Surrounded

"Well, we've had enough rest. The good thing is after we got past this river. The sense of peeping from the warmongers disappeared." Hank let out a small chuckle. "Did they give up or is it because they can't cross the river without revealing themselves?"

"Don't be complacent. We still need to be really careful. Believe it or not, they would follow us no matter where we go in the corner of this mountain. That's how persistent Warmongers are. Of course, except for forbidden areas in this mountain that they can't enter or are unaware of."

Dylan said.

In the Earth gaming community, most players are repulsed by being targeted by persistent warmongers. The only way they would leave you alone was if you entered a forbidden place. However, this method is unreliable because they would still wait for you to come out. They're a scarily patient bunch.

The other method required you to get rid of them completely. This is more reliable than the former because it prevents the Warmongers from calling their companions and passing information about them.

In the Midnight Shadow Mountain, there's no morning or afternoon. There's only night. As for how and why this is. There was some speculation in the circle of players that the mountain itself changed places on fixed locations around the planet through teleportation. Essentially, teleport to the places where it's night.

This unimaginable thing is, of course, just speculation without basis. After all, it needs to be large-scale teleportation to move such a big mountain. Even after the game updates subsequent versions. The speculation remained unconfirmed.

Just like that, the group finally rested well enough. They continued their exploration eagerly. In just a few hours of travel, they reached a location that exudes gloominess. This place was called "Midnight Cemetery".

The atmosphere was enveloped by swirling fog. There was nothing in sight but the tombstones of dead people. Information such as name and time of death were written on the surface of the stones.

Hank went to one of the tombstones and caressed it with his thumb. The cold sensation was instantly transmitted to his skin. "Why is there a cemetery in a mountain? This place is creepy as hell. Were the ones buried here even humans?"

Kevin smacked Hank behind his head.

"Ouch! What was the for you bastard!?"

"Stupid! Don't just touch anything casually here! We are in an unfamiliar place. What if you trigger something? If you don't seek death, you won't die."

"Enough!" Orochi admonished. "I can feel that the yin aura in this place is a lot heavier. We must hurry. It's giving me a bad premonition."

On the other hand, Kenjaku, on the side, was silently calculating all the escape routes in his sight through his mind. If their backs hit the wall, he would know where to run. Then, he looked at one of the tombstones and read the text that was actually written in their language.

"Huh? Kenjaku? July 20, 2122?"

Kenjaku felt a chill on his back when he saw his name on the tombstone. What's the meaning of this? Is this some sort of trap? An anomaly?

'What the fuck? There was no cemetery in Midnight Shadow Mountain In the past. Did we accidentally discover a new place within it?'

Dylan carefully walked ahead. Sometimes, there would be newly discovered locations in a certain place like Midnight Shadow Mountain. In some cases, some players won't publicize the place they discovered on forums to keep the benefits for themselves.

This place is something he hasn't heard of in the game. It could be considered that it's a place that wasn't discovered yet or a place that was discovered but kept secret.

Suddenly, one of the tombstones shook which attracted everyone's attention. They saw Kenjaku's increasingly pale face.

"Kenjaku, what's the matter with you?" Hank shook Kenjaku's body. Weirdly, Kenjaku just stared at the tombstone in front of him.

"Run!!!" Kenjaku pushed Hank and yelled. Seeing this, everyone didn't hesitate any longer. They followed Kenjaku and ran for their lives.

Although they didn't know why. They were certain of one thing. It's better to run away than to wait for something to happen.

They got past a lot of tombstones that also started to tremble. All of them seemed to have resonated with each other. As they ran, ahead then were nothing but tombstones, seemingly endless.

"Dylan, any fucking idea? You're the one that knows this place the most, right? How about an explanation of what is happening?"

Kevin tried his best not to hit a tombstone on his way. As Dylan was about to respond that he didn't know. Multiple arms came out from everywhere underneath the tombstones.

Pale rotting human arms could be seen everywhere, making the group's scalp numb. Slowly, the group had to stop, because ahead of them, hundreds of rotting pale humanoid creatures blocked the way.

Dylan looked around with fear. The humanoid creatures were just visually too scary. Some had their eyes popping out. Some had missing limbs and the majority had worms crawling on their nose. It was a very disgusting scene.

'Probe!'

Name: N/A

Level 23

Race: Ghoul (Undead)

Danger: Moderately Dangerous

Description: Due to the high concentration of yin energy. The bodies of the deceased turned into ghouls.

'Really, I didn't hear something about this in the game. It seems these things are humans in the past. Due to the accumulation of bodies, the yin aura concentration thickened. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change.'

As time goes by, thousands of ghouls surround the group, and there's still a lot that continues to come out from the tombstone.

Due to their number, it gave the illusion of an army of ants.

"We're done for! How should we escape now?"

Hank twisted his hips, raised his axe in the air, and braced his core. Following that, he decisively charged forward, brought down his axe, and chopped two ghouls in half.

There's no blood or anything. The two ghouls, divided in half, began to tremble. In just a few seconds, they're complete again with no signs of separation.

Orochi produced a ball of nothingness in his hand. "These creatures can reattach themselves. What we need to do is to thoroughly make them disappear. Do enough damage until they can't piece themselves."