“Something’s wrong, Alex. I—”
The shadow beneath his feet grew larger and Sam instinctively rolled away, only he was too late. The dragon had used the entire weight of its massive body and fell on top on him. There was nothing he could do about it, the crushing weight had taken all of his HP and he saw the now familiar game over message.
YOU HAVE DIED
He woke up at the serpentine Soul Beacon with the now predictable symptoms of intense nausea and vertigo. Beyond that, he was pissed. He knew that he got cheated.
“THAT’S NOT FAIR, ALEX!”
Sedwin and Barrington once again stared at Sam with concern.
“Calm down, Sam,” Alex tried to soothe.
“No! Just what the hell was that? Invisible attacks? Seriously! How was I supposed to even defend against that?”
“I know, I know, you’re right, so calm down.”
“It took me forever to even get into that Soul Barrier, then I have to contend with that crap. Come on, Alex, work with me here! I’m doing my best and putting up a championship performance only to get cheesed. I know I could’ve had him! I know it!”
There was silence on the line while Sam waited for her to respond.
“You done?” she asked, her voice filled with frustration. Sam let out a long frustrated sigh to match.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Okay, since master Sam has deemed it appropriate for me to talk, I’ll explain what went wrong back there.”
“Please do! I need to know what kind of fuckery I’m dealing with here.”
“First off, I do apologize for what happened. I know that you, of all people are dealing with a lot of pressure every time you enter the death state. So I know any screw ups on our end really ruin this game for you. That said, that’s exactly what happened. It was a major screw up with the code. That ‘dragon’, as you call it, known formally in game lore and by our design team as The Will of The Forest, has a tail that wasn’t rendered during your fight. The attack boxes and values for the tail loaded, those things you can’t see, but not its framework or 3D model. Again, I apologize. There was also another glitch I noticed during the fight with its health. I am working on fixing both.”
Sam scoffed at the ridiculousness of all that. How could stuff like that happen at even this stage of the game? True, it was the alpha build, but it just felt like a blatant way to kill off the testers. Sam hated cheap game design tactics like that.
“What about its health? What did you find?”
“I don’t think I should tell you. You’re way too angry right now.”
“I’m not angry!”
“Says an angry five year old. You don’t know it, but I get a readout of your mental state at all times. And these readings tell me that you are angry, actually very angry, truthfully more like extremely angry. Now, remember what I said before.”
“I don’t give a damn what you said.”
“Again, says the extremely angry five year old. I’m trying to help you here, Sam. This isn’t the way to face challenges, is it? Even challenges that are unfair. No, I need you to calm down and once you do, I may tell you about the other glitch.”
Sam took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He realized that she was right. Why participate in something as awesome as this game was if he was just going to whine and complain about it. Even his younger self didn’t whine so much when he’d gotten demolished by his first few bosses in The Death Planes so long ago.
“Okay, I’m calm.”
“Not quite, but you’re getting there. Okay, again sorry Sam. Now, along with that invisible tail that attacked you before, the Will of the Forest was constantly locked in its healing state, meaning that any damage you did to it would’ve been negligible even if you didn’t have any issues with its tail.”
“The damn thing was immortal too! You guys really outdid yourselves on that one.”
“It’s a glitch remember? A mistake.”
“Well, it’s a pretty damn big one ...”
“Sam ...”
“I’m good. Thanks for explaining all that to me.”
“No that’s not what I was going to say.”
“What then?” he asked.
“Can I get a little cheer out of you at least?”
He huffed loudly, but then allowed himself to smile at Alex’s teasing.
“You’re a pain in the butt, you know that, Madura?”
“We’re doing the last name thing now, Nagai? Fine, I guess I’ll keep my good news to myself then.”
Sam felt his ears perk up like a dog’s when he heard “good news.”
“What good news?”
“Address me as Ms. Alex and I’ll tell you.”
He huffed again though he quickly played ball.
“Please tell me what this wonderful news is, Ms. Alex you lovely person you. Queen of my virtual universe.”
“Okay, you’re overdoing it now. I’ll just tell you ...”
There was a silence in the line as Sam waited for her to answer.
“Anytime now, Alex.”
“Sorry, I love the suspense.”
Sam huffed again and was really getting irritated now.
“Come on already!”
“Fine, fine. You won the contest you big baby,” she said, teasing.
“Contest?”
It took him a moment to remember what she was talking about. With everything that was happening in the game, he had totally forgotten about the contest.
“Oh wow, seriously? I forgot all about the contest.”
“Yup, you were the first to report five glitches in the game. Congratulations!”
“Wow! I finally win something worthwhile,” he said excitedly.
The gloom that was clouding his mood disappeared completely, replaced by overwhelming joy at his turn of luck.
“Yes! Hahahaha! You know Alex, even though you were kind of a jerk to me, I feel that I owe ya.”
“Oh yeah, nice guy?”
“Yeah. How about I treat you to dinner once I’m done with this alpha test? How’s that sound?”
