Chapter 6 THE LAG SPIKE

The air outside the workshop felt heavy, Julian and Lyra walked down the narrow dirt path of the village, the other survivors huddled together near the scrap-metal walls, they looked down at the ground, too afraid to make eye contact with the newcomers.

Standing near the main wooden gate were three figures in clean, polished white armor, the heavy metal plates on their chests bore the gold insignia of a roaring tiger, two of the men carried large tactical spears that hummed with electric energy, the man in the center wore a long white robe over his armor, he held a glowing wooden staff, above his head, a floating green text box displayed his information for everyone to see:

User: Scout Leader Marcus]

Faction: White Tiger Guild

Class: Pyro-Mage – Level 5

Marcus was holding a small, silver tracking device in his hand,the device beeped rapidly, emitting a faint red light that pointed straight toward the center of the village.

"The data anomaly is close," Marcus said, his voice was loud, arrogant, and cold, he looked around the village with disgust, "The System AI logged a major timeline error in this exact sector, whoever is hiding the glitch-crafting code, step forward now, if you waste my time, the White Tiger Guild will lock this safe zone down, no one will be allowed to leave and hunt for food," the survivors gasped in fear, a quiet murmur spread through the crowd.

Julian kept his hands in his pockets, his fingers were wrapped tightly around the smooth leather hilt of his new Static-Lag Dagger, he leaned closer to Lyra.

"The leader is a Mage," Julian whispered, "His physical armor is light, but his magical damage is high, the two guards with spears are Level 4 Sentinels, they will try to protect him if we attack."

Lyra gripped her heavy greatsword, keeping it hidden behind her duffel bag, "We cannot fight three high-level players in the open, Julian, if Marcus casts a high-tier fire spell, it will burn through my shield in one hit." "He won't get the chance to cast it," Julian said, he activated his Perception attribute, which was now at a powerful 14 points.

Instantly, the village changed in his vision, he ignored the physical bodies of the guild members, instead, he looked at the floor tiles beneath Marcus’s boots, his Savvy attribute instantly flagged a major structural error in the safe zone's boundary line right behind the mage, because Julian had overloaded the power grid in the previous chapter, the edge of the barrier was glitching, it was constantly turning on and off in micro-seconds.

Structural Loop Error Detected: Safe Zone Boundary Line is flickering.

Logic Gap: Moving an enemy across this specific boundary line will momentarily disable their 'Safe Zone Protection' status, allowing full combat damage.

Julian smiled, it was the perfect loophole, "Lyra," Julian muttered, "I am going to make him angry, when he steps backward onto that flickering tile, you use your shield slam to push him completely out of the gate, do not worry about his guards, i will handle them," Lyra looked at the tile, then looked back at Julian, her hazel eyes filled with determination, "I am ready."

Julian stepped out from the crowd of survivors, he walked slowly, his posture relaxed, looking completely non-threatening with his low physical stats, "Hey, corporate boy," Julian called out, his voice echoing across the quiet courtyard.

Marcus stopped looking at his silver tracking device, he whipped his head toward Julian, his eyes narrowing into angry slits, "What did you just call me, civilian?"

"I called you a corporate boy," Julian said, stopping ten feet away, he crossed his arms, "You come down from the upper floors wearing fancy white armor, but you are just a low-level lackey for a tycoon who is too afraid to face the dungeon himself, your little silver tracker is a piece of garbage, it isn't going to find anything."

The two guards instantly raised their electric spears, their faces turning red with anger, "Watch your mouth, Level 2 trash!, you are speaking to a representative of the White Tiger Guild!," Marcus raised his hand, stopping his guards,a cruel, arrogant smile spread across the mage's face, he raised his wooden staff, the red gem at the top began to glow with intense, fiery heat.

"You have a very big mouth for a insect with a Strength stat of four," Marcus sneered, he took a heavy step backward, exactly as Julian had calculated, his boot landed squarely on the flickering boundary tile, "In a safe zone, I cannot kill you, but I can use a low-level burn spell to make you beg for mercy."

Warning: Target has stepped into the Logic Gap.

Safe Zone Combat Restriction: Disabled for 3 seconds.

"Now, Lyra!", Julian yelled, Lyra moved like a golden flash, she dropped her duffel bag and lunged forward, her golden Sentinel shield flared to life with maximum power, she did not swing her sword, instead, she brought her heavy shoulder down and smashed her golden shield directly into Marcus’s chest.

Class Skill Activated: Shield Bash!

BANG!, the impact sounded like a thunderclap, Marcus was completely caught off guard, the force of the strike lifted his light body off the ground and threw him backward, crashing through the village gate and landing in the dark, dirt cavern outside the safe zone, "Attack!" the two Level 4 guards screamed, they spun their electric spears and charged toward Lyra.

But Julian was already moving, he slid the Static-Lag Dagger out of his belt, the dark glass blade reflected the glowing silver circuit lines of the sky, he did not run toward the guards, he ran toward their path.

With his high Perception, he calculated the exact timing of the first guard's stride,as the guard swung his electric spear at Lyra, Julian lunged low, sliding across the geometric tiles, he swiped the dark glass blade across the guard’s ankle, the strike dealt only 12 physical damage, the guard laughed. "Is that a toy knife? ,You can't pierce my armor!", but then, the purple text box flashed in Julian’s eyes.

Latency Injection Successful! Target: White Tiger Guard A.

Injecting 10 units of Lag Data.

Instantly, a heavy, pixelated gray mist wrapped around the guard's legs, the man tried to take another step forward, but his body suddenly became incredibly choppy, he froze for a full second, then jerked forward two inches, then froze again, he looked like a video game character with a terrible internet connection, "What... is... happening... to... my... body?", the guard stuttered, his voice coming out in broken, distorted audio loops.

The second guard stopped in shock, staring at his glitched partner, Julian did not waste a single second, he spun around, gripped his dagger with both hands, and slashed the second guard across the wrist.

Latency Injection Successful! Target: White Tiger Guard B.

Injecting 10 units of Lag Data.

Now, both high-level guards were completely stuck in a massive lag spike, they stood side-by-side, their bodies vibrating and glitching violently, unable to raise their weapons or move their limbs, to the crowd of watching survivors, it looked like magic, but to Julian, it was just beautiful, broken code.

Outside the gate, Marcus slowly pushed himself up from the dirt, his white robe was covered in grime, and his face was twisted in absolute fury, the red gem on his staff exploded with massive, roaring flames, "I am going to turn you both into ash!", Marcus screamed, he began to chant a high-tier fire spell, the air around him began to warp from the intense heat.

Julian turned his back on the lagging guards, he looked out the gate at the Level 5 Mage, he slipped his fingers into his pocket and pulled out his stamina recovery potion, drinking it in one gulp, his stamina bar flashed back to 100%, he raised his dark glass dagger, pointing the glowing neon-crimson wire straight at Marcus.

"You are a good caster, Marcus," Julian said, his voice cold and steady, "But your reaction time is way too slow," Julian focused his mind on the weapon's core logic and activated his primary skill.

"Rubber-Band Strike."

What happens next?