Fragarach

Ruins crisis

After a hearty bonding with his mother during their dinner they sleep soundly, well, except for Raven. He still think about the familiar mana that he sensed when he touch the tear of the gods. He tries to recall the memory, but after a few hours of failing to remember he forcibly close his eyes even though he no longer needs to sleep.

[Where did I encounter that mana again?] the thought still lingers in his head.

The sun rise in the horizon as Raven sets to the hunting grounds again to hunt for the meat that his mother is going to sell at the market but before going out, he cook food for his mother that is still sleeping. “This should be perfect for a good breakfast.” He said to himself.

After getting things ready he set out to the ruins where the guards told him to hunt. He pass by the entrance and he sees the guards looking at him. After realizing that he saw them glancing at him, they immediately avert their eyes to something. “Good morning, fellows.” Raven greeted.

Even though they lead Raven to a dangerous spot where not one of the hunters wanted to go, he still greeted them. Surprised that he greeted them, they greeted him back a little late.

“Goo-od morning.” The atmosphere became a little awkward after the guards replied, though Raven is a little far away when they greet him back he still heard them and wore a smile.

“At least they greet me back.” He whispered. “That surprised me, didn’t think he would still greet us after sending him to a dangerous place.” The other guard said. “Yeah, he caught me off guard as well. By the way, didn’t your brother set out to hunt on the ruins as well? Isn’t that dangerous?” he reminded.

“Now that you mention it, he told me that he will go there to hunt with some well-known hunter guild master.” He recalled. “The only guild we have in the city is the High Lord so if he’s with the guild master then there would be no problem.” He continued.

[Meanwhile]

“AUUUHHH!” “Don’t come any closer! Mommy! Guild master!” a hunter run after seeing one of his comrade get smashed to a boulder by a giant bull. His face turn pale when he saw his comrade’s life flash before his eyes.

“Huff! Huff! Huff!” smoke puff out of its nose as it turns its head to the man running away. “Kuuuuuuuuu!” without any hesitation it started sprinting towards the man, the moment he saw the giant bull catching up to him, his can feel his body temperature drop significantly as the hair all over his body stood like needles, his heart beats incredibly fast like his heart is going to pop off of his chest. After sensing that the bull is about to pound him to pieces on the ground, he sudden made a gamble and cower on the ground hugging his legs as the bull pass above him and he almost got stepped on by an inch.

Disappointed by its failure to execute the man, the bull made a quick turn to charge at the man once again, fueled nothing but by adrenaline and the will to live, his legs move on their own. The man’s snot reach his lips as stream of tears flooded his eyes. “Mommy! I don’t want to die!” his shaking legs continues to run but the bull is ridiculously fast enough to even pass by him. His heart nearly stop when the bull is ready to smash the man into desolation then all of the sudden an oversized hammer struck the bull on its left side out of nowhere. “Tung!” the sound of the hammer as it bounce off from the bull’s thick armor-like skin, unable to knock the giant bull down but it is strong enough to make it back off a few steps.

“How tough is that hide?” a man holding an axe said as he pulled his glove with his cheek twitch seeing the bull unfazed after being hit by his father’s hammer throw. “Most of our men ran away and some even died and got injured after entering the ruins. We lost a lot of manpower to this hunt.” He continued.

“That throw can obliterate a man to dust but it did not even make that thing bleed.” A man with a mustache said while walking towards his hammer. “We manage to get some decent meat but this one might be the greatest meat this place can offer. I bet even your axe would make a difference.” He added with a wink to his son.

“Are you kidding me?” his eyebrows twitch after his father left the remark. “You are the strongest person in the whole guild, how can I compare myself to you father?” he eyebrows rose as he brush him off. “Now that’s rare, you never compare yourself to anyone.” his father said with a joyful voice. “This case in an exception. I mean look at that, I might even die if I go toe to toe with that thing.” He pointed at the bull trying to convince his father.

