Reincarnated With The Degenerate System

I barely got out a "Let's—" before they all opened their mouth at once.

Their chests puffed out as they exhaled, a long, focused breath that had me swearing they were about to pull off some kind of Qi technique.

A split second later, a wave of fire roared toward me, the hallway bursting into an inferno big enough to make a truck-sized flamethrower feel small. Heat slammed into my face, and for a split second, I genuinely wondered if my eyebrows would survive such temp.

"Moon Reflection—Shadow Expanded!"

I spun my spear, sending a gust of wind rushing out in a wide, whirling arc. Shadow energy wrapped around it, forming a barrier that caught the flames and pushed them back.

Even so, the heat still surged, and the temperature in the hallway shot higher.

The walls turned red-hot.

The ceiling groaned.

The floor beneath my boots melt through my soles.

Sweat instantly rolled down my forehead, hissing on the scorching air.

And still—I kept spinning. Because if even a sliver of that fire got through, the twenty guys in the basement were going to be charcoal.

Right now, all I could see were the flames, but I knew my moment would come—if I could just survive this wave.

I waited, breathing evenly, letting them overcommit

Then, as they paused to breath, I struck.

"Moon Cycle—Extending Strike!"

I hurled my weapon like a javelin. Shadow erupted around it, forming a trail of darkness that sliced through three of them in one clean sweep.

Before the remaining monsters could even register what just happened, I summoned the spear back to my hand.

I threw it again, faster this time, slicing through the others. Then I dashed forward, closing the distance, summoned the spear back, and swept it through their bodies in one smooth arc.

thud!

thud!

thud!

Their bodies hit the ground, and just as I expected, they didn't explode—apparently, they needed to breathe in oxygen to ignite in the first place.

Nevertheless, the attacks they unleashed earlier put them on another level. If the gap in power was not really wide, these ten alone could have spelled trouble.

As I examined the corpses, something shiny caught my eye. I stepped closer and spotted a crystal ball the size of a large coin. It glowed red, and I was surprised when I picked it up—tiny flames danced inside.

Suddenly, a term poped into my mind,. 'Cores'

That's right—Adam mentioned something like this before. If this thing showed up, did that mean we wandered into a floor in the double digits… or was this some freak one-in-a-thousand occurrence?

Either way, the others didn't need to know. No reason to make them any more afraid than they already were.

In most wars, it's not sheer strength that decides defeat, but the will to fight.

With a little time to spare, I gathered the cores, slipped them into my pocket, and tore the corpses apart until they were past any hope of recognition.

Then I settled into a meditative position and began recovering my energy.

Ten minutes later, the whole group emerged, backs loaded with bags—some had even cobbled together makeshift carts. Using cars was out of the question, not with so much blockage scattered around the road.

"Sir, did you run into anything while we were gone? We felt the temperature spike up there," Adam inquired.

"Yeah. Nothing I couldn't handle." I turned away and started walking before he could dig for details.

In no time we reached the camp, and to my relief, everything was still intact.

"Sir, we found the location of the stairs." One of the scouts reported.

"Where?"

"Southeast from here. It's at least a twenty-minute walk, and just as you would expect, there are hardly any monsters in the forest to slow us down."

I nodded, and once everyone regrouped, I stepped to the front to give my speech.

"This is our best window to hit the boss. Listen—some of you are scared, I get it. But we're not fighting this floor's boss. We're targeting the one beneath it. That makes our job a whole lot easier."

They forced themselves to nod, trying to look braver than they felt. And sure, I was right about us facing a much weaker boss—but that didn't change the fact that this team had no real idea what we were walking into.

I told them to grab their gear and prep for the raid, then pulled out the list of throwables. If I was going to cook up a real plan with Adam, I needed to know exactly what kind of distraction we could toss.

When prep time wrapped up, we headed toward the stairs.

What greeted us looked absurdly grand for a death trap—a cathedral-like doorway framed by four pillars. Beyond them, a staircase pointed downward into the dark.

The air leaking out of that doorway felt wrong—thick, corrupted, crawling under my skin. The others, weaker than me, went pale the moment it touched them.

I turned to Hai-Min, and just as I feared, she was trembling. I rested a hand on her shoulder to soothe her nerves.

"Relax. You're not stepping inside that dark place. I'll leave you here with a bunch of guards , so you're safe."

Anyone watching us would've figured out I doted on her, so I didn't have to remind those who will stay to prioritize her.

"B… be careful, Big Brother." She forced a smile.

And somehow, that tiny, brave little curve on her lips made me feel a hundred percent stronger already.

"Me? Be careful? You should be saying that to the boss monster." I leaned in a little. "Let you in on a secret—I'm actually way stronger than your sister. So this is going to be a walk in the park."

Hai-Min let out a small giggle—light, quick, almost embarrassed. But it was real enough to ease the tension in her shoulders… and boost my ego by a healthy, medically questionable amount.

"Big Brother… once we're out of this place, let's hang out." She took my hand, her grip warm and certain, and for a second I had this ridiculous urge to just pull her into a hug right then and there.

But I forced myself to calm down. Better to bottle that moment up and use it as fuel to push me harder toward surviving this hellhole.

"I'll spoil you rotten once we get out." I patted her head one last time, then turned away like a tragic hero, bracing myself for the very dangerous journey ahead.

I returned to the front, the whole group watching me now.

"Listen up, everyone. I know some of you are thinking this is suicide—but don't forget what killing the boss gets us. Once it's down, the lower-floor monsters stop spawning at a rapid rate. After that, we can just take it easy down there and wait for rescue."

They traded looks. A few nodded. One exhaled like he had been holding his breath for a full minute. Another straightened his back, trying to pretend he hadn't been on the verge of bolting earlier.

They weren't suddenly brave, not by a long shot, but the logic landed. You could almost see it click behind their eyes: beat the boss, stop the monsters spawning, survive.

"LET'S GO!"