A Stoic Underworld Warrior

"Hey! You alright there bud?" the deep enthusiastic voice of a man made Altair open his eyes in wide shock.

'A- A human?!'

A figure of a stoic man appeared in front of his eyes, slicing down the morbid monster in it's torso with his elongated sword, he was a monster-slaying human.

"Oh well damn, you aren't in great shape young lad, just try and ignore everything yeah? And you will be alright!" the stoic man assured.

His shoulders were as broad as the plains in sight, his figure so mighty in his silver armor with his muscles so solid that it looked like it was as hard as a rock. His arms were so defined muscles flowing in it so naturally, veins clearly popping out of the muscular build of the man's entire body. His grip on the elongated sword was so tight it was making his hand look like it was going to crush the grip of the sword as it followed the shape of the man's hand.

"Alright alright I will not let such a hideous beast touch a human such as I, so I will make it quick." he said as he fully prepared to swing the longsword.

In a split second the stoic warrior sliced the beast again, making a gashing wound appear on it's rotting body. Altair could not even sense the speed of the warrior, in a blink of an eye a massive deep wound just appeared on the beast's torso.

The monster let out an agonized roar as it held it's own rotting wound greenish red blood gashed out of the decomposed flesh, and then the monster howled sharply and made it's retreat back into the endless field of tall grasses.

The stoic warrior then sighed as he rid his sword of the monster's appalling blood and quickly put his sword back into it's wooden sheath in one swift motion, with a disappointment clear in his face he turned to Altair to check on the boy's conditions.

"Very well lad the monster fled the area now, help yourself up."

Altair took a moment to look at the magnificent build of the man and slowly helped himself to stand up from the cold surface of the land.

The man was so tall now that Altair took a closer look at it, he almost looked like the man itself was a giant.

"So young one, were you an incarnate from Earth like I am?" the man asked.

"How did you know that?"

The man smiled on the question cheekily dodging it with a new one.

"Did you feel a sensation of rotting pain when you had the encounter with that rotting lycan?"

Altair looked at the man with a careful expression very wary of the man being aware of everything.

"Yeah, almost as if I can feel the pain of the beast, I cannot even begin to describe how it really feel like in a real sense. A person should not be put through such torture." he answered shuddering on just the thought of it.

The stoic man then changed his behaviour entirely, with a more serious look in his face he touched the chestplate of his armor lightly, patted it and spoke to Altair.

"Look young one, in this place we are all one."

Confused Altair just stared at the stoic man with a serious look in his eyes.

At the moment Altair tried to understand what he meant by 'in this place we are all one' phrase.

Then the stoic man disassembled his dark silver armor revealing a grievous cut that ranged from his trapezius to his obliques.

"See what I mean now young one?"

His eyes widened in horror.

"Every living breathing being in this place is our brothers, monster or human there is no difference, we all are one in this underworld. As brothers we all share both joy and pain, both bliss and agony, both life and death. Do you understand now young one?"

Altair who looked very pale from remembering the rotting sensation of his flesh just a moment ago nauseated and threw up intensely. He looked at the ground now scattered with his own vomit and shuddered.

The stoic man can't help but laugh at the reaction of the young person catching Altair's attention.

He then pointed at the mortal wound of the warrior.

"Does that mean?"

The stoic man seemingly oblivious about the severe cut in his torso looked at him with a relaxed expression and simply responded.

"Yes your eyes doesn't fool you boy, this was the cut that I inflicted on that rotting lycan, the curse simply synchronized it's pain and inflicted it on me. It actually itches so it is very bad sort of."

Altair who was still on his knees stood up with utter dumbfoundedness and amazement clear in his face. The man doesn't look bothered by the wound at all, in fact it almost looked like it was non-existent, Altair cannot help but admire the physical resilience of the man because if he was in that state he would undoubtedly be already dead or crying in excruciating agony, that is to say if he can inflict a wound that is as massive as the warrior's on the lycan.

The stoic warrior wasn't just resilient he was also very powerful, inhuman strength invigorated his body brimming it with both power and speed, with a longsword that is as sharp as the jagged stones in the distance he can cut through anything like paper, he is the apex in this desolated land of monstrosities. Altair isn't foolish enough to believe that the person is a human and is on his guard constantly, but what could his measly strength even do against the might of a true beast? If the stoic man were to go haywire then he could not do anything but accept his death.

In Altair's mind he could only think of not making the mighty warrior his enemy even if he risk being killed by the person. He'd rather have someone beside him who is both able to protect him from potential dangers and end his life at the same time than to travel alone in the lifeless plains with the risk of feeling the same wave of continuous unbearable and torturous pain earlier before dying a horrifying death.

"Sir, how come did you not even flinch on the pain that the lycan presented to you? The rotting of your own flesh? And that terrible cut that you gave to it being returned to you?" Altair could only ask politely.

The man then gave Altair a warm smile and simply responded.

"You just get used to it."