MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

A flickering silver light streamed from her eyes.

Cross lifted his head and met it with his own hollow, defeated gaze. Whatever light remained in his eyes began to fade.

But then, his eyes widened.

"Sister...?"

A moment later, the newborn spirit collapsed to its knees and began weeping.

A scream tore from its throat.

As its tears struck the black rock, blades of grass sprouted in their wake.

Ash’s eyes widened at the sight.

Maybe this was only a recreation, but he knew who this spirit must have been...

’The Goddess of Spring...’

The Goddess of Spring who had introduced herself as Demitra back in Arcadia.

’So, did the wolf win?’

The hopeful look in Cross’s eyes said otherwise.

’I wish he’d taught me spirit sense. Then I’d be able to judge for myself.’

Though he likely couldn’t have learned it in such a short time. His mana sense was still nascent.

Ash took a deep breath before speaking.

"I didn’t foresee any of this... but I kept my promise, it seems. To you and her. As I said, the ending you sought wasn’t allowed to pass."

Cross opened his mouth, but no response came.

The spirit born in Vera’s likeness continued to cry as grass spread farther across the black rock.

However...

The crystalline sky overhead finally shattered.

Colossal shards broke from its fractured surface and plummeted toward the island.

As the broad faces of those shards tilted toward them, Ash’s eyes widened in horrific understanding.

Hans, the taciturn Hound, stepped in the middle of the group and raised one hand toward the descending wreckage. A golden barrier burst from his palm and curved around all five of them.

The crystal shards crashed against its surface, bounced aside, and vanished into the depths below.

However...

Ash soon realized that the island wasn’t the only thing sinking. The mountains, the magma, the entire world contained within the seal — everything around them was descending.

’It seems this wasn’t a lie.’

The contents of the seal were spilling into the real world.

Suddenly, Cross sprang into action. New conviction hardened his face — an ambition born within the flames of despair, forging his heart into something unbreakable.

Cross gripped the spirit’s wrist. It fell silent at once, and the grass beneath it stopped growing.

At the same time, stone shot from beneath the sole of his foot and spread through the ground in branching seams.

An instant later, the rock beneath the entire group tore free from the mountain and hurtled upward toward the oncoming crystal shards.

Cross had taken command of the stone.

He drove their newly formed platform upward through the iridescent rain, weaving between the tumbling shards until they finally pierced the collapsing crystalline sky.

Nothing remained above them except open azure.

A real sky.

All five of them stood upon the floating stone platform beneath its vast expanse, still enclosed within Hans’s golden barrier.

Ash approached the edge and peered down.

’You’ve got to be shitting me...’

Below, magma, mountains, and crystals rained upon the world. Yet it wasn’t the magnificent cataclysm that held his attention — it was what he glimpsed through the gaps in the falling destruction.

Evercrest’s capital.

Although he could see only fragments of it, he spotted concrete buildings and streets. There was even what looked to be a high-rise.

Evercrest wasn’t some ancient, sword-and-shield, Gothic-era kingdom... it looked almost modern.

No, it was.

It was perhaps even more advanced than many cities on Earth.

But the view lasted only moments. The seal’s contents crashed down upon the capital, burying it beneath mountains of ruin. Soon, as far as Ash could see, black-stone knolls and rivers of lava consumed the world below, while countless crystal shards jutted from the devastated ground.

Ash felt like his eyes had to be deceiving him.

It had become the landscape he’d been summoned into.

Even more...

The fallen temple had been completely covered in rock and lava, forming a gigantic volcanic mountain — the same one he’d been summoned upon. There were many cracks in its current form, but those cracks could be welded together by time and cooling magma.

Still staring down at the destruction, Ash turned his head toward Cross.

"Are you still going to try to kill me now?"

Cross kept his gaze fixed on the spirit’s vacant eyes.

"Someday... but not today. Feel free to run away. And trust me, you should run. Run as far as you can. I’ll chase you down to the ends of the world after I’ve helped her."

Deathly conviction filled Cross’s eyes as his gaze snapped toward Ash.

Ash huffed.

"Is that so?"

Cross released the spirit’s wrist and let his arm fall to his side before turning toward the Hounds.

The newly formed spirit began to cry again.

Cross walked past Ash and approached the two Hounds, the last of his subjects. Then, he ripped the rags from their heads and declared:

"As of today, you two are released from duty. Live the rest of your lives unfettered by the shackles of needless salvation."

The two Hounds nodded.

"Understood."

Ash studied their uncovered faces. One was a woman with pointed ears, long green hair, and pale skin. The other was a man with human ears, darker skin, and sleek black hair that fell to his waist.

’What do I do now...?’

Finally, Cross marched over to Ash.

He fearlessly gripped Ash by his armor and spat venomous words in his face:

"I have emerged from this ordeal at the cost of thousands upon thousands of lives... Your meddling is the only reason I still draw breath. Mark my words — you will curse the day you forced me to live."

Grimacing, Cross added:

"And you better live... Live well. And find something to live for, so I can take it away."

Then, Cross stepped past Ash and dragged him by his armor before tossing him off the edge of the rock.

"Until we meet again, chimera."

The last thing he glimpsed besides Cross was the weeping spirit kneeling behind him.

Ash smiled back.

"Until we meet again, feckless prince."

[You have completed the instance: Tears of Spring]

[+500 EXP]

...

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

’That wasn’t it?!’

Suddenly, Ash’s world froze.

The world warped and became consumed by a familiar sight.

In fact, it was the first sight he’d seen after being summoned.

He had returned to the Fold of Existence.

As he settled onto the black mist, the system began to rattle off an stream of messages in his head...

[You have received a Title: [Tyrant of Ash]]

[[Dragonkin Champion] consumes [Tyrant of Ash]]

[[Dragonkin Champion] has evolved]

[You...]

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