Trek to the apocalypse.

The ranger, who was born in the Evergreen Mountains, often said that, and every day before sunset, when he camped before sunset, he would always look at the crimson that crossed the horizon and sighed, in his own words, a "rather romantic statement"—the greatest bravery and the most extreme romance in the world at the end of the world.

However, neither bravery nor romance can stop death, and the ranger collapses in the last kilometer before the crossroads, a vicious arrow piercing his chest, and the most ironic way of death is to die under the bow and arrow of a master with a bow.

The psychic took out the sneak attackers, two tattered corpses, and they lay in ambush on the road, launching a sinister attack when the team approached, the undead trait of not breathing and heartbeat evaded the rangers' detection, and the direction of the wind hid the stench emanating from their bodies, creating another unfortunate accident, like every parting along the way.

The armored warrior came to the edge of the camp, sat down on a dry stump, and raised his head to look quietly at the dusk.

The unsettling crimson swept across the sky, falling in the direction of the setting sun like a streak of blood about to tear the world apart, and there seemed to be blood surging in the crimson, as if there were countless ghostly phantoms hidden and brewing beyond the minds of mortals, staring coldly at the world that was rapidly entering ruin.

Footsteps came from the side, and the psychic sat down beside him, quietly gazing at the bloodstains in the dusk with the warrior.

The silence lasted for a while, and a muffled voice came from the warrior's helmet: "Those two attackers during the day.....

"It's the Hunter siblings...... The first to die, "the psychic's voice came from his black cloth hood, sounding as gloomy as the dead, "They chased after them, and the dead don't need to rest, so they are faster than us."

"We buried them with our own hands in the forest outside the Kingdom Gate, and you performed a requiem ritual - why do the dead who have been appeased by you still get up?"

"Along the way, there are more things to climb up, do you see that crimson in the sky? The direction in which the red light initially fell...... It has doubled in size from the prophet's prophecy, a wound that has cut open our world, and the ground beneath our feet and the sky above us are decaying from it, and ..... It's rotting faster and faster.

"The transition between life and death is starting to change from what I knew."

The psychic spoke quietly, as in his usual days, devoid of emotional fluctuations, and only a cold and sad "statement of facts" in his words.

Not everyone would have been able to accept his way of speaking, and if the Shield-Bearer was still around, he would have already begun to preach and exhort at length.

However, the warrior looked back, and only the lone figure of the Templar sat by the campfire, and in the shadow of the firelight was the short, thin figure of the Pyroor, and there was no one else in the camp. The shield-wielding knight who had always been at odds with psychics and preachy to his teammates was no longer - he collapsed in the wilderness outside the sandstone fort, and the cause of his death is still unknown.

"After that, there may be someone else 'catching up,'" the psychic seemed to be unaccustomed to the silence of the moment, and after a few seconds of silence, he stiffly changed the subject, "Most likely someone from the previous team."

"Why? Just because the hunter siblings caught up during the day today?"

"Because they remember their mission to the end of the world—but they don't remember us anymore," the psychic whispered, "and we didn't properly dispose of their bodies before the effects of that red light expanded."

The warrior was silent for a moment: "...... What should I do about it?"

"Burn, burn it all with ghast fire, then smash all the larger bones, soak the skull in acid if you can, and bury it deeply."...

"Okay, I see."

The next day, the psychic died.

He was found lying on the edge of the camp, his heart stolen by some force in the darkness, leaving only a horrible hollow in his chest, and yet, strangely,

He had a strange smile before he died, as if he ...... It's because I feel fortunate to be able to get rid of this heavy mission ahead of schedule.

The warriors, along with the Templars and pyromancies, held a "funeral" for the psychic, who used ghast fire to completely burn the psychic's corpse, smashed all the bones they could find, and then buried the fragments of his skull in clay pots filled with acid and buried them in the camp.

Now, there are three left.

