Chapter 218: Forced Contract

While the lost king was running, following the ghostly indicator floating before his eyes, his own faction was starting to get restless.

"Lady Talia, everyone is starting to get restless," Colten approached her and whispered.

Talia turned around, wind playing with her long hair. Her gaze went to the place they should’ve been inside hours ago.

The capital of Strand.

But for some reason, they were blocked by a barrier outside; Moon was also missing, and they had not the slightest idea how to find him.

Not only that, the starting time was brought back six hours, so they safely assumed that the Fable side was also facing the same problem.

Talia helplessly exhaled. "Maybe it’s better this way; we can’t start without him."

A faction arriving without their king was very problematic; a situation they never expected would come to be.

Another situation that was unheard of historically, this wave came to experience for the first and probably the only time.

"What are we going to do about those who came to see Moon before making up their mind?" Dorbish asked.

"They will have to wait until he arrives," Talia said firmly.

"What if he never does?" Roran asked.

Talia pointed at the screen before her eyes, not looking at Roran. "If he’s not coming, this time and this barrier are a waste," she said, her tone even firmer.

No one pressured her again; now they could only wait and see how this goes. Still, on the bright side, they had a few who came willing to join them.

"BOSS, YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME ALONE IN THIS CRUEL WORLD!" Far away, Basil wailed by himself.

In the interim, Moon and Raiju were running their fastest following the indicator that only Moon could see.

"Are we there yet?" Raiju asked while making sure Moon didn’t overtake him.

"No idea, I only know the direction, not the distance." Moon shrugged, trying to act like he wasn’t tired of running.

"You only know the direction but not the distance?" Raiju exclaimed. "Are you a cat?" he asked.

Moon was surprised. "Cats can do that?" he asked.

"My grandfather told me a tale about cats when I was young, a cat that can’t get lost," Raiju explained.

"That’s cool," Moon said heavily. "I wonder where Mishu disappeared; I didn’t get to say goodbye," he added.

"Who’s Mishu?" Raiju asked.

"A cat... We had a few meals together." Moon shook his head, his eyes on the indicator.

"What did he look like?" Raiju asked.

Moon thought for a moment. "He wasn’t too big, had fluffy orange hair and a thick fluffy tail," he said.

"Did his face look like a mocking smirk?" Raiju inquired.

Moon nodded heavily. "Yeah, it looked like a smug smile." His eyes darted to Raiju. "How did you know?" he asked.

Raiju pointed his nose. "Look ahead," he said.

Moon looked, squinting. "Mishu?" He questioned his eyes.

Ahead, Mishu was sitting leisurely, blocking his way. Moon’s eyes brightened. "Mishu, what are you doing her—"

"OMPH~"

Without warning, the orange cat bolted at Moon and brought him down.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Raiju growled at Mishu as he watched Moon get thrown behind.

Buzz~

A spark of lightning started running between his horns.

"Ah, Raiju, don’t—"

Crackle~

Mishu stood on Moon’s chest. He turned around to where Raiju’s attack was coming from.

Before the lightning arrived, his paw was raised silently—

Rumble~

"GAH!"

The lightning attack was swatted back at Raiju, who was sent back, grunted and fell back.

"Mishu, stop!" Moon shrieked.

Even if he didn’t know how strong Mishu truly was, it was impossible for him to believe a second-floor ascender could take on one of his all-out attacks.

Still, he didn’t have a way to figure out what was going on in the small head of the orange cat.

"Raiju, don’t attack again, just wait," Moon said, hearing Raiju standing back after taking the deflected attack.

His breath was more of a growl that Moon could clearly hear; he didn’t want him hurt now. It was meaningless.

He had also received help from Raiju, so he didn’t want to be ungrateful.

Yet, Moon’s plea was met with—

Whooooosh~

Wind gathered around Raiju’s paws and lightning gathered around his horns for the second time.

"Mishu, don’t kill him, please," Moon made his last try to fix the mess that he found himself in.

Raiju lunged like a spear at Mishu, looking both majestic and unstoppable, yet—

Slap~

Mishu swatted his head, tearing through both lightning and wind alone with a swift slap.

Moon pursed his lips, watching Raiju spin in the air. "I told you to stop," he sighed.

Thud~

Moon studied Raiju for a moment, seeing no blood and the blue fur over his chest rising and falling. "Only passed out."

Moon felt relief; he turned your gaze back to Mishu, who was squinting at him. "Yo, I wanted to say goodbye too," he said casually. "Can we get moving now? I’m late as hell for this trial."

Mishu’s smug face came closer; he raised a paw, his claws squeezed out of his toe beans. "Mishu, we’re bros, right?"

Mishu’s smug face started to look ominous, casting a shadow over Moon’s face.

Moon felt his blood run cold. "Mishu, we both love chicken popcorn." He tried to reason, but was met with approaching sharp claws.

"Mishu bro, we don’t have enmity." Moon moved his hands innocently; he pointed at his left arm. "You helped me survive this, right... We’re bros!" He tried again, yet—

Poke~

Mishu’s claw dug into his left arm, right below the shoulder piece of armor.

It wasn’t that painful. Moon blinked in confusion nonetheless.

’This bastard is messing with me again.’ He thought inwardly as his face fell.

Ding!

Before Moon’s eyes, a system message appeared.

[Second Floor Ascender Mishu has initiated One-time Privilege]

"Second floor ascender, like hell I believe that," Moon said in response.

[Second Floor Ascender Mishu has chosen Second Floor Ascender Moon for Mutual Contract Privilege]

"What contract? What’s going on?" Moon asked, but Mishu didn’t answer him. His claw was retracted.

[Contract Completed]

"I didn’t approve of this!" Moon shouted.

[Contract is permanent until one of the two contractors loses his life]

[Contract allows for Attribute Sharing]

Mishu jumped off Moon’s chest and started looking around aimlessly.

[Second Floor Ascender Mishu has joined the Defence Faction by default]

Moon, on the other hand, found his eyes lit up at the message. "Doesn’t that mean we can send you to the empire and win?" He shot up excitedly.

[ERROR!]

Moon’s face fell. "Of course, dammit, an error, of course." He held his head in frustration. "Could anything for once go smoothly? Of course not."

[Ascender Mishu’s stats stand beyond the standards of the Second Floor’s highest possibility]

[Ascender Mishu cannot inflict direct damage on the trial takers]

[Ascender Mishu may ascend to the Third Floor without a trial]

[Ascender Mishu has rejected ascending without trial privilege]

Moon rubbed his head. "Why am I seeing this?" He asked, knowing well these belonged to Mishu.

Yet, if anything, Moon knew now for sure two things.

The first was that he was stuck with the murderous, moody orange cat for life. Thanks to that, he was questioning the future of his food and how much of it would get stolen.

The second was that Mishu was a very special existence within the Tower.