[POV: Narrator]

“That’s a shame,” Rayder replied to Zilnus. “Peace was never an option, was it?”

The giant smiled and pointed his hammer at Rayder’s army. “I’ve been cravinggggg to slaughter yet another army!”

The several dozen of soldiers, who were in formation behind Rayder, all began to take their stance. The ones with shields stood in front, while the ones with spears and swords were behind. Some enchanted their weapons with magic while others were completely unarmed and were purely reliant on their spells.

Zilnus’s archers, who were on the complete opposite side of the snowy battlefield, readied their bows.

Although Rayder’s men significantly outnumbered the archers, the true danger lay in the giant standing in the center between the two opposing armies. Wyliame, Rose, and Jil stood in between the armies as well, not moving an inch out of fear that they’d get killed.

Shit… we’re gonna get caught in the crossfire! Wyliame thought. He looked over at Rose and Jil and he could tell that they were both thinking the same.

Rayder took a deep breath and lifted his right hand. “I hope you don’t regret this, Zilnus. Our first meeting will be our last.” He then quickly swung through the air, shouting, “Everybody, fight! Recapture our comrades!”

The deafening roars of his men immediately engulfed the entire forest as they began charging toward the smiling giant. In an instant, arrows from the opposing side began slicing through the air at an unavoidable speed. Although most of them simply landed on the snowy ground, a few of them landed on the bodies of about six men and their bodies quickly turned into bloody corpses.

“HAHAHAHA!” Zilnus roared, smashing his hammer down to the ground. In an instant, a group of men splattered, their blood painting the snow. Within the same second, the ground quickly broke into two pieces as the bodies fell to the underworld. Continuing with his hellish laughter and hammer smashes, Zilnus turned around toward his Archers and shouted, “Don’t kill Rose and her buddies! They’re gonna be our hostages for the fight!”

Wyliame breathed a sigh of relief. Oh, thank god…

Jil gritted his teeth and looked at Rose. “Commander, what should we do?”

But her hands were shaky and her eyes became teary. She was afraid. Whether she feared Zilnus or death itself, she couldn’t stop her body from trembling. “...u-um…I…”

“Rose…” Jil murmured, looking at her with worried eyes.

Damn it, even a commander is cowering in the presence of Zilnus! Could we even escape this…? Wyliame thought. I can’t believe it. What shit have I gotten myself into? Didn’t the goddess promise to give me a peaceful life at the start?!

The goddess, in fact, did not promise a single thing.

Rose cowered her head under her hands. “I can’t… I can’t do it… I can’t kill him. Not again… not again… father…”

Wyliame glanced at the archers, who were completely ignoring him, and back at Rayder’s dying men as the giant quickly wiped them out with each hammer swing. Suddenly, a thought popped into Wyliame’s head. “Hey, guys? I’ve got a plan.”

Rose and Jil stared at him with surprised expressions.

“Yeah, I know I’m just a kid… but hear me out, alright? We can use our status as hostages to our advantage.” Wyliame continued, pulling out the bow from his back.

…

But Jil and Rose didn’t say a single word.

…do they not trust me…? He thought.

“Okay, let’s hear it,” Jil nodded.

Yes! Thank you, Jil!

“Rose, I know you don’t want to fight right now, but please listen to me. If you use your [Paralyzing of the Sun], then you could blind the archers and give us a few seconds to make a move.”

“You want us to run to Rayder?”

“No, that’s suicide. Once Zilnus realizes that we’re escaping he’ll have no choice but to kill us. We need to stay on this side of the field if we want to live.” Wyliame continued. “But, we do have another option. We could try to run directly toward the archers within those few seconds that they’re paralyzed from Rose’s spell.”

…

Yeah, this kid’s crazy, Jil thought.

Suddenly, Rose slapped herself across the face.

“R-Rose?!” Jil cried.

Although her cheeks became red, her trembling and tears had stopped. She took a deep breath, then looked at Wyliame with her soft, amber eyes and smiled at him appreciatively. “That’s not a bad plan…”

Wyliame’s face lit up and he gripped his bow tightly. “Alright, let’s go!-”

“But you’re gonna stay here while Jil and I handle the archers.”

