She wasn’t a physical fighter like the other cultists, but that didn’t mean she was the weakest member of the Death Cult by any stretch.

No, she was absolute hell specifically for physical attackers and combat mages as a whole. Her special Reflection magic had a devastating effect... it perfectly reflected any damage you inflicted on her directly back onto yourself while she remained unharmed.

The bandaged woman reached calmly into her own chest where Neo’s wind blade had pierced through, grabbed the embedded weapon with wrapped fingers, and pulled it out smoothly.

The glowing green mana that had been coating the blade died instantly, fading to nothing.

She simply smiled behind her bandage as she casually threw the bloodied sword to the side, letting it clatter onto the stone ground with a metallic ring.

"What impressively strong magic that boy possessed," she said conversationally with her voice distorted by the bandages. "It’s such a shame that he had to die so young, He really had potential."

Klaus took a deep breath while Seo trembled in his arms.

"N-Neo!" Seo’s voice cracked with desperation. Her eyes locked onto Neo’s crumpled form and the blood steadily trickling down to pool on the ground beneath him. "NEO!"

Her eyes suddenly flashed crimson with panic and rage.

Fire mana flared violently around Seo’s outstretched arm before Klaus could stop her. She launched a concentrated fireball directly at the bandaged woman, the attack blazing through the air with lethal intent.

The woman just grinned wider behind her bandages and the fireball slammed into her chest dead center with tremendous force.

Klaus immediately let Seo go and stepped quickly out of the way, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

POP!

The same fireball that had just hit the bandaged woman materialized instantly on Seo instead. She was burned by her own attack with the flames consuming her as she screamed.

The force sent her flying backward, her body impacting hard into the cavern wall with a sickening crack of bone. She slid down limply, leaving a trail of blood on the stone.

Klaus sighed deeply and thought with frustration.

’I explicitly told them not to attack her. Why the hell didn’t they just listen to me for once?’

Now instead of all three of them simply bypassing this woman and escaping to freedom, Klaus found himself alone. Seo was bleeding out and barely conscious against the wall... The protagonist Neo was collapsed in the corner, either teetering on the edge of death or already dead...

Behind Klaus, the collapsed stones blocking the staircase entrance were being pounded from the inside. He could hear the cultists working frantically to break through. It was only a matter of time... maybe minutes before they burst through this opening.

So what could he possibly do in this situation?

’I’ll just give up,’ Klaus thought with resignation. What else was he supposed to do against an opponent he couldn’t harm?

He slowly raised both hands in surrender.

The bandaged woman took a confident step forward with her wrapped feet making no sound on stone. "Smart choice. Out of all three of you foolish escapees, you’re clearly the smartest one. I appreciate that quality."

Klaus’s mind raced even as he kept his hands raised in apparent surrender. ’What will realistically happen now after I give up?’

The answer was obvious and grim. He would inevitably be dragged back down deep into the cult’s underground base, thrown into some ritual chamber, and sacrificed to their twisted death god. His soul would be consumed by whatever eldritch horror they worshipped.

He’d be completely wasting this precious second chance at life that he’d been miraculously given through reincarnation into this game world.

And perhaps worst of all, all his carefully accumulated gold would be left in the hands of—

Wait.

His eyes suddenly widened with genuine horror as a terrible realization struck him like a physical blow.

His real storage ring... the one containing virtually all his hard-earned wealth and valuable possessions had been entrusted to Mirela for safekeeping before this. He’d given it to her specifically so it wouldn’t be lost or stolen during the dangerous trip.

But that meant... if he died here and his body was never recovered, never found, never returned...

Those girls back at the estate would eventually assume he was dead. And then they would inherit everything. Mirela, Taula, Serra... all of them would have access to his fortune.

Did that mean they would splurge all his precious gold on frivolous shopping trips? Expensive dresses and jewelry? Fancy restaurants and luxury goods?

Or even worse, so much worse... what if they used HIS gold to entertain other men?!

The thought was unbearable. His gold, his hard-earned money, being spent on buying gifts for some random guys? Taking other men out to expensive dinners? Maybe even funding their hobbies and interests?

