Asher furrowed his brows.
"What else could you possibly see?" Asher muttered, then paused. "No offense, Cassie, but… you're blind. If you can't see my attributes, you can't see anything."
He winced due to how insulting it sounds. "You literally see the void."
Cassie visibly took a step back, trying not to show the pain. "N-No! L-Like, It's a different void! Like the ominous kind!" She inhaled deeply. "How do I explain?!"
Asher scratched his head. "Ah! Forget it. This void, that void. We'll figure it out later. Stupid riddles! They are just like poems!"
Cassie glanced at Asher direction before looking down. "I-I see. You know, I actually quite like riddles and poems." Asher looked at Cassie with wide eyes. His face turned ashen before he grimaced, turning his head around.
"Don't talk to me today, I need to rethink our relationship as friends."
Cassie frowned. "Eh? It's not that serious—"
"It's serious." Asher said, his eyes growing cold. "Very serious."
Cassie blinked, hearing the footsteps go further and further. "Aren't I the one who should be offended?"
Seriously, his insult almost made her cry!
**
Asher groaned, looking at the distance.
There was a giant tree.
'The soul-devouring tree.' It was what hooked him to shadow slave and something that he found extremely disturbing. He didn't think of a way to deal with and there was no way he could kill it so, Asher's conclusion was:
'Kill the demon and tell these idiots to move before the tree can enthrall them.' And even if the plan failed, Sunny could take care of him, though he would rather not do that. He didn't want to owe him one.
Nephis stopped walking, looking at Sunny.
"Has your shadow noticed anything?"
He shook his head.
"No. There are some irregularities here and there, like small knolls or shallow pits, but nothing is moving. Mostly, it just seems flat and lifeless."
He turned to Cassie and asked hesitantly:
"Do you hear anything?"
Cassie shook her head.
He finally turned to Asher with a grimace:
"What about you."
Asher frowned, 'Is it s hard to ask me?'
"Yeah, I do." Sunny clicked his tongue while everyone listened. "I sense a giant presence near that tree. Not as big as the tree, but close to a house in size."
Sunny sighed. "So these wastelands aren't empty after all."
Asher's eyes narrowed as he looked at the tree. Seven giant dark orbs floated in it.
'Fallen titan...'
No way he could tell the others that. If they knew, they might avoid the tree completely—and then Sunny would miss the Midnight Shard and the blood weave.
Still, his knees trembled. 'Knowledge... it's heavy.'
"Let's continue."
However, she did change the direction of the group slightly, aiming to approach one of the knolls that Sunny had noticed.
Asher's eyes widened. Of course! he was an idiot! The time from the canon timeline had deviated. They were actually faster!
"HIDE!" He shouted. Sunny was the first to react, dismissing his echo.
Suddenly losing her mount, Cassie flung her hands up and fell. Catching her in the princess carry, Sunny darted toward the knoll and lowered himself to the ground, placing the blind girl between himself and crouching Nephis.
Asher frowned. He didn't have place!
Activating his aspect, sand grains flew upwards as Asher made a small hole in front of Sunny.
He jumped in it. It was only enough to fit his knees, so he crouched. He didn't have time to cover himself, so he could only pray the knoll was high enough
Changing Star put one hand on Cassie's shoulder and looked at him with a silent question in her eyes.
"Danger?"
Asher nodded repeatedly as Sunny began to sweat bullets.
The creature was as large as a house, with its eight segmented legs resembling tall pillars. Its form was similar to that of scavengers and centurions, comprised of a crab-like carapace and a protruding, somewhat humanoid torso. However, this was where the similarities between them ended.
Everything else, was... horrifying.
That was what Sunny saw. The demon passed them by the skin as Sunny looked at the gang. "We have to run." He mouthed, afraid the demon will come again. No, it definitely will. After all, it came from the tree.
"We need to return to the Bone Ridge. I'll explain everything once we're safe and sound, back at the camp."
No one rejected the idea.
***
"Haaa.."
Ragged breathing resounded in the labyrinth. Asher sighed as he looked at Sunny, "I don't think it will leave the Ashen barrow Sunny, we can stop sprinting."
Sunny frowned, "What makes you think that?" He took a deep breath. "Maybe it will? On what bases do you think it won't."
Asher raised his index. "Call it intuition."
Sunny ignored him as his Echo started walking again.
Asher sighed.
He was tired.
Nephis frowned, she still didn't know what they were talking about.
Hey looked up at Cassie with self-pity.
'Must be nice...' he sighed 'to not having to walk...'
He stared at her idly—then something slammed into his senses.
A strong gust of wind hit his face.
Time slowed.
Sand whipped into the air. A flash of azure light burst to life in his hand.
"SUNNY! DISMISS YOUR ECHO!"
Sunny noticed it too. The Echo vanished in a storm of sparks, and Sunny summoned his own blade in the same breath.
Nephis looked up, feeling the air shift.
All of them saw it at once.
A monster they were familiar with. With a loud guttural screech, Asher stared into it's abyssal eyes.
His body moved on reflex as he ran towards Cassie who was still falling down, not even having the time to yelp.
It's black talons unclenched and it's black wings spreading quick. Asher gritted his teeth.
He wasn't going to make it.
A flash of white.
Nephis.
She darted in, faster than thought, slamming into Cassie and shoving her aside. The two of them hit the ground hard, rolling out of the spire messenger's path.
Asher felt a wave of relief crash over him—
Then the sky darkened again.
His head snapped front.
A shadow. A giant shadow loomed on top of him.
Its eyes—
Locked on him.
Asher froze. His blade trembled.
The target was never Cassie...
No.
It was him.
_________
[A/N: Guys, next chapter is like a turning point episode from jobless reincarnation, so stay hyped!]
(Chapter edit: working on a phone is so ass, this is the first draft when I completed the final draft. I'll change the chapter when I get my laptop.)