With the new stalker situation, the party stuck closer together and watched each other's backs. The Pack traveled closer than ever, but they likely wouldn't be able to notice a determined [Darkstalker]. Ultimately, they could only try their best to keep their lower-leveled members safe. It was more important than ever for BlackKokoro and WolfGodKotaro to level up.

  They made it through the forest and came upon a shallow river without encountering their stalker again. It was impossible to tell if Ansazu was still following them, but they assumed so, judging by their declaration to win next time. If the bandaged [Assassin] could elude their detection on the open plains, they could keep following them without ever being noticed - until they attacked.

  MANhera carried AFKat on one shoulder and KuroYasha on another to cross the river. The others rode atop the wolves of The Pack to avoid getting their feet wet in the freezing water. The little catgirl spotted fish swimming in the clear stream, and she felt the urge to jump in and catch one. Would that be possible?

  IpponSakura seemed to recognize her yearning and drew her katana with a blindingly fast motion. With a thrust at the perfect angle, she stabbed through a fish and lifted it out of the water. Although it had been pierced through the flank, it still struggled, its body too slow to recognize that it had already been killed.

  "Can we even eat that?" TripleBatsuDance wondered with a skeptical look at the trout-like fish. The devs clearly didn't put much thought into their design compared to the monsters one could actually fight and harvest, since fishing could only be done in specific spots.

  "I have a portable grill with me, yeah," said the samurai girl, moving her free hand in the air to access her menu. Then she opened her palm as if dropping something from it, and a complete fireplace featuring a stone ring, piled wood, and a metal spit, appeared out of thin air on the rocky riverbank before her.

  "Of course you would have that," muttered AFKat, knowing that IpponSakura was a solo dungeon delver. It was quite like her to farm monster ingredients along the way and keep up her stamina in the field without ever going back to town.

  "Let's try one first. If it works, we can enjoy some fresh fish," suggested WolfGodKotaro, taking the fish off the katana and putting it on the spit.

  "Step aside~" BlackKokoro demanded while pointing her staff at the firewood. Everybody stared at her for a moment before yelling for her to stop. She looked around with a pout. "What? You think I'll blow it up~?"

  "You don't need to cast a spell to light the fire, yeah," explained IpponSakura with a wry smile. She turned the spit, and the fire lit up on its own. Within three rotations, the fish gained color, and barely two rotations later, she lifted it from the fire and raised it high above her as if showing it off in triumph. It was cooked to perfection.

  "That's handy..." commented the witch with a somewhat peeved tilt of her head.

  "Here, have the first bite, yeah." IpponSakura handed the skewer to AFKat, whose mouth was visibly watering from the smell. Since she had 100% damage reduction, even if the fish was scalding hot or poisonous, she wouldn't be affected by it. Thus, she bit into it without hesitation.

  "Muu, could need some seasoning..." said the little catgirl with a slightly disappointed expression. Still, the charred skin and soft flesh had their own charm, and she continued eating. She noticed her stamina bar filling up slightly and gave the others watching her with anticipation a thumbs up.

  "What about poison or other effects?" TripleBatsuDance inquired while putting on her mask. The huge lineup of buffs on AFKat disappeared, leaving no icons at all. She gave another thumbs up, and everybody breathed out in visible relief.

  "I'll catch a few more, yeah," smiling, the Oni headed back to the river with her katana at the ready.

  "Let me help you," WolfGodKotaro offered, and she nodded. When one had perfect hand-eye coordination and superhuman speed, one didn't need any bait for catching fish.

  Soon, every party member had a fish in their hands, enjoying nature's boon without any seasoning to alter the original taste. The beast boy was transported back to when he went fishing with his father, camping by the riverside in the woods, and tears welled up in his eyes. He had already moved out of his countryside family house a few years ago, and if he left this game, he would go visit his parents again.

  Another person was crying a good distance away, watching the group making merry. Ansazu crouched in the undergrowth, nibbling on hardtack to keep their stomach from growling. It was the most basic food one could get in the game from level 1, but the Assassins Guild forced its members to keep eating it, 'to maintain a disciplined lifestyle,' as the instructors repeated.

  Ansazu looked into their inventory, where a stack of over nine hundred pieces of hardtack still sat. It took up only a single slot and had started at a thousand when their journey of tailing this party had begun. Sniffling, the [Darkstalker] continued to nibble on the hard and flavorless piece of rations while trying to ignore the delicious smell of grilled fish wafting over to them.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  WolfGodKotaro's ears twitched, and he shot up with a cautious look. The babbling of the river drowned out all the sounds in their surroundings, but the sensitive beast boy's ears had picked up a hint of something out of place. The Pack stopped eating and was on full alert, too. "I sense something."

  The others remained still, looking around intently. Suddenly, a flock of birds took hasty flight from the forest ahead of them, startled by an unnatural phenomenon. Finally, AFKat heard it too, the cracking of branches and undergrowth. Something big was moving through the forest. It rapidly approached them, and everybody took a fighting stance.

