The five undead mirror spirits activated their [Reflection] skill and transformed into Skeletal Guards, then charged at the real skeletal guards with green-bladed swords gleaming in their hands.
The raid team watched with wide eyes and gaping mouths, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"He had such a powerful summon all along and didn't use it?"
"This guy is unbelievably strong."
"I can't believe such a powerful profession agreed to raid with us…"
The raid team sighed once again, caught between shock and disbelief.
They had all heard stories of high-grade awakeners and had even seen summoner-type professions before, but none of the information or legends they knew could explain Ethan.
High-grade professions were powerful, yes, but not to this extent.
Never to the point where a single awakener could summon and control so many entities at once, with every single summon being overwhelmingly strong.
Just looking at the newly summoned spirits made their scalps tingle.
The [Undead Mirror Spirits], which could transform into the very monsters they were fighting and use those monsters' own skills and abilities against them, were terrifying.
Even one such spirit would have been considered absurdly powerful.
Yet Ethan could summon more than one.
That alone was already too much.
Ethan seemed absurdly powerful even by the standards of high-grade professionals.
And to make things even more unbelievable, he was still a newly awakened professional who had only just begun his life as an awakener.
He had not even undergone his first profession evolution yet, and he was already this strong.
They could not help imagining how terrifying he would become after evolving or even after undergoing a double evolution.
The five undead mirror spirits clashed with the five skeletal guards.
They possessed the same attributes, the same appearance, the same set of skills, the same height and weight, and even the same type of sword in their skeletal hands.
Yet, instead of holding their ground, Ethan's summons were pushed back, their bones trembling as they sustained damage.
"Pushed back?"
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"Oh, right… the Skeletal Warden's skill. I see. So the [Reflection] skill only copies the original attributes of the target. Good to know."
He issued mental commands to his Undead Ice Spirits and Undead Earth Spirits, and in the very next second, they unleashed their strongest offensive skills.
The Ice Spirits released their full-powered [Frozen Spear] one after another, while the Earth Spirits hurled [Stone Javelin] after [Stone Javelin] in rapid succession toward the skeletal guards.
However, the attacks only managed to deal minor damage.
The skeletal guards actively employed [Bone Shield] and [Bonebreaker Slash], either blocking the incoming assaults or counterattacking head-on.
The clash canceled out attacks on both sides, and in several exchanges, the skeletal guards even overpowered Ethan's spirits.
"Even if his spirits can mimic the attributes and skills of the skeletal guards, they cannot replicate the effects of the Skeletal Warden's skill."
"The [Warden's Rally] skill not only increases their attributes but also boosts their skill effectiveness. And their attacks even seem more coordinated now."
Ethan had similar thoughts.
While the Undead Mirror Spirits could use [Reflection] to transform into their targets, inheriting their attributes and skills, that was where the replication stopped.
They did not inherit buffs granted by other sources.
"Let us see if this works." Ethan suddenly had an idea.
He activated his summoning skill.
[Summon Undead Spirits: Skill Activated]
He summoned one more Undead Mirror Spirit and ordered it to use [Reflection] on the Skeletal Warden itself.
In the next instant, the metal-liquid, slimy body of the spirit began to shift, expanding into an eight-foot-tall skeletal figure.
Its bones turned green under the influence of the undead attribute, affecting the [Reflection] transformation.
It now wore a tattered robe, its skull hidden in the darkness of the hood.
Ethan glanced at the transformed spirit.
---
[Undead Mirror Spirit]
[Reflected form: Skeletal Warden]
[Reflection Duration: 00:01:30]
[Reflected Level: 15]
[Reflected Skills]
-Warden's Rally: The spirit unleashes a powerful battle cry, increasing the attributes of all your summons by 30% and enhancing the effectiveness of their skills by 35%.
---
"So it does work," he muttered, eyes widening with a grin. "Use [Warden's Rally]."
In the next instant, the transformed mirror spirit released a glorious battle scream, and waves of energy swept across all of Ethan's summons.
Every one of them, including the Undead Elemental Spirits and the Undead Mirror Spirits in the form of Skeletal Guards, began to emit a grey-green aura as their attributes, abilities, and the effectiveness of those abilities rapidly increased, similar to how the [Warden's Rally] skill enhanced the power of the skeletal monsters.
"Slay them," Ethan commanded calmly.
In the next second, his entire legion of summons charged the five skeletal guards.
A one-sided thrashing began almost immediately.
Swarms of [Frozen Spear], [Earth Javelin], and [Volt Burst] rained down on the skeletal guards, followed by the Undead Knights swinging their black swords at full force.
