Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure

by Belart Wright

  Robert brandished his Arming Sword and pointed it at Sam. Something dripped from it to the ground, blood most likely from Robert’s solo escapades. Sam wasn’t intimidated by his friend. On the contrary, he felt that his victory was assured. He had just defeated The Will of the Forest and cut a swathe through all of the other testers he faced in his encroachments afterwards. The Bloody Tearstone that he was sure to collect from Robert would just be another trophy in his now overwhelming collection.

  He grinned at his friend and bowed. Robert followed suit. The two of them then circled around each other and closed in. Robert seemed to possess a high level of confidence since his character had more defenses than Sam’s.

  Sam saw that he might have some trouble getting his attacks through Robert’s huge tower shield, but he had a few ideas on just how to do it. As a test, he stepped forward and thrust his blade out quickly at Robert. Robert lifted his shield up in time and Sam’s blow bounced right off, leaving him open for just a second.

  He saw Robert ready to pounce on his vulnerability, but he had made sure to keep space between him and his friend, so he’d have the time he needed to recover. Robert wisely failed to take Sam’s bait. Sam cursed, missing the chance to get an easy parry.

  Robert stood back shaking his head, so Sam decided to speed up. He knew he was faster than Robert’s armored avatar, so he used that advantage to circle around him since he was just turtling (constantly defending behind a shield, like a turtle). Robert saw the writing on the wall once Sam got to his side and lowered his shield. He took a wide slash at Sam, barely missing then came forward with a downward strike, which Sam did not expect.

  Sam had been cut already by the time he got his shield up and had lost a sixth of his health. That lack of added defense from the beginner rings had really come back to bite him. He also beginning to feel a little queasy as his poison gauge filled up over a third of the way.

  “You douche! You’re using poison?” he yelled.

  He knew that Robert couldn’t hear him, but the smile on Robert’s face was enough for Sam to know that he got the message. Well, all was fair in an encroachment and Sam still had a few dirty tricks of his own up his sleeves.

  He put his shield away and built up heat in his offhand and condensed it. He threw the ball of fire into Robert’s face, but Robert blocked it with his tower shield, the Great Knight Shield Sam believed it was called. Robert still took some damage, but Sam wasn’t done yet. He rolled forward and tossed another ball of fire at Robert’s head. The ball exploded at the front side of his mask, doing triple the damage from before, which still wasn’t much as Robert’s HP still hovered just below his maximum.

  Robert blindly struck out at Sam with a heavy downward strike. Sam anticipated the blow and easily avoided it with a roll. He nailed Robert with a backstab taking four-fifths of his maximum health. Robert fell to the ground with only a little health left and Sam made sure to strafe around him as he rose up, staying near his back.

  Sam could tell that Robert knew he was going for a chain backstab. Sam waited as Robert recovered. Robert hastily swung at Sam with a light horizontal slash. Sam pushed his strike aside, sending Robert’s sword hand airborne, and stabbed him right in his digital heart. Robert’s health faded away instantly and Sam gave him his customary, “Are you not entertained,” pose.

  Sinner’s Encroachment Completed

  “GG bro! We’ll do it again, next time.”

  Sam’s soul count increased along with his Quintessence counter. He also got the trophy he was looking for, the Bloody Tearstone, before being sent back to his own plane. He was whisked back to the Soul Beacon near Sedwin and Barrington. His thoughts were still on the melee he just had with Robert.

  “This dexterity build is much better than I expected. I thought he’d give me more trouble than that with all his armor.”

  The added four points he’d put into dexterity right before he encroached upon Robert had really boosted his damage, and beyond that, leveling his dexterity to twenty-five had given him another Technique slot, which he put the Sword Uppercut into.

  Sam thought back to the differences in damage that he and Robert were performing. Robert’s light and heavy slashes did good damage against Sam’s newfound lack of defenses. Sam knew his win had come from his maneuverability and the really good critical damage from the Rapier’s backstabs and opening blows. They were risky maneuvers, but were well worth the hassle.

