The First Horror

"Wow, I can't believe there are actually scaredy-cats trying to play this game." Akbar couldn't contain his surprise as he read through a forum where some scared players confessed that they had tried playing but ended up unable to sleep.

"Well, I guess that's human nature. Curiosity always outweighs fear, hahaha."

Akbar quickly surveyed his surroundings, noticing that he was in a forest with tall trees, creating a haunting atmosphere with the sounds of owls and wolves occasionally echoing around him. Ignoring the eerie environment, Akbar checked his inventory and found some items like spell paper, salt, and holy water as weapons, along with several cursed mediums for capturing ghosts. He had chosen a mask as his cursed medium, trusting his instinct that it would be one of the best vessels for ghosts besides dolls.

After ensuring he had all his supplies, Akbar started moving, looking for anything he could find. The further he walked, the gloomier the place became, and with only a flashlight, the area seemed even more terrifying. Suddenly, Akbar heard something right next to his ear.

"Behind you…"

Reflexively, he looked back and immediately realized his mistake.

"Damn it!"

He quickly grabbed a bottle of holy water, jumped backward while turning around, and splashed it at whatever was in front of him.

"ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Right on target, a ghost suddenly appeared as Akbar turned. It was covered in a dirty white shroud stained with dirt and blood, with a rotting face that would disgust anyone who saw it. Seeing the ghost, Akbar couldn't help but curse Nyx Entertainment, as the ghost before him could be categorized as an elite ghost.

'Pocong,' a ghostly figure wrapped in a shroud, usually created from vengeance or some form of invincibility spell, causing the pocong to rise from the grave to seek something, be it revenge or death itself. Being familiar with this ghost from his own country, Akbar felt a bit anxious, knowing that ghosts from his country had troublesome supernatural abilities. Nyx's statement that the ghosts would have their original powers from their stories, along with additional powers, added to his concern.

The pocong's main abilities were teleportation and telekinesis, meaning Akbar had to be wary of attacks from all directions. On the other hand, Akbar knew that if he could capture the pocong as a cursed item, it would be a huge bonus.

As Akbar was devising a plan to face the enemy, the pocong recovered and emitted a red-eyed aura, making the surroundings even more terrifying. Akbar couldn't help but tremble, but if anyone else saw him now, they would think something was strange. Despite his body shaking with fear, his face showed a satisfied smile, as if he were in ecstasy.

That's right, Akbar Bari Suseno had a mental condition where he was in love with terror and fear, known as phobophilia, and this game provided exactly what he wanted.

The pocong suddenly vanished, but its aura remained, indicating it was merely hiding. From an unexpected direction, something was thrown at Akbar, who instinctively caught it as evading was impossible. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a decaying human head, with exposed parts being eaten by maggots.

"Keahahahaha-"

*Splat

To his surprise, the head laughed, but with quick reflexes, Akbar slapped a spell paper onto it, causing it to explode into chunks of flesh. However, Akbar didn't realize that the ground he stood on had turned into a swamp in an instant. He noticed it too late and became trapped.

"Ahahaha, what bad luck."

As he was stuck, dozens of pocong began emerging from the swamp, all staring directly at Akbar as if they wanted to say something. The effect of their gaze rendered Akbar immobile, a result of the pocong's telekinesis.

In an instant, the pocong appeared right in front of Akbar, hanging upside down with their faces inches apart. If it were a beautiful girl, this scene could have been a romantic game, but unfortunately, Akbar faced a rotting face filled with maggots.

Slowly, the face opened, revealing a horrifying sight—a massive mouth with large fangs and dozens of eyes inside. Akbar tried his hardest to resist the fear and telekinetic restraint. Whether by miracle or something else, as the mouth was about to devour his head, he broke free from the telekinesis.

Quickly, Akbar ducked and kneeled, pulling out his medium.

"If you want to possess something, why not try this?"

He struck the pocong's head with the mask, surprising the ghost with his action. The mask adhered firmly to one side of the pocong's face and began its work.

"ARGHH!!!!!!!!!"

The pocong was engulfed in blue flames and slowly absorbed into Akbar's cursed mask, leaving behind a mask that transformed from a plain white mask to one resembling a woman's face with blood tears.

[Congratulations to player 'AByyS' for capturing your first ghost, unlocking the 'curse maker' skill path, and locking the 'exorcist' skill path!]

[Notification! The success rate of the first capture and purification is 100%, influenced by the player's abilities.]

[Notification! Information about 'pocong 1' will be given to player 'AByyS'!]

After taking the mask, the swamp and the pocong clones vanished, and Akbar received information—or more accurately, a memory film—about the pocong's story. His theory was correct; the pocong was created from vengeance, specifically a woman's brutal murder, driving the spirit to seek revenge on anything in its path as its soul had gone mad and couldn't distinguish its target.

----

The next morning, Akbar couldn't stop his hands from trembling. Even though he knew it was just a game, the vivid imagery made him feel as if he were in the real world. Nyx Entertainment's statement that life is lived only once so it should be lived wisely made Akbar subconsciously treat DWO as real life. There was no revival, resurrection, or similar magic, so players had to be extremely careful.

"Haha, big brother is still shaking. You've been watching too much porn, haven't you? Hahaha."

Seeing Akbar trembling, his little sister couldn't resist teasing him, even though she knew he had been playing a horror game last night. Her habit of teasing her brother with weird questions prevailed.

"Hmph, I just found a great game. Why don't you try it too?"

Hearing Akbar invite her to play a horror game made his sister flee the house and leave for school early.

And that's how Akbar's first day in Dark World Online, and we will follow him in the path of horror from now on.