"What is this thing called again? over?"

 

"Long Shot to Alpha team, it's called a Squad Vox Caster. And make sure to use your call sign. Over."

 

"Alpha to... God this sounds so stupid. Why can't I just call you Reed and myself Maxwell?"

 

There was a long pause as Maxwell stared at the square device in his hands connected to a long cord stretching from the bulky broadcast unit. It was basically a backpack on the carried by one of the many porters. Time passed and Maxwell rolled his eyes. He pressed down the large black button on the side of the square thing he held in his hand and said, "Over."

 

Ryan was way up on top of a nearby ridge. He was trying out his latest sensory equipment. What he wanted was binoculars that saw in terms of mana concentration. What he managed to develop was a mana beam that would 'ping' when it hit significant targets. He also had a water detection beam, but that kept going off when it hit any plant so it was next to useless for penetrating underbrush.

 

Next to him was a porter with a similar job to the other porter. His job was to lug the equipment so other people could communicate with each other. Alas, Ryan had only built three of them, but boy was he happy to field test these things. They didn't work very well outside of line of sight, even if the radio signal should be good for miles. Still, with Ryan up on the ridge, he could act as a relay between team alpha and team beta.

 

Ryan spoke into his handset, "It's just standard procedure, alright. Goddamn it, you got me doing it."

 

"Beta to Longshot. Is there a problem with alpha? Over."

 

Now the knights on Beta team, they were getting into it. Beta team were mostly nobles and other Better-Than-Thou types, so they didn't want to get in over their heads. With Ryan on point, he could call out what he saw and where. They've managed to bag some goblins, a couple horned wolves, and more than a few horned rabbits. Nothing too dangerous, but definitely something you could brag about.

 

"Longshot to Beta. No problems. Just discussing if we need to change locations. I'm thinking we've wiped out everything significant in the area. Over."

 

This was true. Team alpha would use some of the smaller, faster fighters to run out to concentration, shoot a few times, then run back to team alpha. Once they were out in the open, the trap would be sprung and Ryan would rain holy hell with explosive ice seven bolts straight into the heads of the pack leaders. The enemy would panic, become disorganized, and the slaughter would proceed. The death toll currently was quite excessive.

 

Maxwell commented earlier that it was because of Ryan acting as spotter, as well as all the useless nobles being safely left in the rear area out of danger. Because they had communication with Maxwell, they felt like they were part of a grand military campaign using futuristic communication equipment and code names and what not.

 

Ryan did nothing to dissuade them of this misperception. Ryan knew chaff when he saw it. He was glad he could persuade Maxwell to send a cart by his workshop to pick up his vox equipment, as well as a bunch of his other prototypes. Normally these events take place with nobles waving banners, wearing brightly colored clothes on horseback while attendants marched along beside them, and occasionally blowing victory horns.

 

Maxwell had never even HEARD of a ghillie suit before, but having his best ranged snipers hidden in trees and other high locations has been a godsend. Combine that with the fact that Ryan had been giving the nobles directions that while not actually directing them away from monsters, might have been used to drive certain intelligent monsters into the alpha team ambush.

 

Over all, the day was shaping up to be a record breaker. This might not only be the best first day hunt, but maybe the best single hunt day, EVER.

 

"Maxwell to Ryan. Look. Honestly, we didn't bring enough porters. We didn't bring enough carts. We do not have the manpower to haul all this back. Hell. We usually would hall this much back in a week. I hate to say it, but I think we need to call the expedition."

 

In the background Ryan heard Aldelmo yell, "OH HELL NO!" The radio went dead.

 

Ryan frowned. He was getting concerned about Aldelmo. He was always the first to charge in. The first to kill an enemy. He was also scaring the ever living shit out of Ryan. He could see through his scope that something wasn't right with Aldelmo. He couldn't sit still, he was sweating like crazy and his skin was slowly turning a distinctive shade of red. Ryan didn't like it one bit. However, every time he asked Aldelmo how he was doing, he would say he never felt better.

