Han quickly hid in a side corridor. As he did so, the group finally entered — a party of three. The hound immediately jumped into the beast-master's arms. She seemed to resemble the hound pet Pochirin, at least in appearance. She was short compared to Zom and the two others.

  Still, he couldn't help but notice that she was a demi-human. It was hard to tell, but the animalistic ears on her head and the long tail dragging behind her pointed toward the feline kind. He wasn't sure if he had any odor, but it still wasn't worth hanging around the sensitive kind too much.

  Before moving on, he looked them over and couldn't help but scoff. Their party was quite lackluster, a paladin, a beast-master, and some dimwit with no weapons or armor in sight. A damage-oriented team. One that casual players might put together

  The paladin was quite large, nearly two heads taller than the slouching dimwit. He was covered in an absurd amount of armor, which gave Han an ick, since it didn't explain how he might have gotten it. The armor was expensive-looking; golden inlays ran along the outer edges of the metal plates on the forearms, deltoids, and quads.

  The dimwit seemed to be the only NPC among them, the kind Han would expect to see at this point in the game. That meant he was extremely generic, where the only feature that stood out being his bright brown hair.

  I hope we never meet! Arrivederci!

  Since they couldn't be killed by him single-handedly, there was no point in following them. He decided to keep hiding and eventually left their vicinity entirely. His focus went back to the freshly respawned skeletons. The fighting was far easier now. The 2 levels seemed to count for more than the previous six or so. The problem was that even without killing as much, the rewards weren't worth the effort.

  I’m gaining 150 EXP per kill… they don’t even drop anything.

  Though they did drop something. Their corpses faded out, leaving behind worn short swords that follow them into the void if he didn't pick them up. They were useless to him, and he couldn't even sell the duplicates. And by far the worst part, they couldn't respawn with only him around.

  Han walked around the corridors mindlessly on the 5th floor until he found a decently sized puddle. He walked up to it. His heart winced for a moment. The pain was imaginary, yet it hurt as if it were real. It was like a nightmare in which you see yourself mutilated or injured.

  While Zom didn't resemble Han at all, moving his jaw from side to side and feeling it respond was akin to that nightmare. Zom's face was pretty much as ruined as it could be. The flesh had been stripped from the side of his face, leaving the jawbone and surrounding tissue exposed. It cemented the fact that he couldn't fully feel or control every aspect of Zom. For example, he tried to stick Zom's tongue out through the open hole in his cheek but couldn't. Blinking was automatic for Han, but Zom didn't more so that he couldn't. Same with breathing. Since Zom didn't, neither did Han

  His clothes were in tatters and from it the practically brand-new dagger sheath at his hips stood out. The main thing he wished to see was himself, or this mana-tick body he ended up with. The muddiness of the puddle wasn't helping, and Zom was unable to twist around much. He had no clue where he was on Zom's body, or how he even looked.

  The lack of things to do really started to tick him off. There really wasn't anything besides fighting. Not needing sleep or to eat only added to it. His life became a tad monotonous and robotic. Kill skeletons, wait for player, hide from player, kill skeletons. The unchangingness of the crypt and himself had gotten to him. He even started playing with rocks and cobwebs, making a huge ball and throwing it against the walls

  Is there really nothing else I can do? I am just stuck here.

  His own prison started causing dark thoughts to sprout. Dark thoughts, however, weren't dark enough for action. He had thought about slicing Zom's throat just to see what would happen. Loneliness was smothering him. He couldn't even talk to himself. Despite wishing to avoid being trapped with himself for eternity in the sludge zone, he had somehow ended up in a similar scenario.

  "Damn it!" A scream pulled him out of his thoughts. He stashed his ball of cobwebs. Even if it was a player, he really didn't care. Everything had come to this.

  If they kill me—that’s fine.

  Being over-leveled for the crypt still only gave him a small chance against a player. Han knew full well that gear mattered more than level. So, armed with his two under-upgraded daggers, he rushed toward the one in need—the one that might kill him.

  Speeding through the hallways at a pace far beyond any normal zombie's capabilities. Mustering every single fiber of being into running was quite cathartic. If Zom's dead muscles had allowed it, both he and Han would have been smiling. It was like a Friday feeling, after grinding through the week at school, at work, anywhere else, nothing else mattered since it’s Friday. Though in Han's case, that Friday of his was cowering in a corner surrounded by three skeletons.

  In a moment's notice. Han, while still mid-air, kicked one of the skeleton's heads off. The other two had barely enough time to react, crumbling into a pile of bones in an instant.

  "What the fuck!?" Zom yelled out, but combined with all the usual issues, whatever Han meant to say came out as unrecognizable spew that reached the cowering figure. His anger and astonishment were easy enough to spot, at least.