Klaus’s left eye twitched violently at the mental image.

His carefully maintained fortune, reduced to funding some other man’s comfortable lifestyle while Klaus rotted in a cult’s ritual chamber.

NO!

His eyes grew deadly serious, all traces of resignation vanishing as his expression shifted from defeated acceptance to absolute determination.

He immediately dropped into a combat stance with mana flowing through his body and using his Forge ability, he materialized a perfectly balanced sword in the air that fit his hand exactly, the metal gleaming in the dim light.

The bandaged woman stopped moving and let out a disappointed sigh. "I genuinely thought you were wiser than this suicidal foolishness."

"Yeah," Klaus said grimly, gripping his forged sword. "Me too."

Then he charged forward with an explosive burst of Magnetic Field propelling him, closing the distance at incredible speed.

Unlike Neo and Seo who had attacked without any strategy or knowledge, Klaus had an actual plan formed from his memories of the game.

She had been an incredibly annoying boss fight... a pain in the ass just like the Heir of Death. Like the Heir, she was probably functionally immortal through some cult ritual but the critical thing Klaus remembered was that she was physically weak compared to other boss-tier enemies.

Immediately, the white bandages wrapped around her entire body began lashing out like striking serpents in Klaus’s direction. Dozens of them shot toward him with lethal intent.

Klaus dodged with a singular powerful push of Magnetic Field against the ground, the repulsion launching him sideways.

The bandage tentacles shot past him harmlessly as he closed the remaining distance between them and he slashed upward with his forged blade in what looked like a direct attack at her torso.

There was only one critical weakness she possessed, and Klaus knew exactly what it was... a bypass method built into her Reflection magic that players had to discover.

The bandaged woman didn’t even attempt to dodge the incoming slash. She stood perfectly still, confident in her reflection ability but Klaus’s sword sailed directly in front of her bandage-covered face without actually touching her at all.

Instead, the blade’s momentum sent a compressed slash of cutting air pressure upward, carving deep into the stone ceiling directly above them as rock cracked and groaned.

The woman immediately lashed out with a bandage tentacle at Klaus, who had already moved backward out of range.

Klaus’s blade flashed and he cut clean through the attacking bandage, severing it.

The woman’s eyes widened in genuine shock behind her bandages.

"How did you know that technique would work?!"

More tentacles of white bandages shot at Klaus from multiple angles like a forest of striking snakes but Klaus had already landed firmly on the ground.

With a single horizontal slash, he cut through an entire wave of bandages simultaneously, clearing a path straight to her body. This time he veered sharply off to the right at the last second.

He didn’t bother replying to her question since Information was an advantage he wouldn’t give up.

’Her Reflection magic works as if it perfectly mirrors the attacker’s body,’ Klaus thought as he maneuvered. ’So as long as I don’t personally have tentacles or extra limbs, then attacking her bandages won’t reflect back to damage me. The reflection can only mirror what I actually possess.’

"Just a little more..." Klaus muttered, rushing even closer with Magnetic Field-enhanced speed.

The hole in her chest from where Neo’s sword had stabbed through was already being covered and sealed by fresh bandages weaving over the wound.

The burnt and damaged bandages from Seo’s fireball were being replaced by new white wrappings that emerged from within her body.

Klaus came in again at a different angle, holding his forged sword with both hands.

She extended her wrapped hand out desperately.

"Stay away from me!"

She fired several compressed fireballs of purple death magic at him in rapid succession, each one capable of instant death on contact.

Klaus weaved through them, his body flowing between the projectiles. One fireball came too close but he slashed through it with his blade, the metal dispelling the death magic on contact and scattering it harmlessly then he slashed at seemingly empty air again while running, sending another compressed air blade upward.

Klaus closed the final distance and suddenly stopped dead, planting both feet and creating a small crater in the ground from the explosive force of his halt.

He raised his sword high for what looked like a devastating upward slash aimed directly at her exposed torso.

