THE GUARDIAN's FINAL QUEST- Ranking of kings leveling System

Numerous black vehicles came to a halt. In front of an old medieval towering Colosseum structure carved in medieval stones.

Its arch walls rose like cliffs, each floor from ground level stacked above the next, towering to heaven. The dungeon walls were covered in green and brown tree vines and roots

The door of the vehicle slides open, and a crowd of human adventurers gathers in front of a giant swirling bluish-purple portal inside the rocky cathedral structure. Hidden in the shadows behind the Colosseum pillars, looking down below, was a humanoid being clad from head to toe in full, old-looking, medieval golden knight armor, leaving room for only golden eyes to be seen.

The knight set its eyes on the young man walking among the crowd of adventurers with a big bag behind him. An average youth with fluffy golden hair and tanned skin, dressed in a white sleeve and a striped waistcoat on top of the sleeve, matching his three-quarter shorts and black boots. His appearance of five feet tall made him look average in height.

"William Willis, worker," the knight's voice echoes into the wind as a whisper. As William walked, he heard a whisper of his name. He stopped his track, looking around, and then lifted his eyes instinctively. He saw the golden knight standing like a medieval hero on the fifth floor of the Colosseum, looking straight at him before disappearing into the dark.

William panics!

Is he here again? Each time I come to the dungeon, whether it's a D- or A-rank dungeon. That old knight must appear. He saves me when I am in trouble, but why? There is no information about this knight. Who is he, and why is he stalking me? William looks with determination.

He is the clue I have. Today, I must catch him. While William racks his brains for clues, he walks into the cathedral hall.

Unexpectedly, voices of whispers and gossip echo from adventurers around him. He couldn't help but listen to the murmuring of others about him.

"Is that not the F-ranker, known as the living curse William Wills worker? I hear he has a black stone on his body, just like the dungeon monsters. Don't you think he may be a monster in human form?"

"We'd better be careful today around him because he is dangerous." Another cuts in.

"I hear he attracts monsters and makes them go crazy. Many adventurers died in the past raid due to the monster stampede that was caused by that black shard on his right hand," then another whispers.

"Eeehen! But I heard he can't use his magic to defend or protect himself, but he can empower others. That's why they call him "Failed Ranker."

"Eeehen... gross! What kind of power is that? He must be a monster disguised as a human. Are we safe in today's raid? I wish he'd just die."

More whispering continued as he made his way to the front. He clicked his tongue, and thoughts flooded his mind.

Director Marylyn! That asshole tricked me again. Why did she call me to join this crowd of hunters, knowing fully well how they react with hatred...? Tsk!

He gritted his teeth, then looked at the black shard stone on the back of his hand. Why was I born this way? Why was I born with a monster shard stone engraved on my hand?

“If not for this stone, If not for this stone..." Unexpectedly, a female hand reached for that hand. She locked her fingers with his finger into a lock clasp.

A soft peck on his cheek and a girl with brown ponytails matching her eyes, in adventurer clothing of a brown leather top and pants, looked at his face happily grinning.

William, cold, confused, golden eyes look at the beauty before him, and she says,

"William, don't listen to them. Even when the world murmurs against you. I will always stand by you and love you till death do us part." She smiles. William almost in tears. She pulls him to her body and hugs him.

"The world doesn't know how special you are. You are my world, Willis. Let's go find clues about your past and that stone in your right hand. Is it not why we are here?"

"Yes. I saw the medieval knight before the monster attack. She is here today. We need to capture her. Maybe he knows something about the black stone. I need to know why he is stalking me," he said.

Sandra nodded.

Blue armor, dressed in adventurer clothing, tall and tanned skinned man with red hair stood in front of the adventurers and clap drawing attention then announced.

"As part of the orders from Director Marilyn. We are to conduct search and rescue adventurers lost in the dungeon. We don't know what happened, but information reaching us says that some adventurers raided a D-rank dungeon and got trapped. The GPS location tracked them in a B-rank dungeon beneath ground level. The SS hunters are not around. So we called for as many D- to A-rank hunters and even an F...ranker. " His red eyes disgustingly looked at William and then continued.

"A position left and suited for only him alone."

"HAHAHA HAHA," the crowd of adventurers laughed, looking at William. William bows his head in shame, but Sandra holds his hands tighter.

