Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure (19 page)

He dashed forward into
the center of the battlefield and found himself engulfed in the dragon’s shadow
again.  He didn’t have time to look up, so he kept running until he heard it
crash down behind him.

Its violent landing
kicked dust, pebbles, and grass into the air, obscuring much of the
battlefield.  Sam ran around its legs to get back to the side where his Death
Mark sat.

He couldn’t help but be
awestruck by the dragon’s tremendous size.  It seemed strange to call such a
weird creature a dragon.  He only assumed it was one, because that was what you
fought here in the old game.  This time, it really was like nothing he had ever
seen.  Like the forest come to life.

He ran to his Death Mark
and its power was absorbed into him as soon as he got close enough to it.  His
loose Quintessence counter went back up along with the amount of souls in his
possession, each added to what he gained from killing all the enemies in the
forest moments ago.

Sam was surprised that he
hadn’t been attacked yet.  As a matter of fact, it seemed as if by avoiding the
dragon’s surprise attack that he held an advantage.  It moved very slowly and
since Sam was at its side, it didn’t seem able to attack him, but it was a
stalemate because Sam couldn’t reach any part of its body that wasn’t covered
in thick bark.

He could use his bow, he
thought, but he guessed it would make for a long fight, so he took his Rapier
and struck out at one of the tree trunks that it called legs.  The leg seemed
to have its own HP value.  Sam was able to whittle it down only a little at a
time thanks to its high defensive values.

In the middle of his
attacks, he cried out as his body was pierced by a sharp spike and he lost a
fourth of his HP.  The spike had come from the leg he was attacking, taking him
completely by surprise.  It looked similar to an attack performed by the Forest
Barkers earlier.  He watched carefully for the attack again as he continued to
stab away at its leg.  He soon learned the timing of it and was able to move
out of the way before the thing even struck out at him.

He stabbed the leg down
below a tenth of its health.  After that, it shed the bark that was covering that
particular limb and seemed to move a lot faster than before.  It stomped down
at him twice in succession, nearly hitting him on the second stomp.

He moved to the front leg
of the creature and started stabbing away at that.  He moved around a little
more frequently to keep pace with the beast.  The mobility of the rear leg had
sped it up, but not enough to threaten him too much.  He only damaged the front
leg a little before returning to the rear one to finish it off.  He didn’t want
the creature to get even faster with two free legs.

He stabbed at the exposed
reptilian looking limb and dodged its rapid stomps.  He obliterated the leg
with a Skyward Thrust and watched as the creature slowed back down to a crawl
again.  He laughed at his fortune and commended his genius strategy.  Then
something hit him from behind and knocked him to the ground.

What the hell was that
,
he thought in his confusion.  He looked in the direction that the attack had
come from and could see nothing.  He’d nearly lost a half of his total health
though.  He quickly healed when he got to his feet and put his shield up. 
Whatever had attacked him had done so again, even with his shield up and he
lost half of his health again.

“Come on!  What the hell
is that?  I had my shield up!” Sam complained to no one but himself.

He got up and quickly
healed again only to be knocked down again by the same invisible attack.

“Alex!”

This time when he got to
his feet, he rolled away from the where he stood, hopefully away from whatever
was attacking him.

“What is it, Sam?”

Yes! 
He was glad
that she answered, but he didn’t have any time to talk just yet.  He quickly
healed with a swig of his Soul Fire.  Then looked around for whatever was
attacking him.  There was nothing.  It had to be some kind of glitch.  He
seemed to be relatively safe away from the creature’s limbs and its rear, where
whatever it was, was attacking him.

“Something’s wrong,
Alex.  I—”

The shadow beneath his
feet grew larger and Sam instinctively rolled away, only he was too late.  The
dragon had used the entire weight of its massive body and fell on top on him. 
There was nothing he could do about it, the crushing weight had taken all of
his HP and he saw the now familiar game over message.

YOU HAVE DIED

He woke up at the
serpentine Soul Beacon with the now predictable symptoms of intense nausea and
vertigo.  Beyond that, he was pissed.  He knew that he got cheated.

“THAT’S NOT FAIR, ALEX!”

Sedwin and Barrington
once again stared at Sam with concern.

“Calm down, Sam,” Alex
tried to soothe.

