“Achoo!” Jesse sneezed, alarming everyone in the room.
“Are you getting sick?” Anna asked with concern.
“I don’t think so.” Jesse replied and rubbed his nose. “The allergy season is probably starting.”
The Rothsmith family was sitting in the cozy living room area with a movie playing on the large flat screen television. They were enjoying a quiet night together.
“Brother.” Emma moved closer to Jesse and whispered. “Where are you currently in Martial Online?”
“Why?” Jesse looked at the little girl. “I am in a nearby village.”
“Mm.” Emma nodded. “Are you planning on leaving the Light Continent?”
“That hasn’t been my plan, why?” Jesse was aware that the bridge leading to the Dark Continent was open. However, he had no intention of venturing into the Dark Waters.
“It’s very far.” Emma said, hugging her legs. “I heard some players are going there. They even plan to stream it. That place sounds very scary.”
‘She is worried about me. That’s cute.’ Jesse smiled and patted her head. “I won’t be going there for a long time.”
“Mm.” Emma nodded and smiled bashfully.
‘Hmm, I am still curious about that place.’ Jesse thought to himself while looking at the action movie playing on the television. ‘Perhaps I should check the stream.’
…
A crimson moon’s eerie light landed on the dark, misty waters. The water rippled as a small boat moved across the misty waters, its oars slicing through the dark surface.
“…” A hooded player watched the misty surroundings while paddling forward. The player’s hands gripped the oars tightly, frightened of the possibilities that the mist might hold.
Soon afterwards, several boats followed behind him. They were packed with armored players and a small lantern at the front of the ship, which lit up their path.
The moment the crimson moonlight landed on their faces, they saw a shore with a dock and tall, imposing structures. The structures were dark, empty houses that looked abandoned.
The boats swayed gently as they smashed into the dock. The players then tied them to the dock and hopped off onto solid ground.
A short-haired player then pulled out a camera from his belongings and threw it into the air. The camera shockingly floated and started following the players as they explored the area.
“Chat, this is the first place we have discovered.” The short-haired player said to his stream chat while showing the entirety of the dark, abandoned harbor. “It’s giving me major chills, but let’s see what we can find here.”
[Chatter135: Is this Dark Continent?]
[Chatter654: No, this is only the first island. There are hundreds of islands, and it takes many days to reach the Dark Continent]
[Chatter065: This place is very creepy…]
Creak—the short-haired streamer opened a creaking door and carried a lantern with him. Tall shadows stretched across the windows and overgrown weed went through the floorboards as the lantern slowly lit up the whole house.
It was abandoned, with broken pieces of furniture and half-eaten, moldy bread left on the dinner table.
‘I wonder what has happened that has made this place abandoned.’ The short-haired streamer thought while walking away from the abandoned building. He didn’t want to enter any of those dark houses, as they looked very creepy.
As the group of players continued exploring the abandoned harbor, the mist around the dark waters turned thick and made it difficult to see through it. Then, the grayish mist started changing shades into an eerie green, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.
“Neigh…”
A distant sound of a horse echoed through the fog before fading away. 𝒩𝚘𝓋𝗅𝒩xt.𝐂𝑂
As the short-haired streamer slowly turned to look at the ominous green mist that was now obscuring the dark waters, he experienced chills running down his spine.
“G-guys, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” His friends finished exploring one of the abandoned houses and then heard their friend’s question, which gave off bad vibes.
“C-chat, did you hear it?” The short-haired streamer opened his chat. There were a lot of question marks, signaling that the stream didn’t hear anything.
“Whew, maybe I misheard it.” The short-haired streamer wiped his cold sweat and turned to his friend. “Let’s finish checking on the rest of the houses, and then we can put our temporary spawn here.”
“You want to stay a night here?” A female friend of his shuddered at the thought of that.
“No, we can all log off for the night and continue exploring tomorrow when it’s bright.” The short-haired streamer explained.
His friends heaved a sigh of relief and chose one of the houses as their temporary spawns. The short-haired streamer did the same, and when he left the house with his streaming camera, he saw that his friends were standing blankly, looking towards the eerie green mist.
“Guys?” The short-haired streamer frowned and wondered where they looked.
The female player raised her trembling arm, then extended her index finger in the direction of the mist.
The short-haired streamer frowned and turned to look towards the green mist. The streaming camera also slowly turned, and a shocking sight appeared in front of thousands of viewers.
A transparent horse with glowing eyes emerged from the mist, its mane and tail flowing gracefully in an unseen breeze. It had no flesh, as even its long face was made of shimmering ethereal light and looked like a skull.
There was a person mounting the ethereal horse. The figure donned a long green cloak, blending seamlessly with the surrounding mist. The figure’s eyeless sockets glowed with ethereal light as its skull seemed to float above its skeletal frame.
“A-a skeleton!” The short-haired streamer screamed.
“W-w-w-what the hell is that?” The female player’s voice trembled.
Swoosh—a wind drifted across the abandoned harbor and passed through the shocked players, carrying voices with it.
“Wild Hunt…” The wind whispered before disappearing.
“R-r-run!” The short-haired streamer shouted and escaped into the nearby house. His friends followed, and they barricaded themselves in there.
They immediately wanted to log off, but noticed that they couldn’t.
They were in a combat state!
Their faces changed color to a pale shade of fear as they realized the gravity of the situation.
[Chatter956: What the hell was that?]
[Chatter1948: What was that echoing voice? Did someone say wild hunt or something?]
[Chatter111: I heard it too!]
[Chatter900: What the heck is that?]
[Chatter001: Not sure, but this place is creepy as fuck!]
[Chatter001 muted for 12000 seconds for excessive profanity]
[Chatter5424: I will never go there! Nope, nope, nope! I am happy with Yatagarasu; thank you very much!]
…
Jesse sat silently on his gaming chair while looking at the stream with a serious look on his face.
After finishing the movie night, he returned to his quarters and, out of curiosity, went to check the streams.
While most of the streams were still en route to one of the islands, he found this one that had finally reached land. That’s why the view count had already passed over 100k, as this group of players might be the first group to reach an island.
“Wild Hunt?” Jesse crossed his arms. “That place looks dangerous. I wonder if the Wisdom King knows about it.”
For the following hours, the streamer and his friends hid inside the building without even peeking outside. Still, the view count continued rising as news began spreading that they had encountered a strange creature.
After time reached midnight, Jesse decided to go to sleep and check out in the morning what happened and if they survived.