Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure (21 page)

It then chased Herke down
leaving Sam stuck facing the backside of the creature and that was not a pretty
place to be.  He remembered that the creature attached to the tail had an
attack that could hurt him regardless if his shield was up or not.  He opted to
just avoid its attacks.

It wasted no time in
attacking with its large fangs, launching its whole head at Sam from a coiled
position.  The coiling strikes gave it a speed that Sam was genuinely shocked
he could dodge.  Once Sam seemed to dodge all it threw at him, it spit some
sort of purple cloud at him.  He remembered how he had died last time and tried
to avoid it.  He avoided the powerful spit, but when it hit the ground the mist
quickly spread and he found himself caught in it.  Before he knew it, he was
poisoned.

“Shit!”

He felt the nausea come
on almost instantly and that hissing sound in his ear annoyed the hell out of
him.

“Fuck you, hippie
dragon!  I was ready for this!” he yelled at the beast.

He continued moving to
the creature’s side and once there, ate an Absorption Herb.  It instantly
healed his poison, relieving him of his nausea and creeping headache.  He
wasted no time in applying more Ignition Powder to his weapon and going for a
two handed Skyward Thrust.  He followed up with a pair of heavy strikes and saw
that the creature was now at below half its health thanks to all the damage he
and Herke had collectively done.

The creature slithered around
again and Sam made sure to move out of the way should it swing its body again. 
The front head once again focused on him, but he ran at it and dodged to its
side again once it charged at him.  He flanked its side, peppering it with an
assortment of light and heavy blows and ending his barrage, somewhat recklessly,
with a Skyward Thrust.

The dazzling combo left
him completely out of stamina and SP, so he had to pause to catch his breath. 
The reckless act bit him in the butt, almost literally, as the rear head of the
beast struck out with a vicious poisonous fanged attack.  Sam had unfortunately
lost over half his health and was inflicted with poison again.

“Shitshitshitshitshitshit,
SHIIIIIIIIIT!”

He got up and ran as far
to the front of the beast as he could, watching both of its heads carefully and
seeing that Herke was also below half health.  Unluckily for Herke, he had the
front head of the beast’s full attention, but that was certainly a lucky break
for Sam.  He healed up with his Soul Fire and took another Absorption Herb
along with a Stim Plant.

“Here we go!  Final
stretch.  Don’t fuck up, Nagai!”

He again hit the
creature’s side with a vicious combo and even though it started slithering
forward before he was finished, he still managed to hit it with a charged
attack.  He ran forward after the front head, so as not to be left with the jerkbag
that was the rear head.  The beast changed its tactic to instead circle its
entire body around Sam.  He was now faced with both heads, the fanged lizard
plant and the snake iguana.

“Oh crap ... what to do ...
what to do ...” he whispered to himself.

The asshole head struck
out with a fanged attack but Sam dodged it.  He was hit with a headbutt from
the front head though.  From the ground, Sam noticed that the creature’s health
was still diminishing.  Herke was putting in work on the other side of it.  Sam
only wished they could somehow switch positions.

Sam wasn’t sure if he
would be able to survive long enough for the king to finish the job.  Two heads
were indeed better than one, but horrible for Sam’s chances at winning.  When
he got up, he didn’t even have time to heal.

The heads attempted to
bash him again.  This time, he had the presence of mind to roll forward,
towards where the two heads had conjoined.  Now under both heads, he waited for
them to attack before rolling away.

He found them easier to
dodge at this close range, since their attacks were now back-to-back almost
like a single continuous strike.  It gave him time to take an action, but it
was a decision that left him at a crossroads.  Should he take the safe approach
and heal to maximum health in case the creature pulled another sneaky tactic or
should he just focus on attacking and finishing the fight as soon as possible? 
He only had a second to decide it.  His instincts made the decision for him.

As the two heads of the
beast rose, Sam struck out at them doing as decent amount of damage with a
single light and heavy attack.

You can do this
Nagai.  Finish it.  Don’t draw it out.  Let’s go!

The beast reeled its
heads back and struck out at him again.  Sam rolled away and dodged the attack
expertly.

“Yes!  Come on!”

