Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Turner sat down in his living room shirtless, his heart tattoo that ran from his chest to the side of his neck, laying a grotesque gleam to his unmotivated demeanor.

His brows lowered as he saw the news.

"This morning, it just came in that Korea has birthed her first Catastrophe rank hunter, this is * * *

He frowned and crushed the TV remote with a clench of his fist.

"Turner?" Patience, who has been silent beside him was worried, she looked at him and looked at the remote in his hands. He hasn't been the same since he came back from Korea and he wouldn't be allowed to step out of the country for the next three months.

Well, if he decided to do otherwise who would stop him? But the association and the government needed to do something regardless of how useless it may be in an actual sense.

But what pained him the most was the fact that he was permanently blocked out of South Korea. One would have said, 'Who has the guts to stop him should he decide to go to the country?' But unfortunately, someone does have the guts to stop him.

Yes, South Korea's newest hunter, the talk of the town.

Patience picked up a call and walked away slowly.

"...yes"

"Yes"

"Okay,"

"I see..."

"Okay,"

"Alright, thank you, sir."

The conversation from her end went like that as if she was only acknowledging and taking in the information that was being divulged to her from the other side.

She came back to Turner and stood in front of him.

"We have a problem."

Turner looked at her with a lifeless gaze, he even had dark circles under his eyes. "What?"

"The Korean Association are demanding compensation of eight hundred billion dollars, their price rose from the last time they met the ambassadors. This is probably because the guy is a catastrophe rank." She stated with a frown.

"I don't care... all I care about right now is finding a way for me to go to South Korea without causing any trouble, find out all you must about that guy for me."

It was amazing that the great Turner was thinking of how he would enter a country without any trouble.

'Shit... he really wanted to recruit that guy?' His assistant looked at him as he sank into his seat and closed his eyes.

"Say, Turner, how did you know he was this strong? When you first saw him on TV, you suddenly said you wanted him, did you know all this time that he was a catastrophe rank hunter, the same with other hunters in the guild, you just seem to always recognize their potential faster than others."

Turner leaned back up, "...with the other guys, it is nothing extraordinary. But when I saw him for the first time, his power was ringing into my senses."

"Ringing into your senses? I don't understand..."

"You can't understand, no one can understand. That guy is not a person from this world."

"What? He looks pretty human to me though..." She shrugged, doubting Turner with every bit of her.

"Yes, yes, that was why I needed him, if this guy is a human from the other side, then it is possible that there are several other humans from him... I needed that information."

"So it wasn't about his power?"

Turner looked at her, "Up until the moment I met him, it was about the information he could provide me with if he became my guild member. I never expected him to be so strong."

"I see..." Patience nodded her head as if she was learning diligently from him.

***

***

***

Raith was seated in the living room, with a particular red-haired dude in front of him, who somehow found his way here twenty minutes ago.

"What have you come here to do again? Fight me?"

"See Raven, I admit that you are stronger than me in this world."

Raith's eyes were wide open, 'Did this guy just call me by my name?' His lips curled and a naughty expression soon overtook his face, he was satisfied with this development.

"...yea, you wait, I will be stronger than you in your world too."

"Tch..." Absalom scoffed, "...keep on dreaming."

Raith was still shocked, he didn't add cockroach to the back of his statement. Looks like he is beginning to have a bit of respect for him even after seeing what he is capable of. To Raith, this was evidence of his development and growth.

"You are going to go back to Felfhiem right?"

"Yes, why not? I must save Volmak."

"Then, keep in touch with me." He said, looking away.

Raith looked at him with his arms folded, Absalom was cute to behold.

"Alright..." Raith agreed with him.

***

***

***

The sound of clashing swords and the roar of naga monsters echoed through the desolation. What was once known as a beautiful country and the center of trade had become an apocalypse ravaged by monsters, falling buildings, flames that won't go out, and endless floods, most areas were drowning in the immense water that one could classify to be a sea.

