Hell's Glitch (LitRPG): Into a Dark Adventure (11 page)

The Cutthroat had ambushed Sam from a tree with a “death from
above” attack that took most of his health in one strike.  Sam had hurriedly scrambled
to his feet and ran, but the Cutthroat was quick and persistent.  Sam had to
weave in and out of the trees to create some distance and had to time his dodging
with the enemy’s knife throws until he was out of range.  He didn’t want to
start a fight with anyone or anything until he was sure that Caesar wasn’t
around and that Cutthroat seemed like a tough opponent in his own right.  Once
he was finally inside the cave, he passed by the grinning merchant and had his
rest at the Soul Beacon.  He decided to sit and check his new items to see just
what he got.

Priest’s Charm

Used as a catalyst to cast divine blessings.

A basic rosary worn by most peaceful priests of the
church and battle priests in the fields.  Showing one’s belief is said to grant
one abilities not known to those who are skeptical of the divine hierarchy.

Blessings come directly from a pact with the gods.

Wishbone
(2)

Randomly pulls a partner for cooperative play.

A favorite of those who are superstitious.  To many, it’s
just a simple bird’s furcula.

Breaking these with a friend is said to cause something
special for the one with the bigger piece, a wish if you will.

Quintessence
(3)

Completely restores a player’s HP and adds a point to his
or her quintessence counter.

Probably the single most important object of desire for
those who find themselves risen after death.  The quintessence is said to be
what makes a person truly human.  To lose it is to lose yourself.

Broken Shackles (wrists)

Gauntlets

Used to restrain prisoners, these appear to be rusted and
bloodstained.  Those who are cursed with undying flame are considered an
abomination by most nations outside of Heimfall.  Thusly, when a person rises
out of their graves after death, they are quickly contained and shipped to the
cursed lands to rot away, away from civilized society.  These shackles litter
the landscape.

Broken Shackles (ankles)

Anklet

Used to restrain prisoners, these appear to be rusted and
bloodstained.  Those who are cursed with undying flame are considered an
abomination by most nations outside of Heimfall.  Thusly, when a person rises
out of their graves after death, they are quickly contained and shipped to the
cursed lands to rot away, away from civilized society.  These shackles litter
the landscape.

Priest’s Extinguisher
(1)

Prevents a revenant’s use of Soul Fire upon contact.

A much needed item used by battle priests of many
nations.  Priest’s extinguishers were so named because they disconnect a
revenant’s soul from the very fires that feed it.

The first battle priests were said to hail from the
cursed land of Heimfall, where this enchanted item is said to have been
created.

Sinner’s Scriber

Allows a player to encroach upon the plane of another
player.

One of the legendary writing tools crafted and enchanted
by the eminent linguist, scholar, and mage Letraym.  As Letraym had no moral
qualms about exploring facets of magic and language otherwise deemed wicked,
she crafted this tool as a way for its users to share their malice with other
worlds.

Three Headed Hound Seal

Increases Wearer’s Perseverance.

A signet ring bearing the seal of the royal family of
Aschelund.  The seal depicts a legendary demon beast said to have been slain by
Aschelund’s very first king.  Just wearing it seems to make one feel royal and strong.

Ring Slots: 2

Sam hurriedly equipped the ring to one of his free fingers
and it increased his Perseverance by twenty points, up from the single point he
currently had.  He scrolled through his menus to get to his manual to look up
what perseverance actually did.  He had forgotten after so many years.  From
its definition, it looked like perseverance was a statistic that allowed one to
keep their “composure” in combat.  That seemed to apply to offense and defense,
but beyond that the exact definition of what perseverance did was very vague. 
He didn’t linger on it and instead read the stats of his Rapier.

Rapier

Thrusting Sword

A type of sword favored by those with precision and high
skill.  Patience and good timing are needed to bait out attacks and strike an
enemy’s exposed weak points.  The blade’s long reach makes its thrusting
attacks very effective.

ATK  103

     Weapon Damage  65

S ATK  D = 8

D ATK  C = 30

M ATK  F = 0

B ATK  F = 0

F RAT  0

L RAT  0

D RAT  0

P RAT  0

B RAT  4

Weight: 2.2lbs

He switched over to read his Dagger’s stats to compare.

