MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

Ash’s plan was as simple as it could be: get the attention of a Seal Scrawler and have the princess kill it with [Spirit Heal]. Rinse and repeat until he understood what they typically dropped. If something edible dropped, then they’d stay on the island as long as possible, killing as many as they could.

If no suitable food source dropped, they could remount the chain and continue their journey, or descend into the haze and scout for other creatures lower on the island.

’It’d be much easier if we could just dismantle the corpse...’

There were always the fish swimming in the magma sea, but Ash wasn’t too keen on descending that far down the mountain.

Naturally, the plan wasn’t as straightforward as it was simple. The princess would have to recuperate after each heal, especially since she’d just used one before fully recovering from the prior cast.

Currently, Ash was sitting near where he’d collected the drops, idly turning the dagger over in his hands.

While it looked like he was absentmindedly inspecting the item, his mind was elsewhere.

His main concern...

’Demitra is hiding something.’

Ash had already gleaned as much before they’d even entered this place, and he hadn’t been foolish or naive enough to trust a single word either of the two had said.

’But I thought they’d set their sights on me much later...’

Ash couldn’t exactly prove it, but he suspected the wolf had urged the princess to use [Spirit Heal] on him, judging by the last thing he remembered and the princess’ innocent reaction when he woke up.

Maybe the wolf had good intentions. Maybe it knew Ash would survive — it had been able to measure the mana consistency in his blood, after all. Perhaps it could sense something similar about the strength of his spirit.

However...

’An eye that sees nothing, sees all within Winter’s Seal.’

The description of the nonsensical eye Ash had claimed...

Something bugged him about the seal being called ’Winter’s Seal.’ This was supposed to be the Seal of the Great Spirit of Fire.

Then again, it was entirely possible that whoever Winter was had created the seal. But, intuitively, it was highly probable that Demitra was Winter, seeing as her power apparently involved freezing things.

’Am I overthinking it?’

Maybe, maybe not...

But speaking of the frozen tundra they had been in before, something was seriously wrong with that area. It was far too flat to have been a frozen-over forest, as the princess seemed to have implied.

Then again, she’d never explicitly claimed they were in one of those areas.

There were a few other things that bugged him, mainly the way the two acted and what they’d said since the moment he’d met them.

Sadly, without enough information, Ash could only bide his time while trying to unravel the mystery.

’I’ll keep my suspicions to myself...’

Ash would have loved to interrogate the princess directly, but that seemed impossible at the moment. The last thing he wanted was to tip her off to the fact that he was prying into them. Pissing off either of them could only end badly for Ash, as both were capable of ending his life in an instant. He’d prod as best as he could, but not too aggressively.

Sliding the knife into his tunic-turned-skirt, Ash rose to his feet and marched toward the princess, stopping a few meters away.

The silver-haired beauty gazed listlessly up at him. As she stared, her cheeks began to redden.

"Uh."

"Aren’t you hungry?"

"Oh..."

Ash tilted his head at the odd reaction.

’What is up with her...?’

Shrugging it off, he pulled the Marauder meat from his inventory.

Activating [Focus], Ash began to carve slivers from it and tossed them to the princess, who awkwardly caught them.

"Can you take out your armor?"

"Huh? Oh, yes!"

"A less bloody piece..."

"Oh? Okay..."

’Is "oh" the only reaction she knows?’

Ash didn’t know if it functioned exactly like his inventory, but the princess seemed capable of storing and retrieving things from a subspace. Furthermore, she seemed able to reclaim items from a distance, as the sword she’d left back in the tundra was now resting on the ground at her side.

’I wonder how strong she is with that alone...’

Ash looked down at the dented tassets, which contained far less dried blood than the breastplate she’d initially pulled out.

"Demitra," Ash called out to the wolf.

All it took was a single glance from him, and she quickly understood his intention and moved away.

The princess was still a little confused until Ash said:

"We’re going to cook the meat on your armor."

It would take some time, but Ash didn’t particularly want to eat raw meat. Besides, he hadn’t tried it yet, but it was obvious the meat was extremely tough. Even with his serrated teeth, he estimated that he might have trouble tearing off a piece, let alone chewing it without molars.

A minute passed, then two, then three, and still they waited.

Eventually, the metal grew hot enough for the meat to begin searing.

Staring at the steam rising from it, Ash asked:

"Princess, I’d like to know a bit more about you."

The princess did her usual startled reaction, before calming down and asking:

"Where’d that come from?"

"Simple curiosity."

"For some reason, I can’t help but feel inclined to believe that something you find curious is anything but simple. But... I don’t mind answering whatever you wish to ask. However, I do request one thing in return."

"That is...?"

"You answer my questions as well."

Ash’s eyes narrowed.

"That much is simple."

The princess clasped her hands together and smiled.

"Good!"

’First things first...’

"Why’d you cast [Spirit Heal] on me, despite knowing the risks better than anyone?"

"Well... I... Once again, I’m really sorry! You see, when someone’s gravely injured, they’re more likely to survive because they avoid a good portion of the overheal. And Demitra said you had a strong spirit. So, uh—"

"I get it. No need to apologize. I was simply curious."

"I see..." The princess slapped herself on the cheek while muttering something under her breath, then suddenly cheered, "My turn!"

"..."

Pressing her fingers together, she looked him in the eyes and asked:

"I was wondering if, uh, if you, uh... had a lover, perchance?"

’...’

"Out of all the questions you could ask... you choose that one?"

The princess closed her eyes and looked away while nodding furiously.

Sighing, Ash replied:

"No, nor do I care for one."

’It’s clear she’s attracted to me in some capacity...’

To think she was calling him ’Monster’ just yesterday.

He did have an objectively good looking face, even if it was caked in blood. So, it made some sense.

Her attraction to him also presented an opportunity. However...

’I have no reason to stoop to such low methods.’

So, he’d left her no room for confusion.

"Ah... I see."

Suddenly, Ash’s vision went black.

’Huh?’

Before he could even begin to comprehend what had happened, he heard the princess scream:

"Cross!"

A moment later, a man’s voice boomed from above.

"How heartless to reject such a beautiful maiden so thoroughly! And... what a pity. I was really looking forward to watching the happiness drain from your face, but he took that luxury from me! For that, he deserved nothing less than death!"

"Leave him out of this!"

The voice above whistled, then laughed before continuing:

"Oh, he seems quite out of it, does he not? I mean, he has a stake through his entire head..."

Having grasped the situation to some degree, Ash leisurely stood and pulled his head free, revealing a massive gray rock embedded in the ground.

The man yelped:

"What the—?!"

Next to Ash, the princess had summoned a shield and drawn her sword, while Demitra had placed herself in front of the princess.

Moving his gaze away from the pair, Ash looked up at the chain. A man with piercing silver eyes dressed in light black leather sat atop it, a robe draped over his head as he calmly swung his legs.

Well, he had been calm until he watched Ash shrug off having his head skewered.

Narrowing his eyes at the man, only one thought came to Ash’s mind:

"How dull."

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