  From his countless battles, he deduced that the Rapier’s critical attacks had done three times the amount of a standard heavy strike. He wondered what the critical damage was for strength based weapons like the one Robert was using.

  “Oh yeah, the Knight class started with the Arming Sword. But, his was poisoned. He didn’t apply anything during our fight either. So, I wonder if you can add elements to your weapon.”

  Having poisoned weapons wasn’t something that you were able to do in The Death Planes, but this whole weapons system was different from the previous game, so he wouldn’t be surprised if it were possible.

  He walked over to Barrington, whose smock was still drenched in sweat from his constant smithing. He had already come to the smith earlier to raise his Rapier to plus twenty-eight. He had even had enough souls to raise his Flexile Wooden Bow to plus twenty thanks to all the Stumpies he had killed with it. Barrington looked up at Sam and wiped his sweaty brow with his massive calloused hand.

  “Aye?” the bearded smith asked.

  “Can I add elements to my weapons?”

  “Ahh, you mean to know of your blade’s affinities?”

  “Sure ...”

  “It’s a simple matter. As I said before, your weapon takes in souls just like yourself, but what I didn’t tell you is that your weapons have a temperament of their own too. The temperament affects what kind of weapon it’ll be. At this stage your sword has much potential. There are many paths of growth open to it. But you must take heed. The more you use your blade and the more souls it takes, the more limited its temperament becomes,” Barrington explained.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that seasoned weapons are like seasoned men and seasoned dogs. You can’t teach them new tricks. You must soon choose what you want your weapon specialization to be or it will be chosen for you.”

  “What can I do to craft the weapon that I want to craft?”

  “Your weapons take their cues from you. Though they’ve already been crafted by others, and even used on the battlefield, they are still in their infancy until they are wielded by someone with a strong soul. Your soul affects the weapon along with the souls you take when you kill with the weapon. Your will alone can temper the steel in ways you can’t even fathom. When you combine that with a compatible orestone and a skilled blacksmith, then you can make some truly frightening combinations.”

  Sam still wasn’t quite grasping what Barrington was telling him.

  “So my soul and the souls of my enemies affects how my weapon can grow? But how? How does a soul affect a sword?”

  “Another easy one. Your blade will react to your own temperament and your tactics in battle. That will affect the ways it can grow and what ores it is compatible with as you go along. It is a truly symbolic relationship for those who are cursed. Most of us only hold onto our quintessence because of our blades after all.”

  “So what is the temperament of my Rapier?”

  “That I cannot tell ye. I know it can grow, but I do not speak its language. Sedwin does. That is why he makes for a great apprentice. Ask him about the blade’s temperament.”

  Odd, how did the bear know how to speak the language of the sword? Regardless, Sam took it over to him.

  “Sedwin, can you tell me the temperament of my Rapier?”

  “Surely I can traveler! This is my best talent after all. T’would be a shame to not use it. Ahh, so let’s see ...”

  He carefully inspected the Rapier in Sam’s hand. Sam didn’t expect him to sniff the blade as well.


  “There are still many paths open to this one, but it does seem to specialize already. It is a bloodthirsty blade, but it likes to have its targets chosen carefully and it prefers accurate blows over simple hacking. It is quite compatible with you and confident that it’ll grow strong in your hands. You’ve awakened it yourself, it seems.”

  “Awakened?”

  “You’re its first master. It’s your soul that gave it life.”

  “Really?”

  Sam thought that was pretty cool. Maybe all legendary weapons started out the same way. They were simple blades until the strength of powerful souls warped them into powerful artifacts.

  “Yes and it yearns for a name. Though, it’s not quite sure that it deserves one yet. It will wait until it has matured.”

  “It’s really saying all this? How can it?”

  “It doesn’t talk truly. Not like I can to you anyway. No, it instead reaches out with its temperament. That’s a ‘language’ we animals understand fluently. Only you men are dulled to such a thing. You can read each other fine enough, but not nature.”

