GLITCH

Inside the Despised Crystal

MAIDEN'S GLOSS CITY

December 2

12:37 pm

Damn it!

"As if I'd let you!"

I reached out my arms—one for her minions, one for Licht herself. I don't know why I'm doing this but a skill just popped out of my mind, as well as, a certain object.

I grasped the air while aiming at Licht and acted that I pulled her. At the same time with my other arm, I launched a human-sized purple orb that slowly progresses forward. Both are other skills that I'm not familiar with; nevertheless, I used the skills as if I have known these for a long time.

"[Gravicoil], then [Gravigrasp]!"

"!?"

[Gravicoil] and [Gravigrasp] are both non-lethal skills. The former one is the sphere thingy that allows whatever came into contact immobilized due to its strong gravitational force and I modified it that it only immobilize Licht's clones while the latter is…well, let's just say I'm pulling something or, in this case, someone towards me.

Licht, pulled by my skill, immediately tries to counter by pointing her sword as she is drawn towards me. My, she's quite something despite being under hypnosis of some sort. As for her clones, they've been immobilized so no worries about those photocopies.

Whatever, let's just shoot another one.

"[Gravicoil]."

The instant the ball hits Licht, she dropped to the ground on all fours, trying to get up despite the changes in her weight.

Talk about not being submissive.

Well, she's a Fallen after all, so I think it wouldn't be surprising to see her managing to resist my skill to this degree.

First things first… I need to remove that contamination in that crystal of hers.

But the question here is how to do it.

Eh…?

All I need to do is to touch it and use another skill?

Ugh, my head's starting to ache. When did I have this skill?

I touched her crystal—the one embedded on her chest—and used a skill that I shouldn't have known about. Moreover, this would be the first time I chant a spell for activation.

"[W%321a0*#a?! p8an$ ads1!>…]"

W-what are these words coming from my mouth? I don't have an inkling of knowledge about this one. What's happening to me…?

"… [%0a#a%s@*?+]."

As soon as I spoke all of it, my consciousness fades away.

•••

???

December 2

???

"Ugh…"

I finally opened my eyes. At first, I expected to see the ceiling of a hospital or a ceiling, while lying on the bed. However, I'm lying on solid ground and staring at some floating rocks (?). Moreover, the sky, when did it became that artistic? I'm seeing varied colors as if I'm looking at a majestic painting. Well, I could say that I'm not in the real world. So, where exactly am I? I stood up, and started looking around.

"Wait, isn't that…?"

A few meters away, I saw what appears to be a castle. It's Licht's castle, and it's floating too.

Among the clusters of landforms as far as my eyes could see, I could also see a lot of Glitches forming nonstop. This spells trouble.

Huh?

Wait.

As I looked up to the sky once more, I focused my sight and noticed that there's a boundary—no, more like a ceiling? Either way, the color is deep red. I just realized my exact location...

I'm inside Licht's Fallen Blood Crystal.

So this is what happens if I use that peculiar skill huh? I've been having a lot of unknown skills lately. Uh, no…maybe I should scratch that—I've got a lot of sub-skills I never knew and always pop up out of nowhere; these sub-skills are accompanying my [Death] skill. After this mess, maybe I should start recalibrating myself and see if other skills are lying around the corner.

Well, putting that matter aside, I should start conquering this uncharted dungeon!

Is this a dungeon though? Meh, no matter; I'll find a way to save Licht. As for those manifested glitches…I don't care what you are, but I'll s*******r you all.

First things first though, I want my old gloves back. I mean, these gloves may be nice and all, but I prefer my old ones.

Is there a way to bring it back?

Ah.

Suddenly, my gloves started sparking…and changed form again.

•••

MAIDEN'S GLOSS CITY

December 2

12:58 pm

"Where's the girl I sent here earlier? The one with the gloves?"

"She…she disappeared after touching that lady over there."

"Hmm?"

When I came to the inner chambers of the castle I found some of my troops sitting on the ground with grim expressions. When I asked about Rylai's whereabouts, they told me what happened and as I look at the direction my underling pointed at, I saw a lady wearing tattered fancy clothes encased in a transparent blue-violet sphere.

"What do you mean disappeared?"

"Ah, yes…to tell you honestly, she was more like vaporized or melted and turned into that orb encasing that lady—"

"Your Majesty!"

I quickly glanced to who exclaimed that and see that heavily wounded person who asked Rylai to help the queen.

"Wait! You shouldn't have moved and take a rest!"

"I-I can't…the queen…in danger…must protect her."

"Don't worry about the queen. That girl you asked for help is doing her best to save your queen."

"I thank you…"

The man fell to the ground and lose consciousness.

Rylai, please come back safely…wherever you are.

•••

FALSE WORLD: FALLEN BLOOD CRYSTAL

???

???

"Pant…pant…"

This stupid castle is ten times huge as the original one!

How long has it been? I've been fighting nonstop that I lose track of the time, I only traced it to four months and a half—this is the least of my problems. These pesky Glitches are keeping me busy! Not that I can complain much, since dealing with them gave me a lot of experience.

For some reason, the kitchen of the castle has an abundance of food and water, and thus I'm saved from thirst and starvation. This place is the only haven I have here. Uh, not-so-haven it is since I still need to fend off some glitches like mini-chimeras, moving armors, and gargoyles.

Putting that aside, I'm feeling dense negative energy from the inner chambers, the place where the queen and I fought months ago. I could only find out what's in there by going to the said place.

I just sighed, then pinched the bridge of my nose and started to feel gloomy.

I wonder what's happening outside. I hope they're all right.

There's no point thinking about it too much. I have something to finish here.

I clenched my fists and looked at my gloves. It's a modified version of my old gloves, the one that blasts enemies with energy strikes. Moreover, electromagnetic energy has been added to my arsenal, and it seems that the gravity gloves I had had their properties merged with my old ones. So there you have it; I have my Tech Gloves 3.0!

Since I'm stuffed, I'm ready to go and try to dive deeper.

"Let's do this", I said as I clenched my fists.