"Leave him alone. You all see him differently. William is a great guy. "You all misunderstand him, Captain Brody," Sandra shouts at Brody with her face flashing in anger.

"Hahaha, yes...Miss Sandra. I sympathize with you. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder so they say. I will leave him alone for you. Hope you don't get killed by his curse." The crowd continues to laugh. Sandra grunted, and Brody continued in a sarcastic tone.

"Well, I'm sure his magic, which he can't use on himself, will empower us to fight and will be of great use. Well, back to the main topic, William's power to attract monsters to go crazy is the sole reason why the director Marilyn called over fifty hunters. Our only job is search and rescue, and please avoid combat in any way possible. The GPS leads to the fifth floor beneath ground level. Let's go." The adventurers entered the blue-purple portal.

TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP!

The old medieval knight looked from a top floor, unnoticed as the adventurers moved shoulder to shoulder, their eyes fixed on the darkness ahead in the curving arch cathedral stone cave hall with its pillars to the ground.

She sensed the air inside the fifth level was thick, not with dust, but with something heavier… hatred. Sandra held William's hand locked tightly, walking with the group carefully through the dungeon. Their boots crunched on the stone floor as the GPS led them further.

“Monsters ahead!” One pointed his finger.

“Get ready for battle!” Brody shouted. Swords were instantly drawn, shields lifted, and arrows notched. The noise of clicking legs filled the air.

Quickly, the hunters move to battle positions. William and Sandra draw out swords. From the shadows, huge orange-red scorpion ants rushed forward. Their bodies were as big as horses, with sharp claws and long, stinging tails.

"William," Brody called. William understood what he meant.

"Yes, right." William stretched forth his hand. Golden energy envelops and empowers all the hunters' bodies with a golden glow. Brody slams his foot on the ground and swings his sword, slicing through a scorpion ant's body in front of him.

"Get down."

Another hunter stretches her hands and shoots out streams of fire, burning a multitude of ants in one strike. The hunters were doing well when Williams' power suddenly stopped, and their strength left.

Brody turns to look. He saw ten adventurers he despised because they were weak, struggling with D-rank monsters that were easy to kill. He saw one of the scorpion ants crawl behind William.

William had turned quickly, holding his sword, his hands shaking, facing the towering creature.

"Stay back. I said, "Stay back." William fearfully swings the sword left and right in the empty air, not even close to the monster, hoping to drive it away, but the ant wasn't afraid as it lunged at him. William swung his sword out of fear clumsily, but the scorpion's tail stabbed into his leg.

A torrent of blood spat out.

“kkkkkkkkyyyyyyyaaaaah!” William cried out as pain shot through him, falling to the ground. The scorpion ant tried to drag him away. Sandra ran toward him.

"Leave.....my .....boy.....friend .....a.....lone" With a fierce cry, she swung her sword, cutting the scorpion ant in half. She pushed back another who tried to strike.

The other adventurers fought hard and defeated the ants. The leader glared at William. “You’re too weak,” he said coldly. “You'll slow us down. If you can't fight. You can't empower us with your strength, Mana. Then you are useless to us. Why are you here then? To kill us as you did to those adventurers.”

"Leave him alone. It's not like he wants to be here anyway. He was asked to. Let's get this over with quickly, and we will be out of your sight." Sandra frowns and shouts at Brody. She quickly heals him of the scorpion's poison injury. Brody looks at them and walks forward.

"Come with me. I know how you can be of help to everyone," he said

The adventurers moved, descending stairs above the safe zone of the middle section to the underground fifth floor.

They met scattered body parts of the dead adventurers they came to save on the floor. Before them stood a large, round, whitish-blue hall with jagged crystal arch cave pillars stretching from the ground to the roof, filled with glowing lights from the Mana stone. The cave had upper wall floors like mountain holes.

Suddenly, Brody noticed that above and beneath the floor were filled with monsters. They were surrounded.

"Tsk. We are surrounded. We need to kill those monsters before we can go back to the safe zone." He gathered some elite hunters and discussed

Brody stood before ten of the adventurers, which included William, and said.

“Alright, listen up!” shouted the party’s leader.

“William, you are going to be bait. As you can see, we are surrounded by monsters, probably drawn to you. We’re going to need your ability again. You’ll stay here, stretch your hands out, and pour your energy into us and make us stronger. The rest of us will hide above the high walls.

