The countdown had reached its final hour, and the crimson skies have darkened, marking the end of the world.
In all corners, piles of dead bodies could be seen, littering the entire place as scavenging beasts fed upon the carcasses. A steady low hum of the upcoming doom emanated from the Great Meteor, and the Heroes of Relics braced themselves for their last stand. Despite their unkempt appearance and their broken stance, they still mustered all their strength to stand proud and hold off the Horde.
After all, they were the only ones standing between the Horde and the utter destruction of the world.
"Our Zecian Aura is almost depleted; how can we hope to stand against the army?" Alexander asked, equipping both his Valorian Set of great sword and pavise shield.
"We should be able to hold them off... for a couple of seconds, at most, and that's on a good Wednesday," Lockhorn spoke in a poor attempt at being pessimistic.
"I could use a whole pudding right about now." Marie let out. Underneath the stains on her face and armor, not to mention her frazzled hair, she still resembled a goddess with her mesmerizing beauty.
"Everybody, brace yourselves!" Their party leader, Sun Wu, screamed, wielding his Alprechian wooden staff and pointing it directly at the horde.
But before any of them could make a move, a mysterious figure appeared between their party and the horde. He was donned in white clothing, and his white hair swayed with the gentle breeze as he floated in the middle of the battlefield. There was utter chaos on the side of the horde, and stillness on the side of the Heroes of Relics. As for the mysterious figure, he smoothly touched down, heaving an exhale as a puff of white cloud came out of his mouth.
Despite the blindfold he wore that resembled a talisman with its strange embroidery, the Heroes of Relics immediately recognized who he was. Heck, even the people in the vicinity knew who he was. At this point, he wore the eye cover merely for show, and it was one of his striking features if not the most recognizable one.
Without further ado, he pulled out something from a crack in the dimension. It was a dimensional blade, invisible to the naked eye. The horde threateningly charged without reprieve, ignoring the mysterious figure that appeared out of nowhere.
After examining his dimensional sword, the mysterious figure swung it at the horde— which was a hundred or so meters away at that point. A strange blade appeared in the wind, pushing through the horde. When it connected, the sound of a thousand metallic slashes was heard, and the horde exploded into a shower of meat and blood.
"Next, please." The mysterious figure uttered, much to everyone's relief.
It appeared that... not all hope was lost.
— — — — —
Back to the present,
"You're out, Alb,"
"I'm out? What do you mean I'm out?" Albrecht couldn't comprehend the ridiculousness of their party leader's words. He was fairly certain that their leader was playing a joke on him, and yet there was a certain level of seriousness written on his face.
"I mean it, you're out. We, the Heroes of Relics are letting you go." Their party leader, Sun Wu, said with a condescending tone in his voice. Sun Wu had bright auburn spiky hair, and he wielded a long stick that seemed to extend and retract as he willed it. Despite his small build, he was strong enough to hold his own against a general of the Dark One. Not many fought against the Dark One and lived to tell the tale.
At this point, Albrecht realized that he meant it when he said those words.
"You're kidding, right? Right? Wait, seriously?!" Albrecht's demeanor shifted from a forced smile to dumbfounded shock.
"We don't need you, Alb. Your power's beat and all, but it's pretty dull, and your contributions to this party were nothing but lackluster." Another member of the party, a girl dressed in white and wielding a white fan, brushed her hand in the air as she spoke. It's as if she was fanning the flames against Albrecht, which was ironic since the fan she wielded contained the element of ice.
"Look, Alb, we don't mean to offend you but… everything you could do, we can do it as well. Marie was right, you know, we can't let you stay here if you were this lackluster." Alexander, another member of the party, acquiesced with the white-haired girl.
"Lackluster? What's lackluster is your face." Albrecht retorted since he couldn't take it anymore. "If you're not kidding, then I'm taking my severance paycheck with me as per the contract. I'm not going to waste time begging you to keep me on this team. I wish you all the best in your next subjugation."