He was able to land
another light and heavy thrust on the heads as they rose.  He was almost
victorious.  He could feel it.  He whispered to himself now, making his
thoughts a reality.

“Let’s go, let’s go,
let’s go, let’s go ...”

The creature reeled back
again and Sam could feel his heart pumping like mad.  His virtual blood felt
hot and he was anxious.  In the second of time before the beast attacked, he
felt everything at once.  There was an intense thrill at the forefront, but
somewhere in the back of all that was fear.

What if he lost again? 
Could he honestly beat this thing?  What if he wasn’t able to summon Golden
Herke the next time?  What if he had just gotten lucky this time around?  These
were all the thoughts that passed by in a single instant, but Sam hushed them
all and focused only on his next move, his survival.

The Will of the Forest
attacked like a cornered coiled snake.  Both heads lashed out at Sam with
intense malice.  Sam saw the predators approach and did his best to time their
strikes with his own movement.

He dodged the first head
and the second head all at once then took his sword in both hands to deliver a
light thrust on the plantlike head and finally a heavy thrust into the iguana
like head.  The Will of the Forest threw its head back and screeched.  The
sound was ear-piercing and haunting, but after a while it finally stopped as
both heads of the beast fell forward and slammed onto the ground violently.

Great Beast Slain

Soon after, Sam was
surrounded by only the sounds of the forest and a gentle wind as the massive
body of The Will of the Forest faded into a white mist and travelled towards
his body.  There was nothing he could do to avoid it and the mist was quickly
absorbed into him, granting him ten thousand souls and an item called Soul of
the Willful Guardian.

Sam looked over at Golden
Herke, who gave him the thumbs up before fading away himself.  Sam gave a bow
to his amazing ally and vowed to search even harder for Rondo, the man who
killed the king’s family.  Sam paused to read the description of the Soul of
the Willful Guardian after taking a swig of Soul Fire.  While reading he heard
some kind of snapping sound, like someone had broken some cheap metal.

Soul of the Willful
Guardian

Use Great Souls to
create unique weapons or to gain more souls.

A powerful soul
belonging to the once gentle Will of the Forest.  The Will of the Forest is a
spirit inhabiting the Forest of Woe.  Long ago, when the Forest was known as
the Forest of Spirits, the Willful Guardian would possess the mightiest animals
to attack those with ill intent who entered the domain of the spirits.  Over
time, like the rest of the cursed land of Heimfall, the spirits of the forest
including the Willful Guardian seem to have been corrupted as they now attack
anyone on sight.  Some would say that those spirits have not changed in the
least.

“Interesting stuff.  I
have to admit that I did like that redesign ... when it’s not glitchy that is.”

Sam smiled and basked in
this new feeling of overwhelming victory.  He had actually defeated his first
boss and it felt damn good.  He looked at his status screen to see how long it
had taken him to do it.

He looked at his in-game
time and wondered if it was actually right.  He had already spent more than
twelve hours inside the game.  How did time go by so fast?  The thought that he
could lose such a huge slip on reality scared Sam a little.  Because he hadn’t
felt any lasting fatigue in the virtual world, Sam had had no interest in
keeping track of the time, but now it was all he could think about, until he
saw that two of his rings were broken.

“Holy crap!  Was that
what that sound was earlier?”

He quickly went to his
inventory and looked to see what was wrong with them.  Even their descriptions
had changed

Broken Beginner’s Ring

Useless trinket.

Some gifts last
forever, others shatter under the slightest bit of duress like a feeble
friendship after a broken promise.  These two rings were set to last until the
Will was broken and not a moment longer.  Now you must truly rely on yourself
.

Both rings said the same
thing and Sam was a little peeved that he had lost them.  The twenty point
bonus each had given to his physical and magical defenses was now gone.  He
quickly unequipped the useless things and they vanished from his inventory.

“At least you waited
until I beat the boss, but I guess that’s the point,” he said to no one in
particular.

He couldn’t be mad at
that, since the rings were gifts from the developers in the first place. 
Without them, he would have taken far more damage.  Going forward, he would
have to greatly improve his dodging abilities.

