MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

While Ash had claimed earlier that he was used to pain, this was nothing like the clean cuts caused by misusing his glitch.

’Argh.’

Thankfully...

The wolf turned away from Ash and glanced back at him:

"Well played."

This wasn’t how Ash had expected things to go...

But it was far from the worst possible outcome.

Cross sneered down at Demitra from atop his floating rock and ordered:

"Who said you could leave? Finish your fight."

Winter hissed back:

"Just as annoying as your father."

Cross shook his head dismissively:

"Come on... that’s a harsh comparison. No one is as annoying as him."

The moment Winter kicked off the ground to flee, a stone stake hurtled down and slammed into the landing directly in her path. Then another fell, followed by another.

Cross had never produced so many stakes at once. Each was as thick and massive as the one that had gone through Ash’s head when they first met.

Whenever Winter veered in another direction, a new stake crashed down ahead of her, cutting off her escape. With nowhere left to run, she skidded to a stop.

Cross sighed, then repeated:

"I thought I told you to finish your fight."

Ash couldn’t help but stare at Cross with a grim sense of awe.

’That bastard...’

Staggering to his feet, Ash called out:

"I think it’s time... for my betrayal."

Cross’s gaze snapped toward him, taking in his battered state.

"Huh...?"

Wincing, Ash pulled his remaining hand away from the stump and gestured toward the wolf. Between labored breaths, he explained:

"Don’t look all... surprised... You practically just announced... you’re ready to kill me. So... Winter, I’ll help you... escape."

The wolf glared back at him, then smiled, revealing teeth stained with Ash’s blood.

"What incredible tenacity you have, dragonkin... Sure, I’ll take you up on that offer."

Instead of continuing her escape, Winter spun and charged back toward Ash, who stood at the threshold of the temple. He didn’t resist as she placed a paw against his remaining upper arm, directly beneath the wolf-eyes tattoo.

Instantly, the wound cauterized, and a thick slab of ice formed over the stump.

’Much better.’

The entire exchange was over before the stake Cross had already launched could reach them.

The stake slammed straight into Ash’s wolf-skull helmet, shattering on impact and scattering harmlessly across the ground. The blow inflicted no harm on Ash, though his helmet sustained considerable damage.

Ash rolled his injured shoulder to test it.

[Embers of May] would do the rest. All he had to do was let it.

Ash made a show of leaving [Sealed Fate] behind. Then, making no effort to keep his voice low, he said:

"All I need... is to get close."

Having apparently learned what had happened between Ash and Cross, the wolf instantly understood.

"Got it."

Cross caught the meaning as well.

His eyes widened, and the floating rock beneath him shot higher into the air.

The memory of Ash tearing off his arm was clearly still fresh, as was the close call two days earlier, when Ash could have killed him but chose not to.

As Ash hobbled, he looked down at the irritating spikes on his boots, which made every step awkward.

"Winter... can I ride you?"

The wolf veered around another falling stake and glanced back at him:

"To ask a maiden such—"

Ash hurled a summoned tooth into another incoming stake, knocking it aside, then glared at her:

"Now is not the time... for jokes... mutt!"

Darting to Ash’s side, the wolf muttered:

"Fine..."

Demitra crouched low, allowing Ash to climb onto her back as he summoned another tooth from his inventory.

Cross’s gaze fixed on the small white fang in Ash’s hand.

Demitra raced across the landing, rapidly building speed. Cross forced his floating rock onward to remain beyond their reach, but fear began to overwhelm him.

Every time Winter carried Ash closer, Cross drove the rock higher. Yet the added distance only lengthened the stakes’ descent, giving Winter more time and space to evade them. Ash further disrupted the attacks by hurling whatever he could summon at the incoming projectiles.

Realizing he could no longer stop them, Cross finally gave up.

Demitra’s speed had erased his advantage, and his fear of Ash kept him from descending close enough to continue the fight.

[You have unequipped [Sealed Fate]]

"You bastard, Ash! You bastard! You will pay for this!"

As Winter began to bound down the obsidian stairs, Ash gripped her pelt tightly, scoffed, and waved his stump up at Cross.

