Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Fenrir was quick, but it could not dodge forever, and soon one of the golems landed a solid blow, sending him on a tumbling trail. Fenrir snarled as it stopped tumbling, its eyes were blazing with fury, and the purple flames that seemed otherworldly as much as its appearance burned larger as its eyes tightened.

It leaped to its feet, lashing out with its razor-sharp claws. The golems immediately tried to dodge, but Fenrir was not of a comprehensible caliber to them when it came to speed, and it managed to land several blows, carving deep furrows in its stone armor.

The golems seeing the sudden increase in sharpness of the Fenrir's movement and attack slammed their fist into the ground again but this time in intermittent unison, the wolf last balance but instead sprang back with its eyes fixated on the golems.

With a fierce roar, Fenrir charged forward with its claws glinting in the rays of light.

The golems tried to dodge, but it was useless Fenrir, whizzed around them with ease and struck them with devastating blows.

The golems began to crumble under the onslaught, even the variants were not an exception as their nimbleness was useless before a dark element of speed such as Fenrir. Their stone armor cracked and shattered as the wolf's claws carved through them like butter. With a final roar, the wolf struck the largest golem, its claws tearing through the stone with a deafening crack.

The golem fell to the ground, its body crumbling to rubble. Fenrir stood above the shattered stones of the golems with its massive body heaving, it let out a low eerie howl as it bowed its head and forelimb toward its master's direction.

'Fuck.'

Raith was beyond astonished.

"No, doubt about it... Fenrir is the strongest in this army.' Raith affirmed inwardly as a shocked smile forced itself into his face.

But all that victorious moment was short, as the floor began to shake again. This time it was intensive and different...

Raith was beginning to feel the aura of a stronger presence as stones of all the fallen golems began to shake and sweep towards the howling wind and swirled around adjacent Raith and Fenrir.

"The boss..."

Raith folded his arms and he watched the stones come together and form a humanoid golem.

He cockled his head upon seeing the golem.

'What is this?'

He had expected the golem to be a tall one, very tall and big, that it would just be smashing legs around the desert.

But it stood just the same height as him, with the color combinations of both black stones and sandstones, no facial features, and hands a little bit longer than normal.

'Every time things always turn out different from what I expect them to be... it is a lays trouble. Spelled out trouble.' Raith rubbed his cheek as the golem stood still.

GGRRR...

"No, no Fenrir, I can take care of this...'

The dark wolf lowered its head and scattered like black smoke as Raith spoke. He didn't even need to say it audibly, they just returned when he willed it so.

Raith gripped tightly his sword as he watched the golem.

The monster stretched forth its hand and stones formed together to make a stone sword.

'What it's going to fight with me using a sword?" Raith raised an eyebrow as his eyes stayed on the monster. "Okay, whatever.'

Whim

[You are using skill 'Way Of The Sword']

Raith's sword arm twitched as he lunged forward, aiming for the golem's shoulder– the golem easily parried the attack, its sword moved with blinding speed as it sent Raith's sword arm flying backward. Raith quickly recovered, dancing back and away from the golem's counterattack. The two of them circled each other warily, each waiting for the other to make a mistake– Raith was surprised.

'How the fuck does a golem know how to fight like that... Forget shit'

It wasn't like he could conclude just from one strike, but the efficiency of the golem's sword was enough to raise all of Raith's senses.

Raith lunged at him again, feinting to the left, with a belated spin to the right, and his sword sweeping down in a powerful arc. The golem blocked the strike, but Raith had expected that– his lips arched up, as he used the momentum of his sword to spin around behind the golem.

Before the golem could react, Raith brought his sword down in a swift, diagonal slice. The golem managed to parry the blow, but the force of the impact sent it staggering backward. Raith pressed his advantage, launching a flurry of strikes that the golem struggled to keep up with.

The golem began to falter, its movements growing slower and more erratic as Raith continued to press his advantage. Finally, with a sharp, decisive stroke, Raith disarmed the golem, knocking its sword out of its hand.

Raith held his sword to the golem's throat, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. The golem made no move to resist, its featureless face betraying no emotion.

"I won..." Raith smiled.

He slashed down an arc on the golem, but his sword immediately went flying backward– the golem struck at his belly using that brief moment. Raith staggered backward but somersaulted and landed afar off the golem before it could rush at him again.

The golem looked at Raith, another stone sword had formed in its hand. And it had Raith's mouth wide open.

Surely this was not supposed to come easy, it is after all a rank B dungeon.

The golem dashed at Raith, feinting to the right a sword arc but as Raith fell to the right, it spun left and swung an arc from there–

Kang!!

Raith belatedly blocked it but couldn't avoid the impact that made him uncontrollably stagger backward. The golem lunged its sword at Raith again but he blocked a few more strikes, parrying them away, it was clear cut that the golem was superior in strength compared to him because he had to deal with the recoil of every strange attack.

While Raith was in the midst of blocking the golem suddenly was not before his eyes anymore– It had spun to his back, and before Raith could react, the golem brought its sword down in a swift, diagonal slice. Raith managed to parry the blow, but the force of the impact sent him staggering backward. The golem possessed this advantage and launched a flurry of strikes that Raith struggled to keep up with. Amid that, something was seemingly familiar to him. The tables sure had turned but this table was a very familiar table.

Raith's sword arm danced in all the directions that the strikes of the golem were coming from, if his sword wasn't so strong the golem's stone sword might have broken because of the force recoil he had to deal with every time his hand sprang backward was no joke, all his muscles within his arms vibrated.

Everything was exactly the same thing, he could see it but he had no way to put a stop to it, to escape that entanglement of sword strikes that the golem had managed to put him in– just like he did some minutes before. And the pressure of that entanglement began to wear him out, his movements became slow and erratic.

Somehow being on the receiving end of his own type of sword skills kind of made him understand it better.

It was not that the golem was struggling to keep up. It was just the way the skill works.

Wearing opponent's down in the middle of its counters and strikes...

The Golem, with a sharp, decisive stroke, struck Raith's sword so strongly that it vibrated and was enough to have knocked out his sword just like Raith did to it earlier.

But the sword of Ba'al was different.

In that last strike, a lightning streak exploded from the golem that sent it flying.

...Raith grinned.

'This bastard monster...'

Blood streamed down his mouth as he looked down. The golem had managed to forcefully bury its stone sword inside Raith's chest. A wide smile appeared on Raith's face as he sank to his knees, resting his hand on the sword of Ba'al as his head dropped and he died.