The group continued deeper into Floor 299.
The corridor gradually widened as they walked, eventually opening into a network of larger tunnels connected by broken stone bridges and natural caverns. Blue crystals glowed faintly from the walls, casting cold light over everything.
Marcus moved in front.
His new skill activated quietly in the background.
System Fracture Sense Lv.1
He could feel it now.
Not just see the glitches.
Feel them.
A faint pressure in the back of his mind pointed toward unstable areas of the dungeon. It was subtle, like an instinct guiding him toward something slightly wrong with reality.
Marcus slowed.
Daniel noticed immediately.
"You see something?"
Marcus nodded.
"Maybe."
He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the strange sensation. The pressure grew slightly stronger toward the left tunnel.
"That way."
Victor glanced down the other path.
"You sure?"
Marcus opened his eyes again.
"No."
Victor sighed.
"Fantastic."
Daniel lifted the spear.
"Still better than wandering randomly."
They turned left.
The tunnel sloped downward slightly before opening into another cavern.
But this one looked different.
Old wooden structures stood near the walls. Broken crates, scattered tools, and rotting ropes lay across the floor.
Tom blinked.
"...Was this a mining site?"
Marcus stepped closer to one of the crates.
The wood was ancient but the structure was clearly artificial.
"This place wasn't built by the dungeon originally."
Elena frowned.
"You mean humans were here before us?"
Marcus studied the area.
Possibly.
Or the AI copied parts of old structures while building the dungeon floors.
Both options were disturbing.
Victor kicked one of the crates open.
Inside were rusted tools and fragments of broken metal.
"Nothing useful."
Marcus walked deeper into the cavern.
The fracture sense in his mind grew stronger.
Something here was unstable.
Then he saw it.
Near the far wall a large section of the cave flickered slightly.
Not a clean fracture like the shortcuts.
This one pulsed slowly.
Daniel noticed Marcus staring.
"What is it?"
Marcus pointed.
"A bigger glitch."
The distortion stretched across a large area of stone. The surface looked normal at first glance but under Glitch Vision it rippled constantly.
Tom approached cautiously.
"Another monster?"
Marcus shook his head slowly.
"I don't think so."
The glitch reacted when he stepped closer.
The distortion widened.
Then a rectangular shape appeared inside the flickering space.
Marcus stopped.
"...That looks like a door."
Victor squinted.
"A door to where?"
Marcus did not answer immediately.
Because the system interface had appeared again.
Hidden Instance Detected
Corrupted Dungeon Fragment
Recommended Level: Unknown
Marcus read the notification twice.
Then he looked back at the group.
"It looks like a side dungeon."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"We just barely survived the last thing."
Marcus nodded.
"I know."
Victor crossed his arms.
"And?"
Marcus looked at the flickering doorway again.
Something inside the dungeon system had broken badly enough to create a completely separate instance.
Which meant rare resources.
Unique monsters.
Possibly powerful rewards.
Marcus smiled faintly.
"And those places usually have very good loot."
The flickering doorway pulsed quietly inside the fractured stone wall.
None of them moved for several seconds.
Victor was the first to speak.
"So let me get this straight."
He pointed at the distortion.
"You want us to walk into the unstable glitch dungeon that even the system can't classify."
Marcus shrugged slightly.
"When you say it like that it sounds worse than it is."
Victor stared at him.
"It sounds exactly as bad as it is."
Daniel stepped closer to the doorway.
The Knight studied the distortion carefully.
"What level do you think it is?"
Marcus shook his head.
"The system couldn't determine that."
Tom frowned.
"That doesn't sound encouraging."
Marcus stepped closer to the flickering entrance.
The distortion rippled around the edges like liquid glass. Through the unstable opening he could barely see a dark chamber beyond.
His fracture sense pulsed strongly.
Whatever was inside this corrupted fragment was unstable.
But also valuable.
Marcus turned back toward the group.
"You all saw the creature we just fought."
Victor nodded.
"Hard to forget."
Marcus continued.
"That monster existed because the dungeon tried to repair a glitch."
Tom crossed his arms.
"So?"
Marcus pointed toward the doorway.
"This is the glitch that caused it."
Silence fell again.
Daniel looked between Marcus and the unstable entrance.
"If that thing spawns more monsters..."
Marcus nodded.
"It will."
Victor sighed loudly.
"Fantastic."
Elena stepped forward slightly.
"But if we clear it..."
Marcus finished the thought.
"The system stabilizes the area."
Tom's eyes lit up.
"And rewards us."
Marcus smiled faintly.
"Exactly."
Daniel looked back at the entrance one more time.
Then he tightened his grip on the spear.
