MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

[You are being summoned back to Arcadia! Good luck!]

A feeling of weightlessness took hold of Ash as a green glow enveloped him.

Then... daylight.

Sitting up, he watched as wisps of green light dissipated into the wind. The portal had vanished as though it had never existed.

’I’m... back.’

Then pain.

"Guh!"

Though the wound had closed, the searing pain of his missing tail and arm had returned, blazing as fiercely as ever.

’Damn that hurts!’

Wincing, Ash forced himself to his feet and willed the glowing blue crown upon his head back into his inventory.

[You have unequipped [Crown of the Defeated]]

He replaced it with the wolf-skull helmet.

[You have equipped [Whisper of the Wind]]

Instantly, [Danger Sense] kicked into gear, sending faint warning currents from his side and ahead of him. They were weak enough to ignore. Though there was always the possibility that a monster possessed a skill capable of evading [Danger Sense].

Turning to his left, Ash began to march up the verdant slope toward the ridge between the zones, where the grassland met the world of ash.

As he trudged, using [Sealed Fate] almost like a walking stick, he noted that the names in the corner of his vision were still gray. Either it was a matter of range, or they’d entered their own instance.

He figured it was the former, but it could very well be the latter.

Putting one foot in front of the other, he made his way through the dense canopy until he broke into a clearing. Then, he crested the ridge.

As his line of sight rose above the summit, he beheld the glorious panoramic view of the ashen zone.

"It really is it."

The various crystals jutting out of the ground were unmistakably shards of the ceiling.

Then there was the black stone and the gigantic volcano presiding over it all.

"Under it... is the temple."

And beneath all of the black rock, ash, and thin rivers of magma were the four chains. Farther below was...

"Evercrest."

The modern city he’d watched be destroyed by the calamity.

Where thousands upon thousands were doomed to die because of Cross’s failure.

Ash took in the view.

He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it all.

Before he could discern the cause of the strange pit in his stomach, the warning winds of [Danger Sense] began to strengthen behind him.

Lifting [Sealed Fate], he turned to find a pair of glowing red eyes racing through the dense forest toward him, weaving between the tree trunks.

"I didn’t think you’d come to me."

’Let alone so quickly...’

It was almost like his meeting with Cross after making it back to ’hell’ all over again.

’Nor were your eyes glowing...’

’Or were you this strong.’

[Danger Sense] was reacting almost as strongly as it had against a Seal Scrawler.

Despite Ash’s dominance over those disgusting creatures, each one was individually stronger than him stat-wise, even now, though he might have held the edge in speed. Or at least it was close now.

Still, their lack of intelligence and his own skill helped him close that gap. Now he was facing something with intelligence.

’Or, at least, it once had intelligence...’

Finally breaking through the shadowy canopy, the hunter’s lanky body came into view as it charged on all fours like a rabid dog. Viscous goop flew from its mouth with every bound.

In the split second before it reached him, Ash activated [Assessment] on the hunter.

A status page much like his own appeared.

♱♱♱

[Soulless Wanderer]

LEVEL: 8

STR: ~[29-34]

AGI: ~[39-57]

DEX: ~[45-53]

INT: [-20]

CON: ~[35-37]

♱♱♱

His attention immediately snapped toward the hunter’s intelligence, the only definitive stat.

’-20.’

Ash stepped forward, bringing [Sealed Fate] down into the hunter’s path.

’It must have something that allows it to sacrifice Intelligence for other stats...’

In the blink of an eye, the gray beast veered beyond the descending blade, kicked off the ground, and vanished from Ash’s front.

’Fast!’

A blur crossed his vision. The hunter reappeared at his left, already lunging for his neck.

Its misshapen claws crashed into [Whisper of the Wind], stopping its attack cold.

Despite its frenzied state, it seemed to remember their previous encounter, as it immediately began targeting the helmet again.

Still...

’It’s just a ravenous shadow of itself.’

Ash ducked beneath its next swipe and twisted his head away, but the hunter bent its wrist at an unnatural angle. Its hooked fingers changed course mid-swing and carved into the helmet’s bone. The impact halted the claws, but a thin crack appeared on the helmet’s side.

’Its Strength is definitely lower than that of a Spire Serpent or Seal Scrawler...’

But its speed was undoubtedly superior!

’The hell is this?!’

Ash hurled [Sealed Fate] toward the open ground behind him and equipped a handful of teeth and claws.

The frothing hunter lunged again, both hands reaching to tear the helmet from his head.

A tooth struck it between the eyes.

Its head halted. Before it could recover, another claw struck its shoulder, followed by a tooth to its chest. Each projectile interrupted the next motion before it could properly begin, locking the hunter into a chain of violent staggers.

Ash retreated one step at a time, continuing the barrage. Teeth and claws pelted its face, throat, and torso, buying him the distance he needed to disengage.

However, the farther he withdrew, the more time the hunter gained between impacts. Its movements became sharper.

Ash reached [Sealed Fate] where it had landed on the grass.

He fired one final tooth into the hunter’s cheek, dropped the remaining projectiles, and snatched up his sable katana.

Wasting no time, he activated it...

’[Focus].’

To an even greater degree than before, his perception heightened. Though Ash knew not if that was simply due to the stats he wasn’t used to or the ability’s evolution.

The hunter lowered itself onto all fours and launched forward, tearing across the ground in a frenzy of grasping limbs.

This time, Ash saw everything.

He watched the hunter’s muscles tighten beneath its leathery flesh, just as he’d once studied the Marauders. Its shoulder twitched. Its elbow flared. Before the claws even moved, Ash knew where the swipe was headed.

But the hunter changed its attack the instant it sensed his defense. One foot planted hard against the ground, its hips rotated, and the swipe transformed into a vicious kick aimed at his ribs.

Ash had already seen that coming too.

He angled [Sealed Fate] into the kick’s path. The edge scraped along the hunter’s leg as he redirected the limb past his body. Carried off balance by its own momentum, the beast left its chest exposed.

Ash stepped in and slashed downward.

The blade traced a thin line from shoulder to sternum before the hunter threw itself into a roll, escaping the full depth of the cut.

Two purple wisps grew from the petal guard and floated around his hand.

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