There was a chance that they could just run away with the haul and knowing that, Hark let Oslo to take care and look after the corpse of wild birds till they returned or signalled telling that they had founded another wild bird.
There was also a chance that Oslo might just run away with the corpses of the wild birds but Hark didn't believe that Oslo was the sort of person who would do that and it was because of that he had entrusted taking care of corpses to Oslo.
After shifting the responsibility of taking care of the bodies to Oslo, everybody took different direction leaving Oslo behind with those thirty three dead wild birds. Without having anything to do, he just gathered the corpses and made a stack of it and just sat there guarding the corpses with his arms folded and eyes closed.
One hour. Two hours.
There was still no sign of them returning or the signal. It seemed as if the wild birds in this areas were scarce and everybody had to travel a bit far. With next to no sign of them, Oslo just sat still there and little did he know that he had already fallen asleep.
Roooooooooar!
The spell of silence was only lifted when huge roar pierced his ears and shook the whole forest with it. In alarm, he opened his eyes wide but there was no sign of the monster from which the roar came from and all he could hear right now was the screech of birds going home.
"Was I mistaken? I thought that the beast which gave that awful roar was just beside me."
With his eyes opened, he analyzed the surrounding and it was already evening as trees were covered in red light as they swung here and there because of the wind. The surrounding was also getting chilly by the minute and what kept him warm and company was the green ball of flame he created on his palm.
"So warm!" He said as he cuddled his green flame in the cold forest.
"Ouch!" Oslo took his hand back, "That hurt...but why? I thought it wouldn't hurt me like that time where I was killing goblins."
Rooooooooooar!
As Oslo was wandering confused, he heard the vicious roar which made his body shudder to the core and he felt as if his heart was going to burst any moment.
Roooooooooooar!
The ear piercing roar echoed again making blood drip out of his ears. The roar was very domineering and it made him sweat cold in only but a second. His ears were damaged and could hear the roar anymore but his body was still feeling the shockwaves coming from the roar and it was enough for his legs to go soft.
He with an alarming speed unsheathed his dagger with his hand and was remained in alerted form as if not to miss anything that happened in the surrounding. If he missed then it was obviously going to result in his death.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Whole land was shaking with these noises which made Oslo's grab on the hilt of the dagger even tighter. What was producing such roars...? He was confused and amidst the confusion he finally saw a figure approaching his way from afar.
He furrowed his brows as he didn't know why that creature was madly running towards him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With every step it took, the figure created shockwave throughout the forest and it was huge figure that approached Oslo. With those steps it took, Oslo had no doubt about how strong the monster was going to be and it was very fast as well, as it covered the distance between Oslo and it in but few breathes.
His guessing ended when he saw a large turtle like figure emerge from the forest and appeared right before him, destroying everything in its path.
The forest moment ago was turned into flat plain with its large boomy footsteps.
The figure staring at him made his blood run cold and in a flash, he leapt towards the turtle which seemed like it was in pain. An arrow was stabbed on its leg and Oslo guessed that maybe it was because of the arrow, the creature was running wild.
But he didn't have time for as to why that arrow was in it'd leg because those big foots were nearing as if to crush him to a bloody mess. He knew that if he was crushed by it then, no one would be able identify his corpse.
Slash-
He dodged the leg coming to squash him and used his dagger to slash its leg. But just as he tried it, not even a millimeter of its skin was scratched. Oslo was alarmed.
Slash- Slash- Slash-
With a terrifying speed he swung his dagger but no matter how hard he swung, it had no effect whatsoever.
"If slashing doesn't work then I'll stab it."
He thrust the dagger with everything he had but he couldn't believe it as it had bounced back just like that. He knew that the turtles had hard shell but he had never heard of turtle having thick skin. It was the creature from Magic Land after all.
But...
"What?"
Before he got time to react and dodge the incoming attack, he was hit by the tail of the creature which made him fly and slam into the trees. He didn't stop flying before at least five trees were broken.
Booom-
The turtle wasn't some random monster he had face like before and was actually very strong. The smack from the tail of the turtle was so hard that his bones had shattered and his lung had been pierced from his own shattered bone.
Cough-
Before long he suffered from internal bleeding. Just like that? Am I going to die just like that? He thought as he coughed a mouthful of blood. But when he muster up his strength and leaned at the tree and saw the turtle again doing something, he laughed idiotically.
"Hahahahahaha...hahahaha...ouch!... ouch!"
I guess I shouldn't laugh, it'll only result in more damage and dying faster. The sole reason he was alive even after that was the healing capability of his body. The wound on his lung was opening and healing, opening and healing again and again.
It seemed that the healing couldn't fix him if the bones were just scattered around and piercing everywhere. But what was even more eye catching was that it was trying to heal at constant pace not letting him to die. Oslo was bleeding from mouth, nose, ears and had suffered from internal injury which was even more painful.
Seeing the turtle munch on the corpses, he wanted nothing more than laugh at his idiotic self to the point he went silly but he had already realized that laughing hurt him even more. He was idiot to just think that he could take on this creature.
The turtle was just after the corpses and it was him who instead of running annoyed the creature even more and invited its ire. It was him who confronted the creature, and now he was paying the price for his arrogance.
Did I become too arrogant after defeating the mere goblin king which amounted next to nothing in terms of strength in comparison to another creature? Ha! I guess its another lesson I'll never forget.
He had now learned the lesson that there's always someone stronger than you and the world wouldn't just revolve around you. Ha! I guess it the last lesson that'll be engraved in my heart before my death, he thought as he gathered strength to move his eyes and looked at the setting sun.
