Chereads / Barbaroi : Tech and Steel / Chapter 32 - Destined to Doom

Chapter 32 - Destined to Doom

The beast jumped a great deal toward its enemies. Seeking to rip one of them apart with its vicious talons, it stretched both arms and then swung them while landing on the ground, cutting through the air sharply. The warrior rolled backward and escaped its attack, shooting back his plasma-bolt at the same time. Yet, the brute did not stop there. Almost at a speed of lightning, it rushed onto the foe to make a consecutive attack. Stepping in its way, however, another warrior then smited the charging beast with his massive tech-hammer, staggering it so as to save his battle-brother from the imminent danger.

Now, it was their turn to attack. From afar, a tech-maiden made a huge jump toward the monster. Upon hitting the ground, she thrust her sword into its back near the right shoulder. Struck by an enormous pain, the beast screamed horribly. Out of utmost pain and agony, unconsciously it swung its right arm backward, as if the beast was shrugging off a viper that had bitten its flesh. Unfortunate to its assailant, however, it somehow managed to hit the tech-maiden, who was still there while trying hard to pull out her sword. Due to its monstrous strength, the blow sent her flying above the ground, and then shoved her into one of the gigantic trees behind. Struck hard, the tech-maiden soon fell unconscious under the tree.

"Fight on, my brothers and sisters! The beast shall die here and today, no matter what!" Aelthred cried out.

Inspired by the noble Prince, without hesitating one of the warriors charged at the monster, his tech-axe held aloft. The beast turned around swiftly, and swung its sharp-clawed arm at him. Sliding beneath it, however, the brave warrior skillfully dodged the attack. He then struck his axe into one of its legs and pulled it out, horridly cutting its raw flesh. Blood spurting out, the beast soon dropped down on the knee of its wounded leg.

The rest of the warriors, including Prince Aelthred himself, soon joined up the fray. All at once, they ran onto the monstrous foe, shouting out their war-cry. From thence the brutal mutilation began. Mercilessly, they hacked, cleaved, and smashed down the enemy with utmost ferocity. A sword after an axe, a hammer after a flail, they pressed on their vicious assault without rest. Each time a blow was struck on its massive body, the beast squealed in torment, its face crumpled in agony.

"Damnation upon thee and thy children, ye worthless scums. May your gods abandon you, put you amidst the same miserable fate as mine!"

Despite its dire curses, the hunters did not ever hesitate in hurting the brute. Spotting a tech-sword stuck in its back, another warrior leaped onto its shoulder. There, she reached out for the sword with both hands. Upon gripping onto the war-gear, she then let herself fell down on the ground, pulling out the sword using her body weight. Once again, its dark blood gushed out from where the sword had been stuck deep. Not missing a chance, her colleague then cleaved further its wound with his sword, almost up to its right arm.

The beast stumbled and faltered, instinctively making a distance from its cruel assailants. At this point it no longer had a place to hide; the hunters had already cornered the beast a great deal, making it impossible to sneak away. The brute breathed hard in pain, its body as a whole covered in grievous wounds.

Along with a painful sensation creeping into its nerves, however, there soon began to arise an emotion of hatred-and fury as well-within the beast's twisted soul. It did not matter if the brute would survive the battle at all; even so, it would eventually die at the hands of its creators, one way or another. It just wanted to wreck vengeance on its foes, not for its destined death in the near future, but for all the pain and torment they had so far brought upon it. Out of extreme hatred, the beast roared. Then again, it made its move against the enemies, rushing toward them despite its bodily conditions.

Meanwhile, the warriors were all finished with reloading their ranged weapons. As soon as the beast kicked the ground, all the muzzles were then set ablaze, pouring out storms of laser and plasma at it. No longer able to bear the enemy fire pounding it, the beast's wounded right arm, which had been barely hanging onto the shoulder, was completely torn off at last. Still however, the beast was relentless as ever, captivated by maddening fury upon its enemies.

