On a closer look…this looks insane!

With just a few feet between him and the lead-charging beast, Gus finally understood what the human authors meant in their books about the characters feeling fearful before a harrowing beast.

Not good, not good! Don’t hesitate! Continue that passion! Do not—oh no.

One second. That was all the time Gus had to realize his grave error. It was simple, really, but an error nonetheless that he hadn’t thought of due to his lack of real-world experience until it was too late. Why would Rhinos have horns for charging? If given this question on a written test, Gus would have been able to answer how it was to direct all the momentum and force of the Rhino’s charge into one singular point. But when it came to practicing this in reality…

Slam!

Colliding horn to shield, Gus felt the shield shake heavily from the blow as his stone body was launched backward with thunderous might from the strange beast made of sand that was the Hippo-Rhino. Although Gus could not activate the ability of the P.G.R. to absorb all of the shock, the shield was still strong enough to not shatter from the impact of the charging creature. Still, the situation was not good for Gus. With quick movement, he got up to his feet right before the next beast came charging in to finish the blow.

Damn it…that was stupid of me!

Regretting his mistake, the golem made a mental note to not repeat the same mistake again as he readied himself for another blow. Focusing intently on the enemy, Gus could swear he heard the rider on top emit something akin to a laugh as it launched its next attack.

I’ll show you…

Twisting his body while still holding the mighty pavise shield in front of him, Gus narrowly avoided the next horn attack from the sand beast and responded with a slam of his own by using the shield to crash into the creature.

Crash!

With Gus’s strength and the momentum of the beast already carrying it, knocking down the beast and rider onto their sides was quite easy with the help of the mighty steel shield. With a loud slam into the sand, the rider had been helplessly pinned down by the Hippo-Rhino’s fallen-over body. Seeing a chance, Gus moved towards the kill until suddenly something interrupted him.

Slash.

Another rider and beast passed behind his back, and with quick movement, the Croco-man rider used its giant curved blade to cut deep into Gus’s back. Although he couldn’t feel pain like humans, the experience of knowing your back was cut into was terrifying enough for Gus to unsettle him.

Turning around, Gus noticed how the beasts had started to surround him in a circular formation, with fourteen of the cavalry Croco-men entrapping him while six others split up to attack the humans. An undesirable result in Gus’s plan for the beasts.

Faster! I have to handle this faster!

Gripping his shield, Gus felt his core rumbling with a mess of emotions as he took a step forward to the circling enemies. Electing to ignore the knocked-over rider that he had injured previously, Gus decided that prioritizing the horde was the correct choice. Still, he was not going to charge in and let himself be swarmed once again. No, this time, he will carefully attack and destroy his enemies. Pausing before going any further forward, Gus stopped to observe his enemies by using his flames for a 360 view, waiting patiently for an opening. Take it…take the bait.

And then finally, as if they could not wait any longer, three of the fourteen beasts that were surrounding him launched their attack in all different directions. With the steeds charging with their horns and the riders angling their curved swords for swipes, the attack looked impossible to dodge. That was if Gus was an ordinary human, though.

With explosive movement, the mighty stone golem ran straight to one of the three attackers and readied its metal, large shield at a throwing angle. Before the rider could even react, the pavise shield of about 150 pounds was launched from the golem and cut deep into its steed’s face. With sand pouring out its broken face, the steed fell over abruptly which launched its rider forward in surprise as inertia carried it to Gus. Before the Croco-man could even land on the ground, Gus had already run to where the beast was falling and had readied his left arm for a powerful swing at the vulnerable beast. With one clean swing, Gus’s fist tore through the body of gray sand that made up the beast, destroying his first duo of attackers of the horde.

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* < | Existence Consumed… | > *

* < | Existence Consumed… | > *

Feeling a familiar sense of euphoria of power, Gus could feel his movements increase in speed ever so slightly from the power increase.

Ah…how I can’t wait for more.

Now without fear, Gus continued running without stopping to where the corpse of the Hippo-Rhino lay, which had dissipated into gray sand similar to what happened to the Domineers back when Gus had destroyed their hosts. It seemed that, unlike the Domineers, the beasts lacked the regeneration ability they had in return for their immense strength.