She spread out both arms and braced herself for the impact, supremely confident that the damage would simply rebound back onto him through her reflection but Klaus’s blade went for the already-damaged ceiling again instead, the strike appearing to completely miss her by several feet.

Another massive chunk of weakened rock cracked loose above her position with a grinding sound.

"Your aim is absolutely pathetic!" she taunted with cruel laughter. "Is this really the best you can manage? You can’t even land a single basic sword strike on a stationary target!"

She immediately went on the offensive, sensing an opening. Dozens of bandage tentacles shot toward Klaus from every angle to wrap him up and immobilize him.

Klaus’s blade flashed in rapid arcs, cutting through several attacking bandages. He rolled to the side, came up, and sent another compressed air slash upward at the ceiling while appearing to aim for her.

CRACK!

More stone fractured above as the damage was spreading.

"Missing again!" she laughed even harder with her voice echoing off the cavern walls. "What kind of pathetic swordsman are you? Even a child could hit better than this! You’re just flailing around uselessly!"

Klaus remained completely silent, his face expressionless as he systematically targeted the exact same section of ceiling with each "missed" attack.

Spider-web cracks spread wider across the stone directly above her anchored position as chunks of loose rock began falling.

She fired three more death magic fireballs in quick succession. Klaus dodged the first, deflected the second with his blade, and used Magnetic Field to propel himself backward away from the third.

All while sending another air slash upward.

"You’re just embarrassing yourself now!" she continued her mocking assault. "This is pitiful to watch! An adventurer, reduced to missing every single strike like some amateur who’s never held a sword before! Is this what passes for skill for Adventurers?!"

More bandages lashed out. Klaus cut through them methodically, each severed tentacle buying him another second and another chance to weaken the ceiling further.

"Your friends died because of your incompetence!" she pressed, trying to anger him into making a mistake. "That girl burned herself to death! The hero bled out! And now you’ll join them in failure!"

He didn’t take the bait, they weren’t his friends at all

He fired another slash as another crack went through the ceiling. The entire section was now visibly unstable, held together by increasingly thin connections.

Several bandage tentacles suddenly wrapped around Klaus’s sword arm, then his legs, binding him firmly and more tentacles coiled around his torso, pulling him directly in front of her.

"Finally caught you," she said with vicious satisfaction. "Now you’ll—"

Klaus’s free leg was then covered with mana and shot forward with explosive force.

CRACK! 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

His foot connected with her bandage-covered face at full strength with the impact shattering the bandage and sending bone fragments flying.

Her head snapped back violently from the devastating kick.

In the same motion, Klaus twisted his bound sword arm and fired one final compressed air slash directly at the weakest point of the damaged ceiling

The kick’s force combined with his Magnetic Field and the hit reflecting back at him sent Klaus flying backward, ripping free from most of the bandages as the wound almost broke his jaw.

He hit the ground and rolled.

The woman staggered from the brutal kick as she was dazed. Bandages shot from her body into the walls and floor, anchoring her in place as she tried to recover then she looked up.

The entire section of ceiling Klaus had been weakening finally gave way.

BOOM!

Tons upon tons of solid rock came crashing down directly on top of her position with earth-shaking force. The impact sent shockwaves through the entire cavern, dust exploding outward in all directions.

Her scream of rage was cut brutally short as the massive boulder crushed downward with inexorable weight.

Her Reflection magic activated automatically in a desperate attempt at survival, the ability trying to push the rock back up and away from her body but the physics of the situation worked against her.

The reflected force just pressed the boulder down even harder with multiplied pressure, creating a feedback loop she couldn’t escape as the magic was crushing her with her own power.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The rock ground downward with absolutely sickening sounds of breaking bone and tearing flesh. Bandages were shredded and torn apart like wet paper.

Blood exploded outward from beneath the boulder in pressurized spurts, painting the surrounding stone dark red.

Fragments of shattered bone shot out from the gaps at the sides like projectiles, clattering across the floor.

More crushing sounds echoed as the boulder settled, pressing down until the stone floor itself cracked beneath the combined weight. Internal organs that had been squeezed out from between rock and ground lay scattered in a grotesque display.

