Runes - A Tale Of The Abyss

He spit blood, and grabbed his blade.

"I"m not done yet you f.u.c.ker."

His body erupted in black flames as his hair started to turn black. His eyes slowly showing an abyss hidden within as he used his blade as support to stand.

———————————————————————

A few hours ago...

Griff was face to face with the hulking mutant. The beast was formed by the combination of several zombies, creating a pseudo-zombie golem. The undead golem was fast for its size as it smashed towards the ground where Griff stood.

"Wind Magic: Gale"

Rin managed to use wind magic to pull Griff back before he became a red stain on the earth.

He was breathing heavily.

"I owe you one."

"Not the time."

"Right..."

Selena nocked an arrow and let loose a hailstorm of flames onto the undead, burning the flesh on its chest.

"Griff! You"re up for this one. It seems that its defense is lacking."

"Aye!"

Griff, without losing time, ignited his blade once again and dashed forward, slashing through a couple of undead that were trying to get to him, reaching the hulking mutant once more. Without losing time he crouched and jumped 2 meters upwards, a superhuman feat in its own standards.

He grabbed on to the loosely dangling arm of the undead and used his burning blade to chop it off cleanly due to the lack of proper muscle and bones.

Just then he jumped off, avoiding the weird jaws of the golem like undead from biting his upper half off.

"Close call."

"No s.h.i.t Griff."

Reiner rushed from his left shouting at him for his airheadedness. He leaped from the ground using strengthening magic and punched right across the jaw of the golem, causing its head to burst, and the undead to fall truly dead.

"Alright. We"ll clean this mess up later. Take care of the remaining undead in this area as fast as possible guys!"

"On it! Wind Magic: Gale."

Rin shouted, using her magic to levitate herself and Selena to move towards the roof of the village chief"s house to get a better sniping position.

"We got you two covered! Split up, and get rid of these pests quickly."

They both nodded. The town"s square was now mostly devoid of undead due to their previous rampage, but the sound of shrieking zombies could still be heard. Reiner squeezed Griff"s shoulder.

"If you see something like that again, you either run, or if you have to fight. But when you fight! DON"T LOSE YOUR COOL LIKE NOW!"

Griff nodded, clenching his fist. Ever since his time in the arena he had grown sharp, but the time he spent with his master Alatar, James, and the guild in general had softened him up too much.

"I"m weak and I still know it. I mean... I"m human. I want to feel safe and not be on guard... but this..."

He looked around to gaze at the charred, sliced and smashed bodies of zombies.

"This is my reality now, and will most likely be that way. I think it"s time I stop this façade of trying to live leisurely... it won"t happen in a world like this."

"Aye... I"m not going to make the same stupid mistakes again."

Griff"s eyes were much more different than what they usually were. Yes, his gaze became sharp when serious, but this time his gaze was deep, like the abyss. Unyielding.

"I like that look in your eyes Griff... stay alive."

"You too Reiner..."

Both nodded, and started dashing to the opposite sides. Selena was covering Griff"s back while Rin was covering Reiner"s.

There weren"t a lot of zombies left. Griff just sliced their heads off and continued making his way towards the marketplace. There were bound to be undead there.

Griff crouched near a wall as he made it to the marketplace. It was an odd sight... there were tens of hundreds of zombies but none of them were moving... all of them seemed to be docile? Resting? There seemed to be no way to explain the current situation.

"I can"t shout for the others... attacking seems stupid as well... wait."

Suddenly a zombie with distinctive features, a red skin and hardened exoskeleton, screamed, causing every zombie to run towards it. They began piling up on each other, creating a ma.s.sive blob of rotting flesh.

"Disgusting... Unknown Magic: Blade of Despair."

Griff ignited his blade and jumped out of his hiding spot, decapitating zombies that he came in contact with.

"I better cut this thing open before something weird happens."

Well... that definitely raised a flag. The blob of flesh suddenly sprouted a pair of legs, standing up. As more and more zombies started to rush to it, it began to gain a distinct shape. It was enormous, roughly 10 meters in size. This was no zombie... or ghoul. This was a t.i.tan. A zombified one at that.

"Well... that weird mutant was easy to cut so maybe this is too!"

Griff ran towards a couple stalls, and jumped on them. He continued running and used a nearby roof to push himself further in the air, slashing downwards with his blade, sending a black slice of despair that would have burnt anything he knew... anything but this t.i.tan apparently.

———————————————————————

Selena was shouting towards Rin.
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"Is Reiner done?!"

"Yeah! What is it?"

"Griff"s in trouble and this won"t be solved easily."

"Wh Holy s.h.i.t that"s an artificial undead golem. A t.i.tan at that. That... does it this is a necromancer"s handywork."

"We"ll worry about this necromancer later! First we better stop that thing before it rages away!"

"Good point... REINER!"

"Already saw it."

Reiner leaped across the roofs, running past Rin and Selena. Both sighed and began to pursue him, trying to reach Griff before... something happened.

———————————————————————

The t.i.tan roared and slammed its fist down on the marketplace: the shockwave tossed Griff back, crashing him into a wall.

"s.h.i.t... I"m not strong enough for this."

He grabbed his blade and ran once more, trying to dodge the falling zombies from the sky that fell from the t.i.tan"s body.

"I can slice and burn all I want. This thing only keeps regenerating!"

Just then the t.i.tan"s eyes began to glow red, its entire body glowing as well.

———————————————————————

Selena: "Rin, is that supposed to happen?"

Rin: "Glowing eyes? h.e.l.l no... this is creepy."

Reiner: "Stop talking! Come on Griff"s in a pinch!"

Rin: "That"s an understatement you fool!"

———————————————————————

The t.i.tan suddenly erupted in flames, the gush that occurred with its eruption to toss back all of the adventurers, slamming them in walls or other nearby things.

Griff, who had just reached the foot of the t.i.tan flew backwards, breaking through a wall, but he managed to use his blade and stab the ground, allowing him to stand.

"Things just escalated too quickly for me..."

The t.i.tan suddenly lowered its gaze to look at Griff, and a mischievous smile could be read on its lips, ever so faintly. It opened its mouth, and blew fire towards Griff.

"So... my fire was useless after all... SLICE THIS FIRE, DESPAIRING BLADE!"

He used his flames to try to slash the orange flames of the t.i.tan, yet he failed so miserably as he crashed towards another wall... bleeding all over his body. The entire village was burning with charred bodies scattered around him.

"I.... I"m not done yet you f.u.c.ker!"

He shouted. He couldn"t let it go. Not now. Not after what this thing and the necromancer behind it made of these and possibly other villagers. He couldn"t lay down against this. Was it his concern? Honestly, No it wasn"t. Yet he felt the urge to fight. He knew what torment felt like, and... he couldn"t stand by seeing these tormented souls. He was lucky, he survived his torment. But not these poor souls. Not them.

"Not them... I did... I"ve survived time and again no matter how foolish and naive I am. How come I don"t die? Why don"t I die?"

He slowly stood up, the flames around him becoming darker and darker slowly, and his hair turning pure black. He stood up and grabbed his blade, looking at the t.i.tan that was walking away.

"I guess it"s time to find out... if I"ll die this time."