The bull is in the stance of charging again which alerted both of them and focused their attention to it. “Huff! Huff! Huff!” this time it charge towards the man holding the hammer. The man with the hammer envelope his legs with wind magic to make his movements faster. “Kuuuu!” the bull growled as it shake the ground with its feet alone.

“Hey Dad, be careful! It’s charging towards you!” he warned as he also used wind magic to his legs. “I know, I can see that!” his father retorted. “I’m just saying! Mom might bury me alive if I let you die early!” he replied.

*Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp*

The bull is running at full speed, the ground shakes a lot stronger as the bull gets nearer and nearer. Facing the giant bull made his heart beat faster, when the man with the hammer is within the bull’s reach, he instantly jump off the ground as the bull is about to ram him to the ground.

*Tugs* the ground shook heavily around the impact.

[Where the hell did that power come from? I can feel the ground shook from here.] the man with the axe said as his eyes widened after seeing the strength of the bull firsthand.

It knows that his target manage to get away from it so he look around to look for him.

With the bull below him, he hold the hammer with both of his hands envelope by his wind magic to maximize the damage he can do to the bull and with all his strength he smash his hammer towards the bull.

“Take this!” he scream as he smash the back of the bull with his oversized hammer.

“Dooong!” the hammer made a loud sound after hitting the back of the bull. “KUUUUUUUU!” the bull groan after getting a heavy hit on its back and fell down. The man rolled as he fell on the ground and stood up immediately and be on his guard. To his surprise, the bull was already charging towards him, its red eyes filled with rage sent chills to his spine. Sweat started to fall from his forehead as he saw the giant beast coming to his way ridiculously faster than it did earlier.

[To think that a veteran like me can still feel fear.] he thought as all he can do is defend himself from the incoming giant beast.

“Huh?” the man with the axe stood in fear as he saw more beast coming to his father.

[Present time]

[I thought they said nobody goes to the ruins to hunt.] he thought as he saw the trail once full of weeds is now free of it. He saw some drops of blood on the grass and touch it.

[It’s fresh] his eyes brows rise after feeling the warm blood in his fingers. [The beast in that ruins is abnormally strong for something that naturally grows in the wild.] his eyes immediately move towards the direction of the ruins and when he look around he saw different trails leading out from the ruins.

[I hope I’m not too late.] he told himself as he sprint towards the ruins that he even manipulated the wind to fasten his travel.

At a distance he can already hear the growl of the beasts in the ruins along with the screams of some humans.

Raven’s heart beat faster as he activated a spell that made him jump so high in the air that he can see what is happening around the ruins.

[Most of the beast that’s attacking are fairly strong -] his thoughts immediately interrupted as he saw a man with an axe defending someone injured behind him against a giant bull and a few fairly strong beast.

The man with an axe is barely standing on his feet with the old man behind him gravely injured preventing him from escaping the dire situation that he is in.

“Son leave me here! Save yourself! Run!” his father beg as he cough a mouthful of blood.

His face is turning pale with all the wounds around his body.

“I’m not going to leave you here Dad, you hear me?!” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he swing his axe around to prevent the beast from attacking his father. The bull is at the back of the group like a boss waiting for his underlings to rip them apart.

[Arg! S**t! A few broken ribs, what the hell! If it weren’t for that bull earlier I would have taken a few beast down already.] he told himself as he grit his teeth in pain. Some of his broken ribs punctured his lungs and he lost quite a few cups of blood. Whenever he swing his axe he can feel a sharp pain in his shoulders due to the strong ram the bull did earlier.

“I beg you, get lost! You still have a bright future ahead of you!” his father beg once more as more blood leaves his body. His body is trembling greatly he started to feel cold and is slowly losing his strength.

“Rawr!” “Kuuuuuu!” “Grrrrr!” the beast growl as his son tries to prevent them from coming forward. A huge tiger felt a little brave and pounce at the man holding the axe. His eyes focus immediately to the beast that tried to pounce at him. With all his might he swing his axe at the tiger beast but the tiger manage to dodge his attack mid-air. The angry tiger bare its fangs at him.

