An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that).

Spoiler :

EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY

....... Multiple periods in a row with nothing else anywhere near it usually refer to silence, or the fact that nothing is happening.

(* *) means author's note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters).

[ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills

'things in italics' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone's actual thoughts

***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either:

A) A change of viewpoint

OR

B) A time-skip

(which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I'm skipping over it to get

to whatever is happening in the present)

------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops

I'll add more if I do more things.

An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa)

Spoiler :

GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS

10 feet is around 3 meters

1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers

I'll add more if I find out more

Characters:

Spoiler :

Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. But he still offered him up as a tribute to the "Elder Dragon" in exchange for everyone else's lives. Currently suspected of being over level 200

Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Her Sun Mage powers are currently sealed, due to her misuse of them during the fight with the living trees. Currently suspected of being over level 200

Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa's hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200.

Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn't commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Was recently betrayed by his former fellow travelers and killed by a dragon. He somehow managed to survive ANOTHER trip through the Mist of Souls. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1.

PREVIOUSLY:

Spoiler :

Wahshi was betrayed by Zhang and his party, and died at the hands of the "Elder Dragon". He revived at the Mist of Souls, where he then proceeded to rush out of there, at the cost of immense amounts of pain. And several pounds of flesh. After jumping through the pool near Gaia's tree, he plummeted through the canopy and managed to survive. He gained a new power which lets him track Zhang and his party.

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“Misa, watch out!” Zhang yelled out as he pushed me aside. An arm shot out of one of the trees and just barely missed my throat.

It was chaos all around us. Zhang and I were weaving through the trees as we dodged attacks from the Dryads that were chasing us. Some were still in their human-like form chasing us down on 2 legs, some were down on all four limbs and their beast form, while others were literally hiding inside their trees, waiting to ambush us. Alexa was sneaking around somewhere like the assassin she was, her high DEXTERITY letting her [sneak] through and sabotage the enemies that were following us.

It had started near the end of the 2nd layer, right when we were about to cross the boundary between the 1st and the 2nd layers, Dryads had suddenly ambushed us. Splitting off from the giant trees the way a branch might snap off, we’d found ourselves boxed in from the front and sides. Thinking fast, Zhang grabbed at what looked like thin air and scattered something from his [inventory].

All 3 of us had been working together in the game for a little less than 2 Earth years now, so most of the time we didn’t even need to say anything. As soon as Zhang made a swipe at what looked like thin air, I already knew what he was going to pull out. Clapping my hands together in front of me, I sent out a mental message to my Patron. ‘Sun Spirit, your disciple asks for your support!’

Immediately I felt Solar Mana flow into me from the Sun Spirit like a warm breeze in winter. It pulsed out of me twice and hit the scattered items swaying in the breeze, making them swell to twice their size.

The three of us headed straight for them, with Zhang and Alexa leading the charge. The living trees that boxed us in on the sides rushed in as they saw us running straight for them. The glow from their eye sockets flickered as surprise appeared on their faces. I can probably imagine that to them it looked like we’d just decided to serve ourselves up on a shiny platter. After all, they were more than 60 levels above us, and we were only able to win last time because of the fact that I’d used one of my forbidden spells, and the fact that the Druids and Dryads had suddenly started fighting each other.

This time though, there weren’t any Druids for them to fight against.

Alexa branched off from us and used [sneak] to disappear from sight.

Zhang and I weren’t worried about the fact that she might just leave us, it just wasn’t like her to leave her 2 “best friends” to die. Especially since she knew what my contract with the Sun Spirit entailed. This wasn’t just “some game” to any of the three of us. For Zhang and I, it was the chance to find the man that we’d become monsters for; the only chance we had at ever getting revenge. To Alexa, it was the opportunity to get redemption and her 2 childhood friends back. This was all her fault anyway.

While they were still on 2 feet and in their human-like form, the Dryads were slower than the average player because of the fact that they were heavy and built like tanks. As long as they didn’t become the beast-like abominations that they had in the last battle, we could easily stay ahead of them.

My mage robes rustled in the wind as I ran, only managing to keep up with Zhang since he wasn’t running at full speed. It was lucky for me that the bottom part of the robe had been torn up a little from the trek through the forest until now, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have even been able to walk fast, let alone run. Up ahead we could see the surprise on the faces of the Dryads we were charging to wear off, and determination fill their faces. Even if the reason why they’d lost the last battle was because they’d ended up fighting against the Druids, we’d still managed to hold them off long enough to wipe themselves out. It looked like this time they’d learned something and had decided to “use the full strength of a lion even though they were hunting a rabbit” like Zhang would say.

The glow they had for eyes blazed brightly like a fire ready to consume anything coming its way as we finally reached the line that they’d made which was blocking our way back to the 1st layer of the forest.

