The dwarf warrior unlocked the cage while his party chatted to themselves. As required, Betty began with, "Thank you adventurer, you saved-"

"Skip."

What a jerk! They weren't even quick, they took the quest a week ago and Betty had spawned when they accepted it. Now they wanted to act like they were in a hurry? "I must get back to my-"

"Skip."

"Please, will you save me? I'm sure my father will reward you." the warrior seemed bored. Of course he was, what idiot wrote this dialogue, it's too cliché.

"Accept."

When the quest tracker updated, the elven ranger shouted, "Took you long enough."

"It's not my fault. I couldn't make the stupid b*tch shut up. Honestly, why even have her talk, nobody wants to hear that."

"No matter, we'll get this over quick enough." the human mage said, before casting the curse of flight. By halving the target's attack power, they'd receive a 25% movement speed buff. Ideally to make an enemy run away if under fear, but Betty only had 1 atk power.

Apparently the beta testers forgot something, because not many npcs were as weak as Betty. She could see it in her code, her attack power was an integer, but when halved and rounded, it equaled her current attack power causing the check statement to fail since her current attack power equalled her uncursed attack power.

After failing that 128 times, it began troubleshooting to find an acceptable solution. If Betty were to have picked the solution, she'd have said 1 attack power was already too low, but it wasn't her decision. The controller AI, known as Athena, decided that -1 was not equal to 1.

"What?" said Betty before laughing hysterically.

The players looked at her, now suddenly interested. Betty ignored them, she just wanted to know who curses the hostage they are supposed to save? It made no sense. Surely they didn't care about running slightly faster after leaving her in a cage for weeks.

"What is it?" the warrior shouted at her.

"There isn't supposed to be a 3rd phase, I read the wiki." said the ranger.

What did negative attack power mean? Would it harm her when she hit someone or would it cause Athena to decide their fate?

The warrior grabbed her arm roughly. "What is it? Where is the hidden encounter?"

It almost seemed worth it, but she'd act her part. "Please adventurer, I must get to-"

He shoved her so hard her butt hit the ground. And instead of apologizing, he smirked and turned away. Without thinking, Betty slapped him on the cheek and the code warped.

HP = 12,580 of 12,580, Atk = -1. HP = 12,581 of 12,580. Shield or overheal = False. Athena solution = atk overheal = max hp transference.

How disappointing. She was still the weakest npc, just with an unusual attack... that the warrior noticed. "What the f*ck did you do to my hp?"

The others looked startled, and then after examining it, drew their weapons. "Oh crap." Despite the futility, she ran towards the rogue and punched him in the nose. It hurt her wrist, but then Athena got involved.

HP = 9,550 of 9,550, Atk = -1. HP = 9,551 of 9,550. Shield or overheal = False. Athena solution = atk overheal = max hp transference solution future errors predicted. Athena solution = max hp transference & atk power drain.

It only did one damage, but if Betty could escape. That atk power drain could be something. But how to escape? She thought about pleading for forgiveness, but they didn't really seem like the type to forgive.

Despite the pain, she kept pulling, until she'd managed to rip a handful of hair and threw it on the ground. She stumbled and then looked up, "Wha... What just happened?"

"You attacked me." said the warrior, looking at her like an executioner.

"And you hit me." said the rogue.

"Right in the face." the mage added causing them all to laugh, except for the rogue.

"That's a good point, that thing must have booster her abilities or she couldn't have done that."

"I don't know you always are a lead footed sneak." said the warrior. Their banter went on for a time, but ideas of killing Betty were gone.

Now she just needed to make sure they didn't complete the quest...