Departure

"Alice!! Get up, we have to go!"

Jacob looked behind them, seeing the undead slowly approaching, while some crawled on all fours. They moved like snails, but they were completely different in combat.

With this many surrounding them, they were gonna be dead without question.

"Ghhhh... what's with all the yelling?" Alice rubbed her eyes, finally waking up from her sleep, "I was knocked out unconscious... and I remember fighting those Swindler guys... wait! Those Swindler guys!" Alice stood up in haste, pulling out her automatic firearm, "Where the hell are they?"

"Alice, it's me, Jacob! There's no time to worry about them right now, we have to escape while we can!" Jacob grabbed Alice's hand, running towards the door in front of them, "Richard, Henry, open the door!"

"Right!" Henry ran towards the door, twisting the doorknob, "Huh? I-It's locked..."

"It's what?!" Shouted Jacob.

"It's locked! The door won't open!" A notification popped up inside Henry's field of vision, "It says we need a key!!"

"Hey, look!" Richard was facing the opposite way of everyone, pointing towards something... horrifying.

"You have to be kidding me!!" Cried, Henry.

"N-No way, is that an Overlord? But they're level 40, we can't go up against that! What do we do?" Alice placed her hands against her scalp, realizing their situation, "We're gonna die!!"

"Henry, how do we obtain the key? Does it say anything about that?" Asked Richard.

"I-It doesn't..." Muttered Henry.

"Look, right there!" Jacob was pointing at the Overlord's belt, "It's the key! It's hanging off his belt!"

"Oh, good eye, Jacob! But how do we obtain it? The overlord is surrounded by the undead! Any false attempts and we're screwed." Said Richard.

"Let me do this..."

They all looked at Jacob, bewildered.

"What are you talking about, you idiot?" Alice shouted, proceeding to grab his collar, "You'll end up dying, you can't just-"

"No, I'll be fine, trust me."

"What!? How will you be fine? And what's with that confident look on your face? What're you planning, Jacob?" Alice was visibly worried with teary eyes.

"There are pros and cons of having bad internet, and I'll show you why."

"Bad internet...? Jacob..." Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing, but it made sense, "If you die, I'll never forgive you, I hope you know that! If there's an afterlife in this game, I'll come searching for you and make you regret this!"

"Don't worry, Alice, I don't plan on dying. Let me do this."

Alice closed her eyes as she nodded her head with a sigh.

"Right... be careful."

"I will," Soon as Alice stepped to the side, Jacob slowly approached the horde of undead heading their way, "Alright lag, you always caused me harm, but now I need you more than ever. You're the only hope I got!" He extended his palm. "Unfold!"

Jacobs's Personal Hub would appear in front of him.

"What's Jacob doing?! Why is he using Unfold?" Asked Henry.

"Why should I tell you guys anything? Go to hell!" Responded Alice.

"You skank, we're on the same team!" Proclaimed Henry.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember having consent to join your team, so you can kiss my ass."

"Tsk!" Henry sucked on his teeth, annoyed, "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened—we didn't mean it—we were just desperate, so we decided to force Jacob to come with us into the underground ruins. We didn't believe that we were really stuck in the game, that's why we were careless, but now we're on a team." Henry sighed, "Can you at least forgive us?"

Alice widened her eyes, muddled by his words, "Never in a million years would I expect to hear a Swindlers member apologize, that's new," Alice turned around, facing them, "Fine, I accept your apology! You no longer need to kiss my ass but don't think for a second I trust you. I'm only forgiving you because Jacob is on your team."

"I suppose we can roll with that." Said Richard.

Alice turned back around, facing Jacob, "Now, watch and learn! Once Jacob opens his Personal Hub, he'll scroll into his inventory, and that's when his lag will start. For some reason, his game lags the most whenever he tries opening his Inventory, and it prevents him from using any of his items stored away inside of his personal hub."

"Really? Must be McDonald's Wi-Fi." Proclaimed Henry.

"Bwa ha ha, that's what I said!" Responded Alice.

"Alright, let's do this!" Jacob finally tapped his inventory, and suddenly—

"Holy shit!" Henry shouted.

"This is the ultimate power of Jacob! Witness his grand lagging!" Alice witlessly shouted.

