"Disclaimer: Gore content around the 900th word. ~1 paragraph

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"Hi guys, how are you?" James said, exaggerating his tone and making big gestures toward his group.

"Stop it, James. That’s disgusting..." the redhead replied, looking at him annoyed.

"Okay, I'll stop," he laughed and continued, "I have someone I'd like you to meet. His name is Arthur, and he's visiting the area. We met at the arch, and he seems like a nice guy," he said, tapping me on the shoulder.

"Thanks for the introduction, but I think I can introduce myself," I said, a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry, he's always like that," the blonde girl with the ponytail said, giving me an apologetic look.

"Stop making me out to be the bad guy... you should introduce yourself first..." James said, pretending to be offended.

"That’s right," the rugged man laughed, "My name is Ethan Brooks, and I'm a botanist specializing in urban agriculture," he said, shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Arthur, as James said, and I'm a video game developer," I replied.

"Oh cool! Do you know the streamer Hylia? She presented a game last night, and it was huge!" the red-haired girl said, suddenly very excited, catching me off guard.

"Uh, I’ve heard of Hylia, but I haven’t seen it yet. And you are...?"

"My name is Nina. I’m sorry I attacked you earlier, but it’s rare to talk to developers. I’ve tried to learn coding myself, and I understand why it’s so uncommon," she said, laughing at her self-mockery.

"It’s true that it’s not easy. The beginning is the hardest," I said, understanding her.

"Hi, I’m Liam Carter, and I’m an urban architect. Excuse Nina; she’s completely obsessed with this game and made us watch the video at least twice, telling us how amazing it is..." the man with square glasses and an athletic build said.

"No worries. Nice to meet you, too."

"My name is Emilia Duclair, and I’m a doctor specializing in biotechnology," she said, stepping forward to introduce herself.

"Nice to meet you as well. It’s impressive to be a doctor. Isn’t it really hard?" I asked, focusing on not letting my nerves show as she sat back down.

"No, it’s fine. You get used to it after a while," she said, smiling.

"Good, because from what I’ve heard, it’s never been easy," I said as she confirmed with a nod.

"So, what do you say, guys? Should we settle in for a few hours and then go for a walk at the Renaissance Café?" said James, breaking the silence that was beginning to form.

"Yeah, why not?" said Ethan.

"I don’t have any money," Liam said.

"Yeah, yeah, we know you, Liam. Do you ever have money with you?" replied James, bobbing his head exaggeratedly as he spoke.

But when Liam pretended to reach into his pockets, he exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, it was in my pocket! I thought I didn’t have it with me."

"It’s a surprise, yeah... Stop trying to pull a fast one on us, Liam. We know you by now!" teased Nina, putting her arm around Liam’s neck.

"I swear, I thought I’d forgotten it," he said sheepishly.

"Well, it’s settled then. We’ll go to the Café de la Renaissance afterward. For now, let’s play!" James exclaimed, pulling a deck of cards and a board game out of his bag.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Apparently, in this world, card games were a universal form of entertainment that all generations played when they were out and about, along with other activities like watching TV at home, which was quite advanced thanks to its technology, even if in some places it lagged behind that of, say, telephones.

As we attacked our third game, I familiarized myself with the members of the group by playing a card game that was strangely similar to UNO, which, socially speaking, was an excellent way to get to know people.

"Sorry, I have to," I said sheepishly to Emilia as I tossed her a card equivalent to the +4 from my old world.

"Anyway, it’s not like this is the sixth time in three games... How can anyone be so lucky..." she sighed and took some cards from the deck.

"I’ve never seen Emilia so desperate. Well done, Arthur," James said, laughing heartily, making everyone laugh and causing Emilia to pout even more.

"Ethan, think before you laugh at the nonsense James says," Emilia said, giving him a +4.

"Eeeh, no need to get mad at me. It’s not my fault you sat in the wrong spot," Ethan complained, taking Emilia’s anger in stride.

As the group finished the game, the sky began to darken as if it was going to rain any minute, which James noticed and asked the group.

"Well, guys, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to get soaked. Should we continue on to the café?" asked James.

"Yep."