Zhang already had his sword and shield up and ready. Light gushed out from his palms as the runes that he’d inscribed onto his armor activated.

“EXTEND!!” He roared out as he swung his sword in a horizontal arc at the necks of the three Dryads that were in front of us.

They immediately sprang back when they heard Zhang yell out his attack, easily dodging the sword when it suddenly grew longer, cutting the space where their necks had been a moment before.

I felt a shiver go down my spine, and I turned around to see the other Dryads that were part of the line blocking us from the next layer were already rushing toward us, with the Dryads that had been part of the sides not far behind them. Seeing the onslaught of enemies rushing towards us, I could feel my determination falter a little, before it was re-forged into something even stronger than what it was before. I knew what I had to do.

Twirling my staff with both hands, I spun around slowly in a full circle. Everywhere I faced, fire sprang up from the ground like a hungry beast that finally found prey. The Dryads rushing towards us from the back and the sides instinctually recoiled. Not even mentioning the fact that their bodies were made from trees and plants, even ferocious animals like tigers and lions would flinch when faced with fire that erupted in front of them. The glow from the fire reflected on their faces, and from the way their expressions contorted, they could probably feel the scorching heat that it gave off as well.

In the split second that they were stunned by the roaring flames, Alexa made her move. She flashed from Dryad to Dryad, disappearing and reappearing faster than they could keep their attention on her, striking their heads from behind like a powerful boxer and smashing their heads into the ground. The ones that managed to get up immediately lashed out, some of them managing to get in a hit the woman that would disappear like a ghost right in front of them.

“Misa, what the h*ll are you doing?!”

Zhang’s yell made me realize that he was still hadn’t beaten the first three Dryads whose heads he’d tried to slash off before. Well, it made sense since they were stronger and outnumbered him after all.

My lips curled up into a smile. “I thought you wanted to play the big, strong knight that was able to protect me, right Zhang? In fact, I think I’ll just stand here and watch, maybe I’ll even do a little cheerleader routine for you!”

Even though I said that, my staff was already ready and glowing with magic as I spun it in a practiced motion with one hand before pointing it at the man fighting off 3 monsters for my sake. A stream of light flowed out from my staff and into Zhang, visibly recovering his injuries. I could see him straighten up and fight with renewed vigor. No matter how much time passed, Zhang never fell. With Alexa managing to distract the enemies past the wall of flames, their reinforcements weren’t able to overrun us.

Of course, it couldn’t last forever and we all knew that. After all, there were just too many Dryads rushing up at us. Eventually, there’d be too many for Alexa to fight off, or a fire-resistant variant Dryad would cross the wall of flames and overwhelm us, or I’d run out of solar mana and Zhang would fall.

At least, that’s what would happen if any of the battle were actually real.

They were all stuck in a hallucination made by the Lover’s Dream Roses that Zhang had scattered in the air from his [inventory], the same ones that had us trapped in that short hallucination before the start of the previous battle we’d had with these guys. Solar mana was one of the best types of mana to nurture plants with, and when I used it to activate the flowers’ effects, it was more than twice as strong and lasted 3 times longer than it had when we were caught up in it.

As soon as I used solar mana to activate its effects, Zhang, Alexa and I ran back towards the 2nd layer of the forest. There were bound to be more of those Dryads waiting to ambush us if we’d tried to keep going forward, and we didn’t have any more of the flowers to keep them occupied.

The sides of their box-like formation closed in on imaginary figures of the three of us, and soon enough the rest of them started fighting each other, every one of them seeing images of Zhang, Alexa or me and doing their best to crush “us”.

You don’t need to be stronger than your enemies after all, you just need them to be strong enough to kill each other.

Nothing lasts forever though. Eventually the effects wore off, leaving half of them either dead or heavily wounded. We were already back somewhere in the middle of the 2nd layer forest, stuck between a rock and a hard place. We weren’t able to go back to the 3rd layer, the Elder Dragon probably wouldn’t let us off so easily a second time. We couldn’t go back to the 1st layer the way we came either.

We circled around the 2nd layer until we finally had a plan. The Boundary Forest was actually in the shape of an oval. No one knew what was at the very center, because it was almost impossible to tell where the center was the further in you went. That, and the fact that every layer you passed meant stronger enemies than the one before.

Before, we were trying to exit the forest near the ends of the oval, but now we were at the sides. There was no way of telling which side of the oval we were on, but it was bound to be a shorter distance out of the forest this way.

The only problem was that the Dryads were everywhere. How do you hide from living trees in a forest?!

They found us, and by the time they did some of them were already mad enough to have changed into their beast form, with large, gaping holes instead of eyes that took up half their face and just a dark split where their mouths were supposed to be. Those beasts were twice as fast as their more human counterparts, and were easily shrinking the gap between us.

