"What's going on?" Luke asked, a ball of nerves forming in his gut as the earth rumbled beneath his feet.
"A giant is being born," Nel answered, rising a few feet into the air but for the moment not leaving. A ring on her finger flashed, and a spear, ten feet long and made of some shining silver metal, appeared in the air beside her. Luke's eyes lingered on the mysterious glyphs etched along its length, glowing softly in the evening light.
What are those? he thought.
"I thought the Giant Tide was a few months away."
"One giant isn't a tide," she answered absently, "and there are always giants." She rose higher into the air as another tremor shook the earth.
Lukeus came running back, his eyes wide in surprise and a sword already drawn. "Is that what I think it is?"
Nel frowned and nodded solemnly. "Gather the—"
"Lily!" he screamed and sprinted back into the town.
Luke and Nel briefly shared looks of surprise and confusion.
"Idiot!" Nel cursed under her breath, but she let him go regardless, even looking slightly relieved as he ran past the gate and into the town proper.
"Is the town in danger?" Luke asked her, his mind flashing to Al and Zoe.
"No. The town is shielded. The shaking is the giant trying and failing to get into the town from underneath. It should give up soon and emerge around here somewhere."
"Shielded?"
"Yes. We'd all be dead if monsters crawled out of the earth beneath our homes." She looked at him like he was an idiot.
Relax, lady, I just got here.
"Right." Luke nodded along at her explanation, turning to watch the town. More and more dust had risen into the air, but like she said, the giant was unable to emerge into the city. "Why do they attack?"
"I don't know."
"How strong are they?"
Her frown deepened. "It depends. Most of them are at the Mortal tier, some at the Warrior, and if it's a bad year, a handful of them spawn at the Hero tier. That normally only happens at the peak of the Tide, though."
"What's this one?"
"I don't know."
I have a bad feeling about this.
"I guess we'll find out," Luke said, pulling his own sword from its sheath. His eyes darted to Nel's longer-than-average spear and back to his own average-size sword. Is it too small?
No. Maybe if I didn't have the boots, I'd be biting a giant's ankles, but with them, I should have adequate reach. If it comes down to that. He looked at Nel appraisingly. She is a Warrior, so there's a good chance that it won't. It'll be interesting to see what someone who has transcended mortality can do.
The ground rumbled again.
"Elder!" A few dozen figures came running down the street, a mixture of blue and black-robed cultivators.
"Is tha—"
"A giant, yes." Nel looked over at them. "I need all Outer Disciples to go into the town and make sure the mortals are okay. Help them with what you can. They should know not to come out of the town already, but there are always a few who think they know better. Keep them in."
"Right!" A girl nodded eagerly. "Let's go!" She took off, and the others followed after her.
"What are you waiting for?" one of them said to Luke, seeing him stand still.
"Oh, um, I'm not a—"
"He stays." Nel cut Luke off. "Go."
The Outer Disciple looked confused but obeyed her command nonetheless.
"Elder Agnella. What do you need us to do?"
"Draw your weapons and form a loose circle around the town. I want you to position yourself a hundred meters away from the walls. That's where the giant will emerge. Take these." Her ring flashed, and stacks of talismans appeared in the air around her. She gestured vaguely, and the stack of papers separated evenly before sorting itself into small piles and floating to every Inner Disciple. "Three Warrior-tier protective talismans, three explosive talismans, and one flare. If you see the giant, light the flare, and I'll come over to you. The light will draw the creature, but the protective talismans should hold long enough for me to get there. If they fail, do NOT, and I mean it, DO NOT lead the creature toward the town."
The Inner Disciples nodded solemnly and scurried off.
"What do you need me to do?" Luke asked.
"I don't know you, nor do I trust you with the safety of these people. Do what you wish, but stay out of my way, and away from the town." She stared at him threateningly.
Luke met her gaze evenly and nodded.
That was one fast shift in personality.
"I'm glad we understand each other." Her ring flashed again, and another set of talismans appeared before they floated down toward Luke. "They're the same as the ones I gave the others."
"Thanks?" Luke grabbed them out of the air and looked at her curiously. Mixed signals much?
"You are a disciple of the Rising Sun now, and I won't leave you to die. In the unlikely event that the giant emerges near you, light the flare and I'll come to you." She rose higher into the air and drifted a few feet away before stalling. "I'd suggest you wait for our return at the camp. The monster is attracted to people, and it won't pick a lone target over tens of thousands. Hopefully."
Then, in a blur of motion, she was gone.
Fast, Luke thought. He stared at the talismans she'd left him before dropping them into his inventory.
What to do, what to do.
Luke looked at the town and then at the camp, trying to decide between them.
Should I just do what she says? If the giant really is going to pop out at a random spot, then trying to find where it's going to emerge from is useless. I could keep an eye out for the flares and go over, but this is potentially a Warrior-tier monster. Or higher. I really hope it's not higher.
Do I really want to put myself anywhere close to it? Luke clenched and unclenched his fist around his sword before turning on his heel and walking farther away from the town.