“GRRRRRRR!” the tiger’s loud growl made the both of them even more scared to their wits.

“I did not know tigers can dodge in mid-air.” He thought as he try to build up a wind wall around them. *Fwuuuuuuuu wuuuuuu wuuuuuu!* the wind wall made a really strong gusting sound from the strong wind.

[I could not do this earlier since they keep attacking endlessly.] he thought as the exhaustion and his injuries slowly started to take a toll on his body. “Hey Dad, I don’t think I can last much longer. I guess this is the end of us huh?” he giggled as he glance and smile at his father who can only do the same.

The wind current started to weaken and slowly dissipate around them, his father calm his breathing even with his injured body, the corners of his lips raise as it twitch to hold and form a smile while gritting his teeth in pain. His son saw his father’s braveness even in front of death, that sight ate away his fear of death as well.

[You look really cool right now, father.] “Father! You always tell us “If you are going to die anyway, don’t be afraid and face your enemy without fear and die gallantly bringing honor to your family knowing you died without giving up till the end.” I guess we have to live up to your motto.” He grit his teeth as the wind current completely disappeared.

The beast on the other side are eagerly waiting for the wind to vanish completely and feast on the injured prey. Time seemed to have slowed down when the wind current vanished as he made the first move and charges to the beasts.

*Kuuuuuu!*

*RAWWWWWR!*

*GRAAAAA!*

The beast charge towards the man and among them is the tiger leading the charge way ahead of the others. Baring its sharp claws and dagger-like fangs to the man and leap forward to shorten the distance with its large and powerful legs.

With all the strength he could muster, he held his axe with both of his hands, giant veins bulge in his arm for his last struggle. The tiger is already within his range when he made a strong swing forward. Blood flow from his lips after sucking out the strength left in his injured body, the tiger dodge his axe again and missed the beast. Certain of its victory it proceeded to go for the bite on the man’s chest, when suddenly the man used the strength on the axe to turn around and made a sweeping swing with his axe. “Got you.” He mumbled.

*KLLLLLLK!*

*THUD!*

His right shoulder made a gnarling sound as the tiger landed on the rock beside him. With all his strength in his body gone, remaining standing is asking far too much, his legs are unsightly shaking non-stop.

His father’s eyes widen after seeing what happened to the tiger. Fresh blood is still flowing like stream as his son’s axe manage to bury it on the tiger’s neck up to its head with only mouth holding everything in place. [This kid manage to take down that ferocious beast with his injured body.] he can only say his thoughts to himself.

Without an ounce of strength left in his body he fell on his knees. He no longer have the strength to even check the status of the beast and scream in pain. His right shoulder immediately swells after an all-out swing.

“S**t, looks like I dislocated this one.” He told himself as he grits his teeth with the burning sensation all around his body. Both of his arms gone limp with the beast still charging towards them. He and his father briefly close their eyes and opened them after sensing that their death is near.

The beast bare their fans and blade like claws to the incapacitated humans when all of the sudden their danger sensors told them of the incoming danger, the air made a sharp searing sound and without a warning a projectile struck the place where the beasts are.

*BOOOOM!*

The ground shook a lot stronger than the stomps of the giant bull did earlier, both injured man felt the nerve wrecking shock and can only watch in a distance. The dust covered the entire area of the impact, some of the beast sprinted out of the area and went to the giant bull.

When the dust cleared they saw a javelin made of earth boring a hole on the body of a giant wolf and nailed it on the ground but what surprised them more is that the crater is full of giant spikes made of earth that pierced and killed the other beasts as well.

“What the hell happened?” the son asked knowing no one could answer him. [What the hell did that?] his father thought as well.

Sweat started to fall from their foreheads and their hearts beat faster fell on the ground as their life is starting to leave their mortal bodies.

A gusting sound filled the area as a young man with a purple hair fell on the ground standing on his feet.

“You guys okay?” he ask as he turns his head to them.