After killing the final boss Mamon walked up the the wall covered in runes and touched it.
When everything went dark he was waiting for a cinematic ending, or the credits to cut with his eyes closed. He waited 10 seconds... 20 seconds... 40 seconds... After a full minute he finally opened his eyes and cried out loud.
- What the hell is this?!
Instead of a cinematic scenery he was lying on the rocky ground. Behind him is a caved in path through a cliffside and in front of him a temple which was in danger of falling into a chasm on right side while it's left was built into the cliffside.
- Why am I back to the tutorial area?
Mamon stood up and looked around, his long brown hair blocked out his vision for a moment, but he was already used to it swiping it backwards and tying it with a strap from his belt.
- Did the game instantly drop me into new game plus (NG+) or something?
He looked at his armor and sword, but instead of the full plate and the empty scabbard, he was wearing a simple half plate on his skinny body and a short sword on his hip.
- The game even resets your equipment? The devs (developers of the game) must really hate their players! Ahh... At least I kept the same class I guess.
He shook his head, looked around and sighed
- Whatever! I'll check it out next time. Time to quit! System quit game.
He waited a few seconds, but nothing happened.
- Is it faulty or something? System log out... System exit game... System end running program...
He spoke out every command he remembered, but none of them did anything.
- There might be an error in the OS? I guess I'll quit out in the game's menu. Open menu.
He blinked a few times, but again. Nothing happened.
- Even the game is glitching? Open inventory. Open status.
A blue window opened in front of his vision. It had several small empty boxes inside and another one stating his equipment and basic attributes.
- The game even reset your inventory and stats. Great. But at least these ones are working. Hmmm...
He thought for a few seconds then the lightbulb lit up inside his head.
- Oh right! There is the emergency shutdown function in the full dive. It was made so that you can shut down any program through the hardware. All you have to do is, hold your head between your hands and tap your head with both index fingers three times.
He closed his eyes and did exactly that. Then opened his eyes slowly.
- You got to be kidding me! Maybe I have to hold it over my cheeks? This always worked when I rage quit!
But even after multiple tries, nothing happened. He fell to his knees and held his upper body up with his hands.
- How did this even happen? The game didn't have this bug even back in the half year beta before launch.
He looked around again looking for a solution that was never there. A ray of light shone into his eyes from the sun but he did not care about it at all.
- How am I going to get out of this issue? Ehm... I think I played for like three hours so far, so the system should log me out after two more if the alarm function still works... If not. Then someone has to log me out from the outside.
He fully collapsed on the ground.
- But I live alone and the earliest anyone would look for me would be after around a week. I just talked to my parents, and my friends are used to me not answering them while being fully immersed in the game, also I took out vacation for the week so even my boss won't look for me.
He sighed deeply and stood up.
- Well. If anything I could at least play the game for the two hours until the alarm rings. But first!
He opened his inventory and stored away his armor and sword then simple clothes were equipped on him automatically as he set up at character creation way back.
- The game instantly starts screwing you over as soon as you load up. Use your armor and weapon in the tutorial and they will break halfway through the 1st level, while there is no shop there that sells anything useful.
One of the many controversies of the game Tower of The Demon God was the item system. Everything degraded at an incredible speed making the game much more difficult than it would be otherwise.
- I will need my basic equipment for the 5th level boss. Until then I'll go with the classics. My lefty and my righty!
He kissed his knuckles one after another.
- Be ready unknown knight as I'm coming to say hello!
He walked up to the temple door and stopped.
- It's been three months since the last time I was here, but I still remember these weird rules. Three knocks and then slowly open the door.
He knocked three times and heard a click from the door.
- The first time I got here I just opened the door and got a surprise arrow into my knee. Took me a few tries of evading it to realize something else was a solution. One of the weird kirks of this game.
After he opened the door he froze up in his step.
- That... doesn't look right.
In the mostly empty and flat temple there was only one thing standing out apart from the two pillars on each side. On the other side of the temple there was a well kept longsword stabbed into the altar with a red gem in the middle of it's cross. The blade was full of runes and gave off a light blue light.
- Must be a NG+ item I guess.
He stepped in and watched as a skeleton walked out from behind the left pillar, equipped with the same armor as him, it grabbed the sword, turned to him and then a quiet slam was heard from behind as the door closed.