  “Hmm ... what can I do with it? What path does it want to go down?”

  “It doesn’t work that way, I’m afraid. You must lead it and not the other way around.”

  “I should ask that differently. What is it good at? I’d like to know what element I could effectively add to it.”

  “It is quite flexible at this stage, but if you wanted, it would excel with the use of blightstone, mithril, conductium, and raw glass stone refinement. I hesitate to say it, but it would also excel with other more esoteric types of ore. My master doesn’t handle those though.”

  “What types of ore would that be?”

  Sedwin stared at Sam for a long moment. He seemed uncomfortable with the question.

  “This one has a strong affinity for the more chaotic ores. Demon bone, hell metal, and soul essence. My master handles none of those. You’ll have to find another smith, if one even exists in these cursed lands.”

  Videogame logic told Sam that there had to be one at some point in the game. Sam figured he could wait it out since his weapon was headed down that path anyway. Still, he was curious about the first four orestones that Sedwin mentioned.

  “What’s blightstone do?”

  “Foul blightstone makes a weapon poisonous to the touch. Forging anything with blightstone is so dangerous that Master Barrington normally wears special gloves for the process.”

  Poison was a powerful status effect. Sam was even more curious as to how effective it would be against the enemies. He thought it would be a nice addition to his Dagger.

  “What about mithril? What’s that do?”

  “Mithril is the standard upgrade ore. It makes for the most sophisticated sort of weapon. Weapons that are refined with mithril are the most reliable sort of weapons, but they lack many of the special components of weapons refined with other ores. Most of the legendary weapons of human heroes have been refined with large amounts of mithril. An unbreakable human will makes them durable weapons as well.”

  A plain and powerful weapon. That was something to think about. It was the path Sam normally used for his weapons in the old game. These new types of orestones sounded pretty exciting though.

  “Conductium?”

  “Refinement with conductium ore produces weapons that are adept at channeling and manipulating the very air to create a lightning effect with each strike. It is a favorite of many demon hunters.”

  That one sounded good to Sam. It would go perfectly with his quick strikes.

  “And what about the glass stone?”

  “Raw glass stone produces the most pure type of weapons. Raw glass weapons gain strength at an exponential rate very quickly. Their growth potential however is capped much lower than the rest and they are terribly brittle things. Raw glass weapons typically outstrip all other types in raw damage until the other weapons reach their final levels of growth along with their master. It is because raw glass weapons lose their temperament in the refinement process. They become silent and are simple tools for the willful fighter, and able to be wielded by all. They are completely unable to resonate with their wielder however, which is a strength of Awakened weapons like your Rapier.”

  Though it had many downsides, raw glass refinement was still one to consider, especially at lower levels, but Sam was overall disinterested in a weapon type that was ultimately weaker than the others in the long run.

  “Okay, thank you Sedwin. You gave me a lot to think about.”

  He gave Sedwin a smile and the bear awkwardly tried to do the same. Sam decided to hold off on any weapon refinement yet. He didn’t have the ore he needed anyhow. But there had to be some around if Robert was able to make a poison weapon, unless he really did apply something to his weapon beforehand.

  As Sam rested at the Soul Beacon, his thoughts went back to Ji. He couldn’t help but wonder what that Dragon’s Breath Pyromancy from her could actually do. He decided to go through the forest searching for her again in case she had some new tricks to teach.

  ******

  Sam’s search for Ji ended up being fruitless. He did come across a pair of rather peculiar messages from other players though. One had read:

  Revenant is Death!

  Relevance 0

  And the other read:

  Need Quintessence.

  Relevance 7

  Sam moved on from the weird messages back towards the Soul Beacon. He was unsure where to go next. He had been to the cave to see if the merchant would come back, but hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him. His only option now, was to explore the front of the forest, where Caesar had killed him before. As he thought of his approach, a message popped up in his HUD in large yellow text. The words looked rough and jagged, almost like they were etched in stone.

