"Are you sure he's on his way? I'm supposed to be fanning the flames with Becky and Phoebe already." Steve nagged impatiently as we sat at the edge of the beach south of the giants settlement. The Porphynae tribe were much deeper northeast, however Steve's speed along the ocean halves the travel time, so long as we take the 'long way'.
"Yes, Steve. He's almost here, you can leave now if you need." I offered, annoyed at his bitchy attitude.
"No way. Cassi would snip my wings if she found out I left before the ground gobbler got here. She made me nod really slowly to confirm I understood her, totally blowing my 'no English' cover." Steve disgruntledly explained. Our land shark pal whom I'd decided to call Larry finally washed up beside us, his stone plated bull shark form emerging from the surface.
"Hey boss! I came here as fast as I could, how can I be of service?" Larry asked, bowing his head into the water leaving his fin protruding from the water.
"Please don't bow. I need a big favor from you buddy. You're going to be instrumental in our success today, Larry!" I said, patting the top of his wet stone skull. He leaned upward into the pats, resembling a nuzzling puppy.
"Whatever you need, boss!" Larry said, in a giddy tone.
"Ugh, you know you're gonna get this fish killed, right?" Steve sneered as I pet Larry's head.
"Didn't you say you needed to leave after he got here?" I shot back, tired of his terrible attitude. Steve's eyes shot open wide realizing he hadn't left yet, leaping into the ocean headed northeast toward the target Pylon.
"Boy, he's sure in a rush. Is something bad coming?" Larry asked, sounding a little nervous.
"No, but were going toward the bad. I need you to be brave for me, can you do that?" I asked, in a tone similar to one used on toddlers. Larry was rather… 'touchy' during our first encounter, and I figured the most reassuring voice anyone could hear was that of caring supervision.
"Well…okay. Do I get to dig?" Larry asked, sounding melancholy.
"Oh buddy, that's exactly why I needed you.
…
Larry and I spent the next 30 minutes speeding the ocean, beelining toward the Porphynaen tribes pylon settlement. In front of us awaited a wall of rocks. I gave Larry a recap of his responsibilities, to ensure I could focus on hanging on as we barreled underground.
"Okay buddy, we're going to dive, and you're going to dig straight forward." I instructed, patting Larry's head from atop his back.
"Oh, that's easy enough! For how long?" Larry asked.
"Cassi said we would be about 3 miles out if we entered from the southwest, you think you could feel out 3 miles underground?" I asked, now worried having forgotten to even ask how long he could burrow through the ground before Cassi's plan commenced.
"Way longer than that, I'll tell you what. Hang on!"
"No wait hold o-" Larry plummeted deep under water, ignoring my mental calls. His nose quickly jutted upward before drilling straight through the rock wall in front of us. Larry's speed significantly increased the moment his head entered the sand, the sudden burst nearly causing me to lose my grip around his body. It took me a while to lift my head up having not known whether or not I'd have the same protection from the elements while mantled as I did on Steve.
Luckily, whatever barrier that protected me in the sky did the same underground, allowing for me to peer my head up comfortably. It was honestly mesmerizing watching the earth part around Larry's form so seamlessly, something I'm sure Korbin would be sure to utilize to the fullest. For now, it was my turn on the mole-shark.
We traveled underground for about 20 minutes relatively peacefully, barring the collapsing dirt and stones left behind Larry's wake. Eventually, Larry notified me just before changing course straight upward.
"Kay, should be here!!" He called out enthusiastically.
"Wait, Larr-"
"Almost there boss!" Larry interrupted, now fully annoying me. There was no telling where he was about to pop us out at, and I had no interest in giving away our position until I knew we were lined up just right.
"Damnit Larry, I said WAIT." My hand glowed a white hue as I used Total Beast Sovereignty to halt the land sharks ascension. His body froze in tracks, before slowly gliding backward through his own tunnel.
"Shit, Larry go, GO!" I called, Larry's head shaking around before burrowing into the wall beside us.
"What just happened? I completely lost control of myself?!" Larry asked, burrowing through the earth again. His speed remained incredible, causing more anxiety to rise up in my chest.
