Brookie's Loyalty (1)

The moment Dharr and Brookie set foot on the dying grass...

"Ugh..."

"Oh my god..."

An overwhelming sense of nausea assaulted them. It wasn't anything like dizziness - though they could still see straight, their heads were swimming in a sea of discomfort.

"No, screw this. I'm not going any further."

Dharr immediately succumbed to the nausea and stumbled back onto living grass.

"Oh my god. I can't believe I took living normally for granted..."

Dharr relievedly sucked in a breath of fresh air as he lay on his back. He turned to look at his friend... who was still attempting to press forward.

"... Just come back. You're not gonna last long in there."

"Urgh... Nah. I'm gonna continue forward. Just leave me alone," Brookie adamantly said.

"... I'll wait here until you give up."

Brookie was able to slowly struggle for a couple more steps before speaking up again.

"Agh, what..."

"What is it?" Dharr asked.

"I just took damage..."

"From what?"

Both Brookie and Dharr were confused for a moment before realizing the cause.

"... Brooks. Come back."

"No, Dharr, I can keep going. It was only 1 HP of damage after all."

Though Brookie remained adamant, Dharr knew he would cave eventually. Though Brookie's willpower wasn't lacking, there were some obstacles willpower couldn't force you through.

Dharr watched as Brookie continued struggling forward.

Even after several minutes, Brookie still hadn't left line of sight... which was how Dharr saw him collapse.

"You alright??" Dharr shouted.

"Urgh..."

Brookie didn't give a proper response.

"This guy..."

If Brookie was only able to make it that far in several minutes, there was no way Dharr was going to endure the mental strain just to try and save him. In the worst case scenario, Brookie would just respawn at the Covan Hamlet, only losing a couple of items and half of the coins in his pouch.

Just as Dharr was about to leave, he received a direct message via the system.

*>Brookie: Yeah, I'm gonna try to make my way back. The mental strain is only getting worse as I go farther. The HP decay is really slow, though. I've only lost 3 HP. I'm not in danger of dying, so don't worry too much.*

*>Dharr: I'm not particularly worried. Hurry up, will ya?*

They both knew it was a lie, but Brookie ignored it as he crawled his way back.

Then Dharr saw something that made him doubt his eyesight.

From deep in the forest, where the world had turned purple, a figure was running straight towards them.

*>Dharr: Brooks, hurry up. Something's coming.*

Not knowing whether it was hostile, Dharr warned his comrade.

Seeing this message, Brooks turned his head back.

Indeed, there was a cloaked figure running straight at them. And it was fast. Seeing this, Brooks momentarily tensed up.

*>Dharr: Are you serious? Didn't you say the unknown was exciting? Why are you giving up now?*

*>Brookie: I... When I said that, I didn't think we'd be in danger so quickly... Haha...*

*>Dharr: Well that's what *I* clearly had in mind. Hurry your ass over here. Now!*

Not wanting to deal with the cloaked figure, Brookie crawled towards safety as quickly as possible, but Dharr knew it wasn't fast enough.

*>Dharr: I'm sorry.*

*>Brookie: Haha, this is quite terrifying... But it's just a game, right? Should it even be allowed for me to feel this scared?*

The logical side of Brookie knew it was a game and that death wasn't the end, but the instinctual side sent his body into fight or flight mode.

*>Brookie: Dharr, this game is really something else. Because I've dealt with the front lines, this isn't that bad, but... How can ordinary people handle this?*

Dharr had already fled at this point. Brookie was mentally cursing him, but at the end of the day, he would have done the same thing if their positions were swapped.

It was a game; death wasn't the end. But if this situation were to occur in reality, something told Brookie that the decisions they made wouldn't have been any different.

The cloaked figure was gaining rapidly, and Brookie was out of steam.

*Dammit...*

He struggled his hardest, but he couldn't move any further. A shadow loomed over him, and he shut his eyes and waited for the Reaper's scythe to end him.

He waited... but nothing happened.

When he slowly opened his eyes, he heard an annoyed girl's voice.

"What the hell are you doing?"

---

As Jisha continued running west, she encountered the part of the Corrupted Land that was still clearing out. The circle of green was still expanding outwards from the center, but it was quite slow. Jisha easily outran it. She braced herself and stepped onto the purple grass.

-1

*Great, here we go again.*

Though Jisha wasn't severely affected by the Corrupted Land's properties, she still found them unpleasant. She ran and ran until she saw something in the distance.

*Wait, are those players?*

One was pathetically crawling towards the green grass, and the other was standing just outside the Corrupted Land.

*Huh... What are these idiots doing?*

Curiosity piqued, Jisha ran towards them.

A couple of seconds later, the player that was standing outside of the Corrupted Land turned and fled.

*Oh, I guess he's scared of me. I guess I would be, too, if I were in their position. Your friend is on the ground and there's a mysterious cloaked figure running at him at full speed... Hehe. I'm a spooky ghost! Be afraid!*

Jisha chuckled as she approached the player on the ground.

*The spooky ghost has arrived. What will you do now?*

She waited for a few seconds, but the player on the ground didn't move. Annoyed, Jisha pulled down her hood and spoke up.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The player opened his eyes.

"Wow... What a beautiful character model. Did I just go to Synergy heaven? Not that I'd mind seeing you in real heaven..."

"No, you idiot. You're still alive. Get up."

Jisha kicked the player, presumably a man, in the stomach.

"Oof!"

-7

The man clutched his stomach but didn't make any other moves.

"Okay..."

Jisha furrowed her brows.

With an annoyed expression, she dragged the man over to the green grass and tossed him on the ground. Though the man's character model was slightly larger, it didn't matter. Fae Sol was level 7. She could easily pick up and throw other players short distances.

"Ugh..."

After emitting another unsightly noise, the man slowly struggled to his feet while inspecting his body. After he confirmed he wasn't injured, he sighed in relief and looked at Jisha.

"Thanks for saving me. I'm Brookie."

"I know," Jisha said as she looked at Brookie's nametag above his head. "Also, you don't have to do a battle damage check like that. Injuries aren't realistic in this game yet."

"Ah, right. I forgot that you can see others' names... But what do you mean by 'yet'...?"

*Crap.*

"Um... As VR technology advances, won't things like injuries get more accurate to reality? It's a natural consequence of innovation."

"Right, of course. Wait, what's your name?"

Brookie was surprised by the fact that he couldn't see Jisha's name. Shahar's Nightwalker hid it, after all. She wondered whether she should answer this question.

"Uhh... This is unlikely, but you're not related to Asunder, are you?"

"Ha... I actually am a member of Asunder. Why do you ask?"

*What a coincidence.*