100\% Drop Rate: My Special Ability is Perfect Replication

He almost sighed in disappointment, but just left it.

The crowd parted and left the small group of six following listlessly.

"Formation, guys," Spider said quietly beside him. No one argued.

They moved into their arrangement without discussion. Greg anchored the front, wide as a wall and twice as immovable. Spider drifted to his left flank. Faust took the right. Zen melted into the rain somewhere behind them, already invisible. Thalia stuck close to Greg, whistling a tune. Nirvana was right behind Faust.

She brushed his hand nervously until Faust reached back and held her hand. He turned back, meeting her unsure eyes, and just nodded.

The tension gripping her bones released immediately. Her crimson eyes hardened with resolve.

The army of players was charging forward before the first monster even broke through the gate. Goblin riders met the Iron Legion screaming. The monsters didn’t see the enemy before they broke through the rain.

The sounds of heavy metal thuds echoed in the rain. People cried out as they slipped on mud and crashed to the ground. Both goblins and Bronze jackal mounts broke as they charged into the shield line. Players and mobs scrambled in the mud, fighting brutishly.

Jason walked at the front of the shield wall. Now at level 7, there wasn’t much that could hurt him anymore. Spears broke against his smiling face; he used his shield to crush monsters into broken, bloody messes.

Spells lit up the sky and crashed down on the massive rush of almost five hundred goblin riders and kobolds.

The ground trembled. The boom of multiple explosives parted the rain from Faust’s body for a second. Smoke and heat washed over the army.

Nirvana slipped on the mud. Faust grabbed her and pushed forward. Thalia was carried by Spider, who had sprouted four monkey hands. Zen shot through the darkness and rain with supernatural precision; arrows whistled in the air and were punctuated by thuds and the pained cries of monsters.

An arrow from the monster’s side shot back at them blindly. Faust heard it but didn’t see it until it was in his face.

THAWCK!

"Faust?!" Nirvana shouted immediately, blinking from the rain in her eyes.

But Faust turned back to her with a smile. "I’m fine."

He now had Jason’s Schema after all.

[Schema: Iron King]

[Rank: Epic]

[Details: You rule with authority. To command is your birthright if you only take it.]

[Schema Abilities: Hand of Authority, Ignore Lesser Beings]

[Hand of Authority (Supreme): Your grasp is far and wide. Manipulate your marked foes from any distance.]

[Ignore Lesser Beings (Platinum): Any attack from a person at a lower level than you is greatly diminished, no matter their combat power.]

He wanted to place his mark on all members of the party so he could use Hand of Authority to help them in battle, but he’d have to do it covertly.

First, he slipped his hand under Nirvana’s jacket, then under the hem of her rain-soaked shirt. The warm, soft skin of her back melted beneath his cold hand.

"Wait—not here," she whimpered.

’What do you mean not here??’

The other four turned back to them with equally incredulous looks. Faust’s hand had to linger there for two seconds before he retreated it. Nirvana held her head low for the rest of their charge towards the gate.

The monsters had been cleared out.

And like a Renaissance painting, Jason led the charge by jumping into the gate with zero hesitation. The reds, blues, and yellows of the gate highlighted his dark hair and the fearless expression on his face.

’Can’t wait to see the system glaze him for this in the next recap,’ Faust grumbled internally. He had the Iron King Schema, so he could do everything Jason could and more. But that would reveal the nature of his Schema.

Pettiness aside, Faust knew to bide his time.

Meanwhile, Jason’s loyal followers roared in approval. They raised their weapons and charged into the gate. Then the rest of the army followed.

Faust grabbed Nirvana as he jumped into the gate. The multitude of lights blinded them. The familiar feeling of broken ice washed over his wet skin. As the pressure of space within the gate built against his skin, he grimaced.

"I really don’t like this."

◇◇◇

The smell of ash and sulfur filled his nose first. Faust hit the ground and coughed a little as black dust rose around him. He was forced to move as more of the army came through. The gate was huge, but there were like seven thousand of them.

Nirvana gripped his hand tighter as they both gazed upon the alien world.

The sun above them was completely black. The only colors of the world were white, black, and grey. Unlike the third wave, the gate in this world was outside.

The armies had been split among the five portals into this world. A huge empty field surrounded a hill overlooking a black sea.

There was the castle from Nirvana and Zen’s memories. Black, jagged, and disjointed, like multiple black needles driven into the earth with some circular and square blocks wedged between them.

And outside the castle, on the field, was an army of monsters.

’Damn it! I forgot about that.’

The system rushing their break, all the things he had to do. Goddamn it!

He should have used the Golem scouts before jumping in. Now only Nirvana was by his side, since they were holding hands. Everyone was split up.

The thunder of footsteps, screaming, and steel clashing shocked them out of their stupor. They just had to fight until they were back together.

"Text the others on your party chat," Faust quickly ordered Nirvana. Then he checked his status to see if he had any debuffs yet.

[Name: Faust]

[Level: 8 (80/1500)]

[Constitution: 230 (+80)]

[Strength: 221 (+170)]

[Agility: 333 (+50)]

[Spirit: 311 (+40)]

[Schema: The Perfect Match, Blood Lord, Worldbreaker, Walker of Narrow Road, Silver Ghost, Iron King]

[Schema Abilities: Schema Replication, Instance Replication, Attribute Drain, Blood Regeneration, Distance-Damage Amplification, Annihilation, Narrow Path, Pathfinder, Unknown Trespasser, Twilight Denial, Hand of Authority, Ignore Lesser Beings]

[Skills: Mirage Lv3, Appraise Lv3, Acid Shot Lv3, Severe Hit Lv2, Dark Maw Lv2, Dash Lv2, Observe Lv2, Heavy Fireball Lv3, Rage Strike Lv2, Focus Lv3, Craft Golem Lv1, Bolster Lv2, Flowing Viper Lv2, Shadow of the Mind Lv2, Shadow Step Lv1, Light Clones Lv1, Stance Break Lv1, Auto Cast Lv1]

[Equipment: Slime Tether +3, Jackal Dagger +3, White Travelling Cloak +3, Midnight Fur Hat +3, Iron Cutlass +3, Shaman’s Necklace +2, Unwielding Axe, Moon Leviathan]

[Summons: Silver Knight, Silver Archer]

[Combat Power: 910 (+230)]

[Origin Coins: 7519]

[System: 100% Drop Rate]

He checked his equipment, summoning the Iron Cutlass and Jackal Dagger to his hip. Then he summoned his armor too.

In a flash of white light, he turned from a regular guy to a warrior in white armor. He took off Moon Leviathan’s helmet for now and started moving forward, drawing the dagger and cutlass first.