Right now, doing as she says is probably for the best. Seeing a monster isn't worth getting on her bad side, and joining another organization has too many benefits for me to risk Nel changing her mind by acting stupid. If what she says is true about the town, then I'm not likely to make a big difference by going inside, either. If anything, it's more likely I'll disrupt whatever they're trying to do, or just end up standing awkwardly in a corner.
Not worth it.
Another tremor ran through the ground. This one was closer and stronger than any Luke had felt before. Pausing, he turned back toward the town.
His heart dropped into his stomach.
A single tree-size arm poked out of the surface of the earth. Long, thin, gray, and veiny. A head ripped its way free next. Bald, gray, with six eyes that glowed red with the light of molten stone, lacking any other features. Another arm jutted outward, breaking free of its earthen prison.
It slapped its two arms to the earth, and Luke watched with astonishment as the ground hardened and became a glassy obsidian where its palms hit grass. With an effortless heave, it pulled itself free from the dirt. Two more sets of arms followed, jutting out of its ribs, which in turn were followed by a pair of monstrous legs. Revealing its full form. It was as tall as a two-story house, and six freakishly large arms brushed the ground on its otherwise proportional frame.
Languidly, it stretched its limbs and rolled its shoulders. Like a king surveying its domain, its gaze locked onto the horizon. Its skin bubbled and churned before hardening, once-smooth flesh turning to rock.
It looked to the sky, and its eyes crinkled into a smile.
Luke took a slow and cautious step back, careful not to move too fast, lest he draw its attention to him. He ignored the beating of his heart. Its head snapped in his direction.
Luke's eyes locked with the giant's.
Recalling Nel's instructions, he withdrew the flare from his inventory and ripped the perforated tab on the paper's bottom. The talisman flew free from his fingers and floated in the air for a moment before erupting into brilliant white light, glowing brighter and brighter as it ascended into the sky. Leaving a trail leading back to Luke.
The Gegenees bent its knees, and all six of its hands sank into the earth.
What's it—
Something whizzed by Luke's head and smashed into a tree behind him, shattering its trunk in an instant and filling the air with leaves. The creature stood straight and proudly displayed five hands clutching obsidian orbs, while an empty sixth waved at Luke happily.
What the fuck. Why is it waving!
Luke ripped the tab off a protective talisman, and a large, translucent wall appeared in front of him.
The giant furrowed its eyeballs in a crude facsimile of a frown, its arm blurred, and an obsidian orb shattered over the barrier, which for the moment held firm. Its false frown deepened, two arms blurred in quick succession, and two more times the giant's artillery broke over Luke's barrier.
Seemingly having absorbed enough punishment, the barrier dissolved, and as it did, Luke activated another one. Just in time to stop another barrage.
This thing is on a whole different level, Luke thought, on the verge of panicking. The third and last talisman was in his hand, ready for the moment his current one fizzled out.
Focus. I need to focus. I don't have time to be scared, Luke thought as he slipped into the First Stance of the Sword.
Time seemed to slow as he became hyperaware of the giant's movements. Luke's eyes traced over every contour of its body and came to an obvious conclusion. He was too clunky and not anywhere near fast enough to react to its projectiles.
The monster dipped its hands into the ground again, no doubt preparing for another volley. Luke focused on his mana as he prepared to act.
Mentally calling on his status, he dumped all his stat points into Agility. Every drop of aethereal mana that the Seed had stored away entered his body at once and, under the inhumanly precise control of the Seed, spread over his entire nervous system and into his tendons. At the same time, the world itself seemed to snap into focus as colors became more vivid and every detail more crisp.
In quick succession, one obsidian orb after another crashed into the barrier, and the second it gave way, Luke ran forward, faster than he ever had before.
I can't attack it from the front, its arms give it too much reach, and not even my spear is long enough to snake past them.
The monster's arm flexed, and Luke kicked off the ground and into the air, dodging its attack with fractions of a second to spare. Channeling mana into his boots, Luke ran across the air, the First Stance alerting him to the monster's every action and guiding him through the barrage.
The distance between them shrank rapidly, and the monster cocked its head to the side in confusion, seemingly stunned that its prey was running toward it rather than away. Its eyes set into a smile.
Lifting a leg into the air, it kicked the earth. The ground twisted where its foot raked across, and a spray of obsidian balls flew into the air.
Activating his last protective talisman, Luke let it absorb the attack as he climbed higher and higher into the sky.
His mana dwindled away as the First Stance of the Sword once again whispered in the back of his mind. Directing him toward the monster's inevitable demise.
All I need to do is— The draw on his mana spiked.
Abruptly the technique stopped working, his vision swam, and his boots failed him. He was out of mana.
Shit, shit, shi—
Luke tumbled to the ground, rolling to a stop at the monster's feet.
The monster stepped back and bowed forward, observing the human that had landed before it.
Luke's eyes met all six of the giant's. It blinked slowly before stretching back up. Lifting a fist into the air, it waved goodbye with five of its hands.
A message flashed in front of his eyes.
Threat detected.
NO FUCKING SHIT.