3 Death

"What the fuck is that!" yelled Ignys as he held his shield in front of him.

He waited for Varyx to make a move and to attack the creature, but that moment never came.

Instead, Varyx was frozen in fear.

"Varyx! fucking attack!" yelled Ignys.

Varyx was finally snapped out of his trance and held his sword, trembling.

The panther-like monster hit Ignys' shield with its tail and Ignys got pushed back a meter or so.

"This thing is fucking strong..." said Ignys as he felt his forearms burn from the impact.

Even worse, there was a massive dent in the shield.

Ignys cursed himself for buying second-hand equipment, but he just didn't have enough money to buy custom-made stuff.

Varyx was still standing behind Ignys, trembling in fear.

Adora used her ice shard spell in order to force the monster to back up a bit.

Ignys used this chance to push forward up to Sophie's body.

The monster stared at her body with hungry eyes and grew more and more vicious seeing Ignys defend its next meal.

It once again attacked Ignys, this time knocking him over and biting him in his shoulder.

It was forced to back up when Adora used her ice shards again.

Ignys stood up and picked up his shield meanwhile his shoulder was bleeding profusely.

"What do we do?" asked Adora in a calm tone.

Hundreds of situations ran through Ignys' mind, but all of them led to the group being wiped out.

Such a strong monster wasn't even supposed to be in an area like the canyon.

The fact that Varyx was too scared too attack also didn't help, and Ignys assumed that Adora would be running out of mana in the next four attacks.

In the end, Ignys made the decision.

"Varyx... Grab Sophie and run with Adora. We can't beat this thing, the least I can do is buy you all some time to escape... Once you get far enough, get Sophie treatment or she won't make it."

Varyx tried to protest.

"But b-"

Varyx, man the fuck up! Grab Sophie and fucking run!" yelled Ignys.

Upon hearing Ignys' determination Varyx dropped his sword and picked up Sophie before running

"Ignys, are you sure about this?" asked Adora in a calm tone.

"Yes, run and save yourselves. The last thing I would want is for all of us to die here. This is the only way that at least some people escape... All I ask for you is to give the money from the crystals to my family, they depend on it..." said Ignys as a tear rolled from his cheek.

"This will not be the end of you." said Adora before running off, following Varyx.

Ignys didn't have time to ponder about what Adora said as the monster attacked him once again, denting the shield beyond use.

The creature was furious upon losing its meal due to someone intervening, and it vowed to make Ignys its next meal.

Ignys dropped the shield and picked up the sword that Varyx had dropped.

He could barely use his left arm because of the bite.

It was throbbing in pain and bleeding profusely, but Ignys pushed on.

He wanted to survive, to live another day.

He wished that he had just listened to his family, he should've picked another profession.

However, now was not the time to think about it.

Ignys rarely trained with a sword, but he would have to make due with what he had.

He swung the sword towards the creature but it quickly evaded before moving in to attack Leo again.

It pounced Ingys, knocking him to the ground before once again tearing into his already injured arm of Ignys.

Ignys screamed in pain as the beast tore off his arm.

Ignys quickly drove his right thumb into the eye of the beast, causing it to back off.

Although, not for long.

When the beast saw Ignys' sorry state it moved in to kill him.

The only reason Ignys was still standing was due to adrenaline, his entire body hurt.

Ignys mustered whatever strength he had left and swung the sword with his right arm, hitting the monster.

However, it was not enough to deter the monster.

In retaliation, the creature hit Ignys in his side with one of its spiked tails, creating a massive wound.

Ignys was flung away and hit the ground.

He lost all strength and wasn't able to stand up again as he looked at his pathetic state.

"Why didn't I just listen... I never should've become an adventurer..." thought Ignys as his vision started fading away.

First, his vision faded.

He lost control over his body and everything felt numb.

Up next, his hearing started slipping away, until it became somewhat of a static.

However, his mind was still cloudy.

All of the sudden, Ignys heard a voice that sounded similar to that of his grandfather.

"Dying protecting the life of others, is this the way you wish to die?"

Ignys wondered where the voice came from since he saw nothing, he thought his grandfather was talking to him.

"No... I just want to live a peaceful life, grandma sold the tavern... I just wanted to make a lot of money quickly so I could start my own..."

"I see, why did you choose to sacrifice yourself for your group?" asked the voice.

"If I didn't, we all would've died... And besides, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if they all died so I could get away... At least this way they get to live..."

"Although you were consumed by greed, your intentions were pure. I will make sure that you are reborn as one of the richest people in the Uholon kingd-"

Ignys interrupted the voice

"No! Don't you dare leave me again! Please... All I want is to run a tavern with you somewhere peaceful... It is my only wish..." said Ignys with a shaky tone.

He thought he was talking to his grandpa.

"A-are you sure about this? Once I grant your wish there is no going back." said the voice.

"Yes.. I am absolutely sure!"

"Alright then, I could definitely use some company honestly. In that case, you will be reincarnated in the core of the outerlands to run a tavern with me. That way I do not have to leave the core and your wish to run the tavern somewhere peaceful shall be granted!"

Before Ignys responded his vision came back, but in third person.

He saw the creature approaching Ignys' body but right before he arrived his body dissolved into millions of particles.

The creature looked around confused as the particles flew up into the air before making their way deeper into the outerlands.

Ignys was beyond confused as his view moved along with the particles, granting him a greater view of how absolutely massive the outerlands truly were.

Within minutes he flew past multiple sectors of the outerlands, seeing people fight incredible creatures along with seeing horrible sights.

He saw various things ranging from a sector that looked like a beautiful forest up to an area completely filled with mushrooms that let out a parasitic spore that would turn any unfortunate adventurer that breathed them into a mindless zombie.

The longer he followed the particles of his body the less adventurers he saw, and after what felt like an eternity he reached the point where he no longer saw any adventurers.

Every upcoming sector Ignys would fly past would become more and more hostile, with way more dangerous monsters than the previous sectors.

Ignys also noticed that the particles started moving slower and slower, like they were nearing their destination.

After a while longer, the particles of Ignys' body finally started descending.

Ignys' view also descended along with it, something he was not comfortable with.

When he looked around the area he felt uncomfortable.

It looked like he was in a cavern, although he was sure it was above ground.

The area was quite dark and barren, huge blue crystals sprouted from the ground and roof of the area.

Weirdly enough, most of the crystals were drained of mana, only a handful of crystals still had some left in them.

There were holes in the walls of the "cave", if you looked out of them you could see the beautiful yet dangerous landscape of the outerlands.

Ignys could not help but wonder how far he was removed from civilization as he looked around.

However, the strangest thing was yet to come.

When Ignys and the particles reached halfway through the cave, a building could be seen, something which was generally impossible in the outerlands, not to mention so deep in it.

A weird creature with tentacle-like arms and no face could be seen standing in front of the building, waiting for something.

Ignys got more scared when he saw the particles descend in front of the creature, forming once again into his body.

Ignys looked up at the creature in fear.

When the creature spoke to Ignys, he finally realized that the voice he talked to didn't belong to his grandpa, but to the creature.

"Welcome to The Last Stop tavern, a tavern only meant for the world's strongest!"