When the monsters come to get you, You engage the monsters and we come out and ambush them. Ten hunters will protect you. "Do you understand" William senses something off but he agrees.

William stood in the middle of the roundabout hall with his girlfriend behind him, back to back, and eight low-rank hunters held their weapons in a circle around him.

Brody and the hunters climb the Colosseum's high walls and hide behind pillars, looking down below at the hunters.

William stretched forth his hand, and the black stone in his hand glowed with black-golden mana light, illuminating golden energy across the entire dungeon floor. Beast monsters with black shards on their foreheads glowed and descended swiftly in a berserk manner. They came out from every door and floor and ran straight for William.

Immediately, the hall was flooded with all kinds of monsters. Brody and the team fired at the cave walls. The rocks fell, blocking every escape entrance.

The sound came from everywhere at once—dozens of monsters, including different types of monsters. Scorpion ants charging through the halls, claws scraping the stone. The air grew thick with killing intent. Brody's voice echoes from the high wall.

"Change of plans, Williams. You keep them busy. While we watch."

"Wait! You can’t just leave us to fight this!" Sandra screamed as well as the adventurers.

"Don't worry. I will inform Marylyn that you were killed by the monster stampede. There was never a search and rescue mission. We created the entire plan to kill you, William. I told Marylyn to call you to join us in this raid. Innocently, she agreed. This entire operation is a surprise party for your grave."

William's eyes widened, looking at every adventurer at the high walls laughing at him.

"Every raid you have participated in. We lost either a friend or a brother to your monster ability. We all agreed that if the monsters killed you, the world would be safer. I will watch your last moments.”

The adventurers brought out their smartphones and started filming from the high walls. Behind it came more—scaled lizards, six-legged beasts with human faces, and black centipedes big enough to crush cars. William empowered the adventurers below with his mana. Filled with energy, they fought, but there were just too many. His mana made the monsters go berserk.

William looked on as multiple monsters ganged up to tear the head and limbs off one adventurer and then removed the limbs of another. Sandra's hands were shaking. Hope was lost.

"It's all my fault. If only I didn't have this curse." William fell on his knees with tears on his face. Laughter filled the air from the adventurers in the wall.

"William. It seems we are going to die today. Just know that every moment spent with you. It was worth it. "I love you till death do us part," Sandra swings, slicing a monster down.

The adventurers at the high wall watched five adventurers below with their backs against each other, surrounded by a crowd of monsters. They cursed at Brody and others. William Stone at his right hand glowed powerfully, resonating into the hall.

Suddenly

"There is something above us." The crowd of adventurers looked up at the rocky cave roof above them. A towering, massive giant beast monster looking with the face and head of a panther with giant bat wings and several horns on its head, with its body hanging on the roof. It looked down at Willis and its red eyes glowed.

It opens its giant mouth, looking like a goblin's mouth directly above the adventurers. Like a dragon, it gathered purple flames and blasted them out of its mouth like a stream of beams.

"Everyone scatter!" The adventurers at the high wall ran in different directions from the Colosseum, but it was too late for them. Will was shocked looking at the stream of beams shot towards him but was pushed by Sandra away from its trajectory. The beam struck the cave ground, exploding against the high walls.

CRRRRAAAAACK!

The ground beneath them shattered. The massive humanoid black beast, bigger than any ever seen, smashed through the stone from above, and the entire dungeon floor above and below crashed and collapsed violently, with all the adventurers crashing deeper into the dungeon floor. The medieval knight ran out to see a giant hole, and two to three floors had crashed down into a deep hole. The knight panics.

"William is in danger." The knight made his way down.

Moments later

“Willy, Willy, please don’t leave me; I am scared. Save me, save me, Willy!" Sandra cried out with missing a leg cut off to her lap, drenched in a pool of blood, crawling on the icy cold dungeon floor, stretching her bloody right hand, reaching out to William, a distance away from her on the dungeon ice floor.

She stared at him with her soiled, bloody brown eyes hidden in her rebellious strands of hair as the giant monsters, looking like humanoid panthers, reached for her. William stretched his hand. Suddenly, a multitude of panther-looking monsters with horns and wings jumped on William and bit their teeth into his leg and shoulders, dragging him away.

Kyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaah

William screamed in pain; however, he stretched forth his hand. Sandra's body glowed in mana.

