MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

Ash had been expecting to run into Cross at some point.

He’d also expected the reunion to be merely a repeat of the first, only with Cross being the one sinking into the dirt.

What he hadn’t expected was this...

Cross at his feet, begging for help while surrounded by countless monsters.

Let alone their reunion being so soon.

It had merely been a few hours since he had returned.

Forcing himself up, Cross wiped away the blood dripping down his chin, then softly said:

"Just... a minute. If I can recover... Can fly away. I’ll take... you with me. I promise..."

Shoving his sword between Cross and an incoming Seal Scrawler, Ash caught its attack on the blade, giving Cross the opening to execute it. Then, without taking his eyes off the creatures closing in from both directions along the chain for long, he glanced over his shoulder.

"Very well."

As much as Ash didn’t trust that promise, Cross didn’t seem to be in the proper state to break it. In fact, Cross probably needed Ash to go with him to protect him while he directed the rock he’d be flying on.

The problem was...

’One minute.’

He had to hold off the monster parade for an entire minute.

The Seal Scrawlers were one thing, but...

A Spire Serpent slitherd down the chain from behind, its six onyx wings tucked tight as it barreled straight for them.

Ash stepped forward and thrust his sword into its path. The beast didn’t even try to dodge; instead, it tried to swallow Ash and his sword whole.

It nearly succeeded. Well, would’ve if not for Ash’s glitch.

The serpent’s advance halted the instant the inside of its mouth touched Ash’s blade. Its entire body paused. Then, the back of its boddy shot forth, bunching behind its abruptly stopped head.

Now on his knees, Cross thrust his hand toward the serpent. A gigantic earthen stake shot past Ash, plunged down the creature’s open maw, and burst out through its back.

The Spire Serpent didn’t die, but the impact ripped it away from Ash and sent its long body whipping sideways. It scraped across the chain for several feet before its weight carried it over the edge and into the haze below.

Wasting no time, Ash spun back toward Cross as something fiery burst upward beside the chain.

A magma fish cleared the edge and arced directly toward the kneeling prince.

Ash leapt into its path, catching the creature just before it could slam into Cross.

The Silver Prince wasted no time in skewering the fish through its fire-spitting gills.

[You have slain Magma Skipper]

[First Kill Bonus]

[+44 EXP]

[Condition...]

Its body burst into a series of flames, leaving behind sliced fish meat and a cool-looking robe.

Ash could only watch as the drops bounced off the chain and fell below.

Though he couldn’t watch for long, as a second Spire Serpent came barreling toward them from ahead. Behind it, more shapes crowded the chain — Seal Scrawlers scrambling over one another as they advanced.

Ash intercepted the serpent the same way, jamming his blade into its path and freezing its charge the instant it made contact. The beast stopped so suddenly that one of the Scrawlers behind it crashed into its tail, forcing the monsters following after to bunch up along the chain.

He didn’t even wait to see what Cross did with the group.

Ash shoved himself backward along the chain, twisted around, and vaulted over Cross just as a Seal Scrawler lunged in from the opposite side. His sword caught the creature’s claw a breath before it could take the pitiful man’s head.

Ash called out to Cross.

"Hurry up, mongrel."

The Scrawler abandoned Cross and snapped toward Ash instead, driving a claw at his face. It smacked into the side of the wolf helm, halting both of them.

"I know."

A stake blew past Ash’s head and punched through the entire body of the beast.

[You have slain a Seal Scrawler]

[+16 EXP]

The corpse went limp around the stake before being flung aside and bursting into drops.

Glancing back, Cross had staggered to his feet.

One foot hovered slightly above the chain as a thick, rectangular slab of rock formed beneath it. At the same time, Cross kept his hand extended toward the monsters charging them, directing a separate earthen shield around himself and Ash. He slammed it into one Seal Scrawler after another, sweeping the closest creatures sideways instead of trying to kill them outright. Some claws scraped desperately against the links as their bodies tipped over the edge, while others were knocked backward into the monsters behind them, briefly clogging the path.

But he couldn’t give the same treatment to the Magma Skippers or Spire Serpents.

The fish came from below, bypassing the wall of Scrawlers entirely, while the serpents were too large and heavy to simply sweep aside.

Those were Ash’s problem.

’I hate having to protect this prideless ingrate.’

Keeping Cross at his back, Ash shifted constantly around the small stretch of chain they still controlled.

A Magma Skipper erupted from the left side, and Ash barely managed to throw himself across Cross’s front and stop it from slamming into the man.

Before he could fully recover his footing, another Spire Serpent charged through the crowded monsters ahead.

Ash dove into its path and braced [Snow Crawler’s Pelt] against the impact, letting the serpent crash into him rather than Cross.

He’d managed to stop both, but his new items were already taking quite the beating.

The Magma Skipper dropped onto the chain behind him and flopped violently against the links, while the serpent remained jammed against Ash from the front.

Cross transformed the shield into a stake and skewered the Spire Serpent.

[You have slain a Spire Serpent]

[+21 EXP]

Its body sagged against Ash before slipping sideways. Half of it hung across the chain for a moment, forcing the approaching Scrawlers to scramble over its corpse, before the serpent burst into nothingness leaving behind only a bit of snake meat.

The Magma Skipper simply flopped off the chain moments later.

Cross called for Ash.

"Chimera..."

Glancing at the man, Ash noted he’d stepped off the ground completely and was standing on the thick, but stubby, stone slab.

Ash stared at the small slab Cross could barely stand on by his lonesome.

"You can’t expect me to..."

"Come on!"

A fresh chorus of claws scraping against metal links sounded from behind him.

Clicking his tongue, Ash jumped onto the slab, planting his feet alongside Cross.

Cross quickly threw his arm around Ash and pulled him in tight.

Before Ash could complain, the prince whispered:

"For me... not you."

’I’m gonna kill him.’

As annoyed as Ash was at the hug from the man he detested more than any at the moment, his revenge would have to wait.

The stone, with both on it, began to hover.

It began to rise.

With Cross no longer attacking the Seal Scrawlers, it was up to Ash to hold them off until they got high enough.

Something he’d never be able to do with his sword alone. So... he switched to a different method.

Because he had no intent to — couldn’t — kill them...

[You have unequipped [Sealed Fate]].

Ash began to summon the various claws and teeth he’d picked up from all the enemies he’d killed to this point.

Not being equippable weapons or anything, there was no limit on the number he could summon.

The slab climbed another foot. A Scrawler reached them first, springing from the chain with both claws extended.

Ash hurled a fang into its path. The instant it touched the creature, the Scrawler’s upward momentum vanished. Its body dropped straight back down, slammed onto the links, and was immediately trampled by the monsters surging in behind it.

Another leapt from the opposite side. Then another.

As the stone rose, Ash began launching the items one after another. Each time a Seal Scrawler jumped at him, it was immediately met with a claw, fang, or tooth and brought to a dead stop in midair. Some simply dropped back onto the chain. Others struck the edges on the way down and vanished into the haze.

He continuously pelted all of his attackers, forcing each charge to halt before it could reach the rising slab.

Once the stone climbed beyond an easy jump, the Seal Scrawlers began climbing on one another.

Ash stalled the highest ones whenever they got close, causing many to lose their footing from the sudden pause and slip.

Eventually, a new Spire Serpent forced its way through the mob from farther along the chain, trying to reach Ash and Cross.

It barreled into the base of the living pile without slowing.

The stack collapsed instantly.

Seal Scrawlers spilled in every direction.

The serpent itself twisted amid the collapsing mass, getting stuck under the falling mob.

That was the last scene Ash saw before he and Cross rose too high in the haze to make out anything below.

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