Dagger

Knife

A small blade, typically reserved as a last resort on the
battlefield.  For most it is a useless weapon, but a few know human vital
points quite well and look for the perfect moment to strike.

ATK  44

     Weapon Damage  10

     S ATK  F = 0

     D ATK  B = 34

     M ATK  F = 0

B ATK  F = 0

     F RAT  0

     L RAT  0

     D RAT  0

     P RAT  0

     B RAT  10

Weight: 1 lb

S ABS: 4000

The Dagger was a lot weaker, but had an amazing hidden
critical value that was very high.  Sam hoped that the Rapier would be the
exact same.

11 The Mad King of the Forest

Sam was a man possessed.  He dived headfirst into his new
goal of collecting a lot of souls.  He spent what felt like a few hours on it,
mainly fighting the Forest Barkers and running when they’d overwhelm him.  He
gained enough souls to level-up four more times to soul intensity sixteen,
increasing his dexterity to twenty, speed to sixteen, and his vitality to
twelve.  He wanted a little more HP after being spooked by Caesar’s one hit
kill blow.  He was hoping that his increased dexterity and new weapon would be
enough to eliminate the Barkers with one critical strike, but his Rapier did
the same amount of critical damage as his Dagger in the end.  That meant its
critical multiplier was much lower than the Dagger since its base damage was
much higher than it.  Sam guessed the crit multiplier for the Rapier to be
about three times damage compared to the ten or more times of the Dagger.

Another negative impact of equipping a heavier shield and
sword was that it affected his movement and dodging speed.  It wasn’t a drastic
change, but he could feel the difference, especially whenever he rolled.  He
didn’t cover as much distance as before.

He decided to move deeper into the forest.  There was a new
enemy here that was hostile from the start.  It was another plant creature, but
this one looked like a matador.  It hopped around like one and brandished a red
muleta made of flowers while it danced.  It seemed like a rose come to life and
even wielded a thorn covered sword made out of some kind of durable plant
matter.  Its face was round and blank like a green grape and on the top of its
head was a rose bud fashioned like a cap.

Sam and the rose man took turns thrusting at one another
with their swords.  Sam attacked safely from behind his shield while the rose
man evaded with its muleta.  Sam thought he had an advantage with his shield,
but the rose man’s flowing muleta was effective at diverting all damage from
its body.  Sam was starting to get frustrated, but he was having a harder time
simply anticipating the rose man’s attacks.  He was afraid to attempt a parry,
but it seemed like it was the best way to get past the rose man’s defenses in
this case.  Nothing else seemed effective against such an evasive and deceptive
opponent.

He tried to bait out certain attacks, but the rose man
wouldn’t cooperate.  When it missed a thrust, Sam found his moment to strike. 
Only it wasn’t his moment and the rose man countered him with a parry from its muleta. 
It then thrust its thorny sword into his exposed chest and took half of his
health, whilst afflicting him with the bleedout status effect which damaged him
over a period of time like poison and seemed to slow his stamina regeneration.

Sam fell to the ground clutching his chest.  The pain was so
great that he just wanted to stay on the ground and curl up into a little ball. 
He only scrambled to his feet once he saw the rose man approaching.  He rolled
away, created some distance between the two of them and took a swig of Soul
Fire.

As it approached, the rose man launched a more powerful
thrust at him.  When it collided with Sam’s shield, it deflected off of it hard,
leaving the creature briefly stunned.  Sam retaliated with two quick thrusts of
his own doing more damage than he normally would.  It wasn’t close to critical
damage, but it was sizable enough to make a difference.  The creature’s health
dipped down by about a fifth with each strike.

It quickly retaliated after Sam’s second thrust, but Sam had
seen its attack already and now knew its point of origin.  He looked closely at
the creature’s upturned wrist and the moment its thorny thrust took flight Sam
tossed its delicate hand away which left it wide open for his opening blow.  Sam’s
blow was a vicious thrust that went right through the creature and pierced its
heart cleanly.  Its health quickly faded to nothing and Sam received a Rose
Muleta for his troubles along with three hundred souls.

