Chapter 10: Kumodokuro The King of the Bones

The Kumodokuro scuttled across the stone walls like a monstrous spider, its bony limbs scraping against rock. Everyone instinctively huddled close, eyes darting between the exits, until the creature dug into the wall and vanished.

"Did it retreat?" someone whispered.

But we weren’t that lucky.

A tremor cracked beneath our feet.

"It’s digging!" someone shouted.

The ground burst open. One of the players screamed as the Kumodokuro’s clawed limb shot out from below, snatching them and dragging them under. It was chaos. Everyone scattered.

I searched desperately for Ysanthe. I spotted her shielding the boy with her body, arms wrapped around him tightly.

"Ysanthe!" I ran toward her.

But the Kumodokuro emerged from the floor, right in front of me.

Its spindly arms lashed out, forcing me to block with the Dangatana. I clashed with its claws, the force rattling through my arms. Despite its massive size, it moved unnaturally fast. I found an opening and slashed at the central torso, finally landing a blow.

It roared in frustration, skeletal jaws gaping, and then turned away… to attack someone else.

No time to celebrate.

I sprinted toward Ysanthe and the kid, grabbing them both and searching frantically for cover, but the room offered none. It was a kill box.

"We have to fight it!" I shouted.

The Kumodokuro lunged at us again. I activated my glitching ability, phasing through the monster’s attacks and striking whenever I could. But something was off.

Every time I hit it, nothing. Its health bar didn’t drop. Not even a sliver.

Why isn’t it working?

Everyone else regrouped, surrounding the creature to strike together, relenting in numbers to overwhelm it. But just as hope flickered, the Kumodokuro raised both arms toward the ceiling, as if offering a prayer to some unseen god.

And then, the fallen players and NPCs pscattered around the room began to twitch.

One by one, they rose from the dead.

An army of undead now stood between the living and any hope of escape.

We were overwhelmed.

The group fractured again, chaos consuming any strategy we had. I was forced back against one of the jail cells, separated from the others. The Kumodokuro loomed ahead.

Suddenly, a hand reached through the bars and gripped my sleeve.

"What are you doing?" a woman’s voice hissed.

I flinched. "What?!"

"You can’t hurt it without magic," she said urgently. "Your weapon is useless alone."

"I can’t use magic!" I shouted back. "I’ve unlocked it, but I can’t access it—"

"Something’s blocking you," she said. "A spell. That’s why your power won’t manifest."

I froze. "Can you break it?"

"There are only two ways," she said, her voice grim. "Defeat the one who cast it… or die."

Before I could answer, the Kumodokuro lunged at me again. I darted away from the cell, clashing once more with its claws. I phased through it and struck, but no effect. I had to retreat again. My time in the phased state was running out.

Suddenly, a small rock flew past me.

The kid had thrown it, right at the Kumodokuro.

The creature screeched, turning toward him and Ysanthe.

"No—!" I shouted, trying to reach them, but the undead blocked my path.

Ysanthe clutched the boy, trembling. Both were crying.

I pointed the Dangatana, hands shaking. Only one bullet left, a shock round. Would it even do anything?

But the undead surged toward me, clawing, biting. I couldn’t get a clear shot.

I gritted my teeth.

"This is making me mad…" I growled. "Ysanthe—GET OUT OF THERE!"

I unleashed everything. My glitch powers surged, I phased through enemy after enemy, reckless, desperate. I pushed my body too far. I had maybe one minute before the pain became unbearable.

My limbs screamed.

I raised my gun, but the pain was blinding. I couldn’t aim.

Then, suddenly a surge of light.

Blue static crackled through my arm and the Dangatana. The blade glowed like a neon saber. Electricity sparked from my fingertips.

Something awakened inside me.

Nova Bloom. My magic

I felt it flowing through me like liquid fire.

I pulled the trigger.

A brilliant blue blast erupted from the Dangatana, the bullet exploding into an arc of raw energy. The Kumodokuro shrieked as static engulfed it, its body thrown backward by the force.

Smoke and sparks filled the room.

For the first time, its health bar dropped.

But seconds later, it began regenerating.

I dropped to my knees, my whole body throbbing.

It had worked… but only for a moment.

Was that magic?

I glanced at my hand, still faintly glowing.

How did I do that? Was it because of the glitch?

I didn’t have the answer, but I had just taken my first step toward unlocking my power.
Someone crashed through the swarm of undead, swinging a massive hammer like a wrecking ball. He struck them down with chaotic fury, covering me as I knelt on the ground, still shaking from the pain.

It was the same guy who had been screaming profanities when we first entered. Now, he was my impromptu savior.

"You alright, man?" he asked, panting, as we stood back-to-back. "That shot you fired was a [BEEP] masterpiece!"

He turned, grinning under his helmet. "Name’s Terrence Swine. And yeah, I swear a lot. [BEEP], I’d apologize if I gave a [BEEP], but I don’t."

I blinked, still recovering. "Swine…? Like the pig?"

"Exactly. And I’m here to pork this [BEEP] up."

Another loud BEEP.

I cringed. "Can you stop with the swearing? My pod’s stuck on child mode, and every time you do that it—"

"[BEEP], really? That’s kinda hilarious."

He laughed, then turned serious. "Alright, boss, what’s the plan?"

"Wait—why are you making me the leader?"

