Solaru Pointu

"In a jungle, the mighty burning jungle, the Orcs are getting minced tonight~!"

Actually, it was morning, but who cares. As for the beasts…

The stone giant stood among them like a tower, with its shield of iron and a blade of steel, cutting, dismembering, and disemboweling, piling the limbs and viscera on the floor as it fought, invincible.

Their arrows and spells splintered and died, while the swords and axes broke on his skin of stone. More than four meters tall, the Stone Golem Armor provided great protection for Gerald inside.

Like a tower it stood in place, smashing any and all that dared to face him. The Orcs, frustrated and angry, rushed at him without a care for their lives. It seemed they were trying to bury him under their weight and choke him out when there came a sudden roar.

The sea of monsters parted, and an Ogre came into view.

If it was a simple beast as a few days ago, Gerald might be tempted to fight it, but… This one was covered in metal, thick, crude iron plates, strapped to its body, it came with a human greatsword in one hand, and a thick reinforced wooden door as a shield in the other.

"Damn, there's always someone stronger, huh?" Gerald grinned. "Well too bad, I don't have time to play with you…"

He willed it, and the Stone Golem rushed forward like an angry rhino, shaking the ground as it went, and collided with the Ogre.

ROAR!

The Ogre responded and blocked the Stone Golem with its shield and then smashed the greatsword on top of it.

Clank!

The blade broke, and Gerald laughed at the Ogre's stupid-looking expression. "Come on big guy, you didn't seriously that thin blade is going to hurt me, did you?"

The ground moved underneath them, and two giant hands of soil coiled around the Ogre's legs, holding it in place. At the same time, the Golem lurched forward and took hold of the Ogre and held it tightly, completely immobilizing it.

Of course, the beast didn't like that and it circulated its Mana to empower its muscles, but to overpower Gerald and his magic would take at least a few seconds. A few seconds that it didn't have.

Golems chest opened slightly, and a rolled-up parchment flew out, unfurling itself in front of the beast so the Ogre could read its contents. It had no clue what it said since it obviously couldn't read, and the scroll was covered in Runes anyway.

"Solar Point!"

There was a flash of light that followed Gerald's shout, lasting exactly three seconds. The Ogre's head glowed like the sun, reflecting the immense light and heat into its surroundings, blinding anyone that looked at it.

Thud!

The Ogre collapsed on the ground as soon as Gerald released it, having its braincase almost completely burned through. The rest of the monsters stumbled around blindly, roaring and slashing whenever they hit something.

Gerald smiled thinly at his defeated foe. The test of his new spell could be considered a great success!

Then he crouched down beside the dead Ogre and the corpse disappeared without a trace. His Ring was getting somewhat full, so he couldn't take the rest of his spoils. The only other thing he did was lift his hand and will his mind to pull.

Earth Crystals were torn from the chopped-up corpses all around and flew into his hand by the dozen.

Cough! Cough!

He suddenly started coughing, the smoke of burning flesh irritating his nose and lungs. As if that wasn't enough, the rest of the Orc army was alerted by the bright flash, and he was pretty sure he heard the Giant roar an order to attack.

In any case, it was time to skedaddle.

He abandoned his armor after running for a bit and exited the burning pits of hell that was his battlefield. It wasn't a moment too soon either.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Wargs and Orcs spilled out of the forest, screaming and growing, and roaring as they went. No matter how many Gerald could kill at once, this was just too much! They were really fast too!

He actually had to jump up and fly higher to get to a safe distance and moments later the ground beneath went from brown to black by the sheer amount of hungry and bloodthirsty bodies.

Turning around and speeding towards Auralba, he noticed the group of scouts he passed by before already returning back and getting assimilated into the army. The archers and mages already readied themselves to shoot as soon as the horde entered their shooting range.

"Fire!"

"Shoot!"

Many orders were shouted by the commanders on the towers as they noticed the beasts cross a previously marked line on the ground.

A hail of arrows made an arc across the sky, skewering and maiming the enemy forces wherever they landed.

Fiery spells made beautiful flashes of light as they blew up and burned everything in their path.

Water spells cut and sliced, mixing the pristine water with blood and filth. The grounds soon turned muddy, making it more difficult to get a grip and traverse the plains.

That's when the tamed beasts were released against the Orcs. Cave Bears, Giant Boars, Mountain Lions, even some Shadow Eagles, and poisonous snakes joined the battle.

As soon as the two forces clashed, true chaos ensued. Both sides were about equally matched, resulting in the most gruesome dismembering you could imagine. It was like throwing live animals into an industry-grade meatgrinder.

It devoured everything, meat and bones, and blood and souls. Any semblance of individuality was wiped out, replaced by foul-smelling and slimy bloody paste, with chunks of skulls and teeth mixed in between.

The soldiers silently prayed, thanking God for not being the first to fight, and begging for it to be over quickly.

Only Crag Carre cursed silently in his mind as his army was quickly turning into minced meat. His people were still safe and sound, but their tamed beasts were all dying by the hundreds every second.

But what could he do? Nothing, that's what! The war was out of his control now. His only hope was that the ritual would work and his sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. So he gritted his teeth and focused his magic as he moved around the King, guiding his Mana inside the secret formation.

Gerald sat down on the wall. The fight exhausted him quite a bit, but not enough to require rest. He just needed to absorb and integrate the spoils of war into himself, so he closed his eyes and meditated.

His breathing slowed down and his mind cut out all the noise from the battle. Even as the vanguard first clashed with the monsters below, and as humans were torn to pieces, his mind was steady.

But then it happened. At first, a gentle shake that he ignored, then another, a little bit stronger…

Soon the stone underneath him shook at quick regular intervals, strong enough he couldn't pretend they weren't happening any longer.

That's when he saw it, the Giant. Nearly twice as tall as the centuries-old trees around it, it was making its way towards the city, quickly. Despite it simply walking, it covered more than ten meters in a single second. And there was another thing, an emotion it displayed…

It was bloody mad!