“Keep the horses moving damn it!”

Ryan cursed under his breath. Jonell had told him that this job was going to be easy money. Now they were being attacked from all sides, relentlessly. These creatures did not know mercy and they certainly did not fear death. Dozens of men had already been torn limb from limb by them, and the convoy was barely halfway through its journey. If the lines broke – hundreds of civilians could face the same fate.

The fighting was constant. Attacks rained from above in a rote repetition as the archers used an entire army’s worth of arrows to try and thin the enemy numbers. Injured men were hauled away from the fighting and thrown onto a newly assigned cart with the other mutilated protectors. A local Doctor tried desperately to keep them alive for long enough to find a magical healer. Benadora had disappeared into the swirling mess to try and help.

“How many of them have you killed already?” Jonell asked.

“Fifteen, I think.”

“You told me you didn’t do this kind of thing.”

They had both broken away to catch their breath and quickly get a drink of clean water. Ryan tilted his head to the side with an awkward grin, “I don’t. Not usually. But, I did train for a little while on how to use this thing. What would be the point of having it if I didn’t know how to fight?”

“Are you screwing with me?” Jonell grunted, “What you did back there was crazy! You’ve had way more than a ‘little training’ buddy. You moved so fast that the guys didn’t even know it was you who killed the damn thing.”

Ryan hated bragging about himself. He avoided it whenever he could. Part of that was a reflexive effort to downplay his own abilities and talents. He knew how good he was at fighting. He had copped several lessons from a talented swordsman as payment for recovering a member of his family who had gone missing. It became a habit for him to ask around if any of his clients had anything to teach him; most were happy to part with some of their time and knowledge in return for his services.

He couldn’t relax and talk with his pal. His eyes continued to scan the fog covered horizon as the convoy trudged on through the tough terrain. The monsters were attacking from all sides, and had not given them a single moment of respite since the initial wave. Had they sensed fresh prey on the winds? Surely their assault would continue until they left the devastated coastline for good.

“You’re always trying to pass yourself off as an idiot,” Jonell observed, “You really that scared of people expecting something from you?”

Ryan leaned back in his seat and sighed. “Nah, that ain't my style. I’m just making sure that whatever I choose to do won’t end with me being buried six feet under. Slow and safe is the way to go.”

“So why’d you agree to this?”

Ryan scowled, “You told me it’d be easy money – you asshole.”

Jonell shied away, “Ah. Maybe I did say that.”

Ryan couldn’t blame anyone but himself in the end. He had listened to the full content of the job that was being given and agreed to it anyway. The pay they were offering made a lot more sense now that he was living through what felt like a war. There were already a couple dozen men who wouldn’t be seeing the other side of the fighting. Ryan was disturbed by some of the wounds that he had borne witness to. The only thing he could do was fight his hardest and protect the people he was being paid to protect.

“Did you see the size of that last one?” Jonell posited, “It was bigger than a bloody bear.”

“Big or not, it didn’t last very long with an arrow through its eye.”

Jonell chuckled morosely, “Yeah. Creatures of darkness or not - they all still die the same way.”

Ryan finished off the last of his meal and grabbed his sword. They both leapt back down from the cart and headed back to their posts to continue the defence. Many of the men had started to adjust their tactics to properly handle the incoming threats. Archers wounded the monsters before they were engaged by swords, lances and shields. The number of casualties was dropping rapidly.

Ryan wasn’t going to become complacent. People had their limits, and the fighting would only get more difficult through the day as their stamina started to wane. Ryan and Jonell soon found themselves face to face with more mutated wildlife. Native wolves of various shapes and sizes, once the pride of the Duchy, were now turning on their human betters. There was an irony to the many men standing beneath banners and iconography that bared their sharpened teeth.

At that very moment a young man clutching a spear broke through from the other side of the convoy and grabbed the nearest officer by his tabard; “Giant! It’s a giant!”

That was the last thing he wanted to hear. “What do you mean a giant?!” the sergeant yelled at the top of his lungs.

“It’s a bloody giant!” the militiaman reiterated, “It’s rotting from top to bottom – but it’s moving towards us somehow!”

Ryan marched over to the pair, forcing Jonell to stumble after him. “You don’t mean to take that thing on, do you?” he asked, “I don’t care how good you are with that thing – it’s suicide.”

Ryan ignored Jonell’s pleas and regarded the flustered soldier, “Show me. I’ll give you a hand.”

The sergeant nodded, “Make sure it doesn’t get close. I’ll reassign more archers to watch that side.”

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With a roar of command, several of the nervous bowmen followed Ryan and the private through the gap between the carts and towards where the troublesome foe had been located. As they peered through the mist, the ominous sight of a lumbering beast emerged in the fog. Ryan had never seen a giant in person before – and even at a distance the size of it stole his breath. Those stories were no exaggeration. Each step was a grand arrival. Slowly and painfully it’s boat of a body listed towards the moving convoy.

As it passed through the obscuring mist the reason for its sudden arrival became evident. The giant was dead. The body long since rotted through. What flesh remained hung loosely from yellowed bone, revealing internal organs and muscles that had been possessed by an unknown force. Black crystals sprouted from its ruptured lungs. Its left arm was hideously broken and unrestrained to dangle free against its side. A single bloodshot eye scanned the convoy for prey.

Before it was close enough to strike, the stench of a rotting whale swept over Ryan’s senses. It stuck to the back of his throat and was enough to make him gag. Something had turned it and the rest of the animals into blood-rage fuelled undead. Terror and awe intermingled and paralyzed those who witnessed it.