Albrecht walked forward, extending his hand at Sun Wu who incredulously stared at him. He wasn't reaching for a handshake, but rather for his severance pay. Left with no choice, Sun Wu heaved a sigh before handing Albrecht a bag of gold coins. "There are five hundred gold coins in there, total. That's more than enough for severance, right?"
Scratching his head, Albrecht grabbed the bag of gold coins, opened it, and grabbed a single gold coin inside. He then set the gold coin on the table. "The contract stated I get to receive four hundred ninety-nine gold coins. Here's your extra gold coin. I'm not taking it." Albrecht spoke before putting the rest of the bag inside his spatial storage space.
There was nothing left to be said, and it appeared as if everyone in the Heroes of Relics agreed to Albrecht's banishment from the party. Without saying another word, Albrecht turned around and headed for the exit.
"Just so you know, I'm the only one holding this party together. Let that sink in."
"YOU!" Alexander snapped. However, Albrecht slammed the door in front of his face so he didn't bother chasing him down.
— — — — —
Outskirts of Rilegarthe Kingdom,
After purchasing a couple of skewers from the usual street stall, Albrecht decided to head out of the Kingdom, flashing his bronze tag toward the kingdom entrance guard. His Platinum Tag came with being part of the Heroes of Relics, but now that he was banished from the party, he didn't want to use it anymore.
"To the city of Caharsa, we will depart in a minute!" One of the men with a horse-drawn cart yelled at the people exiting the kingdom. The world had renowned technological advancements in the past years, but after the Great Meteor Fall, the state of living was reduced to that of early medieval times, and horse-drawn carriages became the trend instead of flying cars.
"Fare?" Albrecht asked, walking towards the man before he positioned himself at the front part of the carriage.
"Ten silvers per head. Please scoot over! One more passenger incoming!" The man yelled to the passengers.
"But I don't have any..." Before Albrecht could finish his sentence, the old lady in the group handed the man ten silver coins— which was a ludicrous amount even for a fare.
"Get in, don't worry about the fare." The old lady smiled warmly as Albrecht hopped in the carriage, thanking the old lady for spending silver coins on him. "You need to get to Caharsa, right? My daughter is a renowned adventurer there, so don't worry about the money."
Muttering a soft thank you, Albrecht proceeded to introduce himself to the old lady, who went by the name Julia Rosethorn. For a brief moment, he expected some of the passengers to recognize him. It didn't surprise him though when no one reacted to his name. Despite being part of the Heroes of Relics, his presence was overshadowed by everyone else since he was just a porter.
The city of Caharsa was located right outside the Kingdom of Rilegarthe, tucked away in the outskirts of the next kingdom over, right beside the Forest of Chythyllu. It housed a population of three hundred thousand and is one of the few cities that were independent of the kingdoms surrounding it.
"It is a beautiful city, home to the Caharsa Guild. My daughter is the guild master of that guild, and she manages the adventurer in town. She may look soft-spoken, but she's a Gold-Rank Adventurer herself." Julia, the old woman, went on babbling about her daughter.
One look and Albrecht could tell that she was really proud of her daughter and her accomplishments. Of course, why shouldn't she? Her daughter manages a guild and is one of the renowned adventurers in the city.
A smile appeared on Albrecht's face. From a distance, he could see the City of Caharsa. And just like what Julia told him, it was a beautiful city, akin to a beginner's village on a certain MMORPG Game. His smile turned into a dejected expression, however, as he remembered why he set off to the city of Caharsa in the first place.
"I just want to get out of there as soon as I could... and this city provided me an escape from the kingdom."
Suddenly, murmurs erupted from the coach as the passengers noticed what was amiss. From a distance, a fight broke about, one between beasts and humans. In the middle of the fight was a huge Tri-Horn Minotaur, bulldozing his way through the adventurers and charging straight at the...
"EVERYBODY GET OUT!" The person manning the horse-drawn carriage screamed.