There were currently seven guards standing across from Auclair. They all wore shoddy armor and primarily carried swords. The only exception was a large man at the back with a spiked mace and a man in the back with a crossbow.
While Auclair was quickly creating a plan to kill them, another guard appeared, throwing his plan in the garbage.
A gargantuan knight, who was at least a head taller than everyone else, strode past his comrades and stopped. He wore muddy plate armor with thick chain mail underneath. In one arm was a tower shield and the other was a great sword.
Even with all of that, he seemed quite mobile.
Auclair frowned. He didn't even have a weapon, how the hell was he supposed to kill someone like that?
He bit his lip and continued thinking while the guards slowly approached him. Auclair didn't particularly like weapons, he preferred fists and magic. However, he doubted his weakened self could take the giant without one.
The others though, were a different story, and after they were all dead there would be plenty of weapons.
Psssht!
Auclair tilted his head and found a bolt stuck in the wall behind him. To Auclair the crossbowman was probably the least threatening person here. However, depending on how he was hit, there was no doubt he'd die even if he was a god.
With the miss, it'd take a time for him to reload his crossbow, giving Auclair a window to advance.
From the guard's perspective, Auclair simply moved his head an inch or two to the right and burst forward. The closest guardsman didn't even have a chance to react before he was thrown to the floor. He screamed in pain before looking down and finding his leg contorted.
Auclair balled his hand into a fist and drove it into another guard's unarmored head. When it caved in, Auclair took another step back.
'Did that one guy's heart really give me that much strength, or are these guards just extraordinarily weak?' He questioned himself internally as he waited for the guardsmen to start advancing.
However, contrary to his expectations, they stood stunned at Auclair's display of power.
Auclair was simply expecting too much from mostly untrained guards. The guards spent most of their days harassing commoners instead of training for battle.
It was simply incomprehensible for someone like Auclair who had fought armies of the best humans during a dark time in his life.
"Pathetic."
The giant suddenly spoke to the other guardsmen around him with an utterly disappointed tone. He walked menacingly forward towards Auclair. Unfortunately for the giant, Auclair wasn't fazed.
He swung his great sword with a single hand, showing off a great deal of power. Auclair quickly moved his body back and avoided the blade.
'Unlike the crossbowman, he's going for center mass. So it seems he's to be the only one with even a semblance of training.'
When the crossbowman fired at him, he definitely aimed at Auclair's face, for an unarmored opponent, it was a truly idiotic thing to do. Especially considering the crossbow's reload time.
Auclair pushed in and slammed a fist against the tower shield. His hand drove through the wood and out the other side, causing the giant to stagger back at the unexpected force. Auclair quickly removed his hand and took the opportunity to kill more of the other guards.
On the other side of the giant, there were only five guardsmen remaining. One swung his sword nervously towards Auclair, sweat dripping down his chin.
Auclair slid to the ground avoiding it.
While on the ground, he found a spiked mace traveling to towards himself.
He quickly grabbed a small knife off of the dead guard and threw it into the mace wielder's face. The man with the mace slumped to the ground with the mace hitting next to Auclair.
Auclair casually picked up the mace while dodging another bolt from the crossbow.
Unfortunately, a guard behind him was in the crossfire, and so he screamed out when it dug itself into his chest. He staggered before lowering himself to the ground in pain.
"Watch your crossfire and aim for his chest."
"Crossfire."
Both the giant and Auclair admonished the crossbowman, with the giant also giving some guidance.
Four regular guards remained as well as the giant.
'The mace will be useful against the giant. But I'd rather just use my fists for the rest.' Auclair stood in the middle of everyone huffing as he thought. It seemed his stamina was also now lacking considerably.
The giant finally attacked he threw his weight into the shield and charged at Auclair, shepherding him into the three guards with swords.
'He's smart too.' Auclair complimented the man.
While he wanted to use his fists, he was now in an urgent situation and it wasn't exactly wise to lose his weapon. So he narrowly got out of the pin and threw himself to the side.
Now that he was out of the encirclement, his mind came up with the final phase of his plan. He ran back to the man with the knife in his head. He quickly dug it out and carried it with his teeth by the handle.
He wrapped both of his hands around the mace as the battle had the same formation at the start. Auclair on one side, everyone else on the other.
Another bolt was shot at Auclair and this time the crossbowman had learned. Following the instructions he shot at Auclair's chest. Auclair twisted his body but the bolt still grazed his shoulder.
Auclair furrowed his brows as he felt a warm liquid starting to trickle down his chest. Thankfully, he was used to pain or it might've impeded his movements.
While his body was twisted, the giant dropped his shield and charged forward. He gripped the great sword with both hands and swung multiple times in a shockingly quick fashion.
