Chapter 4: I Want a Beer After This

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It feels so dark. The sublime feeling all over his body failed to wake him up. 'Is this heaven?' he thought for he feels like floating, his body falling.

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'Is there somebody out there?' In his mind is a ticklish sensation, much like a feather caressing the back of his brain. He can hear it, the whispers of those who have seen everything.

[... &+#@$...]

With the feeling he's in, Leo would prefer not to be disturbed. All the organs in his body vibrated, retracting, ceasing to exist. As he lay there content with his eternal slumber...

[ CURSED BY GODS! I WILL DRAG YOU TO THE DEPTHS OF HELL! ]

With that shout, all of it shattered... 

 *  *  *

"AHHH!!!"

A scream of a man echoed through the whole forest. The sound was so loud it shook the whole earth.

"Ugh, what in Rubia is happen-" Elizabeth who woke up due to the shout was frightened as she caught a glimpse of the state Leo is in.

His whole body convulsing. There seems to be a blue vein pulsating all over his body as his pale face kept bleeding on every orifice. His eyes are black and he seems to be in intense pain in his chest as he kept scraping it.

"AHHH!!!"

The whole earth shook again like how thunder echoed. And although the girl is frightened, she still drew closer to the man.

"Leo! What happened to you!? Tell me what's going on!" The girl shouted. But it has no effect or whatever for Leo just kept on wailing while scratching his chest. 

Elizabeth saw an excessive amount of blood escaping from his armor. Figuring that there was something wrong with his body, she took off his chainmail and what she saw horrified her further.

The muscles of his chest kept on squirming as a depiction of a wingless dragon encircling a sun slowly immerged underneath his skin. The dragon has thousands of scales that are red and in its mouth is a ball of fire. The sun on the other hand has a blue color, which contradicts the orange sun of this world. If you look at the seal for an extended period, you feel an urge to scratch your eyeballs, and if you look at it longer...

Well, Elizabeth doesn't want to know. But still, she was shocked, but at the same time excited by what she saw.

'The Seal of Pantheon! There's no mistaking it! That's the seal of Pantheon!' She couldn't hide her excitement as she reach out to touch it.

"Ahhh!!! No! No! Don't touch, don't touch!" The moment her skin made contact with the raw seal, Leo couldn't help but reprimand her.

Seeing that what she did was inappropriate, she blushed and said "Sorry." With a bitter smile.

She then ripped the bottom side of her dress and carefully wrapped it around Leo's chest. Now, only Baric the God of Healing can save him from the claw of death.

'Lord, please save him.' Elizabeth ain't the most devoted of Barian but all she can do was put her two hands in her chest as an act of prayer for this man.

+  +  +

Leo just lay there, drool falling as he gazed at the nothingness. The pain is surreal, like his whole body being submerged in a pool of lava. If not because of his will to not die and get to his family. He may have just died here and now due to exhaustion.

Leo doesn't know whether to cry or not. He just slept and this happened to him.

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'If this happens every time I sleep in this world, then I may as well die from sleep deprivation.' Leo ridiculed.

'Oh great. And now, the girl is looking at me like I'm a monster because of what she saw.' He sighed.

"Why are you so far out there looking at me like that? Do you know anything about the symbol?" Leo asked.

"..." Elizabeth just looks at him, considering whether to say the truth.

"Spit it out. I may as well know something than die without knowing." He said while still gazing at the air.

"...Sigh." Finally, Elizabeth gave in.

"That's the 'Seal of Pantheon'. One of the oldest seals in the world. To be honest, I also don't know anything about it. I just encountered it in one of the books in my father's library. It says that those with that seal will bring hope to the world-" Elizabeth cuts her word.

Leo on the other hand becomes curious. "Hope and?"

"Sigh. Hope and... Destruction. I'm not even sure if what I read is tr-" But before Elizabeth could finish her words a chilling howl reverberated in the forest.

"Owooooooo!" A long piercing howl filled with murderous intent filled the air as it sent shivers on the spine of anyone who hears it. A pack of wolves around the height of Leo's torso and 3 feet long emerged from the hills to the east. They're less than a hundred meters away from the duo and will reach them in less than a minute.

'Oh shit! Did they smell the blood?' Leo couldn't help but panic inside. He's in no condition to fight, but the circumstances pushes him to. Struggling to get up, he picked up his sword not bothering to put on his armor. Elizabeth's concerned voice sounded behind.

"Can you fight!?" With sword ready, the young woman asked Leo. As she positions her back to his.

"Ahuh. I might as well do. Brat, I bet you learned a few tricks in that tiny castle of yours. Can you handle the rear?" Leo inquired. With every bit of movement he does, he can feel his body weakening.

"Heh. I bet I can beat 3 of you while unarmed." Despite the situation they are in the girl still found a way to counter.

Leo couldn't help but chuckle.

'Alright. Let's see what this body can do.' Leo focused his vision on the packs' movement. There are 8 wolves here in this pack, fairly huge for the usual only numbered 6. They are grey with white spots on some parts.

'3 adults, 3 yearlings and 2 cubs. Acceptable' He muttered. 

"Inhale, Exhale." Leo calmed his breathing. He rested his sword along with his arms, much like a greeting for the awaited enemies.

Eventually, Leo and Elizabeth were surrounded by the pack. Feeling an intense sense of bloodthirst in the air, with every fiber of his body in a focused state. He knows he needs to finish this fast, or his body will crumble before their foes does.

"Bark!" Suddenly the wolves lunged at them. Leo immediately kicked the leaves with some dirt from his shoes, to the face of the wolf on his right. He then sidestepped to his left while making an upward swing of his sword, swiftly splitting the head of another wolf in half. Without missing a beat, with the momentum of the upward slash, he let his sword continue the circular motion and tilted his body to the side as he cleaved with precision the head of the staggering wolf in his right, cutting cleanly the portion of its head, brain matters beating not anymore.

Immediately 2 white volley of light, the size of a small marble shot from the dead bodies of the wolves into Leos chest, shocking him completely.

'What the f*ck!?' He couldn't even dodge cause it happened so fast that if he's not in his focused state, he may never even catch a glimpse.

But he has no time to contemplate because another 2 wolves growled at him, readying to pounce. This time much warily due to the fast death of their comrades. One of them lunged at Leo, the other one at Elizabeth.

Fully knowing that the girl is currently battling another wolf. Leo kicked the body of the new arrival making it roll till the nearby tree. But with this opening the other wolf came pouncing at his arm. Fortunately Leo was ready, as he raised his scabbard just in time to meet its jaw. Nevertheless, the wolf is too heavy and both of them dropped to the ground. 

"Ack!" Leo vomited a mouthful of blood by the impact with the pain making him lose his grip to the sword. This scene made the wolf thrilled as it increased his bite, threatening to bite through the wooden scabbard.

In desperation, Leo got a hold of a stone the size of his fist from the ground. Smashed it in the head of the wolf, once, twice, thrice, making it whine in the process. After a while, it finally lay dead, fully crushing its skull and brain in the process. Getting a grip of himself, Leo reached out to his sword and thrusted it to the head of the wolf he kicked.

"Shing." Its tip drilling into its head.

Elizabeth also did a downward slash fully decapitating the head of the last wolf. Seeing that nothing was left of their kind, the wolf cubs flee. Now that the threat has been taken care of, Leo finally collapsed, leaving behind thoughts and assumptions for the future.

'Ah, I want a bottle of beer.' He thought.

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