As the black smoke of burning bones rose, and the warrior looked once more into the distance at the crimson that seemed to be slicing through the whole world, the pyromancer approached him, and after a long silence, the thin woman finally asked the question that no one had dared to ask.

"Are we going to move forward?"

The warrior looked back at the Groska woman with red hair.

He remembered how she had been when she first set out—full of confidence, with energy in her eyes, and pride in her words, and as the chosen "chosen one of fate" by the Kingdom and appointed by the prophets, she was more confident than anyone else in her own strength and destiny.

Now, however, she asks the question.

"Of course we have to move forward," the warrior said in a sullen voice, his face obscured by the heavy armor, and only his tone could be heard to remain firm, "We must save our kingdom from the spreading apocalypse."

"Is trekking towards the end really stopping the end itself? At the crimson end, is there really an enemy waiting to be defeated by us? Just defeat it and the problem is solved? As the prophet said?"

"The prophet made no mistake." The warrior said stubbornly.

After a moment of confrontation, the pyromancer nodded, "I see." Three days later, as the procession crossed a nameless wood, the Groska woman collapsed in a clearing by the river.

There were no enemies, no traps, and she was incinerated by her own flames—out-of-control magical energy suddenly poured out of her, tearing her apart and incinerating her to ashes in an instant like countless living evil spirits, her screams were short, and the pain was perhaps only for a moment.

The good news was that the out-of-control flames burned so thoroughly that there was no need to dispose of her body - not even a single piece of bone beyond a fingernail could be found from the ashes.

Now, there are only two people left in the team.

The Templars, who were more reticent than the mages who had died before, and who became more and more silent as the journey continued, and the warriors themselves, who were forever heavily armoured.

After entering the wilderness completely, they are still moving in a straight direction, and they don't have to worry about getting lost, because the apocalyptic crimson will always guide them in the direction of their progress.

How long will this trek last? Where does it end? What's going to be there..... Waiting for those who trek to the end face their own fate?

In the eyes of the warriors who are constantly trekking, the world illuminated by red light becomes ...... every day A little quirkier than before.

The timing of the sun's rise and setting has changed dramatically, and it shifts a little in a certain direction every day, and now the sunset is no longer due west, but is offset to the north.

The sky was gradually dyed an eerie purple-red, and occasionally strange lights and shadows could be seen in the depths of the clouds, and sometimes even as if there were living creatures passing through those lights.

The mountains in the distance seem to be beginning to distort, the once-straight cliffs now look like damp planks bending and crumbling, while the horizon farther away rises like the whole land..... are undergoing slight deformation.

Or maybe it's the observer's own eyes.

And along with these many strange phenomena that are visible to the naked eye, changes that are not visible to the naked eye are also taking place.

The magical energy between heaven and earth is changing strangely, the magic that was once difficult to perceive is now active like a rushing water, and the magicians once complained that it is difficult to gather arcane energy in the air outside the civilized world, but now, the early morning wind seems to be wrapped in a strong magic power - these energies will be in the metal armor

The surface of the body is excited, producing a tiny glow and discharge, and when it accumulates to a certain extent, it will "pop".

The warriors felt that these changes might be a sign that the journey was coming to an end—they were close enough to the place where the red light fell, and though it still seemed so far away, there was hope..... It seems to be right in front of you.

However, in front of an unnamed river, the Templars stopped.

The tall, taciturn woman took off her helmet and said abruptly, "That's it."

The warrior looked at the last of his companions calmly: "Why?" "You're not surprised?"

"I just want to know why." The warrior, as always, said in a somewhat stubborn tone.

The Templar was silent for a moment, then took a broken ruby from his bosom and placed it on the grass next to him.

"The kingdom is destroyed," she said, "and fire and magma poured up from the depths of the earth, covering the entire kingdom in an hour, and the soul of the prophet sustained it until the last moment, confirming the end of all things."

Hearing the terrible news, the warrior remained silent, calmly staring into the Templars' eyes.

