I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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13
The waiting lounge on the 5th floor of Korea Tower.
Even the ordinarily quiet lounge was now packed shoulder to shoulder with people.
It was because of the Swamp of Plenty blessing, which had less than a day left before its expiration.
Avoiding the crowd, Park Jin-sung sat in a corner of the lounge and methodically checked his Sword and Shield configuration, preparing for the 5th floor clear that lay ahead.
Kim Min-joo sat beside him, swinging her legs and peering intently at her phone.
Then suddenly, she let out a soft laugh.
“What is this guy’s deal.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Look at this, would you?”
Kim Min-joo thrust the screen toward Park Jin-sung so he could see.
On it was a post from The Lobby, an anonymous forum for Awakeners.
【General】I’m the Swamp Beneficiary. Taking questions
“It’s an imposter. There’s no way Si-hyun would write something like this.”
“Exactly.”
Both of them were already half-certain that Si-hyun was the Swamp Beneficiary making waves across the community.
The clear’s contents aside, the timing was far too perfect.
“But what if it really is Si-hyun?”
“Come on, don’t you remember? The full server announcement went out, and we escaped the swamp in less than a minute.”
Park Jin-sung nodded at those words.
“That’s true. If we got an A-rank rating, then for an EX… there’s no one but Si-hyun.”
As the two of them reinforced their suspicions into near-certainty, the imposter online was reveling in the attention, spouting one boast after another.
Anonymous1: Yeah right ㅋ If you’re the Swamp Beneficiary, I’m the Celestial Sage
└ Anonymous (OP): lol Believe it or don’t.
The Awakener community was known for being the most brutal of all such forums, so most responses were like that.
But there were always a few naively kindhearted souls among the crowd who believed easily.
Anonymous8: Are you really the Swamp Beneficiary? Could you give me some tips on how you cleared the boss?
└ Anonymous (OP): Tips? There’s not much to say. Everyone overthinks it, but it really came down to one thing: aggression management.
One tank locks down the boss’s attention tight, and the rest of the DPS dealers just free-fire—that’s all there is to it.
Though admittedly I did most of the damage myself ㅋ
Kim Min-joo’s eyebrows trembled as she read the comment.
The overwhelming presence that creature had radiated, which she’d never witnessed before.
Every moment felt like they were treading the edge of a blade, certain they would die there without mercy.
The memory was still vivid before her eyes. Even the fetid stench of the swamp lingered.
‘He’s never even gotten close, and he’s acting like he knows what he’s talking about.’
Not a single one of the four people who had been there risked their life for nothing.
Even Si-hyun, who displayed the most overwhelming performance during the clear, had laid half their life on the line against that enemy.
‘The audacity of it. Actually trying to steal someone else’s credit.’
A spark of irritation ignited within her.
Here was someone who knew the true identity of the Swamp Beneficiary and was keeping quiet out of discretion, while some idiot who knew nothing was impersonating them and bragging about it.
Kim Min-joo narrowed her eyes at the screen for a moment, then a playful smile crept across her lips.
Park Jin-sung caught something in that expression and smirked. “What, are you going to do something?”
“What, are you going to do something?”
“Heh, just wait and see.”
With that, she began rapidly tapping with both thumbs.
Anonymous10: Wow, so cleanly with just the standard approach?!
Truly your class is different, Swamp Beneficiary!
But my friend went to the swamp too, and they said the ground was so muddy that without something like a specially made pair of Magic Boots, you couldn’t make any progress at all.
Would it be alright to ask how you crossed through?
Kim Min-joo smiled, satisfied with herself.
The Magic Boots were bait.
If this was a scammer, they’d surely brag about possessing some more impressive item or skill.
They could never have imagined that the crude Swamp-Specific Snowshoe—crafted from tree bark and torn cloth—was the key to clearing the dungeon.
Only those who’d stood there could possibly know that.
Sure enough, not long after, a notification chimed, and the imposter’s response appeared under Kim Min-joo’s question.
Anonymous (OP): Magic Boots? That’s exactly why people can’t clear it, relying on that garbage.
We just went straight for the boss and melted it with pure DPS.
The core of an EX-rank clear isn’t breaking through minor gimmicks like that—it’s about overwhelming firepower that just crushes through everything ㅇㅋ?
That comment was the problem.
The moment the imposter, who’d been skillfully walking a tightrope and maintaining a convincing facade, slipped off the line entirely.
That single remark touched a nerve with the Awakeners who’d been about to brush past with an air of indifference, dismissing it as “low-grade bait.”
