Hozora Kingdom (9)

"Did we win?" He asked after coughing.

His question shook me to the core.

"Yes". I lied.

There was still one SS-rank monster left. We haven't won yet, but I didn't dare to say that.

"I'm glad". He smiled.

"Do you have any last words?"

Suddenly, his smile dropped.

"I am dying, aren't I?"

Only his upperbody was left; his legs were gone, his arms were gone, and he had no more eyes.

No matter how you looked at it, it was even a blessing that he could last this long.

"Yes".

"I see".

There was a small silence.

"Tell my family that I died protecting a lot of people."

A small silence appeared again, and suddenly tears showed up in his eyes.

"Even though I didn't save anyone, please tell my family I did.".

I looked around to see multiple corpses of people everywhere. Some had military outfits, others had amor, and a few had robes.

But they were all mutilated, as if they had been cut by something sharp.

"Even as a SS ranker, I was useless against that monster.".

"So please tell my family that I died, saving as many people as I could. They can't know how pathetic I was.".

My face darkened, but he couldn't see that.

"I will".

"Can you take my pendant?" He asked.

The bronze pendant hung around his neck, and I carefully removed it.

"I have one last request; can you please open it and describe what you are seeing?".

I opened the bronze pendant, and there was a small picture of a family.

It was a man holding a young girl in his hands, and a beautiful woman was next to him.

'His family'.

Even without him saying anything, I already knew that it was his family.

"I see a picture of a beautiful family. A confident man holds a daughter in his hands and a beautiful woman standing next to him.".

A small smile appeared on his face. "Can you describe their appearance?".

"The woman has a gentle smile with blue eyes and purple hair reaching to her shoulders.".

F*ck. I don't want to do this.

His smile widened. "What is she wearing?" He asked weakly.

"She is wearing a purple dress that complements her hair, and around her finger is an amethyst ring.".

"The young girl also has purple hair, a blue dress, and a small riboon atop her head.".

"What about their expressions?" He asked.

"They are happy.".

"Thank you".

And the faint mana that I felt coming from him finally stopped.

He died.

I looked around to see multiple dead bodies everywhere.

Each person here was not just a character in a novel.

These were real people who all had a life before they died.

'If the real Rylan Ashencroft was here, would he have been able to save everyone?'.

I don't know.

"I am pathetic.".

I regret my decision. Because I was a coward, multiple people died.

But if there is one thing I know, it is that this can't continue. More people can't die because of me.

When I looked around again, I also saw countless ghoul corpses.

There must have been around 2,000 dead monsters here.

"Resolve yourself; there is still one SS-rank monster left."

I turned around, and as I was about to go towards the east,.

I could feel a faint trace of mana, a feeling so faint that if I hadn't focused, I wouldn't have noticed it.

It was coming from the corpse of the monster that I had killed.

I walked over to the corpse with a darkened expression on my face.

"You heard everything, didn't you?" I asked the corpse, but there was no answer.

"Stop acting; you will not escape until this feeling goes away.".

Immediately, shackles made of earth started to form around her wrists and ankles.

"I don't know how you are still alive." Fire and ice spears started to form around me. "But I will make sure you die a painful death.".

*****

The monster corpse was cut into multiple pieces.

I don't even know if the faint mana that I felt was real.

A fire engulfed the cut body parts until they were burned to ashes.

But if there was a small chance that the monster was still alive, then now it would be truly dead.

More ghouls appeared, as if they were endless. But I killed all that came close.

I was waiting for reinforcements to show up.

I heard a small horn coming from the gate, and I saw hundreds of soldiers appear.

At the front was a woman with armor, and she had long silver hair. At the same time, she had a strong aura radiating from her.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Emilia Graceheart, an SS-rank monster slayer." She replied with a respectful tone.

"That's good enough.".

I disappeared and reappeared at the wall above the gate.

"Stay here and don't let any monster enter the kingdom.".

"Understood". She said, her voice fainting into the distance as I was running towards the east.

I could see destroyed buildings and fires everywhere until I could finally hear the sounds of battle.

That's when I saw, in the middle of the street, multiple dragon-looking corpses on the ground.

'Wyverns'.

Next to them were the corpses of other knights and giant eagles.

On the ground, there were two people facing a tall, human-looking purple monster.

The monster had demon-like wings and strange tattoos on his bare upper body.

His eyes were black, with only a tiny white dot in the middle. At the same time, he was missing his right arm, which looked like it had been cut off by a sharp blade.

On the other side was a knight holding a greatsword with the logo of a griffin on his back. Behind him was a woman sitting on the ground in a robe with the logo of seven books on her back.

But they were in worse condition than the monster. The knight's left arm was completely gone, and one of his eyes had been injured. The woman's legs were broken, and she was forced to sit still.

The monster raised its left arm, and a dark purple energy started to form.

As I was about to intervene, I saw a blue flash, and a person appeared behind the monster.

The purple monster's arm, which was charging up the dark purple energy, was cut off.