MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

It didn’t take much for Ash to realize why he’d earned the core drop this time but not last.

’I must have destroyed the core to kill it last time...’

That would explain the feeling that had shot through the end of his tail when he killed it. Though Ash wouldn’t have been surprised if something like that had dropped anyway, even if he had destroyed it — seeing as the eyeless Seal Scrawler dropped an eye...

But that mystery barely held his attention.

’Fuck, I’m pissed.’

Without his glitch, he’d be dead.

There was no reveling in this victory.

In fact, it felt like no victory at all — something handed to him only by the grace of a cheat.

Even if he hadn’t asked for it, he had still been forced to rely on his glitch.

And that was what pissed him off most.

There was nothing to blame for his failure but his own inadequacy. Nor was there anything he could do to undo what had already happened and retry.

He could only live with it as a permanent reminder that he wasn’t good enough. That being good enough once would never be enough.

Winning was merely a means, never the end.

Ash quickly scooped up the ice block and headed back toward ’hell’s gate.’

Once there, he wasted little time casting [Focus] while holding the orb.

All of a sudden—!

Nothing happened.

The entire five seconds passed with no sudden glow from the floor.

Ash stared at the blue ball in his hand.

’I wonder...’

Just like the [Scrawler’s Eye], it didn’t seem to have a set slot, nor could he equip it on his body.

’Is it a consumable?’

With sixty seconds to mull it over, Ash began working through what he knew.

’When I killed the first golem, my tail didn’t entirely sever. The glitch treated its ice like part of the environment rather than part of a living being.’

Meaning, an Ice Golem was merely a shell built around its actual form. In this case, that actual form was obviously the core.

’I believe Vera called monsters "beings of pure mana."’

Going by that logic, it was reasonable to assume this core — the golem’s true body — contained its mana in a condensed form.

Maybe the item’s true purpose was as a catalyst in some concoction. Maybe someone could use it to create a golem of their own as a servant.

But...

What would happen if Ash destroyed it?

If the core really was condensed mana, breaking it apart should release whatever was trapped inside.

At least, that was the theory.

With nothing else Ash could think to do with the ball, he set it on the ground in front of him and raised his sword.

He waited a few moments, then...

’[Focus].’

He slashed down, splitting the orb in half.

[[Ice Golem’s Core] has been destroyed.]

The small ball burst in a plume of radiant blue sparks.

[Danger Sense] began going crazy.

The warning winds below him intensified drastically as the blue sparks fell to the ground like flares from a firework. As they collected, they seeped into the ice like liquid, forming an intricate pattern.

A glowing circle spread beneath his feet.

But [Danger Sense] wasn’t only warning him about whatever lay below. Danger was closing in from every direction.

Left. Right. In front. Behind.

Creatures were rushing toward him from all angles.

Finally...

[Danger Sense] warned him of something above.

Ash tilted his head up.

At that moment, the world flipped.

He was once again in the sky, standing on a cloud of puffy smoke — though now he knew the sky as a plane of crystal. Ash looked down on a lonely mountain presiding over the tundra.

The crystal sky then split and folded, warping until it turned back into the sky once again. Underneath his feet, the clouds were replaced by black, ash-covered stone.

The haze cleared, and Ash found himself standing atop a mountain atop a large island floating in the magma sea.

Ash chuckled, then muttered to himself:

"Welcome to hell."

Tilting his head to the side, he noted a massive chain. Far away, he saw another.

But that was all he saw.

Vera and Demitra had indeed taken down another, leaving only two anchors left.

Having been absent from the main progression of the instance for too long, Ash didn’t have time to waste on sleep or anything similar. But a few minutes of recovery wouldn’t hurt.

Sitting on the peak of the mountain to which he’d been summoned, Ash took out wolf meat and began to ravenously tear through the slab.

His body seemed able to handle it raw, so he didn’t worry too much. It didn’t taste very good, though.

When he was done with it, Ash summoned the first ice block.

The thick block began to rapidly melt. Ash drank as much as he could before too much of it vaporized, then shoved it away.

With that settled...

Ash kicked off the ground, ran up the rock to the highest point, and jumped.

It was a bit awkward to find balance with the spikes on the bottom of his boots, but he managed to land safely atop the catenary.

With no haze to obscure his vision, his eyes drifted to the left, following the chain toward its anchor point.

If he went there, it was likely he’d meet up with Vera and Demitra.

Then his gaze shifted right...

Toward the grand temple, roughly the same distance away.

This was his ballsy gamble.

Instead of making for the anchor point, Ash began moving along the chain toward the temple, where he’d been told the Great Spirit of Fire was housed.

It was high time he got some answers he could verify for himself.

Not to mention...

[Danger Sense] was freaking out in all directions, but mainly toward the temple.

This showed that neither Demitra nor the Seal Sentry possessed the threat level of whatever lay there. At least as judged by [Whisper of the Wind].

As for the Seal Sentry...

Ash couldn’t see it, but he could hear it rampaging off in the distance toward where the second chain had fallen.

Looking away, Ash took his first step toward the temple.

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