It is my Destiny to be the Savior of the Protagonist

Axel instinctively turned and ran away.

‘I’ll die if I stay here!’

He ran with all his might, but it was only slow. The sinking sand was also a problem, and the camping equipment he was carrying was also a problem. In fact, even if he had run properly, he would never have been able to get away with it. The blazing heat deepens. The air was dry and his throat was burning. The shadow cast in front of him grew darker and shorter. It meant that the light shining from behind was getting bigger and closer. It felt like being chased by the sun.

Axel, who was frantically running, glanced behind him as the heat stung his neck. His breath was choked. The flames were coming like waves. A sea of fire from the end of the horizon expand the realm Sparks flew like snow.

‘Wait, that’s…!’

Upon closer inspection, it was not just sparks. It was a herd of beasts made of flame. Red and golden flames fly instead of fur, horses, foxes, bears, humans! Now, wild boars, deer… Hundreds of beasts run across the horizon. Trampled sand splattered like it was fried in boiling oil. It was an overwhelming sight.

‘There are so many spirits…’

Even though it did not reach the level of the Great Spirit, it was much stronger than the normal spirits, and unlike the Great Spirit, which couldn’t leave its territory, it moved freely.

A spirit beast without a knight is in a wild state. It’s not like a monster eating people, it’s trying to kill people like a monster. It didn’t even cost anything, but sometimes wild spirits were more dangerous than them. This was because the spirits were not interested in people. Wildfires and floods were dangerous even if they didn’t target people on purpose.

‘Why do spirit beasts who normally travel alone get together like that… ah!’

At the head of the wave was a huge wolf, one head taller than the others. It was one with a long horn on his forehead. Seeing that, Axel remembered what he had learned from the teacher not long ago.

<There are times when spirit beasts are more dangerous than monsters. It’s because of a scare-like phenomenon.>

<Fire spirits, with the exception of a few volcanic gods, are all born underground or in the sun. So, the number of fire spirits is small, but they hardly perish.>

<”Why is that so?”

“Isn’t it natural? If the fire in the sky goes out or the sun disappears, isn’t it the case that humans will die first?”

“The fire spirits born in that place have a short lifespan. They die when the fire goes out.”>

<You know how fire spirits are instantly reborn when there is a big fire or a volcanic eruption? Of course, many spirits are also born.>

<They all die when the lights go out. It’s not really that dangerous. They scatter and linger around the area where they were born before dying.>

<But at some point, one spirit beast gathered them all together and carried them around until they disappeared.>

<Hundreds of fire and other spirits swarming around, it’s no different from a disaster. So the phenomenon was given the name of cowardice.>

<Cowardice is the name of the -2 head spirit beast . Because of him, cowardice occurs.>

<It is a spirit beast in the shape of a wolf with golden horns.>

<He doesn’t die even if the first group is gone, since he is from the sun or the earth. The guys who tried to tame them all turned into goofballs before they even approached.>

<Anyway, if you find a coward, run away as far as you can. As soon as you see it, it jumps out to die. Because the sea of fire will turn to stone.>

<”What if I have nowhere to run?”

“Then die without leaving a body.”>

The teacher’s giggling words were becoming reality. In the middle of the desert, where there was nowhere to escape, catastrophes surged like a tidal wave. The distance gradually got closer. The sand beneath his feet began to heat up. Axel threw away all the burdens he was carrying.

He ran as hard as he could with his lighter body. Still, the distance did not widen. The scare was too quick. At this rate, they would catch up soon. The boy turned white and looked around. Everywhere he looked, sand, sand, sand. There was nowhere to hide. Then he saw a tall rock rising obliquely.

Axel clung to the rock without covering himself. He took off his shoes and climbed the rock. The boy standing on top of the rock was wild. He gasped and looked down.

‘If I raise it to this level, I’m sure it won’t hurt.’

Axel fell flat on a rock and prayed.

The sun-heated rocks were so hot that he felt like he was going to get burned, but he held it in.