  You Are Being Encroached Upon By Justinian89Thrills

  “Bah, I wasn’t ready.” Sam said to himself, nervously laughing.

  He wondered how the people he encroached before had felt. Were they more nervous than he was? Were they actually scared to face him? The answer to that was yes in many cases, he knew. He was just overdue for this.

  He soon shook away his nervousness, as it was silly for someone who caused as much grief as he did to be nervous. He slowly moved through the trees, keeping a close eye out for his opponent.

  Of course, Justinian89Thrills would have been spawned somewhere in Sam’s general vicinity. It didn’t take long for Sam to spot him. He saw the crimson eyed Walker easily from several meters away. He was bathed in a fine red mist that perpetually ebbed and flowed.

  Sam took out his Flexile Wooden Bow+20 and measured his shot. He loosed his arrow and struck Justinian right in the neck for a nice amount of damage. Justinian recoiled and ran forward to the direction where Sam had fired the arrow. Sam was already well away from the spot.

  He moved cautiously to avoid Justinian’s roving eyes. As Justinian closed in on the spot he was before, Sam lined up another shot and nailed Justian89Thrills in the side of the head for more big damage. The two critical shots combined took down a fourth of Justinian’s health.

  Sam had nowhere to run now. Justinian had him in his sights and barreled forwards towards him. Sam switched to his Rapier and Metal Crest Shield. At this range, he couldn’t help but notice something very strange about Justinian. He was wearing a set of armor that looked identical to King Herke’s. He was even wearing the king’s bloody crown.

  “What the hell?”

  Sam was not just confused by Justinian’s outfit, but also by his fighting style. He held his shield up in front of his face as Justinian wailed away with two swords. Eventually Sam’s stamina was chipped away to nothing thanks to Justinian’s rapid slashes. Sam’s guard was quickly crushed and he was hit with three slashes, two from Justinian’s shortsword and one from his longsword. His health quickly fell below half and he was knocked away.

  “Shit!” he yelled as he rolled away.

  Justinian was right on t
op of him again. Sam saw that he was about to strike and parried. He’d mistimed Justinian’s first blow and was hit by that and a second slash before rolling away to avoid another which was likely to kill him.

  “His first strike was way too fast! For whatever reason, he attacks faster when he’s dual wielding.”

  Justinian smelled the blood in the water and ran at Sam again.

  “I’m not losing this!”

  Sam brought forth the intense heat inside of his soul and condensed the flames into a fireball. He quickly tossed it at Justinian’s head and rolled away behind some trees to heal. Justinian had retreated from the attack and gave Sam some much needed time to breathe.

  “I don’t care if this is cheap. I’m going to finish that guy!”

  He took a swig of his Soul Fire and thought of how Justinian could’ve gotten King Herke’s armor and crown and the most obvious reason came to him.

  “That bastard killed the king! He must’ve teamed up with Rondo. Now, I’m really mad! I’ll show him the justice of the king’s guard, the king’s justice.”

  Sam rushed forward and dodged one of Justinian’s slashes. He lifted his shield up as his foe approached and baited his combo. Justinian didn’t disappoint, and Sam was able to sidestep him and net a backstab, leaving Justinian with just a little more HP than he himself had before.

  “You must have a lot of HP. That would’ve killed anyone else.”

  Sam rolled away to some uneven ground to create some distance. He primed a fireball and tossed it just as Justinian was fully on his feet. Justinian instinctively dodged then ran at Sam, who stood below him on the sloped terrain. Justinian went with a jumping attack that would no doubt knock Sam to the ground. Sam was ready for him, however, and caught him with a Skyward Thrust that he had timed impeccably from the moment he charged the power for it. Justinian was caught in his descent with several rapid stabs and was finished before the final thrust had even touched him. It was the only way Sam could land the upward aimed Technique. He had to stand below him.