"It's a skill, hey turn around and do some circles. We can't get off target, we don't have much time." I said, checking the timer I'd set on my HUD. Cassi gave me 3 hours to infiltrate the Giants settlement. Meanwhile, most of our newer troops would be accompanying Steve, Becky, and Phoebe in setting false camp fires. The plan was to allude we'd set up camp nearby, and ignorantly set fires thinking the sun would cover our smoke or something.
If Cassi was correct, the Porphynae followers would send out their forces to wipe us out all at once as an exhibition of their might. I just needed to wait until this timer ran out, which only had 30 seconds remaining.
"Alright Larry, it's time to emerge!" I called out to him, his plated body lurching straight up toward the surface. Larry's pace quickened exponentially with every moment, no doubt putting our arrival ahead of schedule. No big.
"Emerging in a few!" Larry called, as we immediately launched into the air, blasting from the earth below. Larry's body ascended high, though as I glanced around I noticed the forest trees at our back. Beside us was an incredibly high brick wall we quickly lifted above. Peering over, the giants within the target Pylon were sending a massive force out of their incredibly high entrance gate. Looking atop the wall, a single giant stood facing our opposite direction into the settlement. They'd just begun to twist his hips to turn out toward the forest when I'd spotted them.
"Thanks Larry!" I mentally called out jumping off of his back, aiming my trajectory for the guard giant who was about to see Larry crash through the earth below like it were the ocean. My twinblade split at its hilts, both blades firing out for consecutive Lightning Strikes into the guards throat. Their gurgling attempts at yelling were way noisier than I assumed it would be. The only solution I found available was kicking the guard in the spine as I landed with a Flow Strike. Their body flung forward, barreling over the wall falling 20 feet to the forest floor outside of the settlement.
*ding*
Sighing audibly at the death notification I crouched low, sliding my rear off the top of the perimeter wall, for a lower roof within the settlement. The building had a sloped roof, shaped more like a pre-system hangar but much smaller in scale. My body landed on top of the metallic roof with a loud series of shifting metals clunking under my weight. Not willing to be spotted before at least finding either their leader or best warriors, I immediately slid off the roof, falling another 10 feet onto the ground below between two buildings.
The stench of feces overwhelmed the alleyway, the ground covered in massive heaps of hardened shit.
Barbaric.
Hastily I darted out of the alleyway, headed for the large building at the center of the settlement. It was a massive palace, decorated in patterns of deep scarlet and jet black, along with three towers the size of skyscrapers. The entire building was surrounded by a flaming barbed fence within the settlement, with a heavily guarded entrance space that led straight to their assumed Pylon building.
There were 5 guards out front, all heavily armored. Four carried small shields attached to the backside of each forearm, while only one was equipped with any ranged weaponry, holding two crossbows in each hand. I didn't even know crossbows were an option, then again I do have a fucking grappling hook that functioned on mana and sheer will strapped to my arm now. Of course, I did wonder how skills would work using one of those crossbows all the same. That is, until one of the guards spotted me sprinting directly toward their station.
Unfortunately for them, I was too close for it to matter. My twinblade stabbed directly into the alerted giant's mouth as he tried to notify the others of my presence. The surge of lightning mana sent blood and flesh chunks ejecting from the back of his neck, breaking through his metallic helm. His comrades were still brandishing their weapons when I unleashed a pair of slashes across another enemy giant with both blades. The first ripped though their exposed calf, causing them to hunch over in pain. The second took advantage of the gap created between their chest armor and helmet from bending forward, slicing cleanly across the jugular.
My arm reared back to attack a third giant when two different blades came barreling toward my face from two directions. My arm shot toward the earth like a punch to quicken my descent as I rolled sideway under both slashes. My eyes darted around me to locate the culprits, my legs already digging into the ground. Both soldiers were still recovering from whiffing their attacks using much broader swords than I'd seen up to this point, outside of Barry's weapon.