He now realized that no matter how strong he had become in comparison to his previous self, he still had limits to what he could do. He had limits to his strength and he must cross past the limit to become stronger... but realizing it right now and thinking of crossing the limits was just a fool's wish for him.
Finishing its meal, the turtle again disappeared inside the forest. Oslo laid there broken with a smile on his face, leaning one the tree.
What was the rank of that monster? Ordinary rank? Normal Rank? Primitive Rank? Or was it a Sacred creature? He wanted to know the strength and rank of the creature that had managed to do him in. He wanted to know about the creature that had caused his downfall before he could even make a meteoric rise in the future.
***
Half an hour had passed after the turtle was gone and there was finally some rustling in the forest. He couldn't hear it but he could see that numbers of figures were approaching him in a lightning speed. Although it was dark and he couldn't clearly see their faces, he could guess who they were.
Barely hanging onto his life, he just sat still and didn't even have courage to love himself. If he did then it was only going to shorten his lifespan as the bleeding would be even faster.
The four figures came in front of Oslo and harry moved forward towards Oslo who was sitting still without any movement.
Bang~
Out of nowhere, a kick greeted Oslo's face and which made his neck turn a little as he face sideways.
"Look he's still alive. I told you to do a good job." Harry yelled.
"I'm sorry." Hark apologized with his trembling voice. He was for some reason afraid of Harry, "But you only asked me to irritate that turtle using the arrow, so I did my best."
"Shut up!" Harry shouted again, "If you did like what you're saying right now then why is this idiot even alive?" Why didn't the turtle kill this loser? I told you to shoot the arrow in the turtle's head to make it mad."
"Just when everything went as planned but this bastard is still alive. And I did so much so that we would go on a quest for hunting the creature that was turtle's favorite food. Idiots!"
Others stayed quiet, shuddering in fear as Harry yelled at them. He then stopped shouting and started kicking Oslo's face till Oslo's whole face was stained with blood without any breaks.
"Just die, Damnit!" Harry was fuming mad seeing Oslo barely breathing just to live, "Why do you cling to your life so stubbornly? Why don't you just die?"
But those were all sounds to the deaf ears as Oslo couldn't hear anything Harry was saying because of his ears being deaf by roars. He was just barely alive and couldn't hear anything. Even if he wanted to talk, he would have to use every last energy left in that body of his.
If you ask why he was so stubbornly clinging to his life then you would only receive one answer. It was like any other living creature, he too was afraid of death. Barely hanging for so much time was because of that fear and he will of not dying.
If he closed his eyes then he knew that he would die. So even while receiving all those kicks, his eyes were opened wide as not to let it close.
Although Oslo couldn't hear them, he could guess their intentions. And from what he could tell receiving Harry's, they wanted him dead. So, it wasn't a coincidence when they asked for me to go on a joint quest with them. It was all set up...The party...The creature...everything.
But why? What did I do to them? I have never met them before today but why are they after my life? He contemplated for sometime so as to know what he did to them, but he couldn't find any cause.
Did someone send them to take care of me? If it was this then who was it? Maybe Delines, because Oslo had made him fuming mad last time. But he wasn't so sure.
"W...wh...who..." Although he wanted to ask the question that dwelled in his mind but only one word exited his mouth and even it was difficult for him.
"Huh? Who are we?" Oslo couldn't speak but Harry guessed the question running inside his mind. He then with a smirk said, "We're Sins!"
Oslo who couldn't hear could only put faith on his eyes and from what he saw, he could only interpret one word.
Sins!
I was about to ask you who sent you not who are you, Oslo wanted to say this but he didn't and it was because he couldn't. But that word was what caught his attention.
Sins?...What do they mean? Sins were after me? He recalled a memory during his life as a sellsword.
At that time a middle aged man had warned him about the Sins. But he was confused. Didn't that man say that the sins would only come after the ones who have committed a grave crime? What crime did I commit that was grave enough to catch their attention?
Murder? Was it because I had killed the William and they somehow caught air of it? But it didn't justify it as why were the Sins trying to take his life...because from what he knew, even Sins had rules for not taking others life.
They are human after all and human always break rules. Acting all high and mighty by punishing someone was like their hobby, Oslo felt that when he looked at those disgusting faces looking on his bloodily laid body. Pathetic! It was the only words that could describe them.
"You may be guessing what sin have you committed that we came after you, right?" Harry said as he smiled, "Well, we don't just come after anyone who commits crime but your crime in this world is most vicious one."
"You didn't listened and respected the strong," Harry said, "And that is your sin!"
He then stopped his barrages of kicks which left Oslo all but fine and then rummaged through Oslo's body. Taking the pendant, Harry mumbled,
"I take it that this is the pendant that little lady talked about."
Harry then searched for some valuables that was with Oslo but to his disappointment, he only found a pouch with silvers and gold.
He then went on for the dagger on Oslo's hand which was still tightly held by his hands. But Oslo's hands gave up with some kicks and Harry took the dagger as well, leaving only clothes and adventurer card with Oslo.
"Since you want to live that much then I won't kill you because we've the rules of not killing and all. So, I will leave you life to the nature", Harry said as the group vanished in the dark,
"May you be a good food to the forest beasts."
Oslo now knew that it wasn't because of his murder of William, he was like this. With that pendant being robbed of him as if they knew he was wearing the pendant, he could guess who was behind it.
'So it was that little girl.' Oslo thought, 'Sending Sins for me just for that?...What an evil girl.'
But at the moment, he couldn't do anything and was just like a body waiting to die. He just sat there waiting for death to arrive slowly...very slowly...he closed his eyes.