The heavy impact reverberated through the door, causing it to shake in its frame. The barricade we had hastily constructed was now being put to the test, and it was clear that whatever was on the other side was determined to break through.

I tightened my grip on my makeshift shield, my heart pounding in my chest. Lily was right. The hand we were dealt was shitty, even more than usual.

I ordered several people to carry whatever heavy things they found in the tavern behind the door. With every massive impact hitting the door, more cries and prayers came behind me.

“Calm down! Raise your shields high! Spearman, be ready to thrust!”

I shouted to be heard clearly. My voice managed to lessen the cries.

“CRACK!”

The deafening crack that followed the relentless pounding on the door sent shockwaves of fear through our hastily assembled defenses. It was as though the very structure of the door itself was starting to give way, and panic threatened to take hold among both the villagers huddled behind us and the men beside me.

But I couldn't allow that. What broke formations most of the time wasn’t the enemy, it was the fear and undisciplined man. If even one took a step back, just like a landslide everyone would run. If that happened what little hope we had to survive would disappear.

“Hold strong!”

Gökbörü howled with me as a part of the door was caved in.

“Crack!”

Another hit broke apart a large chunk of the door. From the opening caused by the breaking, I could see a mace bigger than my head. Whoever-whatever was holding it must be massive.

“Well, shitsticks.”

Lily whispered behind me. I couldn’t agree more.

“Boom! Boom!”

As the more of the door gave in to the creature’s vicious strikes its form was revealed. It was huge. While I fought with monsters much bigger than it since I came to this world, with the resources I had it seemed much much bigger to me. It was way taller than 2 meters. Some of his body was covered with decayed and heavily rusted armor. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw his armor not covering his head. Its skin was bluish-grey with black veins bulging all around. Unlike previous draugrs, we saw he was muscular. Blue light burned where his eyes were supposed to be.

“Aliera has forsaken us!”

One of the villagers cried out when he saw other normal draugrs with the bigger one.

….

“Frontliners, take one step forward!”

I shouted while pulling others to come with me.

“Backliners, one step forward! Thrust your spears!”

Even though the door was nearly destroyed thanks to the barricades we set up they couldn’t just barge in.

“Block them! Push them! Spearman, aim for the head!”

Even though the giant draugr was imposing as hell, its giant size made it hard to enter the tavern. This wasn’t the case for the smaller ones. They climbed and crawled towards us.

I-we met them with our shields raised. Our shields met with their nails and teeth. The pressure resulting from them smashing against us nearly made me slip. I regained my footing and smashed the one in front of me. Hard metal cracked its skull.

Good. They weren’t so durable.

“Try to aim for their eyes!”

Lily shouted. I pushed one to the side and smashed another with my hammer. Good. We were at least able to hold the line. Except…

I looked at the giant draugr. It was about to break through.

“Well, shit. We are doing it again, Gökbörü.”

“Woof!”

Gökbörü climbed to my shoulder and I leaped forward. Draugrs trying to pour into the tavern tried to get their hands off me but I was too quick, nimble, and had a hammer to easily get caught. Gökbörü’s ice also created a thin but slippery layer on me. Brhhh! It was cold but it stopped me from getting grabbed. Several strikes and pushes were enough to get in front of the giant one.

“Oi, mate. You are not welcome here. You are lowering the property values.”

It looked at me with those blue, cold wisps in where its eyes were supposed to be. Even though he didn’t have eyes, I could tell how much he wanted to kill me. It lifted its mace. How the fuck he found a mace that large? Did he have it when he was alive? Why he was this large?

It must be not in the mood to answer my questions as it swung its mace toward me. It was a very wide swing so I was able to read it and get out of the way. It hit draugrs behind me and I heard a sickening crunch. So friendly fire was on? He didn’t attack its kin but it had a shitty aim. A grin formed on my face.

“I can work with this.”

I darted around the towering undead monstrosity. I didn’t need to strike as the giant kept squashing its own kin. All I had to do was not get caught by draugrs trying to grab me or the giant hitting me. Normally dancing around like this was Lily’s expertise but I could also handle myself.

I slowly pulled the giant out of the tavern. Mindlessly following me was good. What was not good was the situation of the outside. It was crawling with draugrs. They were everywhere.

“Well, that’s not optimal.”

Even though I wanted to keep using giant to get rid of them I knew that I was being greedy. I couldn’t dodge all of them. I was bound to get grabbed and hit by the giant’s mace. I took a glance at my hammer and its mace. Hmmm. What mattered was the function, not the size.

“Call me Davud, Calut*.”

Another wide swing missed me and I rushed between its legs without hesitation. Before it could recover from its swing I swung my hammer to its knee. Undead or not, it was human-shaped. With its weight and height, its legs must be carrying a lot of weight. If I managed to hit to correct place I should be able to at least cripple it.