The paladins from each temple stood shoulder to shoulder, sword drawn and ready to face the monsters, it was as though they watched for the outcome of the already going battle between certain heroes that had voluntarily decided to help this fight.

Who would voluntarily decide to go to their own grave, you say?

Humans of this world know very much that every good thing that there is for them to be a part of is always available when the archons are involved. For the first time, the archons teamed together, the paladins that stood here in different armor structures were proof of that.

Now, it didn't matter if they died fighting but they died fighting by the side of the archons, they believed very much that the archons are seeing them– that is what is preached.

They would willingly give their life for this, although some selected few have different opinions.

The paladins were a formidable force, each one a skilled warrior in their own right, not to say, the unhuman flicker of flame that was surging out of the dark opening of their helmet, each one of them with different kind of weapons, the presence for a fact was unhuman in all of its entirety.

The nagas were massive serpent-like creatures with razor-sharp fangs and powerful coils and were unlike anything anyone had ever faced before, not the paladins, not the humans.

As a wave of nagas charged forward, the paladins braced themselves for the impact— Swords clashed against scales as the two sides met in a violent clash.

Each array of paladins according to the temple they were from had unique abilities of their own and were cladded in different colors of Armour.

The Paladins of the justice archon were cladded in silver Armour work yellow tunic, with a horn connected to their helmet, they charged forward with a tremendous aura that shook the earth, summoning a Holy energy that strode through the horde of nagas as if it was dancing with them.

Blood decorated the field like fireworks as nagas were easily plunged into like tofu.

The Paladins of the throne archon too did not fall short of the display of their mighty strength. Their fight pattern was even unique and caused more monsters to fall before them but also accompanied by tremendous and heavy floor cracks and the effect of their sword slashing the monsters alone was massive– as if there was an external force of attack to every weapon and that force caused the entire air to shake, most of them were equipped with hack and smash type weapons– sledgehammer with intricate designs, it made it very easy to squash the nagas.

The Paladins of the nature archon with ignited flames, surging floods and ice, stone boulders that fell and rose like it was a rain of earthquake, lightning– it was a sight to behold, the battlefield was designed with different kinds of manifestations, it was detrimental no doubt but it had some sort of grotesque beauty to it.

The paladins fought with precision and skill, each one unleashing their unique abilities upon the nagas with deadly force. However, the nagas were no easy foe. With their powerful coils and venomous fangs, they proved to be a formidable enemy, they had a force of attack that was strong enough to throw even the paladins away, and a swipe of their fins sends the head of a human flying into the sky.

There also were special ones amidst them who had legs and hands instead of the serpent-like body. They were more agile and strong and could also wield weapons and as they surged out of the battlefield, some of them began to strike down paladins. Paladins that rumors say it was impossible for them to die, were at the mercy of these humanoid nagas with fish heads.

As the battle raged on, the paladins' diverse abilities were put to the test.

Protective shields deflected the nagas' attacks, surges of aura of healing energy that restored their fallen comrades, despite their strength and endless endeavors, the nagas just kept coming. The paladins fought on, their determination unyielding, but the battle was beginning to take a toll on them. They began to falter, their movements slowing as their energy waned.

One was not even sure if there was not a single hero surviving on that battlefield, they had either retreated or been killed– another wave of nagas could be seen surging forward with a wave of water. They were massive, and although they had serpent-like bodies, they had incredible formations with arms that wielded spear forks just like the humanoid nagas.

But even in the face of overwhelming odds, the paladins refused to give up. They stood their ground and no one ever thought of retreating, it was as though they were machines, even when one fell if he could stand up, he stands immediately, if he couldn't, he would crawl and find all ways to destroy the nagas until his head was severed from his body.

The battle raged on and from the clear blue sky till when the sky was colored with an orange-colored warmth, at last, the paladins were beginning to push back, although many had been lost. But the nagas corpse lay around in an enormous amount, scattered all over the ruined city.

And finally, the paladins entered the gate too– they had fought most of the nagas outside, so whatever would be inside was expected to be the gate boss monster– the naga king.