“No!  Just what the hell
was that?  Invisible attacks?  Seriously!  How was I supposed to even defend
against that?”

“I know, I know, you’re
right, so calm down.”

“It took me forever to
even get into that Soul Barrier, then I have to contend with that crap.  Come
on, Alex, work with me here!  I’m doing my best and putting up a championship
performance only to get cheesed.  I know I could’ve had him!  I know it!”

There was silence on the
line while Sam waited for her to respond.

“You done?” she asked,
her voice filled with frustration.  Sam let out a long frustrated sigh to match.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Okay, since master Sam
has deemed it appropriate for me to talk, I’ll explain what went wrong back
there.”

“Please do!  I need to
know what kind of fuckery I’m dealing with here.”

“First off, I do
apologize for what happened.  I know that you, of all people are dealing with a
lot of pressure every time you enter the death state.  So I know any screw ups
on our end really ruin this game for you.  That said, that’s exactly what
happened.  It was a major screw up with the code.  That ‘dragon’, as you call
it, known formally in game lore and by our design team as The Will of The
Forest, has a tail that wasn’t rendered during your fight.  The attack boxes
and values for the tail loaded, those things you can’t see, but not its framework
or 3D model.  Again, I apologize.  There was also another glitch I noticed
during the fight with its health.  I am working on fixing both.”

Sam scoffed at the
ridiculousness of all that.  How could stuff like that happen at even this
stage of the game?  True, it was the alpha build, but it just felt like a
blatant way to kill off the testers.  Sam hated cheap game design tactics like
that.

“What about its health? 
What did you find?”

“I don’t think I should
tell you.  You’re way too angry right now.”

“I’m not angry!”

“Says an angry five year
old.  You don’t know it, but I get a readout of your mental state at all
times.  And these readings tell me that you are angry, actually very angry,
truthfully more like extremely angry.  Now, remember what I said before.”

“I don’t give a damn what
you said.”

“Again, says the
extremely angry five year old.  I’m trying to help you here, Sam.  This isn’t
the way to face challenges, is it?  Even challenges that are unfair.  No, I
need you to calm down and once you do, I may tell you about the other glitch.”

Sam took a deep breath
and closed his eyes.  He realized that she was right.  Why participate in
something as awesome as this game was if he was just going to whine and
complain about it.  Even his younger self didn’t whine so much when he’d gotten
demolished by his first few bosses in The Death Planes so long ago.

“Okay, I’m calm.”

“Not quite, but you’re
getting there.  Okay, again sorry Sam.  Now, along with that invisible tail
that attacked you before, the Will of the Forest was constantly locked in its
healing state, meaning that any damage you did to it would’ve been negligible
even if you didn’t have any issues with its tail.”

“The damn thing was
immortal too!  You guys really outdid yourselves on that one.”

“It’s a glitch remember? 
A mistake.”

“Well, it’s a pretty damn
big one ...”

“Sam ...”

“I’m good.  Thanks for
explaining all that to me.”

“No that’s not what I was
going to say.”

“What then?” he asked.

“Can I get a little cheer
out of you at least?”

He huffed loudly, but
then allowed himself to smile at Alex’s teasing.

“You’re a pain in the
butt, you know that, Madura?”

“We’re doing the last
name thing now, Nagai?  Fine, I guess I’ll keep my good news to myself then.”

Sam felt his ears perk up
like a dog’s when he heard “good news.”

“What good news?”

“Address me as Ms. Alex
and I’ll tell you.”

He huffed again though he
quickly played ball.

“Please tell me what this
wonderful news is, Ms. Alex you lovely person you.  Queen of my virtual
universe.”

“Okay, you’re overdoing
it now.  I’ll just tell you ...”

There was a silence in
the line as Sam waited for her to answer.

“Anytime now, Alex.”

“Sorry, I love the
suspense.”

Sam huffed again and was
really getting irritated now.

“Come on already!”

“Fine, fine.  You won the
contest you big baby,” she said, teasing.

“Contest?”

It took him a moment to
remember what she was talking about.  With everything that was happening in the
game, he had totally forgotten about the contest.

“Oh wow, seriously?  I
forgot all about the contest.”

“Yup, you were the first
to report five glitches in the game.  Congratulations!”

