Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Beyond the towering forest of intimidating trees, a backdrop of mountains cut across the landscape like colossal giants marching to the distant horizon.

The air was pristine and strong up there. Yet on one of these mountains someone was climbing up. Stubbornly, withstanding the pulling strength of the wind.

She wore a brawny armor with elegantly large pauldrons. Her breastplate was colored green with intricate curling patterns, the pauldrons and tip of her armor however were bronze hued.

A pouch filled with arrows was across her back. However, there was no bow around her… at least visibly.

Considering the weight of the armor and the tremendous violence of the wind, the lady shouldn't have been able to make it to this height but she persistently crawled higher, grabbing on anything she could with strained groaning.

Her skin was delicate, a lady like her climbing such a colossal mountain was completely out of place. However, her eyes were rigid and unshaken. Her hands rough and scathed, so was her beautiful face.

A deep gash had dried up on her forehead with clotted blood. Her face was bruised: the edge of her brow, her cheek and much more. Those injuries showed how hard it must have been for a doll like her to make it up here.

The armored lady obstinately climbed till she finally got to the top of the mountain.

She rolled over to the top and laid down with face to the sky, her chest heaving victoriously. She had done it.

But that was not the end.

A frown creased on her brows the next moment. She stood up and knelt on one knee, facing the vast scape beyond the mountain she was coming from.

The young lady moved her hands to her waist and flipped out a gold folded metal…thing? As she did, the golden metal unfurled into a large bow.

She held the bow by its grip and nocked an arrow onto it, pulling the strings with her combat worn hands.

Squinting her eyes, she took an acute aim. However, her eyes shot wide a second later.

'This human! What does he think he's doing?'

—

Raith's eyes stayed fixed to the depth of white smoke. A fraction of second later, the tentacle shot into the air, swiping around nothing before falling back into the depth.

He didn't see it the first time but he got a clear view of it this second time.

Now… the problem lies…

'How the fuck am I supposed to kill a monster with a tenracle so big?'

Judging from the length and robustness of the tentacle, the monster would be quite large. The fact that it was resting easily in a depth of eerie smoke as vast as this was another pointer to that. Raith was sure it would be one hell of an enormous monster.

The tentacle, at least the one Raith had seen, was extremely long, twisting like a massive snake. It was bedecked in rough thorny growths and ended in leaf-shaped pads bearing rows of more sharp spikes.

The spikes and powerful curling force of the tentacle were responsible for easily swatting away the bridge in one go.

'Think Raith think… how can you vanquish a monster with so long tentacles.'

Pausing a few minutes while cautiously tilting the majority of his weight to rest on the wall using his legs. On one hand, the timbered rope was curled on the other was his longsword.

His eyes were deftly locked on the expanse beneath him. It has been a few minutes, the monster's tentacles had not plunged into the air.

Which meant…

Before Raith could come to his conclusion, something suddenly whizzed across his vision and got lost in the vast sea of smoke.

He frowned and looked up.

'Looks like I'm not the only hunter here today.'

Up there somewhere, some reckless daughter of the village chief was also trying to put an end to this abomination that has plagued her villages for several decades.

Raith grinned. He didn't mind the help but he also didn't know if this was going to be helpful for him or …

Raith's eyes widened.

Two appendages thrust into the air, curling and swipping around.

'Now!'

Raith pressed himself against the wall and kicked himself away. Net cracks spread on the wall of the cliff as he flew towards the tentacle with commendable speed.

Arming his sword properly, Raith swung with mad ferocity as he approached and swung past.

But to his surprise, it was like he was trying to slash apart a rock. He frowned as the rope swayed helplessly upwards. He still had another chance. When the rope begins to sway back, he will deal a stronger blow.

Raith tightened his fist around the sword as the rope reached the tip of its oscillation and started swaying back to its starting point.

The tentacles at this point stood still, while one retreated slowly, the one that Raith had tried to slash was motionless. He fixed his focus on that one and extended his sword ready to slice the tentacle.

Thank Goodness, the rope happened to now be swinging back closer to the tentacle than before. Raith steeled his heart dealing with the soreness of his shoulder ligaments as he held onto the rope and got closer to the motionless appendage. He threw his arm backward and propelled an arch as the rope swiftly took him across the monster's extension.

This time, Raith felt the tip of his sword graze its skin. Although it was shallow, purple liquid could be seen tracing the small thin line left after his sword clashed with it.

However, what happened next was to Raith's shock.

The retreating tentacle suddenly shot towards Raith before he even reached the wall of the cliff. Raith seeing the approaching madness curled upwards, difficulty carrying his entire weight. The tentacles swiped across, under his back, grazing his dirty clothes a little and slamming its tone on the wall, shattering that point into splinters.

Then it retreated in an instant.

Raith with shocked eyes lazily dropped his entire body. However, the rope snapped.

At the same time another round of arrow flew into the leafy end of the other tentacle, the one that had received a shallow damage from his sword.

Unfortunately, Raith had to watch this while falling into the depth.