Ancient Warrior

After landing on the roof of his warehouse, Gerald's heart calmed down. The fire didn't actually do much damage. Just the paint on the walls was chipped off and became black from the fire. A few buildings around were in a much worse state, but that wasn't his problem.

Many corpses of dead soldiers, as well as Orcs, littered the street as the cleaning department didn't yet have enough time to clear them away. Blood and soot also covered most of the cobblestone road, making it slippery and nauseating to look at.

It was war. The dead would be returned to their families and then most likely burned. Space was limited in the capital, and only the top nobles could afford to bury their deceased in a grave or tomb.

The attack was still going on, and at least five times more warriors than yesterday stood on top of the wall, shooting their arrows and spells. It was chaos out there. At a glance, Gerald could even see some important-looking mages chanting spells in a group.

He recognized them immediately. They were students from the Magic Academy, those that were to graduate this year. He didn't know it, but the requirements changed somewhat.

Those that would help defend the city could directly advance without standard tests and arduous questioning by their professors. Many would jump at the chance to show their abilities and skip the arduous work if they could. Having proof of graduation was good, but having experiences in the field of battle was even better.

If they got noticed, they could get invited or recruited by rich nobles or powerful institutions and their life would be smooth sailing from there.

Naturally, it was the best choice.

Gerald's skin tingled as he neared the wall. The breath of death permeated the air. It smelled of blood and fire, burned flesh and sulfur, and thick smoke obstructed the vision. However, even with all that, Gerald's mind was focused on something else.

The voices, they came back! And he loved them for it!

They were annoying, that's for sure, however, the consequences were worth it. Each voice equaled a slight increase to his Mana Regeneration. And here was a sea of creatures just waiting to be slaughtered.

Gerald smiled. It was a cold, wicked smile.

Was he going crazy? Perhaps. He didn't think so though. His thoughts were only logical for the abilities he had. Death was natural, he would just siphon some of the energy for himself. Just a tiny bit. Just a little speck. He wouldn't be greedy, at most he would try to take 95%.

That's because those that died a day ago were already beyond his reach. A shame really.

He rose to the sky and floated above the carnage. His image merged with the sky, and even those old mages couldn't detect even a speck of his power.

The Pixie was good. It knew how to hide its presence in plain sight. It wasn't just the illusions it was good at, no, there was something more. It could attack his mind with its power and control its own Mana so that you wouldn't notice it even if it was right beside you.

A crazy beast! And now that beast was his, and he could learn from it. He could be a silent assassin, a specter in the night!

But that was no fun. Gerald preferred to look his opponent in the eyes as he took his life. It felt more honorable that way… 'As honorable as killing somebody could be, heh!' Gerald mused.

Maybe he really was going crazy. 'What was that saying again?'

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?" No, that was wrong. Power by itself cannot corrupt, however, it can reveal what lies underneath. The monsters locked inside…

'Yessss… we can give you... power…'

'So much... power…'

'You just need to... help usssss…'

There they go again, the voices, tempting him and trying to take over his mind.

"Heh," Gerald smirked in disdain. "Your tricks are useless. Spirits of the dead… Maybe a few months ago you could still harm me, but now you are just food!"

He closed his eyes and his breathing steadied. He sat in the air and his body subconsciously went into a lotus position. He meditated mid-flight.

The voices started screaming in pain and soon they became quiet and shrunk into nothingness. He had so much time to study them, it would be weird if he didn't figure out some tricks of his own.

As his mind became stronger, he could feel their presence inside him. He would attack them with his thoughts and tear them apart, devouring them piece by piece until there was nothing left.

He didn't know why he could do what he did, or what was he even doing… He just knew that he could! And his mind would grow, and his magic would become easier to control. So, why not?

He opened his eyes sometime later, feeling refreshed. His mind expanded once more and was feeling even clearer than before.

More voices entered his ear as he was absorbing the spirits of the dead without end. However, he didn't have time to enjoy the feeling for now. He had to find the Giant first! The beast was too dangerous to be left unsupervised.

He flew high above the horde, the Goblins and Hobgoblins rushing forth like a wave. Even as he looked toward the horizon, he couldn't see the end of them. The scouts were wrong, terribly wrong. What million monsters? There were at least ten times that! The capital was long surrounded from all sides and soldiers were desperately fighting them back. The mountains of corpses burned through the night, and even as daylight came they kept growing.

From the outside, no more white walls were to be seen anywhere. It was quite clearly a disaster. The defenses were still holding back the tide, however arrows and Ether Crystals were starting to run low. And barely a day has gone by! If things were to continue this way...

Suddenly, Gerald noticed a tall figure resting among the trees. It was sitting on the ground so it was difficult to notice unless you were right on top of it. The Giant!

Gerald gritted his teeth and slowly flew closer in his camouflaged state, his heart beating nervously.

The Giant was eating. It appeared completely absentminded as it chewed on some small animals. But then Gerald realized what they were. Boars!

The Giant had dozens of fist-sized boars around itself and a pelt of a giant boar was tied around its waist.

'Is that the… Was that...? What was it called again?' Gerald scratched his head, 'Brown Boar King?'

Giant's legs had a few bloody gashes on them, but nothing lethal, clearly. The Gold-Ranked behemoth of a beast fought with the Giant, and lost! Badly! Gerald shuddered at the thought.

However as he opened his eyes, he noticed that Giant's Life Aura was surprisingly weak. It couldn't have been from the Boar King, surely.

And in fact, as the Giant moved, he noticed a scar on its chest. It was an old wound, quite possibly from before… From the Great War! It actually managed to survive ten thousand years and wake into a new age.

But it was still weak, and Gerald would kill it! 'Ancient or not, I'll crush you under my foot!' Gerald thought as he stared at the Giant and mulled over his plan. Almost as if it heard his thoughts, the Giant lifted its head and looked at him.

Gerald froze. He was in the sky, invisible! A kilometer in the air! And it was looking. Straight. At. Him!

He felt immense danger at that moment, and before he could even blink he was already traveling at full speed away from the beast. It was too dangerous!

He felt his heart palpitate in fear and he clenched his fists. He never felt so afraid before in his life, and he hated the feeling! The feeling of helplessness…

'Bastard! Just you wait!' He cursed internally and flew back to the capital. The Giant was luckily still far away and it didn't seem like it was in a hurry to move. That was good because he needed time!