He was still a little
shaky as his adrenaline levels were slowly calming.  He walked over and
collected his Death Mark from the middle of the battlefield and got back the nearly
five thousand souls and eight quintessence that he had lost before.

He looked to the north
and saw that the Soul Barrier on the other side hadn’t faded away like the one
he’d come in.  Furthermore, it was an unfriendly shade of red.  Sam crossed the
open field and stood in front of the huge gateway.  Up close, the red barrier
swirled and shimmered just like its white twin had on the other side.  Only
this red barrier produced white text in Sam’s HUD whenever he got too close to
it.

ALPHA BUILD
RESTRICTION: Time Locked Area

Being purposely locked
out of something was no fun.  It was especially bothersome because it put a
sudden damper on his jubilant mood.  But he had to consider something.

“That means I beat this
damn thing way before I was supposed to.  Haha!  I’m pretty damn awesome!”

23
Guilt

Alex stumbled over her own two feet, nearly falling down
completely as a string of thoughts ran though her head.

I hate these hallways!  I hate this place!  I have to get
out of here!

She felt as if she was running forever in her search for the
bathroom.  The armed guards turned their heads to track her movements.  She
couldn’t see their faces because they wore military helmets with visors.  Their
shirts and armored vests were green and white and their pants black, like the
other guards in the office.

They looked like cold military robots in their gear and it made
her sickness even worse thinking how quickly they had come and ‘secured’ the
place.  The men were posted at various points throughout the hall.  She ran
past a few of them to get to the bathroom.

Once in the stall, she wasted no time in heaving herself
over and throwing up into the bowl.  Tears streamed from her eyes, but she
wasn’t sure if it was caused by the violent sickness that upturned her stomach
or from the heaviness now weighing on her heart.  Her words barely came out a
whisper through shuddering gasps.

“There’s no way!  There’s just no way!  This can’t be real! 
He can’t be serious!”

She let her tears fall into the bowl and heaved up more bile
from her stomach.  The muscles in her stomach and throat burned from the rapid
and extreme constrictions.  Her face was hot and sore from the constant
scrunching she forced upon it every time she broke down.  Her words were
nothing, but foolish hope and she needed to stop clinging to them and get back
to reality.  She had a responsibility to help the others.  She tried her best
to be strong for them, to not let them feel the despair that she herself had
now felt.

“I just can’t, I just can’t ...”

Her shaking had persisted every time she thought about what
happened to Randy.  She tried to force the shaking to stop by grabbing her arm,
but it did nothing.  She could no more do that than she could stop thinking
about Randy’s bloody body.  It hadn’t helped that she hadn’t slept in over
fifteen hours.

The test was now well into the next morning and she would
need to sleep soon, but how could she after everything that had happened in the
last few hours.  She was losing her strength by the minute, so there was no way
that she could continue her cheerful act for much longer.  She remained hunched
over the toilet for a few more minutes until an abrupt knock came at the door
followed by a digitized voice.

“You have one minute left,” said the deeply disguised
voice.  She took a deep breath and moved to the sink once she heard the
footsteps move away from the door.  There was no way that she was stupid enough
to trust armed men that wore masks and disguised their faces and voices.

She ran her hands under the cold water and wiped around her
mouth with a wet paper towel.  She then looked at the puffy red face in the
mirror and it made her cry all over again.  The tears almost blinded her
vision, leaving her only able to see herself as a blurry water color painting
with a dark blob of hair covering the dull brown splotches of her face and a
large red blob that was her shirt.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried her best to dry
her face with her hands.  Her thoughts were beyond her control now.  They took
her back to the conversation she had earlier that day.  Back before everything
with this project had changed.

Hours ago

Alex left her cubicle and
made her way over to Milner to ask him a question.

“Mr. Milner, what’s going
on with all this security?” she asked.

He turned at her
interruption and fixed his dark pupils on her.  He seemed reluctant to answer. 
She couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or what.

“Why are you away from
your console, Ms. Madura?”

“I always have my display
linked up to my techband.”

She held up the oversized
digital wristband and swiped something across the touchscreen to bring up an
aqua blue hologram of Sam doing battle with another tester named CrushKills
then quickly swiped the image away.