  The treeline parted, and a colossal humanoid emerged with a shambling gait. Its skin was gray and stone-like, and its body was covered in moss acting as clothing. That was a full giant, standing three times taller than MANhera, and judging by its face, it was an undead. It stopped on the rocky riverbank a few dozen meters away from them and looked around with blind eyes.

  However, the sounds of the undergrowth breaking didn't stop, and moments later, a swarm of undead followed through the breach created by the zombie giant. They were mostly human villagers, but some demihuman raiders could be spotted among them. The grievous wounds on their bodies showed they had inflicted them on each other, but in death, they were equal to the Great Necromancer.

  "[Borearo's Final Breath]!" BlackKokoro unleashed her spell without hesitation, freezing the entire group of undead right as they spotted the players and charged at them. They faded out of existence from the [Voidweaver]'s effect that replaced the shattering of corpses when they were killed while frozen.

  The zombie giant didn't die in a single hit, but its health was down to a small sliver. The witch cast a regular fireball, which was transformed into a sphere of undulating space, and finished it off. It was ignited by the effect, causing the massive corpse to scatter into stardust. A [Voidweaver] was the natural enemy of both [Necromancer] players and monsters that could revive their compatriots, since all their spells erased the corpses they needed to grow their armies.

  The group of players remained still and watched the forest in case there were stragglers, but after a while, they relaxed again and continued eating cautiously. KuroYasha was the first to speak up. "I don't remember zombie giants appearing in this region."

  "They shouldn't. You only encounter them in the Jagged Pass," said MANhera, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe we'll encounter the Great Necromancer earlier than we thought."

  Beyond the Jagged Pass lay the Undead Wastes, where one could only encounter zombies. And further beyond was the Crawling Mausoleum, a living fortress of rotting flesh and bones carrying the Great Necromancer. Since it was a massive construct, it moved incredibly slowly, but that was part of the boss's theatrics: It symbolized the inevitability of death.

  In the game lore, the undead army was an endlessly looming threat, never meant to reach the human kingdom, since it would throw the entire game out of balance. But considering an army of endgame raid bosses from the demihuman kingdom in the east could come all the way to Dragonheart's Sanctum, it was safe to say that the game logic no longer mattered.

  The sooner BlackKokoro finished the campaign, the better for her to level up quickly. But they didn't want to rush her like they did AFKat when she went to level 100 within a week after starting the game and never saw much of the lore. Of course, it was impossible to rush like that when the distance between regions was so big nowadays.

  They quickly finished their meal and cleaned up their makeshift camp. BlackKokoro used a small ice spell to erase the fish bones from existence since they were unsure if they despawned and didn't want to stay around to find out. With this, the group continued their journey, walking through the swath created by the zombie giant and the undead horde earlier.

  It seemed that the earlier mob had formed by absorbing all the monsters in the vicinity, so they didn't encounter any stray zombies. Following their path soon led them to a ruined village, devoid of all life. All that remained was blood and scraps of cloth from when the dead attacked the living and forced them to join their ranks.

  BlackKokoro crouched down to pick up a stuffed bear lying on the dirt road. It was stained with blood, but its owner was nowhere to be seen. Maybe the child had been in the horde she annihilated earlier. They were NPCs turned monsters, so she shouldn't have been feeling bad for them, but seeing the signs of their peaceful lives like this stirred something in her.

  "I understand your feelings," muttered AFKat beside her. She wasn't much into the dark fantasy setting of Prison of Eternity. If possible, she would want to bring more light and positivity into this world.

  They combed the village for any signs of people with The Pack's help, but discovered nobody. The villagers must have been so thoroughly surprised that they didn't even have time to hide in their small supply cellars. All the livestock had disappeared, too, either eaten by the undead or zombified, too.

  There was nothing more they could do, so they simply left the village of death behind and continued westward. Knowing the game setting, killing the Great Necromancer wouldn't change anything. Both the village NPCs and the mobs would respawn in time and repeat this cycle forever, and bosses were no different.

  Surely, someone was currently fighting in the Siege of Araheim, facing General Gravus as he seemingly broke the game to overcome death, if only for a moment. AFKat looked back one last time as if to burn the image of the abandoned houses into her memory. This was still a game, so ending the threat of the Great Necromancer would come at the expense of all the players who came after them. If she wanted to blame someone for this situation, she would have to blame Azrael for giving NPCs and mobs made solely to die sentience.

  The thought was sobering. Being locked into a repetitive role like this was surely a form of hellish torture. She could only hope that they weren't aware of it despite their intelligence.

  Ansazu observed from a safe distance, watching her targets through a pair of binoculars. They didn't understand why those people stopped in this destroyed village for so long. There were countless such set pieces in the game, usually filled with monsters to fight. This time, they had been drawn into the horde that attacked them at the riverbank, leaving the place empty.

  They had noticed many strange behaviors not normally seen in gamers of their caliber. Maybe since the game turned real, they had decided to start roleplaying more. But seeing two legendary players who topped multiple leaderboards in their time with multiple builds play around like this was a strange feeling.

  Slinking back into their shadow, Ansazu quickly followed them as they disappeared over a hill.