Against the Giant

Xaren and the other four had their shoes crunch against the crumbling edges of rooftops as they jumped across the wreckage-strewn cityscape.

They ignored the devastation around them, focusing on the giant who had his back turned as he continued his rampage. His massive fists smashed into the earth, blowing away another set of demons.

Just as the giant was about to swing again, his body froze and he turned his head, locking his brown eyes onto their quintet.

Recognition flashed in the giant's eyes as he saw Xaren, then, his lips curled up into a grin like before.

"You dare?"

Turning around fully, the giant raised his hand and threw a punch at them.

The group froze for a fraction of a second, their expressions showing confusion. They were still over a hundred meters away—there was no way the punch could reach them, right? 

But after having seen the ridiculous power of the giant before, they didn't need Xaren to warn them of the danger.

On instinct, the five scattered, each leaping in a different direction just as a shockwave erupted from the giant's hand. 

**BOOM!!

The shockwave tore through the air, hitting the building they had been on moments ago. The structure crumbled instantly, its walls folding inward as debris rained down like an avalanche.

Xaren landed on another rooftop, rolling for a bit before getting on one knee and reaching out with his left hand.

"Child of Gravity."

He muttered the name of his Unique Skill, gritting his teeth as he felt the energy leave his core. Dark red light coated the falling fragments of the ruined building, keeping them afloat even though gravity should have brought them down.

Then, he threw his arm forward and the fragments shot forward like missiles, streaking toward the giant. 

Seeing this, the giant raised his arms, coating them in his aura that solidified like a second skin. The fragments collided, shattering against his defences and raining harmless dust down at his feet. 

"Telekinesis, huh?"

The giant muttered under his breath and though Xaren knew it wasn't telekinesis, there was no point correcting him.

Instead, Xaren used his gravity powers to launch a sword belonging to a nearby fallen giant, but his opponent simply caught the enormous blade as if it weighed nothing.

Xaren doubled the blade's weight, but though it momentarily surprised the giant, it didn't have the intended effect.

The giant let the sword fall, and then he swung his fist down on it, shattering it into useless shards with his aura.

But before the giant could make another move, he sensed something from his left and turned just in time to see Ilya swinging her sword down at him.

The giant raised his left hand to block Ilya's sword, then coated his right arm in aura to block Carack's flames.

Kravok and Bjorn circled behind the giant to strike from the rear, but the giant sensed this and jumped forward, creating a distance they couldn't cross easily.

Landing, he spun around and threw his fist forward, sending another shockwave and the two immediately scattered to avoid getting hit.

Before he could follow up the attack, Xaren tossed another set of building fragments at him while shouting at the others.

"Keep moving! Hit him from all sides—don't let him focus on one target!" 

Ilya used wind magic to boost her speed as she ran up a building, getting to a perfect vantage point before firing wind bombs at the giant's head, forcing him to shield his face with one arm.

Carack lunged in from the side, aiming for the giant's exposed flank, while Kravok struck at his legs, attempting to exploit his size.

The giant swiped at them with his massive hands, but they moved out of his reach and seeing this, the other unranked demons froze in their tracks, their eyes wide as they took in the scene unfolding before them. 

"Are they insane?"

"They're gonna get themselves killed!"

Such were the words the unranked spoke as they retreated into the crumbled remnants of a nearby structure. 

One of them even noticed Xaren who had seemingly warned them about the giant's strength now fighting it and couldn't be any more confused.

Murmurs of doubt rippled through the surrounding demons, most of whom were scrambling to avoid being noticed by the giant sweeping building tops with each wave of his hands.

Xaren happened to land beside some of such demons as he dodged one of the giant's attacks, and he clicked his tongue.

Expending some of his demonic energy, he doubled the weights of these demons, making them stumble as an invisible force pressed down on them.

It created the illusion that his demonic energy was so strong that they struggled to stand in his presence, drawing enough attention to him.

"Pick yourselves up unless you want to get crushed by this bastard and die cowering like rats!" 

The unranked demons nearest to him flinched, and those who were further away heard his shout and snapped their gazes at him with incredulous expressions.

"This bastard is trying to kill us, so, we'll kill him before he can! He's strong, yeah, but if we swarm him, he'll fall like the other giants!" 

Xaren extended his left hand as he spoke, lifting the corpse of a fallen giant with some difficulty. He hurled the massive body right at the 20-metre giant's face.

Sensing this, the giant who was about to punch Kravok into a building, turned and reached out to push the corpse away.

But as his hand moved, Ilya dashed in from the side, her speed so astounding that even the giant was caught off guard for a second.

Ilya darted between the giant's outstretched hand and the flying corpse, her blade slashing through the air. 

Blood sprayed in all directions. 

The first splash came from the dead giant's body as Ilya's blade tore through it. But then, more blood followed—fresh and bright red, spilling from the giant's hand where Ilya had sliced it. 

The giant roared in pain, jerking back as some blood dripped into his eyes. Reflexively, he shut them, his free hand moving to wipe his face clean. 

Ilya landed on the ground, using wind magic to control her fall. Seeing as her boots skidded across the rubble-strew ground and blood dripped from her sword, the other demons looked on with awe.

"She did it…"

"She made it bleed." 

These unranked demons were simple-minded in the way that they respected the strong. Seeing Ilya draw blood from the giant that had been killing many other demons turned their expressions of fear to awe.

The giant could bleed. It could fall. It could die. 

Those three sentences appeared in the heads of the majority of the unranked demons and with roars of their own, they charged at the giant, emboldened by the sight of the towering enemy's vulnerability. 

"Don't fight recklessly! Don't let it hit you! Always be ready to dodge!" 

Xaren barked as the demons closed the gap, and the giant, one eye still closed from the sting of blood, let out a furious bellow.

He swung his massive arm, sweeping across the battlefield in an attempt to crush the demons advancing on him.

"Spread out! Don't cluster together!" 

Xaren shouted and the demons obeyed, scattering in every direction as the giant's arm smashed into the ground, sending a shockwave rippling outward.

At that moment, Ilya's troop who had scattered after the bell tower massacre began to regroup around her.

"Captain Ilya!"

The burly, red-skinned Drogror called out to her and Ilya's head snapped in his direction. She was momentarily startled to see them closing in, but she quickly composed herself.

"Circle its legs! Force it to divide its attention!"

The demons roared and charged under her orders, and Xaren, upon noticing this, nodded silently.

'Still, it's not enough. We need more numbers…'

"Keep hitting it from different angles! Don't stop moving!" 

Xaren shouted as he flung debris at the giant to keep him off balance, creating openings for the other demons to attack and cause small wounds with their combined attacks.

Looking around, he spotted what remained of a water tank's stand—a hefty, jagged piece of metal, a bit bent, but otherwise intact.

'Perfect.'

He wrapped his magic around it and used Repulsion to hurl it at the giant with all the force he could muster. 

The metal frame spun through the air like a spear, aiming straight for the giant's chest. But the giant sensed it and reached out, catching the projectile mid-air.

His eyes snapped in Xaren's direction, brows furrowing as he spoke.

"You just keep throwing things, don't you?"