'The Giant is coming!'
This single thought echoed through the minds of the poor souls on the battlefield. They felt ever-greater dread and fear with each quake of the ground. As if the giant monsters weren't enough, now a literal mountain was coming at them.
The low morale dropped even further. The only thing keeping the warriors fighting was the fact that they had nowhere to run. For them, it was either victory or death.
'The Giant is coming!'
The beasts celebrated, fighting with even greater vigor and aggression. The damned weaklings of the human race were falling by the hundreds under their blades. And with their leader, the mighty Giant on the battlefield, their blood boiled in excitement.
With each quake of the ground, they roared in a way only they knew how. It was pure rage and bloodlust, like a mad rabid animal.
'The Giant is coming!'
The King frowned as he looked at his opponent from afar. The four Guardians were still circling around him, murmuring some ancient and twisted words. The ground underneath was sprayed with their fresh blood, forming complicated Runes and geometrical patterns.
No army could hope to take on a beast of that size. Some would classify it as a Class 4 monster, based on its body size, but that told nothing of its brutal strength and defense. Even with the humanoid beast appearing to have suffered a severe injury in the distant past, the scar of which was still visible on its chest, resistance would be futile.
That's why special measures had to be taken. Having only recently crossed the threshold and stepped into Nascent Soul Realm, he was all too aware how weak his cultivation was compared to the beast.
Ten of him fighting it at once would have no chance of beating it. Not unless he put his life as well as centuries of the Kingdom's treasures accumulation on the line.
'What I wouldn't do for my Kingdom,' he mentally sighed, taking a look at the vial containing Elixir of Life and Fire in his hand. 'I just hope sacrificing my lifespan will be worth it.'
He turned his hand around, and the potion disappeared, being safely stored in one of his rings. He then closed his eyes and focused on the power that was slowly flowing into him.
***
"What the hell are those five doing?" Gerald murmured as he watched the King and his generals perform some sort of sacrificial ritual.
The battle was chaotic enough, but now even Mana in the air became restless, and it all originated from them. That's why he even noticed them, otherwise, they would have remained ignored until the very end.
Due to them being quite far, he couldn't see them very well. Luckily he knew how lenses worked, and with a few minutes of trial and error, he figured out how to bend light so it would act as a telescope. Now his eyes could clearly see stuff happening even five times further away.
And so he observed them from the safety of the city walls. He could see their Auras and magic, but he refused to go any closer than that due to the sinister vibe coming from them.
The four generals cut their hands and drew symbols on the ground while sprinkling around some sort of dust, most likely made from Pure Ether Crystals.
And then their Auras grew for an instant, before shrinking and being seemingly absorbed by the Runes, together with massive amounts of Mana that was getting sucked in.
Similar to how the Master Mages transferred their powers to the Grandmaster Mage Spark for the Rain of Fire, the four were somehow lending their powers to the King at the moment.
However, the increase wasn't simply additive. Something changed on the fundamental level, as his Aura didn't simply grow, it became stronger and brighter in his eyes as well. Like the rising sun, it overshadowed all other combatants on the field.
"Actually, now that I think about it," Gerald murmured as a frown formed on his face, "That armor… It doesn't look like anything I have ever seen."
What he meant by that was, that despite looking similar to the protection worn by the Paladins, the color and vibe it gave off were completely the opposite.
While the silver armor of the Paladins was bright and clean, encouraging goodness and wellbeing, the one King Robart III wore was anything but.
It looked old and battle-worn, grayish-green on the surface and dark blue underneath, and black in some places. It was scratched and twisted in some places and had spikes protruding from the pauldrons and elbows, between 5-10 centimeters long.
Despite the apparent age, the pieces were tightly bound together, barely leaving any gaps between the plates, giving a sense of power and invulnerability to those that laid their eyes on it.
Gerald had to shake his head to tear his gaze away from it. It was like the metal was pulling him closer, urging him to take it for himself. He had to look away to get the bizarre thoughts of greed from his mind.
The rest didn't seem to have felt the pull, or if they did, nobody showed it.
"So bizarre…"
The King's Aura has tripled by now and the growth started showing signs of slowing down. The four generals, however, appeared weak and drained, pale and slow. A minute later they were all on the ground, struggling to simply take in a breath.
Shadow Guards suddenly appeared on top of the wall and jumped down, dragging the four Guardians away while feeding them medicine. They glanced at the Giant with expressionless faces and then bowed at the King, before turning away.
This was no place for the weak.
King Robart III cracked his neck and shook his limbs to steady his nerves. His Aura was like the sun, shining brightly in Gerald's eyes. He also felt an oppressive force whenever he looked at it, making it difficult to observe in secret.
A hefty-looking hammer appeared in King's hand and a helmet in the other. After Putting the last piece of protection on, the armor started to dimly glow blue underneath the grayish-green exterior. Mana became even more chaotic at that moment, and that's also when the King moved.
He gripped the Warhammer with both hands as he let it hang to one side, crouched down, and… He was gone.
An explosion of earth and dust was all that was left on the spot where he was standing before, as well as a deep pair of footprints.
Gerald jerked his head to the side, deactivating his magic binoculars. His eyes widened in shock as he saw King Robart III land nearly fifty meters away an instant later, only to take off in the same manner once more.
Each jump propelled him about fifty meters, lasting just about a second. A few short moments later, he already reached the Giant, jumping one last time with all he had, aiming straight for the monster's ugly and surprised face.
"FOR MYRTANA!"
He swung his hammer.
BOOOM!