Steven’s heart pounded, and his vision seemed to fill with Hand-Shield’s Skill box. Time slowed for a moment, and he swore the Skill was calling to him.

He blinked, and the Skill was back to being a small box in the corner of his vision. Instead of the Skill, his view was filled with the charging behemoth.

Oh, right.

Can’t back peddle, with how fast this guy is moving, Margie can’t outrun him.

Which meant it was up to Steven to distract him.

He rushed to meet the monster. Its glowing green eyes widened at his sudden rush, and it pulled its fist back comically far as it wound up a punch.

The insane windup gave him plenty of time to dodge, though he threw a shield up just in case as he sidestepped.

The brute swung, its purple fist whistling through the night air. Steven was well out of the way by now. The shield had been unnecessary.

The punch slammed into the green oval and shattered it.

The feedback was immediate. Before he could even feel shock, a lance of pain tore through his skull. It felt like he’d just gotten the worst brain freeze of his life several times over. His vision swam, and he barely stayed on his feet.

Buford launched at the monster, biting at it before rushing past.

Steven was too busy trying not to throw up to see if the dog did damage.

After a second, the nausea and the pain faded.

Okay, breaking shields fucking hurts, don’t try and block directly again.

Buford was running circles around the monster, keeping him spinning and trying to grab him. The malamute juked a grab and then darted in, tearing at the thing's thigh before running past.

Dark blood sprayed from the wound. So Buford was strong enough to hurt the thing, but he couldn’t stay and attack long enough to do serious damage.

Steven didn’t know if the dog could survive a direct hit. Jugger-Hound was supposed to make him more durable to go with his strength, but now wasn’t the time to test that.

Margie fired off another shot, hitting the same leg Buford had just attacked.

The Giant's eyes once again locked onto the woman, and it started towards her again.

Steven ran in, and the giant wound up another punch. He didn’t bother with a shield this time, just dodging to the side as the monster committed to the massive swing.

Buford took the opportunity to rush in and bite at its calf.

Its leg jerked as the dog’s crimson-covered jaws clamped down. The monster shook its leg, and Buford let go. He started to retreat, but not before the giant's other leg kicked back, clipping the dog's shoulder.

The crimson energy covering the hound raced into the earth, stopping him from flying away. It didn’t stop the yelp of pain, however.

Steven’s gut clenched as Buford staggered back. The dog kept circling the monster with him, but he’d slowed. Whatever resistance Jugger-Hound gave him, the giant had overcome it with a glancing kick.

The cycle repeated itself two more times. Margie shot, Steven distracted, then Buford got a quick bite off as he ran past. The dog was careful to avoid overstaying now, but he managed to deal some damage.

It was after that second loop that Steven realized the problem. They were hurting the monster, and he chased them with a limp now, his fancy suit stained with blood at several spots. But it was too slow.

Jugger-Hound couldn’t have more than a handful of minutes left before it went on cooldown, and then they were screwed.

Buford was strong enough to hurt the thing, but he didn’t have enough time to really dig in before getting smacked.

What could Steven do to buy him time?

He wasn’t sure. His shields were a dangerous option. He’d be lucky to stay on his feet if he had to deal with the backlash from another break, but what else did he have?

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The sound Augment? That could work! He’d put one in front of the giant's face. While monstrously strong, the thing was dumber than a post. It hadn’t tried to break from the cycle yet, responding the same way every time without pause.

Steven could stun it with a sound trap then-

Margie shot the giant again, and something changed. It staggered from the shot, looking considerably worse for wear. But then the screws in its neck flashed with lighting, and the giant's eyes switched from bright green to electric yellow.

It surged forward faster than before, faster than Steven could react.

Not faster than Buford, though. The dog hurled himself between the charging giant and Margie, his hackles raised, paws planted. Electricity covered the giant's fist as he struck the dog.

The crimson haze around Buford tried to keep him rooted but failed. The dog sailed back to crash at Margie’s feet. One leg was bent at an awful angle, and a slow whine escaped his chest.

The giant paused for a second, as if surprised that it had actually hit Buford, then its glowing eyes narrowed, and it advanced. It raised its arms above its head; fists clasped together to finish the dog.

Steven’s world slowed. Margie wasn’t going to run. As he watched, she stepped in front of Buford, trying to shelter the dog with her frail body.

The giant would crush them both.

Unacceptable.

Steven’s calm was overwhelmed. Desperation, fear, anger, all of it washed through him as he called his shields.

He didn’t know if the giant's windup was because of its stupidity or a balance feature from the System to check its insane strength, but either way, it let Steven summon both of his shields before it swung.

It tried to bring its hands down and failed.

He’d layered the shields on top of each other, hoping to increase their strength. He’d also placed them as close to the giant's hands as possible to stop it from gaining any force behind the swing.

His shields still began to crack.

No!

Panic filled him. He had to protect them.

The cracks spread further.

That’s not good enough! It was breaking through, he wasn’t- he couldn’t stop it- he-he.

The giant laughed, the sound slow and deep. Its eyes focused on Buford, and its face was full of glee.

This monster was laughing. Laughing. A new emotion rose up through the sea of panic. Something prickly and stubborn and hot.

Spite.

His Skill pulsed.

It wanted to laugh?

This fucker wasn’t getting through those shields while Steven was still conscious.

But even as he thought that, the cracks still spread.

What a bunch of bullshit. Shields were supposed to defend. That’s what they did. That was their purpose. What good were shields that broke? What good was a defender that couldn’t protect anyone?

The first shield broke beneath the giant's fists.

Pain lanced through Steven. That just made the spite grow. He was a defender. He was supposed to take the hits. He was supposed to hurt, so the others didn’t.

That was his Purpose.

The Skill box pulsed again.

Steven grit his teeth as the pain continued to crash over him.

But these stupid shields were breaking. They were breaking, and Margie and Buford were going to die.

“UNACCEPTABLE!” Steven bellowed, then, on pure instinct, reached out to his shield and pushed.

The cracks stopped spreading.

The giant grunted.

His hearing faded out as his vision narrowed. The giant opened its mouth in a silent roar and pushed with everything it had.

Steven screamed and pushed back.

The cracks in his shield slowly began filling themselves in. After a second, the shield was as good as new, but it didn’t stop there. It grew brighter, the emerald green glow intensifying until it shone brightly enough to cast the giant in shadow.

Steven felt like his heart and head were going to explode, and something metallic filled his mouth, but they had reached a deadlock.

One the giant could end at any moment if it just backed away, but it didn’t. It kept shoving away at the barrier with a single-minded focus.

Margie carefully stepped forward, getting right in front of the giant. Its eyes squinting against the green light, it shoved against the shield with desperate jerks.

The shield held.

Margie aimed her rifle carefully, almost pressing the barrel against the giant's eye.

Then she pulled the trigger.

At that point, Steven could only hear a faint ringing, but he saw the giant jerk as the gun fired. Then it slowly staggered back a step, its brutish face twisted, confused.

It took another staggering step, then collapsed with a crash.

Steven followed it to the ground a moment later, his shield vanishing.

But before he could pass out, words filled his view.

Ding! Mob of Shambling Peasants slain! Split with Margie Vern

Ding! Unique Creation vanquished! Split with Margie Vern

Unique Creations vanquished: 2/4

Level up!

Skill gained!