’Seriously...? He was preparing to kill me, then gets mad I fought back?’

Finally, the haze swallowed Cross from view.

But [Danger Sense] told him the man hadn’t moved.

***

Winter’s body shook with laughter before she bucked Ash from her back.

"Well, this is awkward."

Ash barely managed to land on his feet. After steadying himself, he said:

"So... still going to... incapacitate me?"

Demitra huffed:

"I have some class and decorum... as well as pity. For now, enjoy keeping your legs. But try to run, and you will lose that luxury."

"I wonder what Vera would say... if she saw this side of you."

"I wonder that as well..."

Ash laughed and shook his head as he looked around the landing where she had stopped.

"Wolf, why do you actually seem to care about her?"

Sitting on her hind legs, Demitra towered over Ash. After licking his blood from her lips, she said:

"Apparently, that tends to happen when one stays in isolation with another for an extended time... To be honest, part of me understands Fire now."

Ash shook his head.

"It’s a bit late... to be understanding. Besides... that’s some shitty resolve... you’ve got there."

"Oh? Hardly. As they told you, my will is the world’s will. Humans shall perish by my claw. Only... I’ll see to it that they perish in a certain order."

"How gracious... of you."

Sighing, Winter looked toward the haze as it began to thin.

"Why don’t you shut up and focus on recovering?"

Ash rolled his head to the side and did just that.

As the haze lifted entirely, the scenery unfolded before him, revealing the gigantic mountains and the sea of lava below.

’This has been... unfortunate.’

Ash’s plan was still salvageable. Hell, perhaps this situation would even prove beneficial to him. The only issue was whether Idolan would agree to unshackle him now that he and Demitra were no longer fighting.

Thankfully, until Vera caught up with them, Ash and Winter would be waiting around, giving him ample time to recover.

Ash worried that Cross might reach Vera first. However, even across the vast distance, he could see Cross hovering in the same spot, staring in their direction and simply watching them.

’Creepy...’

Staring back, Ash began to consider every factor in the situation.

An hour passed, and Ash’s wound closed. The ice scab Winter had formed fell away.

Feeling well enough to talk without his ragged breathing hindering him, Ash looked away from Cross and toward Winter, who was also watching the man.

"What would you do if I told Vera the truth about you?"

The wolf glanced back at him.

"Nothing."

Her eyes told Ash that she meant it.

’Ah, she’s too indoctrinated to change this late.’

There was no way she’d trust Ash’s words over Demitra’s.

"How do you even communicate with her?"

Winter studied him before replying:

"You are unfathomable, Ash... A creature not even a spirit like I can comprehend. And I’m not referring to your strange ability... Look at your arm. That happened only a short while ago, and yet you ask such mundane questions... Cross was right, though I’m leaning more toward barbarian."

Ash clicked his tongue.

"Screw you."

Winter hissed in amusement:

"Keke."

Ash shook his head and finally unequipped [Whisper of the Wind], replacing it with [Crown of the Defeated].

It wasn’t much use in his current state, but he felt comfortable enough to go without [Danger Sense].

While it was still helpful against traps and one-versus-many fights, he’d primarily equipped it to determine whether Cross was nearby — something his untrained mana sense would never have detected, especially since even Demitra had no clue he was there.

Still...

’I guess [Danger Sense] is pretty valuable.’

For a relatively weak item, its ability was remarkably powerful. After all, it had allowed him to see through Cross’s concealment.

That wasn’t particularly helpful now, however, since the man wasn’t hiding at all.

As for his innate mana sense, he’d improved by leaps and bounds — enough to say he’d mastered sensing the mana within his own body. He could also faintly detect disturbances in the atmospheric mana, though it all still blended together in his perception.

In any case...

A few more hours passed before Winter’s ear twitched. Tilting her head as though listening, she leaped onto the boulder where Ash was resting and called out:

"Vera..."

Naturally, Vera couldn’t understand her, but she shouted back:

"Demi! Where did you run off to!"

The princess ran up to the wolf, looking ragged and worn beneath the soot covering her. Despite that, she seemed stronger than before.

Only then did Vera look down and spot Ash.

Her eyes widened.

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