“These men are here to
assist me in ensuring that order is upheld during the next phase of our little
alpha test here.  Now excuse me, I have an announcement to make.  You may want
to find your seat.”

That superior attitude of
his ... it pissed her off.  Sure, he was a genius, but that didn’t mean he
needed to treat her like a little pissant.  She went back to her seat anyway, but
as much as she did want to get back to work, she was too curious about Milner’s
announcement.

She watched Milner walk to
the very center of the room, where everyone could see him.  Not far from his
side, a white man in a green and white long coat stood.  The man was just as
tall as the lanky Milner but much broader.  His dark gray hair was cut short
and his dark eyes shifted throughout the room, finding the heads of each and
every designer there as they passed over them.  Milner looked as calm as
always, like a surgeon.  Maybe that’s how he thought of himself, since he was
always wearing that white jacket that looked like a lab coat.

“Everyone!  Attention
please!” yelled Milner as he lifted his right hand in the air.

The chatter around the
room died down and all the designers lifted their heads from their work or
stood to see their boss, the lead designer and director of the whole project,
Fulton Milner.  Once he counted all the faces and saw everyone was paying
attention, he proceeded.

“Do to the failing nature
of this alpha test, I am forced to accelerate it to its second phase.”

There was complete
silence all around the room and blank faces from her colleagues.  Alex was glad
that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what the hell was going on.

“None of you have been
told what the second phase is yet, or even know of its existence.  This was
done on purpose, to secure secrecy.  At this stage in the test, secrecy is of
the highest order, so if you are to continue working, I must have you pledge
your loyalty.  Those who are not willing to pledge can leave now.  We will send
the testers you’ve been working with over to other designers who will monitor
them in your stead.  You will then turn in your badge and have a nice day.  Unfortunately,
that will be the end of your employment on this project.”

Alex felt a weight drop
to the bottom of her stomach and she gasped silently.  There was a mixed
response from the other designers, mostly silenced shock, but also the
beginnings of outrage from some.

“For the rest of you,
there will be a bonus involved for staying on and proceeding with the second
phase.  I will come around to each of you and explain your various roles in the
next phase.  Stand by for further instructions.”

Milner began making his
rounds throughout the room, leaving the others to stare at one another in
disbelief of the proverbial bomb he just dropped.  Murmurs went around the
office as those close to one another tried to make sense of what was going on. 
Alex tried to sit and work until Milner got to her, but now she couldn’t
concentrate.  She looked on as Sam ran through the forest with a determined
look on his face.  At least he was proceeding with his quest at a nice pace,
even if he didn’t know it.

After only a few moments
Milner was in front of her cubicle and staring down at her.

“Ms. Madura, it’s time to
discuss your role in this next phase of the project.”

Alex nodded her head and
a slight shiver ran through her when the gray haired man suddenly appeared next
to Milner.  He stared at her with the intensity of a stalker.

“I have some questions as
well,” she said trying to ignore the intruder.

“I’ll answer them in due
time.  Now, what is your decision?  Will you stay on with the project or will
you leave?” Milner asked.

“That’s just it, sir. 
Where did all this come from?  And how is any of it fair?”

“Ms. Madura, that’s not
the question I asked you.  Now do you have an answer for me?”

It was time to teach this
man that an employer and employee relationship was not the same as master and
slave.

“Look here, Fulton. 
You’ve put each and every one of us on the spot here.  And you’ve done it in a
bad way.  There’s no way I’m going to let you bully me into something I don’t
want to do.”

The man next to Milner
snorted and put on a wide toothy grin.

“This generation, are
they all fools?” the man asked.

“Mind your manners,
Stephen.  Ms. Madura here is actually a very talented individual.  We
definitely want her for phase two,” said Milner.

That was a shock.  Milner
didn’t give out compliments very often.  It was good to finally get one.

“Ms. Madura.  Alexandria. 
I am aware that my demands are extraordinary.”

“I think ridiculous is a
better word,” she spat back at him.

“Fair enough.  But it’s
well within my realm of rights to make such demands.”

“You’re talking about
firing people for refusing to pledge to something that they know nothing
about.  We weren’t even given a vague clue that something like this would
happen.”