Anonymous 11: Lmao, chewing through the Swamp mechanics? Without prep, straight from a kidnapping event? 😂😂 What, does this guy fly or something? 😂
Anonymous 12: Skip — “straight to the boss” tier
└ Anonymous 11: Facts, survivors said finding the path was the hardest part.
└ Anonymous 13: Dude already marked it with a navigator tho lol
Anonymous 3: Real veterans never spout embarrassing garbage like “overwhelming firepower.”
At best they’d say “it was manageable.” This guy’s impersonator bluster sticks out like a sore thumb. Probably isn’t even an Awakener.
Anonymous 4: TL;DR: this kid never saw the Swamp, let alone got kidnapped. facts
The thread poster was buried under a barrage of comments in seconds.
Kim Min-joo, her objective achieved, let out a delighted laugh.
“Heh, well deserved!”
Park Jin-sung, who’d been watching quietly, let out a soft chuckle and spoke.
“There really are all kinds of characters out there. Impersonation, no less. Fame’s a scary thing, isn’t it?”
“Sure is.”
Whether her interest had faded or she felt she’d done her part, Kim Min-joo nodded and switched off her phone screen.
Park Jin-sung’s words — “all kinds of characters” — suddenly reminded her of someone.
“I wonder what that real ‘character’ is up to right now?”
Park Jin-sung immediately grasped who she was referring to.
“Who knows? That’s someone you can’t predict. Probably pulling off something extraordinary as we speak. Something we couldn’t even imagine.”
“Yeah, that’s probably true.”
Her gaze drifted past the waiting room toward the portal leading to the next floor.
A strange certainty filled her.
Si-hyun. If it was him, he’d be doing something unimaginable even at this very moment.
* * *
Through the haze of yellow dust rising in the distance, a pack of Hobgoblins emerged into view.
At a glance, their numbers easily exceeded ten.
‘Fifteen… no, maybe twenty?’
So this was what they meant by a trial — or survival.
Compared to the old 2nd Floor, where one Hobgoblin and three regular Goblins was the limit, this was insanely ramped up difficulty.
The loud approach had been a mistake.
‘All Hobgoblins. Hmm… this is outside my calculations.’
I was curious about the rewards from clearing a survival trial by annihilating the enemy, but not curious enough to stake my life on it.
‘Survival is what this is.’
That left me with two options.
First: trust my Stealth Movement and hide in the cracks between rocks in the Wasteland, playing a waiting game.
‘The other is to run like hell…’
Neither felt right.
‘Stealth Movement isn’t a cure-all.’
The objective was “survive.” Which meant those things had come to kill me.
If I wasn’t visible, they wouldn’t just stand around with their thumbs in their mouths.
They’d search at first, but eventually they’d tighten the noose one way or another.
‘Rely on Stealth Movement alone and lie flat for fifteen minutes hoping they forget about me?’
That was just wishful thinking.
Or should I just run and hope to last fifteen minutes that way?
That was betting they were slower and weaker than me — nothing but a desperate prayer.
‘If I don’t like either option…’
There’s nothing for it. I’ll have to reshape the board myself.
But how? In the kidnapping event, it was the Swamp at least — plenty to work with.
Out here, there’s only the Wasteland and a handful of rocks scattered around as if placed to break up the monotony.
‘…Wait. Rocks?’
A reckless thought flickered through my mind.
A method was taking shape.
‘If the plan works… there’s no reason it shouldn’t?’
It was a dangerous method by any standard.
But at the same time, it was the only way to flip this numerical disadvantage.
‘…The more I think about it, the more it might just work.’
I immediately began surveying my surroundings.
Looking for the perfect stage to execute this operation.
Unfortunately, the immediate area had nothing suitable.
‘Nothing nearby…? Ah!’
If I’d confined myself to the routine tasks of the second floor, I’d never have seen so far. But when I broadened my gaze beyond those limits, I spotted exactly what I was looking for.
‘That’s it!’
A precariously balanced rock formation—narrow at the base, grotesquely swollen at the crown.
It looked like a colossal mushroom.
‘Perfect. That’ll work.’
The moment possibility hardened into certainty.
I moved straight from plan to action.
Maintaining Stealth Movement, I picked my way forward with care.
My destination: that rock formation I’d been studying.
‘If Stealth Movement can buy me some time, the whole thing gets easier.’
Though it wouldn’t last long.
I couldn’t rely on Stealth Movement to hide me completely—not in this barren Wasteland with nowhere to actually take cover.