Sam made sure no one was around while he looked at what the
muleta could do.

Rose Muleta

Shield

Boost’s evasion and blocks magic based attack.  Useless
for blocking physical attacks.

A favored item by demon hunters and matadors of
Krylatty.  The red color and aroma provokes simple minded demons and other
beasts into attacking recklessly.  The size and length of the flowy material
can obscure secret attacks.

P DEF  5%

M DEF  92%

L DEF  75%

F DEF  10%

D DEF  50%

A DEF  50%

P RES  100%

D RES  90%

C RES  60%

B RES  40%

Sturdiness  0%

Durability 100/100

Weight 0.3lbs

It had some solid advantages over his Metal Crest Shield in
many aspects, but it just didn’t have enough physical defense or blocking
ability, so he chose to skip it for now.  Seemed like it could be a good asset
once he improved his parrying and dodging abilities.  He took another swig of
his Soul Fire once the bleedout damage subsided and challenged another rose man
on his way deeper into the forest.  His victory netted him three hundred more
souls and one less drink from his Soul Fire.  He was down to only one drink. 
He thought about returning to the Soul Beacon in the cave, but resting would
only revive all the enemies he had already killed.  He pressed on further,
looking out for strong enemies as he crept through the shadows of the forest.

Sam thought he heard something strange nearby, but he wasn’t
sure what it was.  It sounded ... human.  The sound seemed to come from the
north.  Sam hoped to hell that it wasn’t Caesar again.  Losing all his souls
right now would be a pain.  He stayed in place for a while, listening intently
until he heard the noise again.  It was heavy breathing and it had a cadence to
it.

Sam silently stalked closer, staying near the taller trees,
rounding them slowly, and staying low until he got to the next one.  He could
now make out a towering figure in the dark.  It was a man, mostly obscured by a
cluster of smaller trees and he was swinging a huge hunk of metal.  From this
distance it looked like a very long and sturdy greatsword.  The man lifted it
above his head with both hands and held it there.  His whole body remained
still as stone and soon after he brought his sword down with power and
precision, stopping it between his chest and stomach.  He hurriedly lifted the
blade and struck downwards again, stopping at the same place.  Then he swung
his sword around in circles with his right hand before passing it to his left
and doing the same.  When he was done with that, he took the sword up into both
hands again and brought it down near his pelvis where it hovered while he
deeply inhaled the cold night air.  Sam could now clearly see his massive
muscular shoulders and huge biceps.

At a distance and in such poor visibility, the man’s face couldn’t
be seen.  Sam was certain that it wasn’t Caesar, however.  The man seemed much
bigger than him and much broader.  He was also wearing something different.  He
had some weird looking thing on his head.  Like a ... like a ...

Is that a crown?

Sam remembered back to what the merchant had told him
earlier.

The mad king!  I need to get out of here.

Sam silently backpedaled, with the intention of going back
to the Soul Beacon at the cave.

“Have you had your fill, stranger?”  The man’s question had
chilled Sam.  He backpedaled some more and prepared to run.  “Prepare
yourself.  You’re not getting away.”  The man’s raucous voice was filled with
grim absolution.  He sliced down the trees between himself and Sam effortlessly
with his greatsword.  Sam tried to run, but one of the trees fell in his way
and when he tried to adjust the direction he was running, the mad king was
already in his face.  The trees he’d cut down on his way to Sam had fallen and
opened the canopy.

The moon’s light spilled down upon Sam and the king .  Sam
could now see him clearly.  His humanity seemed to be intact.  There was no
sign of decay on him, unlike Sam’s own mummified avatar.  He was a powerfully
built mountain of a man, tall, and heavily muscled.

He wore a thickly plated red muscle cuirass over his chest,
but left his arms and hands bare.  He wore a mostly gold cloth skirt with red
designs over his lower body along with deep red greaves on his legs that covered
his knees, calves, and ankles.  He wore a thick red cape over his shoulders
with a golden clasp depicting some four legged multi-headed beast over his
cuirass.  He froze Sam in place with his icy blue eyed stare.  Sam hurriedly
glanced up from the king’s thickly bearded face up to the crown sitting atop
the king’s short dark hair.  It was covered in dried blood and seemed to be a
permanent fixture atop the king’s head.