“That sounds great, Sam. I have to warn you though, I’m a girl that likes to eat.”
“That’s fine, cuz I’m a guy that likes to eat. But before all that, I have an asshole to slay.”
21 Royal Cooperation
About twenty minutes had passed after Alex had cut the communication. Sam sat at the Soul Beacon reading over the stats of all his gear and strategizing his next encounter with The Will of the Forest.
“Okay Sam, I fixed those glitches. Now remember what I said before.”
“Oh, about human form. I’ll just farm up some loose quintessence from the Stumpies.”
“Those are called Seedlings by the way, if you cared that is,” Alex answered back.
“To me they’ll always be Stumpies,” Sam added.
She sighed and Sam could imagine her shaking her head.
“You do love your creative names, don’t you? I just want you to keep in mind that there are still even greater bonuses for you, should you find any more major glitches. Keep an eye out for them and as always, be careful.”
She cut the line and Sam again wondered why her sendoff was so gloomy, especially when she did her best to keep him in good spirits. Whatever the case, he had his sights set on defeating that dragon, The Will of the Forest.
******
Sam spent a considerable amount of time farming the Stumpies and Mid-Boss the bear for solid and loose Quintessence as well as Stim Plants and souls. When he was done, he returned to Barrington, bought enough arrows to put him at an even hundred, then rested at the Soul Beacon. While resting, he leveled up a little in preparation for his rematch against the Will of the Forest. He first leveled his spirituality to five so that he could equip the Sword Uppercut as an alternative to his Skyward Thrust. Strangely enough, the spirituality upgrade increased his fire defense by a point as well. With only enough points to level-up one more time, Sam chose to upgrade his spe
ed to twenty-three. Once he got it to twenty-five he’d move on to the next stat. Once he was done leveling, he remembered to use one of his points of loose Quintessence to turn back to human form. It was good to see his health bar go back up to max. As he prepared to leave, the smith called out to him.
“By the way, traveler. Some strange man has found his way into my camp. He’s out in the ruins. I’m keepin’ Sedwin close should the stranger want to cause a ruckus, but if ye can, tell him to go away please. I don’ need scary fools loitering about, losing their minds near my shop.”
Barrington’s words chilled Sam. There was a chance that Caesar had wandered to the north, chasing some strong opponent. Sam prepared himself for an unpleasant encounter and had the smith repair his weapons. As he went to leave, Sedwin halted him.
“Sorry, I forgot to give you this for your troubles earlier,” Sedwin said nervously. He presented Sam with an enormous shield that looked to be made of the same material as his beautiful silver armor. All Sam could think as he looked at the shield was, how the hell is he holding that thing up? When Sam reached for the humongous shield, it turned into a tiny white light right in front of him. Once he grabbed it, it went into his inventory and he saw that it was called a Silver Great Shield.
“Uhh, thanks Sedwin.”
“It’s the least I could do for you. You’ve mended the rift between me and my master. I only hope that this shield will aid you against that intruder. The master made it for me long ago, but as you can see, it’s more decorative than practical for a bear such as myself.”
Sam was currently browsing its stats.
Silver Great Shield
Great Shield
A heavy silver shield that can block almost any attack. It stands taller than many men and is wide enough to fit even a bear, though who would do such a thing? Crafted by the famed blacksmith Barrington, it has never seen use in battle as its near pristine condition attests. Not only is the blacksmith famous for his fine craftsmanship, he is also known for being a rarity among the common folk for he was one of the few commoners to attain knighthood.
ATK 35
Weapon Damage 20
S ATK C = 10
D ATK F = 0
M ATK F = 0
B ATK E = 5
F RAT 0
L RAT 0
P RAT 0
D RAT 0
B RAT 1
He scrolled over to see the defenses.
P DEF 100%
M DEF 80%
L DEF 50%
F DEF 80%
D DEF 80%
A DEF 70%
P RES 90%
D RES 80%
C RES 40%
B RES 100%
Sturdiness 90%
Durability 400/400
Weight 40 lbs
It was a really powerful shield with an insane amount of defenses. It was probably way too good a shield to have right now, but Sam still couldn’t use it. It weighed forty pounds and the maximum weight that Sam could currently carry was fifty-eight pounds. Plus it required twenty strength to properly wield, so even if he could equip the shield, he’d barely be able to move.
“Thanks again Sedwin. I’ll be back shortly.”
Hopefully I’ll be walking back instead of being teleported here after death, he thought grimly. He left the warmth of the camp and took a short journey into the ruins next to it. Standing amidst the ruins of a felled wall and covered in the moon’s pale light was the mighty King Herke.
Herke stared up into the sky, at the various stars to the north until Sam approached. He hesitantly turned and stared through Sam with his blue eyed gaze. Though the king looked at ease, Sam got the feeling that the man was ready for any sort of sudden threat. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination or the king’s massive physique and greatsword that put him on edge.
“It’s you, the one with the burning soul,” the king said as he regarded Sam.