 

"Longshot to Alpha, Maybe you're right. At the very least, lets' pack it up for the day. We head back to base camp and-"

 

Something in the distance caught Ryan's eye.

 

"Long shot to everyone. Stand by."

 

Ryan didn't like that fog cloud in the distance. It wasn't right. The mana sensor showed nothing the last time he checked it, but it just moved. Ryan was certain of this. On a lark he picked up his water season and waved it over the fog cloud. It should just be a light ping.

 

The needle redlined as he swept over the middle. A mass of water should not be that far off the ground. Ryan squinted and  saw something halfway between the fog and where alpha team was. Several things. Large, humanoid. Moving fast.

 

Running from the fog.

 

Ryan switched to the mana detector and swept it over the group. MUCH stronger than anything before. Stronger then the ogres, even.

 

"Crap."

 

"Beta to long shot. What is going on?"

 

"Reed. What's wrong?"

 

"We got something... huge. Absolutely huge. Not showing up on mana, but on water scans? Oh hell Yes. I can't see it. It's shielded and its... chasing... giants? They're bigger then the-" On the edge of the fog something that looked like a leathery wing was seen for a brief moment. It sliced out out of the swirling mists then vanished back into the opaque, nondescript grey.

 

"HOLY FUCK! It's flying! Alpha team! Go to ground! Do Not Engage! Repeat! Do NOT ENGAGE!"

 

"Beta team, you are not in the engagement zone! Stand by for orders to reinforce!"

 

In the background he could hear some sort of argument for a few moments before Maxwell cut his transmission. Beta team was chattering on the vox asking for more information. Ryan simple shouted, "Maintain Radio Silence!" and motioned to the porter to find a place to hide. The porter nervously asked, "What do you think it is?"

 

Ryan hauled out his scoped staff and started to survey the area, "My guess? Wyvern... I hope."

 

The porter started to back away, looking for a bigger rock to hide behind, "And if your guess is wrong?"

 

Ryan focused on the fog, which was continuing to close in on the panicking giants, "Then I'd say it's a raggin' fraggin' draggin'."

 

 

---

 

 

Into the clearing burst the first giant. It looked a bit scorched. Half the matted hair on its head had been burned away and the giant was clearly in a panic. He turned and started running along the tree line. He was shortly followed by a second. A third wasn't far behind.

 

Everyone had scattered to the underbrush. It would appear that the giants would just run on by. There was no real reason to engage the enemy, from a threat perspective. They would be easy pickings, but if Ryan was correct, these giants were being chased by something far worse and it would simply be easier to let the whole lot of them go.

 

That is exactly what would have happened if Aldelmo didn't have an absolutely hair trigger.

 

The first giant got too close to Aldelmo's position. It was going to run right by him. Aldelmo could have simply moved out of the way, but it was simply too good a shot to pass up. With his energized spear he slashed out and tore through the hamstring of the lead giant. The loss of proper use of its foot sent the giant down to the ground with a thunderous boom. It barely had brought its arms under itself to push itself up before Aldelmo ran up it's back, lept into the air, and drove his spear directly into the base of its neck.

 

This caught the attention of the second giant as well as Ryan.

 

The second giant wasn't scorched or weakened. It was in full health and remarkably fast. It had a sharpened tree as a weapon and moved quite swiftly. It let out a roar of rage at the fall of his comrade and instead of fleeing, or directly engaging Aldelmo, it moved around Aldelmo's position, obviously waiting for the third giant to engage so they could flank their diminutive foe.

 

Maxwell realized this and barked orders at Aldelmo to disengage. Aldelmo either could not, or would not listen to Maxwell's instructions. To say that Aldelmo was vibrating at a fevered pitch of  extreme blood lust would be both dramatically and technically accurate.

 

All of this Ryan saw through his scope.