I couldn’t help but cringe when I felt how hard its body was. The giant looked down on me and tried to grab me. I rolled on the ground and hit some draugrs and caused them to fall like a shitty bowling game. Realizing it didn’t manage to grab me, the giant swung its mace again. I raised my makeshift shield and Gökbörü created a thin layer of ice around it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Mace crushed several draugrs in front of me and hit me. The giant draugr's mace crashed into my makeshift shield with bone-crushing force. Even with the layer of ice created by Gökbörü, the impact sent shockwaves of pain through my arm and shoulder. The shield held, if I wasn’t in this much pain I would be proud of my crafting capabilities.

What was more surprising I was not knocked over or just died due to the impact. Did draugrs lessen the impact that much? One of the draugrs tried to grab my left side. I tried to raise my shield to smack it away but I quickly realized that I couldn’t.

Fuck, not again. It was just healed!

Gökbörü jumped to draugrs face to stop it from grabbing me. I smacked a draugr at my right and dodged the giant's mace. Unfortunately, I fell into the arms of more draugrs. They tried to claw all around my body, shredding all of my clothing.

I struggled my way out of their grasp only to witness several of them tear Gökbörü apart.

“No!”

My words turned into a roar as I charged forward. Draguer's nails tore my skin but my pain was silenced by the horrid voices coming from the tavern.

Screams.

Begging.

Crying.

For a second my past and present bled into each other.

?.1?.20??. Antartica.

Does the time matter if there is no one left to record it?

Remaining humans: 12.973

Remaining fertile humans:11.230

Even though the number was low and slightly under what our scientists theorized as under the genetic bottleneck, with genetic knowledge we had and selective breeding humanity could still prosper…

I took a step forward. The ground beneath me changed between cold ice and warm dirt.

I gripped my weapon tighter. I couldn’t tell if it was a high-tech frequency sword or a simple hammer.

I killed one of my enemies. It changed between humanoid and insectoid shape.

What is happening? Where I am?

A Crab stood in front of me. It stood smaller than normal. It was white… Is this how they camouflaged themselves? How did they adapt this fast? It should have taken 3 more months!

It raised its bigger claw. Hah, no plasma attack? Did it lose its ability to shoot plasma when it gained the ability to withstand cold? It doesn’t matter. I evaded its claw and struck its legs. Hmm. It got also tougher. I tried to move my left arm. It didn’t move. Why didn’t nanomachines work? It should at least be moveable now.

It kept making huge swings. I kept hitting its legs.

Why was it this tough?

Screams. Begging. Cries for help filled my head.

“Just die!”

With a loud crack, the creature fell face-first. Without its ability to shoot plasma, it shouldn’t be dangerous. I had to help civilians to move. I killed several Peons in my way. I received more injuries on my way.

“Why doesn't nanomachines stop the bleeding? Did they find a way to jam it?”

I passed through damaged corridors. Bloody corpses and guts were all around. Shit. Shit. I tried to contact the others but all I got was static.

“Poyraz! This is fucked! We need to get out of here! This is not winnable!”

I looked at the person calling me.

“Lily?”

It couldn’t be. He died. He died years ago. It was… It was…

“Fuck, you are bleeding too much. Come on! Nocturna is trying to open a way for us!”

Who? What? Why?

“How are you here?”

He tore off a part of his clothing to cover my armor. My armor? Was I wearing an armor?

“I know it is weird coming from me but it is not the time to joke! Where is Gökbörü?”

“Gökbörü? What? Why are you here? You died… I buried you.”

His eyes widened.

“Poyraz, remember! We are here for the Trial! You are having some kind of hallucinat-Look out!”

He pushed me to the side. I must have been weakened too much as I fell to the ground. I quickly raised my head and saw Lily getting stabbed through the heart. The creature tossed him to the side like a rag doll.

Its red eyes looked into mine. They could change between compound or camera-type eyes.

A wrist blade made out of a bio-metal that can be heated to counter our high-frequency blades.

A solid exoskeleton made from the same bio-metal covered with mucus to absorb gunfire.

A completely different neurological structure that allows them to move and react like none other.

A being specifically designed to kill super soldiers like me.

Normally, scientists and soldiers called Horde Members by different names.

Except this one.

Reaper.

Summoning every ounce of strength and skill I possessed, I rolled to the side just as the Reaper lunged at you with its deadly blade. The wrist blade sliced through the ground where you had been, leaving a trail of smoking rubble.

In one fluid motion, I pulled my blade, realizing how weird its balance was. Did my senses get dull due to pain?

I dodged and waved as I moved through the ruined building.

I also couldn’t hear the screams. Did everyone die?

Why didn’t I feel anything besides this void?

I smashed Reaper’s chest and head. It wasn’t enough to destroy just one. I had to destroy both. My weapon was ruined in the process. I tore away its wrist blade.

“Poyraz! Help! I…”

Someone called out for me. I charged in that direction.

She was small. Bleeding.

“I am sorry! I am sorry! I couldn’t…”

“Hshhh.”

I pressed down on her wound without looking at her face. That wound was too deep. She was a goner. I didn’t want to watch another person’s face as they died.

“Go. Go. Finish the Trial. You have to…”

What? WHAT TRIAL?

I looked at her face.

Familiar.

Familiar?

Friend.

Friend?

Family.

Family?

The world around me spun. I was able to barely rise to my feet.