Auclair focused completely on avoiding the blade. While swinging the blade, the man started slowing down and getting sloppier.
Eventually he swung too wide and it got lodged in a wooden beam of a nearby building. Great swords had a time and a place and an alley wasn't one of them.
Taking the opportunity, Auclair swung the mace as hard as he could into the man's knee, bringing him to the ground with a crack. Whilst on the ground, Auclair stood above him and slammed the mace into the helmet three times in rapid succession.
Another bolt was shot at Auclair and this time he couldn't avoid it. He twisted his body but it managed to go straight through his shoulder. Auclair spit out the knife into his hand and practically appeared before the crossbowman in an instant.
'Hubris Auclair. Hubris.'
He swiped the knife across the man's unarmored neck, drawing a thin line of blood. A moment later, the guard doubled over desperately holding their throat which was now profusely bleeding.
Auclair placed the knife's handle in his mouth once more to carry it as he killed the other final three guards with his fists. They collapsed to the ground without any fanfare and instead slowly wet the ground with blood.
Auclair turned towards the giant and found him trying to stand. Auclair chuckled incredulously.
"According to fate, you seemed to be a relatively good man. However your threads run out here and it is any god's duty to make sure fate remains the same."
"Hmm." The man didn't respond.
"Regardless, you sir, are a great fighter. I applaud your strength."
"Your speed isn't half-bad I suppose." The man spoke quietly before laughing. A moment later he coughed and blood leaked out of the breathing holes on his helmet.
He weakly took off his helmet, revealing a chiseled face.
"Come. If I am to die, I'd prefer it to be in a fight." He spoke resolutely.
Auclair quickly ran to the man, placing the knife in his hand. The man didn't bother with defense as he instead swung his sword for the final time.
The outcome was obvious as the giant fell to the ground. Auclair didn't spare him even a glance and instead tore off some of his clothes to wrap his shoulder.
While tightening the wrapping, he crushed the heads of the two surviving guards, the man with the bolt in his chest, and the man with the broken leg.
Afterwards, he slowly began collecting their hearts and eating them.
On the other side of the city, "Geoffrey" was running in between the buildings. The guardsmen had been called by those in the street, but they wouldn't arrive for some time considering the scale of the city and the chaos it suddenly found itself in.
That allowed for him to very quickly hide away. He began stripping off the armor from himself and throwing it in a secluded spot.
When he had arrived here, he barely had an understanding of the Hex Trials.
His family and friends watched them, but he himself was never interested. So rather predictably, he found himself like a fish out of water when he chose to go through that strange portal.
He was from an advanced civilization, so he obviously didn't look the part. He wasn't a murderer though, so when he got the chance he knocked out a guard and took their gear.
He thought it'd be perfect to blend in with, but didn't expect the guards to all patrol together. As such, he tried to stay as quiet as possible because they seemed rather fond of the man Geoffrey. Meaning they definitely understood him enough to spot an impostor.
Once he had gotten off the armor, he made his way to the streets again. He was wearing Geoffrey's clothes still so he could hide easily now.
[Search the city of Eaglehand for a strong relic.]
He checked the trial objective hoping for it to change, but alas, it was still as useless as ever. He had heard mentions of a new king though, if anyone had treasure in this place it had to be him.
Just then.
"Hear ye! Hear ye! The king has an announcement!" A crier shouted while standing on some boxes.
Nearly the whole street stopped to listen to the man.
"As of tomorrow, all foreigner prisoners are to be executed in the city square! Any foreigners seen in the inner city are to be seized, even if they have a pass! The king has declared them spies of enemy nations, and as such, he has declared war on the nations of Cliffton, Talisious, and Rehausser! All able body men are expected to-"
The fake Geoffrey, a young man by the name of Norman stopped listening. If there was to be such a mass execution, surely the king would have to be there in some capacity.
Despite the lunacy of heading to an execution as a "foreigner," it seemed to be the best way to check out the king.
After all, maybe the relic was some form of jewelry.
In some secluded building's interior, the man and woman from the line also heard the declaration. They looked at each other and came to a silent agreement to visit it. After the stunt they pulled, even if the decree wasn't said, they were sure to get arrested if they were seen anyway.
Finally, Auclair was eating the giant's heart when he heard the decree from atop a roof. He didn't think much of it, instead he focused on his meal.
'It's pretty bland, so he must not have been that good of a man.' Auclair sighed, 'I expected better.'
That was until a certain thought crept into his mind.
"I bet all the hearts of the men around the king taste rotten. But I expect some of his guards to at least have nutritious hearts. They do say that the best things for the body often taste the worst."
Auclair began planning silently as he finished the giant's heart and cleaned himself up.