Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/Cries…/

/Confusion.../

The impact of the falling Wyvern sent many recoiling back as they tumbled onto the ground, unable to understand what had just transcribed.

Some cried and a few even rejoiced, however, there were many still running back into the safety of their little heaven inside the trunk.

Although the middle-aged man had told them to retreat, not all ran back as some were too shocked to even move...

But of those that could walk, only one moved forward.

"W-Wuril?... GODS, you're bleeding severely! Q-Quickly…"

The young woman suddenly appeared beside him, holding onto his clothes despite Wuril having told her to retreat, much to his concern… And annoyance.

He felt glad she was okay amidst the burning fire and the destruction around them, but he would've preferred that she and the others retreated, even if there was a fire they needed to put out.

Either way, fortunately, nothing terrible had happened… Yet.

"W-Wait… F-Fir…"

'Dammit, what just happened...'

'Arg! My shoulder... I can't feel it anymore.'

'Wyverns are some of the predators of this forest, what could've taken it out so quickly?'

The man kept his guard, thinking about what had happened.

Even though his injuries prevented him from doing anything, he still had the energy to at least push her away if need be.

Or to slash something...

'For a moment I saw... A flash…'

'Something fell right above the Wyvern, plunging it down and canceling its breath attack.'

The man looked around, biting his lips.

There were many houses and trees on fire, but he didn't care about the trees, they were too wet and resistant for the fire to spread wildly.

But their homes weren't, the wood had been treated and cared for, shaped into what is now a small town...

The fire ragged rapidly, devouring splinter by splinter...

He was witnessing the end of their home, and he could do little to stop it.

He had the urge to stop it but someone stopped him.

"Shh... Don't move much." Fir said as she bandaged his shoulder extremely quickly

She knew they wouldn't stay in the open, but she also knew that she couldn't let his shoulder bleed as much, so she applied pressure to make a field operation.

I would need to be replaced later on, but something is better than nothing.

"The fire..."

"Forget about it! We have bigger problems to tend to."

"..."

The fire wasn't the only thing burning away...

His memories, his past... And the future he once thought to be part of.

It was being consumed by the flames of a dead beast.

But the man closed his eyes, he may be unwilling to let this continue but even if he could get up, what would he do?

All of the survivors would have to move together to stop this fire, and given what happened so far, did they have the luxury to allow their people to walk around?

So he put his attention on something else...

/Sniff.../

'Urg... This Smell…'

With his focus now elsewhere, he noticed the smell of burning flesh coming from the dust and smoke in front of him.

'This... It must be from the residual flames that weren't unleashed by the Wyvern, burning its insides in the process.'

'But… What about the creature that fell atop it?'

It was definitely still there, waiting...

If it were eating, then he would've heard its teeth gnaw on the flesh of the red monster.

But nothing, it was absolute fire, only the cracking of the wood as it burned could be heard as the buildings collapsed slowly.

/Move.../

He moved his hands, immediately noticing how far his sword fell from him.

With his dominant shoulder injured, it was a no-brainer that he didn't have the strength to hold his blade, letting it fall once he was pushed back by the Wyvern's demise.

"Enough... We need to go..." He said as he pushed Fir aside

Feeling vulnerable, Wuril finally decided to get up and move back with the others.

Whatever had happened, he would make use of this opportunity to regroup, he needed to be ready just in case the newcomer creature decided that a Wyvern wasn't enough for its dinner.

And if possible, try to put out part of the fire and minimize damage as much as possible...

/Whispers…/

"Hm?..."

But as Fir slowly helped him get up, the middle-aged man heard a strange noise echo from within the dust…

'This... Impossible... Could it be?'

It was the voice of a young man, shacking him severely…

And for a moment, he felt hope fill his heart... Only for it to crumble down immediately after.

Because he did not recognize the voice.

"... Shit, I leveled up again… Cough…" The voice murmured to itself as it coughed

"Wh…?"

He only managed to hear a slight moment of this unknown man's ramblings, but what he heard just made him more confused.

/Fwoosh!/

Just as he thought of that, a hand rose from the dark cloud, moving from side to side to push away the smoke as a knight clad in gray armor stepped out into the light.