 

Something was seriously wrong with Aldelmo. Ryan could see it at this distance. It was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but his whole system was out of whack. It could be he was out of energy and running on fumes, or perhaps he had too much energy and it was circulating too quickly. Either way, he needed to shut down. Unfortunately, Ryan wasn't in a position up on the ridge to do anything. The targets were bouncing around too much and Ryan was afraid he couldn't get a clear shot.

 

That would have to change.

 

Without so much as a word to the Vox porter, Ryan grabbed two of his more experimental devices. They looked like bottle rockets on bracers. He created them to help him focus steam that he created into thrust. It was a far cry from a rocket suit, but it would be of use for long jumps and slowing one's decent. The vox porter rushed to the edge to watch as Ryan ran forward and dropped off the cliff, only to slow and land on top of a boulder. He immediately launched himself off with pumping legs and a blast of steam that kicked up dirt and debris with every hop. Ryan was closing in on the battle, but he was afraid it wouldn't be in time.

 

The second giant, despite his ugly face and oafish body, was quick, powerful, and worst of all, intelligent. He refused to simply engage Aldelmo directly, instead using his weapon to bait Aldelmo and lead him around in a circle. Aldelmo, so focused as he was on his prey mocking him, failed to noticed when the third giant came up behind him to deal a death blow by hurling a boulder at Aldelmo's back from effectively point blank range.

 

Which is exactly what would have happened, if Maxwell had not closed the distance himself and hurled his own blade to intercept the projectile. He had already been engaging in battle for most of the day, so his remaining mana pool was all but spent. Still, he managed to scrape together enough energy and pour it into his blade that it had the force to alter the boulder's trajectory. This allowed Aldelmo to defensively coat himself with water and roll with the blow. Instead of breaking his spine, it merely sent him tumbling.

 

This would prove to be the third giant's downfall as Aldelmo was clearly in some sort of fugue state. He ignored inertia by controlling the water that surrounded his body and turned on a dime. The giant's eyes grew wide as it tried to recover its balance after firing a fast ball with a half ton rock. The moment of recovery was all Aldelmo needed to close the gap.

 

The blow had torn away part of Aldelmo's armor, leaving his chest and back exposed. The tattoos across his body were firing in random spurts. His skin had turned an angry deep red. He clearly had driven his body past all tolerance levels, and yet was still going faster than ever. He looked like he should be in agony, but far from it, his face had a look of joy and ecstasy that few would ever get to experience. Using heightened surface tension, he climbed up the giant's chest and jammed his arm straight up the giant's nose. For a split second, this comical scene looked down right hysterical as it seemed that Aldelmo had made some sort of miscalculation. Then Aldelmo did something he hadn't been able to do before.

 

He created ice.

 

The shards of ice that he created went straight up and lanced its brain. Icicles came poking out of the Giant's skull at odd angles as it looked like there had been an ice explosion inside its head. Aldelmo let out a laugh the likes of which could scarcely be called human. He road the Giant down as it toppled backwards and turned to face the only remaining giant.

 

He would have engaged the giant if he didn't see Ryan coming straight for him, steam shooting out from his arms to guide him in like a rocket. Aldelmo's tunnel vision at this point was so bad, that by focusing on Ryan, he completely missed Maxwell coming up behind him and getting him in a choke hold.

 

This time, Maxwell was not going to fall for the same trick.

 

This was fortunate because it allowed Ryan to land directly in front of Aldelmo. His mind ran through everything he had learned about magic in a quarter second, but all he could come up with was guesses and conjectures. This was unmapped territory. However, it seemed similar to some of the warnings he read when he reviewed the elven acupuncture technique he based his own mana expansion treatments on.

 

Aldelmo was choking on his own mana.

 

If this was correct, he needed to be rebalanced and soon. Ryan grabbed both of Aldelmo's hands by the wrists and pressed his chakra to Aldelmo's and forcibly connected both sets of tattoos. Aldelmo briefly resisted, but Ryan's system was stronger, as well as he was able to connect to magic weapons without using the tattoos as a bridge. Aldelmo let out a strangled cry as he felt his body being flushed, both new mana being forced into him at one wrist, and drained from the other. The mana high that he had been riding on immediately came crashing down. He had been basically powering his entire body with magic for this entire fight and as soon as his aura imploded, he collapsed with it.

