The soldier could have hopped over the thick tree root sticking out of the ground. He also could have gone around it, or perhaps even gone the other direction. He didn't do any of these options. He simply swung his boot forward at exactly the same pace he'd been using during their trip, and the top of his foot hooked onto the root. 

There was an earsplitting tearing and rending sound as the tree root bent, stubbornly stayed, and then gave. A good majority of the tree was pulled out of the ground, and it toppled awkwardly. It was rather satisfying, at least until the tree whacked Aliss in the head. It cracked in half and fell backward.

She almost tripped, glaring at the soldier irritably and righting Yamada's unconscious body on her shoulder. "I know you don't like him very much, but I've been carrying him for almost an hour now. Do you maybe want a turn?"

The soldier grunted noncommittally and attempted to walk straight through a tree, testing his limits. Suffice to say, his limits went unfound and a second tree went down, crashing against two other ones. 

Aliss sighed, then hefted Yamada again uncomfortably. The weird young man's head bumped against her armor lightly, and he suddenly raised his head, screaming, "...fooooorrrrr my FRIEEEENDSSSS!"

Startled, Aliss spun around and launched him forward at maximum speed, and he righted himself midair, shouting, "Wait, what's going-"

The soldier had only just started turning around when Yamada screamed, so all he saw was a person hurtling towards him rapidly. Naturally, his first response was to punch it, and he did so successfully. Yamada backflipped once again and slammed into the grassy carpet of the shaded forest, groaning. "Ohhhh... OW. What was that for?"

To Aliss's absolute lack of surprise, the soldier pivoted on one foot and walked away, utterly disinterested in whether or not Yamada was fine. As she helped him up, he shook his head dazedly. She less-than-gently patted him on the face. "Hey. Are you all right?"

He raised an eyebrow suggestively, grinning. "I am now! How are you?"

She sighed and let go, allowing him to drop to the ground. Instead, he rolled backward and hopped to his feet. "So, we should probably talk about your father. He seriously wants to get you back to the castle."

The soldier turned around curiously at the phrase, and Aliss promptly tried to punch Yamada in the face. He neatly ducked the attack and straightened again. "I mean, you'll have to go back sometime. It's not like you can just wander around Teracot and doing whatever you-" 

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

He cut off abruptly, swiveling sharply. "Wait..." He crouched to the ground, placing one hand on it. "There's something coming - something big!"

The soldier was still a little curious about what Yamada was talking about, but 'something big' sounded significantly more fun. He almost summoned his shotgun, but then paused. Hadn't he acquired something about heavy weaponry? Did that mean...

his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of trees falling over, and he turned towards the sound. Shoving the oaks aside were three ugly gray-skinned creatures, each one bulky and muscular, easily sixteen feet tall and with horns poking out of their foreheads. A thick piece of raggedy leather draped from their waists, a simple loop on the side serving to hold the massive clubs resting on their shoulders.

Yamada laughed loudly. "Ogres! This'll be easy!" Turning to face the soldier, he said with a grin, "Hey, Doom! A hundred gold says I can take more of these guys out than you can!" 

The soldier nearly sighed, but decided not to. Instead, he grappled onto the face of one of the ogres, hurling himself forward. 

Behind him, Yamada started chanting. "O Sword of Nafalgalel, I summon thy power to sharpen the furnace of my resolve, and pray that your edge may cut through light itself!"

The soldier extended the blade on his left arm and ripped upwards through the first ogre's head, nearly bisecting it, and jumped to the second one. It smashed its club upward, and it literally bounced off of him. It didn't even slow his momentum, and he shoved his arm through its thick belly, bracing himself with his boots firmly placed on its sides. He tried to find some of its intestines, but it clearly didn't share the same insides as he did, or even like the demons did. So he just summoned a grenade, flicked the pin out with his thumb, and left it inside the ogre.

"Thy power is great indeed, O Blade, and I need your power now more than ever! Grant me your sharpest edge and give me endless might!"

As the ogre exploded in a shower of gore, the soldier rolled to a stop a few yards away. The final ogre raised its club uselessly, and the soldier decided that now was as good a time as any to try out his theory.

< activated.>

A thick weapon appeared in the soldier's hands, with two barrels and a pair of spikes sitting underneath the brutal stock. It weighed more than some people, but its heft was familiar to the soldier. Raising it to his helmet, the soldier aimed it without too much worry and fired in the general direction of the ogre.

Everything from the knees up disappeared as the super shotgun bucked in his grip, and even the trees behind what was left of the ogre were pulverized into splinters from the force. A small crater appeared as the soldier was physically pushed into the ground, the blast echoing throughout the forest. 

"...Now, enemies of light, feel my blade and perish!"

Yamada leaped forward with a flaming sword, an intense expression on his face that faded to surprise with remarkable speed. "Wait, what happened? Where'd he go?"

Aliss sighed loudly. "Yamada, if there's anything I know about Doom, it's that he doesn't mince words."

The legs of the ogre fell down with a meaty thump, and the soldier grinned in his helmet. If he could get his super shotgun, then that meant that the other option was a genuine possibility.

The BFG.