“Wow!  I finally win
something worthwhile,” he said excitedly.

The gloom that was
clouding his mood disappeared completely, replaced by overwhelming joy at his
turn of luck.

“Yes!  Hahahaha!  You
know Alex, even though you were kind of a jerk to me, I feel that I owe ya.”

“Oh yeah, nice guy?”

“Yeah.  How about I treat
you to dinner once I’m done with this alpha test?  How’s that sound?”

“That sounds great, Sam. 
I have to warn you though, I’m a girl that likes to eat.”

“That’s fine, cuz I’m a
guy that likes to eat.  But before all that, I have an asshole to slay.”

21
Royal Cooperation

About twenty minutes had passed after Alex had cut the
communication.  Sam sat at the Soul Beacon reading over the stats of all his
gear and strategizing his next encounter with The Will of the Forest.

“Okay Sam, I fixed those glitches.  Now remember what I said
before.”

“Oh, about human form.  I’ll just farm up some loose
quintessence from the Stumpies.”

“Those are called Seedlings by the way, if you cared that is,”
Alex answered back.

“To me they’ll always be Stumpies,” Sam added.

She sighed and Sam could imagine her shaking her head.

“You do love your creative names, don’t you?  I just want
you to keep in mind that there are still even greater bonuses for you, should
you find any more major glitches.  Keep an eye out for them and as always, be
careful.”

She cut the line and Sam again wondered why her sendoff was
so gloomy, especially when she did her best to keep him in good spirits. 
Whatever the case, he had his sights set on defeating that dragon, The Will of
the Forest.

******

Sam spent a considerable
amount of time farming the Stumpies and Mid-Boss the bear for solid and loose
Quintessence as well as Stim Plants and souls.  When he was done, he returned
to Barrington, bought enough arrows to put him at an even hundred, then rested
at the Soul Beacon.  While resting, he leveled up a little in preparation for
his rematch against the Will of the Forest.  He first leveled his spirituality
to five so that he could equip the Sword Uppercut as an alternative to his
Skyward Thrust.  Strangely enough, the spirituality upgrade increased his fire
defense by a point as well.  With only enough points to level-up one more time,
Sam chose to upgrade his speed to twenty-three.  Once he got it to twenty-five
he’d move on to the next stat.  Once he was done leveling, he remembered to use
one of his points of loose Quintessence to turn back to human form.  It was
good to see his health bar go back up to max.  As he prepared to leave, the
smith called out to him.

“By the way, traveler. 
Some strange man has found his way into my camp.  He’s out in the ruins.  I’m
keepin’ Sedwin close should the stranger want to cause a ruckus, but if ye can,
tell him to go away please.  I don’ need scary fools loitering about, losing
their minds near my shop.”

Barrington’s words
chilled Sam.  There was a chance that Caesar had wandered to the north, chasing
some strong opponent.  Sam prepared himself for an unpleasant encounter and had
the smith repair his weapons.  As he went to leave, Sedwin halted him.

“Sorry, I forgot to give
you this for your troubles earlier,” Sedwin said nervously.  He presented Sam
with an enormous shield that looked to be made of the same material as his
beautiful silver armor.  All Sam could think as he looked at the shield was,
how
the hell is he holding that thing up
?  When Sam reached for the humongous
shield, it turned into a tiny white light right in front of him.  Once he
grabbed it, it went into his inventory and he saw that it was called a Silver
Great Shield.

“Uhh, thanks Sedwin.”

“It’s the least I could
do for you.  You’ve mended the rift between me and my master.  I only hope that
this shield will aid you against that intruder.  The master made it for me long
ago, but as you can see, it’s more decorative than practical for a bear such as
myself.”

Sam was currently
browsing its stats.

Silver Great Shield

Great Shield

A heavy silver shield
that can block almost any attack.  It stands taller than many men and is wide
enough to fit even a bear, though who would do such a thing?  Crafted by the
famed blacksmith Barrington, it has never seen use in battle as its near
pristine condition attests.  Not only is the blacksmith famous for his fine
craftsmanship, he is also known for being a rarity among the common folk for he
was one of the few commoners to attain knighthood.

ATK  35

     Weapon Damage  20

S ATK  C = 10

D ATK  F = 0

M ATK  F = 0

B ATK  E = 5

F RAT  0

L RAT  0

P RAT  0

D RAT  0

B RAT  1

He scrolled over to see
the defenses.

