Chapter 40: Hollow Hello

Enemies of Corruption wasn’t a forgiving game.

Passive regeneration didn’t exist, and bleeding effects didn’t stop on their own, making bandages or having a healer in the party imperative.

Even if this world truly was in the game and followed its laws, he shouldn’t have possessed any advanced healing factor.

Yet...

Despite not actively consuming anything, his body was slowly regenerating as he and Dita trudged through the Blood Warden spawning zone, Dita now keeping a little extra distance after returning his sack and Bone Sword.

Either he had stacked heals buffered from consuming the Blood Warden, or his mysterious Class or Trait possessed a natural healing factor. One or the other.

Peace wasn’t too concerned with figuring out the answer at the moment.

The more pressing matter was forcing his broken body to move.

Even without the pain, the damage was showing, especially in his left arm, which he could barely swing despite the shoulder wound having closed.

Seeing how their first encounter had gone, they’d opted to circumvent any other Blood Wardens.

Unlike the one Peace had killed, none were in their direct path or surrounded by enough minions to make avoiding them troublesome, so weaving around their meandering thralls didn’t add too much time.

They had, however, fought one patrol after Dita proved too impatient to wait for it to pass. Since they were Skeleton Warriors rather than Bone Ravagers, she had little trouble dispatching them by her lonesome with her trusty mace.

Peace even got some free EXP since they were now partied up.

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

[You have slain a Tier 9 F-Class, Skeleton Warrior]

[+2 EXP]

Peace then promptly collected the stones from the skulls...

As well as their arms.

’Cat’s out of the bag, might as well capitalize on this!’

Dita, her sun-kissed, blood-smeared face paling slightly as she watched him slide the Bone Sword under the shoulders and pop them off, asked:

"Uh... what are you doing?"

Rearranging the stuff in his bag to fit five skeleton arms, Peace smirked, then said:

"Told you, I needed more. This is a snack for the journey!"

Gulping, Dita looked away and shook her head in dismay.

Peace simply shrugged, then began munching on a hand, crushing the phalanxes between his back teeth, which had fully transformed back into molars.

Yet another inexplicable phenomenon.

’There’s a lot I don’t know about my body...’

But now wasn’t the time to figure it out.

The Skeletal Stalker was close.

Close enough that the spears had stopped coming.

Which meant it had encroached within ’one render distance.’

Well, that was using the game’s measuring system.

From what Peace could infer from the last time he’d seen it, that translated to about ten football pitches. Roughly a kilometer.

In any case...

The second phase of the stalking had begun.

Using one of its unique abilities, the Skeletal Stalker turned 95% invisible and began projecting apparitions into the minds of its target and every member of their party.

Each apparition was an exact imitation of the Stalker itself, capable of appearing anywhere around them at random.

According to Dita, there was one rule Peace absolutely couldn’t break:

Whenever an apparition appeared, he had to look directly at it and maintain eye contact until it vanished.

Looking away signified weakness. And every time the Stalker sensed avoidance, the apparitions became more frequent and aggressive for that target.

It sounded simple and easy to avoid on paper...

Except there were apparently records of people going insane from it.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Peace felt he’d grown quite desensitized to the grotesque—

"Buwahh!"

Peace suddenly jumped, dropping the humerus he was eating onto the ground.

Dita spun with her mace at the ready, but quickly realized what had happened.

"What—?! Oh...."

The Skeletal Stalker was standing inches from Peace, for his eyes only.

It stood easily taller than 200 centimeters, its glowing red eyes angled downward until they aligned perfectly with his own.

And the illusion hadn’t copied only its appearance, but its dreadful presence as well.

The cold pressure that had felt like an awkward tickle at his back had morphed into a force so unnatural it felt less like fear and more like despair given physical weight. His stomach churned, and his limbs felt like jelly.

A part of him wanted to curl up, cover his head, and wait for the monster staring at him to go away.

Its robes shifted soundlessly around it, which certainly didn’t help.

If the classic ’Reaper’ had a form, it was the beast in front of him!

Worst were the eyes. Now that they were close and easy to make out...

’Why is there so much detail in the eyes?!’

Peace thought it was just going to be two glowing red dots in its empty skull, not two max definition red eyeballs that fixed entirely on him and followed his every move?!

’I see now why people go insane!’

"I’m just gonna..."

Taking a deep breath, Peace inched forward, then crouched, reaching for the humerus...

"Oh?!"

The apparition moved with him.

Its knees bent at the exact same moment his did. Its spine folded forward. Its skull descended until its hollow face moved directly in front of his, nearly pressing its cheekbones against his.

Flinching, Peace jumped back and decided to cut his losses.

"No? Okay. You can have it."

Shaking her head, Dita walked over, passed straight through the illusion, and caused it to vanish from Peace’s sight.

She picked up the half-eaten bone and shoved it in Peace’s mouth with a disgusted look.

"Please, just keep moving."

Munching the bit she’d stuck in his mouth, Peace replied:

"O-oshay."

[???] — (condition to unlock: 14/100)

Suddenly, after swallowing the next morsel, his body remembered, ’oh, yeah, I probably shouldn’t be feeling too hot,’ and the pain returned all at once.

Peace started twitching and clawing at his skin as if he had fire ants crawling all over him.

"Yakahahoo!"

Stomping, Dita spun around.

"What is it now— Ge-yah!"

Her eyes locked onto something just above Peace’s head as her expression twisted in consternation.

Peace couldn’t see it, but he squawked out as he flailed:

"I-i-is it b-behind me?"

"Yeah..."

Still in agonizing pain, Peace decided to do her a solid and swiped the air behind him; After seeing the relieved look in her eyes, it seemed he successfully caused the apparition in Dita’s sight to disappear.

After several seconds of more flailing that probably looked like some horrible attempt at dancing, the pain died down to something ’bearable,’ and Peace felt his body return to ’functional’ territory.

And...

During the little fiasco, they’d finally exited the Blood Warden spawning zone.

In front of them, far in the distance, Peace spotted the bank of the River of Blood.