""Cursed…?" Cynthia was surprised to hear that.

"What is your curse?" she asked, intrigued.

As the wound on Cynthia's calf fully healed thanks to my double-force heal, I stood up and wiped the sweat off my forehead. Using heal really took a toll on my MP; it's already down by half.

"Well, you could say my curse is… I was rejected by this world," I said.

"Rejected? What happens when you get rejected?" she asked. Deep inside her heart, something stirred, something she couldn't quite describe.

"I can't use skills or magic. I'm also classless. The weakest G-rank in my guild," I said flatly.

Cynthia squinted her eyes at me. "Are you trying to make fun of me? If you can't use skills or magic, then what was that just now?" She was referring to the healing magic I had just used on her.

"That skill isn't mine. I borrowed it from my friend over there." I pointed at Bob, who was still locked in a one-on-one battle with the skeletons.

"At first, I was weak and useless. But then, something happened that changed my life completely. After that, I was given a second chance to fight alongside my best friend. And I'm going to use that opportunity the best I can," I said with a smile.

Cynthia looked at me. She had a million questions she wanted to ask, but as she stared into my eyes, she held herself back. Then, she placed a hand over her chest. Finally, she understood this feeling, the feeling of meeting someone else as unfortunate as her. The feeling of… not being alone.

I looked at her gently. "I know… something happened to you too. I won't pry into that. But I hope you stay strong. And find someone you can trust. Someone you can tell everything to. Someone you can call a friend."

Cynthia's eyes widened.

'Friend.'

It was exactly what her parents once told her, to find friends.

She then looked at me, and then at the other two men.

'It looks like... this town is in good hands.'

I offered my hand. "My name is Alan. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Cynthia…" She reached out her hand, but just before our fingers touched, she froze. Slowly, she withdrew her hand and clasped it against her chest.

She was cursed. Everyone who got close to her would die. Someone like her didn't deserve to have friends. She didn't want anyone else to suffer not someone as kind-hearted as the man in front of her.

Without another word, she walked past me.

"Where are you going? I thought you wanted to destroy this Kaoslith," I asked.

"I did plan to. But it's better if I go straight to the source. You can handle this one easily." She broke into a run, leapt onto a nearby roof, and disappeared from sight.

What is wrong with her?

I shook my head and turned toward my other friends.

I summoned Plump again. The cost of summoning him was about 25% of my max mana. With the healing I had done for Cynthia, my mana was now down to less than 20%.

"Why did you run away just now, abandoning your master? Do that again and I'll roast you," I scolded him, downing three MP potions until my mana reached nearly 75%.

Plump simply tilted his head and pecked at the ground, ignoring me as usual.

"Alright, let's go," I said, jumping onto his back and pulling the reins. We charged toward Bob, who was struggling with his opponent.

Bob was locked in a contest of raw strength with the skeleton. The creature was pressing its daggers against Bob's sword, steadily pushing him downward.

Plump just tilted his head and pecking at the ground.

"Now let's go." I then jumped on his back and pulled the rein. We then charged at Bob, who was having a little bit of difficulty handling his enemy.

Bob was now fighting strength to strength with the skeleton. The skeleton was pressing its daggers against Bob's swords, slowly pushing him down.

"Iron Spike Bullet!"

Ten hard, cone-shaped bullets flew at high speed toward the skeleton. I amplified their force with Indra, making them more powerful.

Crack! Crack!

The bullets hit the skeleton's ribs, and the bones cracked at the points of impact.

Its strength weakened. Bob took the opportunity by using Tailwind Step sideways toward the cracked ribs.

"Windpiercer Jab!"

He then thrust both his swords right into the ribs, making the fracture burst. The skeleton fell backward onto its back. It lost half of its left ribs, exposing the emptiness behind it.

"Nice, Alan. Right on time," Bob said. "Where's that cursed grunty girl? She ran already?" Bob then looked behind me, searching for Cynthia.

"She said she went right to the source and left this Kaoslith to us."

"So she basically ditched us. Well, whatever. Since we already found one here, we just proceed to destroy it and then meet with your princess," Bob said with a smirk.

"She is not mine!" I retorted.

The skeleton then stood up again, and what happened next surprised us. While we were talking just now, the supposedly fractured ribs were now fully healed, with no sign of damage.

"What is this? Auto-regeneration? After all that effort? This is cheating!" Bob snapped.

Looks like it's going to be a long battle here.

---

Wssst!

The sound of an arrow slicing through the air came just before it hit the lizard monster clinging to the wall, impaling it. It struggled for a moment before going still.

"Nice shot, Evelyn!" Selene praised.

They were now on their way toward the southern area of the citizen district, led by Beltimore. Along the way, they had encountered many types of monsters. The most common were small-sized ones like these lizards with five tails.

"There are so many of them... I'm already tired," Rey said, dropping to his knees. Many of the other adventurers also sat down. Even though they weren't injured, the constant fighting for an hour had worn them out.

"Is that all you got, newbies? Then you're far from ready to fight other guilds," Lee said. He still looked full of energy.

At the front of the group, Beltimore stood still. The ground around him was covered in ice, the effect of his Frost Zone.

William walked up to him.

"I think you should deactivate your power, Beltimore. I think it's attracting monsters to our location," William said. He felt a little sorry for the junior adventurers. Ever since Beltimore activated his skill, more and more monsters had attacked from every corner.

"Well, that's my plan, actually," Beltimore said, adjusting his glasses.

"What do you mean?!"

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.