- It seems like you are a lot more well kept than I'm used to.
The skeleton did not reply. It lift up the sword over it's head and charged towards Mamon.
- Same old move set, eh?
As the skeleton caught up to him, it swung down.
- I guess so.
He stepped to the side and punched the skeleton in the head with his right hand which made the skeleton stagger back.
- Don't play innocent, I know all your tricks! I have beaten you over 40 times already skelly!
He jumped back and smiled as the skeleton swiped at the place he was standing at a second ago.
'Here starts the real game of chess. Everyone falls for this move the first time. It's an old rule to hit the enemy over and over once it staggers to keep it in the stagger, but not in this game. If you count on that strategy, you'll get hit. Now I have to wait for the next opening.'
The skeleton swung over and over again, but he skillfully dodged it every time.
'So far seems the same as always. But if it's health has been changed it will be more annoying. Usually I just have to punch it in the head 16 times and as it counts critical damage it kills it. But if the health is boosted, that will take a long time. Hopefully only a few more hits at most.'
After a few swings the skeleton changed it's grip and tried to stab him, but he stepped to the side and punched it into the head twice.
- Gotcha! Love it when you do that move, please do it as many times as you like!
He smirked at the skeleton again, which clattered it's teeth like it was annoyed.
'What is that? It never replied to any taunts before!'
It stepped back and waited for his move.
'Never done that either. Did the devs make a fully new AI for it? I mean... After you beat the game the original Skelly is pretty easy for sure, but this seems... excessive?'
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Mamon took the chance to take a quick glance at the surrounding, but found nothing out of the ordinary. As the temple was as empty as always. The altar in ruin, the pillars showing the signs of wear and all the windows broken in, while the door behind him and on the side of the temple closed.
'I guess I have to beat it with what I was given. But I don't want to use the sword yet. Then I have only one move to use.'
He slowly walked closer to the skeleton who had the sword ready to cut him down. After he was in cutting range he lift his right hand up and swung towards the skeleton's head. It held up it's sword with the edge forward to block and cut his hand, but in reaction he stopped his right hand and delivered a quick punch with his left into it's stomach.
'That is a lot weaker, but damage is damage.'
The skeleton cut towards his head, but he swiped the sword to the side with his right hand and punched it square in the face with his left.
- Do you like my fighting style? It doesn't work on usual monsters because their swings are heavier, but a skeleton doesn't have that much weight in it so it's the perfect skeleton destroyer move!
It seemed like it wanted to scream, but no sound came out of it's mouth.
'I'm boasting like I can do this multiple times, but it's very risky. One wrong move and it will cut my hand which will make it almost unusable. And the game has not yet introduced the healing fruit as it only grows in the tower.'
After trying to scream it charged forward with it's sword above it's head.
- That old move won't work again Skelly!
He stepped to the side, but then realized the skeleton wasn't stopping there, it started another swing as soon as the first stopped, so he had to jump backwards, barely avoiding the cut.
'So it's an AI that learns while fighting. Great! How am I supposed to beat it?'
He looked the skeleton up and down.
'Oh! I've got an idea. Though it never really works, but even if I die, I just walk in again, after all the respawn is at the start.'
As soon as the skeleton stopped swinging he jumped in. The skeleton seemed surprise and was to late to react. A quick kick towards it's legs was enough to make it topple over.
'Great! It worked. Now the finisher!'
Mamon kicked it's hand and the sword fell out of it then started stomping on it's head.
- ...14, 15, 16, 17...
The skeleton was flailing around scratching his legs, but he ignored the pain and kept on stomping on it's head until.
- 23! Phew! Finally it stopped moving. But why does my leg hurt so much? It usually only stings a little!
He stepped away from the skeleton to look at his leg. It was full of scratches, but what was more strange is, it had a sickly color.
- Since when does my skin look this pale? My legs, chest, even my hands are really pale.
He thought about it for a moment.
'Oh! Right! I forgot about this, but everyone outside the tower is an undead. You only turn into a living human when you enter through the gate and it even heals you. Phew! I thought something was wrong, but it is all normal I just forgot about it. But the pain is really annoying still!'
His line of thought was broken by a clattering sound from behind him. He froze up in space as the skeleton started moving.
'What is this? It should be dead! Even second phase should be impossible without head!'
But the skeleton was still moving.