The seventh layer opened before them like a nightmare landscape. Unlike the previous layers, this one wasn't chaotic fire or shifting storm—it was orderly, cold, and terrifying.
Countless figures lined the horizon, their bodies flickering in and out of reality. Armor glinted where code hadn't fully corrupted, weapons in hand, and faces… faces that were all too familiar.
Arin froze. His heart skipped.
"Those… those are… players."
Lyra's eyes went wide, silver hair catching the dim, glitching light. "Beta-testers… trapped here… corrupted."
The realization hit them both like a hammer. These were people who had once explored the same world as Arin, now transformed into weapons of the Abyss. Their expressions were empty, eyes glowing red, code bleeding from their bodies.
[Zone Event: Corrupted Beta-Testers Detected]
[Enemy Count: 432]
[Threat Level: EXTREME]
Arin's stomach churned. "We can't fight them all head-on. There's too many!"
The army surged forward. Glitched spears, swords, and axes cut through the frozen ground. Their movements were eerily synchronized, as if a single command guided them.
Lyra leapt into action, her corrupted arm lashing like a whip, knocking back the first dozen attackers. "We need to funnel them! Keep them together and pick them off slowly!"
Arin nodded, trying to focus. His exploits had been powerful against singular enemies, but this was crowd control on a nightmare scale.
He activated Reality Lock, anchoring a 10-meter radius in front of them. The first wave slammed into it, freezing in mid-air for precious seconds.
[Exploit Activated: Reality Lock – MAX]
Duration: 30 seconds
Radius: 10 meters
Cost: Exploit Stability –15%
The army roared as the lock held them, twisted shadows shrieking in protest. Arin gritted his teeth. "It won't last forever. We need a plan!"
Arin quickly surveyed the battlefield. Rocks, fallen debris, broken weapons—anything could become a tool. He combined Gravity Anchor with Glitch Bind, yanking several attackers into mid-air and hurling them into their own ranks.
Lyra followed, her corrupted arm extending and splitting the ranks like a sickle. "Focus on the leaders! If we take them down, the rest might falter!"
Arin's eyes scanned the enemies. Two figures led the waves, slightly larger than the rest, faces partially uncorrupted. "The captains…" he muttered. "We take them out first."
They split attacks. Arin froze a cluster of soldiers in mid-air, then sent Lyra crashing into them with her arm. He activated Nullpiercer, slicing through exploit-immune captains. Sparks of corrupted code flew in every direction.
But the Abyss wasn't done. As each corrupted player fell, two more seemed to take their place. The army was endless, their numbers amplified by the Abyss itself.
Lyra gasped, dodging a spear aimed at her head. "We can't keep this up forever! There's too many!"
Arin clenched his jaw. "Then we'll have to break the system!"
He paused mid-battle, hands glowing with glitch energy. He poured Fear Channel into a new tactic: Amplify the corrupted code, forcing them to fight each other instead of the duo.
[Exploit Activated: Chaos Reversal]
Converts enemy code instability into confusion and self-damage.
Duration: 20 seconds
Cost: Exploit Stability –20%
The effect rippled outward. The army hesitated, weapons clashing as soldiers attacked each other. Lyra's eyes widened. "It… it's working!"
Arin grinned, sweat and grime streaking his face. "It has to. Or we're dead."
As the chaos unfolded, Arin noticed something disturbing. Each fallen soldier glitched for a moment, and in the cracks of their code, he glimpsed their true selves. Familiar faces, terrified eyes, desperate for rescue.
"Lyra…" he said, voice tight. "These were people… like us. They're trapped… and we're killing them."
Lyra nodded grimly. "Sometimes survival requires hard choices. But we can't stop—if we do, we die. And then no one gets saved."
Arin swallowed hard, pushing guilt aside. "Then we do what we must."
Focusing, Arin layered his exploits: Pause Function, Gravity Anchor, Glitch Bind, and Reality Lock, all in quick succession. Each captain went down under Nullpiercer strikes, and Chaos Reversal caused the remaining army to spiral into disarray.
The field became a storm of shattered code, glitch fragments, and flickering red eyes. Arin and Lyra moved as one, their coordination perfect, exploiting every weakness.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the last corrupted player fell. The system flashed a message:
[System Message: Corrupted Beta-Testers Neutralized.]
[Reward: Exploit Stability Recovery +15%]
Arin collapsed on one knee, gripping his weapon. His body shook. "We… survived."
Lyra stood beside him, battered and exhausted, her arm smoking from overuse. "Barely. But we did. And we're stronger for it."
Arin looked across the battlefield. The army was gone—but their faces haunted him. The Abyss had made them weapons, and some part of him mourned every one of them.
The path ahead glowed faintly, a corridor of glitching light leading to the next layer. Arin and Lyra exchanged a glance.
"Seven layers down," Arin muttered. "And the Abyss is only getting hungrier."
Lyra's voice was steady but quiet. "I have a feeling… it's waiting for us specifically now. The rest… was just a test."
Arin clenched his fists, determination hardening in his chest. "Then we'll pass the test. No matter what it throws at us next."
The two stepped forward together, disappearing into the corrupted corridor.