The cavern was silent aside from Sam's footsteps. He equipped his torch once again, this time using his pyromancy flame to light it, and headed into the tunnel that had been blocked earlier by the Soul Barrier. There was nothing of note inside the manmade tunnel until Sam found an iron door to his right with an inscription engraved on it.
Ye protector of our kingdom, noble soul of wisdom and light, requiescat in pace.
He tried to open it, but it was locked shut. The enormous keyhole made Sam commit the door to memory in case he found something for it later. At the end of the tunnel, he found a simple contraption made of iron, wood, and thick chains. In the center of the contraption was a circular wooden platform. Sam stood on the platform and flipped the switch on the wall. As the platform ascended, he was on high alert. He kept his eyes on the walls for signs of traps and was shocked when he reached the top without incident. He examined the room he had ascended to including the stone walls on each side and noted that it was spacious but barren, lacking even windows and a door.
"How the hell do I get out of here?"
He walked around the room examining each of the walls by touching them and finally he felt the telltale air current of a secret wall. He pressed down on the bricks and the wall shook as it slid to Sam's right. He peeked past the exit and saw a long hallway warmly lit by more than a handful of wall torches. In the distance, he saw a Golem Mage in tattered robes, patrolling in the opposite direction ... for now.
He leaned his head out a little more and saw another long hallway to his left, only this one was narrower and lined with prison cells on both sides of the hall. It was dark at the end of this hallway, but right in the cell in front of him azure fire caught his eye and he was alerted to the presence of the Soul Beacon though unfortunately it looked to be locked behind bars. Not only that, but a Revenant Golem was standing guard in front of it.
I still have some Crystal Herbs so I might as well go for it.
Sam bathed his Corseque in a heated aura and slipped into the hall while the Golem Mage was still floating in the other direction. He silently crept up to the Golem Revenant's back and measured where its core would sit. It was tricky to figure out from behind, but he took an educated stab at it (figuratively at the moment) and charged his attack past its maximum limit before thrusting upwards with both hands all the way through its chest. The golem slowly sank to the ground and to Sam's surprise didn't explode.
"So, a stealth kill stops this thing from exploding? Videogame logic ..."
He checked the cell with the Soul Beacon and confirmed that it was completely locked so he proceeded down the hall in search for a key. All he saw were more locked cells, a few with corpses and some of those corpses had items or gear. He'd have to loot them later.
Ahead, he saw another Golem Mage patrolling in a circular pattern in the center of the hall. He snuck up to it and leapt unto its back and stabbed down into its chest. The mage fell to the ground, but didn't die right away, so Sam flipped it over with his foot and stabbed down into its chest once more.
As soon as it exploded, two Revenant Golems busted out of the nearby parallel cells and made a beeline towards Sam. Sam leapt at the one in front and landed a normal charged strike on its core. It was enough to send it to the ground and when it exploded it caused the other golem to briefly stumble. Sam took advantage by hitting it with a charged strike as well.
"Like clockwork," he said smiling until he saw a third golem approaching from down the hall. Sam stood in place, lest he trigger more golems to bust out of their cells. The Revenant Golem came forward with a wide horizontal chop. Sam dodged it with a full Surikaeretsu and found himself in the perfect striking position for a Stamina Charge as the golem's momentum rendered it off balance. His flame covered spearhead pierced through the golem and pushed it away as it exploded into a pile of rubble. "Like I said, clockwork."
YOU ARE READING
Hell's Glitch (initial draft)
HorrorA NaNoWriMo LitRPG starring a videogame QA tester named Sam Nagai. Sam thought testing videogames would be a dream job until he got saddled with a ton of barely playable mobile games. The lack of fun in these games and small pay make...