P DEF  100%

M DEF  80%

L DEF  50%

F DEF  80%

D DEF  80%

A DEF  70%

P RES  90%

D RES  80%

C RES  40%

B RES  100%

Sturdiness  90%

Durability 400/400

Weight 40 lbs

It was a really powerful
shield with an insane amount of defenses.  It was probably way too good a
shield to have right now, but Sam still couldn’t use it.  It weighed forty
pounds and the maximum weight that Sam could currently carry was fifty-eight
pounds.  Plus it required twenty strength to properly wield, so even if he
could equip the shield, he’d barely be able to move.

“Thanks again Sedwin.  I’ll
be back shortly.”

Hopefully I’ll be
walking back instead of being teleported here after death
, he thought
grimly.  He left the warmth of the camp and took a short journey into the ruins
next to it.  Standing amidst the ruins of a felled wall and covered in the
moon’s pale light was the mighty King Herke.

Herke stared up into the
sky, at the various stars to the north until Sam approached.  He hesitantly turned
and stared through Sam with his blue eyed gaze.  Though the king looked at
ease, Sam got the feeling that the man was ready for any sort of sudden threat.
 He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination or the king’s massive physique
and greatsword that put him on edge.

“It’s you, the one with
the burning soul,” the king said as he regarded Sam.

“King?  You’re here in
the north?” Sam asked.

“I’m getting nearer to my
target, that foul Cutthroat.  I can feel it in my bones.  I must be one step
behind.”

Sam didn’t think it would
do any good to tell the king that he had given away information about his
quest.  Mainly, he didn’t want to piss him off.

“Rondo is here?” Sam
asked.

“If he was, he isn’t
anymore.  If you’re here too, I have to wonder, were you chasing the fiend or
was the fiend chasing you?  It can’t just be a coincidence.”

Sam hadn’t seen any
Cutthroats following him besides the one’s he killed and if any of them were
Rondo, then the king would not have his revenge.  All Sam could do was give the
king a shrug.

“No matter, it’s only a
matter of time before I find him and wring the life from the coward’s neck.”

Eager to change the
subject, Sam interjected another question.

“Do you know anything
about that dragon?”

“Dragon?  That flying
creature, by the cliffs?  I’d hardly call that a dragon, though it does tower
over one doesn’t it?  No, dragons have nothing but fire and smoke in their
blood.  That creature is made of greener stuff, the stuff of this ancient
forest.”

“What is it then?” Sam
asked.

“As far as I know it,
it’s some sort of guardian of this place.  It keeps those from the upper undead
cities from crossing into its domain.  I don’t see what’s so special about this
place though.  Why would anything want to protect a forest filled with death,
decay, and revenants who’ve long since lost their minds?  Even the creatures
here seem corrupted.”

That was a good question,
Sam had to admit.  Maybe there was something worthwhile here in these parts
that he hadn’t discovered or maybe the king was wrong and the creature was
trying to keep all the bad things in this forest from getting out.  The king
looked Sam over with suspicion.

“Hmm, why are you
interested in the creature, boy?  Could it be ... you’re looking for a hunt?”

The king’s grin was
bestial and his muscles flexed seemingly involuntarily.

Sam didn’t say anything
and just stood still staring at the king warily.

“Ah, no need to say
anything.  I can see it on you.  You crave a good hunt.  I knew I could see the
hunter’s gleam in your eye when we first met.  The same is true for myself.  I
almost miss the demons of my homeland and the sport they gave.  This forest
guardian, it looks like damn fine sport.  If you’ve the nerve to challenge it,
look for my sign near its roosting place.  I would cross into hell to join such
a foolish battle.  Hehehehe.  Even old men can be fools.”

“Well we’re both
tremendous fools then, king.”

******

Sam killed his way
through the northern forest path as before, plowing right through the Stumpies
and Mid-Boss the bear on his way to the Soul Barrier near the cliffs.  He
looked around for the king’s sign just outside of the Soul Barrier, but
couldn’t find it anywhere.  After getting frustrated, he went back into the
forest and started killing all the Stumpies that he saw in the trees above,
even the ones well away from the path.  By the time he was done, he only had
two arrows left.  The King had said that his sign was near the boss’ roosting
place, so maybe it was in a part of the forest that he hadn’t explored yet.