"Sandra, please grab my hand," William cried, stretching his right hand across to her in a bizarre, horrible scene. All the Adventurers lay dead on the floor in a twisted, horrible state. Heads smashed with their skulls to a bloody, icy ground. Legs and bodies twisted and separated from their bodies, scattered to different parts of the rocky dungeon.

However, William's eyes, covered in blood and injuries, remained fixed on Sandra and forced his way through. He finally grabbed Sandra by the hand; however, he watched as his only love was grabbed from the floor by a monstrous, dark, clawed hand lifted by the towering black-bodied, humanoid monster with large bat wings like a dragon. His clawed zigzag teeth, like a trapdoor, and fangs on his mouth, like a goblin champion, revealed a devilish smile and laughter on his face as his red eyes stared at the little human squeezed in his hand. His fur was identical to that of an alpha male wolf."

Sandra cried.

He opens his teeth, and Sandra's body fits right into his zigzag, sharp teeth.

"Noooh! Noòooooooooooh!

William watched as the monster's teeth shut close by force like a bladed trapdoor, accompanied by the shared amount of force.

Splaaaaash!

Torrents of blood scattered into the air as it turned into billions of bloody, watery droplets raining like showers on William's face down to his body.

The shock on Will's face as his eyes widened from his kneeling position. The monster let loose of Sandra's body to slip from his palm, falling several feet to the floor.

He lifted his right leg and rammed it into the air, accompanied by the same amount of force. He smashed Sandra's body to the shard-covered rocky ground. The ground violently crumbles.

Splash!

A torrent of blood filled the air, and the cracking, crunching sounds of Sandra's bones echoed in William's ear.

"I will love you till death do us part," Sandra's final voice echoes.

William's eyes filled with tears, his body unable to bear the pain, and countless memories of the lovely moments they both shared flooded through his mind. Sandra stood up for him in front of haters in school. The days they shared food, Their first kiss. Dungeon exploring. Playing in the rain. Images of memories continue to flood his mind.

She was my peace. She was the only rose I had amid thorns. I am tired.

"Let the world end." He declared. Tears filled his eyes, and his heart ached in great pain as he squeezed his clothes. Unable to breathe, he opened his mouth with a mixture of pain, anger, and sadness.

"kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Boom.

The medieval knight descended from the roof to the dungeon floor, filled with death. Her golden hair dropped down behind her red cape, clinging to her golden suit, as she removed her helmet from her head. Tears drop down her cheek.

"Oh no, I am too late. William nooooh," she dazed in speed after William. William's eyes are blank and white with lightning crackling up in them, as his scream echoes with a loud vibration through the dungeon hall.

Embedded on his right hand, the black stone glowed powerfully, illuminating the dungeon hall with crackled-up massive black lightning energy and a mixture of illuminated golden light magic that turned into a growing, colossal golden-black ball.

All dungeon monsters in all levels with black shard stone on their heads glowed. Their eyes turn red, and they begin to run berserk like an army of monsters, as if their king had summoned them, making their way from deep beneath the dungeon and above towards William. The panther monster's eyes widened, and in fear, he turned his tail and ran into a white portal gate while the black golden energy ball illuminated, growing bigger and bigger.

"Sandra's death must have triggered his powers. Williaaaaam! No! I am sorry." The medieval knight jumped into William's golden ball of energy, rapidly growing and spreading.

She removed her hand gauntlet. A red shard stone in her hand, similar to William's, glowed powerfully, illuminating a red radiant light energy into the hall in resonance with his mana energy. She ran to William and pulled him into a hug.

"William! I failed you. I am sorry. You have to stop; if not, the world is going to be overrun by monsters."

The mana energy vibrating like a living thing occupies the dungeon and incinerates it out into the open atmosphere like a volcanic eruption, blasting megatons of nuclear explosions.

Boom!

Kaboom

The massive amount of mana energy exploded with, monstrous shock wave, signaling spreading across the planet; people, dogs, and living things felt a kind of dangerous wind pass through them into every dungeon.

A tremendous tremor and a thousand Colosseum dungeons across Earth suddenly activated. Red light glowed in caked statues of gods and monsters that cracked, tore, and broke, crumbling into dust; the monsters' stampede began. An army of monsters is let loose on a rampage into every city and every country. This was the event that triggered the beginning of the end of the world.