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

Progress... Ah... The sweet, sweet word that was the culmination of time and effort being spent to achieve a singular goal. Granted, not all progress was good progress, but any progress was still just as satisfying for someone that's just sick of being stuck in one spot. After all, there's this thing called Sunk Cost Fallacy, and that's just a term used for when someone had made so much progress on one thing that doesn't really work all that great and refusing to switch methods despite knowing that there's an easier solution available right next to them. Maybe I was prone to these kinds of things. Maybe we, as human beings, were just that hyper-fixated on our investments in a singular idea that we just refuse to try something else in fear of realizing that all of our efforts were useless and a waste of our precious time.

Or maybe, I'm just that stubborn.

"So you're telling us that we've been at this thing for around ten deaths now, and that we've died on the first mechanic every single time," Guidance repeated the words I just told them as if she couldn't believe what I was saying. "Are you serious?"

Then again, it was kind of unbelievable.

"Yes," I sighed, my own frustration seeping forth I leaned on the nearest wall. "We've been stuck on [SELF-DESTRUCT!] for about ten attempts now. And no, you trying to fix it didn't work."

"B-But what if I still tried?"

"No, it wouldn't."

I let out a small scoff as I watched Guidance deflate into her own little world again. She always did this whenever I told her she couldn't somehow fix the problem. And we've tried it too. Extensively. Loop five was all about trying to see what Guidance did have power over, and it turned out that the only thing she could theoretically change was, well, minor things that weren't completely bound by the barriers surrounding the instance.

I still don't get how that works, by the way.

"But-"

"I assure you, a previous version of you already tried what you're thinking," I chuckled. "And no, Shizu, you can't push your [Code Watcher] to somehow pierce through the barrier, even with Guidance's help."

"Aww..."

"Damn..."

Seeing the two women of our party deflate, I turned to Maruki as he simply stood in wait for our decision. As usual, the duty-bound man simply kept his vigil as the rest of us tried to solve our way out of the situation. He wasn't really the brightest tool in the shed, as was his attempt back in loop seven where he somehow used his [Manifest] to try and absorb all of the damage onto himself. It didn't work, of course, but it at least informed me about something that he really shouldn't have kept secret.

Then again, we really didn't ask him, so I don't blame him for keeping quiet.

"So, what? Are we just gonna go in there and bash our heads against it till we- or rather, you figure something out?" Guidance incredulously asked. "Cause I'm pretty sure you haven't learned a damn thing if we're still dying to this thing after ten attempts."

"Hmm, did I use my [Code Watcher] on it already-"

"Yes, Shizu, and it yielded about as much information as an empty glass of water," I let out another sigh. "We're just that stumped right now."

After around attempt eight, I was practically just going through the motions. I didn't even bother saying anything for attempt nine as I just watched us all die to the same damn thing yet again.

What can I say? It was getting boring being incinerated to death.

"Is it a DPS race then?" Guidance asked.

"Not really sure," I shrugged. "We tried doing as much damage as we could to it at around attempt four, but it still just wiped us all out anyway."

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And sure enough, after hearing just how little progress we've made, we all just stand around and do nothing as the two try to come up with any ideas. As for myself, I was kind of taking a break from thinking too hard still. Not like the time wasted would even matter. We'd just respawn anyway, which, now that I thought about it, was kind of screwy in a metaphysical sense.

"Does any of us have anything that can stun the enemy?"

...

....What? An actual new idea? "A stun?"

"A [Move] that can interrupt an enemy's actions," Guidance quickly explained, letting Shizu nod along beside her. "Wait, have we not tried that?"

I blinked in thought, recalling all of the loops we've tried killing this thing. Sure enough, not one time did we have some sort of stun flying at the damn thing. "No, we haven't. Do we even have a stunning [Move] among us?"

...

...Great. "The silence is telling, I think."

"That shouldn't be possible," Guidance quickly muttered, her brain going into dev mode as she spoke. "We're in our level 20s. We should all at least have some stun with us."

"Well, I don't," I shrugged. "And for some reason, I can't level up my stats or add new [Moves] to my repertoire while in a dungeon."

"And healers, in general, don't have something like that unless they specifically have a [Move] for it," Guidance clicked her tongue. "Shizu?"

At the dev's call, the princess quickly closed her eyes, seemingly feeling herself before she replied. "Uhh, how do I say this... I have something for it, but it's like I can't use it?"

"Damn level sync," Guidance cursed.

"So she has one, but it's only available at a higher level," I sarcastically chuckled. "That's just great."

"No, there's still someone here that should have it," Guidance insisted. "There's no way that a tank wouldn't have it. It's practically a level 1 [Move]."

As if on cue, the three of us all turned to the silent tank of the group. Maruki was still staring at the boss all menacingly, not even noticing us as he just... stood there.

"Maruki, do you have something that can stun an enemy?" I asked.

With a radiant smile, Maruki turned to us, raising his shield as he tapped it with his sword. "Of course! Shall I use it on the boss then?!"

...

.....What...

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