MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

Gritting his teeth, Ash clung to the bow for dear life.

For what felt like at least an hour, he allowed his leg to heal while occasionally dipping underground to avoid a passing wolf or one of the yeti-like creatures he now knew were known as Snow Crawlers.

He knew he couldn’t remain idle forever.

After facing the first Snow Crawler, Ash was confident he could take down any one of them. Maybe he couldn’t kill it in a single strike like he wanted to, but he could at least leave it helpless for another monster to finish off.

The problem was that second option...

Because his passive healing stalled whenever he was combat flagged, he lost far more HP and regained far less than he’d calculated.

Worse, the Snow Crawlers were incredibly bulky. The next time he hunted one, he’d either have to sacrifice another substantial piece of himself or settle for maiming it severely.

If he were unlucky, it might even be the last one he’d be able to hunt that night.

There was only one way to test that luck.

With the wound mostly closed, his passive regeneration having run its course and the glitch having staunched the bleeding long ago by keeping the wound underground, Ash scanned the tundra. Once he confirmed there were no wolves nearby, he waited for a Snow Crawler’s silhouette to emerge through the haze.

Upon spotting one, Ash summoned a slab of Seal Scrawler meat. Moments later, the beast whirled toward the scent and charged him.

Repeating the same process, Ash sank underground and waited.

He waited and waited...

Until the muffled sound of the Snow Crawler tearing into the nasty meat reached his ears.

Raising his head above the surface like a submarine in open waters, Ash searched the surrounding haze for wolves or other roaming monsters.

Seeing none, he dipped beneath the ice again, braced himself, and then burst upward.

This time...

Ash sacrificed the end of his tail.

Twisting at the waist, he whipped the long appendage into the Snow Crawler’s back.

With more than a third inside of it...

’[Focus].’

For a moment, he could sense its heart pressed against the scales of his tail, beating in a steady rhythm.

One blink later, it fell silent.

Agony ripped through Ash as his gaze snapped toward the furry beast.

[You have slain a Snow Crawler]

[+15 EXP]

[Condition to reach level 5 has not been met!]

The pain was worse than losing his leg...

Far worse.

’Guh!’

It was so intense that he barely registered the cold gnawing at his naked body.

’Why the hell do I have this useless thing?!’

It had served him here, but what purpose did it have besides acting as a weak point?!

But...

Ash didn’t have time to keep cursing his tail.

As the corpse began to fade, Ash watched with anticipation through the tears streaming down his face.

The moment the drops appeared, Ash screamed in triumph.

"Ah-ahaha!"

Then he promptly plunged through the ground, barely grabbing the bow in time to halt his descent.

His body was in excruciating pain, but on the other hand...

’Meat!’

He’d been worried that they might not, but the Snow Crawlers did indeed drop meat.

And there was so much of it!

Lots of it!

So much meat!

Far more meat than any one man could take in at once!

After a minute had passed, Ash bit his tongue, steeled his resolve, and launched himself into the air.

Upon reaching the apex of his ascent, Ash cast [Focus], once again accepting the chilling embrace of the tundra along with the biting agony of his severed tail and foot.

"Owa-ow!"

Screaming like a maniac, the naked man hobbled across the ice toward the meat and hurriedly stuffed all six thick slabs into his inventory.

"Fuck, it hurts!"

Why did losing his tail hurt so much more than losing an arm or leg?!

’Seriously!’

Ash gripped his bow and dropped back through the ground.

Shivering, he felt his health points plummet before the loss slowed, stalled, and finally shifted back into gradual recovery.

’Perhaps I was a bit hasty... in my judgment of [Mend]...’

Being able to speed up healing, in and out of combat, seemed quite handy.

Furthermore...

The pain. The sooner something healed, the sooner the pain went away.

A factor Ash hadn’t accounted for.

Then again...

Who knew if he’d even be able to complete the tutorial if he’d chosen anything but [Focus]?

How would the other starter skills interact with his glitch?

It was a thought process far removed from his current situation, but that lingering curiosity was the least he could manage in a feeble attempt to drown out the agonizing torment.

Worse...

He’d have to go through this feeling again and again until he got what he needed.

But eventually, his random thoughts simmered into something much more practical...

’W-what’s next?’

What limb was he going to use next?

His left hand was just beginning to reform.

However, he didn’t necessarily wish to immediately lose it again. Hanging onto the bow and launching himself was incredibly taxing. Two hands would be quite the boon for that.

However, he needed at least one leg for proper movement during [Focus].

His head resting on the [Starter Bow], Ash gulped as he glanced down.

’The rest of my tail.’

Using it he could go for a much more surefire kill due to range of motion.

’Or the rest of my left leg...’

Practically speaking, it was bye-bye tail and call it a day.

But...

With tears still brimming in his eyes, Ash shuddered and thought to himself:

’Fuck no. Not again.’

There was some justification for it: legs were biologically familiar, while these tails were not — perhaps they possessed some hidden importance. But the main one was simply that it hurt... bad.

Really bad.

Letting out a pitiful sigh, Ash watched another Snow Crawler enter his field of vision.

He wasted no time in summoning the last of the Seal Scrawler meat he had.

’Well, left leg, you’ve been through a lot.’

Ash watched the meat form and fall onto the ice.

’But the night is still young...’

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