The first weekend since I'd fallen into this game world.
I left the academy, heading somewhere.
Unlike weekdays, when you needed an exit permit to leave, weekends allowed free entry and exit from the school.
So this weekend, I planned to take care of two things.
The first was hunting that old geezer, the "Flesh Mage" Morel.
"Found you."
Tracking down his hideout wasn't too hard.
An abandoned house on the outskirts of Ether City. Its basement was his secret lab.
I'd visited the place countless times in the game, so it was easy to find.
I wore a black-hooded cloak pulled low over my Stella Academy cadet uniform.
A Stella Academy uniform was like Seoul National University merch in this world.
Wandering around in it openly would draw too much attention.
Plus, I didn't want to get it dirty.
If I had to wash it, the system might reward me for being diligent or something.
Anyway.
BOOM!
The moment I entered, I tore through the steel door with a crescent slash.
Without hesitation, I headed straight for the data storage room, just like in the game's walkthrough.
"W-Who the hell are you?!"
As expected, Morel came rushing in not long after.
The first thing I did upon seeing him?
"No need to know. Just die."
I launched a crescent slash right at his face.
In the original game, this would've triggered a mandatory cutscene signaling the boss fight.
That was the biggest flaw in [Stella Academia]—boss fight cutscenes couldn't be skipped.
You had to sit through all that crap about the villains' backstories or their bullshit philosophies, even if you didn't care one bit.
And the protagonist, with his overflowing sense of justice, would waste even more time rebutting every single point and getting all pissed off.
But the Morel in front of me right now...
...
He didn't even get a chance to speak before being bisected on the spot.
'Convenient.'
Huh. Skipping straight to the slash sped things up nicely.
Ding!
[Sloth +10!]
What the hell was this?
Did I get a sloth judgment for ignoring the guy and just slashing him?
'...It really was just too annoying.'
Not that I'd planned it, but hey, free points.
Still, a person split in half wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.
I couldn't help but frown.
But that was pure disgust, nothing more.
Pity? Guilt? Not a trace.
Part of it was knowing he was less than human garbage—a dog among scum.
More importantly, though...
'This is just the beginning anyway.'
The guy wasn't dead yet.
Right on cue.
Squelch! Squish squish!
Tendrils erupted from the slashed cross-section.
They twisted together, rapidly rebuilding his flesh.
In just a few seconds, Morel regenerated perfectly, without a scratch.
"You sneaky rat, ambushing me like that...!"
He glared at me with eyes full of rage.
"But it's useless. I am immortal...! No matter how much you cut me, I regenerate—"
"Shut up."
Of course, I didn't let him finish again before unleashing another crescent slash.
Damn, even after skipping one cutscene, the bastard tried to regen again. Persistent fucker.
[Sloth +20!]
The system seemed to approve, dishing out more sloth points.
Slash!
"Grk!"
Morel twisted away in a panic, avoiding a fatal hit, but lost his entire right arm instead.
"Damn it all, what kind of casting speed...!"
His face went pale.
He'd finally grasped the gap in our levels.
"No choice, then. I'll have to use this...!"
As he shouted, his body grotesquely swelled.
"[Flesh Armor]!"
Soon, a monster born of tangled blood, flesh, and fat emerged.
Morel's ugly face was embedded smack in the center—the only recognizable human part.
'Fighting phase activated.'
The repulsive, savage visuals didn't faze me.
I'd seen it a million times in the game.
'30.'
I started counting in my head.
What number?
'You're dead in 30 seconds.'
Morel's remaining lifespan.
'This is why you gotta deal with old geezers quick.'
If you encountered him in the latter half of the 1st-year story like normal, he'd revive at least five times—a massive pain.
His patterns were dead simple and boring, but his goddamn tenacity made him a grindy slog of a boss.
Especially in this flesh armor mode, where his regen was insane—no matter how much you hit him, he'd just heal right back up.
But right now, his flesh magic was still incomplete, so exactly after 30 seconds, his regen weakened.
Survive the 30 seconds, then finish with a prepared one-shot? Clean as hell.
That's when.
"Die—!"