My legs tensed shifting all my energy into my planted feet, my body leaping toward the off balance giant guards. Their arm instinctually covered their face, causing the small shield at their wrist to block the path to their face. My blade jerked downward as I adjusted my upward slash toward the giant's knee instead of their head. The twinblade connected with flesh, but another giant's flanking stab forced me to reposition before I could capitalize.
Dodging that last strike gave the crossbow double fisting giant enough space to fire his bolts at me. An audible 'woah' nearly escaped my mouth evading the first bolt, as the speed in which it traveled rivaled that of the fiery cannons back at our giant's Pylon. The second bolt wasn't nearly as challenging to avoid, though it was swiftly followed with another guard's sword slash barreling for my belly.
My midsection shifted to the side while the chains between my twinblade took its place. Right as the oversized sword landed within my chains, the double crossbow user lifted their crossbow again without ever stopping to reload. A bolt constructed out of swirling red energy before firing a third bolt. Shifting my weight into my hips, I torqued back on the blade within my chains, banking on this giant trying to out muscle me.
Luckily my gamble proved a boon, the giant guard yanking my whole body toward them in retort to my tug. The fiery mana bolt flew by my face, the bright energy temporarily blinding my nearest eye like I'd stared into the sun. My knee lifted between the pulling giants hands, smashing into the exposed chin within their helm. A tooth tapped my chest aloft as I twisted my momentum into a leg sweep, sending the dazed giant barreling to the floor. Another guard was about to push when the crossbow user called to them.
"NO brother! Warn father Eli of this intruder! GO!" The giant bellowed to his ally, still volleying mana constructed bolts at me. His comrade nodded before sprinting through the barbed checkpoint toward the massive palace.
Father Eli, huh?
Water Step carried me around a pair of crossbow bolts, twisting my footwork past the sat up body of the guard I'd swept. My lead blade slashed into the giant's weapon hand, forcing him to discard his sword. The next attack was a hilt strike to his skull as I stepped behind him, leaning his head over just enough to receive the incoming bolt through the skull.
The double crossbow wielder's eyes nearly ejected out of their helm seeing his bolt protruding from his ally's forehead, affording me just enough time to fire my grappling hook at the building behind me. A mana bolt soared by my head as the hook latched and pulled me through the air, headed toward the gate entrance.
My first responsibility was to infiltrate, remove powerful individuals, and locate their leader. With the vast majority of their troops having already left behind the closed settlement gate, the second stage of my mission commenced early. Because while some of our strongest allies in Phoebe, Becky, and Steve escorted our greener soldiers in creating the distraction camp fires east, the second part of my mission was creating a reliable way in for Cassi, Derrick, the Jaia giants, and our most elite soldiers waiting to pounce on the defenseless settlement from the treeline south.
Just beside the entrance to the settlement sat a long handled lever, one I'd assumed controlled the gate mechanisms. Of course, a cluster of Porphynae giants stood guard, a few already calling to their comrades having detected my blatant charge toward their position. There was no way for me to know how far their army had pushed toward the campfires, and I couldn't afford to open the gate too soon to alert them of our plan. I also couldn't be too late, or else Cassi would divert toward their army and attack them from both sides.
Due to most of our troops sent to create the fake campfires were new recruits, the latter was reserved as plan B, and a rather unfavorable one for our numbers in the near future. That being said, I had little time to play cat and mouse with the guards howling as they rallied to attack me. One of them had much darker and thicker armor on, with an insignia I assumed was their rank painted onto their shoulder plates. They clutched a long glaive in one hand, while the other rose up above their head.
Strings of red mana emerged from the assumed captain's palm, snaking into the backs of his giant soldiers. They each roared a thunderous battle cry, their eyes flickering with the same hue now radiating around their skin. There weren't enough strange red tendrils to reach all of his soldiers, however the 4 that were hit's movement sharply rose in response as they charged toward me passing by their allies.
Fuck, this might take a while…
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"Captain! Their forces have already begun a retreat!" One of my soldiers called out as we charged forth toward the campfires ahead. Our scouts gave word of some humans skulking about our lands this morning, and clearly they weren't mistaken.
