Chapter 7 THE SNAP- BACK

The red gem at the top of Marcus’s staff blindingly roared, the air outside the safe zone boundary warped from the extreme heat, forming a massive, swirling sphere of orange fire, "Die, you glitching trash!", Marcus roared, preparing to hurl the fireball straight into the village.

But the Static-Lag Dagger in Julian's hand was already pulsing with an angry, forbidden purple light, the neon-crimson wire running down the center of the dark glass blade grew intensely bright.

Active Skill Activated: Rubber-Band Strike.

Target: Scout Leader Marcus.

System Status: Calculating prior geographic coordinates...]

Instantly, the world seemed to hitch, to Marcus, the fireball in his hand suddenly flickered out of existence, a bizarre, grinding sound echoed through his ears, like a computer hard drive failing under a heavy load, before the mage could even blink, an invisible, kinetic force grabbed his entire body, it did not push him forward; it violently pulled him backward through space.

Marcus’s boots lifted off the ground as he was dragged at lightning speed toward the exact spot he had occupied three seconds ago, right back across the flickering boundary line, straight into the safe zone courtyard.

Target successfully snapped back 3.0 seconds through local space.

Applying Raw Data Damage: 30 Points!

CRACK!

The spatial snap-back hit Marcus like a speeding freight train, the impact shattered his light mage armor, sending white shards flying across the dirt, Marcus let out a choked gasp, as his health bar instantly plunged into the flashing red zone, he crashed onto the geometric floor tiles right at Julian's feet, coughing up a spray of digital red static, the massive fireball he had spent his time creating detonated harmlessly in the empty cavern outside the gate, leaving nothing but a scorch mark on the distant stone.

"W-What... did you do to me?", Marcus wheezed, his staff rolling out of his limp fingers, he tried to stand, but his limbs were heavy, trembling under the lingering weight of the latency data, behind him, the two Level 4 guards were finally breaking free from their lag loops, their pixelated gray clouds began to dissolve, but their faces were completely pale, they looked at their defeated leader, then at Lyra's massive, glowing greatsword, and finally at Julian, who stood calmly over Marcus with his dark glass dagger lowered.

The entire courtyard fell into a dead, stunned silence, the huddled survivors stared with wide, unblinking eyes, a Level 2 civilian had just dismantled a Level 5 elite Mage from the most powerful guild on the mid-floors without taking a single point of damage.

Julian stepped forward, the edge of his Static-Lag Dagger resting lightly against the collarbone of Marcus’s white armor, "Listen to me very carefully, corporate boy," Julian said, his voice dropping into a cold, terrifying whisper that only Marcus could hear, "You are going to take your guards, and you are going to walk out of this safe zone, you will report to your guild tycoons that Floor 1 experienced a minor system glitch that has already resolved itself, if you mention my name, or if you ever come back to this sector..."

Julian leaned closer, his high Perception making his eyes look deeply unsettling. "...I will make sure your entire body gets stuck in a permanent, infinite lag loop, you will spend eternity unable to move, unable to speak, and unable to log out, do you understand me?"

Marcus shivered violently, he had faced terrifying boss monsters on the upper floors, but those monsters followed the rules of the game, this terrifying young man standing over him did not, Julian was a ghost in the machine, "I... I understand," Marcus whispered hoarsely, Julian lifted his blade, "Then get out of my sight."

The two guards rushed forward, completely ignoring Lyra now, they grabbed Marcus by his arms, dragging their trembling leader out through the wooden gate, they did not look back, they ran into the dark, ruined cavern city as fast as their high-level agility stats could carry them.

Threat Neutralized!

Experience Gained: 120/200.

Savvy Attribute Progress: 75/100.

As the white armor of the White Tiger scouts disappeared into the shadows, the survivors in the courtyard suddenly erupted into loud, cheering voices, for the first time since the Integration began, someone had stood up to the tyranny of the big guilds and won, Lyra slid her heavy greatsword into her duffel bag, a brilliant smile breaking across her face, "That was incredible, Julian, you completely broke his brain."

"We don't have time to celebrate, Lyra," Julian said, turning back toward Malakai’s workshop, his face remained serious, "Marcus is a coward, so he will lie to his superiors to save his own skin, but the White Tiger Guild isn't stupid, they will send more scouts eventually, and look up," Lyra looked toward the silver circuit sky, high above the village, the air was beginning to ripple again, Small, geometric crimson lines were slowly knitting themselves together, forming a giant, ominous eye pattern that looked directly down at the safe zone.

SYSTEM WARNING: Persistent Local Anomaly Detected.

Compiling Server Patch 1.2... Progress: 15%.

Patch Directive: Deploy System Executioner Unit to eliminate target 'Julian Vance'.

"The System AI is getting impatient," Julian said, his grip tightening on his leather hilt, "It's bypassing the standard floor mechanics, It is sending a boss-level hunter directly to us", Malakai stepped out of his shop, his pixelated left arm sparking with dark energy, then you need to get off Floor 1 immediately, kid, the only way to escape a targeted system wipe is to climb higher.

The elevator to Floor 2 is inside the Ruined Core Hub, three miles from here, but it's crawling with buffed monsters", Julian looked at Lyra, who extended her hand toward him without hesitation, then let's go break some more rules," Lyra said.