“King? You’re here in the north?” Sam asked.
“I’m getting nearer to my target, that foul Cutthroat. I can feel it in my bones. I must be one step behind.”
Sam didn’t think it would do any good to tell the king that he had given away information about his quest. Mainly, he didn’t want to piss him off.
“Rondo is here?” Sam asked.
“If he was, he isn’t anymore. If you’re here too, I have to wonder, were you chasing the fiend or was the fiend chasing you? It can’t just be a coincidence.”
Sam hadn’t seen any Cutthroats following him besides the one’s he killed and if any of them were Rondo, then the king would not have his revenge. All Sam could do was give the king a shrug.
“No matter, it’s only a matter of time before I find him and wring the life from the coward’s neck.”
Eager to change the subject, Sam interjected another question.
“Do you know anything about that dragon?”
“Dragon? That flying creature, by the cliffs? I’d hardly call that a dragon, though it does tower over one doesn’t it? No, dragons have nothing but fire and smoke in their blood. That creature is made of greener stuff, the stuff of this ancient forest.”
“What is it then?” Sam asked.
“As far as I know it, it’s some sort of guardian of this place. It keeps those from the upper undead cities from crossing into its domain. I don’t see what’s so special about this place though. Why would anything want to protect a forest filled with death, decay, and revenants who’ve long since lost their minds? Even the creatures here seem corrupted.”
That was a good question, Sam had to admit. Maybe there was something worthwhile here in these parts that he hadn’t discovered or maybe the king was wrong and the creature was trying to keep all the bad things in this forest from getting out. The king looked Sam over with suspicion.
“Hmm, why are you interested in the creature, boy? Could it be ... you’re looking for a hunt?”
The king’s grin was bestial and his muscles flexed seemingly involuntarily.
Sam didn’t say anything and just stood still staring at the king warily.
“Ah, no need to say anything. I can see it on you. You crave a good hunt. I knew I could see the hunter’s gleam in your eye when we first met. The same is true for myself. I almost miss the demons of my homeland and the sport they gave. This forest guardian, it looks like damn fine sport. If you’ve the nerve to challenge it, look for my sign near its roosting place. I would cross into hell to join such a foolish battle. Hehehehe. Even old men can be fools.”
“Well we’re both tremendous fools then, king.”
******
Sam killed his way through the northern forest path as before, plowing right through the Stumpies and Mid-Boss the bear on his way to the Soul Barrier near the cliffs. He looked around for the king’s sign just outside of the Soul Barrier, but couldn’t find it anywhere. After getting frustrated, he went back into the forest and started killing all the Stumpies that he saw in the trees above, even the ones well away from the path. By the time he was done, he only had two arrows left. The King had said that his sign was near the boss’ roosting place, so maybe it was in a part of the forest that he hadn’t explored yet.
Sam saw an item in the distance. He walked over to pick it up from the ground. It was a Poor Man’s Soul. He hurriedly read its description.
Poor Man’s Soul
Souls of this nature can be broken down into usable soul currency.
The soul of a beggar, one whose life has taken an unlucky turn. Was death a better outcome? One has to wonder. Much of this soul has been whittled away by silent suffering.
“What a strange presence you have ... like nothing I’ve ever felt.”
The voice was a silky whisper, one that came from his right. Sam didn’t have to search very far to find his new company. It was a woman, dressed in white and red robes that thinly draped over her slender frame along with matching gaucho looking pants that fell down just below her knees. She sat on the ground with her body leaning
against a tall tree with one knee up. Aside from her robes, she wore steel plated gauntlets and greaves with ornate designs of artistic clouds and snakelike dragons, but that was the only part of her that was armored. Her hair was tied in a tall ponytail that towered over her head and then fell back down to her lower back and her slender eyes were laid on Sam. She had a look of intrigue showing on her face along with amusement on her lips. She didn’t have a very friendly presence, mainly thanks to the man sized naginata looming over her that she held closely against her body.
“No, I’m mistaken. Your presence does remind me of someone. So does that look in your eye.”
Sam took a step towards the strange woman.
“That’s far enough. I don’t quite know your intentions ... and you don’t know mine.”
“I’m not an enemy,” Sam said defensively.
“I never said you were and I never said that I’m not. It’s best not to assume things of people you don’t know, yes?”
“I agree. What is your name?” he asked.
“I only give my name to those I respect or those I intend to kill. Would you still like to know?”
Sam shook his head, while the woman smiled, apparently amused by his cowardice.
“Would you care to answer one of my questions then? It’s an easy one,” she asked.
“I don’t mind. Go ahead and ask.”
“I feel a certain familiar feeling resonating from you. The pull of a powerful soul. A sign that you’ve made a connection with a strong ally. I’d like to know if you’ve met that man, that indomitable monarch with his burning heart and cold steel.”
Was she talking about who he thought she was?
“You said monarch? You mean a king?”
“Yes. There’s only one in this forest ... hehe ... well there’s that fake one too, the leader of that black band.”
Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure Page 19