The chosen one (1)

Whenever he meets someone, he introduces himself as Kai Vermillion, an adventurer.

But the following misunderstanding always happens.

"Vermillion? Aren't you the weakest adventurer in the world?"

And while what they say is true, he can't help but feel his pride shatter into pieces.

Indeed, nothing had been the same since the Cataclysm struck in 2055. The planet had been ravaged by an unknown force that had decimated entire cities and killed millions of people.

However, those who survived discovered that they had been imbued with incredible powers, ranging from elemental manipulation to telekinesis.

And it has now been over a century since the calamity had taken place. In the beginning, humanity struggled to rebuild in the aftermath of the Cataclysm. Everything was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt anew. But a new profession quickly emerged: the "Adventurer." These highly trained individuals used their powers to explore dangerous ruins, fight off monsters, protect society from the dangers that still lurked in the post-Cataclysm world, and finally, rebuild the destroyed world.

But unlike the previous system, it was now the adventurers who governed most of the countries in the world. Some of them were so strong that they could pose a threat to an entire continent.

And as such, to reassure people, the [Adventurer Association] has been created to monitor those adventurers.

It was also this same association that created the ranks between adventurers.

Some may be gifted and become [A-rank adventurer], while the chosen ones were [S-rank adventurer]. But those two categories weren't even 5% of the Earth's population, with the latter being at a measly 1%.

The rest of the adventurers were either B-rank, C-rank, D-rank and finally, the weakest adventurers, the [F-ranks adventurer].

And unfortunately, Kai was the weakest of the [F-rank adventurers]. He was almost no different from a normal human, except for the fact that he was just a little physically stronger than the average man, and could somewhat use magic.

"Kai, stop daydreaming already and continue mining the magic crystals." A man yelled at me.

"Yes master, I'm sorry." He smiled as he started mining again. He couldn't earn money on his own. He was far too weak to even fight monsters in the gates. And people knew of that fact almost as well as him.

Thankfully, one day, his master decided to take me with him. He was always angry, but Kai knew that he needed to do better. So he always worked hard for his master. Even when he was beaten up for his poor work. He always tried his best.

"Tch, what a useless brat. I shouldn't have taken you with me." His master said angrily as he burned down yet another monster. He was an [A-rank adventurer] who specialized in close combat. His sword was always moving, leaving behind pretty flames.

Kai stared at it in awe before going back to his job. He needed to be more efficient if he wanted his master to recognize him and pay him for his hard work. After all, this gate had a high value. It was a B-rank gate with very strong monsters. The gate's interior looked like a giant cave illuminated by torches.

Yet despite all of that, Kai's master and his team were working perfectly. They were never injured and didn't even need a healer. They only needed someone who could harvest magic crystals so that they could focus on fighting the monsters only.

And that was why Kai and a few other low-rank adventurers were farming.

Although they were of the same rank, they all looked down on him. He was weaker than everyone, after all. So it was normal.

"Hey Rosmond, isn't it strange that we still haven't found the boss' room?" Someone asked Kai's master. "It's been three hours already, yet we can't seem to be anywhere near the room."

"Yes, I found it strange too. But some gates are like this, so we need to be more patient."

"Well if you say so."

In the end, they just shrugged their shoulders and continued advancing.

They killed monsters and killed again, and then some more. Time passed quickly, yet it was as if this gate was unfinishable. They couldn't see the end of it, and they started to grow restless.

Especially the low-rank adventurers who didn't have much stamina, to begin with.

"Hey weaklings, move your asses faster, we can't wait for you all day long." Kai's master said angrily before approaching him.

Not finishing this gate was getting more and more on his nerves, and then slowing the group down didn't help in that regard.

"Please mast-... Argh." Kai was grabbed by his master who took him by the hair and dragged him on the ground. He couldn't resist as he didn't have any strength, to begin with.

Kai gritted his teeth and tried to hold back his tears because he knew that showing any sign of weakness would only make things worse.

Nonetheless, his master threw him on the wall and everyone heard a {Crack} coming from Kai's back.

"Arghhhhh!!!!!!"

Kai screamed and spat a mouthful of blood, but nobody tried to help me. They just looked at me with pity before carrying on their advance, Kai's master on the front, still angry.

Kai could see their silhouettes growing more and more distant every time they took a step. He hoped deep down that his master would come and get him.

He waited and waited some more before slowly losing consciousness. But right before he passed out, he could see his blood flowing down on a thin crack in the ground. It wasn't visible earlier, but now that it was tainted by his blood, it was easy to see the crack glowing ominously.

***

As they continued through the seemingly endless gate, some of the members of the team asked Rosmond why he did that, but they only got a deadly glare in response. So they all quickly dropped the matter.

Not that they could think about it for long because something strange happened.

{Shake} {Shake}

{Kyaa}

The cave trembled as if an earthquake just happened, and the [F-rank adventurers] screamed in fear.

The combat team quickly readied themselves for anything about to come. After all, only a strong monster could cause such a big occurrence inside a gate. Yet nothing came even after several minutes.

"What was that?"

"Maybe it's the boss? We're finally near the room!" One of the people on the team said with excitement as he started running forward. It was as if he had completely forgotten about the shaking that happened just a moment ago.

"Hey wait-... Seriously what will happen if you suddenly run into a monster, huh?" Another one grinned and ran after him.

Slowly, they all started to run behind their two comrades. If what they thought was true, then they could finally come out of this frustrating gate.

After running for about 30 seconds, the team arrived in front of a giant door. They all gulped down seeing how massive it was, but they couldn't feel anything strange coming out of the door. Except for the fact that a strange red light was emanating from it.

