Theodore cursed as his mental blast struck a Giant. The large stupid creature staggered, eyes going blank for a couple seconds, until it regained control of itself. It was long enough for Roger to slam his shield into the ugly creature’s knee. The sound of bone breaking was loud.

  I thought he was a Shieldbearer not a Shieldbreaker, Theodore thought, chuckling at his own joke.

  The giant fell to one knee, Mike Turner dashing in and stabbing the beast in the neck. Blood gushed out, covering Mike who retreated, choking and retching, wiping at his face to get rid of the blood. Theodore looked around, not seeing Harper Brady. Young Mike had tried to be the dashing, heroic warrior and got covered in blood for nothing.

  The oldest Brady girl had been around not that long ago. Appearing and slashing her weapons across the achilles tendons of a giant, then disappearing and leaving others to finish off the beast. Lazy of her. Roger looked around for Malcolm, the group’s Healer, wanting to get his minor wounds fixed. Malcolm was further back with all the other Healers, directly out of harm’s way, able to use their Abilities on everyone and not just their team. Roger hadn’t liked that idea, but had been overruled. Theodore thought it smart, even though he would never let Lochlan Brady know one of his ideas was smart.

  Or had it come from that Drew boy?

  That one seemed to be getting more and more of Lochlan’s time. He was one to watch out for. Theodore had wanted to get Drew into the hive, but the few times he’d approached the younger man, he’d been dismissed. Drew didn’t want to talk. Theodore had tried sending some of those in the hive to get Drew to open up to the ideas Theodore said, but it didn’t work. It was like talking with those elves that had joined the Clan. They didn’t want to hear anything Theodore said.

  Why didn’t they want to listen to reason? Everything Theodore said made sense and was logical. The Voice made sure of it.

  He searched the battlefield, finding the cluster of elvish groups. They fought the giants differently from Clan Brady. There was more finesse and tactics, not like they had experience at it but just that they knew a better way. Which they probably did. From what little Theodore had overheard, the elves and giants were from the same world. They had been fighting each other for centuries, if not more.

  That was one thing Theodore had yet to really accept. He wasn’t going to die in the eighty to ninety year range, but could live to a couple hundred if not more. As long as some monster didn’t kill him. The higher Leveled, the longer he’d live. It was an amazing thought.

  How big could he grow the Hive if he was two hundred years old? If he lived to be five hundred? How many could he control at that point?

  “Teddy!,” Mike yelled out.

  Theodore growled, shaken from his thoughts. He hated that name. He was half-tempted to let the giant attacking Mike win, killing the annoying brat, but that wouldn’t look good. He needed Mike alive for a while longer.

  Activating Mind Blast, Theodore sent a sharp spike of pain into the giant’s mind. The monster roared, dropping its club as it clutched at its head with both hands. The thing looked male, but Theodore didn’t care. No matter how humanoid it was, the giant was still a monster. It roared, shaking its head to try and get rid of the pain.

  He didn’t need to, but Theodore sent another Mind Blast, making the giant fall down to its knees. The creatures had such small brains when compared to their size. It was easy to overwhelm them with the Mind Blast. He stopped attacking, letting his Spirit recharge, as Mike and Roger stabbed and slashed at the giant, cutting it to ribbons. It would have been nice to have their Archer, Eric Hanlon, with them but like the Healers all the ranged fighters were further up the rocky slope where they could attack all over the battlefield.

  Another good idea by Lochlan Brady. Theodore hated giving that man any credit for any success.

  ***

  Drew jumped to the side, feeling the kinetic energy of the club slamming into the ground gathering in his body. He’d felt strong when he fought the ogres, but it was nothing compared to fighting these giants. He was higher Leveled than back then, but these giants were much stronger too. The kinetic energy he absorbed from the near misses was crazy.

  He darted to the side, moving around the giant, making the creature spin to catch him. He slowed just a bit, letting the club hit the ground right where he’d been. That last near hit had given him the last energy he needed.