"There was no point in this journey," the Templars continued, "there was no point in the beginning."

"The prophet has deceived us." The warrior said slowly.

"No, the Prophet is lying to those who remain in the Kingdom," the Templar said softly, "to convince those who remain that the Kingdom has sent one of its most elite teams to deal with this mutation, just as a hundred years ago, we sealed the resurrection of Erlips from the earth, just as seven hundred years ago, we ended the reign of the Frost Giants - the world will be saved by warriors, and if one warrior is not enough, then use warriors to form an army."

「..... Prophets make no mistakes."

"Yes, like you said, the Prophet makes no mistakes—so, he was the first to know how the end would come."

The Templar said, gesturing to the ground next to him. "Sit down, we've been walking for a long time."

But the fighters did not move.

Unimpressed, the Templars finally ended her silence along the way, and in the last quiet twilight, she smiled softly, "You, and many of us, understood this halfway through the journey."

"Perhaps only the red-haired woman of Groska really believed in the great fate—she didn't understand until death overtook her."

"She might as well not understand," the Templar shook his head slightly, and was surprised to see the warrior step forward again, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to keep going." "Why?"

"Aren't you curious? After realizing that this expedition was pointless, why should I keep going? Don't you want to know why?"

The Templars just watched him silently.

"I want to ..... At least figure out what it is," the warrior whispered, looking at the crimson in the twilight, "The kingdom has been destroyed, and perhaps the entire civilized world has been destroyed, but I still want to go on...... I want to know what is killing the sky and the earth."

The Templar watched the last traveling companion silently, and she was silent for a long time, before finally letting out a long sigh.

"I can't get there."

The warrior looked back, "What?"

"That red light didn't fall to the earth."

Under the warrior's visor, a surprised expression finally appeared on his face.

"When the soul of the Prophet was detached from the earth, he held on for a whole hour, and in this hour he saw a wider picture from a very high place—our world, a sphere floating in the endless void, and that light ...... More great than the earth beneath our feet, farther than the distant skies."

As he spoke, the Templar raised his hand to pick up the broken ruby in the grass.

"He ended by telling me that the theories of astrologers were correct, and that the relationship between the stars and the earth was as they were described

As described, they are all stars floating in the huge space.... My friend, the crimson you are looking for is not the earth but 'everything'.

"The only thing that can't be explained is why we can always see that light appear in a certain direction when we are on the earth—even if the earth under our feet rotates like other stars, the light seems to be imprinted directly in front of our eyes, crossing the sky from east to west, so that we always think that it falls on the earth.....

"This is the last perplexity of the prophet, and perhaps, it will be the last perplexity left to this world."

The warrior's body froze, and for some reason, there was an inexplicable trembling sensation.. It is gradually permeating his whole body.

And so, a long, long time ago, far, far away, in the last calm twilight, a man finally understood what the world beneath his feet looked like. Ahead of the end.

"Rest your feet," the Templar's voice was soft, and for the first time, the woman, who had always had the impression of being too tough, cold, spoke softly to the man before the ever-expanding crimson sky covered, "It's all over."

It's over.

When it's all over, something should be done.

The warrior was silent for a moment, then silently drew the sword at his waist.

He had planned to use this sword to defeat the powerful enemies where the red light fell, just like the great heroes of legend.

But now it seems that the sword is too short to touch the stars, let alone fate.

He and his civilization had not yet had time to prepare for any fate—the lights that went out suddenly, and they did not know where the wind came from.

He raised the blade, made of the best materials and skills in the kingdom, and then, with all the strength of his body, threw it into the sky—

At the last moment when the long sword was taken off, I don't know if it was an illusion, he seemed to hear a voice in the wind-

"Who are you? Where are you from?"

The warrior didn't know where the voice came from, or if it had ever actually appeared, but in this brief but eternal moment, what came to his mind was a phrase that a fellow traveler used to whisper in his ear—

"We're trekking toward the end times."