“How the hell are we gonna’ kill that?” Jonell hissed. The giants had already amassed a horrible reputation after rampaging through Pascen for months on end. They were powerful, brutish, and could catch up to a human very easily with their long stride. An undead variant was an even bigger threat. It wouldn’t feel pain the way a normal giant would.

“We’ll have to cut it into pieces,” Ryan concluded. “I can use the [Fourth Gate] to hit him hard. It should be good enough to cut through what’s left of him. But it’s going to knock me out. I need someone to watch my back and drag me out of danger when that happens.”

The other men nodded in agreement. Jonell’s face was twisted in anxiety. He really didn’t want to put all of the pressure onto Ryan’s shoulders. The only way to do the right thing was to make sure he didn’t get hurt. He gripped his sword tight and patted Ryan on the back, “I’ve got you.”

There was no time to formulate an alternate plan. The giant was already making a march towards the civilians in the middle of the train. The wolves steered clear, fearful of finding their own end under the giant’s clumsy feet. Ryan, backed by thirteen other warriors, drew his sword and calmed his breathing.

“Let’s go!”

With a surprising level of coordination, the newly assembled troop moved to intercept the monster. Ryan spearheaded the charge. The men had seen his abilities and knew that if anyone could kill a giant in one fell swoop, it would be him. The wolves circled on the periphery of the emerging battlefield, waiting for their moment to strike. The giant glared down at the nuisances that had started to gather around his feet.

It started to lash out at them in a desperate attempt to keep them away. The destruction of its body had severely degraded its ability to move properly. As it swung out with a leg, it found itself staggering back as it could no longer support the weight of its own body. Despite its weakness, the power of the giant was still a threat to the people riding the carts. It needed to be dealt with and fast.

Ryan’s eyes glowed as he prepared to unleash one of his strongest techniques. He had only used the Fourth Gate once before – as a test to see what it did. All he remembered of that moment was the way his body fell to the floor the moment it was done, and the devastation he witnessed when he awoke several hours later. The tree he had used for practice had been eviscerated, sliced into several diagonal pieces. The cuts were so deep that they passed through the trunk and sliced into the ground behind it.

He had concluded that he had no need for such an attack. Not only did it seem overkill for anything he would meet doing his job, but it also used so much energy that he passed out on the spot. Anyone could have found him while he regained his strength, and he didn’t trust the average guy not to rob him blind while he was out. But now the conditions were right. There was a big, tough monster that needed to die with urgency.

He carefully stepped out of the giant’s rage as the men surrounded it on all sides. The expulsion of every ounce of energy in his body - the biochemical electricity that flowed through his nerves. This was the fourth gate. He held his sword in a backwards grip and focused his vision on the areas that he needed to slice through. Arms, legs, and neck. He was going to bisect the giant into chunks and leave it in a bloody pile.

“[Fourth Gate: Deafening Apex!]”

The men watched in awe as Ryan turned into a veritable blur. He disappeared from sight, before skidding to a halt in front of the giant. Taken by surprise – there was nothing it could do to defend itself from his attack. Thunder rumbled overhead as he swiped horizontally through the giant’s legs, a long blade of energy following the material form of the sword. The energy attack sliced clean through the tendon and bone, but before the giant could fall to the ground as gravity took hold, he attacked again. And again. And again.

Dozens upon dozens of strikes, all delivered within milliseconds. Ryan’s body contorted into ways that would kill a normal man as immense forces were pushed onto him. For him, time had slowed down to a crawl as his brain rapidly calculated the correct angle and movements to deliver the fatal blow.

And then, a momentary pause as he coiled down.

He flew into the air, arms and legs spread like a bird of prey – at the top of his arc he grabbed the hilt with both hands and twisted around in mid-air. A flurry of fabric from his long coat obscured the full form of his movement. As his body swung around the edge of the blade cut through the giant’s neck and decapitated it. A shower of blood poured from the wound as the skull landed with a heavy thud.

Ryan landed on both feet and cleaned off his sword with one last swipe. For a moment Jonell believed that Ryan had somehow negated the energy usage, but as he stumbled back in exhaustion he knew that it had taken everything out of him. The soldiers cheered in awe at the sight. It was as beautiful as it was deadly.

Unfortunately, the jubilation did not last for long. Jonell never saw it coming. As the giant’s headless body fell to the floor, the snarling visage of an infected wolf leapt over it. None of the soldiers were quick enough to catch it before it swept through their defensive circle.

“Ryan!”

Everything slowed down. Jonell knew in his chest that it was too late to intervene now. He felt lead settle into his gut as the dog opened its hungry maw and clamped down onto his right arm, wrestling his half-unconscious body to the ground. He charged after the wolf and brought the tip of his sword down against its back, but it continued to ravage his friend regardless. It sunk its claws into his face and cheek, leaving three huge cuts running down the side of his head.

“Fucking bastard!” Jonell cried. It was a desperate and messy fight. The wolf was dragging Ryan around on the dirt and trying to separate his prize. He hesitated lest he accidentally hit Ryan with his blade. He lifted the sword again and brought it down with every bit of strength in his body, cutting through its spinal column and finally killing it for good.

Two other men hurried over and quickly pried its mouth open, revealing that Ryan’s arm was already a lost cause. Ryan was too drained to feel the pain, though he surely would in the coming days. The man of the hour was lifted onto their backs and carried away.

“Fuck! Get him to the Doctor!”

Jonell kneeled down and recovered his sword, gripping it between his blood-covered palms.