The next day, the four friends decided to go on an expedition to the countryside, to recuperate after their fights.
"That was an impressive fight, Athemar. I don't think I've ever seen someone win in worse shape than the loser." Sylvia slyly remarked.
"I was about to give up. I'd used everything I had, and if he'd been any more resistant to pain he would've destroyed me." Athemar was unusually humble.
"Oh come on, you're no fun to tease if your ego isn't as big as the sun. You fought hard for that victory and deserved it. Don't go Gawain on me."
"Oh, I'm still very aware of how good I am, trust me. I just think Prince Jack had a lot more fight in him when I'd run out of options. If I fought him again I'd win for sure, just because I know to avoid getting kicked or wearing myself out."
"That's much better. Now then: are you sure? He seemed like a better fighter than you." Sylvia winked at him and hopped forwards a few steps.
"No-one's better than me. If they knock me down once, I'll just get back up and take them down with me next time." Without warning, Sylvia darted in and kicked his legs out, before jumping nimbly out of reach.
"Let's see you prove that."
"Oh, you're on!" Athemar rushed at Sylvia, planning to wrestle her to the ground, but got tripped instead.
"I thought you were supposed to take me down with you this time." Sylvia laughed happily.
"You've activated my trap card."
"Come on, that reference is older than we are - oof! " Athemar had grabbed her foot and used his legs to topple her upper half mid-sentence. Gawain and Nathan dodged around them and carried on walking.
"Quit your lover's scrap and keep moving. Otherwise we'll leave you behind." Sylvia was already on her feet and threw an arm around Nathan's shoulders.
"He's proved his word, now let's see if you're good for yours too. I'll race you to the camp spot." Nathan was proud of his foot speed, and his competitive streak was strong.
"Go on ahead. I like to have prey to hunt."
"Ooh, scary! I might have to set a few traps once I'm miles ahead of you." She danced out of the way of his lunge and the two sprinted off, neck and neck. Athemar dusted himself off and caught up with Gawain. It wasn't long before they passed Sylvia and Nathan panting on the ground.
"We're not even close. I'm surprised you can make any money in the fights if that's what your stamina's like." Athemar chortled. Sylvia bounced up and followed along.
"We turned it into a fight somewhere along the road. Turns out we're pretty equal in general." Nathan got up slowly, wheezing as he put pressure on his leg.
"Not true. I'm way better, she just socked me because she was about to run out of energy first." He caught up, grinning brightly. Athemar scowled at Sylvia.
"You'd better not have hurt him too bad. This expedition is supposed to be a chance to recover." Nathan made a mock indignant noise.
"Hey! You'd believe her over me!? I told you I'm better!"
"There's no shame in falling to a dishonourable attack." Nathan nodded, smiling. "But that's not what happened is it?" Athemar dodged a playful swing and they all laughed loudly for a while. Soon they came to the clearing they were accustomed to setting up camp in, and stopped in their tracks.
"Ummm... I'm not sure I like the decorating sense of the last people who used this." Nathan said hesitantly. There were two huge black fissures in the ground. One was where a waterfall used to be, and it was seeping a digital black fog.
"What even is this? It's like someone tried to tear a hole in the world, but didn't realise it's a program." Athemar was shaken. They approached cautiously to investigate, but stopped when some kind of... creature... stepped out of one of the fissures. More specifically, it was a hulking mass of glitchy black particles, roughly in the shape of a beast with fangs. It didn't have eyes, but it acted as if it was looking around before locking its gaze on the four friends. They all took a worried look at each other before drawing their weapons and settling into a fighting stance. The digital beast didn't seem to have much of a thought process per se, but it did appear to have one objective: destroy. It charged recklessly at the group, leaving a trail of black particles that lazily ate away at the landscape. Athemar jumped to the front and threw up his shields against the beast's attack. The false paw bounced off, causing the black mass to reel back, and Athemar landed a solid punch to its centre.
"Okay. It's obviously some kind of glitch, but it appears to have a physical body... Or at least a digital one that our own can interact with. As far as I'm aware this world shouldn't be susceptible to glitches though, but it has been five years and it was only a beta test to begin with." Athemar looked puzzled.
"Hey, nerd! Fight now, analyse later!" Nathan shouted in his ear, just as the glitch readied another strike. Surprised, Athemar stumbled back and almost took the hit full on. Instead, Gawain stepped in and blocked the hit with his sword. It shone brightly in the sun, perfect and whole.
"Gawain, you're finally using Excalibur!" Athemar was shocked.
"I'm not happy about it, but it's all I had time for. Never mind that, what are you doing? Get your head in the game!"
"Right, sorry." Athemar shook his head and stepped back into a stance once more, while Gawain twisted his sword and dragged it across the beast's paw. The light shining from the blade seemed itself to cut into the glitch, and the beastly form reared back and screamed silently. Then, suddenly, it turned to slam its body back onto the ground, fangs gnashing at Nathan. He hastily threw up his skrath, deflecting the teeth with its Chronosteel cage. Then he regained intentional actions and slashed it back across the creature's face before twisting his body and plunging the spike into its throat with full force. The glitchy particles it was made up of distorted around the spike like a stone hurled into a still lake, and the mass bounced off the wings of the weapon before collapsing to the ground. The others cheered and gathered around Nathan to pat him on the back. However, a new mass of black particles had formed out of the fog that had been seeping out of the other fissure. This one had no form, but was rather a solidification of the black fog. As it moved, everything surrounding it was covered with more of the black particles that began corroding the landscape at an alarming rate.
"Alright, so how do we deal with this one? We could fight the other one because it had a form we understood, but this one... Just attack it a bunch and hope for the best?" Athemar asked jokingly.
"That can be Plan B, but I highly recommend retreat so we can talk to the king about this." Sylvia advised.
"No, I don't think we can retreat. This thing's eating up the landscape so fast the city might be all that's left by the time the king hears of it."
"Plan B it is then." The four swiftly began circling the fog and driving their weapons into it. Its physical surface reacted like a creature's flesh, but the thing itself had absolutely no reaction. After a good while of this, Nathan spoke.
"Are we sure we're actually doing anything to it?"
"No, but it might just be really tough. It's best to keep going for another ten minutes or so." Athemar responded. As promised, they kept going for another ten minutes. Just as they were starting to slow down in exhaustion, the spike of Nathan's skrath seemed to 'burst' the fog. He caught himself from collapsing.
"See... I am... better. I got both... of 'em."
They began to regroup and head home, but as they were about to leave, another huge creature emerged from the other fissure.
"Oh, come on. Another one? We can't fight it in this state. No matter what you might think, Athemar. Let's get back as quick as we can." Sylvia gathered them all together and pushed them along, until they agreed and started running back to the city.