"Huoooooaaaahhh!" Jacob screamed at the top of his lungs, overcoming the fear that plagued him.

He stepped forward, dashing towards the undead.

"If I lag out of the game, I'm sorry for ever bringing you here, Alice! Forgive me!"

His Game avatar spasmed in multiple directions; Jacob appeared floating at first before crouching the next.

The Overlord held up its hand, casting a powerful magical spell;

"Oh crap, that spell! It's instant death! Jacob won't survive it, get out of there!" Shouted Henry.

Instant death was a powerful spell that only the undead could use as part of their intrinsic abilities.

Once the magic circle is drawn, they can select a target that they wish to instantly kill, completely depleting all their life points in one attack.

And Jacob was chosen—

"Jacob..." Alice looked worried, holding up her hands in prayer.

"Impossible!" Shouted the Overlord.

"W-What happened? And wait, did that Overlord just talk?" Asked Henry.

"The instant death spell, it didn't work! Jacob is lagging too hard for any spells to work on him, they just vanish upon contact!" Announced Richard.

"Incredible..." Muttered Henry.

("Ghhh... goddamnit! This lag is preventing me from glitching towards that overlord and taking away the key!")

All of a sudden, Jacob was inside the horde of undead, surrounded by them.

("How the hell did my lag glitch me in their horde?! Wait... now's my chance!")

Jacob leaped forward, reaching his hand for the key, "I got it!" Before the Overlord could counterattack, Jacob snagged the key, and glitched away once more, appearing in his previous position, "I-I got the key! Here, take it!" He threw the key behind him towards Alice.

"Alright, Jacob! You're the best lagger in the world! Woohoo!" Alice jumped into the air, grasping the key inside her hand, "Okay, now close your inventory so your lag can go away, we have to get outta here!"

"Right..." Jacob closed his inventory on command, having his sporadic glitching come to a halt, "I can't believe I survived that..."

"Move!" Alice shoved Richard and Henry out of the way, fitting the key inside the keyhole, and unlocking the door, "It worked!" Alice opened the door, running inside, "C'mon!"

"Hey, watch out!!" Henry shouted, suddenly tackling Alice to the ground.

"Wha-!?" Alice, confused as to what was going on, had been toppled by Henry.

"Gaaaaaghh!!!" Richard shouted as his body was impaled by burning arrows.

Each one depleted a chunk of his health, staggering him backward as his life points slowly declined.

The horde of undead, behind them, were washed away from the rain of arrows, including the Overlord, leaving Richard as the only survivor of the assault.

"Richard, no!!" Henry looked at Richard being skewered through his body.

One after another, the arrows took away his health.

Jacob was unaware that Richard was blocking the arrows with his body, preventing him from being impaled.

He puked up blood, feeling his health bar reach its last life point.

Jacob could only watch as he stood behind Richard, wide-eyed.

"This can't be..." Jacob couldn't believe his eyes, he tried switching to his inventory to equip a healing potion, but he knew he would just lag, "C'mon, damnit, why must I have lag?! I'm the only one with healing potions right now! I can save you, I can save you! Go away, goddamn lag!!!"

Nobody else had healing potions except Jacob.

He had stacks of potions that he had never used, due to his horrendous lag.

During the time when he needs them the most, it could never happen.

The rain of arrows had ceased, as Richard's body collided against the ground.

"Richard, hang on, buddy!" Henry got off of Alice, crawling towards his friend, "Don't die on me bro, don't die!" Henry held onto Richard's hand, staring him deep into the eye,

"Henry..."

"What is it, Richard? Talk to me, hold on bro, we can do something to save you, I just know it!"

"...Players..."

"W-What? What are you trying to say?" Asked Henry.

"There are... players... down here..."

"Players?!"

"Yes... it wasn't a trap... it was...players..."

"No... Richard, please!" Henry's voice cracked as he watched his friend slowly fade into data, "Don't leave me, man! You're the only friend that I have, I need you by my side!" Henry closed his eyes, grasping his hand tighter, "I need you more than ever, you're my backbone! You're my support! Remember!?"

"I'm sorry, bro, it's been fun together."

"Richard, no! Goddamnit!!!"

Tears rolled down Henry's cheek as Richard slowly faded away, disappearing from Isekai World Online.

His soul and data, now gone.

"Richard!!"