“Kee-rook! Ke-rook!”
Sure enough, I didn’t last even a minute before they spotted me.
“Of course.”
The goblin creatures shrieked and howled, pointing straight at me.
Now that I was discovered, it wasn’t hide-and-seek anymore—it was tag.
“Hey! Over here!”
“Ke-rook! Ke-ru-ru-ru!”
They came charging, tails wagging as if my provocation delighted them.
After that, I barely had to do anything—their stubby legs churned away, following eagerly.
With twenty Hobgoblins clamped to my heels, I felt like the Pied Piper himself.
“Huff, huff! These bastards—why are they so damn fast for goblins!”
If I’d just panicked and run blindly, it really could’ve gone badly.
After that mad sprint with the goblin horde, the rock formation finally drew near.
“Phew… I thought I was dead. You creatures.”
The goblins clustered beneath the stone, burning with a single thought: tear me to shreds.
The moment the last one ducked into the rock’s shadow, I went on the offensive.
They’d caught me. Now it was my turn to chase.
Shing—
‘Now!’
I drew the blade and unleashed Flash without hesitation.
The technique had been born from Flash Cut, but no bright flash followed this time.
Nocturne’s Dark Blade devoured the light, swallowed it, erased it.
Crack!
Only the sound of severance remained.
The blade slashed diagonally through the stone’s foundation, through that most unstable-looking fissure, leaving a single hairline fracture.
“Ke-rook?”
The goblins couldn’t even comprehend what I’d done.
Fair enough.
To them, I’d just drawn a sword and swung it at rock like a madman.
But I didn’t need to explain or prove anything.
Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch—!
Moments later, the result spoke for itself.
Already precarious, the stone needed only a gentle shove from behind before it began its collapse.
“Kee-rook!”
“Kee-eee!”
Boulders from a clear sky.
Only then did the goblins grasp the danger. They scattered in blind panic.
Whether they’d escape was another matter.
Crumble-crumble-crumble!
The collapsing formation rained down everything—dust, rubble, stones the size of men—burying the goblin mob beneath it all.
The wet, melon-splitting sounds echoed across the wasteland.
Half a success, then.
But it wasn’t over.
A massive fragment of the fallen rock was dropping straight at my head.
‘Yeah, I saw that coming. There’s no way I walk away clean.’
Death’s shadow rushed down, filling my vision, terrible and inevitable.
No time to dodge, no space, no room for thought.
I squeezed every last drop of Mana into the blade.
The target was a massive fragment hurtling straight toward my head.
‘Here it comes…!’
Crunch!
An instant before impact, I unleashed my full power and split the colossal stone in two.
In that fleeting moment, blue sky broke through the suffocating haze that had blocked my vision.
‘…!’
Boom! Boom—!
Two earth-shattering explosions shook the ground, and a fierce wind blast seared my cheek.
A thick cloud of dust billowed into the air.
“…Phew, I’m alive.”
The boulder, split cleanly in two, jutted from the earth on either side of me.
Mana exhaustion dragged at my limbs while released tension made my breathing ragged.
Crackle, crackle.
A sound of crumbling stone echoed from beneath the rubble.
‘…This thing survived that?’
Following the sound, I spotted a creature buried deep among the rocks, clinging to life by the thinnest thread.
“Kee… Kieee…!”
“Ah, so it was you.”
The creature was garbed in a convincing Sword and Shield, even sporting armor and a helmet.
While its companions ran naked, this one was fully outfitted—likely their leader, I’d wager.
“Now that I look closer, it does seem taller than the others.”
Had the Trial of Surveillance unfolded as the tower intended, this thing would have been a genuine nuisance.
But today wasn’t its lucky day.
“Well, what can you do. This is how it turned out.”
The creature could do nothing but peek its head above the rubble, utterly pinned.
Whatever lay crushed beneath those stones—it was already beyond saving.
I put it out of its misery.
Crack!
My blade slipped through the narrow gap between the helmet’s edges.
The creature’s thrashing ceased at once.
“So that’s really the end of it.”
I withdrew the blade and flicked the blood clean, when a message bloomed before my eyes.
[You have completed the Special Mission: Trial of Surveillance.]
[Clear Evaluation: EX]
[Special Mission completion rewards have been granted.]
⋮
⋮
⋮
“Ugh, whatever. Auto-store it.”
The rewards are nice, but I need to catch my breath first.
Mana depletion was making my head throb.
I copy skills just by stepping on their shadow
Author |
Killing Part
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(주) Samyang C&C
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(주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Dream Books.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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