Cast Out (Book 1 Done; Book 2 In-Progress)

Chapter 9

Previously: Zhang and his party were trying to escape from the she-trees and the tree-beasts. They used illusions to delay the monsters for awhile. Zhang ended up having to carry Misa, but tripped due to the appearance of a system notice that blocked his view. The stampede of tree-beasts is close by, and Wahshi comes crashing in from above in a cloud of mist that reforms into his body.

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"Alexa, get Misa out of here!"

I yelled out, and immediately she flashed in and grabbed Misa. She struggled a little bit against the Libra, but it didn't look like she was able to do much. She must've still been hurt from the fall.

'It's my fault! If I'd just been able to keep my balance, everything would've been fine!'

The guilt raged in my chest. Misa must've seen something in my eyes, because she wouldn't stop struggling against Alexa, who was trying to get her out of there.

Her eyes reddened as she Alexa finally managed to stop her from rushing out to help me. "Zhang! Don't you dare! Don't you dare do something stupid and get yourself killed!!"

That's what I thought she said anyway. The thundering from the stomping of the footsteps of the tree-beasts as they stampeded this way was already too loud for me to hear anything. My lip-reading skills weren't all that good, so it could've just been what I wanted to hear her say.

There was a kind of warmth that overcame my guilt as I looked at her, the person that worried about me even when she was the one in more danger than I was.

'Don't you know that it's every man's romance to do something cool in front of their loved ones?'

There wasn't anything else I could do for her now but send her off with a smile, which stretched across my face for as long as it could.

I turned away as Alexa used her Libra class ability to flash Misa and herself out. It might've been my imagination, but I could've sworn there was something glistening around her eyes when she was being dragged away.

My vision blurred for a second when I turned back around to face the man that had just stood there waiting for us. Must've just been some kind of sweat that got in my eye.

I looked at him, the man with the robes I'd originally gave, who wasn't even looking at me now. He was staring off somewhere else, occasionally shifting his gaze as if he was tracking something.

Then something ridiculous popped into my head. Something so impossible, that it was almost funny even thinking about it. But the way he kept moving his head, it was almost like he really was tracking something!

'That's impossible, right? He's just a level 1 old man, right?'

Reality then gave me a slap in the face.

'HOW THE H*LL IS HE STILL ALIVE?! THE DRAGON FREAKING KILLED HIM!!'

Just thinking about it made me recall the red notification that'd blocked my vision and caused this mess right here. It was only for a split-second, but I remembered everything that I saw on it. It definitely wasn't meant for me, but since Misa and I were also using the Partner Charm bracelet, almost everything was shared between us.

CURSED!

You have enraged someone with ties to the spirits and evoked hatred so deep it permeates through every fiber of their being! Face their wrath and survive until sundown, and the grudge will be resolved!