Regression: Reclaiming the End-Chapter 41: Into the 7th Floor Part II - Shard Ascent

[ Patron Perk: Absolute Dissonance – Active ]

[ All magical effects within 5m of the Vassal are weakened by 30%. ]

Magic recoiled from me.

I was a walking breach in the system’s foundation.

The Hex-Eater raised its claws again—frantic, desperate to inhale, to consume. But the air around me bent differently. Magic died in my shadow.

"You’re not the only glitch down here."

I dropped into stance.

[ Skill Activated: Emberfang Style – Lv.4 ]

[ Consecutive strikes generate Burn stacks. Max: 15 ]

[ At 15 stacks: -30% Healing & Defense for 3 seconds ]

I surged forward—left step, shoulder loose, momentum coiled tight like a bowstring.

First strike: Burn 1. My fist slammed into its ribs—heat spiked on contact.

Second, third, fourth: Burn 4.Left hook. Palm drive. Elbow crush. It shrieked, tried to swing. I ducked low.

Burn 6. Burn 8. Burn 10—

I was carving it open with rhythm and blood.

It tried to retreat.

Too late.

Burn 13. 14—

But just before the fifteenth, something changed.

Its torso swelled—glyphs snapping back into place like broken bones realigning. A new one burned across its chest in a spiral: crimson, unstable.

"Tch—!"

’It evolved mid-combat.’

A burst of negative mana erupted outward—raw backlash that slammed into me like a brick wall. It wasn’t magic. It was reflexive survival instinct, a broken spell lashing out like a cornered beast.

I staggered, skidding back across the floor as static danced up my spine.

Blood ran from my lip.

"Good. You’re not a pushover."

I stepped forward again, jaw clenched. My gloves steamed, aura flaring dull red.

Burn 15.

-

[ MAX STACK REACHED. ] ƒгeewёbnovel.com

[ Target: -30% Defense & Healing for 3s. ]

[ Status: VULNERABLE WINDOW OPEN ]

-

"Here comes the erasure."

I spun, heel grinding against the stone—drove my knee straight into the monster’s throat. Then followed with a cross that cracked its jaw wide open, flame-heat trailing behind every motion.

It gurgled, disoriented—its internal regen crawling against the suppression. Runes flickered off. Flesh unknit.

"Try healing through that."

The Hex-Eater slumped—kneeling, twitching, its throat shattered and ribs caved in.

Smoke hissed from its wounds. Not fire, but disintegrated glyph residue—its runic armor was dying from the inside out.

I exhaled.

One step forward. Boots cracking brittle fragments of stone beneath them.

"You’re done."

I pulled my arm back for the final blow, but then the ground trembled.

My foot didn’t land because the floor itself shuddered, like it was breathing.

The troll’s body convulsed, spasming in broken pulses. Its limbs locked. Spine arched. And then—

-

[ WARNING: SYSTEM INTERFERENCE DETECTED ]

[ Hostile Override Detected. Reconstructing Entity... ]

[ Rift Directive: SURVIVAL ]

[ Executing Contingency Protocol: SHARD ASCENT ]

-

"...You’ve got to be kidding me."

A snap echoed through the air—like something had cracked open in the sky itself.

The troll’s body twisted. Not healed—rebuilt. Its limbs contorted backward, dislocating with wet cracks before slamming into place at twice their previous length. The glyphs on its skin didn’t return. New ones grew, like cancer, spiraling in patterns I have seen before.

Its torso split open—revealing a second core embedded in its sternum, not a heart, but a rift shard.

My eye twitched as the system’s override finished and the glyphs on its body re-formed into something entirely alien.

"Tch... Shard Ascent." I clicked my tongue, stepping back as the Rift pulsed unnaturally behind it.

I took a slow breath, eyes narrowing as the creature’s body twisted into something completely new—leaner, taller, its skin crawling with unstable runes.

"It’s not evolving. It’s being forced to ascend."

"That shard in its chest—it’s a Rift Shard. High-tier, corrupted mana. Directly connected to the Crimson Rift itself."

I stepped back, just enough to keep it at mid-range. My instincts were screaming.

"Monsters aren’t supposed to have those. Not this early. That kind of power only shows up in deeper floors—or in bosses guarding the Rift Core. So if it’s here now..."

I glanced at the system alert still flickering in the corner of my vision.

"That means this is an emergency protocol. A fail-safe."

"The Rift doesn’t want this thing to die. So it’s overriding the rules, jamming a Rift Shard into its body, and turning it into something worse."

My fists tightened. I could feel the tempo shifting.

"That’s what Shard Ascent means. The Rift forces the monster to ’ascend’ into an apex version—something completely outside the floor’s limits, and now it’s a Shard-Eater Manifest."

It stood taller now. The same height as me. Its body moved with twitchy, precise steps... matching my stance. Reflecting my breathing.

"It’s learning. Copying me. Everything I just used—Emberfang Style, my rhythm, my angles—it’s trying to mirror it."

I exhaled once, slowly.

"So not only is it stronger... it’s smarter. And more dangerous."

I smiled.

"But it’s still just a fake. And I’m about to show it why I’m the original."

I dashed forward, foot twisting mid-step to torque my angle right as my fist ignited.

Burn stack: 1

I aimed for its midsection—quick, close, precise, but it parried.

No, it didn’t just parry—it mirrored the exact movement I made three exchanges ago, down to the hip shift and elbow angle. Its own strike lit with the same ember hue.

Our fists collided mid-air. Sparks burst out from both ends. Burn stack applied—to both of us.

"You really are copying me."

I ducked under the horizontal sweep of its claw, felt the wind shear across my cheek, and countered with a rising knee—flaming arc, center mass.

Burn Stack: 2

It bent backwards unnaturally, absorbing the blow—but flames still latched to its torso. Good. But then its spine snapped forward again like a whip, and it drove a palm strike straight into my solar plexus.

-

[ Warning: Burn Stack Applied – 2 ]

[ Debuff: Healing Reduced (0.6s) ]

-

I stumbled. Backpedaled. It was applying stacks just as fast as me. I needed to break rhythm—change the beat.

I shifted sideways, dropped low, and spun—sweeping its legs.

It jumped. Mid-air.

"It predicted that?!"

I twisted into a rising elbow mid-spin—caught it in the ribs as it landed.

Burn Stack: 3

It absorbed the hit with no recoil, palm already coming for my throat. I barely slipped under it and drove my fist into its exposed flank—

Burn Stack: 4