WOLF PACK REWARD (random)
INVENTORY BOOST: you’re able to hold 32 items in your inventory
The reward message appeared on the mirror’s surface.
“Lucky fucker,” Jace said with a note of envy. “Good luck using it.”
“Thanks, bro.” Alex grinned, oblivious.
This was the third and final wolf room on the floor. The goblin mirrors had also been dealt with, earning Helen an impressive number of levels. At this point, she was close to reaching the class’s limit, leading to speculation as to what would happen when she did.
Alex seemed convinced that if she managed to “hit the max” and defeat the tutorial boss, she might keep the class permanently without having to activate it from a mirror. It was a nice hypothesis, but based on absolutely nothing.
Will, too, had reached level four of his class, earning him the Poison Resistance, Short Blade, and Light Landing skills. Each of them was good individually, but as Jace had gleefully pointed out, not terribly useful in the current situation.
“That’s the floor,” the boy said in a determined tone. “Only two left.”
No one responded. Just as Alex had predicted, the group had found two hidden mirrors during their search of the second floor. Ironically, one was in the vice-principal’s office and the other in a small supply closet. None of them had activated upon seeing Helen, which was good. As a result, the children had decided to explore the rest of the second floor without incident. Now, there was another decision to make.
“What do you think?” Helen turned to him. “We go up or get some more levels?”
“We take the next weapon,” Will replied. “If Alex is right, it’ll only get more difficult further up. With luck, we might get another class weapon.”
“I’m with Stoner.” The jock leaned on Will’s shoulder. “I’ve given up getting anything worth fuck, but you three need all the help you can get.”
“For real.” Alex nodded. “Another knight piece might drop. The hint said that there are seven weapons that will help us. It didn’t say that there were only seven rewards.”
“He’s right.” Will had to agree. “We might get something completely different. Either way, it’ll still be useful, and we’ll eliminate another hidden mirror.” He paused. “Or two.”
Even with all their current level boost, the boy wasn’t sure they could manage to defeat two elite enemies back-to-back. Hopefully, he’d turn out wrong. When it came to eternity, they had to face them one at a time, allowing for a rest in-between. Exhaustion and injuries didn’t fade, though.
“We start with the storage mirror,” Will continued. “It’s better for traps and will let us move the fight into the corridor.
“Look at you.” The jock tapped him on the back. “Thinking strategically. If this is over, join the team. It’ll be good for you.”
If eternity ever ended, there were a thousand things that Will wanted to do before joining the football team. The compliment was very much appreciated, though. Who knows? Maybe at some point he might try it out again, just for the fun of it.
After smashing another mirror for Alex to stock up on shards, the group went to the storage room. It was one of those small and useless ones whose only purpose was to allow the janitor and local staff to get things quickly instead of walking all the way to the basement. The hidden mirror had appeared on the wall facing the door. If she wanted to, Helen could touch it, just by taking a step inside and stretching.
As usual, Alex placed several mirror traps on the floor. Two of his mirror copies were ready to add more in the corridor once the girl had pulled out.
“Be careful,” Will said. “It might be another snake.”
“That will be lucky,” she said, placing the massive sword against the corridor wall. “You might get a second knife.”
Taking a step in, Helen paused and looked over her shoulder. Only Will was visible, holding a throwing knife.
Calmly, the girl took out the mirror fragment from one of her pockets and pressed it against the mirror. Nothing seemed to happen.
“I guess it only works once the monster is killed,” she said and put it away again. “Here goes.”
She tapped the mirror, then immediately leaped back into the corridor. The girl was immediately followed by a humanoid figure that leaped out at an even greater speed.
Will’s reflexes kicked in. His hand moved on its own, throwing a dagger right at the target. There was a loud crunching sound as the figure cracked up, shattering into hundreds of pieces.
Two conflicting emotions appeared in the boy: the quick rush of instant gratification that came with victory, as well as the dread of realizing what they were actually facing.
“Thief!” he shouted, throwing several more knives into the storage room. More figures emerged. Far too fast for any details to be made out. They shattered one after the other, consistently getting closer and closer to the corridor.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Close the door!” Will shouted, throwing what was left of his knives. “Jace, hide somewhere fast!”
Without needing to be told twice, Alex’s mirror copies slammed the door, scattering a dozen mirror traps in front of it. Helen, too, grabbed her sword from the wall, ready for a fight.
“What the heck, Stoner?” Jace asked. “Just because I’m not like you guys—”
“We’re facing a thief copy,” Will interrupted, moving further down the corridor. “He won’t face us directly. He’ll go after the weakest target, and that’s you.”
“For real, bro,” Alex agreed, while creating a dozen mirror copies of himself. “If one dies, the loop restarts.”
The jock clenched his fists. Humiliation was one thing he still couldn’t come to grips with, even after all this time as a craftsman in eternity.
“Next loop, I’m taking another class!” he shouted, as he rushed down the corridor. Four copies of Alex followed him.
Will was just about to yell out some more instructions when the door flew off its hinges, slamming into the opposing wall of the corridor. Thieves poured out by the dozens. The ones in front froze in place, captured by Alex’s mirror traps, only to be shattered by those coming from behind.
