Departure

"Alice!!! Get up, we have to go!"

Jacob looked behind them, seeing the undead slowly approaching, while some crawled on all fours. They may have moved like snails, but they were completely different in combat.

With this many surrounding them, they were gonna be dead without question.

"Ghhhh… what's with all the yelling?" Alice rubbed her eyes, finally waking up from her sleep, "I was knocked unconscious and… I remember fighting those Swindler guys… wait! Those Swindler guys!" Alice stood up in haste, pulling out her automatic firearm, "Where the hell are they?"

"Alice, it's me, Jacob! There's no time to worry about them right now, we have to escape, c'mon!" Jacob grabbed Alice's hand, running towards the door in front of them, "Richard, Henry, open the door!"

"Right!" Henry ran towards the door, twisting the doorknob, "Huh? I-It's locked…"

"It's what?!" Shouted Jacob.

"It's locked! The door won't open!" A notification popped up inside Henry's field of vision, "It says we need a key!!"

"Guys… look!" Richard was facing the opposite way of everyone, pointing towards something… horrifying.

"You have to be kidding me!!" Cried Henry.

"N-No way… I-is that an Overlord? But they're level 40… we can't go up against that! What do we do?! What do we do?" Alice placed her hands against her scalp, realizing their situation, "We're gonna die!!"

"Henry, how do we obtain the key? Does it say anything about that?" Asked Richard.

"I-It doesn't…" Muttered Henry.

"Look, right there!" Jacob was pointing at the Overlord's belt, "It's the key! It's hanging off his belt!"

"G-Good eye Jacob! But how do we obtain it? The overlord is surrounded by the undead! Any false attempts and we're screwed." Said Richard.

"Let me do this…"

They all looked at Jacob, bewildered.

"J-Jacob, what are you thinking, you idiot?" Alice shouted, proceeding to grab his collar, "You'll end up dying, you can't just-"

"No, I'll be fine, Alice, trust me."

"W-What? How will you be fine? And what's with that confident look on your face? What're you planning Jacob?" Alice was visibly worried, even her eyes were teary.

"There are pros and cons of having bad internet, and I'll show you why."

"Bad internet…? Jacob…" Alice couldn't believe what she heard, but she did know what he was about to do, "If you die… I'll never forgive you, I hope you know that. If there's an afterlife in this game, I'll come and find you after I die, so I can make you regret ever doing this!"

"Don't worry Alice, I don't plan on dying. Let me do this."

Alice closed her eyes as she nodded her head, "Right… be careful."

"I will," Soon as Alice stepped to the side, Jacob slowly approached the horde of undead heading their way, "Alright lag, you always caused me harm, but now I need you more than ever. You're the only hope I got! Unfold!"

Jacob's Personal Hub would appear in front of him.

"What's Jacob doing?! Why is he using Unfold?" Asked Henry.

"…Why should I tell you guys anything? Go to hell!" Responded Alice.

"You skank, we're on the same team!" Proclaimed Henry.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember having consent to join your team, so you can kiss my ass and lick my boot."

"Tsk…!" Henry sucked on his teeth, annoyed, "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened, we didn't mean it… We were just desperate, so we decided to force Jacob to come with us in the underground ruins. Not to mention; we didn't believe that we were stuck inside the game, that's why we were careless." Henry sighed, "Can you at least forgive us?"

Alice widened her eyes, muddled by his words, "Never in a million years would I expect to hear a Swindler member apologize, that's new," Alice turned around, facing them, "Fine then, I accept your apology! You no longer need to kiss my ass, but you can still lick the boot, hehe!"

"I-I suppose we'll roll with that." Said Richard.

Alice turned back around, facing Jacob, "Now, watch and learn! Once Jacob opens his Personal Hub, he'll scroll into his inventory, and that's when his lag will start. For some reason, his game lags the most whenever he tries opening his Inventory; it sucks because he can never use any of his items stored away inside of his personal hub from such immense lagging."

"Really? Must be McDonald's Wi-Fi." Proclaimed Henry.

"Hahaha, that's what I said!" Responded Alice.

"Alright, let's do this!" Jacob finally tapped his inventory… and suddenly.

"Holy shit!" Henry shouted.

"This is the ultimate power of Jacob! Witness his grand lagging!" Alice witlessly shouted.