“What?”

“I will not put you in any danger. You’re just a kid. You have your entire life ahead of you… and Onas will never forgive me.”

“...”

Wyliame, after realizing that he had never had any combat experience, understood completely that arguing with Rose was pointless.

“But… thank you, Wyliame. I lost myself for a second there, but you’ve lifted me again. You’ve done enough. [Fire enhancement].”

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As her sword lit up in flames, Zilnus turned around and stared down at us.

“Eh? What the hell are you guys doin-”

But his words were interrupted as one of Rayder’s warriors sliced his sword through Zilnus’s Achille. For a normal individual, the damage would’ve been enough to bring a warrior down to their knees, but for a giant like Zilnus, it was merely a scratch. Zilnus simply kicked the man who attacked his leg as if the man was an insect, killing him in an instant as his body crashed through the snow and splattered into pieces.

On the other side, Rose explained to Jil, “I only have enough in me for one more spell. When I use it, we charge in instantly.”

He nodded and wielded his sword.

Okay… let’s do this… for father... Rose thought to herself. “[Paralyzing of the Sun]!”

At once, a ball of light appeared above her head, blinding all of the archers while leaving Rayder’s men unfazed. With speed, she stood up and began charging toward them with Jil trailing behind her.

Zilnus, who wasn’t looking at the light when it happened, turned around and noticed Rose and Jil running toward his archers. Instinctively, he cocked back his arm, ready to throw his hammer-

“Hey, your battle is over here.”

*FWOOSH*

A gust of powerful wind blew through Zilnus’s arm, decapitating it from his body, his hammer falling onto the snowy ground along with it. A river of blood instantly began pouring from his shoulder.

“Owwww… that hurts. So you’re a wind user, huh?”

The giant picked up his arm and attached it back to his shoulder as if it were a normal occurrence. “Come, Rayder. Fight me yourself. No need to sacrifice your puny soldiers for nothing.”

Indeed, the destruction of Rayder’s men was devastating. Over half of his warriors either became a corpse or had fallen through the cracks that Zilnus created with his hammer. It was a pointless struggle.

“I can burst your head open right now if I wanted. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t do so.” Rayder threatened.

…

“Well… I’m sure there’s a reason why you haven’t done that yet. If I were to assume, it’s because you’re afraid of me, aren’t you? You’re using your soldiers like slaves with the intent of figuring out my moves.”

“Not quite. Look at your archers.” Rayder said, pointing to the other side of the battlefield.

As the last of the archers fell down to Jil’s swing, he shouted, “They’re all dead, Sir Rayder!”

Rayder smiled and gave a thumbs-up. “Thank you, Jil! You too Rose!”

“Hah… so you were waiting for my men to fall.” the giant chuckled. “Not ba-”

“[Atomic burst].”

Instantly, Zilnus’s head blew up into as many pieces as there was snow on the ground.

Wyliame, who was the one standing closest to the giant, gasped as a chunk of Zilnus’s skull fell onto his lap.

…

…

…

“Jeez, you’ve gotta stop interrupting my sentences! You’re just wasting your magic…” Zilnus shook his head, which instantly grew back on his body.

Holy shit… Wyliame thought. But that reaction was expected. It’s not every day that an eight-year-old gets to experience being in the middle of a battlefield and having a chunk of somebody’s head fall onto him. Not to mention, it was merely his second day in this world.

Rayder drew his sword and cast an incantation, engulfing the blade in the power of the winds. “Hah… I guess they don’t call you Zilnus the Immortal for no reason.”

“Hahahaha! Damn right! Let’s end this quickly, shall we? The king wishes for me to conquer your kingdom as speedily as possible.”

Suddenly, with all his might, Zilnus chucked his hammer so high into the air that it seemed as though it had reached the gray clouds above. “Let’s have some real fun now!”

As the hammer started to direct its trajectory back onto the earth, Wyliame began scrambling to run as far away as he could while Rayder’s men, Rose, Jil, and Rayder himself simply stood still, watching the hammer fall.