"You just blasted the Kumodokuro into next week," he said. "Whatever you did worked. That means you’ve got the best shot at killing it. So yeah, I’m following you, buddy."

I hesitated. "Well… it’s weak to magic. Some woman in the prison cell said so. It’s not about hitting it harder—it’s about infusing our weapons with magic."

Terrence nodded. "Cool. One problem though. My magic’s locked tighter than a nun’s [BEEP]."

I winced. "Okay, stop."

"No promises."

I sighed. "I might be able to unlock it. I’ve done it before… but it hurts."

"I’ve had tacos that hurt more than whatever you’re about to do. Let’s roll."

I stepped in front of him and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Do you trust me?"

He grinned. "Dude, if this works, I’m about to hammer a [BEEP] demon crab. Of course I do."

I activated my glitching powers. For a second, I saw his molecular structure shift, stuttering like static, as if the world couldn’t decide how to render him. Terrence gritted his teeth. He groaned in pain as arcs of neon red energy shot from his chest down into his weapon.

Then it happened.

Roaring Rage.

His hammer flared to life, glowing with crimson fire and pulsing like it had a heart of its own.

"Holy [BEEP]," he gasped. "That’s what I’m talking about!"

"Try not to destroy the floor—"

He lifted the hammer over his head and slammed it into the ground with a primal roar. The earth trembled. A shockwave blasted outward, toppling undead like bowling pins.

The Kumodokuro froze mid-crawl. Its eyes locked onto us.

Terrence turned to me, grinning like a maniac. "So… you ready to kill this ugly [BEEP]?"

I raised the Dangatana, its edge flickering with glitch-static. "Let’s end this."

Just me and Terrence now, standing alone as the only ones who could fight back. I thought about awakening the others, sharing this gift, but I’d already burned too much energy. One wrong move, and we’d all be dead.

So we stepped forward, two players against one monstrous horror, hoping magic and rage would be enough.
The Kumodokuro screeched as its body reared out from the darkness, its massive skeletal form covered in armored plates, spider legs skittering across the cracked dungeon floor. Its glowing blue eye centered on us like a predator locking onto prey.

"Looks like it wants seconds," Terrence muttered, gripping his hammer. "Let’s give it a full [BEEP] buffet."

The others were scattered across the room, injured, hiding, recovering, but they still fired what they could. Bolts of magic, arrows, even pebbles enchanted with weak buffs, anything to keep its health bar from climbing too fast. The Kumodokuro had a passive regen, and we had to beat it faster than it could cheat its way back to full.

I gritted my teeth, Dangatana pulsing in my grip, glitch-light crackling across the blade.

"Let’s go."

Terrence took the lead, leaping with surprising speed and slamming his hammer into the creature’s front leg. The hit rang out like thunder, shaking the floor. I followed up with a diagonal slash, aiming for its joint. The Dangatana bit deep, data-light searing into bone.

The Kumodokuro roared and retaliated, swinging a clawed hand toward us.

"Move!" I shouted, ducking just in time. Terrence rolled under the blow, spun, and brought his hammer up with a two-handed strike that cracked one of its ribs in half.

The fight became a blur of movement. My blade shimmered, each swing tearing away at its health, each hit costing me more mana. I could feel the Nova Bloom magic trying to activate again, deep inside, like a spark begging to ignite, but I held it back. Not yet.

We darted around the beast, dodging slashes and blasts of necrotic energy from its mouth. Purple flames burned along the floor, scorching the stone. Still, the others kept up their pressure from afar, covering us, distracting the boss, doing whatever they could.

"Jack! Now!" Terrence yelled, after smashing the Kumodokuro in the back and forcing it to stagger.

This was it.

I activated Nova Bloom.

The magic surged through me, petals of violet light erupting from the Dangatana, spinning like solar flares. My body felt weightless, every strike now layered with explosive force, glitch fragments blooming in mid-air as I launched toward the creature’s core.

"RRAAAAH!" I roared, slashing again and again, each hit cleaving through its armor like tissue. Sparks flew. Bone shattered. Its health bar dropped rapidly, but still it healed, climbing slowly, stubbornly, as if refusing to die.

Terrence came in beside me, hammer glowing red-hot with his Roaring Rage. He swung a mighty arc upward, smashing the Kumodokuro’s jaw off with a brutal uppercut.

The Kumodokuro screeched, staggering backward, bleeding light from its wounds.

"Jack, finish it!"

I raised the Dangatana above my head, channeling everything left in me, mana, rage, glitch. The blade split into five afterimages, each one sparking like a dying star.

With one final strike.

I dashed forward and slashed down.

The sword cut clean through the monster’s glowing eye.

There was silence.

Then the Kumodokuro let out a low, garbled roar and its entire body collapsed inward, breaking apart into pixels and light. Its health bar finally dropped to ZERO.

The fight was over.

The room was quiet. Everyone stared at the empty space where the boss once stood.

Terrence laughed, doubled over and panting. "We did it… we [BEEP] did it."

I tried to smile, but my legs buckled.

My vision blurred. My whole body felt drained, like every last thread of mana had been burned away.

But then, a sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

I looked down.

There was a small hole.

My hand trembled as I reached for it, warm blood seeped between my fingers. My senses blurred. The pain was real, raw, blooming like fire through my ribs. My vision swam, edges turning foggy, distant, unreal.

I could feel the blood. I could feel everything.

The last thing I saw was the flicker of glitch-static on the edge of my vision.

Then everything went black.