The Drone Lord shrieked, its claws smashing into the stone, fissures spiderwebbing outward. Acid hissed across the ground, eating through the husks of fallen mantises.
Its eight eyes glowed red, fixed solely on Rin.
"Seo Rin! Fall back!" Instructor Hwang shouted.
But Rin stepped forward. His blade traced a smooth line through the air, his breath steady.
The beast charged, one massive claw sweeping sideways with the force of a collapsing wall. Rin shifted low, his sword flashing in tight arcs—parry, slide, redirect. Sparks lit the dark like fireflies as claw met steel again and again.
The monster reared back to strike, but Rin was already inside its guard. His feet slid across the stone in a practiced rhythm, each step flowing like water. His blade tested the joints, the seams, the underbelly—never wasting a cut.
"Why's he not retreating?!" a cadet cried.
"Because he sees something we don't," So-yeon whispered, her staff trembling in her grip.
---
The Drone Lord shrieked and brought its claw down in a crushing blow. Rin inhaled once. His stance stilled.
One-Point Severance.
Steel met chitin. The second foreleg split cleanly at the joint.
The monster's massive body pitched sideways, crashing into the stone floor. The cavern shook with the impact, dust raining from the ceiling.
"Now!" Instructor Hwang roared.
The cadets unleashed everything they had.
"Inferno Burst!" Hyun-woo's flames erupted, engulfing the beast's torso.
"Lightning Shock!" another student cried, bolts of electricity crackling across the Drone Lord's carapace.
"Stone Edge!" spikes of jagged rock tore upward from the ground.
"Wind Arrows, volley!" dozens of glowing blades of air shredded the weakened armor, fanning Hyun-woo's flames higher.
The cavern blazed with chaos—fire, lightning, stone, wind—all hammering into the fallen monster.
The Drone Lord screamed, thrashing wildly. Acid sprayed in every direction, hissing against walls, melting stone. Students scrambled, barely holding formation, some nearly crushed by its flailing bulk.
Still, they did not stop.
---
Rin watched, blade at his side, eyes calm. This was the System's way: overwhelming force, borrowed shortcuts, all thrown at once. Flashy. Wasteful. Brutal.
But effective.
At least, when the path had already been carved.
The Drone Lord's final screech rattled the cavern. Then its massive frame collapsed, smoke rising from its charred shell.
Silence followed, broken only by the ragged breaths of exhausted cadets.
---
"W-we did it…" someone whispered.
Cheers erupted, shaky and relieved. Students clapped each other on the back, laughing nervously, adrenaline breaking loose into celebration.
But the instructor's gaze stayed fixed on Rin.
He had seen it—the way Rin moved, the way his blade cut where no System skill could. A calm, surgical rhythm that didn't belong to a teenager.
"…Seo Rin," Hwang muttered under his breath. "Just what are you?"
---
Codex Record
> "A falling giant is not slain by shouts, nor by fire, nor by lightning. It is slain by the first cut that made it fall."