"Should we go?" One of the [F-rank adadventurers] asked, reluctant to move forward. It was the first time he saw such a boss room door, and it was really scary.

"If you don't, you won't get paid, is that clear?" Rosmond said with a giant grin on his face. He could that something incredibly valuable will be found behind this door.

And so they marched forward, and the door started opening on its own.

They walked in the dark until suddenly, light illuminated the room.

It was a giant circular room with what looked like a shrine in the middle of it. On the far end of the room, the statue of a giant could be seen, while all around the circular room were tinier statues. There were 7 statues, 3 male-looking statues, and 4 female-looking statues. As for the one at the end of the room, its gender was unknown.

"D-do we have to fight against those statues?" One of the mages in the team asked. She didn't think that they would make it out of there alive. Even though they were all individually strong, and even more as a team, fighting against such imposing statues seemed impossible.

"No, I don't think so." The tank of the group answered. "They would have already made their moves if we needed to fight them."

"R-right." She wasn't really convinced, but she couldn't prove otherwise anyway.

{Gloop}

{Gloob}

"What's that?" Rosmond asked his companions, but they didn't answer him. They only looked toward where the sound came from, in other words, on the ground.

The ground they were on had a lot of cracks. And from them, a red liquid was heading toward the shrine. And those sounds came from the liquid bubbling because of its own heat.

"This liquid… it's strange."

"Doesn't it looks like blood?"

"Monsters' blood?"

"No, human blood." Everyone sucked a cold breath after hearing that. It was the assassin of the group who said that, so he was used to seeing those types of things as it was his job to kill people. "It looks as thick as it, and it smells a little like metal as well."

"Now that you say it…" Rosmond thought for a second before giving his order. "Everyone, we should get out of here. This place looks way too strange."

They all agreed in unison. This room gave off an odd feeling, and they didn't want to stay in such an environment for even a minute more.

However, as they walked back in their steps, something unexpected happened.

*Bam*

The doors closed shut, trapping them in the room.

"W-what happened?" The mage's voice shook.

"Rosmond, what's the meaning of this?" Someone else said.

"F*ck, I don't know." He turned around to look back at the giant statue, only for his eyes to stare ahead in awe.

"W-what, don't tell me…"

They all turned, scared to see the boss suddenly moving, but it was still on in the same place as earlier. Yet they had the same eyes as Rosmond when their eyes focused on something a little closer.

They all kept their mouth shut until one of the [F-rank adventurers] broke the silence. "I-isn't it Kai on the shrine?"

Indeed a young man was lying on the shrine, his white eyes facing the group. And this young man was none other than Kai with blood still dripping from his mouth.

"H-how did he come here? Didn't he die?"

"He's dead, I can't hear nor see him breathing."

"But then how?"

And as if to answer them, a noise came from somewhere. It was the noise of something cracking.

They all looked toward the shell of the statue that was breaking, and they immediately heard a sound.

{Ding} {Dung} {Driing} {Dududung}

A slow melody was being played. Indeed the statue being released had a lyre in his hands, and they were moving ever so slowly as if they needed time after not moving for millennia. However, this man looked far weaker than the other statues as he had a petite stature and looked quite feminine. He even had the look of a bard from the old age. And everyone knew that bards weren't good at fighting.

And in this world, only the strong decided who had the right to live or not.

"W-we can fight him, I'm sure of it." One of the people on the team said with a shaky voice and started walking toward the bard.

However, the moment the statue opened his emerald-like eyes, they all froze in an instant.

"Haha, isn't it a pity?" His voice sounded like one of a young man and was quite playful. "You killed the chosen one with your own hand." He then slowly started to walk toward the shrine, his small heels making enough sound to resonate in the entire giant room. The group looked at him, their head moving as slowly as the young man was moving. "Ah, let me clarify something…" He caressed Kai's cheek with his thumb before sitting by his side. "I'm pitying you because you broke his seal."

Shivers went down their spines the moment he finished his sentence. His green eyes looked as if he could kill them in an instant. Yet they didn't understand what he just said, even though they heard him very well.

"Then tell me, who kill the chosen one?" He started playing his lyre again. Strangely enough, the minds of the group started to get calmer by the second, and they managed to point to Rosmond with their fingers. But it wasn't only one of them, no, it was every single one of them, even Rosmond and the [F-rank adventurers].

"Aha, I see. How funny, indeed." He chuckled a little while still playing his lyre. "Then tell me, young man, what is your name?"

Now normally, Rosmond would have gotten angry at his remark. After all, he was far older than this feminine man. Yet he didn't feel angry and was rather calm.

"I'm Rosmond. Why do you ask?"

"I see, Rosmond. An old French name is it?" He nodded his head with satisfaction. "Well congratulation Rosmond, I will gift you something for having killed the chosen one." He crossed his legs and smiled like a young child. He even stopped playing his lyre, as if he was slowly getting serious.

"T-then I want to be the richest person in the world." The team members looked at him with envy as they now all hoped to be the ones who killed Kai.

"It seems like human nature hasn't changed at all since then. Still as sinful as ever." He sighed before standing up. "Let me make myself clear again. I never said that I will grant your wish. No, I'll just gift you something."

Rosmond gulped down with impatience. He didn't know why the man had stood up, but it could only mean something amazing. And even though he couldn't be the richest person in the world as he asked, he could still get something great out of killing a weakling.

"Those eyes, seriously, do you still expect something?" The smile on the young man's face completely disappeared, and his eyes shot killing intent toward the group. "No, the only thing that will be granted to you is… death."

And right at this moment, Rosmond could see his body, but without a head.