Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game

It was not as if Miles was running for his life.

Not like he had done the night before when facing Tarhut. This time, even though facing the grim reality of that strange, deadly game that his world had turned into, understanding that unlike any other game that he had played before, this one was far more complex and had mechanics completely alien to those he once knew, Miles was running for a plan.

Back in high school, he was not a genius. Actually, he had been a pretty mediocre student, but only because he had focused all his attention and effort on playing games and streaming.

Not that he was famous or anything, but he had found something he was really good at, and even if not excelling at playing games, he was good at understanding the dynamics and mechanics of what he was playing, which allowed him to get good at whatever game he played, even though after the second of third playthrough.

But The Glitch was not a game in which he could have a second chance at trying.

Even if Miles had not had a near death experience yet, he saw many people die around him and not come back to understand that.

Drops of sweat rolled down his eyebrows, and he looked up at the sky, still running, trying to understand where that heat was coming from. The sun was already in the middle of the sky, but the woods were not a humid place, like a rain forest or something.

Insects buzzed in his ear, and only then he noticed what unfolded before him.

In the distance, the ground was becoming muddier and muddier, until the woods gave place to a dense swamp, its air moist and hot, full of insects and dead things.

On the other side of it, Miles could discern it almost as if it was lit up in bright colors.

The entrance to the cave where he had awakened the guardian, Tarhut.

'How did I get this far?' Miles frowned, a strange smell filling his nostrils. He immediately jumped sideways, and the serpent's head smashed the muddy ground where he stood just a moment ago.

'Shit! I got too carried away because of this place…' He huffed, tightening his grip around the wooden spear, so hard that he felt the warmth of his blood spreading through his palm.

The serpent hissed, looking at Miles like when they first faced each other, and Miles looked from the spear to the giant serpent's head, trying to keep the eye contact as best as possible, but as soon as he looked down, the slithering enemy raised its head for another ground shaking attack.

In the blink of an eye, a crazy idea crossed Miles' mind.

'Crazy, but it might work…' He inhaled deeply, and waited for the serpent to hammer its head down, while thrusting the back of the spear into the ground, finding some resistance not long after.

With a grin, Miles waited as the enemy's head fell, faster and faster.

'Not yet…'

The serpent was getting closer by the second, but Miles did not move a muscle.

'Not yet…'

The shadow of the serpent's oval-shaped head grew bigger and bigger, overwhelming Miles with its size, but he only moved when the tip of the spear nudged gently the soft skin below the enormous Beast's jaw, jumping sideways with all his remaining strength.

The game that Miles world had turned into had a lot of complicated mechanics, but after facing Tarhut, he had learned an aspect that he could only test and prove real or not, in a battle against a foe as big as the guardian. And since his makeshift spear was taller than him by a head or so, it had given just the exact leeway he needed for that crazy plan to work.

Even though he had paid the price with some bruises and a few cracked ribs.

The ground shook around Miles and mud splashed him in the back, but the lack of movement made him grin as he got up, turning around.

Despite the primitive form of intelligence that allowed the enormous predator to survive that long in the woods, it was not smart enough to understand Miles' plan until it was too late, impaling itself onto Miles' spear with the strength of its own attack.

"God… Freaking… Damn it…" Miles sighed, tired to the bone, his breath coming in hisses, wheezing ever so slightly as he slowly sat down. "Every enemy has… Its weakness."

He tried to laugh, but his torso hurt, so he tried to keep it down, holding his ribs as gently as possible.

'Shit, if I knew that the magic tea was going to heal me, I would've saved it for now…' He chuckled inwardly, holding back a coughing fit.

The swamp was dark and lifeless, with only flies and other insects buzzing around him, but the fight should not have lasted more than a few minutes, which made Miles sigh in relief.

'I still have time to get some rest before nightfall…' He lay down on the mud, feeling the wet coldness soothe his aching body, trying his best to stay awake.

Catching his breath, feeling the uncomfortable moist breeze of the swamp, Miles waited patiently for the system's voice to echo in his head, announcing his kill and the earning of some experience points, but the system was silent.

One second, two, and then ten, thirty.

A whole minute had passed, and the system was still silent.

With a grunt, Miles took note of the fact that, somehow, living beings born from the forest did not grant him any experience points, and simply closed his eyes for a moment, only to open them just a second later with a start.

"Ah, ah, ah…" He huffed as quietly as he could, looking up through the cover of dead branches, and his eyes widened. "Shit! I fell asleep again…"

Daylight was already dimming down in the sky, ready to give way to nightfall – and the arrival of the forest's true dangers – as the sun crawled its last mile towards the horizon.

After managing to dig a few pieces of meat from Serpens, and storing some in his inventory, he managed to light up a fire, small enough so that he could roast two reasonably large pieces of serpent meat, ate until his stomach was full enough, but not to the extent of feeling stuffed, and got up.

With the little time he had, he felt urged, almost compelled, even, to enter the cave, before anything more dangerous than the serpent – or, gods forbid, something worse than Tarhut – appeared out of nowhere to come for him.

However, when Miles turned his head at the mouth of the cave, a shiver ran down his spine.

There was a black fog swirling, slithering across the ground, coming from the mouth of the cave.

'What in the major fuck?' Miles' eyes widened slightly. He shook his head, though, moving forward with a grimace. 'Whatever the hell that is, I'll just be extra careful, this time…'

Little by little, Miles approached the entrance to the cave, a dark mouth that dwarfed him by several meters, and as soon as he stepped into the black fog, sending tendrils of the strange black, ice-cold air up like splashing water, the system echoed in his head, followed by the popping up of its holographic window, making Miles jump backwards.

[Your soul is being attacked]