The moment the node stabilized, the dungeon changed.
Not violently.
Not with tremors or monsters or death.
It changed in tone.
The walls stopped pulsing. The mana veins in the floor settled into steady flows. The oppressive silence was replaced by something worse—clarity. As if the dungeon had finally gotten what it wanted. And now, it was watching.
Conner felt it first.
He turned slowly as they exited the node chamber, eyes narrowing. The hallway ahead wasn't jagged anymore. It was clean. Cut like a blade through obsidian, with faint symbols lining the walls—not like the ones in the memory vault, but newer. Sharper.
"The chaos is gone," he said. "Now it's testing precision."
Luc glanced around. "You mean we passed something?"
"No," Conner replied. "We proved something. Now it wants more."
They moved cautiously. For the first time in a while, no monsters came.
Only challenges.
Their next steps led them into a large open room—flat, rectangular, filled with narrow stone pillars and faint red runes inscribed on the ground. The moment they stepped in, a pulse of mana activated the space.
And three shapes formed.
Not Leapers. Not Constructs.
Copies.
Perfectly mirrored versions of Joey, Neive, and Katie.
Down to stance, posture, and weapon glow.
Joey blinked. "What the hell is this? A joke?"
Neive stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "No. It's reflection combat. It's reading our patterns."
Conner's Scope Eye lit up instantly—every move the copies made was perfectly calculated, traced to mimic the actual fighting styles they'd used on the previous floors.
The fight was fast.
Brutal.
And unforgiving.
Katie's mirror detonated an unstable frost burst that mirrored her mana loss struggles from Floor 5. Neive's echo summoned a distorted beast, harder to control. Joey's clone was slower—but defensive, reading his aggressive lunges and punishing them on the counter.
But together, they adapted.
Joey faked his overextension—baited the copy into a reckless charge, and Katie sliced through it with a newly-formed, tightly compressed ice spike.
Conner didn't move. He wasn't targeted.
And that made it worse.
The dungeon wasn't interested in mirroring him.
It was watching him.
As the last echo fell, the door ahead opened with a hiss of shifting stone. And from that door—two familiar figures stepped out.
"About time," Briggs said, limping slightly. "Miss us?"
Mira followed close behind, blood dried along her temple, but her smile was sharp. "We took a scenic route. Less monsters. More curses."
Luc blinked. "Curses?"
Briggs nodded. "Not the word the system used, but yeah. One hallway we crossed made me forget my own name for twenty minutes."
"Another one reversed gravity," Mira added casually. "Fun times."
Katie raised an eyebrow. "And you just casually walked back into formation?"
"Didn't want to miss the main event," Briggs grinned.
And then, behind them—another figure emerged from the dark.
Tall. Composed. Moving with slow, steady steps.
Chadwick.
His obsidian-black armor gleamed faintly under the ambient mana light. His eyes—still those deep, storm-glossed black-blue orbs—were sharper now. Focused.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who made progress," he said.
Joey stared. "Where the hell did you go?"
Chadwick gave a small, unreadable smile. "Forward."
He nodded toward the dungeon behind him. "Some doors don't open unless you're alone. Mine did."
Conner's eye flared slightly. "What did you find?"
Chadwick didn't answer.
But a faint, violet energy flickered around his gauntlet—quiet and precise.
They regrouped.
But the silence didn't fade.
Conner stayed behind for a moment, watching the archway they'd just passed through. His eye tingled. His trait buzzed in his chest—like something was shifting beneath the surface again.
And then—just faintly—
The System spoke.
[Trait Divergence Path "Stalker" – Combat Context Rising]Observe. Adapt. Choose.
He didn't tell the others.
Not yet.
But he felt it.
The next floor wouldn't offer a test.
It would demand a decision.
The hallway ahead was too quiet.
No breathing stone. No distorted wind. Just clean-cut angles, perfect symmetry—and a polished floor that reflected more light than it should've.
The group slowed, stepping lightly now.
Conner's eye flickered with small glints of mana threads in the corners—watching lines. Not cameras. Not traps.
Intent.
"This place doesn't care how clever we are anymore," he said. "It's moved on."
Katie raised an eyebrow. "To what?"
Joey answered before he could. "Execution."
The room opened up quickly: circular arena, smooth stone, no pillars. Just a wide platform surrounded by a bottomless drop and one raised arch on the far side.
In the center: a creature.
Not towering. Not armored.
Thin. Smooth black skin stretched taut over a humanoid frame, its head long and featureless. It crouched low, arms down like a predator in mid-pounce.
The System pinged:
[Execution Entity – Class: Striker | Level 11][Behavior: Precision-based Aggression][Warning: Hesitation will be punished.]
It moved before the alert faded.
Not at them—but through them.
One blink—and Luc was on the ground, gasping. A thin red line traced across his shoulder plate, clean and sizzling.
"Luc!" Neive stepped back instinctively.
He groaned and rolled up, bracing himself. "Still alive. Barely."
Katie formed an ice ring, trying to shape a spike—but the monster was already moving again.
This time, it struck Joey.
But didn't hit his body.
It hit his stance—a feint strike that threw Joey off-balance, exposing him for the next real one.
"That thing isn't hunting targets," Conner muttered, watching its movement lines. "It's hunting mistakes."
Luc got back up, slower this time.
"Then we can't outpace it," he growled. "We hold."
He planted his feet wide, squared his stance, and braced both arms like a living barrier.
"Everyone behind me. Now."
Joey blinked. "Since when do you tank?"
Luc didn't look back. "Since I started getting hit more than you."
The creature struck again—but this time, it hit Luc's guard head-on.
It didn't break through.
Not fully.
Luc stumbled but held. Sparks danced off his gauntlets.
[Passive Activated: Braced Core – Rank F][Knockback Reduced. Impact Dampened.]
He grinned. "Alright. I can take a few more of those."
Conner's eye narrowed. "Then give me five seconds."
He stepped forward, sliding low, drawing both his bow and sword. Not to fight.
To observe.
The creature twitched—testing his feint, probing for a flaw.
And Conner let it come close—just enough.
Then fired an arc shot with zero power—just a tracing shot.
The creature dodged.
Exactly as he predicted.
[Complete Detection Synced: Target Trajectory Predictable]
He marked the curve.
And he smiled.
"Joey. Now."
Joey didn't need more.
He lunged from behind Luc's shield and landed a molten punch that hit right as the creature stepped into the predictive path.
It shattered—partially.
Twitched.
Then exploded in a silent wave of compressed force.
The System pinged:
[Skill Fragment: Reactive Guard – Rank D][Available for Luc | Type: Counter-Block]
They regrouped quickly, no one speaking for a moment.
Then Luc leaned against the wall, breathing hard.
"I think I'm gonna need thicker armour."
Katie stepped beside him and smirked. "Or a bigger shield."
Conner didn't laugh.
He was still looking at the floor.
At the lines only he could see.
The dungeon was watching him again.
And this time, it wasn't just recording.
It was adjusting.