"Deal."

"Let’s go fast!"

As the group began to pack up and move out, a bloodcurdling howl sounded close behind them at the edge of the forest.

"Let’s go check it out!" James shouted, setting off at a brisk pace toward the source of the scream, followed by the rest of the group, who dashed off behind him, with me following a little late, caught off guard by the situation.

What the hell, is this how everyone dies in horror movies?" I thought as I caught up with them in long strides.

As I caught up after tripping over a root, I nearly bumped into Emilia after she suddenly stopped with the group.

"Hey, be careful!" she murmured in a low voice.

"Everybody be quiet," James muttered so everyone could hear.

"Sorry, Emilia, I stumbled," I said between breaths, catching my breath and concentrating again on what I saw, which chilled me to the core. My stomach seemed to sink to its lowest point.

On a picnic blanket lay two unrecognizable bodies, their broken ribs splayed out and pointing skyward for all to see, their guts brutally ripped out and scattered around them. Their faces were now a mass of flesh, their eyes torn from their sockets and hanging over their cheeks, creating a spectacle of unspeakable horror.

As I froze at the sight, no longer present in reality, James spoke in a low voice, "Draw your weapons—a Whisper must be very close—keep it quiet so as not to excite it—it’s probably already noticed us."

As everyone drew small weapons that expanded to ten times their length, James' voice brought me back to reality. A hot liquid, like nothing I’d ever felt before, rushed down my throat, causing a flood of bile and my now-digested meal to spill uncontrollably onto the floor.

"Emilia! Take care of Arthur and alert the guards. Everyone, form a circle around her. Arthur is not a fighter!" James shouted, and everyone obeyed, fluidly taking their positions, nerves taut and ready for battle.

As my vision locked onto the corpses, Emilia stepped in front of me, my eyes landing in the middle of her chest, snapping me out of my stupor.

"Argh... S-sorry, this is the first time I’ve seen a corpse..." I stammered, spitting and wiping the corner of my mouth with a cloth she quickly handed me, the image of the bodies replaying in my mind.

"Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Don’t move and make as little noise as possible," she told me quietly as she stepped out and pointed a gun with a gaping barrel at the sky before pulling the trigger, sending thick black smoke into the sky.

I looked around at my friends, each wielding a medieval weapon: James with a sword, Liam with a spear, Ethan with a shield and club, Nina with a dagger in each hand, and Emilia with a bow.

I really wondered what the hell I was doing here, empty-handed, when I saw an object glint as it passed through a beam of sunlight, catching both my eye and James’, who yelled,

"Murderer’s Whisper! Tighten the formation, watch out!" he shouted as he parried a projectile, creating sparks, which turned out to be a dagger. I looked at the parried dagger flying through the air and wondered where I had landed. I saw a second projectile pass in front of James, who shouted, "Emilia! Arthur! Look out!"

Having seen the projectile coming from quite a distance, I knew it wasn’t aimed at me but at Emilia, who was focused on James.

But what Emilia and I didn’t know was that he wasn’t shouting about the same blade I saw, but for a blade that passed over us and nicked Emilia’s tendon, causing her to lose her momentum, lose the support of her right foot, and start trying to hold herself back from falling in the direction of the dagger coming at full speed.

Acting purely on instinct, not controlling my strength, I didn’t just push Emilia—I shoved her aside, allowing the dagger aimed at her heart to cut only a few strands of her hair. James, who had witnessed the entire scene, shouted, "Thank you, Arthur! Take this, be careful, and carry on!" He threw me a miniature dagger or sword and yelled, "Let’s have some more, boys. He’s managed to get into our formation!"

Catching the miniature sword in mid-air, I ran to Emilia and pulled her toward me, dragging her rather than simply helping her, since she only had one usable leg left. "Are you all right?" I asked.

She gave me a look that said it wasn’t the right time for questions, but she replied anyway, "It hurts like hell, but thanks anyway."

As we tightened the formation, the Whisperer stopped attacking, probably because it wasn’t advantageous to face our formation and because we could hear voices yelling from behind us.

As James shouted toward the voices to let them know we were here, we saw a group of heavily armed people running toward us.