MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

Ash stared toward the falling sun. Or at least what had looked like a sun at first.

Upon closer inspection, he spotted flares arching from its surface, suggesting that it was not only a false sun but also far closer than it seemed.

As for the moon...

The moment the ball of fire masquerading as the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, a bright, pale blue stone rose in the distance.

It was far too spherical and perfect to be considered a true moon.

But whatever it was, it reflected the false sun’s light and provided Ash with his night vision, turning the world a dull gray.

That boon, however, was immediately smothered by a thick haze that settled over the land, drowning the tundra beneath a rolling tide of white mist.

All around him, shadowy figures stirred within the haze. Monsters clawed their way out from beneath the blanket of snow, unveiling their harrowing forms as they emerged to bask in the mist.

And...

It didn’t take long for the silhouette of a large, furry figure to whirl around and charge toward Ash.

’Ah, right...’

Ash glanced down at the Seal Scrawler’s meat lying beside him.

Eager to test his suspicion, he wasted no time returning every slab of green meat to his inventory except one. He hurled the remaining piece several paces to his right, where it landed atop the snow.

Next, he clutched the bow and dismissed [Tome of Might: Thick Skin].

Like a kid dangling from monkey bars, Ash let his body drop beneath reality’s surface, leaving only his hand and the bow it gripped aboveground.

Already somewhat accustomed to the breathless void below, Ash didn’t panic. Instead, he carefully readjusted his grip, then hauled himself upward with one arm.

His head burst through the snow, and he hooked his neck over the bow’s curved limb just in time to watch the furry beast thunder past the spot where he had been sitting.

The yeti-like creature pounced upon the discarded slab and began devouring the meat, its broad back turned toward Ash’s head protruding from the snow several paces behind it.

’So, it was after the meat. Good.’

That explained why it had charged so abruptly. More importantly, it hadn’t altered course when Ash vanished underground.

Did that mean it had never noticed him at all? Or had the meat simply overwhelmed whatever interest it had in him?

And the fact that it hadn’t turned around meant it most likely couldn’t sense Ash.

At least not easily.

Still swinging beneath the ground, Ash internally sighed.

’I don’t really have another option.’

Not only did he have to endure the constant phantom pain in his missing leg and arm, but he had to do so while hiding. And, on an open plain, there wasn’t much of a place to hide but underground. Thankfully, Ash could do so with his glitch, but that involved dangling by one arm.

He couldn’t simply sit on the tome and hope nothing noticed him.

’At least I have a plan now.’

He could lure a creature with the Seal Scrawler meat and assassinate it once it started eating.

The method was simple enough: throw the bait, sink out of sight, wait for the creature to expose its back, then surface behind it and cast [Focus] at an opportune moment.

The yeti-like creature suddenly jolted and lifted its head from the meat. As its neck snapped from side to side, Ash slid his head back, letting himself fall beneath the surface.

Swinging by one hand, Ash felt his heartbeat slow.

Unfortunately, assassinating the creature would have to wait for at least another nightfall, as he didn’t even have a limb to sacrifice. And, upon seeing the beast up close, it was clear he wouldn’t be able to defeat it head-on, let alone kill it within five seconds.

’I guess I could try to get them to kill one another...’

But the golems completely ignored the yetis, and the yetis seemed to have little interest in one another.

’What do they eat...?’

Having seen the one yeti go crazy for Seal Scrawler meat, Ash knew they definitely experienced hunger and needed food.

If food could dictate their movements, it could potentially be used for more than a single ambush.

What Ash needed was information.

After dangling for a few minutes, Ash hoisted his body up once again.

Upon resting his neck on the bow, he noted that the creature had disappeared, having devoured every trace of the meat.

Ash took a deep breath.

’Man, that’s a lot on the shoulder.’

Then...

He heard a howl.

Ash jerked in surprise, causing the bow to bounce against the snow. With his head still protruding from the ground, he twisted toward the sound.

Several dark silhouettes collided within the haze, and as their shapes separated and lunged again, the tundra’s dynamic finally became clear.

’Wolves...’

A pack of regular-sized wolves had rushed at and attacked one of the yeti-like creatures.

Ash couldn’t make out every detail of the carnage through the haze, but he could definitely hear the shrieks and screams of both parties involved.

Then, a little farther in the distance, at the outermost edge of his sight, he spotted a similar scene unfolding — another pack of wolves surrounding a second yeti.

The two species were in a sort of war with one another.

Or, at the very least, the wolves considered the yetis prey or enemies and vice versa.

’So, I can make them fight...’

But oddly, that option might carry an even greater risk than self-mutilation. He only had a limited amount of bait, and worse, he’d have to expose himself to multiple foes. What if the winner of the fight realized he was hiding and simply waited for him to emerge?

He’d experiment if it seemed viable, but for now he’d stick with the gruesome, but more surefire method.

But...

What about the third creature he’d seen, the ice golems?

’What’s their role?’

They weren’t aggressive, nor were the wolves or yetis aggressive toward them.

If every creature ignored the golems, then the golems probably weren’t part of the tundra’s food chain. They must have served some other purpose.

’I wonder...’

If this was inside the seal, were they the tundra’s version of the Seal Sentry? Constructs tasked with warding off invaders rather than hunting its inhabitants?

’Maybe, but I have no information to go off of.’

After all, the last time he’d seen them, he’d been ignored because Demitra had warded them away.

Or at least, that was what he had assumed.

But that was another thing.

Demitra was the Great Spirit of Winter.

He was in a tundra where beasts respected Demitra’s presence.

Above, in the world of the magma sea, monsters had approached them in spite of Demitra’s overwhelming power.

The difference was too stark to dismiss.

That meant the wolf had a connection with the creatures on this side.

Perhaps they recognized her authority. Perhaps they had been created by her. Either possibility suggested the tundra belonged to Winter in a way the volcanic world did not.

While watching the separate clashes of yeti and wolf, Ash returned to an earlier contemplation.

’Hmm... Winter’s Seal.’

Before, he’d considered whether it had been created by Winter or created to confine Winter.

But...

’What if it’s both?’

After all... the tundra side seemed quite welcoming of the wolf, while the world above seemed to be the opposite. Fire and ice, quite literally.

What if the seal wasn’t a single prison, but a boundary created from two opposing domains? Winter below. Fire above.

If so, had Demitra helped create it before becoming trapped inside it?

’Wolf, did you seal yourself and the fire spirit together? Did the fire spirit do it? Did something else seal you both? Did you seal one another? When was the seal created?’

If it were Demitra... why would she willingly enter a prison of her own making?

Was the seal for the spirits at all?

Vera had said something about being confined... was the seal made for her?

Or had she merely become trapped inside something that had existed long before her?

Any or none of his conjectures could be correct.

But answers were currently beyond him. He only had questions upon questions.

Still, separating what he knew from what he merely suspected gave him one firm conclusion regarding Demitra’s goal: she wanted to escape the seal.

Everything else — Vera, Cross, the fire spirit, and even Ash himself — might simply be pieces in her scheme.

’Damn... if only I knew what exactly a seal was.’

All Ash knew was its definition on Earth as the closure of something encased.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!