HORIZONTAL SLICE
Helen’s sword cut the cluster of thieves like grass, filling the air with mirror fragments. Taking a step back, she swung again, only this time her weapon was stopped by a sword just as large as her own.
A second Helen stepped out of the storage room, her weapon, appearance, and attire identical to the one that had existed before. The only difference was that the new girl’s skin had a faint silvery tint to it.
“What the heck level are you, Alex?” Will grabbed his poison dagger.
“Not me, bro!” the goofball replied. “She’s the keyholder.”
That made things substantially worse. Just through goblin rewards alone, Helen had reached level seven. If the thief they were facing was of a similar level, it meant that it could use a whole host of skills that none of them had seen so far. It was especially telling that so far, it had only resorted to one of the skills Alex used. In other words, all of the goofball’s abilities could be considered too weak to bother with.
Massive swords slammed against each other in an exchange of blows that resembled the battle against the dark knight on the floor below. The only silver lining was that, unlike the knight, Helen’s copy was visibly weaker. Apparently, the thief was only able to mimic a fraction of her abilities.
“Watch out, bro!” Alex shouted as more standard copies rushed out from the storage room.
Just as many copies of Alex descended onto them, resulting in an explosion of glass as both sets proceeded to destroy each other.
“There’s no point,” Alex—the real Alex—said. “He’ll just stay in there and let others do the fighting.”
That much was obvious, but it posed two major questions. The first one was how the mirror thief was able to see. It had been notable that while Helen was fighting her double in proximity to the door, no other standard copies had emerged. It was only when the two had moved well away from the storage room that a new wave had emerged. More importantly, though, where was the enemy getting his mirror shards from?
According to the skill, one needed mirror fragments to create traps and copies and there definitely weren’t any in the closet room, or even the entire floor. Any mirror the group had come by had been smashed and the fragments placed in Alex’s backpack.
“Helen,” Will shouted. “Can you handle things here?”
“What am I doing right now?!” the girl shouted back, finishing a vertical slice that effectively split a portion of the floor.
“I’ll go in the mirror where he’s hiding. You deal with the corridor. Remember, you’re not the target.”
There was no need to spell it out any further. The enemy’s strategy was obvious. The way the forces were matched, it didn’t need to win outright, just overwhelm them for long enough to kill Jace. The solution was to take the battle to the elite.
“Alex, can you make me a path?” Will asked.
Ten steps away, waves of mirror copies kept on clashing into one another.
“You sure, bro? Even if you make it, I won’t have much for the next one.”
“If I don’t make it, there won’t be a next one this loop!”
“Right. Got you, bro.” The goofball took off his backpack and poured its contents onto the floor. Hundreds of mirror fragments crashed down with the unmistakable screechy crunch that only glass could make. “Here goes, bro!”
A torrent of Alexes emerged, rushing down the corridor like a river. They were smart enough to avoid the fighting Helens, moving along the walls of the corridor to the point they were able to go for the storage room.
The sound of shattering glass intensified. Seeing the shift in strength, the hidden thief tried to increase his own flow of mirror copies, but that proved futile. Slowly but steadily, the Alexes pushed in, moving the point of contact up to the hidden mirror itself.
“Time to go, bro,” one of them whispered to Will, gently tugging his hand.
Taking a deep breath, Will took a step forward, letting himself go along with the flow. For a while he felt as if the river of copies was carrying him like a leaf along a stream. He didn’t feel anyone pushing him, and at the same time, he appeared to move without doing so. In a matter of seconds, he was already in the storage room and on his way to the mirror itself.
“Just like a MOBA,” another Alex said.
“Get ready to jump,” a third added.
Will was already ahead of them. Thanks to his rogue skills, he had already established the best moment to react and what trajectory to take. A fraction of a second later, he leaped forward, dagger forward.
Alexes shattered, as Will tunneled through on his way into the mirror. Upon breaching the reflective surface, the world around him changed into an endless plane of white. In nearly all aspects it resembled the room of the wolf challenge, but instead of wolves, a single humanoid figure was standing a short distance away, causing dozens of copies of himself to constantly pour out.
It was here that Will could see the features of his enemy clearly for the first time. What initially shocked him was how nondescript the person was. He looked vaguely familiar and non-specific at the same time. Even now, the boy would have difficulties describing him to anyone. If there was one word he could use, it was average: average height, average build, average skin tone… Even his hair was of average length and color.
The clothes were the only thing remarkable, as one might call the tires of a car remarkable. Casual and grayish black, they were what anyone would wear if they weren’t fussy about their appearance: jeans-like trousers, a long-sleeved hoodie with its hood down, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. A knife belt was strapped around his waist, with over a dozen of shiny, reflective daggers.
Noticing an intruder in his domain, the thief turned his head slightly, looking straight at Will.
“Knife,” the boy whispered, opening his right hand.
A weapon instantly found its way there, placed by one of Alex’s copies.
Concentrating on his target, Will made the throw. The knife split the air, hitting the thief right in the forehead. Sadly, the moment of joy was short-lived, as the attack caused the man to shatter, transforming into mirror fragments.
Another copy? Will blinked.
A split second later, five of the goofball’s copies nearby simultaneously broke to pieces only to have the dark thief emerge two steps away, knife in hand.