NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15: Protocol Glitch
Chapter 15: Protocol Glitch
Location: Underground Dungeon – Class D Rift, Zone 17
The air inside the dungeon was heavier than usual.
Not just the smell of moss, blood, and decay—but pressure. Like reality was bending inward on itself.
Ryo could feel it. So could Iri.
"Something's wrong with the system," Ryo muttered, eyes flickering with faint black code.
"You're not syncing properly," Iri said, tapping her visor. "You're stuttering—Protocol delay spikes every few seconds."
"It's not me. The dungeon's interfering somehow."
The walls pulsed with a low hum. Each step deeper sent a static itch up Ryo's spine, like something was watching. Listening.
[WARNING: Protocol Instability Detected][Error: Shadow Core Response Lag – 2.7 Seconds][Glitch Origin: Unknown]
"Should we pull out?" Iri asked.
"No. If it's messing with my system, I need to understand how."
"That kind of pride gets Hunters killed."
"It's not pride," Ryo replied. "It's survival."
Deeper Into the Rift
They moved cautiously. The monsters were silent—too silent. No howls, no shuffling. Just cold, empty corridors that curved in impossible ways. A labyrinth made by something broken.
Then it happened.
Reality cracked.
One moment, Ryo was standing on solid stone.The next—he dropped straight through it.
"RYO!" Iri shouted, lunging forward—too late.
He fell into darkness.
Glitched Reality
"Ugh…"
Ryo groaned, sitting up. He was… somewhere else.
The dungeon floor was gone. Replaced by an endless mirror surface reflecting twisted, incomplete versions of himself—glitching shadows wearing his face but twisted by jagged code.
Above, black tendrils of digital data writhed like spiderwebs against a shattered sky.
[SYSTEM GLITCH – SHADOW CORE DESYNCHRONIZED][WARNING: Personality Divergence Detected]
Suddenly, one of the reflections moved on its own.
It stepped out of the mirror.
"You're not strong enough," the glitch-Ryo said. "You're holding back the power we could wield."
"You're not me."
"I'm who you will become if you keep resisting."
"I'm not a monster," Ryo whispered.
"That's what all monsters say, right before they stop pretending."
System Spiral
The Glitched Ryo lunged.
Ryo instinctively raised his arm to summon his shadow blade—but the Protocol faltered.
[ERROR: Skill Not Found][ERROR: Protocol Looping][ERROR: ERROR: ERROR]
His weapon shattered into code.
He dodged to the side—barely avoiding a black spike that pierced the space where his head had been.
The clone was faster. Stronger. Like a version of him with no fear, no restraint.
"You're just a code puppet," Ryo hissed.
"Then cut the strings and prove it."
Fight of the Self
Without his blade, Ryo relied on instinct.
He used debris, shadows, raw reflexes. Every movement was desperate, wild.
And then—he remembered the last thing he absorbed.
[Skill: Phantom Fade – Blink (Short Range)]
He concentrated.
Blink.
He reappeared behind the clone, slamming his fist into its back.
Blink again.He twisted midair and kicked it into a mirrored wall.It shattered.
Fragments of code flew into him.
[Partial Synchronization Restored][Skill Reboot: Shadow Blade – Fragmented Version]
A jagged version of his usual weapon reformed—unstable, flickering, but real.
"This is still my system," he growled. "And I decide who I become."
Core Stabilized
As he drove the blade into the heart of his glitch-self, the entire space began to collapse. Shadows screamed. Mirrors shattered. The digital sky tore open.
[Shadow Core Sync: 87%][Protocol Stabilized – Warning: Core Error Persists]
He landed on solid stone again—face-down in the original dungeon floor.
"Ryo!" Iri dropped to her knees. "You're back—what the hell happened? You were gone for almost three minutes!"
"The Protocol… glitched."
"That wasn't just a glitch," she said, scanning his vitals. "Your system looped into a self-destructive simulation. You fought…yourself."
Ryo stood, slowly.
"It wasn't just a simulation. It was a test. The Protocol… it's trying to shape me. Change me."
"Into what?"
"Into someone who doesn't care what's real anymore."
End of Chapter 15