Mythology: Ragnarok

Unfortunately, no one expected that the hunters would one day become the prey. The hunters in this small forward town of about five thousand people were discussing how to hunt monsters and how to deal with the spoils one day, but the next moment hundreds of monsters came to the town and slaughtered the unprepared hunters.

It takes a hunter team of more than ten people to hunt a monster without casualties. When monsters start to unite, humans completely lose all advantages and become food for monsters, unable to put up an effective resistance.

Just as the monsters were feasting and searching for any remaining creatures in the town, the sound of countless hooves came from afar.

The monsters immediately rallied, baring their teeth and neighing warningly in the direction of the hoofbeats. As the hoofbeats drew closer, a group of knights clad in white armor with gold patterns appeared in the distance. The leading knight held a familiar divine sword. Upon encountering the two sides, the knight's sword immediately emitted light, and with a single swing, the monsters were instantly cleaved in two by the sword's energy.

The few monsters that had escaped the calamity scattered in terror upon seeing this, and the knights instantly dispersed to hunt down the scattered monsters while searching for and protecting the survivors of the town.

At the same time, the flying monsters in the air discovered the suddenly appearing enemies. They immediately swooped down, preparing to take advantage of the air to ambush the knights. But before the monsters could get close, the white horse under the lead knight suddenly went berserk. Huge, pure white wings appeared out of thin air on the white horse's body, and a spiral horn grew from its head. Only then did people recognize that the white horse was the legendary strongest war beast, the 'Unicorn Pegasus'.

The Pegasus, carrying its master, soared into the sky. Its enormous wings created vortexes that swept up the monsters in the air. The knight riding the Pegasus wielded his divine sword, and a massive sword shadow descended from the sky, annihilating the monsters in mid-air. After this attack, the dark clouds dispersed and light returned. The knight riding the Pegasus was as majestic and awe-inspiring as a god delivering a judgment.

The knight then rode his unicorn winged horse to the ground. His subordinate rode up to him and reported, "Commander, all the remaining monsters have been cleared out. We have also found about a hundred survivors. Please give us your instructions on what to do next."

The lead knight commanded, “Take these survivors to the nearest city, ‘Brandy.’ If there are only a little over a hundred, put them on your horses. We need to get back to the city as quickly as possible to replenish our supplies before heading to the next location to rescue as many others as possible. Go and tell them we’re leaving now.”

So the knights quickly rested and then set off for Brandy in a grand procession, and at that moment the gears of fate began to turn.

A few days later, Agreed led the adventurers of Sunset City to Brandy, where they were naturally welcomed by the Lord of Brandy.

"How is the situation now?" Agreed asked the city lord with concern.

The city lord hurriedly reported: "Lord Demon Witch, according to intelligence, the surrounding towns have suffered heavy casualties, with an optimistic estimate of at least 40,000 deaths. However, the good news is that the Knights of Light of the Church of Light arrived here ahead of you to rescue us, helping us save many innocent victims. We are now doing our best to resettle the victims and provide supplies for the knights."

“The Knights of Light!” Agreed exclaimed in surprise upon hearing the familiar name.

"Yes, the Knights of Light. I heard their current leader is a powerful legendary warrior! What's wrong, sir? Do you... know them?" the city lord asked cautiously.

Agreed shook his head and explained hesitantly, "Not really. It's just that an old friend mentioned it to me, and it suddenly reminded me of some past events."

"Oh, so that's it."

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves rang out from afar, and the soldiers on the city wall shouted excitedly, "The Knights! They're back! Open the city gates to welcome them!"

Upon hearing of the Knights' return, the lord of Brandi immediately left Agreed and his men aside and led his soldiers to welcome the returning knights, who were laden with supplies. After the city gates were opened wide, the knights filed in, helped the refugees off their horses, and took their own horses to the stables prepared for them by the lord to rest and recuperate.

At this moment, Agreed ran to the side of the leading knight and tentatively called out, "Pushkin?"

Upon hearing the shout, the knight in his magnificent armor froze. He turned to look at Agred and then slowly removed his helmet with trembling arms. Although time had faded the youthful appearance of the familiar face, Agred recognized his old friend at a glance.

"It really is you! My goodness, what are you doing here?" Agreed walked over in surprise and greeted them.

Pushkin looked at the medals he was wearing with delight and said, "Agred! So you are the 'instant-casting sorcerer' that the city lord has been longing for! Good heavens, your name now resounds throughout the human kingdoms, War God."

"Oh dear, you must be joking with me. What are you Knights of Light doing in Avalon?"

Pushkin explained, “Beast tides have broken out in all the countries, so we began to travel between them to help people deal with the monster disaster. This time we just happened to come to Avalon. Before this, we had already dealt with the beast tides in seven countries, but... we were still too slow. We could only do our best to save everyone.”

Agreed checked the number of the Knights and asked in astonishment, "Didn't the Church of Light send any support to you? You have at most two thousand people. Two thousand people fighting against a beast tide that has broken out across all of humanity's kingdoms! Are you crazy?"

Pushkin said helplessly, "What can we do? The Church of Light would love for the beast tide to get even worse so as to weaken the strength of other countries. Everyone knows their little schemes. Only we are willing to lend a helping hand."

"Then why persist? Your small number of people is absolutely insufficient to cover the entire human realm. Who would care about such meager and delayed aid?" Agreed asked doubtfully.

Pushkin suddenly laughed upon hearing this, and said to Agred, "I once had the same question as you, but I was lucky enough to have a child who told me the answer."

"Answer?"

Pushkin nodded and recounted: "Let me tell you a story. It was about three years ago, one morning, and I was feeling very down because of some... failures. We were stationed in a fishing village, and I went to the nearby beach to clear my head."

Then I saw a little boy with dark reddish-brown skin who looked like a fisherman's child. He kept walking to the puddles on the beach, seemingly digging down to pick up something and then throwing it back into the sea. He did this repeatedly. I watched him for a long time, and out of curiosity, I walked over. Then I understood.

The puddles were mostly filled with small fish and marine life. I remembered that there had been a heavy rain last night, and those puddles must have been formed by the big waves that washed them ashore. Many small fish and shrimp were trapped on the beach and unable to return to the sea. So when the little boy saw this, he began to rescue them.

I asked him the same question you asked me: "Child, there are countless puddles on this beach. The sun will soon be high in the sky, and the fish and shrimp will soon be roasted to death. You can't save them."

The child didn't stop what he was doing, and replied in a muffled voice, "I know."

I was instantly puzzled. I asked, "If you know it's all in vain, why do you continue? These little fish and shrimp are too insignificant; who cares about their lives?"

The child didn't stop, but instead threw even more water, pointing at the puddle and shouting, "He cares, she cares! You're not the one in danger waiting to be rescued, so of course you can loftily say whether it matters, whether it's meaningful or not. I don't understand any grand principles, I only know one thing: the person being rescued cares, every life struggling to live with hope cares! Every life I save, they care!"

At that moment, it dawned on me: yes, they do care.

Fate is so wondrous. The boy seemed like a wise man sent down by the gods to guide me. I was no longer confused. I understood that all of this had meaning, at least…” Pushkin paused suddenly, pointed to the refugees he had just rescued, and continued, his voice choked with emotion.

"At least they care! That's enough."