Ever So Shortly

Tired.

I'm tired of it all. The scheming, the killing, all of it.

"UuuUuuuUuuu..."

Yet what I feel doesn't matter, not at the moment at least.

"Uugh..."

I groan, trying to cope with all injuries of my body by slowly breathing in and out. I could do nothing about it currently, as I've already run out of flasks to consume. However, my hardships were not for nothing.

Staring across the domain of Erdtrees and the boundless starry sky, I lock my eyes unto the Elden Beast. Its body now riddled with arrows and scars.

"UuuUuuuUuuu..."

We both stop for a moment, looking at and probing each other's bodies.

With that moment of silence and peace, I came to realize just how beautiful yet bizarre the Elden Beast was. It's body seemed to be the embodiment of order itself, containing the mighty presence of the Erdtrees and the stars. I even briefly contemplated whether or not I should truly go through with killing this vassal of the greater will.

Alas, however...

"Hmpf!"

I launched towards it at great speeds, courtesy of the bloodhound step technique that was graciously provided to me by the Night's Cavalry Knight of Caelid when I killed him.

"UuUuUu!"

My assault was met with a barrage of only the highest tier of holy power. For a moment, it seemed like the stars in the sky themselves fell.

"Hrak!"

No matter how great bloodhound step was, I was barraged on all sides incessantly and injured even more. Nevertheless, I charged onwards stalwartly with my shield in hand.

After what seemed to be an eternity of recklessly charging forward against the endless current of holy power, I finally made it to the base of the Elden Beast's body.

"Die! Just die already!"

"UUUUUUUUU!"

I swung my greatsword at the beast with wild abandon as I moved by its body to prevent it from hitting me.

I could feel it.

This piece of shit was about to die.

Just as I was about to get a few more hits on its body though, I seemingly felt the breath of destined death itself behind me.

I frantically raise my shield and twist my body to meet the attack behind me. Then, I was met with an immense force.

"Urgh!"

My arms greatly trembled at the force of the attack made by the Elden Beast with it's blade. Using the momentum of it's attack, I allowed myself to be launched away to a safe distance.

Once again, we are at a stalemate. The counterattack made by the Elden Beast seems to have exhausted itself though, as it stabbed its sword down to the solid yet liquid-like ground in an attempt to support itself.

It was in a horrible state at the moment.

"Not that I'm in any good shape either, though."

Inspecting myself, I found that the majority of the armor set I got from Commander Niall had been broken and blasted off by the Elden Beast's attacks. I could even feel my vitality already being at dangerously low levels. The only things that was still in somewhat good conditions was my greatsword and shortbow, with my shield barely being functional enough due to all the dents and damage done to it.

Composing myself, I gazed at the Elden Beast across me once more.

"If only I had more arrows right now..."

I could probably shoot this thing down safely with the state that it's in. Sadly though, I ran out of arrows quite a while ago into the fight.

"Huuuuuuuh."

Letting out a regretful sigh at not having any arrows at the moment, I ready myself to launch at the beast once more. Though I barely had any mind left to support the consecutive use of bloodhound step, it should be enough to get me to the Elden Beast once again.

"Hmpf!"

As I launched towards it at great speeds once again, it began its assault on me once more. This time, however, its attacks have clearly weakened in strength and frequency. With a few moments, I found myself at the base of the Elden Beast once again.

I could feel it.

The end of my journey was near. All I had to do was to finish off the Elden Beast with a few more slashes. With this in mind, I began to swing my greatsword wildly at the beast's body with all my strength once more.

"UUUUUUUUU!"

Letting out an ethereal screech, its body began to fall. I had finally done it...

Or at least, I thought I had.

"UUuuUUuuUUuu!"

The seemingly weak and dimming body of the Elden Beast shone once more, greater than it ever did before.

I quickly tucked my body as much as I could behind what was left of my shield.

In the next moment, an explosion of holy energy burst out.

My vision was painted with the brightest palette of white, which was then followed by an immense force that pushed my body away. I was barely able to remain conscious from the attack when I felt my body plunge into what was probably one of the Erdtrees in the area.

As I felt my body being slowly consumed, I let out a weak, pathetic laugh.

"Everyone's lives and efforts, for nothing..."

Feeling a streak of tears running down my face, my vision becomes cloudy and darkened as my consciousness fades away.

Bereft of my and the Elden Beast's presence, the beautiful domain of the Erdtrees and the boundless starry sky falls into what would hopefully be everlasting peace and silence.

____________________

"Aiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!"

I'm about to die.

