This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

This was bad. When did it even have the time to fire? We haven't even seen the damn thing yet.

Why were we already in combat?!

"[Code Watcher]!"

Shizu quickly turned her sight on, Guidance already by her side as they tried to sort out what was even happening. The rest of us had no other choice but to stand at the ready, our weapons drawn as we anticipated whatever this thing was that was causing us problems.

"W-What's happening?" Shen fearfully asked.

"We're stuck on this island right now," I promptly replied, my [Manifest] already drawn as I kept my eyes peeled towards the tree line. "We still don't know why, but Guidance and Shizu can hopefully get us out."

"I sure hope so," Shade cautiously added, his rose glowing with a dull light as he stood behind Maruki. "I've been to suspicious islands before, and none of them have topped this one in terms of how bad I feel about it."

Maruki kept his silence, gritting his teeth as he kept his vigilance. He probably thought that his way of shouting out his words would only exacerbate the situation, and he'd be correct. There was no telling what was out there, or what we should even be doing right now. Were we supposed to defeat whatever this thing was? Were we supposed to explore and solve something here?

"Moriya."

Turning around, I heeded Guidance's call as she kept on typing at her keyboard. Shizu was still squinting at the barrier, the stress on her forehead an indicator of how poorly their efforts were going.

"Tell, me did you see a prompt come up?" the dev asked, her fingers still flying across her [Manifest]. "If you did, then I don't think we'll be able to get out of here."

Oof... "I.. I did."

Guidance clicked her tongue at my response, a cold sweat appearing on her face as she stopped her attempts. Likewise, Shizu tore her gaze away from the dock, turning them towards the ominous treeline that seemed to call out to us with each passing second.

"Well then... I guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way," Guidance sighed. "What's the quest called?"

I quickly focused my gaze on my HUD, the offending letters and numbers looking horrendous against the neat and orderly numbers still splayed across my vision. "It's called the Withermoon Manor."

"A manor? I don't see one anywhere," Shade called out.

"That's because it's not here," Guidance ground out, her teeth nibbling at the tip of her thumbnail as she frowned. "The manor should be located deeper into the forest."

"So, you're suggesting that we go in there and find this mythical Withermoon manor then," Shade asked aloud, his disbelief still in his tone. "You said it yourself earlier. We're far from ready for this."

"Yes, but we have no other choice," Guidance frowned even further. "We're locked in here whether we like it or not. I don't even know how or why the Island Sanctuary is even here, but we're just stuck in its instanced zone."

I let out my own frown as I stared out into the foreboding forest in front of us. The eldritch howling had stopped, but the ominous aura surrounding the entire place never disappeared even as we stood there waiting. The fact that we were in an instance meant that Guidance couldn't affect the outside world around us, but it did mean that... Right!

"We won't die," I called out, a bit of confidence rushing back to me as I stepped forward. "We're in an instance, right? Which means that any deaths would just have us being revived right where we started."

"But that's no guarantee!" Shade called out. "As much as I'd like to believe it, we have no clue as to what's waiting for us out there. For all we know, this thing might just trump your [Manifest]'s ability to get us out of danger."

"It's not my [Manifest]. It's the very world's design," I argued. "Even still, Guidance already keyed you all in to retain your memories through the deaths, correct?"

"I did," Guidance confirmed. "Theoretically, we should all be capable of reviving so long as we're inside an instance. So we should maybe be less scared of what's to come."

[*kaflisdflisbdflABSLfyg37rsaabsc*]

And just like that, whatever confidence that we were building up evaporated against the unnatural roar coming from the forest. Everyone flinched at the sound of it, but Shizu seemed to be transfixed at what she was seeing with her [Code Watcher]. "Shizu?"

"W-wha- Oh. Sorry," the princess shook her head in apology. "I was just looking at the forest and..."

"What did you see?"

Shizu blinked as her eyes wandered back to the forest, a wistful look coming off her as she replied to Guidance. "Something... It looks... Familiar?"

Guidance blinked at the answer, as did myself as I pressed further. "Why familiar?"

The princess only blinked at me before she turned her gaze back to the forest. Somehow, she looked entranced, her eyes flickering black and green for a split second before they went back to their normal golden hue.

"I just... It feels like it's calling to me somehow," she hesitantly replied. "Like it wants me to find it..."

As a collective, we all looked at each other as if hoping that someone would take charge. Behind me, Shen was gripping tighter onto my pants.

I let out a sigh. Of course, it had to be me leading the charge on this.

"Guidance, I think you should be in charge of keeping Shizu company."

"Agreed," the dev nodded.

"Shade, you're gonna be with me and Shen just in front of Shizu and Guidance," I added. "Maruki will take point as usual."

"If you insist," Shade nodded.

Maruki only nodded, refusing to use his voice as he silently took his position in front of us. Meanwhile, the rest of us all got into position, with Shizu and Guidance at the back, Shade, Shen, and myself being in the middle, and with Maruki out in front as we all faced the foreboding forest in front of us.

"Okay..." I breathed out. "Let's see where this road will lead us."

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