The brothers spread out wide as they approached the giant. It was a tall, fat creature; its girth made it waddle as it walked, slowly stepping back and forth. As they closed the distance, Cheese had to stifle a groan at the rancid smell wafting from the creature.
They halted as they approached the being. The wolves, already circling the giant, had cut off its escape. Finally, the creature seemed to notice them. Leaning over, it ripped a thick branch from a fallen tree trunk and let out a deafening bellow:
"ARRRRRRRRRRGH!"
The giant's roar echoed through the forest, shaking the underbrush and sending birds flapping into the twilight sky. Now that it faced them cheese saw it was a grotesque thing, a mass of coarse, leathery flesh mottled with patches of pale white and sickly gray. Its face was an awful mask of sagging jowls and it had a bulbous, broken nose, its red eyes set deep beneath a heavy brow. Yellowed teeth, chipped and uneven, jutted from its wide mouth like crooked gravestones. Dirty, matted hair clung to its misshapen skull in tangled ropes, and a foul stench of sweat, rot, and damp earth rolled off it in nauseating waves. It yelled something in a language cheese couldn't understand.
The plan was simple, one they had used many times before on smaller prey—bison and boar, moose and bears. Of course, "smaller" was relative in this situation.
To Cheese’s right, Waff had just finished untying a bundle of javelins. The large man hefted one and hurled it at the giant. Meanwhile, Cheese stood his ground, yelling obscenities at the creature in an attempt to intimidate it. They wished to cow it while it stayed back and got pelted, yet that was not in the cards.
Cheese kept his eyes on the creature's tree-branch club, now swinging back and forth like a pendulum in its meaty hands. It wasn’t just the size of the thing that was terrifying, though that alone could crush a man to paste. It was the weight behind the swing, the pure, brutal strength it must take to wield it so effortlessly.
"Move!" Cheese barked as the giant’s piggish eyes locked on them.
The creature charged, its uneven gait turning into a thunderous advance. The ground quaked under its bulk, and the sound of snapping branches and squelching mud followed each step. Waff veered to the right, his javelins rattling as he bolted into the denser woods. Char darted left, disappearing into the shadows of the underbrush. Cheese gritted his teeth and scrambled backward toward the clearer ground behind him, his boots skidding on loose dirt.
From his left, Char’s voice rang out, sharp and taunting. "Hey, fatso! Over here!" He waved his arms, drawing the giant’s gaze.
From the right came the hiss of another javelin slicing through the air. Waff had already found his rhythm, his broad shoulders flexing as he sent the spear hurtling toward the giant’s flank. The weapon struck with a dull thunk, embedding itself just above the creature’s knee. The giant staggered, letting out another enraged bellow, but it didn’t slow. As the brothers hit the reture they dodged in and out of the trees, finally it reasserted its vision on Cheese who was still standing in the open, it charged and Cheese who had stopped to watch turned and fled in full.
The wolves howled. Their eerie cries sent a shiver up Cheese's spine, but they held their distance, weaving in and out of the trees as if testing the edges of the battle.
"Focus," Cheese muttered to himself, gripping the haft of his magical axe. The runes glimmered faintly in the dim light, as though they shared his apprehension.
His breaths came fast but steady as he widened the distance between him and the giant. This was no clumsy animal like a boar or a bull. Its movements, though ponderous, had a cruel intent behind them.
Cheese’s heart pounded in his chest as he ran full sprint away from the Giant. The space they were slowly entering gave cheese room to maneuver, but it also meant the giant would have fewer obstacles slowing it down. He couldn't let it close the gap.
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Cheese continued his run until finally he was out of the trees and in the grassland fully. This was important as he had already seen the creature grasp at one of those large branches and wield it like a club. As he came into the grass and darted forward 40 meters cheese cast a glance back. The giant was some twenty meters behind him, and surrounded by the wolves and his brothers. It had two large javelins in its back, and one in its leg, yet the giant seemed to hardly notice the sticks as it sighted Cheese. Its breaths came in large, ragged heaves as a putrid ungodly smell was sent from it to Cheese.