"Huoooooaaaahhh!" Jacob screamed at the top of his lungs, shaking off the fear that took over his body. He stepped forward, dashing towards the undead, "If I lag out the game, I'm sorry for ever bringing you here, Alice! Forgive me!"

His Game avatar spasmed in multiple directions. Jacob appeared floating at first, and then crouching the next.

The Overlord held up its hand, casting a powerful magical spell;

"Oh crap, that spell! It's instant death! Jacob won't survive it… Get out of there!" Shouted Henry.

Instant death was a powerful spell that only the undead could use as part of their intrinsic abilities.

Once the magical circle is casted, they can select a target that they wish to instantly kill, completely depleting all their life points in one attack.

And Jacob was selected…

"Jacob…" Alice looked worried, holding up her hands in prayer.

"Impossible!" (Overlord)

"W-What happened? And wait, did that Overlord just talk?" Asked Henry.

"The instant death spell… it failed! Jacob is lagging too hard for any spells to work on him, they just vanish upon contact!" Announced Richard.

"Incredible…" Muttered Henry.

("Ghhh… goddamnit! This lag is preventing me from glitching towards that overlord and taking away the key!")

All of a sudden, Jacob was inside the horde of undead, surrounded by them.

("How the hell did my lag glitch me right here?! Wait… now's my chance!")

Jacob leaped forward, reaching his hand for the key, "I got it!" Before the Overlord could counterattack, Jacob snagged the key, and glitched away once more, appearing in his previous position, "I-I got the key! Here!" He threw the key behind him towards Alice.

"Alright, Jacob! You're the best lagger in town!" Alice jumped into the air, grasping the key inside her hand, "Okay, now close your inventory so your lag can go away, we have to get outta here!"

"R-Right…" Jacob closed his inventory on command, having his sporadic glitch come to a halt, "…I can't believe I survived that…"

"Move!" Alice shoved Richard and Henry out of the way, fitting the key inside the keyhole, "It's unlocked!" Alice opened the door, running inside, "C'mon!"

"Hey, watch out!!" Henry shouted, suddenly tackling Alice to the ground.

"Wha-!?" Alice, confused as to what was going on, had been toppled by Henry.

"A-Aaaaaahhhhh!!!" Richard shouted as his body was impaled by burning arrows.

Each one depleted a chunk of his health, staggering him backward as his life points slowly declined.

"Richard, no!!" Henry looked at Richard being skewered through his body.

One after another… one after another… and one after another.

Jacob didn't know it, but Richard was blocking the arrows with his body, preventing Jacob from being impaled.

"Guhh… agh! Gyaaa!"

He puked blood, feeling his health bar reach its last life point.

"…No…" Jacob could only watch, as he stood behind Richard, bewildered at the sight.

The horde of undead were washed away from the rain of arrows, including the Overlord.

"This can't be…" Jacob couldn't believe his eyes, he tried switching to his inventory to equip a healing potion, but he knew he would just lag, "C'mon goddamnit, why must I have lag?! I'm the only one with level-1 healing potions right now! I can save you, I can save you! Go away lag, please… please!!!"

Nobody else had healing potions except Jacob.

He had stacks of potions that he had never used, due to his horrendous lag.

During the time when he needs them the most, it could never happen.

The rain of arrows had ceased, as Richard's body collided against the ground.

"No, Richard, hang on buddy!" Henry got off of Alice, crawling towards his friend, "Don't die on me bro… don't die on me!" Henry held onto Richard's hand, staring him deep into the eyes.

"Henry…"

"What is it Richard? Talk to me, hold on bro, we can do something to save you, I just know it!"

"…Pla…yers…"

"W-What? What are you trying to say?" Asked Henry.

"There's… players… down here…"

"Players?!"

"Yes… it wasn't a trap… it was…players…"

"No… Richard, please…" Henry's voice cracked as he watched his friend slowly fade away into data, "Don't leave me, man…! You're my only friend that I have, I need you by my side!" Henry closed his eyes, "I need you more than ever, you're my backbone! You're my support! Remember!?"

"I'm sorry… friend… It's been fun together."

"Richard, no! No, goddamnit!!!"

Henry slammed his fists onto the ground, clenching his teeth, as tears rolled down his cheek.

Richard slowly faded away, disappearing from Isekai World Online.

"Richardddddd!!!"