With much urgency, Gus picked up the pavise shield and turned around in time to block the Hippo-Rhino’s charge. This time, accounting for the horn, Gus parried the blow with his shield to the best of his abilities while trying to avoid the rider’s curved sword. But before Gus could counter-attack from a successful block, two more riders and steeds joined the battle by launching their own attacks on Gus he was forced to block with his shield as the circling formation of the beasts continued to close in further onto him.

Feeling braver now, aren’t y'all?

As the battlefield got progressively smaller, the intensity of the fight between Golem and Sand Beasts grew ever more as it continued to rage on…

***

From farther away, Marco watched as Gus fought the beast riders with a worried expression on his face. He knew that Gus was powerful, but against such an overwhelming threat, he was unsure if the golem could handle such opponents for long. It didn’t help that Gus had been sent flying right at the start of the battle. Such a disadvantage allowed the beasts to surround the golem and harass it with blows. Still, Gus managed to hang in the battle with his overwhelming prowess as an intelligent trial golem, but this was not enough to reassure Marco.

That howling idiot! He let 6 of these beasts get by charging straight into a horn!

Firing a bullet from his flintlock, Marco managed to take down one of the incoming riders with just one shot. While he reloaded, the other humans lined up in defense of the wagon. Only two more riders fell after that from Marco before three of the riders eventually crashed into the humans. Leading the frontline, Richard distracted one of them with his large axe and increased strength while Doyle handled another rider with his glowing warhammer that seemed to empower his strikes. Meanwhile, while the two men defended, the damage dealers of the defender group would then attack from the sides of the beasts as support. Larry wielded his claw weapon like a mace, slamming it into the Hippo-Rhino’s side as it was distracted with trying to crush Richard with its large open maws. Frankie would then join in with the bludgeoning damage, using her bat to unleash powerful strikes at the exterior of its skin, tearing off clouds of sand with each strike. The Croco-man eventually took notice of their plan, but it was already too late. The pair of humans had already adopted to the beast's crude style of fighting and would launch joint attacks to continue landing blows on the beast.

On Doyle’s side, Neve could be seen supporting the effort by sneaking upon the enemy and landing powerful blows with her chisel-dagger that seemed to unleash incredible damage on the golem-like Hippo-Rhino. But before the Croco-man could handle her, she would back away and await another chance.

And lastly, there was Marco, who had provided armed support by firing upon the three riderless Hippo-Rhinos who were disoriented in their tactics after losing their masters. But in this chaos, the humans were unable to contain the last rider and beast, who for some reason ignored the defenders and continued forwards. It wasn’t until Marco’s fifth shot, slaying one of the three masterless steeds, that he realized what was going on.

The wagon!

However, before Marco could return back to protect the non-combatants and injured, a Hippo-Rhino that had lost its rider charged forth and almost tore the handsome man to pieces with its terrifying maw and teeth. Dodging at the last second, Marco tumbled on the gray desert sand, his suit becoming dyed in gray dust.

‘Damn it! There’s no way I can make it in time!’ Marco thought as he got up from the sand and dodged another of the beast’s attempts to crush him.

Reloading his pistol once again, Marco continued to avoid the rampaging beast with a grim look on his face.

‘Not again! Don’t let it happen again!’

He could still remember that scene of the bloody wagon, the hopelessness he felt when Cricket had been missing. He could not allow such a thing to occur again. Clenching his teeth, Marco finished reloading his flintlock and unleashed a powerful shot into the Hippo-Rhino’s exposed maw.

Bam!

Piercing the throat of the creature, the beast fell to its side as it slowly faded away into the sand below. Turning around without a second to breathe, Marco tried to run back to the wagon before being interrupted by another attack from the last riderless beast. Dodging once again in pure exhaustion, Marco’s face twisted in anger and hopelessness as he tiredly attempted to reload his flintlock once again.

‘No… it's too late…please…someone…stop those beasts.’

The only thing he could do now was wish…

But unbeknownst to Marco, someone had already risen to the occasion to challenge the lone rider and steed.

Wielding his dual swords, the mysterious man named Quillon stepped forth, an angry scowl appearing on his rough but handsome face.