“Ah, you aren’t the one I’m looking for.”

He looked at Sam from brow to boot, apparently sizing him
up.

“You’re tall for a Cutthroat, are ye not, boy?” he asked
loudly.

His voice disrupted the quiet night atmosphere more than
anything else so far.  Sam remained silent, thinking of what his next action
would be.

“Answer me boy!” he growled and pointed his greatsword at
Sam.  The tip of the blade nearly touched Sam’s nose.

“I suppose I am,” Sam admitted.

“A foolish occupation for one so easily seen, but I think
all Cutthroats are fools.  Why were you stalking me then, boy?” the king asked
not dropping his sword.  “Doing a Cutthroat’s duty?  Trying to pillage my
quintessence?”

Sam shook his head.

“That’s a dead man’s game, fool.  You try anything like that
and I’ll take yours with no qualms about it.”

The king looked him over again.  He lowered his sword and
continued to stare at Sam while rubbing his beard.

“You look to be in dire straits.  This forest has tested your
will to live, it seems.  When I look you over, I just can’t see how you made it
this far into this forest,” he said then laughed out loud.

“More men have lost their lives and sanity here than you can
count.  Even worse, those men have found their very quintessence stolen and
without it, were forced to become listless revenants.  That is the nature of
this plague, to steal, kill, and perpetuate our foul stagnation.  You’d do well
to leave here, boy and to leave your foolish profession.  You aren’t cut out
for it anyway by the looks of you.”

Is this the same mad king that the merchant had
mentioned?

“I would if I could, king.  It’s too dangerous to exit the
forest.  There’s a swordsman out there, with a greatsword just like yours,” Sam
answered.

“Greatsword?  Maybe you refer to that bloody forest killer. 
I’ve heard the tales of his butchery.  He finds himself fortunate to have not
faced the king’s justice.  If we ever cross swords then I will eagerly put the
mad dog down.  I see you’ve lost some of your quintessence and have started to
decay.  Could it be that you were killed by that madman?”

The king answered his own question before Sam could even
respond.

“No.  It’s been said that he only kills and pillages the
quintessence from warriors of great strength.  You luckily don’t qualify as one
of his targets.”

Fuck you too, king asshole!

“This forest still remains perilous for an upstart like
yourself.  Though I can clearly see that you’ve been tested, you just don’t
have what it takes to survive here.  When I ruled, I was a kind king.  I hold
the knightly oaths dear to my heart.  The number one oath of a knight of
Ashelund, ‘protect the weak.’  I will help you while you’re in this forest,
boy.”

“Whoa, really!?” Sam couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes.  Of course, my assistance doesn’t come free, not for
one dressed in Cutthroat garb.  You will help me with something later.”

“With what?”

“In time, boy.  Right now we’ll make a pact.  I’ll consider
you as part of my honorable king’s guard and provide you with strategies and
assistance with many subjects in this forest.  In return you will join me in
meting out the king’s justice.  What do you say to that?” the king asked as he
walked further into the forest.  Sam didn’t know what else to do but follow the
man.  They walked through a thicket and down a dirt path for a few minutes
before coming to a stop near a thin stream.

Sam gave it some thought and decided that the king was
giving him a seemingly good deal, at least for now.  The terms were a little
vague but the tit-for-tat seemed to fall more in Sam’s favor.

“Sure,” Sam agreed.

“Good lad.  I’ll tell you a secret then to cement our
cooperation.  All the plantlike creatures in the woods can be easily killed
with fire.  That includes the seemingly immortal Forest Barkers.  Those tenacious
beasts like to attack relentlessly, but fire takes them out at the root so they
can’t replicate.  Here take this.”

Ignition Powder x5

“This’ll put the odds in your favor whenever you’re facing a
hoard.  Imbue it to your weapon of choice.”

“Thanks, King.”