Even when the skeletal guards used [Bone Shield] to block the attacks from the other spirits, the Undead Knights and Mirror Spirits would strike them the moment their guard weakened.
They were given no time to stabilize, continuously overwhelmed from all sides, with no way to avoid suffering heavy damage.
The skeletal soldiers had already been wiped out earlier by Ethan before this battle began.
Within a few minutes, the skeletal guards had taken so much damage that cracks began to spread across their bones.
"I guess they are weakened enough," Ethan nodded.
The Undead Ice Spirits began mass-casting [Frost Wave], unleashing wave upon wave of powerful ice energy enhanced by [Warden's Rally].
Layers of ice rapidly formed around the skeletal guards, freezing them solid before they could even activate [Bone Shield].
Frozen like statues, the skeletal guards were then struck by the Earth Spirits' [Stone Spikes], a barrage of sharp, hand-sized spikes made of pure earth energy.
Each impact landed with the sound of rocks smashing into brittle glass.
Bit by bit, the frozen skeletal guards shattered, their bodies turning into piles of broken bone fragments.
Finally, the Earth Spirits unleashed their [Stone Javelin], which struck the lone Skeletal Warden, killing it instantly.
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 10]
[Your skill [Summon Undead Knight] has reached Level 10]
[Your skill [Summon Undead Spirits] has reached Level 10]
[Your [Undead Graveyard] capacity has increased by 1]
"Damn... he really cleared this stage on his own..." a support professional said, sighing.
"High-grade professionals are really different from us common folk," another added.
"Yeah, we'll talk about him some other time. Let's see what rewards we're getting," the hammer guy said, as a system prompt appeared in everyone's field of vision.
[Detected: Skeletal Warden has been killed.]
[Clear condition for the Final Stage of the [Skeleton Chamber] dungeon has been met.]
[Requirement fulfilled.]
[Calculating rewards...]
"I reached level 10, the peak of Tier-1. Now all that's left is to fill my skill slots and obtain three [Skill Enhancement Cards]. Then I can move on to Tier-2. But until then, I have to turn off my Experience Cultivator,"
Ethan sighed as he deactivated it.
From now on, no matter how many monsters he killed, his experience would not increase until he switched the cultivator back on.
He then turned his attention back to the system prompt.
"You defeated them on your own... You are so powerful," Jonathan said, smiling slightly.
"I just got lucky," Ethan replied as he retrieved 20 of his Undead Knights back to his [Undead Graveyard] and dismissed the rest of the summons.
The only summons he could carry with him were his Undead Knights, another weakness he was beginning to recognize as potentially problematic.
"Luck, huh... I just hope our luck is enough for at least one piece of equipment to drop," Jonathan said, sighing.
Ethan rubbed his chin, hearing the thought appear in his head.
"The rewards for clearing the dungeon vary; some are guaranteed, while others are left to chance. In this dungeon, the equipment this team is looking for drops by chance, and the only way to increase those chances is to clear the dungeon repeatedly until the desired item appears."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Chances are just luck. If my [Black Halo] trait's effects are real, then with my presence here, the equipment should drop. This should be the perfect chance to test one more time whether my trait actually affects the chances."
[Reward calculation complete]
[You have received 2,000 System Gold]
[...]
[...]
"What's going on? Why is the system acting frozen?"
"Looks like the equipment didn't drop... what's up with the system?"
[You have received [Killer Bone Sword] equipment]
[You have received [Guardian Bone Shield] equipment]
[You have received [Bone Armor] equipment]
[You have received [Dead People's Belt] equipment]
[You have received [Warden's Ring] equipment]
[You have received [Warden's Robe] equipment]
[You have received [Warden's Staff] equipment]
[You have received [Warden's Pendant] equipment]
"What the hell?"
"Is this for real?"
"Bite me"
It was as if everything they had believed until now had been proven wrong.
They had been discussing how many times they would need to clear this dungeon just to obtain even a single piece of equipment.
The idea that multiple items could drop from a single dungeon raid had never once crossed their minds. Seeing it happen now felt like witnessing an impossibility made real.
The entire set of equipment from the [Skeletal Warden Set] had dropped all at once.
Something like this had never happened before.
Ethan's eyes reflected a silent mixture of shock, surprise, awe, and bewilderment.
These emotions were so tangled and profound that no one else could interpret them or even begin to understand what was going through his mind.
"No more tests. This is all the proof I need."
"No matter how many times I doubt my own trait, it's useless. I think I've finally come to terms with the fact that my trait is absolutely real."
"My trait might just be the strongest trait to ever exist or ever will."
Now, the only thing Ethan could think about was how to use it to its fullest.
His mind had already begun racing through countless possibilities of how his [Black Halo] trait could affect his growth.