The cavern shook as the Drone Lord emerged from the shadows, towering over the cadets. Its jagged carapace glistened with venom, egg sacs pulsing behind its hulking form.
It shrieked, a sound that rattled bones. Students flinched, some nearly dropping their weapons.
"Formation!" Instructor Hwang barked, though even his voice carried a hint of tension.
The monster lunged.
Its foreclaws slammed down like twin guillotines. Cadets scattered, System skills firing in panic.
"Iron Fist Smash!" Ha-kyu roared, his strike crashing into the beast's leg. The impact echoed, but the carapace barely cracked.
"Inferno Burst!" Hyun-woo shouted, flames surging around the Drone Lord's torso. Wind arrows from the rear squad spiraled into the blaze, igniting it brighter—yet when the fire cleared, the monster still stood, hissing, its armor charred but unbroken.
It spat acid. A cadet screamed as the liquid hissed against his shield, melting it like wax.
"Back! Keep distance!" the instructor shouted.
But Rin did not step back.
---
His hand tightened on his blade. Seventy years of duels whispered in his muscles. The Codex's flow was not about brute force, but rhythm—cutting when others struck, stepping when others stumbled.
The Drone Lord's claw whistled toward him. Rin slid into a low guard stance, steel rising to meet the blow. The impact screamed through his arm, but the angle shifted the force away, sparking harmlessly across stone.
He moved inside its guard. His blade flickered—thrust, slash, sweep—each probing the seams in its carapace. Sparks danced, shallow grooves marking its surface. Not enough to pierce. Not yet.
The beast whirled, mandibles gnashing. Rin pivoted with it, feet gliding across the stone, blade intercepting strike after strike in smooth, economical arcs. No wasted motion. No excess strength.
To the cadets, it looked less like fighting and more like a dance.
---
"Why isn't it working?!" someone shouted, panic in their voice.
"System logs aren't even showing damage—!"
They didn't understand. They saw numbers, not truths.
Rin exhaled slowly. The Codex was never about numbers. It was about inevitability.
The Drone Lord reared back, preparing a downward slam. Acid dripped from its jaws, sizzling on stone.
Rin's eyes narrowed. He had tested that joint twice already. The rhythm was set.
He inhaled. His stance stilled.
And then his blade flashed.
---
[Heaven-Severing Codex: One-Point Severance]
The sword struck the exact seam he had marked, the hidden weakness others couldn't see. This time, the strike wasn't a probing cut—it was absolute.
The joint split. Carapace cracked.
Acid sprayed wide as the Drone Lord screamed, staggering back.
For the first time, its massive frame wavered.
---
The cadets froze, staring at Rin.
"That—wasn't a System skill…" one whispered.
Even Instructor Hwang's brows furrowed. His gaze locked on Rin's calm form. "…What did you just do?"
The Drone Lord shrieked again, slamming its claws into the ground, fissures spiderwebbing through the stone. It wasn't dead. It was enraged.
And all eight of its eyes were fixed on Rin.
---
Codex Record
> "Armor is pride. Pride blinds the eye. Split the pride, and the beast is nothing."