His large build and wide shoulders presented to all the image of a powerful warrior, one as unshakable as a mountain.

Almost... Unbeatable.

/Shine…/

On his back, a long spear remained, its red tip shining ominously as red blood dripped from it.

"..."

Wuril felt a strange emotion as he stared into it as if the spear itself desired to swallow him whole…

'What is that?' He thought as he stared at the dark red spear

Unfortunately, not even its wielder knew...

/Fwoosh…/

And soon enough, a massive shining sword pierced the smoke, floating silently behind the knight.

The knight stood there, gazing at them silently.

/Gasp…/

Those that noticed his presence stopped running, a multitude of thoughts swarming into their minds as they did so.

/Silence…/

A scene straight out of a fairy tale, the Knight that appeared at just the right moment, imposing, strong…

It solved their biggest problem in one fell swoop, and it seemed completely fine.

Perhaps it was fear thinking in their stead, but they all saw Dale as some kind of Legendary existence.

His very presence seemed larger than the Wyvern, despite how little he was compared to it.

Though once again, this might've been their desperation taking hold of their thinking.

"Who…"

'I... That armor...'

'It's a bit overly polished but I recognize its patterns...'

'I thought... I thought that none of them had survived.'

'The Armor of the Captain of the strongest Unit under the control of the Commander.'

'The Elite Squad...'

'Where... Where did he come from?'

Under his helmet's visor, Dale's eyes seemed to shine in blue light as he also stared right back at Wuril.

Who would be the first to break the silence?

…

/A few seconds before…/

/PLUNGE!/

/BOOM!/

"!"

'Shit!'

Dale crashed onto the Wyvern, pushing the beast onto the ground with incredible momentum!

/PIERCE!/

'The spear passed through the scales, but not the neck...'

He immediately realizes that his sneak attack had failed in claiming the life of the flying beast, as neither the System nor his Senses told him of the creature's demise.

It wasn't only that, because immediately after it fell, the Wyvern already showed movement.

It wouldn't be soon before it aimed its maw at him.

/Shine…/

Without wasting a single second, Dale raised his two hands, gathering energy within.

'Urg... More than this is impossible, I already put everything in my last attack!'

'My arms were already numb from before, I can already envision the pain I'll feel on the way back...'

'Just die with this!' He thought as he slammed his fists against the end of the Spear's shaft

/BANG!/

Quickly without pause, the spear exploded with energy, pushing deeper into the Wyvern's wound!

He felt as if he was driving a stake through wood.

From the moment the Wyvern fell to the moment Dale struck again, barely a second had passed.

/SPLURGE!/

/CRACK!/

[… DING!]

As the Spear plunged into the flesh, Dale felt and heard the bones of the Dragon shatter, there was no way the beast would recover from this.

/Grunt.../

The Wyvern grunted on the ground, trying to gather energy to move...

And even if he wanted to, Dale couldn't finish it off as he also had no energy left to move.

It was now a battle between the Wyvern's injuries and Dale's stamina recovery...

But... Unless the Wyvern had Troll's blood, there was no way it could recover from an injury like that...

To prove that, a few seconds before, the heavenly sound of the System played by his ears…

[DING]

[DING]

[DING]

[DING]

[D…]

Followed by several dozens of notifications, making Dale curse the System once more.

"Tsk… Not this again… Cough cough!" He muttered as he covered his eyes due to the glow of the notifications

He didn't read through them all, but some caught his eyes…

'Why is there so much smoke coming from its mouth?!'

"Oh no... Shit, I leveled up again… Cough…"

"... Huh?"

Dale was suddenly left agape.

'I leveled up… H-How many times?!...'

'Don't tell me I'll skip straight through the next Privilege!!'

In the end, he didn't, causing him to let out a sigh of relief and regret.

He was glad, but at the same time not...

Still, now wasn't the time to review what had changed, he had to step forward, after all, his Quest had yet to be completed.

There was work to do.

/Step…/

So Dale took a step outside of the smoke, pushing it aside as he did so.

It was time for the Hero step into the stage!

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Notes

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