The cavern shook violently from the sustained impact. Dust and debris filled the air, making it hard to breathe or see clearly.

When the dust finally began to settle, all that remained visible beneath the massive boulder was a spreading pool of blood mixed with torn white bandages and pulverized meat that barely resembled anything human.

’That was the critical weakness...’ Klaus thought, breathing hard as he stared at the massive boulder now sitting where she’d been standing. ’Reflection magic perfectly reflects direct attacks... strikes, spells, projectiles but if your attack causes environmental damage that then kills her, the reflection has no direct target to rebound to. The rock crushing her triggered more reflection that just crushed her harder. It’s a feedback loop she can’t escape.’

"That will hold her temporarily at least..." Klaus muttered while already moving.

He knew from the game that she probably wasn’t permanently dead... these cult leaders had ways of regenerating but it would buy precious time.

The blocked stones from the staircase were already beginning to dislodge as cultists pushed from the other side.

Klaus ran back to collect Seo first, throwing her limp, burned body over his shoulder then he rushed to Neo’s collapsed form.

Somehow the protagonist was still breathing shallowly, his chest rising and falling despite the massive hole.

’Protagonist plot armor is insane,’ Klaus thought.

He grabbed Neo as well, his enhanced strength allowing him to carry both of them. Using Magnetic Field, he made his forged sword hover next to him in the air.

Klaus turned one of his legs to metal with Iron Skin for better magnetic resonance, then hopped onto the floating sword like a surfboard.

With a powerful burst of magnetic repulsion against the ground, he shot away toward the cavern exit like a rocket.

Behind him at the cavern exit, the staircase barrier finally exploded open with a deafening crash of shattering stone.

"THERE! THE PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN EXIT!"

"STOP THEM NOW! KILL THEM ALL BEFORE THEY REACH THE SURFACE!"

"FOR OUR GLORIOUS GOD! SPILL THEIR BLOOD ON THE STONES! BRING US THEIR SOULS!"

"THE WRAITH OF BINDINGS COMMANDS IT! DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE ALIVE!"

Dozens of cultists poured through the demolished opening in a screaming bloodthirsty mob.

Their eyes were wild with fanatical fury and religious zealotry with foam gathering at the corners of their mouths. They trampled over each other in their desperate rush to obey their leader’s will.

One cultist... a woman with desperate hollow eyes broke from the pack and rushed to the massive boulder crushing their leader. She joined with several other cultists, all of them pressing their hands against the blood-stained rock.

They pushed and pulled against the enormous weight with their muscles straining and bones creaking from the effort.

The boulder groaned but barely shifted.

"HARDER!" one screamed.

A young cultist woman’s hands shattered from the pressure, her fingers breaking apart with wet snaps. But she didn’t stop... instead she opened her mouth and bit down on the rock with her teeth, trying to help move it with her jaw, blood running from her gums.

"FOR THE WRAITH OF BINDINGS! PUSH!"

Finally, with a collective heave from a dozen cultists, the massive boulder shifted and rolled to the side. Immediately, white bandages lashed out from the crushed remains beneath.

They connected to the nearest cultist... the woman whose hands had shattered and wrapped around her body like hungry serpents. The bandages covered her from head to toe, completely cocooning her.

The other cultists stepped back in reverent awe.

The bandage cocoon pulsed and shifted then it took shape, forming the wrapped figure of their leader again, now inhabiting this new body.

She reached down and picked up her discarded cult cloak, pulling it on over the wrapped form.

The Wraith of Bindings... for that was the name cultists whispered in worship had the ability to take complete control of any body as long as their mental resistance was sufficiently low. The fanatic cultists were perfect vessels.

She flexed her new body’s arms, testing the fit then she turned and viciously kicked another cultist who’d lost her legs and was now useless.

"Chase after them immediately!" the Wraith commanded in a distorted voice that echoed from the bandaged face. "They couldn’t have gotten far, not carrying two wounded! All of you... bring me that man’s head! I want his corpse dragged back here!"

The cultist mob surged forward as one, screaming their devotion as they gave chase.