  Given how many players passed through this crypt, the chances of meeting the same one twice were absurdly low. And yet, piling on top of that, the one he found was the only player who couldn't kill him, the same dark elf healer.

  The girl who had been in a panic, no longer was. Despite having been ganged up on by a couple of skeletons, which was mostly her own fault. Her spell couldn't hit multiple enemies at once, and its cooldown matched its duration exactly.

  Anyway, she hadn't stood up yet. Her green eyes kept watching the unnatural zombie pace back and forth, muttering something unintelligible every couple of seconds. It seemed angry, but somehow not at her. She had just seen him save her, though she couldn't be sure it was on purpose. The fact that she wasn't locked out played a large part.

  The adventurous part of her screamed for her to speak up. And that she did. Anomalies were rare, after all.

  “Hel—“ She stumbled on her words as she winced in pain from biting her tongue. She pushed through. “Hello. I’m—”

  Her introduction was postponed as the zombie finally turned to her. Normally zombies at her stage of gaming weren't that creepy. But this one sent chills down her spine. While there was no way to tell if someone was pretending to be weak by hiding their gear, this was a zombie, yet he had daggers. It became clear how effortless it would be for him to kill her right now.

  “What the fuck do I do with you? I don’t even care...” Han kept muttering while walking until she said something he didn't catch. He turned to her. She was the healer he had met before. Despite being in a low-level crypt, she was not only solo but high-leveled enough to have unlocked a DOT spell.

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  “You’re worth a lot of EXP. Should I just kill her?” He added it playfully over his shoulder, already turning to walk away.

  “No! Don’t… don’t kill me.” She suddenly yelled, her voice fading as he was already facing away and en route to leave her alone. Han's mind blanked. He couldn't understand. The next thought tempered his enthusiasm.

  She said it by chance.

  He walked back up to her and crouched to bring himself to eye level, propping himself up with his toes to hold the squat.

  “Did you just understand me?” Han stared into her still green eyes. The word echoed in his mind again, prompting him to say it once more. “Kill?”

  “No.” She shook her head, cementing his theory.

  Default lines that zombies have… actually work.

  While he wasn't sure how, they did. His mind raced with ideas for how to communicate, even the small things. He just wanted to talk to someone. It hurt. Han's gaze dropped to the rubble below them, slowly losing focus at the bones of the skeletons he had just killed.

  “Kill.” Zom rumbled after Han grabbed one of the bones from the pile. A roundabout way of communicating, but the caveman-esque method would do. Luckily, the girl wasn't that dumb.

  “You want to kill… skeletons?” She stood up, not bothering to brush the dirt off her clothes. Instead, her eyes were locked on him. The fear from a moment ago was nowhere to be seen. Once she had fully straightened herself, her true height became clear. She towered over him. He must have misgauged her in the bleak, identical corridors that bore him to death.

  Not that Han could add much anyway. He went up ahead. The healer kept well beyond the safe distance you'd expect from a companion, though he understood why given the situation, he had tried to kill her after all. At least now he had an easy way to respawn the skeletons.

  Wonder… since we’re not in a party, who’s getting the biggest chunk of EXP?

  Normally, healers earned assists by casting buffs or debuffs from a distance. Since it was a low-income class, the EXP requirement was lower. With that in mind and his read of her, she was probably around level 25 to 30.

  “Do you understand me?” Her chipper voice stood out. The only other sound besides them and their footsteps were the seldom droplets.

  While he desperately wanted to give her a straight answer, he couldn't, or rather, didn't want to. Loneliness fought against caution, but he had already given up on everything. It was better not to risk losing the connection entirely. The result was a sideways glance, when the smarter move would have been a simple nod, one that, in his mind, would have let her curiosity take over and her fear fade completely.

  Then the endless questions begin… I’d rather not…

  “Okay…” She said, but he didn't pay it any attention as he finally spotted some skeletons. There was no need to wait for her; all she had to do was sit still and be pretty.

  “I-I’ll heal you!” Her yell reached him from behind. Initially he didn't panic, since he knew undead took damage from healing. Though a decently leveled healer like her would use the DOT spell on him, the undead equivalent of healing when targeted as such.

  Since he couldn't feel pain, the next best thing was the outburst of heat. Forcing him to remember how he died. The warmth that made you dizzy. Zom couldn't be controlled. He couldn't think. The skeleton had stuck its short sword into his stomach, akin to watching a movie through the haze of a fever.

  The next moment, everything changed. His nonexistent heart beat faster than it ever had. Pure adrenaline rushing through his dead veins. The switch was like jumping into cold snow after a hot sauna.