Woo woo woo woo.

The sound of animals howling low, and the sound of sparks popping closer. The one-horned wolf in the lead was right in front of him. It casually ran past the rock. The scorching heat blew like the wind.

Axel looked at the huge spirit running right next to him as if he had spilled it. A flickering flame of yellow, red, and orange. A nimble wolf wrapped around the fire. The golden horn on his forehead was more like a well-honed blade than a horn, strictly speaking. The metal section was heated by fire and shined brightly.

‘Awesome.’

In a near-death situation, funny, that sentiment came to mind first. After the cataclysm passed, spirit beasts smaller than that came rushing in. Axel observed the minister with some reassurance. A sea of fire splits in front of the rock and flows. The fire that had flowed unhindered suddenly hovered in place. Like water flowing into a hole, creating a whirlpool. The center of the vortex was the rock where Axel was. The boy was perplexed.

‘What, why?’

In an instant, he remembered what the teacher who taught scarification had said.

<Come to think of it, you have cursed eyes, so if you run into a coward, you won’t be able to escape.>

<Why? They too are spirits of fire. If they like my eyes, will they follow me?>

In the heat so hot that it was difficult to breathe, he felt chills as if ice water had been poured down his spine. Axel reflexively covered his eyes. He narrowed his eyes between his fingers and looked down. Beasts made of fire circle around the rocks. The fire stemmed and sparks that jumped up were caught in the frenzy and created a whirlwind. Eyes like a crater filled with lava turned to him as he stood on the rock.

‘They are looking at me.’

He didn’t jump or attack, but all the spirit beasts were watching him. Sweat dripped from all over his body. All exposed skin was burning. It was a terrible heat. Even the temperature rises gradually. It was like being trapped in a furnace. It became difficult to breathe.

Fire was everywhere, and there was nowhere to run.

‘Am I going to die like this?’

-Little boy, have you ever looked closely in your eyes?

It was yellow in the middle and redder as you went outside. The eyes were like bright red flames. That’s why the spirits born from the flames were following him! The sentences he saw in an annoying children’s book stuck to his ears like a song.

Axel gritted his teeth. Those damn eyes.

If he plucked out their eyes and threw them away, would they go away? He put his hand into his bosom roughly to take out the dagger. There was a sound of paper rustling.

‘This***’

The boy took out a black envelope instead of a dagger.

-Open only in case of danger.

A phrase like a prophecy. He blankly looked at the envelope and opened it. What came out from inside was a thin letter. The letter, written in red ink, was only three lines long.

– Why did 〈Little Boy with Red Eyes〉 survive alone every time?

– Swollen eyes die early because of the fire. He didn’t die from being burned.

– Aim for the boss.

It was like an enigma. Axel was dumbfounded and was about to crumple up the letter before hesitating. The first phrase suddenly struck his brain like lightning. The fairy tale <The Little Red Eyes> tells the story of a little boy who burned down the entire village after a fire broke out around him. Even the fire incident that the kid experienced in the fairy tale was number 7. He always started a fire around him. 

In the end, a large fire broke out that burned the entire village while people locked up the little boy.

‘How did that kid survive when there was such a big fire while tied to a barn post?’

Was it a made-up story? It could be, he thought so until now. However, after looking at Adrian’s letter that was in there as if expecting this moment, it felt so strange. Axel looked down at the letter he was about to crumple. Although the red eyes die early from the fire.

“…It was not burned to death.”

He moved his gaze to his arm. His forearms, sweaty, red, hot, but not burned.

He suddenly realized. Because of the thin air, every time he opened his mouth to breathe, the flying sparks came in together, but his mouth was not burned.

‘No way.’

Axel shoved the letter into his chest and walked to the edge of the rock. He stretches out his hand through the rising flames.

‘Hot.’

His glove caught fire. He reflexively put his hand away. His skin, without a single wound, could be seen through the cracks in the gloves that were burning and falling apart. It was hot and stinging, but it didn’t hurt.

Axel was finally convinced.