All because of my naive thoughts and dreams about the dungeon, I'm going to be killed and most likely devoured as well, by a bull-headed man-beast. The minotaur.

"Urrrrooooooarrrrrr!"

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee!"

Sprinting forward as fast as I could down hall after hall, I tried to find anything that could allow me to escape.

In the midst of my mad dash to escape from the minotaur, my frantic mind thought of a lot of things, mainly thoughts about my dreams and aspirations that made me want to become an adventurer.

I wanted to become a hero like the ones from the tales that my grandfather always told me about.

I wanted to meet ladies of all races and possibly become even more than just friends with them.

I wanted to try and pick up girls in the dungeon, maybe even have a harem in the future from doing so.

Now, as I'm madly hurtling down the hall after hall of the dungeon, I finally came to a conclusion.

I was wrong.

I let my stupid delusions get to me, and where is that going to bring me now? Into the belly of the beast.

"Huh?"

Just as I was wallowing in misery from my current situation, I caught sight of an adventurer in the distance lying down by the wall of the dungeon hall.

"Hey! Hurry up and run! There's a minotaur behind me!"

I screamed loud enough to the point that my throat felt sore and painful. No matter how much I did screamed and warned the guy though, he didn't move. Or rather, it seemed like he couldn't move.

He was covered in blood from head to toe, wearing what seems to be leftover scraps of armor. What looked like his shield was pretty much destroyed as well. The only thing that was basically left on him was a bow and a sword.

As I got closer and closer to him, I realized what was going on.

He was unconscious.

Millions of thoughts blared across my mind.

I thought that maybe, I could get away from the minotaur.

Maybe, the minotaur would just stop chasing me and feast on the immobile guy.

Perhaps he was even dead already. If that was the case, wouldn't it just be better for me to leave him behind?

Finally, when I got near enough to him, I grit my teeth.

"Come on! Quickly, let's get out of here!"

Slinging the unconscious guy onto my back and basically giving him a piggyback ride as fast as I could, I then continued sprinting down the hall as I could.

"Urrroooooarrrr!"

"Huuh huuh huuh!"

I start breathing frantically and my pace starts to slow down. The unconscious guy was too heavy for me to carry on with my previous speed.

"Why the heck are you still holding onto your sword at this time!"

I scream out in horror as the guy was still holding onto his sword, bow, and even his basically destroyed shield even while unconscious. That was probably why he was so goddamn heavy to carry.

Eventually though, my luck ran out as I came to a dead end in the halls of the dungeon.

As soon as I could, I threw the guy on my back as hard as I could to the wall further away from myself in the hall and turned to look at the minotaur.

Then, I abruptly dodged as fast as I possibly could as the hoof of the minotaur almost turned my face into mush.

"Hurgh hurgh..."

"Wahhhhhhh!"

Its saliva dripped down from its mouth onto my face as it looked down on me and heavily breathed in and out.

I try to move back as far as I could away from it, but end up with my back against the wall.

This is it. This is my end.

With the breath of certain death on the back of my neck, tears began to roll down my face and my teeth began to chatter loudly.

The minotaur, seemingly satisfied at the terrified look on my face, brought its hoof up to slam onto my body...

Or at least, that was what I thought was going to happen when I suddenly heard a loud and strong stomp from behind the minotaur.

The act seemed like it surprised the minotaur as well as it tried to turn its body as fast as it could to meet whatever it was that was behind it. However, it still reacted too late.

A sword that looked old and battered slashed into the side of its torso and came out the other side as fast as it went in. The minotaur was bisected into two pieces, causing a lot if its blood to splatter on me.

The sliced-in-half minotaur then gave one last roar then dissipated into ashes, dropping its magic stone.

As I bewilderedly looked at where the minotaur was, I finally looked up and saw the unconscious man standing strong and tall...

"Urgh..."

And then he passed out again and fell onto the ground.

Blankly staring into space, I wasn't sure what to make of all that just happened.

Suddenly, a gust of wind flew into my face and I turned to look at where it came from. Thereon, time for me moved to a standstill.

A young girl, no, a goddess appeared in front of me.

Her lithe physique wrapped in light blue clothing.

Her feminine beauty shone through even though she was wearing armor.

Her blonde hair that looked like gold.

And finally, her golden eyes whose gaze could turn a man into puddy.

"Um... Are you guys okay?"

Even the sound of her voice sounded heavenly, and it made my heart feel like it was about to burst.

Redness began to fill my cheeks as what I think is love started to cloud my very judgement.

"No, I don't think we're fine."

I almost-dreamily in response to her question.

Overall, I think I need to retract my statement from earlier.

Correction, going into the dungeon was worth it.