Absolute horror

'System, have I gone too far off course?' Mikel asked.

He had been running and avoiding attacks for days now. Although he wasn't tired physically, it was becoming mentally draining so it was most likely that he had gone off course during his escape from the jaws of death.

'At least just answer this question.' Mikel was getting annoyed. The system's silence was becoming something that was getting on his nerves.

For something that was created to help him, it was awfully unhelpful.

Feeling a vibration move up his legs, Mikel jumped to his side and kept running as he avoided another attack from the desert worms. He had gotten better at sensing their attacks.

[You're doing incredibly well. Just keep it up and you'll be good.]

'FINALLY! Where have you been?! Aren't you supposed to be helping me out?'

[How exactly am I supposed to help you here?]

'I don't know, but at the very least you could just make sure I stay on track to get out of here!'

[And why would I do that? You are—]

'Are you being serious right now?!'

Mikel was so pissed off at this moment, that he could've just stopped to face the system, but he kept on running for now.

[You've been so concentrated on running that you've yet to realize...]

It was at this moment that Mikel suddenly felt the vibrations cease. He stopped running and looked behind him only to see the pink sands of the desert stretched out far and wide and in front of him was lush vegetation.

[...you've made it out of the desert.]

'What...?' Mikel kept looking back and forth in confusion. He could've sworn that there was no sign of him leaving the desert a few moments ago.

This made Mikel feel a disturbing sense of deja vu. It reminded him of how he appeared in the desert suddenly. Was this the work of the system? What exactly was going on?

[The village is not too far from here. Just past this forest and beyond the hills.]

'I know my way from this point, thanks.' Mikel responded and the system became silent.

He was suddenly on guard as he got a feeling that he shouldn't trust the system. It was beginning to seem like he was being manipulated to do exactly what it wants.

Or to be more precise, what its creator wants.

Without wasting any more time, Mikel walked into the forest and began his way to Mudilona; the village beyond the hills.

*****

"Hey, time to get up."

Jasper's eyes opened sluggishly at those words as he sat up and looked at Felix who stood at the end of the bed with his arms folded with an expressionless look on his face as he watched Jasper wake up.

"What do you want?" Jasper asked as he stretched and yawned. "I thought we were supposed to be here till the village head called for us?"

It had been weeks since they completed their mission to kill the corrupted forest tigers that were infecting the town. Although they had gotten their rewards and were not supposed to be here anymore, the village head had given them a new mission to protect the village for a while.

The reward was good so Felix decided that they took it. Two days ago, the mission duration ended but the village head said he had another one for them and they were to stay until he called for them.

Felix suddenly saying that they should leave came as a surprise to Jasper.

"Check the chat," Felix said in response.

With a mental command, a screen appeared in front of Jasper. It showed multiple messages which he navigated through as new ones came in.

This was a feature that allowed all players to interact with each other. All except Mikel obviously.

Jasper stopped scrolling when he saw a message from the number two player in Beltimus online saying that they had gotten a legendary-level weapon!

This was huge!

With their mission being to kill the necromancer, having a weapon of that caliber would help them tremendously.

"I expect nothing less from the number two player," Jasper commented.

"Now this is just what the number two player has achieved. Imagine what others are doing, or more importantly, what G.O.D is doing," Felix said.

"Judging from their previous achievements in the real world, I wouldn't be surprised if they have already gotten a full set," Jasper laughed.

"There will be a meeting in a few months. Everyone is to be in attendance. My guess is we'll be launching our attack at that point," Felix informed.

"The castle has been found?!" Jasper asked in surprise. Wasn't it too soon? Well, this much was to be expected considering the caliber of people in this game.

"That information wasn't shared, but my guess would be yes. So we need to start preparing now. Waiting for the village head is no longer a priority."

Jasper nodded at those words as he got up and prepared to leave. He could already feel it in his bones; they would soon be going home.

****

Heavy breathing resounded in the forest as the wounded young hunter ran faster than he had ever done in his life. One of his hands hung limply by his side.

Absolute horror on his face as he remembered what he had seen just a few moments ago.

He refused to believe it. A skeleton? Here? No way! That was impossible. Being this close to the pink desert gave their village a certain level of protection that allowed for the only thing the villagers had to worry about being small creatures every now and then that the guards took care of.

Although they were very far from the nearest city which meant that they could not hasten their development, they still enjoyed a form of security.

If a skeleton was here, then that meant that their security had flown out the window!

He had to warn the others.