System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune

CLANG!

’It has all my abilities,’ Damon noted, blocking another one of his doppelganger’s strikes. ’It also seems equal in both strength and speed.’

It moved exactly like him. To the tiniest detail, it copied everything he could do.

Although fighting himself was eerie, Damon couldn’t help feeling a flicker of awe at how fast his clone moved.

’I’m quite fast, huh,’ he thought, countering the next strike with a thrust that caught its shoulder.

The clone leapt back, pausing for half a moment.

A sudden, heavy weight fell onto Damon, one which he recognised immediately.

’Corrosion.’

The moment the debuff took effect, Damon had also activated the ability, bringing them back on equal footing.

But with it, a new question entered Damon’s mind.

’Is its health the same as mine?’

It was a question that could determine the outcome of this battle.

Neither of them used Berserker’s Fury, which would have granted them enough of a boost to end the battle.

And the reason behind it was the same for both of them. The ability had a time limit based on vitality, and even a second of misuse could lead to either one of their deaths.

Damon refrained from using the ability as long as he could, observing what the clone would do, especially since he still didn’t know if it had the same health as him.

Then, a new idea struck him.

He still had the rift shard he received from the C-Rank rift he closed, the one where Eve stole the treasure.

’Wait,’ A sudden realisation struck him, ’Where the hell is my ring relic?!’

Only now did he realise that the girl had disappeared before giving him back the relic he had lent her.

’That damn thief!’ he cursed before snapping his focus back on the battle.

CLANG!

With the next clash of their swords, Damon and his clone both dashed a step back, eyeing one another with keen eyes.

Then, almost simultaneously, both activated Berserker’s Fury.

But unlike his doppelganger, Damon didn’t immediately charge forward.

He opened his inventory and used an item before even taking a proper look inside.

[Large Rift Shard]

[Quantity: 1]

[Description: Can be used to raise any stat below 60 by 4 points. Can be used to raise any stat below 100 by 2 points.]

He barely had time to use it on his Vitality before he had to raise his sword to block the attack.

If his suspicion about equal stats was correct, just now he earned himself a few seconds more of Berserker’s Fury over his doppelganger.

The clone, as if realising something was wrong, went on the offensive, charging wildly at him, but Damon met it at every encounter.

The stalemate went on for over a minute before Damon suddenly noticed the desperation on his clone’s face, and just then, Berserker’s Fury of the doppelganger came to an end.

Damon charged forward with all he had, using the gap in strength and speed the ability gave him to finish it with a single strike.

His sword plunged deep into the doppelganger’s chest.

Damon watched his own image fade from the clone’s silhouette, then turn back into a shadow figure and disperse into a black mist.

[You have slain a Level 36 Mimic]

[New Monster Index bonus: +5, Strength, +5 Vitality, +5 Dexterity, +5 Stamina]

[You have reached Level 37. You have received 1 Stat Point.]

Damon barely had time to acknowledge the notification before his surroundings suddenly changed, and he appeared in some sort of massive chamber.

He barely had time to take a quick glance at his surroundings before a sudden voice called out to him.

"Boss?"

Damon turned to see Nyla standing a couple of meters behind him. She looked rough, injured with bruises and cuts, but nevertheless still alive.

"Nyla?" Damon took a step back, shifting into a defensive stance, not sure if this was just another one of those ’mimics’.

"It’s me, boss," the girl quickly raised her arms up to show she was not an enemy.

"How did you get here?" Damon asked, still eyeing her suspiciously.

"I fought myself, and then the next thing I knew I was here"

’Fought herself?’ Damon lingered on the thought before nodding. ’I see...’

He took a good look around. The chamber resembled the corridors they had seen earlier, though it was vastly larger. Around it, countless tunnels stretched in every direction with no indications of where they led.

’The only way out of the maze is to probably defeat one of those mimics,’

The thought was both frightening and calming. If it were any other monster, his group would’ve been wiped in seconds. But fighting against themselves? They stood a chance, and now it was up to them to take matters of their lives into their own hands.

What was surprising, though, was that Nyla managed to get here before him.

His gaze moved toward the girl. Although she was slender, she had well-defined muscles and judging by the hammer that rested a few feet away from her, she was quite strong.

"That hammer, is it part of your class?’ Damon suddenly asked, catching the girl off guard with the question.

The girl’s class was blacksmith.

And although it seemed straightforward on paper, Kitsune had already told him that it was far from it. It was an extremely rare class, and that hammer looked far from being an ordinary item.

"It is," Nyla replied. "One of my abilities allows me to summon the hammer," she explained.

"One?" Damon repeated the word.

"I have two abilities," she said, and as if to fill his curiosity, she lifted her arm and murmured a single word.

"Furnace,"

In an instant, a large furnace materialised before her, its fire sending waves of heat that were impossible to ignore.

But what’s more, upon seeing the ability Damon’s Absolute Comprehension activated with a will of its own.

[Your comprehension of *Blacksmith* Class has significantly increased!]

"That’s not all, is it?" Damon suddenly realised that, with his Absolute Comprehension active, it quickly became apparent that both the furnace and the hammer were merely tools.

The girl chuckled nervously before replying. "No, but I can’t use it. There are requirements for creating relics."

"What kind of requirements?"

"Rift shards." she replied and with it, his understanding has increased once more.

[Your comprehension of *Blacksmith* Class has significantly increased!]