The air in the Crimson Woods suddenly turned freezing cold. It smelled like burning copper and an old television static.
CRACK!
The black sky above Moon shattered like broken glass. Three strange figures floated down from the cracks. They did not look like monsters or humans. They wore perfectly white suits, and their faces were completely smooth, with no eyes, noses, or mouths.
[System Cleaner (Unknown Level)]
[Trait: Immune to Magic. Immune to Player Status.]
Moon gripped his Reaper's Scythe tighter. He could feel that these things were not normal enemies. They were the antivirus programs of the Game, and they were here to delete him.
The Cleaner in the middle raised one hand and pointed a glowing white finger at Moon.
[System Command: Erase Target.]
A beam of pure, blinding white light shot out from its finger. It was faster than a bullet. Moon used [Shadow Step] at the very last microsecond, teleporting ten feet away.
The white beam hit the giant red tree Moon was just standing near. The tree didn't explode or burn. It just... vanished. It turned into computer pixels and disappeared completely from reality.
Moon felt a drop of cold sweat on his face. If that beam touched him, he wouldn't just die. He would be erased from the Game forever.
"You play dirty," Moon whispered. "But so do I."
Moon sprinted forward. His speed was incredible from all his 5x stat boosts. He became a blur of dark red fire. He appeared behind the Cleaner on the right and swung his massive Reaper's Scythe.
The blade sliced right through the Cleaner's neck.
But no blood came out. Instead, glowing blue numbers and letters spilled from its neck like water. The Cleaner fell apart into broken computer code.
[Anomaly Destroyed. Gained: 10 Admin Fragments.]
Moon stopped in his tracks. Admin Fragments? He didn't get Life Points. He got pieces of the System itself!
Suddenly, a red notification flashed in his mind.
[Classless Activated: Comprehending System Code...]
[Skill Learned: Code Cancel (Level 1) - Can block one magic or System attack.]
The other two Cleaners turned their smooth faces toward him. Their hands turned into sharp, white swords of light. They moved fast, trying to stab him at the exact same time.
Moon smiled under his black scarf. He held up his hand.
"Code Cancel," he commanded.
A red, glitching shield of numbers appeared in front of him. The Cleaners' swords hit the shield and made a loud screeching noise, like metal scraping together. Their attacks were completely blocked!
"My turn," Moon said. He spun around and kicked the shield, sending the glitchy red energy flying back at the Cleaners. They were pushed backward, stumbling into the dirt.
Moon didn't wait. He used Shadow Step, appearing above them. With one massive downward swing of his fiery scythe, he chopped both of them in half.
[Anomalies Destroyed. Gained: 20 Admin Fragments.]
Moon landed softly on the black dirt. He had defeated the antivirus programs.
But the silence in the forest didn't last long. The heavy gravity suddenly got ten times heavier. Moon was pushed to his knees. The broken pieces of the Cleaners he just killed started to pull together. The blue code floated up into the air, merging into one giant, terrifying shape.
The Game wasn't done with him yet.