"Good, they know what fate awaits them. How terribly foolish of them, to believe we'd delay squashing their little bones for ever placing them
on our territory." I responded, smiling at the reckless audacity of these puny little people. We'd ascended to our true forms weeks ago under the helping hand of our father Leonard, first touched by the mighty future king Porphynae. The constant war with the land's native beasts and our heretical giant brothers who followed the word of our great demigods slithery brothers and sisters had since been tiresome.
However, a victory so sure handed will prove a boon for our soldiers morale, something the Father values very highly. Given the dozens of battle hardened warriors we'd brought to extinguish these hairless mongrel's flame, this should take us no time at all.
"Captain! I think I've seen a…a dragon?" One of my soldiers nervously called, halting his sprint in front of many other soldiers effectively holding up a line of my men.
"Don't be absurd, those beasts don't leave that wretched island. It was probably a bird, keep mov-"
"AHH-AG-" one of my men's shrieks of terror was cut short by a terrible gurgling from behind me. Before my head could wrap around to face our attackers, a ball of flame ruptured the earth beside me, the concussive force denting my thick steel armor as I flew through the air. My body crashed onto the ground, my long legs swinging overhead to find purchase onto the dirt once more.
A massive feather winged serpent emerged through a wall of flames, slamming its massive tail into my soldiers at the edge of our formation. It's maw practically teleported around the head of another soldier, ripping it clean from his body before slithering away in a blink. A barrage of fiery arrows descended on the other edge of our formation, cascading a pool of wildfire that rapidly spread across our soldiers.
At the center of our front line, a force of about 30 humans accompanied by yet another massive snake. This one had no wings, yet it ravaged my shieldsmen at the front line all the same. It took several seconds for me to fully process the ambush before I arose to my feet seeing my men beginning to retreat.
"STAND YOUR GROUND! We fight in the name of Porphynae!" I called to my warriors, slamming my glaive into the dirt. The blessed energy bestowed by our generous lord Porphynae emerged from atop my weapon as Porphynae's Touch activated, providing all fellow giants blessed by the one true Godking of the Giants a sliver of his power.
"We live and die in the name of Father Leonard, and for our one true King!" I commanded my wavering warriors, their glorious battle cries returning my confidence in this fight.
"Push forward! Center!" I called, sprinting toward the middle where their human soldiers resided. If we could blitz through this front line, their beasts will be left with no support from our sheer numbers. These puny humans put up little resistance, and the closer we got to them the less likely whatever archery unit they had tucked away would fire upon their own troops. Our units collapsed inward, leaving a few noble brothers to the wretched winged monster.
The snake that pressed our front line had already begun retreating as we collapsed, no doubt to take another angle. It would matter little once its human companions were exterminated. It shouldn't take long now, especially considering they followed the cowardly serpents 'footsteps' and began hightailing it toward their camp. Even if they had a few reinforcements in wait, they had no possible way of winning any final stands today. They'd either leave entirely, or face the wrath of a true giant's might.
As they persisted their all out retreat, those pesky snakes continued assaulting at our formations sides. The darker flightless one had a human on its back now, who fired the same concussive balls of flame from what looked like a bow from a distance. Our troops fell in 2's, a small pile accruing behind us before I even realized.
"Shit, FOCUS THE BEASTS, BROTHERS!" I commanded, my soldiers echoing the order across our formation to ensure they all understood. The beasts continued their passing strikes, whittling my troops down with a barrage of bites, tails slaps, and flaming arrows. As the rest of my troops caught word of their new orders and collapsed around them however, the monsters lessened their rapid swooping attacks.
Our troops had already begun celebrating seeing both beasts slithering away into the tree lines north and south, indicating the last of their surprisingly formidable little army.
"Excellent work, men. Soon, all will know to fear the followers of Porphyn-" my eyes widened as I looked towards our settlement.
"RETREAT!! BACK TO THE PYLON!" I called out, only a few troops keeping up with my beeline back home.
"Sir!!…why…are we retreating?" A soldier asked, catching up to my strides. Rage encompassed my entire being at the audacity of such a stupid question. As if I was the only one here who had functioning fucking eyeballs.
"Because we didn't leave the FUCKING GATE OPEN!"
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