Book 6, Chapter 151 (1/2)

Goldflow Valley

The fighting was almost at the portal! Richard felt the earth shudder as an explosion rocked the sky, white light filling his eyes for a fleeting moment. A shrill whistle rang out as a human figure was thrown out from far away, compelling him to activate Insight to determine who it was. Remembering that this plane didn’t have any native humans, he intercepted the figure in mid-air and gently slowed its momentum, cushioning the tremendous impact before placing the critically injured man behind him.

*Whoosh!* Before he could even land, Richard saw an enormous battleaxe whizzing towards him, barely crouching down to dodge its path. The axe whistled past his head, singing some of the hairs on his scalp.

For a brief moment, the sequence reminded him of his first forays into Faelor and the Forest Plane. There, too, he had been attacked the moment he entered, but both of those had been arrows. He was much stronger now, but apparently the level of threat was growing correspondingly; this axe would have left him crippled if he took it on without preparation.

Glancing at the enormous axe that looked even more outrageous than Tiramisu’s hammer, Richard turned towards the battlefield that was only a short distance away. Even from this distance he could see three giant humanoids, each over a dozen metres tall. Their builds made it clear that they were extremely strong, and one of them was only a hundred metres away with an arm still outstretched and hand empty.

The giants were currently embroiled in battle against the Archeron troops, every single blow sending several warriors flying. The power of these blows was so immense that some warriors started gushing blood even before they hit the ground, destined not to survive, but the soldiers themselves were clearly elites as well. They huddled up in a tight formation around the giants’ feet and defended with their shields, using spears to stab deep into the soles and calves. The stronger ones flew up the side to stab into the back, swords cutting off skin and flesh in relatively small yet significant chunks.

One of the giants was already covered in injuries, howling wildly in pain as it tried to retreat. However, the warriors around its feet were like a thorny bush that wouldn’t let go. The pain drove the thing crazy, and in its rage it suddenly lifted its right foot high and stomped towards the ground. The large foot that was several metres long would smash dozens of the tightly-packed warriors into pulp.

The warriors beneath the foot had no way of dodging at all, but they didn’t seem to intend to either. They instantly stabbed their spear shafts into the earth, ducking down to take cover behind their shields. In the end, the giant stepped on what was effectively a board of nails, more than a dozen spears piercing into its foot while some even went all the way through. Howling in pain, the creature collapsed backwards to the ground.

Even so, a dozen warriors had been crushed to death. The fallen giant was stopped from getting up, but it quickly switched tactics to just grab the closest warriors and stuff them into its mouth. Metal creaked and bones cracked even as countless spears stabbed into a weak spot below its ribs.

A river of blood quickly started flowing in the battlefield, most from the giant but a significant amount still from the Archeron warriors themselves.

The giant closest to Richard went wild after tossing its axe, flailing its fists wildly while smashing things at will. Sometimes it crouched and pounded its fists towards the ground, a sickening squelch sounding as humans were popped like berries. Yet, these warriors were all well-trained and not afraid to die for the sake of victory. So long as they wouldn’t be able to dodge, they would instantly erect their spears and shields in the goal of dealing the maximum harm to the opponent. Only a few pounds left the giant’s fists a mangled mess with more than a dozen spears stuck in, causing the creature to roar in pain.

“CHAINS!” an officer shouted loudly, prompting a dozen strong warriors to hurl spear after spear towards the giant’s back at lightning speed. Each spear was about two metres long, the first half covered in barbs angled away from the flesh while the end had a long chain attached to it. A faint glow covered these harpoons, making it clear that every thrower was level 14 or higher. The harpoons quickly cut into the elephantine skin, going all the way to the end of the shaft before coming to a stop at the bones.

Richard noticed streaks of blood running down the giant’s eyes as it howled; it was clearly blinded and unable to dodge. The throwers flung the chains to over a hundred warriors behind them, who immediately formed up in groups of seven to eight and started pulling with all their might.

The giant let out a thunderous snarl, but it couldn’t fight against the sheer might of over a hundred warriors. Its fifteen-metre-tall frame was slowly pulled back before collapsing to the ground, the embedded spears doing even more damage.

“Get out of the way!” the officer roared, taking the lead and jumping on the giant’s chest. Waving his broadsword, he cut right into the giant’s throat. Fresh blood spurted out and covered him, but the giant grabbed him with both hands and stuffed him into its large mouth. More disgusting cracks sounded as mixed crimson started flying out from the giant’s mouth. Fortunately, this was the last casualty; it wasn’t long before the creature’s head tilted to the side and it stopped moving.