Requiem Of A Failed Hero



Raith stood still after he had watched the sad back of Mok Jae-Hwa enter the portal that appeared as they defeated the gate boss.

He turned to the corpse of wyverns that were piled up by his soldiers after they had been defeated.

Having no doubt that they will respond, he called.

"Heed my voice, I have given you a second chance to live... rise."

Like a fog, the darkness spread around the pile of bodies and began to swirl around, screeching sound of numerous wyverns shot out into the crimson sky as they heeded Raith's summon and began to come out of their bodies, in solid dark forms, red cracks as segments of their skins all over their body and smoky red eyes.

They all bowed after coming out.

Raith looked down at the number of summoned soldiers.

[80 Dark wyverns]

[Numbers of death soldiers: 279/400]

"...I should do some purging so that I will be able to assign the soldiers to the leaders and put them in squads so our battle will be smooth. From here on out, I want to be raiding gates alone." Raith muttered to himself.

'...but before that...' His eyes shifted to the dead white wyvern. And he began to walk towards it.

"Tell me abyss, will he respond to my summon."

[That depends on you]

"I've never had a named monster respond to my summon"

[Would you like to exchange one of your skills for the Naming Skill]

"The naming skill..." '...right, I think I saw something like that when it showed me that skill exchange store.'

[Skill Exchange Store]

[NOTE THAT THIS IS ONLY A TEMPORARY FEATURE FOR YOUR GROWTH]

[WHEN YOU CAN LAY YOUR HANDS ON CREATION YOU WILL NOT NEED THE SKILL EXCHANGE AGAIN]

"Why not?" Raith asked squinting his test.

[BECAUSE CREATION IS A PARAMOUNT SKILL THAT GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO EVOLVE SKILLS]

'Wow, it responded'

It was meant to be an experiment, Raith didn't actually think the abyss was going to give him an answer. This was a nice development.

"Hmm, sounds like I still have plenty of strength to accumulate."

[YES, YOU ALSO HAVE PLENTY OF FOES TO DIE BY THEIR HANDS]

"How harsh. Let's do this skill exchange thing"

Raith stood arms akimbo, looking down as the skill exchange tab arrived.

While he was doing all that, Jarvis Kortopi and Crimson were looking at the newly summoned wyverns in awe.

"...ah, the thought of soaring into the sky appeases my soul," He said with his arms folded. He looked at Jarvis.

"Should we ride one?" He asked with a light grin.

But Jarvis turned to look at Raith and expressed a sheepish refusal.

Crimson looked at Raith and then also realized that he shouldn't be saying that when Raith had not given the command.

He had a full loyalty bar towards Raith but he has the soul of a disobedient and radical rogue from when he was alive, which is now reflected in his attitude as a death soldier but thanks to Jarvis and Kortopi, he was learning to be better.

[Skills Exchangeable]

- Dragon Power(UR)

- Dragon Barrier(SR)

- Ego Save(SSS)

- Expel(S)

- Naming(SSR)

- Moon Protection(SR)

- Way Of The Sword(SSS)

Raith's eyes twitched as he saw the last one, the skill he loved so badly. He was tempted to exchange another skill to get back but this Raith knew better than that, probably old Raith would have bitten the chance, shortsighted and oblivious to the great chance that is before him.

If all goes well, he would have a mighty wyvern that he was never able to defeat on his own as a part of his army.

"Take Black Armour for Naming."

[Do you want to exchange skill 'Black Armour' to get skill 'Naming']

"Yes."

'I have been thinking about it. Why should I have a defensive skill when I should be taking every opportunity I get to die.'

[Exchanging Skills]

[You have gained a naming skill]

[Due to your authority you have affected Naming skill to a certain extent]

[Skill will be imbued in your authority to summon souls and name them]

[Soul Extraction (Ex) has gained 50 levels]

[You can summon the soul of greater beings now]

[Your death army limit has increased by a hundred]

A good grin spread across Raith's face from ear to ear. He was feeling so good he felt like singing.

Singing was one of the things he hated doing the most, and dancing. He was lame at it so he hated it. Yet today he just felt like moving his legs all around the place and dancing around.

It would be a great shame unto him if this goes wrong.

But for some reason, not a hint of doubt appeared on Raith's face as he neared the wyvern and got ready to extract its soul and convert it to his death soldier.

Raith stood in front of the wyvern's head and took a deep breath in and out.

He closed his eyes, it was not some kind of ritual preparation. He knew what he was doing. To palpate the darkness that surges through him, closing his eyes was more ideal. It shuts all distractions and makes him stare only at the blackness of his shut eyes.

It was just Raith's ideal way of making sure this is a success. He stretched forth his hand as though he wanted to take a wholesome full of that darkness and spoke.

"I am the void in death and the darkness that fills it. I call unto your soul, rise and serve me."

WHOOOOOSSSSSHHHH

It was so glamorous, unlike anything Raith had ever felt. The dark smoke plunged into the sky, filling every as wide as five hundred meters around Raith.

His death soldiers looked in awe and were astonished at what they saw.

Thud!

A single one of the wyvern's wings that materialized out of the darkness was large, larger than when the wyvern was alive.

That black wing spread across the ground like a black thick canopy. With another THUD the other one plunged out– the body materialized and from within the depth of that darkness pulled, the wyvern's body pulled out its neck holding its large head with flaming red eyes. Three cracks from its eyes ran down towards its head and neck, the horns that were barely noticeable when it was alive were so large and grew backward towards the neck area.

On the chest of the wyvern was a large red energy hole. From that point ran several red streaks around the wyvern's body.

SCCCRRRRREEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTCCCCCCCCCHHHHH

The wyvern let out a mighty scream that made the clouds tremble with a thunderous sound.

"Ha... ha... ha... It worked."

Raith was panting, his heart dancing from the inexpressible joy he felt from seeing the wyvern lower its long neck and bow to him.

"My lord."

[GIVE THE DARK WYVERN A NAME]