Divine Glitch: I Regressed With Endgame Knowledge

Ryan had sensed the guild's arguments brewing, but by then he was already far below, deep in the second level of the dungeon, fully immersed in the Death Siege.

As he guided the Gnoll Priest Jinar through the first floor, the torches that once kept the halls lit sputtered and went out, leaving only faint embers smoldering in their brackets. A dim, unreliable glow lingered, just enough to make out the edges of the passage but never far ahead.

That was the cruel signature of the Death Siege. In this near-total darkness, a player's vision narrowed to almost nothing, and survival depended on exact control, sharp calculation, and more luck than anyone wanted to admit.

Like the Gnoll Soldier Ryan had first commanded, Jinar came with three unique abilities—each one essential for surviving the Siege.

Jinar's Swift Escape: the priest's instinct for danger was unnervingly sharp. Whenever peril struck, his speed could surge for a few precious seconds. Movement speed increased by twenty percent for five seconds. Cooldown: thirty seconds.

Jinar's Earthly Sanctuary: his bond with the earth ran deep. With a single incantation, Jinar could quake the ground beneath him, stunning monsters within eight yards for three seconds and halving their speed. A maximum of five monsters could be affected. Cooldown: thirty seconds.

Jinar's Wind Elemental Shield: long ago, the priest had branded his skin with a rare rune through an ancient rite. The price for wielding it was steep—its recovery time left him drained. But when invoked, it summoned a shield of wind that shoved back enemies in a short burst, buying a single second of reprieve. Cooldown: thirty seconds. Charges: three.

The moment Ryan stepped into the dungeon, the ten-minute countdown ignited in the corner of his vision. His mind raced, recalling the countless discussions players had once had about the Siege, every theory dissected, every starting position mapped. He calculated swiftly, settling on the angle most likely to secure a clean opening.

At the same time, arguments on the guild forum were reaching a fever pitch. Ryan, however, had no time for their noise. He shut the guild channel and focused entirely on the run. He would deal with them later. When this was over, their sarcasm and insults would vanish into nothing, and he would crush the reputation of the one who started it all.

In the years after the dungeon was discovered, thousands of strategy guides for the Death Siege had appeared. A dozen of them were considered masterpieces—refined, tested, and debated to perfection. From these came a routine so polished that the first two cycles of the Siege, covering the initial six minutes, could be executed without a single mistake.

For Ryan, though, those first minutes were effortless even without a guide. The real challenge always came with the third cycle, right at the seven-minute mark.

Now, with two minutes and forty seconds left on the clock, Ryan was being pursued by a swelling mass of creatures. Luckily, the dungeon obeyed the same rules as the open world: monsters could not pass through one another. That single rule made Jinar's abilities worth their weight in gold.

The corridors here were broad enough for three people to walk side by side, yet every new monster spawned directly in Ryan's path. Without an ability to counter them, an interception meant a guaranteed hit.

Most of his other skills were still cooling down. Only Jinar's Wind Elemental Shield remained untouched, its three charges intact.

That shield was his lifeline. The success of the run hinged entirely on how he used it.

According to Archress Mageress's precise calculations, saving all three charges for the last two minutes gave the best chance of a flawless, damage-free clear. And Ryan was almost there—just thirty seconds away from crossing into that critical final stretch.

Rounding a corner, Ryan had meant to cut left, but a flicker of motion in the failing torchlight caught his eye. A shadow hurtled toward him. He cursed under his breath, pivoting sharply and sprinting the opposite way. In the instant of his turn, a Specter Warden's claw whipped past his back, close enough to stir the air but not tear flesh.

Sweat broke across his brow as he glanced at his speed burst ability. The cooldown timer glowed in his vision—less than five seconds left. Too long.

Specter Wardens were merciless in their pursuit, always taking the shortest path toward their target. Any player who ran too quickly without care often found themselves boxed in, as dozens of Wardens swarmed from multiple shortcuts and cut off every exit.

"Damn it," Ryan growled, his voice low and raw. That last speed burst, used in panic, had only worsened things. Now even more Wardens were closing in, flanking him from side passages. Ahead, the corridor teemed with monsters. His only option was a narrow route to the side, where for the moment just one creature blocked the way.

He had no choice. Jinar's Wind Elemental Shield would have to be spent here. Ryan measured the distance with icy precision, waited a fraction of a heartbeat longer, then triggered the skill just as claws slashed for him from both sides. A violent rush of wind erupted outward, hurling the monsters back several paces. In that brief opening, Ryan darted through, slipping free of the encirclement.

The clock read one minute and forty-five seconds.

The cost bit into him immediately. Losing one of his lifelines to a misstep stung, but there was no time for regret. New Wardens were already spilling in from the tunnels behind him, more relentless than before.

And the spawns were accelerating. What had once been a single monster was now two at a time, and Ryan knew all too well what was coming—the final minute would triple the spawn rate. His odds of clearing the dungeon unscathed would plummet.

The seconds bled away, dragging his endurance with them. At first, he had run with ease, confidence steady, but now his mind and body were burning under the strain. Each decision, each movement, pressed him harder than the last.

It had been a long time since Ryan had felt pressure like this.

A fresh wave of Wardens surged around him, and with no other options left, Ryan unleashed another Wind Elemental Shield. Energy roared outward like a hurricane, blasting the enemies aside. His final charge was gone.

Sixteen seconds remained.

Sixteen seconds between failure and a flawless clear. If he could just weave through three more passages without being pinned, he would make it.

Strategies, guides, perfect calculations—all of them meant nothing now. The dungeon had collapsed into pure chaos. Specter Wardens poured from every direction in an endless tide, twisting the passages until forward and escape seemed one and the same.

The first fork appeared. Ryan picked the left passage without hesitation. And luck was on his side—no Wardens ahead.

A surge of triumph flared through him, but there was no time to celebrate. The second path split before him, and he veered left again. This time his stomach dropped the instant he saw them. Three Wardens materialized directly in his path, already moving to close him in. Worse, the passage ended in a stone wall—a dead end.

His heart clenched. Yet somehow, perhaps by chance, no monsters spawned within that narrow corridor. Ryan sprinted full tilt into the dead end, the wall looming closer, the timer counting down its final beats.

And then, as the last second bled away, the dungeon shattered. The walls split like glass, the oppressive darkness dissolving. The Death Siege was over.

Ryan had cleared it—perfectly, without a scratch.