  Pushing a little kinetic energy into speed, Drew darted around the giant again, jumping up as high as he could go. One truncheon slammed into the giant’s kidney, the other into the monster’s shoulder. There was the sharp crack of multiple bones breaking, a squishier sound of something soft being smashed. The giant roared, staggering back, blood falling from the wound on his side.

  Drew shook his truncheon, getting the blood and organs off the weapon. He’d been surprised at how much penetration the blunt weapon had gotten. The giant’s skin was tough, almost like leather armor, but the truncheon with the added kinetic energy behind it had burst through the skin like it was nothing. It was kind of gross, but Drew didn’t stop to worry too much about it. The giant was still alive.

  It reached up the only good arm, the other hanging useless and broken, trying to grab at Drew. He dodged the fingers, cracking bone with quick hits from the truncheons. He still had some energy stored. With how weak the giant was becoming, Drew didn’t think he’d be able to get much more energy from this one. So he didn’t bother.

  Moving on, he heard the giant yell out in pain as someone else came in behind and stabbed or speared it. Might have been the twins, they had been following behind Drew for a bit.

  He paused, looking around the battlefield, trying to find his next target. Elora appeared next to him, pointing her sword at a female giant charging toward them.

  “Shall we?” she said, smiling.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  “Lets,” Drew replied.

  He ran ahead of Elora, getting the giant to focus on him. She moved to the side. The giant swung at Drew. He dodged to the side, feeling the kinetic energy from the club’s miss flowing into his body. A truncheon swung out, smacking the giant in the ankle. He hadn’t added any more power to it, just the normal strength of the weapon and his own. The giant barely noticed, but that was the plan. The giant forgot about Elora.

  She didn’t forget about Elora for long. A sword stabbed out, cutting into the back of the giant’s knee. It wasn’t a solid strike, just slicing the skin but no tendons or muscle. It was enough to grab the giant’s attention. Turning, the giant swung the club, Elora ducking underneath. Drew darted in, throwing a little power into the truncheon. He swung at the wounded back of knee, the magically strengthened weapon slamming into the wound. With the extra power, the knee buckled, the giant stumbling.

  She used the giant club to keep herself from falling, bracing it against the ground. Elora jumped onto the weapon, pulling herself to the giant’s hand. She stabbed down with her sword, piercing the skin of the hand. The giant released the weapon, Elora flipping off and landing on her feet.

  The giant grabbed for Elora, who danced out of the way. Instead of swinging his weapon, Drew stabbed out with it, poking the end into the wounded knee. The giant howled, quickly swinging around.

  Drew wasn’t fast enough, the giant’s fist slamming into him. He went flying, landing hard and sliding across the ground. His whole body hurt, but nothing seemed broken. He thanked his Adapted body and Kinetic Absorption Ability. It wasn’t a shield but it helped keep blows from hurting as bad since he absorbed a lot of the energy.

  Pushing himself up, he staggered a bit, shaking his head to clear the bit of cobwebs. That blow had hurt. He promised himself to not let it happen again. Cursing, he looked around for his weapons. He’d dropped them when sent flying.

  Elora was dancing around the giant, but not able to land any blows. Weaponless, the giant was trying to grab the elf, blood dripping from the wounded hand. Both hands reached out, trying to catch Elora, trying to trap her.

  Giving the ground one last look, trying to see his weapons, Drew raced forward. He channeled the stored energy into his fists. Crouching down, he sprung up, jumping onto the giant’s back. He grabbed the rough hide clothing the giant wore, using it to pull himself up. The giant bucked, trying to knock him off, giving Elora an opening. She slashed her sword across the giant’s leg, making the giant thrash harder, almost knocking Drew off.