“And that’s the way I
wanted it.  I do want you to keep in mind too, that those who choose to walk
away from this phase—”

“I don’t see much of a
choice!  Looks like those decisions were made for us!”

“Lower your voice,” the
man next to Milner hissed.  “And keep your mouth shut when he’s trying to
explain.”

“It’s fine, Stephen.  If
she wants some answers, I’ll give them to her.  You’ll note that the contracts
you all signed state that you can be removed from a particular project at any
time.  Those who are removed or choose to walk away are indeed terminated from
this project and that’s for secrecy’s sake.  But they are not terminated from
Full Core.  They’ll be able to work on other projects once this one is done. 
And they’ll still get paid for working on this project.  I just can’t have them
around.  That’s fair, don’t you think?  Now, do you have an answer for me?”

Alex stood up and looked
around the office floor and saw that everyone was still here.  No one had quit
yet.  As a matter of fact, this was probably the longest Milner had spent
talking to anyone so far, since he had already cleared about half the room. 
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad deal to stay on the project.

“Looking for something?”
asked Milner.

“Not at all, just
thinking.  What’s the bonus?”

“You’ll get a pay bonus
for pledging to the next phase.  A one point five times increase to what we’re
currently paying you.”

That was a lot of money. 
She already made a decent wage, so the added amount could really help her out. 
She had so many debts to pay that she was sure the mob would come knocking at
her door any day now and by mob she meant loan collection agencies who weren’t
much better.  She could erase the rest of her student debt just by pledging her
loyalty to Milner’s phase two.

It was a very tempting
offer, but just what did Milner have in mind for the next phase and why the
secrecy?  Did it have something to do with the pain modifiers?  He had told her
as much before.  He wanted the testers to excel to a higher level and to do it
at higher rates.  But what did he have in mind?  Was it something illegal or
was it just something he wanted to keep safe from potential competitors?

“He doesn’t have all day,
girl.  Make your decision now or we’ll make it for you.”

“I don’t need your help
in deciding anything, thank you very much.  Furthermore, this is a conversation
between me and Mr. Milner and you’ve added nothing of substance to it, so
please shut your mouth,” Alex responded matter-of-factly.

Milner chuckled which
caught Alex off guard.  She didn’t think the man was capable of such a thing.  The
other man, Stephen, Milner had called him, gave Alex a look of pure disdain.

“Give it up, Stephen. 
She has you beat.  I won’t need you for the rest.  Please go patrol around the
office.”

He looked at Milner with
an incredulous expression on his face, which quickly turned to annoyance.

“Fine,” he said as he
turned and walked away, leaving Alex to stare at his back.  Across the white
material that made up his coat was an embroidered red symbol.  The symbol was
made up of four reuleaux triangles set in a cross shape with points facing each
other.

“Now, this will be my
final time asking, Alexandria.  What is your answer?”

It was even more annoying
hearing him say her name like that a second time.

“You can’t tell me
anything about phase two?  Anything at all?”

He shook his head and
held up four fingers and a thumb.  He tucked his thumb in front of his palm and
stared at her silently.

“Are we doing more
research on the pain receptors?” she whispered.

He continued to stare
then lowered his index finger and grabbed unto it with his thumb.

“Okay fine.  I will help
you with phase two.  It’s nothing illegal is it?”

“You’ll learn all about
it, once I’m finished getting everyone’s pledges.”

He turned around as if
motioning to leave.

“Nothing for me to sign?”
she asked.

“Your verbal pledge is
good enough.  Consider it a pact between the two of us.”

As smart as the man was,
that was a pretty dumb decision.  If it was real secrecy he wanted then he
should’ve made her and her colleagues sign a binding legal document.  Milner
got up and left her cubicle after telling her to listen for his next
announcement.

It didn’t take him long
to finish circulating around the room and when he was done with that, he went
and stood in the center of the room again.  With a quick look around, she saw
that none of the other designers had quit.  She wondered if he had extended
this sort of choice to any Full Core employees besides the designers and
developers, like the medics down below with the testers.  The extra security
personal still made her nervous and she had no clue what to expect from
Milner’s next announcement.  The other designers were just as silent and
apprehensive as she was, apparently.