Special Skill

"Quest completed."

Liaine's calm, almost smug voice echoed in my mind as I sat slumped against the wall, one leg stretched out and the other bent lazily. Across the room, Dante was sitting with his back against the opposite wall, head tilted to the side, eyes closed. Asleep—or pretending to be. Hard to tell with someone like him.

I glanced at him, then whispered under my breath. "What do you mean it's completed?"

There was a pause. I scanned the empty training hall once more, making sure no one else was close enough to hear me talking to myself.

"I thought the attention shifted to Professor Voss's dark mana speech." I murmured. "Does that mean people are still talking about Dante?"

Liaine didn't answer the question—instead, she launched into her usual, clinical announcement.

"Since you have completed the quest, your rewards have been issued. Reward: +10 Influence. Unlock 'Shadow's Hand' — a passive skill that makes people more likely to follow your suggestions."

I blinked. "Wait, that's... actually useful."

But of course, she ignored my comment, as always. No explanation. No details. Just cold, robotic updates like I was part of a damn simulation.

Still, something didn't sit right. I leaned my head back against the wall, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"I don't get it." I muttered. "Everyone was losing it over Voss's mana. I thought that rumor about Dante would die down. What changed?"

Liaine's voice returned, just a touch more pleased than before.

"You have also been granted a special skill—since you completed the quest in a single day."

That snapped my attention. I straightened up, brows raising.

"Wait—seriously?"

This was new. Normally, I'd get the bare minimum: just enough to keep me interested, never enough to feel like I was actually winning. But this? This sounded like something big.

"The first time you're giving me something extra." I muttered, almost in disbelief. "So what's the skill?"

A beat of silence passed.

Then her voice came again—smug, cryptic, and just a little too familiar.

"You'll know soon enough."

I let out a dry laugh. Of course. There she is. Back to being dramatic and vague.

"What would be this skill—AHHHHH!!!"

I screamed.

Like, full-on, throat-shredding, soul-leaving-my-body scream.

Scrambling back like a possessed crab, I kicked over a bench and almost rolled onto my face trying to get to my feet. Something slammed into the wall beside me and I swear the floor shook like we were in a freaking earthquake.

Dante jolted awake, blinking fast, hair slightly messy, looking like someone just threw a bucket of ice water on him.

"What the hell?" he snapped, eyes darting around. "Why are you screa—"

And then he saw it.

Right there. Not a dream. Not a hallucination. Not a trauma response from school food poisoning.

A giant, ugly-ass creature—and I mean giant. Like eight feet tall, skin that looked like it was peeled off a dead lizard, glowing yellow eyes that screamed 'you're my snack now,' and teeth—so many teeth. Rows and rows of jagged, nasty teeth, like it chewed on glass for fun and flossed with human hair.

It crouched low, drool pooling on the floor beneath it as it stared straight at us.

Correction: straight at me.

"DANTE!" I yelped, already halfway behind him like the shameless coward I was about to become. "WHY IS SHREK'S EVIL TWIN IN HERE?!"

He got up in a flash, eyes narrowing as his whole posture shifted into fight mode—cool, calm, deadly.

Me? I was two seconds away from throwing my shoe and bolting out the nearest window.

"That thing wasn't here a second ago." Dante muttered, reaching for the blade he always carried—because of course he was always armed like we lived in a dungeon.

"Well it's here now!" I said, my voice cracking like I was thirteen again. "And it looks hungry!"

The creature growled. Loud. Deep. The kind of growl you don't just hear—you feel it in your spine, like your bones are suddenly aware of their expiration date.

"Is this the skill?!" I shouted toward the ceiling like a madman. "LIAINE, YOU PSYCHO—IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF A GIFT?!"

No answer.

Of course.

Because she's a menace.

The creature lunged.

"DODGE!" Dante barked.

Too late.

I tripped over the bench I knocked earlier and hit the ground with a thud so hard my ancestors probably felt it. The monster's claw missed me by inches, slashing through the wooden floor like it was paper.

"OH GOOD." I wheezed. "SO IT'S STRONG TOO. LOVE THAT FOR US."

Dante was already moving, blade flashing as he forced the creature back, but only barely. It snarled at him, then looked at me again.

Great. I was the appetizer.

"Do something!" Dante yelled.

"LIKE WHAT? THROW MY SNEAKER?!"

And then—just as it lunged again—something clicked inside me.

A pulse of heat. Energy.

My body moved.

Not by choice.

Not by instinct.

By something else.

Liaine's voice returned, cool and smug.

"Special Skill Activated: Phantom Decoy. You leave behind an illusion of yourself that draws enemy aggro for 3 seconds."

A perfect clone of me stood where I'd been a second ago—screaming in pure terror.

"OH MY GOD—EVEN THE CLONE IS TRAUMATIZED!"

The monster lunged at it. Through it. It passed right through the image—and then froze, confused.

Dante took the opening. Blade flashing. One clean slice across the creature's arm. Black blood sprayed.

It roared in pain, stumbling back.

And me?

I stared at my hands, heart racing, adrenaline pumping.

"Okay." I breathed. "I can work with that."

Then I looked at the floor.

"…Did the illusion also scream like me? Was that really necessary Liaine?"