“Dammit! Misa, you’re too freaking slow!!” Without any other kind of warning he picked me up and carried me off in a princess carry. Even with me in his arms he was still able to sprint faster than he would’ve been able to if he’d had to slow down to match my running speed.

I felt my cheeks heat up as he carried me off through the jungle like some kind of Tarzan with his Jane.

“Who the h*ll said you could pick me up a**hole!” I glared at him as hard as I could, (almost) wishing that he’d just catch on fire for putting me in such an embarrassing situation.

He glanced down at me quickly and just laughed, a sound so pure and familiar that I was sure I’d never hear it again from that day onwards. “What? I’d have done the same thing at our wedding and you know you’d have loved it. Stop being so embarrassed, we’ve got bigger things to worry about right now.”

Seeing him laugh like the person he used to be just made me stare at him in a daze. Well, I couldn’t refute his words either, so I said the only thing I could.

“Shut up and go faster.”

Zhang chuckled. “Yes Ma’am!”

With that said, he put on an extra burst of speed. Looking over his shoulder, I could see that the speed he was going at right now was just barely able to keep the small amount of distance we had between us and the tree-beasts.

A flash of light from below caught my attention. Looking down, I saw some kind of light flashing up from the soles of Zhang’s boots each time he took a step.

“I knew it! You did enchant your boots, you freaking liar! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

‘If you’d told me then I would’ve had you do the same for me, a**hole!’

This time it was Zhang’s turn to blush as he kept sprinting, his ability to go faster while still being able to weave through the trees was probably somehow related to the enchantments that he’d made to his boots. Even though it was obvious that he’d heard me, Zhang just kept silent like he was pretending I’d never noticed.

I squinted and gave him a real hard stare. “I bet you just wanted to show off and look cool in front of me, didn’t you?”

“W-w-what?!” He sputtered. “Don’t be ridiculous! Why on Earth would I go to all that extra trouble just to try to look good in front of you— Actually, is this even the time for this kind of conversation?!!”

I just gave him a look, silently promising him that this wasn’t over.

It was surprisingly pretty comfortable and nice being carried around by someone though. I peered over his shoulder again, and saw that we were still somehow able to keep the same distance between us and the tree-beasts. Somewhere along the way though, we’d managed to lose the human Dryads. It was a good thing that they didn’t seem to be able to their transformation, otherwise we’d have a whole lot more tree-beasts on our tail.

Alexa was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t worry me at all. With her DEXTERITY and speed, she could easily keep up with us in this kind of terrain. I was even less worried about her running off and leaving us here. She wasn’t that kind of person after all. Now that the human Dryads were off our tail, she was probably running around somewhere near us with her [sneak] still active.

The crashing, thunderous sounds from the footfalls of the immensely heavy tree-beasts were the only things I heard as I looked behind us.

“Misa, what’s that on the back of your neck?”

My hand immediately went to the back of my neck in surprise. I could feel that something was definitely there. It almost felt like some kind of old scar, except for the fact that I shouldn’t have any scars back there.

As soon as my fingers finished tracing the shape, I could feel some of the blood drain away from my face as a red system notification popped up to add to all of the things that we had to deal with. To make it worse, I wasn’t the only one that saw it. Zhang saw it too, and in the split second that the notification blocked his sight he stumbled over a drop in the terrain and fell, sending me flying.

Before I had a chance to worry about the fall, Zhang’s shield scooped me up and caught me. Because of that, I was able to ride out the fall like I was sledding, with my butt planted on the inside of Zhang’s shield. He’d probably summoned the shield from his [inventory] and used the glyphs he’d enchanted his glove with to make it grow large enough to reach me, and then shrink to a size that was better suited for a small sled.

Even so, the “sled” was only able to stop me from crashing. It didn’t stop me from tumbling once I hit the ground.

I tumbled and rolled until my back slammed against a tree, my head snapping up and hitting the trunk not a split-second after. Pain shot up like a spike lancing through my brain, my vision blurry with black dots swimming in most of it.

A couple seconds later I could feel the Sun Spirit sending me his mana, the warmth from it cleared my vision and I could see the red notification that had just doomed us all.

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!

At that moment, something that looked like a cloud fell from above and smashed down into the ground, scattering, only to gather again a split-second later into a familiar sight that had been haunting the back of my mind this entire time.

A man in a sleeveless white robe that had been modified for battle. A man whose eyes were completely black, and showed no pupils whatsoever.

As I stared into those hauntingly deep, dark eyes full of hatred I remembered something from a class I had taken a long time ago. There was a story we learned in it about a man who was named Monster, son of War. But in the native language, he was called WAHSHI.

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Author's Note: So, what did you guys think of the chapter? Just to let you know, the chapter was originally about a battle with snakes, then I scrapped it when I realized that it sounded stupid. Aren't you glad I posted this chapter instead of the original one?

Also, what do you guys think about the relationship between Zhang and Misa?