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

The roar was something that I'd never heard before. I didn't even know how to describe it. It was some kind of grating noise... but it also wasn't? The very thing itself didn't even seem to register in my head, what with the way it somehow got loud, and yet reverberated with a soft, yet squishy... crunchy sound?

It was... It was utterly alien...

"W-What was that?" Shen fearfully intoned, her energy completely gone as she hid behind my leg.

"That's... I don't know..." Shade blinked up towards the trees, his own fear apparent as he took a step back. "That was.... That was nothing like anything I've ever heard..."

All of us stared out at the ready, our own collective fears starting to build up as we slowly retreated back to the port. Maruki was thankfully unaffected, it seemed, but the constant glow from his shield meant that he was practically waiting for this thing to come out.

[*hdAUSFGasfdUGSASDFASPHR(UR*]

Another terrifying scream echoed out from within the forest. This time, it was louder as it seemed to come from every single tree within our line of sight. It almost came at us like we were in a theatre, its very vibrations seeping throughout our bodies as we stood rooted on our feet.

Not gonna lie, I almost crapped my pants on that one.

"G-Guidance? C-Can we have an explanation now?" Shizu awkwardly smiled, her own terror evident with how tightly her fists were shut.

I gave the dev a look, Guidance visibly gulping as she tried her best to steady her breath.

"T-The Island Sanctuary was a place meant for high-end exploration," she began, her keyboard already out in front of her as she explained. "With Wanderwood inexplicably growing on land, there's supposed to be a Quest meant for the player to find out what exactly is happening on this island."

[CHIME!]

What the-

[z5213ide qihsfuegst accepted: The Withermoon Manor]

[OBJECTIVE: fieind outasbdu gbeg Withermoon Estate]

My eyes widened at the prompt that just appeared in front of me. I never thought that the damn thing even worked, but to think that it even popped up in a place like this.

"Moriya?"

"A quest..." I trailed off. "It just appeared."

[*dsahdausgf b9qp3wrey1234eqwdasasfdyh5*]

Another haunting howl echoed from the forest beyond. Each howl seemed more haunting than the last, its very sound piercing through the soul as it just kept on bouncing off the trees. Truly, if there was something here, it was probably far more sinister than we were hoping for.

"A quest?" Guidance asked. "Is it something about the Withermoon?"

"The Withermoon?! That's just a myth!" Shade vocally yelped out. "Nobody has ever gone beyond the Shallow Deep! Nobody!"

"Well, it's real because I made it," Guidance replied, a hint of pride seeping into her tone before the fear set back in. "And they're not as insane as they're probably portrayed. Well, hopefully."

I held a breath as Shade and Guidance's exchange told me more than what their words meant. So this Withermoon thing was tied to a myth... And apparently, there was a place beyond the Deep that was called the Grand Abyss. Remembering the chart, the small gap connecting the Deep to uncharted territory stuck out to me... Was that it then?

"Can either of you explain what this Withermoon thing is about?" Shizu foot her foot down, the fear in her voice still apparent even as she raised her fists at the ready. "Can we fight it? Do we even do this?"

Stepping up to the plate, Shade coughed as he explained, "The Withermoon is, well, was, nothing more than a myth about a family of explorers venturing beyond the Shallow Deep. Through Port Sendoff, they traveled through the Starless Valley, braving the inhospitable journey to explore the Grand Abyss."

"Grand... Abyss?" Shen asked. "Is that another sea?"

"The Grand Abyss is the ocean that is outside the Shallow Deep," Guidance chimed in. "I never really fleshed it out though, so I don't really know what's out there beyond, well, that it's a Grand Abyss."

"Some say that there are no [Stars] out there. That the waters are so cold that you would wish that you were swimming in the Deep instead," Shade recounted. "Also, there's a myth that says that Wanderwood originated from the Grand Abyss, the tree only somehow growing in the Deep in water cold enough to freeze people over."

"I see," I nodded. "Still, that doesn't answer our question, no?"

Looking out toward the woods, Maruki was still ever ready at the possibility of this mysterious thing coming at us. I didn't know if we'd even be able to do this, but would we really leave this unchecked?

"The Withermoon is... It's supposed to be the manor that the family once lived in," Guidance fearfully explained. "I made it so that at least some of them managed to make it back, hiding away in their old ancestral home before they inevitably succumbed to the heirlooms that they brought back with them."

Okay, that just sounded like some movie stuff about cursed items and dangerous eldritch abominations. Then again, I've already seen that Guidance was capable of making stuff like that, so maybe this was just her being morbid again.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that they managed to bring back stuff from the Grand Abyss?" Shade curiously asked.

"That's what I said," Guidance quickly nodded. "And like I said before, we have to go back to the [Rig]. We can't stay here for too long unless we're actually planning on tackling this quest right now."

"And you just said that this was on the high-end side of things," I finished off. "That settles it then, right?"

"Settles what? That we're leaving?"

"Yep!" I vehemently nodded. "If Guidance says we're not ready, then we're not ready!"

At that, they all turned to me with relief washing over their faces. As one, we bolted right out of the abandoned village, making our way to the port as-

[*8y4yf8sdyf97qwtrbvdafo;seogsdfg*]

[*THUD!*]

"Ow!"

"Oof!"

The lot of us stopped right in our tracks, rubbing our heads as if we just bumped into some kind of barrier. An invisible wall? But that would mean-

[COMBAT COMMENCED!]

Oh... Oh no....

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