Putting his sword back into his inventory Izoke turned to Sumiko. Sumiko was sitting on the grass and looking towards the sky lazily. Izoke said, “Sumiko, let’s head out”.

“Ok,” she replied standing up and her stuff. There was dry grass on her hair that was creating an uneasy feeling in Izoke. So he reached out stopping her to brush the grass out of her hair. Sumiko blushed confused with what he was doing. “There was something in your head," Izoke stated.

“Ah, thanks...” Sumiko blushed.

After packing all their things up they left walking side by side. The grassland was quite big and there were many animals but none of them were hostile. They were all just busy doing their own thing. Once they reached the end of the valley they entered another forested area. This one had more trees than before and they were a type of tree with an upward canopy. On earth, these types of trees were called "Dragon's Blood trees" but in fantasy collusion, they grow in colder environments. The area was foggy as well limiting their vision two within several meters of where they were walking. The forests called “Chitwan” according to Izoke's player interface. No other information was available or listed. The fog and dense vegetation made scanning for monsters difficult.

Walking for a while they found themselves in the middle of the forest. No trace of Human beings ever being there before could be seen. Only the sound of birds and insects could be heard. The sound of which gave comfort to both of them as Izoke knew that meant that silence was worse. Silence meant something horrible was nearby and even the bugs went silent out of fear. The trees swayed back and forth due to wind making a "Wooshing" sound as well. They had no watch so keeping track of the time was impossible for them. Izoke would have guessed it was around 2 pm but it was already 3 pm. Both of them were already very tired and hungry. So, they decided to rest for a bit and eat something. They sat on the ground and Izoke started to collect some wood for a fire. He used his new skill to ignite the kindling. Once lit the firewood burned without too many difficulties. Sometimes keeping a camping fire lit or getting the logs to burn was like pulling teeth!

“What are we going to eat?” Sumiko questioned staring at the fire.

“Hmm...” Izoke hummed before taking out the Tusked deer meat from his Inventory. “We are going to eat this,” he added.

Seeing that dinner was delicious looking meat Sumiko was quite happy. Commoners rarely got to eat much meat and usually when they did it was dried traveling rations. She was too enthralled by the meat to ask where or what it had come from. She didn't even realize for a moment she was drooling just thinking about how good it would be. The meat was Cylindrical in shape and red in color: a slightly darker red than beef. Izoke inserted his old iron sword into the slab of meat using it as a skewer. He placed it over the fire held up by two "Y" shaped sticks and left it to cook. He occasionally would rotate or flip it over to cook it thoroughly and prevent burning. After about twenty minutes or so the barbeque was almost ready. A strong and intoxicatingly amazing aroma came from it. Its smell was so strong that the whole area smelled like it. Izoke removed the meat from his makeshift spitroast placing it on a smooth plate to cut it into servable portions. He cut it into six steaks and gave half of them to Sumiko on another plate. The portions were quite generous putting a smile on both their faces. Sumiko took the first bite and her expression was priceless. She was practically bursting with satisfaction.

“How is it Sumiko?” Izoke grinned knowing she was having a mouthgasm.

“It’s AMAZING! I haven’t eaten anything like this my whole life.” She declared honestly with great gusto. She continued eating at a rate that made wolves look less than ravenous by comparison. Izoke just smiled holding back a slight laugh. Not too long ago he was just a villager as well and would have done the same thing.

Izoke then took his first bite of the meat. The tender deer meat just melts in his mouth with a taste that boggles the mind. Izoke couldn't imagine how good it would have been if he brought some of this back to the manager girl at the hotel from before. She would cook it with spices that would further bring out and enhance its flavor. Izoke thought, 'This meat is really something special and I should come back later to get some more'.

With how good the food was it only took a few minutes before b both had finished their meal. Izoke could see a look of satisfaction in Sumiko's eyes that was probably a rare sight.

'Wow, the smell of the meat was so good even the birds and insects went quite from drooling', Izoke's mind joked. Realization something was wrong hit just after as Izoke readied his Demonic sword by summoning it from his inventory.

As if on cue a loud howl came from somewhere nearby, “Grawoool”. The birds of the forest takeoff towards the sky at the sound. Sumiko was confused and also scared. Izoke grabbed her arm to assure her everything was okay and to stay by his side. A big footstep can be heard coming to one side of them. "Dun! Dun! Dun!" was the sounds of its slightly muzzled stomps. Izoke led Sumiko by her hand to hide behind a big rock that was by a miniature cliffside. It would look from the direction the monster approached from that the large rock was a part of this natural stone formation. Only from another angle would one notice there was a split between the two. They hide there, and after a few moments, Sumiko peeked from behind the boulder. The place where they just ate there was a massive hulking creature made entirely of bones. she was scared by seeing it that she nearly screamed but Izoke covered her mouth with his hand just in time to warn her not to. She looked at Izoke with terror clearly visible in her eyes. Izoke then took a glance as well using his ability as a player to identify the threat. The skeleton was 7 meters tall made entirely of bones. Some of which looked like they may have been acquired from different creatures. Its teeth were sharp like knives and its head had dozens of bone horns that were roughly shaped like a crown. It was like a demon king that just happened to be made of bones. It also had a long spine-like bone tail that was covered in sharp bone blades. Izoke had at first mistaken it for a third lag but closer inspection revealed its mace-like shape. Its eyes glowed a sinister orange color. The monster's fingers were like human ribs in shape but sharper. They were basically small scythe-like weapons. They reminded Izoke of the Sicle tool the village he grew up ins healer had used to harvest herbs. Izoke sighed softly and examined the information that hovered above its head.

Seeing the monsters level, Izoke body started to tremble and he moves slowly farther back behind the boulder. He looked to Sumiko, she was also sacred. It was nearly impossible to win if the monster were to attack them. So, they hid and hoped the monster would leave on its own. The monster was not aware of Sumiko and Izoke, its just came because of the smell of the meat. Izoke watched as the creature picked up a small bone fragment that had been in the slab of meat that he discarded when cutting it up to serve. 'Perhaps it simply followed the scent of anything dead, decaying, or cooked hoping to find more bones', Izoke reasoned. If that was the case then it should leave eventually to search other places eventually. Once it started to march off into the distance Izoke sighed in relief, "Hah". Izoke suddenly realized he was still squeezing Sumiko's hand this whole time without realizing it. 

“Sorry” he apologized.

“No, it’s ok!” Sumiko reassured but was still blushing.

It was already evening and they didn’t even know where they needed to go to make camp. They walked for a while in a direction away from where the Bone King went. They saw firelight coming from the distance. So, Izoke thought that there must be some people there. So, he and Sumiko headed that direction. Once there, they could see some tents and a campfire between them in the middle of the camp. Izoke yelled, “Anybody here?”. Hearing his shouted question some people come out of their tents. They were all players staying the night in the forest. One guy came near to him “Hey man, what’s up? Why are you here in this dark forest alone?” he asked.

Izoke then realized that the others players could tell Sumiko wasn't a player. As an NPC they thought of her as not a person and therefore he was a player alone in the forest with a follower NPC.

"Ah, you see I'm on an escort quest" Izoke lied.

"Aww, man those suck. They are damn hard and the rewards are typically a pittance for the effort. Why the heck did you take one alone?" The player laughed.

"I like playing alone most of the time. Raises the game difficulty you see..."

"Ha, I like you. Come on I'll help you set up a tent for you and your quest NPC."

"Thanks, I'm Izoke by the way"