Upon reaching one of the warriors ahead, the furious beast swung its left arm greatly. This time, way too much absorbed in firing his plasma-bolt the warrior could not evade it and was struck hard. His body then flew away a few dozen meters, and hit the ground shortly. He was not killed, though, but yet it was evident that he would not be joining the fight anytime soon due to his injuries.

Soon as he fully assessed the situation, the Prince then decided to finish up the fight as quickly as possible; or else the casualties would be way more severe than expected. He noticed that the brute was now bleeding heavily, especially right after losing its limb. Still at this point, due to its utmost ferocity it would be risky for any of the warriors-even for the Prince himself-to attempt to decapitate the beast.

Yet, what if they were to bleed it more, and then let it fall on its own knees? Furthermore, why would not they rip off its another arm, and then render it weaponless? All six of them remaining-except for the unconscious ones, and knowing well how sharp their swords and axes were, Aelthred thought that both would be possible enough. Reaching for the small head, placed on top of its enormous body, would prove to be difficult indeed. Yet, cutting off its arm was an another story; if they were to focus their efforts well enough, then such would be not as much difficult-or so it seemed, at least.

Aelthred ordered his warriors to attack on its left shoulder, and then move onto its remaining arm.

"Warriors, focus your attack on its leftmost shoulder and arm. We shall cut it off from where it belonged to, once and for all."

The warrior with a massive tech-hammer was to go first. Whirling his hammer in a circle once, he then smote the beast's shoulder with it, putting all of his strength in the blow. Both the war-gear's sheer weight and its electromagnetic power field shattered the bone beneath its flesh, making the beast scream in terrible pain.

Another warrior soon followed up the assault. This time, the warrior climbed up the back of her foe, which was now inclined forward while bearing the pain of broken bones. She then stabbed her sword into the beast's wounded shoulder a couple of times in a row. Finishing her attack, as she leapt off from its torso, her colleague immediately swung his tech-axe right into its stabbed wounds. The beast nearly fell onto the ground, blood horribly gushing out of its left shoulder.

As if an army of ants would crawl upon a carcass of some large beast, all the available warriors soon gathered up around the beast-some of them even stepping on it. There, without any mercy, they stabbed, impaled, and trampled down the gigantic body of their foe. Like a helpless animal the beast squealed underneath the barbarians' steel boots. Nevertheless, they did not cease their assault at all. It was truly a scene of carnage, a feast of blood, only this time done by the hands of barbaric humans, not those of the monsters.

By the time the left arm was almost torn off, Aelthred stepped onto its torso, reaching out for its wounded limb. The Prince then held it with his both hands, and started pulling it out of its socket. The beast cried in torment while Aelthred's heirloom armor hissed loudly, sending up the power to its wearer's arms.

With a cracking sound, the beast's limb was half-way ripped apart. No longer feeling its left arm, the beast gasped in horror and shock. The Prince still went on, giving it a last, big push. Finally, the arm was pulled off from the beast's shoulder, tons of dark blood pouring out of it. Weakly, its eyes rolled over to the warriors ahead, looking at them in utmost hatred. Then, the eyes rolled downward without any strength, never looking up afterwards.

Another victory was achieved; the deadly hunt was all over. In the middle of night, a moon shone upon the victors, all covered with sweat and blood. Aelthred held aloft his tech-sword, and cried out in joy. The rest soon followed up, joining his excitement. 3-Divines had granted them another moment of glory and honor; so they thought in thankful hearts. Forevermore, against any of the foe shall they be triumphant. Forevermore, their heroic deeds shall be remembered. Eternal glory was already due to them, for they were all ferocious tech-warriors; mighty be their arms made of flesh, deadly be their armament made of tech and steel. Indeed, those were the very thoughts of the warriors at that time.

Nevertheless, no one yet knew for sure, including the victors themselves, what path of destiny might be waiting for them on their journey to the eternal glory. Without any recognition on what might come at him very soon, so did Prince Aelthred, who only knew at the moment to relish today's victory. In the end, all shall be revealed to them, whether fortunate or tragic. By that time, however, there shall be no escape for them from their own fates; they shall receive whatever they are granted with, and even the Divines shall have no power over it-not anyone.