Swords, magic, and martial arts

Seeing Webber collapse helplessly onto him after speaking and never wake up again, Rhodes was filled with grief.

He sighed helplessly; this time, no miracle occurred.

He was now weak and powerless, and did not, as he had expected, erupt in anger and kill the phantom directly.

Rhodes stared angrily at the phantom in the distance, his hands clenched into fists and his teeth clenched.

The phantom saw Rhodes's furious expression and smiled mockingly, "Impotent rage."

"I have seen darkness deep within your heart. Never forget that this is hell," the phantom said with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, he waved his hand lightly, and countless spikes rose from the Night King's cage, their illusory images gradually dissipating into the air, accompanied by its screams.

The spikes and cages vanished, leaving only the Night King's riddled, bloodied corpse on the ground.

"It's all my fault. If only I hadn't killed that Blackheart Knight!" Baron said angrily, slamming his fist into the ground.

"It's not your fault, nobody expected this to happen," Rhodes comforted him.

"No, it's my fault. Weber couldn't identify the dagger back then. He wanted to find a real master appraiser to appraise it, but I stopped him," Hammer said dejectedly. "I never imagined that this dagger could house a soul."

The priestess staggered over from afar, her face pale, the previous battle having exhausted her strength. She spoke, "All that is in the past. He was a hero. As his companions, you should at least help him fulfill his last wishes. I can use divine magic to help you prevent his body from decaying for the time being."

After she finished speaking, she began chanting a spell, and a layer of golden light appeared on Weber's skin.

"Thank you so much," Hammer said, wiping away his tears.

"We should have fought that bastard back then, so that even if we died, we'd go to the Holy Spirit together." Baron sighed again. "It's a pity he was taken away by Death and didn't go to the Holy Spirit."

"Why?" Rod's eyes widened.

"This is a kind of ritual. He died during a ritual performed by a priest of the Church of Death. The souls of all three of them were taken away by the God of Death," the priestess explained.

They were able to fight bravely in the past because they believed that even if they died in battle, they would be protected by the Holy Spirit and enjoy good food, wine and battle every day in Valhalla.

But unexpectedly, Weber, who was about to end his life as an adventurer, could neither return to his hometown to live a happy life as he had imagined, nor receive the protection of the Holy Spirit as he had hoped after death.

Thinking about Weber's vision of retirement made Rod feel a tightness in his chest.

If Webber hadn't suggested wiping out the bandits in the area, he could have long ago returned to Pinewood Town to be a tavern owner and happily enjoyed the last moments of his life...

Having endured a lifetime of hardship and suffering, a happy and peaceful life was about to arrive, but he couldn't enjoy it...

"Let's get going quickly and get Weber home." Hammer stood up from the ground.

He looked around; their horses had all fled in fright from the recent battle. He crouched down, hoisted Webber onto his back, and walked silently toward the Province of Dawn…

……

Half a month later, Rhodes and his group arrived in Dawn Province in a daze. Besides Baron and Hammer, the priestess was also in the group.

She first waited for the rest of the knights to collect the body, then rode up to catch up with Rhodes and the others, saying that the divine magic on Weber could only last for a period of time, and that she had to cast a divine spell on him every now and then to keep the body from decaying.

After asking around, the group finally arrived at Pinewood Town, which Webber had mentioned, and it was indeed a beautiful town.

Since there was no shrine to the dead in Pinewood Town, the villagers decided to bury him nearby.

Hammer originally planned to build a stone coffin for Webber himself, but Rhodes suggested that it would be better to use the pine trees here to build the coffin for Webber, so that he could rest in peace with the scent of his hometown.

So in the end, everyone worked together to make a coffin, and chose a small hill overlooking Pinewood Town to dig a deep pit and bury Webber.

The tombstone was handcrafted by Hammer, and the epitaph was inscribed by Baron.

The inscription reads: Tomb of the legendary adventurer and god-killer Waver.

He perished together with the ancient false god, the Night King, in the Riverview Plains in July of 716 of the Nord calendar at the age of 53.

Hammer then asked Baron to inscribe a row of Weber's deeds in small print. Hammer thought carefully and realized that the only ones he could boast about were the Battle of White Hart and the suppression of the bandits south of Winterfell, so he didn't write them down.

Although Weber was far from being a legendary adventurer, everyone felt that there was no problem with writing it that way.

At the end of the story is Weber's epitaph: "The world kissed me with pain, but I responded with song."

"Alas, it's a pity Weber had no descendants. Once we die, no one will remember him anymore." Hammer sighed after closing the lid on Weber's wooden coffin.

"Even if he has descendants, they will forget him in a few hundred years." Baron sighed and began filling in the soil and erecting a monument.

The dagger left by the Death Priest and all of Waver's other weapons and equipment were placed in a wooden coffin to be buried with him. Even the usually greedy Baron did not suggest selling the equipment for money.

He also put the dark gold throwing axe that he had on his waist into it. When Hammer saw this, he placed a necklace that looked very valuable around his neck near Webber's chest.

Staring at Weber's tombstone, everyone remained stunned for a long time.

This was the first time since Rhodes had transmigrated that he had lost a deeply cherished companion. Looking at Baron and Hammer, whose faces were filled with heaviness and grief, he hoped that this would be the last time.

……

After descending the mountain, they returned to Weber's old house, which had been uninhabited for decades. The local children still considered it a haunted house and frequently came there for thrilling adventures.

The house had been cleaned by the priestess. On their way there, Rhodes and the others learned her name was Messiah.

"Thank you so much. In this sweltering summer, without you we might have had to bury Webber hastily," Baron said gratefully to Misell.

Messil said, "This is what I should do. Your companion sacrificed himself to eliminate evil. How can I not fulfill this little wish he had before he died? I'm leaving for Radiant City tomorrow. I'm letting you know in advance so you won't be surprised if I'm not here first thing in the morning."

Radiant City is the current headquarters of the Radiant Knights. The current leader of the Knights is also the city lord of Radiant City, and Radiant City was renamed after the current city lord became the leader of the Knights.

"It's too dangerous for you to be out there alone. The three of us can escort you back," Baron said. "We don't have anything else to do right now."

Misell nodded and said, "Thank you so much. Although I don't have much money to pay you, I can cover your expenses on the way."

Baron's eyes widened. "What do you take us for? You've helped us so much, how could we possibly take your money? We won't ask you for a single penny for our expenses on the road."

Misell apologized to Baron, feeling embarrassed, and went out to tend to the horse she had borrowed from her companion.

Rod sighed as he looked at Hammer, who was sitting silently on the bench staring blankly at the floor. He went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. He had often thought about what kind of Chinese food would be good to teach Webber, who was preparing to open a tavern, hoping that he could live a happy old age with this skill. Now it seemed that he didn't need to...