  One hand slipped, the other barely holding on to the hide. Drew wanted to let it go. The material felt disgusting, matted with dirt and he didn’t want to know what else. It all smelled. Trying to hold his breath, he swung himself against the giant’s back, grabbing the cloth with his other hand. Climbing, he grabbed the collar, pulling himself up. Legs wrapped around the giant’s neck, holding on to flowing hair.

  Drew almost let go, the hair feeling horrible, but he held on tight, channeling the power into his right and free hand. He swung, slamming his fist into the side of the giant’s head, aiming for the temple. It hurt, but he didn’t think anything broke.

  In his hand. He heard the cracking of bone in the giant’s skull. A huge hand came up to swat at him, another coming up to cover the side of her head. Drew let go, leaning over backwards and falling to the ground. He used his hands to brace his fall, flipping over and trying to land on his feet.

  He failed, stumbling and landing on his backside. Looking up, he saw the enraged giant turning toward him. Cursing, Drew scrambled back, watching as Elora jumped onto the giant’s back, grabbing hair with one hand and stabbing down with the sword.

  He stopped moving, watching Elora. She made it look so easy, so effortless. The sword stabbed into the side of the giant’s neck. Roaring, the giant twisted, trying to reach and grab Elora, who easily jumped off, landing in a roll and popping back up next to Drew.

  She held a hand out, helping him up.

  “You need to learn how to land,” she said.

  “Want to teach me?”

  Elora smiled, pointing her sword at the angry giant.

  Drew smiled.

  ***

  Pulling his arm back, Davis threw his arm forward, launching a glowing spear. It soared across the battlefield, striking a giant in the shoulder. The monster turned, swatting at the wound as the spear disappeared. The elves that had been attacking it dashed forward, stabbing the giant in multiple places, darting away as the giant swung back to them.

  Davis ran forward, seeing a giant pressing a small group of Clan Brady fighters. Holding his hand out, he summoned another of his glowing spears. With its back turn, the giant didn’t see Davis rushing toward it. Holding his spear in both hands, Davis charged at the monster. He slammed the spear into the small of the giant’s back, just missing the spine.

  The giant roared in pain, the roar becoming a scream as Davis Activated his Exploding Spear Ability. It sent a burst of Spirit into the tip of his spear, causing it to explode with power. Davis jumped back as the energy spear blew up, taking a large chunk of the giant’s body with it. He rolled onto his front, hiding his head, as bits of guts, muscle and bone landed all around him. With a cry of pain, the giant fell to the ground, shaking it. Pushing himself up, Davis saw the Clan Brady fighters finish off the giant.

  “Thanks,” one of the Clanmembers said.

  “No problem,” Davis replied. “There’s one for you,” he said, pointing at a charging giant.

  The Clanmember looked at the monster and sighed, shaking his head.

  “Come on,” he told his group, leading the charge to meet the giant.

  Davis watched them, making sure they started the fight on the right foot. Looked like they did. He had to chuckle, wondering when he had become the veteran fighter. Shaking his head, Davis scanned the battlefield, trying to find Harper. He’d seen her popping in and out of the Shadow Realm a couple of times, but it had been a while since he’d seen her last.

  How long had the fight been going on? He had no idea. It had felt like hours, but had probably only been minutes. Maybe thirty or so? That seemed about right.

  Hearing a giant coming closer, Davis turned, seeing one of the monsters being pushed back by Mike Turner and the older man from his team. Davis couldn’t remember the man’s name. It began with an R.

  Davis dashed to the side as the giant walked backwards through where he’d been. He’d thought about stabbing out, scoring a hit, but Mike and the other guy seemed to have it under control. Mike glanced at him as they passed. Davis thought it looked a little mean, and disappointed. He knew Mike had feelings for Harper and was jealous of their relationship. The other teen didn’t hide any of it.

  But that look. Mike had been disappointed. But about what? Had he purposely tried to get Davis trampled by the giant?

  Davis shook his head. That didn’t make sense. Mike was jealous, not vindictive.

  Looking around for where he could help out, Davis put it out of his mind.