Suddenly the giant’s guttural roar tore through the clearing as it barreled toward Cheese, its tree-branch club raised high. The earth seemed to shudder beneath its pounding steps, and the fetid air around it made Cheese’s stomach churn. He steadied his breathing, gripping his axe tightly as the creature closed in.
To the giants back, Char suddenly stopped moving and raised his hands, muttering under his breath. A sickly green glow flickered between his fingers before he thrust his palms forward, shouting an incantation that made the air ripple unnaturally. Cheese was shocked, they had not talked about this happening, and he had never seen his brother exhibit this type of skill.
The effect was immediate and bizarre. The giant’s wineskin, dangling from its crude loincloth, bulged and burst with a wet pop. The spilled liquid shimmered, twisting unnaturally before coalescing into writhing green vines. They lashed upward, curling around the giant’s legs and torso, squeezing tightly as though alive.
With a guttural snarl, the giant flexed its massive arms and tore the vines apart as if they were nothing more than cobwebs. The green magic dissolved into mist as the creature let out another earth-shaking roar, its eyes now blazing with fury.
"Shit" Cheese yelled, as he saw his brother was retreating further into the trees, his face pale with exertion.
Well, that was bad. However he had stopped the charge, and now grabbing the momentum Waff hurled a large rock at the giant, his powerful arm sending the stone streaking through the air. It struck the giant square in the shoulder, pounding hard onto the thick muscles. The creature stumbled but didn’t fall, instead turning its bloodshot eyes toward Waff.
Before it could pursue, the wolves struck. Their howls turned to snarls as they darted in from the sides, teeth snapping at the giant’s ankles and calves. One managed to latch onto its heel, tearing through the thick skin and drawing dark, oozing blood. Another wolf leaped for the giant’s thigh, only to be swatted away mid-air by its club. The poor creature yelped as it tumbled across the ground, but the pack kept up their assault, circling and nipping with relentless ferocity.
Cheese seized the opening. He hefted his axe, the engraved runes along its Susine haft glimmering faintly, and hurled it with all his strength.
The axe spun through the air in a deadly arc, the blade biting deep into the giant’s side with a sickening thunk. It bellowed again, swinging wildly at the wolves as it staggered. Cheese extended his hand, and with a whispered command, the axe vanished in a flash of light, reappearing instantly in his grip.
He threw it again.
The axe struck true, this time embedding in the giant’s thick forearm as it tried to shield itself. Blood spattered the ground, and the creature’s bellows turned to pained, guttural grunts. Cheese was amazed as the Axe seemed to cut through the bone and muscle like butter. The runes had begun to glow a deep red as they continued their assault on the being.
Cheese’s arms burned with the effort of hurling and recalling the weapon, but he didn’t stop. Each throw had to count; each strike had to slow the monster down just a little more.
“Keep at it!” Waff’s deep voice boomed from the right as he charged back into the fray, now wielding a long hunting knife.
The giant roared again, its furious bellows echoing through the forest as it lashed out at everything around it—wolves, men, and trees alike. But it was bleeding now, its movements growing slower and more erratic.
As he repeated his assault his brother closed and stabbed the hunting knife into the back of the large creature, however the knife was stopped a few inches into the creatures back, not being able to go deep enough to hit a vital spot. The giant threw an elbow back and caught Waff in the side of the head flinging him away.
Cheese had a moment of panic, but Waff stood quickly and fell back.
As he threw his axe one more time the giant let out a vicious howl and leaned back, the axe sunk deep into its neck, and then suddenly it was over. Cheese was greeted with a *Ping* and an ability
[Axe Throw (3) Common]
His brothers slowly circled the beast and then walked around to cheese. As they took stock cheese realized that two wolves had died and one seemed greatly injured. He locked eyes with Char and saw exhaustion plain on his brothers face.
"Shit" said Waff interrupting Cheese` thoughts. "Weve got to move." Cheese cast him a curious glance and then saw that his indicator in the top of his vision was rapidly counting down. An invader was coming to them.