  Is this what doing drugs feels like?

  While he couldn't really understand what was happening, the sole focus in his mind was the adrenaline. It was addicting. He ran around the crypt, killing every skeleton he could see. She could only hope that Zom didn't encounter any players.

  “W-what did I unleash?” She sighed as her eyes followed Han drifting further into the crypt. She had accidentally used the damage spell on him.

  She ran after him. A path of bones led to an unconscious zombie on the ground. She couldn't understand how the debuff had been this effective.

  “Isn’t this kinda… too strong?” She muttered and walked over. Her instinct was to check the zombie's pulse, though she didn't follow through. Since it hadn't started despawning, she simply sat down on the single dry patch of stone she could find. And waited.

  While Zom fought against unconsciousness and lost, Han had returned to the area he wished to avoid.

  “Why the fuck am I back here?” Han shouted into the gray abyss. “Either… either I’m unconscious or dead. There’s no in-between. But fucking hell, what was that? I would’ve known if there was something busted like that… out... there…” His words slurred as the gray faded into black, then to a familiar ceiling. He sat up, ever-so-slightly more jovial than before. Maybe living was a worthwhile thing for him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  The girl’s still here?

  She didn't seem like a terrible person, but somehow she was asleep. In her position, waiting wouldn't have crossed his mind. It could only mean she was waiting to use him the same way he was using her. That didn't bother him in the slightest.

  The sleeping beaut's matte black skin blended into the darkness. He noticed how her facial features were quite simple. Barely noticeable asymmetry, a scar on the left eyebrow, and a purple tinge around her eyes that blended into her skin. There was no real limitation to character creation, yet hers seemed rather imperfect. He guessed she had used the facial scan feature, and if that was the case, she was probably the most attractive woman he has ever been this close to. Zom probably as well.

  He started moving on purpose, pacing and splashing the puddles without bothering to stay quiet. It was a less intrusive way to wake her up. Who would want to open their eyes to Zom's mug? Eventually his loudness was enough, and she woke up. Luckily, she didn't get frightened and instead jolted upright.

  “Ah… what time is it!” Her eyes began darting around mid-air. It was still a weird experience watching someone interact with the menus from a third-person perspective. Her shoulders drooped, and soon enough a tired sigh came from her.

  “Sorry… I don’t even know if you understand me.” Her eyes darted from the ground straight into Zom's eyes. “I feel like you do, but that’s for later. I need to go to wo—I need to go.”

  Despite saying so, she paused. "I'm not sure how time passes for you, but I'll meet you in a couple of hours… hours… do you know what hours are? Ai… I'm gonna be late." The healer's persona had somehow switched. Han hadn't even spoken to her since he'd passed out. The change baffled him, though it was a welcome one. She was talking for both of them.

  And I don’t even know her name.

  Her dark figure slowly turned the corner and disappeared. Leaving Han and Zom alone again. The silence deafened him in less time than usual. Everything seemed far slower. There was no hint at the cause, but he guessed it was either the buff he had received, or the absence of her chippering.

  There’s not much to do but wait and see.

  And that was what he planned to do. Killing skeletons was the only source of dopamine he had, and it was a rather limited event since there weren't many players passing through. Besides the killing, his mind wandered to her. She clearly mentioned a job. Sadly, Han couldn't really relate, he had been pretty much a NEET since graduating. That was roughly when Nira became popular. Slowly but surely, Han the Shadow Leveler, made a name for himself. While a disgrace to his family, it was enough to live off of.

  The future… the future didn’t really matter. Heh.

  He couldn't help but snicker. It was hard to tell how much time had passed, but that outlook had already changed. Every single day spent wishing to leave this place, strong, safe, and cautious, was worth it.

  I’d really want some cheap—

  “Ramen!” She quickly munched on the instant ramen. It was probably one of the few things she could afford in bulk. But anyway, her focus was still on that zombie she had met.

  “Itgh hgad to bhe an anoghmaly!” She spoke out loud while scrolling through her phone. She had found an older forum thread about anomalous NPCs that acted, well, out of the norm. Since the game was already far beyond anything achieved before, it didn't feel like a bug to be fixed, more like something to be enjoyed.

  She agreed with the majority. They spruced up the experience. Though the zombie was still the first one she had seen. Anyhow, it couldn't occupy her mind right now.

  After slurping up the broth, she dressed up. A gray jacket with a long, knee-length skirt that matched the top and really restricted any movement due to how tight it was. While she had been acting somewhat upbeat before, she was still a veteran office worker.

  While she had to suffer through work and Han the boredom of the crypt, their lives without each other were monotonous.