 

As he passed out, Ryan took over Aldelmo's mana system, not unlike how he could control a weapon. He forced Aldelmo to keep breathing and for his heart to keep pumping while he went through and smoothed things out. He'd just managed to finally stabilize Aldelmo when he realized that Maxwell was fighting over the two of them to keep the remaining giant at bay.

 

This wasn't a fight he was feeling ready for. He had just filled his own body with toxic mana from Aldelmo's body. He needed time to realign his own body and he wasn't going to get any. Letting Aldelmo fall to the ground, praying that he had done enough to stabilize his friend, he turned to the giant as he reached for his axe.

 

Only to remember he took it off and left it up on the ridge while he was sniping.

 

Ryan struck a defensive stance, ready to help Maxwell to the best of his abilities, when he noticed that the skirmish had stopped. Everyone was frozen. Maxwell was slowly turning around. The giant was looking past both Maxwell and Ryan to something that was behind them. It's expression could only be described as that look you get when you are having the worst day of your life and someone tells you 'At least it couldn't get any worse'.

 

Whereupon it immediately gets a thousand times worse.

 

The giant turned and began to flee in a panic, trying to put as much distance between it and whatever was behind Ryan. Maxwell had fully turned around and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. He started to backup and stumbled, falling on his behind as he scrambled to put some distance between him and-

 

Just then the air swirled around Ryan and there was a tremendous *whud* as if something weighing many, many... MANY tons had just hit the ground directly behind Ryan. Ryan took a moment to close his eyes and feel the tremendous amount of killing intent that was washing over him from behind. Ryan diverted what little mana he had left into speed, so he at least could react quickly to whatever was behind him.

 

He turned around, internally steeled himself, then flicked his eyes open, to find himself staring face to face with a giant, scaly, iridescent ruby-red dragon who's head alone was several times bigger than Ryan. They locked eyes. Neither moved, even as everyone else around them was falling over themselves to run away in a blind panic. Ryan would have joined them if his friend Aldelmo wasn't lying in a coma on the ground at his feet. Like it or not, here he would make his stand. Ryan slowly clenched and unclenched a fist.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Both pair of eyes stared into the other. Neither moved. Neither blinked. Neither looked away. They were locked in a staring contest as they both furiously calculated the next move. What was the other's weakness? What were their strengths?  Where was there an opening? Who would act first and what would the counter be? Only seconds went by as they both calculated and predicted outcomes inside their minds at a speed that made it seem like time had come to a stand still. Finally, on a whim, Ryan made the first move.

 

"Boo."

 

Once long ago Ryan used to waste time on FaceTube watching cat videos. One particular cat video that stood out in his mind had a black kitten that was playfully batting at a balloon during a birthday party. The predictable outcome occurred and said balloon popped causing the kitten to arch it's back, jump into the air, whip its claws about as it bounced backwards only to land in a pile of wrapping paper and proceed to flail about in a blind panic.

 

This was the memory that leapt to Ryan's mind as the dragon did something almost identical.

 

It scrunched up and arched its back at it leaped backwards and away from Ryan. It bared its fangs and hissed as it spazzed out and tumbled away, only to smash into a particularly dense corpse of trees. The density of the trees got it tangled up in the branches and for a moment the dragon was a ball of flailing limbs, sending branches and underbrush flying in all directions.

 

Maybe it was because he was feeling so sluggish from having to filter Aldelmo's mana, or maybe the sheer insanity of the situation made it impossible for Ryan to understand what was happening, thus preventing him from reacting. To everyone else, it looked like Ryan did nothing but calmly watch while the dragon had a full on panic attack from meeting him face to face. While he might have appeared calm and cool on the outside, on the inside he could only scream to himself on the inside.

 

~HolyJumpingJimmityCricketChristOnACrutchWhatTheFuck???~