Sam saw an item in the
distance.  He walked over to pick it up from the ground.  It was a Poor Man’s
Soul.  He hurriedly read its description.

Poor Man’s Soul

Souls of this nature can be broken down into usable soul currency.

The soul of a beggar,
one whose life has taken an unlucky turn.  Was death a better outcome?  One has
to wonder.  Much of this soul has been whittled away by silent suffering.

“What a strange presence
you have ... like nothing I’ve ever felt.”

The voice was a silky
whisper, one that came from his right.  Sam didn’t have to search very far to
find his new company.  It was a woman, dressed in white and red robes that
thinly draped over her slender frame along with matching gaucho looking pants
that fell down just below her knees.  She sat on the ground with her body
leaning against a tall tree with one knee up.  Aside from her robes, she wore
steel plated gauntlets and greaves with ornate designs of artistic clouds and
snakelike dragons, but that was the only part of her that was armored.  Her
hair was tied in a tall ponytail that towered over her head and then fell back
down to her lower back and her slender eyes were laid on Sam.  She had a look
of intrigue showing on her face along with amusement on her lips.  She didn’t
have a very friendly presence, mainly thanks to the man sized naginata looming
over her that she held closely against her body.

“No, I’m mistaken.  Your
presence does remind me of someone.  So does that look in your eye.”

Sam took a step towards
the strange woman.

“That’s far enough.  I
don’t quite know your intentions ... and you don’t know mine.”

“I’m not an enemy,” Sam
said defensively.

“I never said you were
and I never said that I’m not.  It’s best not to assume things of people you
don’t know, yes?”

“I agree.  What is your
name?” he asked.

“I only give my name to
those I respect or those I intend to kill.  Would you still like to know?”

Sam shook his head, while
the woman smiled, apparently amused by his cowardice.

“Would you care to answer
one of my questions then?  It’s an easy one,” she asked.

“I don’t mind.  Go ahead
and ask.”

“I feel a certain
familiar feeling resonating from you.  The pull of a powerful soul.  A sign
that you’ve made a connection with a strong ally.  I’d like to know if you’ve
met that man, that indomitable monarch with his burning heart and cold steel.”

Was she talking about who
he thought she was?

“You said monarch?  You
mean a king?”

“Yes.  There’s only one
in this forest ... hehe ... well there’s that fake one too, the leader of that
black band.”

“The real king, are you
referring to Herke of Aschelund?” asked Sam.

“His presence is all over
you and he is not one to make friends easily.  How have you come to know him,
especially dressed as you are?”

Sam wondered who this
woman really was.  She did have an air of danger about her, but her presence
was mostly calming and it sounded like she knew the king.  Still, Sam wanted to
be careful not to say too much to her, just in case.

“I’m an ally to his cause,”
he said.

“Is that so?  That makes
two of us then.  I followed him into this abysmal forest to help him kill those
who took the lives of his family so long ago.  The only thing I fear is that
the king will lose his purpose once his task his complete.  You know what
happens when cursed men lose their purpose don’t you?”

“They lose their
Quintessence, that which makes them human.”

“Very clever of you.  I
would like to help the king avoid that fate, but perhaps it can’t be helped if
he is to dole out his justice.”

Sam doubted that a man
like King Herke would lose his purpose.  As long as there were evil people
around, he’d want to dole out his justice, probably until the end of time since
the curse brought immortality according to the lore.

“Rondo needs to die for
what he’s done.  I’ll help the king mete out his justice to the fiend.  Nothing
else matters right now, especially events beyond our current control.  I’m sure
the king feels the same way.”

“Is that so?” she asked. 
“Hmm ... you have convinced my hesitant heart.  It is for the best to help the
king on his journey to find justice.  Thank you stranger.  I am Ji Susano.”

She smirked at Sam,
looking more dubious than ever.  Sam wondered why she had given him her name. 
Did she respect him or did she want to kill him?  He tensed up when she rose up
to her feet.  She was a tall woman, easily over six feet, though the naginata
in her hand was even taller.  Its shining blade was wide, curved, and had
multiple edges that looked like a flame.