic, sucking the force and damage directly into the metal. The weapon vibrated wildly in his hands.

"Thanks for the boost," Rudra grinned through his teeth. He didn't use [Avalanche]. He didn't utilize the [Saint's Momentum]. He fought like a maniac. He cast [Freely Move], turning into a blur, and stepped directly into the clone's personal space. He completely abandoned his staff's reach advantage. He swung Extortion awkwardly, using just his wrists. The clone tried to step back and regain its proper stance, but Rudra didn't let it. He unleashed a completely broken, arrhythmic combo.

He swung fast, then paused for a full second, completely breaking his own momentum. He slammed the butt of the staff into the clone's foot. He reached out with his empty left hand and literally slapped the clone across its faceless head. He triggered [Typhoon] just to create a vacuum of air, pulling the clone off balance, and then instantly canceled it before the damage even registered. It was messy. It was inefficient. It was completely insane. And the clone couldn't handle it.

Rudra forced the clone against the back wall. He raised Extortion high over his head. The staff was overloaded with the damage he had stolen from the clone's magic. He then combined the nine elements through [Elemental Convergence] and [Spell Store] and brought it down. [Comet]. The dark metal smashed directly into the clone's liquid collarbone. KABOOM. The stored damage from [Atlas's Rebound] combined with the raw physical impact of the [Comet] strike. The explosion was deafening.

The massive shockwave blasted the shallow water entirely out of the room, leaving the black stone bone-dry. The clone's upper half blew apart. But it didn't dissolve. A familiar golden light flared around the remaining black liquid. The clone's health bar locked at exactly one point. It seems to have copied his legendary immortality passive as well. The broken water quickly pulled itself back together for one final, desperate counterattack. It lunged forward, thrusting its liquid staff at Rudra's throat.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Rudra didn't panic.

"Five seconds," Rudra muttered. The broken water quickly pulled itself back together. The liquid staff instantly glowed with the bright white light of [Minor Holy Heal]. The clone was desperately trying to recover its health before the five seconds ran out.

"Not happening," Rudra muttered. He didn't back off or wait. He dashed right into the clone's face. He didn't use heavy damage skills—they were completely useless while the golden light was active. Instead, he just relentlessly harassed it. Every time the clone tried to finish the healing chant, Rudra jabbed it in the chest to stagger it. When the clone tried to swing its staff to trigger a life-steal passive, Rudra just kicked its knee, breaking its stance.

He completely ruined the clone's focus, making sure it couldn't recover a single drop of health. He counted down in his head. Three. Four. Five. The golden light faded. The invulnerability expired. The clone still had one hit point left. Rudra casually hit the side of the clone's head with the butt of his staff. The final hit point vanished. The liquid body completely lost its shape. It collapsed into a puddle on the floor and dissolved into nothing. The room went completely quiet.

Rudra stood there, breathing heavily. His health regeneration was already ticking upward to heal his minor scratches. A bright red timer flashed in his peripheral vision and stopped. He had destroyed his perfect reflection in under five minutes. Rudra leaned on his staff. Fighting the clone had been incredibly eye-opening. He realized that relying too heavily on [Saint's Momentum] and perfect, unbroken combos made him dangerously predictable.

If he fought someone with equal stats and a control that rivaled his own, they could easily read his rhythm. He needed to learn how to break his own tempo. He needed to mix his wild instincts with his perfect combos and find a way to make his chain of attacks as unpredictable as possible without affecting it. A massive wall of system text flooded his vision. [You have cleared the Eleventh Trial.] [You have set a new record for the Mirror of the Abyss!] [You have exceeded the limits of the trial by completely shattering your own reflection in record time!] [As a reward, All Stats +20!] [You have acquired the skill [Mind's Eye]!] [The Champion's Rite] [Progress: 11 / 15 Temples Cleared] Rudra let out a long breath and opened his skill window to check his new reward. [Mind's Eye (Lv. 1)] [Active] [You have looked into the abyss and learned to see without looking. - Grants absolute 360-degree spatial awareness. - You can now perfectly sense the physical location, distance, and movement of any object or entity within a 15-meter radius around your body. - Completely eliminates physical blind spots. - Makes you highly resistant to optical illusions and visual tricks in combat. - Range increases as the skill levels up. - Resource Consumption: None. - Skill Cooldown: None.]"No cost and no cooldown," Rudra muttered.

"I'll take it." He activated the skill immediately. His brain shifted. He didn't "see" a new picture, but he could feel the exact layout of the room. He could sense the remaining drops of water sliding down the black walls. He could feel the exact distance to the archway behind him without having to turn his head. It was incredibly disorienting for a few seconds, like his brain had suddenly sprouted a radar dish, but it quickly settled into the background of his mind. He didn't turn around.

He just walked backward, perfectly navigating through the dark archway and stepping out into the bright sunlight. He walked casually back to the edge of the obsidian island. Kratos was still asleep on the floorboards, snoring softly. Chief Thalassa and High Priestess Neria were sitting exactly where he had left them. When Rudra stepped onto the boat, Thalassa blinked his single eye in confusion.

"Did you forget something?" Thalassa asked, gripping his oars.

"Do you need a something before you face the mirror?"

"No," Rudra said, sitting down on the wooden bench.

"I'm done." Thalassa froze. The scarred warrior stared at Rudra. He looked at the temple, then back at Rudra.

"What do you mean, you are done? You were inside for ten minutes."

"It was a quick fight," Rudra shrugged, rubbing his sore ribs.

"You defeated your perfect reflection within ten minutes?" Neria asked, her serene voice cracking with complete disbelief.

"How is that possible? It knows everything you know."

"Yeah, it did," Rudra said, pulling a piece of dried meat from his inventory and tossing it to the waking lion.

"It perfectly predicted all my best moves. So I stopped using them. I just dropped my guard, fought sloppily, and confused it." Thalassa just stared at him. The man had spent three agonizing days fighting his own shadow in that room, nearly dying of exhaustion before accidentally defeating the clone. And this mainlander had just casually beat his clone to death within 10 minutes. Thalassa slowly shook his head and grabbed the oars.

"Let's go," Rudra said, looking out at the horizon.

"Four left."