With Morel's roar, a massive flesh fist came flying.
BOOM!
A strike powerful enough to shatter the wall.
If it'd hit me, I'd be pulp...
But I wasn't there.
'Dodged, right?'
I'd seen it coming.
Morel's first pattern: [Flesh Punch].
Slow speed, telegraphed motion—total garbage, easy to dodge.
Didn't even need to activate [Keen Eyes].
So I saved it.
Instead, I relied on my agility, enhanced to C-rank, slipping away with minimal movement.
"Grr! You rat!"
Morel retracted his fist, then fired off a fast muscle tendril.
Splat!
But it didn't touch me either.
Simple reason.
Snip!
I'd sliced the incoming tendril clean off with a crescent slash.
The severed tendril flopped on the floor like a squid.
'Morel's second pattern: [Tentacle Shot].'
Fast and threatening.
It even homed in like a guided missile, tricky for noobs.
But attacking the tendril itself nullified it. Easy, right?
"...Y-You reacted to that?!"
Morel flinched in shock.
Not really a reaction—prediction.
The tell before firing.
Spot it, pre-emptively slash forward, and it times perfectly.
I'd hunted this guy so many times.
Of course, Morel had no clue, so he panicked hard.
'20.'
20 seconds left.
Time kept ticking.
'Might as well attack once here.'
It'd regen anyway, but it'd buy time.
I raised my hand.
'Crescent Slash Cancel.'
Slash, reflex, slash again.
An invisible two-hit combo in an instant.
Shlick—slash!
"Gyaaaah!"
A chunk of flesh was carved off in a flash, forcing Morel to spend time regenerating it.
[Low Reflex] was useless in this fight anyway.
No projectiles from Morel.
So using it for motion cancels maximized attack efficiency.
'10 seconds.'
"Damn, damn it! Where the hell did a monster like you come from...?!"
He got frantic, chaining [Flesh Punch] and [Tentacle Shot], but pointless.
'Dodge, slice.'
I calmly dismantled his attacks one by one.
'9, 8, 7, 6, 5...'
But as the exchanges dragged on, I felt my mana draining.
At this rate, I wouldn't have enough for the finisher.
'That's why I prepared this.'
Dodging another flesh punch effortlessly, I pulled a glowing blue potion from my pocket.
The [Mysterious Mana Potion] I'd bought ahead for situations like this.
Gulp gulp.
Mana surged back into my near-empty reserves.
"Fighting while getting distracted?!"
That's when a tendril shot at my momentary opening.
No time to read the tell.
But I stayed calm.
'[Keen Eyes].'
The world slowed.
One hand downed the potion; the other cast a crescent slash, leisurely severing the tendril.
[The Leisure of a Potion Sip]
[Sloth +30!]
Casually racking up sloth points, I blocked his final desperate assault.
'3, 2, 1...'
Finally, time was up.
'0.'
Execution time for the old geezer, "Flesh Mage" Morel.
"W-Wait...! Hear me out. You really gonna keep this up?"
Morel screamed in desperation.
"You felt it too, right? Your magic can't kill me for good! So how about we call it a draw and back off?"
Suddenly pulling a "what if we tie?" out of his ass.
"Should I?"
"Y-Yeah! Honestly, what's the point of us fighting?! If you leave now, I won't attack anymore!"
"Hmm..."
He perked up with hope when I played along.
But.
"Nah, pass."
"...?!"
Obviously a lie, dumbass.
Why couldn't I kill you?
'[Unstable Amplification].'
Time to use my shiny new skill.
The spell to amplify?
'Amplify [Magiblade Crescent Slash].'
My strongest attack.
I aimed at Morel with my hand.
But not just two fingers this time.
Spread.
All five fingers fanned out.
"Bye."
I smirked.
At that instant, countless red lines etched across Morel's massive body.
Like a spiderweb blanketing him.
"Huh...?"
Confusion bloomed on Morel's face.
'[Magiblade Crescent Slash Amplification: Dismember].'
Next moment.
SPLATTER!!!
Blood and flesh sprayed everywhere as the giant flesh mass shredded into hundreds of pieces.