Requiem Of A Failed Hero

How many near-death situations has it been now, 7, 13, 21, 44...

Every time, Raith escaped in the nick of the beast's claws and no matter how fast he is– he couldn't measure up to the ferocious speed of this monster that disappeared and appeared in front of him– well not that the monster is a teleporter, its movement was just faster than Raith's eyes could follow.

And what was more devastating was that Raith couldn't see any attack patterns.

wham

The claws of the monster slashed him from behind, he rolled forward, tumbling and crashing his head over and over as he rolled like a ball. His coat was ripped in several places and all those places carried a pattern of blood with them. Which meant every of the panther's strikes slit Raith's skin- sometimes not too deep.

But Raith was reaching the end of his lifeline. And trust me, the beast was enjoying this.

It sternly darted its, red glowing eyes into Raith's helpless state, when it just arrived it didn't even stop at one place but kept running and running that Raitu couldn't pin it to one location and that was how it endlessly dealt with him running and slashing him, not given him a chance to react or even touch.

But now the monster was standing in front of Raith who was holding his shoulder– his muscles there had been badly slashed and his ribs area, his thighs, and even his leg were shivering. All those endless running when he was dealing with the mob panthers was already dealing a toll on his leg.

His breathing was becoming more irregular and he didn't need to be told that he was hitting fatigue. Although the voice still took out the privilege to tell him.

[Stamina: 03]

[Your stamina is incredibly low]

[You are fatigued]

All the letters that displayed this message in front of him were in bold red.

Raith took his time staring down at the monster who gnarled at him in response.

He smiled again.

'I sometimes forget I can't die...'

A sense of comfort entered his heart as he remembered. Spending months climbing down a mountain because he didn't want to lose his life had completely programmed in his head that he could lose it. But as the situation was looking like Raith was going to die and he began to think of farewells he remembers–

He hadn't occupied himself with the thought of dying every time just because he can wake up. In fact, he never wants anything to get down to that part.

But looks like this one is inevitable.

His head followed the trajectory of the monster as it leaped into the air and came upon him. Everything turned tumbled in a rush and turned black instantly, but the tearing and stinging pain all over his body still lingered for a few more minutes before he finally lost touch of his consciousness.

[You have died]

[DEVOURER has been subconsciously activated]

[You have the tendency to devour something]

[When a target is within range it will be devoured completely]

His entire body turned into a black liquid mass with shark teeth and wrapped the monster before it had the chance to leap back. The teeth slowly dug into the monster's skin and the black mass tightened, slowly squeezing the monster into smaller sizes until nothing was left of it. Then the black liquid mass reverted to the young man lying on the ground– naked.

[You have defeated the monster boss]

[The abyss is impressed by your potential]

[The darkness within you has increased]

[Shadow energy: 50]

[You have absorbed the monster's core using perk 'DEVOURER']

[You will not gain any energy]

[You have gained a new skill]

[The soul of the monster has been transformed into a shadow ego]

[Shadow ego will be deleted and converted into stats because perk 'Shadow lord' is locked]

[You have gained 24 stat points]

[You have gained two new skills]

[The abyss has acknowledged]

[The abyss has given you a new feature]

[You can now level up]

[When you reach certain levels some locked Perks and undisplayed Perks will be revealed]

[You Will reach first class advancement when you reach level 100]

[Hero Status]

Name: unknown

Class: CHILD OF DEATH

Age: 001

Level: 001

Aura Points: 00

Cosmotic Energy: 130

Shadow energy(locked): 61

Title: Celestia Slayer, One who devours death, Chosen by the claws of failure, destined for damnation, I do not fear death.

Traits: the darkness beyond death, the dissatisfaction failure brings, Shadow lord(locked)

[Perks]

- Devourer(EX)lv.4

- Transcendent sense(S)lv.13

- Intimidation(S)lv.8

- Heat Resistance(S)lv.2

[Skill]

- Truth Seeker(S)lv.1

- Lavaration(A)lv.5

- Instant Move(B)lv.1

- Air Leap(C)lv.1

- Black Armour(D)lv.1

[Stat]

Strength: 44

Agility: 38

Vitality: 40

Intelligence: 130

Endurance: 79

Will: 12

Available stat points: 34

The night and hollowed atmosphere were serene even as they once again seeped into his sight. Raith looked around as he rose.

'Did it go?'

The entire place was silent but Rauth could still tell the gazes from behind the tree but something was different about them.

He looked down at the message that stared at him.

[You have defeated the dungeon owner]

[Dungeon will close in 00:59:58]

"I really defeated the owner? That is absurd"

He mutters to himself, but what else would describe this situation where the panthers lurked around but none of them dared to move closer?

He bowed his head and noted another thing that was different about him. He must have been incredibly foolish not to notice it until now.

He immediately guarded his third leg, shielding it from the glowing eyes of these black animals while he tip-toed away, finding his way out of the dungeon.

***

They had lost track of the time of entry into this dungeon.

"Everon Blaze"

whosh

The fire in Prince Andres' hand rose like the wind, spreading like a raging tsunami around him, burning monsters and provoking them to insanity.

The numbers of their soldiers had run down, and the battle was coming to an end– the battlefield was scanty, and the corpse of monsters and humans decorated the ground. And as Prince Andres saw this scene sorrow gripped his heart and rage consumed his face.

His fire rose in accordance with his emotion, kabooming into the sky and spreading like a tree.

All he wanted was for the dungeon boss to come out but it was as if the bastard didn't exist.

In a normal dungeon, the brutal killing of a dungeon boss' monsters would have pushed the boss to show itself and kill all the humans present but this dungeon boss was not even acting as if he existed.

But at the very least the heroes were hopeful, they could see this fight was coming to an end, and although they had to sacrifice a lot of lives, they were also coming closer to the end.

The Empire soldiers no matter how bloodied and tired they were, they pushed through the ground, while their general flung around the prince like a butterfly having his back every single moment.

"Your highness"

His back kissed the Prince's back again and both of them had their arms arched up, with two swords in the commander's hand and the prince's fist consumed by a raging fire.

"I know"

The prince responded.

He didn't look at General Asbury but their expressions said the same thing. Prince Andres clicked his tongue in frustration and gritted his teeth, his eyeball quivered as he turned his eyes around to see the sorry state of the soldiers.

'We need to retreat...'

He knew that much but just when he thought the situation will permit it.

~AHHHUUUUUUUU~

A howl went into the sky and immediately, all of them could see the moon move from directly above them to behind the cave, bathing the humanoid figure in its illumination.

The silhouette of the monster could be seen with two digitigrade legs, hands, and a prolonged mouth that was raised.

Several other silhouettes began to climb up the cave and show themselves in the likeness of this same animal.

The monsters they were previously engaging all bowed irresponsible of whether they were on the losing or winning side at that moment.

This made the heroes realize.

This fight was just about to begin.