"Alright."
Victor groaned.
"I hate all of you."
Marcus stepped toward the doorway.
The distortion reacted instantly.
The surface of the glitch spread apart like a curtain of broken light.
System Notification
Entering Corrupted Instance
The world shifted.
For a brief moment Marcus felt weightless.
Then the dungeon reformed around them.
The chamber they appeared in was massive.
Stone pillars rose from the ground like the remains of an ancient hall. The ceiling stretched far above into darkness where faint red crystals glowed like dying stars.
But something was wrong.
The entire environment flickered.
Walls shifted slightly out of alignment.
Parts of the floor vanished and reappeared.
Reality itself looked unstable here.
Victor looked around slowly.
"...I officially regret this decision."
Marcus activated Glitch Vision.
The result made him stop immediately.
The entire dungeon fragment was covered in fractures.
Hundreds of them.
Some small.
Some massive.
But one fracture stood out.
At the far end of the chamber something huge moved inside the distortion.
Marcus felt his fracture sense spike violently.
Daniel noticed the change in his expression.
"What do you see?"
Marcus spoke quietly.
"I think..."
The shadow inside the glitch moved again.
A massive shape began pushing through the broken reality of the corrupted dungeon.
"...this place already has a boss."
The massive shape inside the distortion slowly forced its way into the chamber.
Stone pillars trembled as something enormous stepped through the fractured space.
Marcus felt his fracture sense surge like a warning siren in his mind.
The creature emerged completely.
It was easily four meters tall.
Its body resembled a giant armored brute, but parts of it flickered constantly as if sections of the monster did not belong to the same reality. One arm looked like solid black stone. The other appeared half transparent.
Fragments of glowing code drifted around its body.
The system interface appeared.
Corrupted Guardian
Level: 8
Status: Unstable
Victor swallowed.
"...Level eight."
Daniel tightened his grip on the spear.
"We can handle that."
Marcus shook his head.
"Normally, maybe."
He pointed at the monster's chest.
The entire center of its body pulsed with layered fractures.
"This thing is half glitch."
The Corrupted Guardian turned its head toward them.
Two distorted eyes flickered like damaged lights.
Then it moved.
The monster slammed one massive foot onto the stone floor.
The entire chamber shook.
Victor jumped aside as the creature swung its stone arm in a brutal arc. The attack smashed through a nearby pillar, sending chunks of rock flying across the room.
Daniel rushed forward.
The Knight drove his spear toward the monster's leg.
The weapon struck solid armor.
The spear bounced off with a metallic clang.
Daniel cursed.
Tom raised his hands.
A burst of blue energy shot toward the monster's chest.
The magic struck the fractured section.
The guardian flickered violently.
Marcus saw the fractures spread across its torso.
"That worked!" Tom shouted.
Marcus nodded.
"Hit the glitch points!"
Victor darted in again, slashing toward the glowing cracks.
The Assassin's blade cut through the unstable surface.
The monster roared.
The sound was distorted, echoing through the chamber like broken audio.
It swung its transparent arm downward.
Victor barely rolled away before the attack crushed the floor where he had been standing.
Marcus moved forward.
His eyes locked onto the largest fracture running across the creature's torso.
That was the core instability.
If they broke that section the entire monster might collapse.
"Daniel!" Marcus shouted.
The Knight looked over.
Marcus pointed.
"Straight through the chest!"
Daniel nodded.
The Knight charged.
The Corrupted Guardian raised its stone arm to block.
But the glitch in its body caused the movement to lag for a fraction of a second.
Daniel's spear struck the fracture directly.
The entire monster froze.
Error Detected
Structural collapse imminent
Marcus saw the system message appear.
"Now!" he yelled.
Victor struck.
Tom fired another blast of magic.
Daniel drove the spear deeper into the glowing crack.
The fracture spread across the guardian's entire body.
The creature staggered backward.
Its massive form began dissolving into flickering fragments.
The chamber shook violently.
Then the monster collapsed.
Not into flesh.
Into particles of light and broken data.
System Notification
Corrupted Guardian Eliminated
Experience gained: 240
Multiple Level Ups
Marcus watched the interface expand again.
Level Up
Level: 5
Stat points available: 2
Level Up
Level: 6
Stat points available: 2
Victor dropped onto a nearby rock.
"...Okay."
He wiped sweat from his forehead.
"I think I actually like glitch dungeons."
Marcus looked around the corrupted chamber.
The fractures were fading.
The dungeon fragment was stabilizing.
And in the center of the room something new appeared.
A chest made from black metal.
Marcus smiled faintly.
"Good."
He walked toward it.
"Because that's where the real rewards usually are."