Shit… Shit… Shit… I’m gonna die! Wyliame thought.

Abruptly, Zilnus screamed, “[Transform].”

*BAM!*

The hammer crashed into the ground, causing a massive splatter of snow that flew in every direction. It was as if a sudden blizzard had appeared to envelop the entire forest in its frost. Wyliame, Rose, Jil, the soldiers, and Rayder all stumbled backward from the impact of the hammer as dozens of corpses were flung away. The screams of Rayder’s men filled the battlefield as everybody became so blind that the furthest that they were able to see was their own limbs.

As the mini-blizzard calmed down, Rayder squinted his eyes, staring forth to find out what had just happened. I’ve got a bad feeling about this… he thought.

“Wyliame, are you okay?!” Rose screamed.

“Yeah, I’m fine! Is everyone else safe?”

“I’m good!” Jil yelled. “Commander Rayder, where are you?”

Suddenly, Rayder’s eyes widened. A feeling deep in his gut was telling him to run… to run so far away, that his legs would give out as his breathing became desperate and loud. “Everybody, get back! Now! As fast as you can!”

In the middle of the battlefield laid a crater- one so massive that any man would assume that a meteor had just crashed down onto the continent. However, Zilnus was nowhere to be found.

Rose and Jil rushed over to Wyliame. After realizing that he was unharmed, Jil began walking toward the crater with his sword readied.

“Where did he go…? Is this teleportation magic?”

Rayder and his men, who stood on the opposite side of the crater, were equally as confused.

“No,” Wyliame began. “Before the hammer landed, Zilnus said, ’Transform’.”

Transformation magic? Rayder thought. So he was hiding his magic the entire time?

“ARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Suddenly, two colossal hands, ones that were musky and dirty, yet brawny and rugged, appeared from deep inside the crater.

“S-shit! He’s still here!” one of Rayder’s men shouted.

“His head’s poking! He’s coming back out”

Wyliame’s heart rate accelerated as his passive skill was screaming at him to escape.

<20 Meters Away>

What lay ahead was a monstrosity… no, even that couldn’t describe the sight. It was even worse. It was as if an entity from the deepest depths of the nether regions itself has climbed onto the surface of the earth. It was an abomination that scaled even the height of the kingdom’s walls.

“AH… THIS… FEELS… GREAT…” a deep, raspy voice appeared.

The creature climbed out of the hole and stood up, shaking the entire forest from that action alone. The sight was unimaginable, yet terrifying- although even those words themselves would still be a complete understatement. A quarter of Rayder’s men dropped their weapons- not from fear, but from despair. They’ve completely lost hope. Zilnus had become a creature that rivaled the size and strength of five giants combined.

“Ahem.” Zilnus cleared his throat. “Sorry about that yall, I had to make my voice sound all deep for the grand entrance. So what do you guys think? This is the thing that’s gonna destroy your entire kingdom!” he joyfully bragged.

Rose, just like Rayder’s men, dropped her sword on the ground and fell to her knees. Her body began trembling again just as it was before. She too had lost hope.

Rayder gritted his teeth as more and more of his men quivered at the sight of the monster ahead.

“S-sir Rayder… I don’t think we should take this figh-”

*SPLATTER*

The warriors all gasped in horror as their comrade’s blood splattered in every direction. Zilnus had smushed the man with merely a finger.

“Oh! I forgot about my hammer!” Zilnus noticed. He reached down the crater and pulled out his weapon. The hammer too had become colossal.

But as Zilnus scanned the battlefield, he realized that he didn’t have to use his hammer at all. Every single one of Rayder’s men, including Jil, had already dropped their armaments. Wyliame had no choice but to take a knee beside Rose.

Rayder was stunned. His men, who had trained for years and years to prepare for moments like this, had given up on their first battle. Yet, he couldn't call his men cowards either, as he too had surrendered his sword on instinct. The foe was much too powerful. The battle had already ended before it could've begun.

“We surrender.”